Review Cats turn Lions into wet pussies at the Gabba by 26 points

[Smurph18]

I’d bring Jeka in for Stewart.
Let him intercept and Dekoning and Henry can look after the big forwards

I agree, obvious replacement is either him or O’Sullivan. While both played well in the VFL and taking bulk marks, Jeka has a more seasoned body than COS at the moment, will be important against a big Carlton forward line, especially if they are playing 2 rucks again

 

[iameviljez]

I didn’t say he didn’t play a good game
In the conditions it was a good game but his cleanness was average and he shirks it most weeks so it’s not like it’s a rare occurrence

If an AFL player shirked the contest on the regular, they'd be dropped. Period. Nowhere to hide in this era of video review.

 

[iameviljez]

Yeah it will be a hard call re captaincy if we look a flag shot for 25. But danger would be aware stewart deserves to lead the club at some stage but will be 33 at the start of 2026. If danger waits to hand it over til then it might be too late and it would have to go to a younger player

Captaincy isn't about deserve, though - it's about looking at your list, and asking who the best captain is in that year.

Stewart has a few years left in his yet. If Danger leaves at the end of 2025, as I suspect he will, then Stewart still has 2 years left IMO.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

I agree, obvious replacement is either him or O’Sullivan. While both played well in the VFL and taking bulk marks, Jeka has a more seasoned body than COS at the moment, will be important against a big Carlton forward line, especially if they are playing 2 rucks again

COS is far more agile and attacking than Jeka with higher footy IQ, plus we need games into him with big game a 'G' ideal, kids gonna be a gun. Played exceptionally well in the 2nd half in backline against the Blues in preseason game and there's 'no way' would I select Jeka in front of COS, just a 'backward move'.... excuse the pun!

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Disagree.
Parf is in our best every week, and offers things that we need. His tackling pressure is huge, he displays leadership out there, and you forget he was a top 22 player 2, 3, 4 years ago. Last year was his annus horribilis, but he is a pivotal mid, at the perfect age. We need him, his teammates love him, and CS loves him. He's not missing the 23 this year, unless injury, which has been his downfall in other seasons.

Look i really like parf and i ageee with some of your points..his last month has been great.
But lets remember some facts. We have 6 fwds who are locks (jez tommy ollie plus the 3 smalls) plus dempsey that are all locks. We have 6 or so defenders as locks (even i admit kolo and zuthrie are having great years). Then either stanley or conway plus danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn and holmes are all locks.
That only leaves 3 or 4 spots realistically open.

In that context i dont think you can fit all of atkins parf bowes and oconnor in the side.
And the other 3 are all more versatile.
Atkins can play bull clearance mid or go to hbf and excel at groundballs
Bowes with his height and running power can be a inside mid or a defender (as he was when stewart went off)
Oconnor has good endurance and can play defensive or attacking roles as a mid or can again go the backline.
When you are looking at the 22nd/23rd player versatility and ability to cover injuries is important.
Parf is a super clearance player (albeit disposal by foot is limited) but how many centre bounce attendances will he get in a final with danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn as the starting mids? And where will he be for the rest of the game as he cant play wing or anywhere else.

Now i could be wrong they could keep him and drop bowes or moc but i doubt it.
I think hes a great 1st emergency but needs an injury to get in-its no coincidence his good run has come with guthrie out.

 

[catscratchfever]

It's lonely at the top - and I like it that way

 

[Podsnap]

Brisbane relying solely on Oscar is a skill issue with their team composition. If stanley/Conway went down we'd at least have blicavs to pay full time ruck.

Poor planning really. They really need a Blicavs on their team.

 

[catscratchfever]

Or Judd. Or Nick Daicos. Or Harley Reid.

These kinds of players are a rarity, and you have to be lucky to get one. IIRC, Joel slipped down the draft because he had a ??broken leg?? the year before.

Player development is a gradual process, often taking at least 50 AFL games to reach the level required to play in the ones regularly. Some argue that it's around 100 AFL games when players hit their prime. The Cats have shown consistency in their approach, focusing on developing players in the VFL before they transition to regular games in the ones. People need to be patient and stop expecting these young guys to be stars right away. They will be inconsistent, but that is normal for a young player.

I think it was knee and/or ankle problems.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

Look i really like parf and i ageee with some of your points..his last month has been great.
But lets remember some facts. We have 6 fwds who are locks (jez tommy ollie plus the 3 smalls) plus dempsey that are all locks. We have 6 or so defenders as locks (even i admit kolo and zuthrie are having great years). Then either stanley or conway plus danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn and holmes are all locks.
That only leaves 3 or 4 spots realistically open.

In that context i dont think you can fit all of atkins parf bowes and oconnor in the side.
And the other 3 are all more versatile.
Atkins can play bull clearance mid or go to hbf and excel at groundballs
Bowes with his height and running power can be a inside mid or a defender (as he was when stewart went off)
Oconnor has good endurance and can play defensive or attacking roles as a mid or can again go the backline.
When you are looking at the 22nd/23rd player versatility and ability to cover injuries is important.
Parf is a super clearance player (albeit disposal by foot is limited) but how many centre bounce attendances will he get in a final with danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn as the starting mids? And where will he be for the rest of the game as he cant play wing or anywhere else.

Now i could be wrong they could keep him and drop bowes or moc but i doubt it.
I think hes a great 1st emergency but needs an injury to get in-its no coincidence his good run has come with guthrie out.

Bottom line Pure_Ownage: if we have a full compliment of players available come finals time then it's going to be extremely difficult to pick our best 23, it's almost better for us if we have a couple of injuries to players that are competing against each other for spots in the side. Gee cannot believe I said that but such is our quality of depth at present that it would almost be doing the MC a favour if that was to be the case. But yeah, form &/or injuries will be the final deciding factor which is the way it should be.

PS - We're the only club this season that has had the luxury of resting proven top players every week such is our depth but a wrath of injuries as 2023 can put a holt to that very smartly, so 'touch wood' lets hope not.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I’d bring Jeka in for Stewart.
Let him intercept and Dekoning and Henry can look after the big forwards

Has jeka done anything worth a call up?

 

[Play it Sam]

Look i really like parf and i ageee with some of your points..his last month has been great.
But lets remember some facts. We have 6 fwds who are locks (jez tommy ollie plus the 3 smalls) plus dempsey that are all locks. We have 6 or so defenders as locks (even i admit kolo and zuthrie are having great years). Then either stanley or conway plus danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn and holmes are all locks.
That only leaves 3 or 4 spots realistically open.

In that context i dont think you can fit all of atkins parf bowes and oconnor in the side.
And the other 3 are all more versatile.
Atkins can play bull clearance mid or go to hbf and excel at groundballs
Bowes with his height and running power can be a inside mid or a defender (as he was when stewart went off)
Oconnor has good endurance and can play defensive or attacking roles as a mid or can again go the backline.
When you are looking at the 22nd/23rd player versatility and ability to cover injuries is important.
Parf is a super clearance player (albeit disposal by foot is limited) but how many centre bounce attendances will he get in a final with danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn as the starting mids? And where will he be for the rest of the game as he cant play wing or anywhere else.

Now i could be wrong they could keep him and drop bowes or moc but i doubt it.
I think hes a great 1st emergency but needs an injury to get in-its no coincidence his good run has come with guthrie out.

I might be biased but I think you are overlooking Parf's work around the ground. He's hard at it, his forte contested balls and likes smashing and disrupting, has a turn of foot when needed, evasive and knows where the goals are. All the pennies have dropped and he's comfortable with the game plan, so a great renaissance.
But I get there's only so many places, what a great problem to have compared to last year.
Perhaps he'll end up as sub, hopefully like one who was good enough to be there and come on for a miracle GF goal.

 

[calder_daddy]

If an AFL player shirked the contest on the regular, they'd be dropped. Period. Nowhere to hide in this era of video review.

People are allowed to do it, especially in this AFL era.

They won’t get dropped, this isn’t the 80’s and this isn’t an average footballer we’re talking about.
The fact is he could’ve been harder and that’s ok.
We don’t need him to do those things, he was sloppy last night but again it wasn’t a bad game.
It was just sloppy

 

[calder_daddy]

Has jeka done anything worth a call up?

I haven’t been watching vfl but reports the past fortnight have been promising.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Look i really like parf and i ageee with some of your points..his last month has been great.
But lets remember some facts. We have 6 fwds who are locks (jez tommy ollie plus the 3 smalls) plus dempsey that are all locks. We have 6 or so defenders as locks (even i admit kolo and zuthrie are having great years). Then either stanley or conway plus danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn and holmes are all locks.
That only leaves 3 or 4 spots realistically open.

In that context i dont think you can fit all of atkins parf bowes and oconnor in the side.
And the other 3 are all more versatile.
Atkins can play bull clearance mid or go to hbf and excel at groundballs
Bowes with his height and running power can be a inside mid or a defender (as he was when stewart went off)
Oconnor has good endurance and can play defensive or attacking roles as a mid or can again go the backline.
When you are looking at the 22nd/23rd player versatility and ability to cover injuries is important.
Parf is a super clearance player (albeit disposal by foot is limited) but how many centre bounce attendances will he get in a final with danger blitz cuthrie and bruhn as the starting mids? And where will he be for the rest of the game as he cant play wing or anywhere else.

Now i could be wrong they could keep him and drop bowes or moc but i doubt it.
I think hes a great 1st emergency but needs an injury to get in-its no coincidence his good run has come with guthrie out.

Your logic is strong.

Which is why Parf won’t sign until end of year - and if it works like you say he will leave.

Different but same in some sense with Sav last year. Very important player for us for many games but when whips came cracking he knew he wasn’t in a fully fit backline…so he goes to a place where he is

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Has jeka done anything worth a call up?

I've been hard on him, but he has actually looked classy the last couple weeks.

Moves like a mid and his kicking is buttery smooth. Could be worth a shot if we tell him to intercept, and not worry about anything else.

It's not saying much these days, but I'd rather him coming in to play the Stewart role than Touhy.

Hardie deserves a shot too. You can't ask for much more than he's doing, and he looks like a player who will look better in a good side.

 

[Play it Sam]

People are allowed to do it, especially in this AFL era.

They won’t get dropped, this isn’t the 80’s and this isn’t an average footballer we’re talking about.
The fact is he could’ve been harder and that’s ok.
We don’t need him to do those things, he was sloppy last night but again it wasn’t a bad game.
It was just sloppy

Agree. I noticed Holmes dodged one encounter close to their goal. At the time I thought well, yeah there goes the kid that missed a GF with injury, maybe I'd lay off on that one too. It's collision space that they are in to make a call, not the viewer. We have to remember the conditions were atrocious enough for cats_09 to require new shoes.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I haven’t been watching vfl but reports the past fortnight have been promising.

I haven't watched really either but thought debuting COS gave an indication of the pecking order.

I could see us going Tuohy in to try generate ground level rebound, or if they wanted COS to try play loose intercept he might be able to do that.

Not sure what I'd do

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I've been hard on him, but he has actually looked classy the last couple weeks.

Moves like a mid and his kicking is buttery smooth. Could be worth a shot if we tell him to intercept, and not worry about anything else.

It's not saying much these days, but I'd rather him coming in to play the Stewart role than Touhy.

Hardie deserves a shot too. You can't ask for much more than he's doing, and he looks like a player who will look better in a good side.

I think no one will really play the Stewart role. Henry and Zuthrie to play a bit looser maybe

 

[Pollywaffle]

I didn’t say he didn’t play a good game
In the conditions it was a good game but his cleanness was average and he shirks it most weeks so it’s not like it’s a rare occurrence

I agree he is definitely contest shy. A few moments, from the last two games in particular, he would probably like back but he has never really been a bums up head down player probably just finding himself in more contests as he slows down.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I agree, obvious replacement is either him or O’Sullivan. While both played well in the VFL and taking bulk marks, Jeka has a more seasoned body than COS at the moment, will be important against a big Carlton forward line, especially if they are playing 2 rucks again

Maybe. But we probably dont need the extra tall (might depend on if carlton play 1 ruck or 2) and as atkins bowes and oconnor can all play back we dont need to replace stewart like for like. We might be better off reinforcing the midfield.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Tough Mudder?

Very iconic Seinfeld reference missed.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I might be biased but I think you are overlooking Parf's work around the ground. He's hard at it, his forte contested balls and likes smashing and disrupting, has a turn of foot when needed, evasive and knows where the goals are. All the pennies have dropped and he's comfortable with the game plan, so a great renaissance.
But I get there's only so many places, what a great problem to have compared to last year.
Perhaps he'll end up as sub, hopefully like one who was good enough to be there and come on for a miracle GF goal.

Theres some truth to that.
But again while i love his defensive work hes not an ideal transition player because his kicking is poor. His best work is done as a first possession player or trying to turn the ball back over at the stoppage. How many of those stoppages will he get once guthrie etc are back? I just dont see where he fits in.

Yes sub but again with the tactical sub you are either going to go for a player who can cover several positions (oconnor especially and bowes and atkins are ideal for this) especially in the HIA era we are in now. Or you go for an impact player who can open the game up in the last quarter (likely rohan).
Parfitt is neither of those things-hes a very good midfielder but tactically makes no sense as a sub. Hes either got to be in the 22 or hes first emg.
I know we made him sub 2 years ago but the speed of the game is clearly faster now and sub tactics need to change accordingly.

 

[calder_daddy]

I haven't watched really either but thought debuting COS gave an indication of the pecking order.

I could see us going Tuohy in to try generate ground level rebound, or if they wanted COS to try play loose intercept he might be able to do that.

Not sure what I'd do

I didn’t see COS debut other than a great pre season and the team he was coming up against.
Against a mature side I can’t see him coming in, but I’ve been wrong before

Many many times

 

[catscratchfever]

Zuthrie is such a gun these days.

Yep, just goes to show how much Chris Scott knows about footy compared to most of us. I thought Zuthrie was a spud for a long while but obviously the MC could see something I didn't.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Your logic is strong.

Which is why Parf won’t sign until end of year - and if it works like you say he will leave.

Different but same in some sense with Sav last year. Very important player for us for many games but when whips came cracking he knew he wasn’t in a fully fit backline…so he goes to a place where he is

Possibly and thats why i can see parf leaving as an FA at the end of the year.
But i think its different to sav in that the market for decent kpds is very thin and that is why port offered him 5 years (which i still think was a bad call) and why with henry coming back we were never going to give 4 or 5 years to a guy who was basically depth.
Whereas generally its easier to get decent mids on the market than talls so i doubt anyone offers parf 4 or 5 years (if they do he is gone).
While we are in the window we might be happy to keep him as depth given danger guthrie and blitz dont have long left.
So if we offer him 2 yrs or 1 + 1 (with a trigger) and the best offer he gets elsewhere is 3 years on similar money he might choose to stay.
Probably depends on if any other club offers him overs $ wise.