Unofficial Preview Changes v Geelong (Preliminary Final)

[Nathan Barley]

Not necessarily. What if we practice the hard ones but not the easy ones?

We're you not advocating narrowing the goals at practice? That's basically what the hard ones are. It's just kicking straight

 

[3KZ is Football]

Open training today MCG 3.45pm

I’m heading in with 3KZ is Football Jnr to welcome the team to their home away from home. Should be fun

 

[jjami15]

The narrative of C.Scott being this great tactical mastermind is a load of hyperbole. Let’s look at their run finals run in all seriousness for the last 10yrs or so. For a number of years they went out straight sets with a bloody good team as well. They’ve made a load of preliminary finals and have lost. What, he moves Blicavs (the ultimate Swiss knife player) into a different position and the media fawn all over him. They’ve trade and draft extremely well and is it he the coach who sprinkles his magical fairy dust and boom, great tactical coach. Give me a break. Go Lions!

 

[50Lions]

The closer we get the more confident I am getting. Let’s go Lions!!

 

[Sproj]

It’s interesting, if you look at the season as a whole, Geelong have been extremely inconsistent. Some fantastic wins mixed with some absolute head scratchers. All the talking heads wax on about how good they are in finals but as mentioned above, they’ve been inconsistent there too. They haven’t played a tough opponent since St Kilda over a month ago where they lost. Brisbane has played tough games left, right and centre.

So the two questions to me are really Geelong withstand sustained heat and can Brisbane get themselves up for one more full game after using plenty of petrol in last week’s comeback.

This result to me entirely comes down to us and whether we can bring the pressure again, Geelong has not shown an ability to handle pressure consistently this year but then, we have.

 

[mpal6]

We'll continue dancing on thin ice as we've done all season.
I think we're going to win and win well.

 

[BuntonRules]

The narrative of C.Scott being this great tactical mastermind is a load of hyperbole. Let’s look at their run finals run in all seriousness for the last 10yrs or so. For a number of years they went out straight sets with a bloody good team as well. They’ve made a load of preliminary finals and have lost. What, he moves Blicavs (the ultimate Swiss knife player) into a different position and the media fawn all over him. They’ve trade and draft extremely well and is it he the coach who sprinkles his magical fairy dust and boom, great tactical coach. Give me a break. Go Lions!

Got a lot to do with his media profile, IMO. In the inner circle with the Melbourne media.

 

[Grasshopper17]

We're you not advocating narrowing the goals at practice? That's basically what the hard ones are. It's just kicking straight

See, logically and rationally I agree with you. If you can kick the hard ones it stands to reason you can also kick the easy ones. But I don't think the human brain works that way. If it did, we probably would be nailing all the easy ones. You actually have to practice exactly as you play.

Narrowing the gap between the goal posts is partly about getting feedback on technique. If you are squeezing a shot from 25 out directly in front just inside the left goal post, that is not a good kick and should not be viewed as such. That's the footy equivalent of the inside edge down to fine leg for 4. Yes you get runs for it but it's not a good shot.

It's also about trying to create extra pressure at training which would normally not be present, in an attempt to replicate match day conditions, by making easy kicks seem more difficult. It would also make it less boring for the players, making it more likely for them to actually practice these shots at training.

 

[Grasshopper17]

For a number of years they went out straight sets with a bloody good team as well.

What, once?

 

[Dalions]

What, once?

Either way though they have been to a lot of Prelims and not gone all the way.
Was Chris Scott out coached in those games?

 

[vic_LION]

Either way though they have been to a lot of Prelims and not gone all the way.
Was Chris Scott out coached in those games?

They’ve made finals, what is it 10 of the last 12 years? For 1 flag. Credit to them of always being up there for that long, but is that a coaching achievement, or recruiting? Most likely a bit of both.

Funny that we’ve now made the finals now 6 years straight, and we’re under pressure, whereas there’s a totally different narrative around Geelong. Could easily see their record as underachieving over that time.

However, how we adapt coming out of this period will be the real test. Looking ok with the two Ashcrofts and some young guns coming through recently.

 

[M Malice]

Vs Carlton in 2021 under the roof. I think after that game he missed 7 or 8 consecutive games. We won all of them.

IIRC Harris Andrews was also out injured for around that duration at a different time and we won all our games with him out.

 

[Nathan Barley]

See, logically and rationally I agree with you. If you can kick the hard ones it stands to reason you can also kick the easy ones. But I don't think the human brain works that way. If it did, we probably would be nailing all the easy ones. You actually have to practice exactly as you play.

Narrowing the gap between the goal posts is partly about getting feedback on technique. If you are squeezing a shot from 25 out directly in front just inside the left goal post, that is not a good kick and should not be viewed as such. That's the footy equivalent of the inside edge down to fine leg for 4. Yes you get runs for it but it's not a good shot.

It's also about trying to create extra pressure at training which would normally not be present, in an attempt to replicate match day conditions, by making easy kicks seem more difficult. It would also make it less boring for the players, making it more likely for them to actually practice these shots at training.

Gee you like to overthink things

 

[Grasshopper17]

Gee you like to overthink things

Well it's fair to say that what we currently do with regards to goal kicking practice is ineffective at best. And so far your contribution to the discussion has been to pot people providing solutions, stick your head under the doona and say "everything's fine".

Not everything is going to work, but it's fair to say neither are the current methods. Change is needed. What that looks like is in the eye of the beholder. Feel free to offer constructive comment.

 

[Lion_LegacyXL]

Either way though they have been to a lot of Prelims and not gone all the way.
Was Chris Scott out coached in those games?

Yeah, Geelong in Prelims coached by Chris Scott have either been white hot or really flat. Unfortunately in our 2020 & 2022 Prelims we've ran into the white hot version of the Cats. Our luck with them surely has to be different the 3rd time. But obviously we need to do our part and bring the intensity and focus to win.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Geelong are The Damned. Lions are going to … SMASH IT UP!

Great stuff.
What's the drummers name "Idiot A#shole" lol.
Great drummer.

 

[braddsey]

They’ve made finals, what is it 10 of the last 12 years? For 1 flag. Credit to them of always being up there for that long, but is that a coaching achievement, or recruiting? Most likely a bit of both.

Funny that we’ve now made the finals now 6 years straight, and we’re under pressure, whereas there’s a totally different narrative around Geelong. Could easily see their record as underachieving over that time.

However, how we adapt coming out of this period will be the real test. Looking ok with the two Ashcrofts and some young guns coming through recently.

I think you’re being a bit disingenuous… under Scott they made finals 12 out of 14 seasons for 2* premierships (*2024 still to be decided). Sure he took over a premiership side, but they never bottomed out.
Scott was under similar pressure to Fagan until they won in 2022, but he got a longer grace period because they won in 2011.
This doesn’t mean he’s a tactical mastermind, it just means he’s a good coach at a strong well run club.

If we win this season, all the pressure is off for Chris Fagan and team, and he’s written his ticket to be our head coach into his 70’s should he so choose.

 

[M Malice]

Well it's fair to say that what we currently do with regards to goal kicking practice is ineffective at best. And so far your contribution to the discussion has been to pot people providing solutions, stick your head under the doona and say "everything's fine".

Not everything is going to work, but it's fair to say neither are the current methods. Change is needed. What that looks like is in the eye of the beholder. Feel free to offer constructive comment.

I think I have posted this before... closer goal posts at training would be a beneficial thing to do, I have seen it proselytised that aiming for a large/wide target(6.4 meters) is harder than aiming for a smaller/narrower target, explains why players routinely hit lace out targets in general play but struggle to go 50-50 from set shots.

Bowlers in cricket practice aiming at 1 stump regularly.

 

[ice444]

If we kick straight we should win ...

 

[undefined]

Hey all, I hope you're keeping well. How realistic a chance do you rate yourselves vs. the Cats compared to the 2022 prelim?

 

[Perrip]

Hey all, I hope you're keeping well. How realistic a chance do you rate yourselves vs. the Cats compared to the 2022 prelim?

Our list is much better than what it was in the 2022 prelim. However, we have a few key players out and Cats/Chris Scott are known to use our weaknesses to their advantage.

That being said, it could go either way. Unlike Sydney/Port, which I reckon will be a blowout to one team.

 

[BRAB]

Hey all, I hope you're keeping well. How realistic a chance do you rate yourselves vs. the Cats compared to the 2022 prelim?

I think a lot of people have discussed this in this thread here.

Unofficial Preview - Changes v Geelong (Preliminary Final)

5:15pm next Saturday at the MCG. Get out there Lions fans and do us proud Melbourne fans 👊

www.bigfooty.com

 

[BrisVegasDru]

Hey all, I hope you're keeping well. How realistic a chance do you rate yourselves vs. the Cats compared to the 2022 prelim?

i believe we should be favourites

 

[Nathan Barley]

Well it's fair to say that what we currently do with regards to goal kicking practice is ineffective at best. And so far your contribution to the discussion has been to pot people providing solutions, stick your head under the doona and say "everything's fine".

Not everything is going to work, but it's fair to say neither are the current methods. Change is needed. What that looks like is in the eye of the beholder. Feel free to offer constructive comment.

I'll let them know

 

[Grasshopper17]

Hey all, I hope you're keeping well. How realistic a chance do you rate yourselves vs. the Cats compared to the 2022 prelim?

We are certainly better placed psychologically I feel. We literally finished our review of the semi a couple of hours after the game on Saturday night (must have been a late one!) and moved straight on to preparing for Geelong. Normally we don't prepare for our opposition until Thursday but this week we started on Tuesday. Given the emotion involved in last Saturday's win (similar to our Semi win in 2022) I think this was a great call.

How we're placed physically, obviously there's a lot of talk going round about Neale, Hipwood and Payne. I guess time will tell on that front.

Geelong you would say are in a similar position physically and psychologically to where they were in 2022. Whether they are the same quality of team this year is debatable: their opponent-adjusted % of 113% vs their 2022 opponent-adjusted % of 148% would suggest they're not.

Regardless, I certainly think we'll need to start well. The only team ever to win a Semi Final by less than a goal and go on to win a premiership is Sydney in 2005. Their Preliminary Final against St Kilda was notable for the fact it was played in 3 stages. The Swans shot out of the blocks early, kicking 5 of the first 7 goals, before St Kilda wrestled back momentum, and by late in the 3rd quarter looked to have the game on their terms, kicking 7 of the next 9 to hold a 15 point lead. From that point tho the Swans completely flipped the script, kicking the final 8 goals of the match to run out convincing 31 point winners.

If we are to get up tomorrow night I can see us having to play the match in a similar manner. As much fun as it would be I can't see us kicking the last 8 goals of the match like Sydney did. However I think we need to start strongly, probably open up a 25+ point lead, and really force Geelong to tie themselves in knots trying to get the game back on their terms.

If they are forced to try to quell our momentum by having to play Stewart and maybe others as spares behind the ball, that, as well as the ground size, will really create an opportunity to play the game on our terms via kick-mark, which we were unable to get going at all against the Giants. So, provided we're able to win contests, it may actually work to our advantage - we certainly need to be judicious with our ball movement tho.

Regardless, you'd expect Geelong to hit back hard, but hopefully we have enough left in the tank for a last ditch effort late in the game, like the Swans did in 2005.

As a neutral, what do you think?