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Is it wrong for me to hope that Andrew Stephens takes inspiration from Glenn McGrath in the 2005 Ashes series, and treads on a ball just minutes before the start of the game?Umpires are Andrew Stephens (12), Simon Meredith (21) and Craig Fleer (26).
I saw the footy panel where they said that we are too reliant on Dixon.It just goes to show how little they watch us. Dixon has been quiet but we always have another tall to chime in. Can't stand these idiots who don't do their homework and chime in for the sake of hearing their own voice. Now my worry had always been that there was something wrong with our center square set up. We were too used to having Lycett dominate and when he was out our clearance was poor and we had very little flow in our game.GEELONG v PORT ADELAIDE (Paul Koulouriotis Cup)
Friday August 14, 7.50pm at Metricon Stadium
How to watch on Fox Footy: Channel 504 from 7pm, hosted by Garry Lyon with Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown, Alastair Lynch and Jon Ralph (followed by First Crack with Tom Morris, Nick Dal Santo and Cameron Mooney).
Cats’ burning question: Is Chris Scott coaching better than ever?
Melbourne champion Garry Lyon thinks so, with Scott’s Cats surging to third on the ladder with the second-best percentage in the league after smashing St Kilda. Saints great Nick Riewoldt pointed out that Scott and the Cats weren’t necessarily blitzing the competition with their own trademark style. Rather, Riewoldt told On The Couch that Geelong was impressing by its ability to take away their opponents’ strengths, highlighting wins over Melbourne and St Kilda, as well as the loss to West Coast. Riewoldt labelled Scott “Chris Belichick”, saying: “You look at teams all across the competition and you want to identify a style or identity. Bill Belichick in the NFL and the New England Patriots, their identity was they were almost chameleons and they adapted to tae away the strength of the opposition every week – and I can see a bit of that in the way Chris Scott is coaching.”
Power’s burning question: Is their reliance on Charlie Dixon too great?
It feels somewhat blasphemous to talk the Power down after that win over Richmond, but what has emerged in the aftermath is the reliability they have in Dixon. He’s the reliable Power rock that’s allowed coach Ken Hinkley to stop spinning the magnets and give specific players specific roles for an entire season, meaning Robbie Gray can now play primarily across half-forward, Travis Boak primarily in the midfield and Hamish Hartlett almost exclusively off half-back. Without Dixon, his 21 goals and his insanely good aerial ability, the Power wouldn’t be having the scoreboard dominance they’ve had. But what if he has a quiet game? David King told First Crack: “I just have concerns where if you have a night where you get a good match-up on Charlie and he doesn’t have the influence that he needs to have, what’s next? What do you fall back to? It’s just a little asterisk for me. I’d love to see them get more uncontested marks on the lead in the forward line and be a bit easier for them to keep it ticking on the scoreboard.”
Fox Footy expert tipsters’ verdict: Geelong 6 — Port Adelaide 5
Umpires are Andrew Stephens (12), Simon Meredith (21) and Craig Fleer (26).
We're 3rd in the competition for marks inside 50. Of the players playing tomorrow night, Dixon averages 2.6, Georgiades 1.6, Gray 0.73, Butters 0.64, Ladhams 0.6 and Motlop 0.57 - that's 6 players who average a mark inside 50 every two games or better. But that's not surprising since we are 1st in the comp for inside 50s.
You want to know who the best in the competition for marks inside 50 is? Geelong. Hawkins averages 2.82, Rohan 1.4, Stanley 1.25, Menegola 0.73, Dangerfield 0.73, Ratugolea 0.67 and Mitch Duncan 0.6 - 7 players who average a mark inside 50 every two games or better.
What makes this even more surprising is Geelong is only 7th in the competition for inside 50s. Which means they are getting those marks inside 50 fairly easily.
This is the type of game where our defence is going to be the key. With Richmond, it was all about how much pressure we could put them under. Against Geelong, it's about knowing when to press and when to roll back. Get it inside 50 as quick as possible to Dixon or Ladhams etc. and hope for them to mark it or bring the ball to ground for our crumbers, but then pull back the defensive zone to around the edge of the centre square. You can still be a forward half team, but there's a time and a place to be kamikaze with pressure (Richmond) and more measured (Geelong).
Also, McKenzie, Hartlett and Farrell should be encouraged to take as many pings on the run from outside 50 as possible. If Geelong likes to roll back from the wing and play 8 in defence, let's show them what happens when they try it.
Koula at the ready to present the cup. One of the responses suggests the family still have a bit of Port in themGEELONG v PORT ADELAIDE (Paul Koulouriotis Cup)
Friday August 14, 7.50pm at Metricon Stadium
How to watch on Fox Footy: Channel 504 from 7pm, hosted by Garry Lyon with Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown, Alastair Lynch and Jon Ralph (followed by First Crack with Tom Morris, Nick Dal Santo and Cameron Mooney).
Cats’ burning question: Is Chris Scott coaching better than ever?
Melbourne champion Garry Lyon thinks so, with Scott’s Cats surging to third on the ladder with the second-best percentage in the league after smashing St Kilda. Saints great Nick Riewoldt pointed out that Scott and the Cats weren’t necessarily blitzing the competition with their own trademark style. Rather, Riewoldt told On The Couch that Geelong was impressing by its ability to take away their opponents’ strengths, highlighting wins over Melbourne and St Kilda, as well as the loss to West Coast. Riewoldt labelled Scott “Chris Belichick”, saying: “You look at teams all across the competition and you want to identify a style or identity. Bill Belichick in the NFL and the New England Patriots, their identity was they were almost chameleons and they adapted to tae away the strength of the opposition every week – and I can see a bit of that in the way Chris Scott is coaching.”
Power’s burning question: Is their reliance on Charlie Dixon too great?
It feels somewhat blasphemous to talk the Power down after that win over Richmond, but what has emerged in the aftermath is the reliability they have in Dixon. He’s the reliable Power rock that’s allowed coach Ken Hinkley to stop spinning the magnets and give specific players specific roles for an entire season, meaning Robbie Gray can now play primarily across half-forward, Travis Boak primarily in the midfield and Hamish Hartlett almost exclusively off half-back. Without Dixon, his 21 goals and his insanely good aerial ability, the Power wouldn’t be having the scoreboard dominance they’ve had. But what if he has a quiet game? David King told First Crack: “I just have concerns where if you have a night where you get a good match-up on Charlie and he doesn’t have the influence that he needs to have, what’s next? What do you fall back to? It’s just a little asterisk for me. I’d love to see them get more uncontested marks on the lead in the forward line and be a bit easier for them to keep it ticking on the scoreboard.”
Fox Footy expert tipsters’ verdict: Geelong 6 — Port Adelaide 5
Bit of a tangent but surely as fans we deserve better stats. What would be super interesting would be effective short kicks vs long kicks plus things like kicks inside 50 and outcome (kick was marked, or a contest resulted and what happened next - stoppage, Port win, oppo win - did it come back out of 50) etc.
Ken just killed Big Footy. May as well fold now
One I'd like is distance gained by next possession. More for our inside mid's. Sure metres gained directly is important, but if Rockliff (as an example) is getting it out to a player that can then kick it 40 into the forward 50, that's different to him getting it out to a player that then is tackled or does a 5 metre kick themselves as it's still in contention.Bit of a tangent but surely as fans we deserve better stats. What would be super interesting would be effective short kicks vs long kicks plus things like kicks inside 50 and outcome (kick was marked, or a contest resulted and what happened next - stoppage, Port win, oppo win - did it come back out of 50) etc.
If they seriously decided to award a cup it would have to be the Tom Quinn CupI reckon it would have a bit more prestige if it was the Evans/Whatman Cup.
I saw the footy panel where they said that we are too reliant on Dixon.It just goes to show how little they watch us. Dixon has been quiet but we always have another tall to chime in. Can't stand these idiots who don't do their homework and chime in for the sake of hearing their own voice. Now my worry had always been that there was something wrong with our center square set up. We were too used to having Lycett dominate and when he was out our clearance was poor and we had very little flow in our game.
It was a blessing that he was out because it made us look at defending the quick burst from the center and rocky came back to be that general. It has made us better, more versatile.
While I don't think Motlop deserves his spot I'm happy for him to prove me wrong and I'm even happier it got the prison bars on the AFL website again
'Deserves his spot' or not, one thing Motlop invariably does is straighten us up. Always looks to go through the corridor as his first option. A few other guys on the team could learn from that.
Dates Abber's daughter, so there's that.Ryan Burton is this team's Bruce Abernethy. Super smooth mover with a lethal leg who lives for the big stage.
The key is too reliant. In the show they said, what is he's quiet... He doesn't need to dominate. We actually have good forwards who aren't getting the best defender. We aren't dating he's not the most important player. We are saying that when he's playing we don't rely on him to kick or goals.We are very reliant on Dixon? Even when quiet he is taking two or three opposition players, something Marshal, Georgiades, or Westhoff won’t do.
Too reliant? Hopefully we don’t have to find out, but it is a legitimate observation to make that he really is our main point of difference with elite contested marking / bringing the ball to ground.
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