Unofficial Preview Geelong Cats V Hawthorn Rd 1 -

[catempire]

As long as both play in the mids then I'm ok with that.

Now we're talking! Then maybe we could #dropdangertodefence!

 

[Lana]

Vardy will play....

Probably, won't stop me from thinking that we are top heavy

 

[nananana catman]

Does the elimination of a sub player and the reduction of interchange rotations help us bring a player like Selwood back, or does it hinder it? Be interesting to see how this plays out during the year.

My initial thoughts are, providing we don't pick up an injury or two on the day that they can manage his time more effectively. We have some good midfield depth that can certainly rest forward and be an attacking threat.

 

[romeohwho]

Probably, won't stop me from thinking that we are top heavy

Am ok with the talls- we have a team now that might mean we can start playing to our strengths and other teams can try and match us up!

 

[The rabbi]

Am ok with the talls- we have a team now that might mean we can start playing to our strengths and other teams can try and match us up!

That may work while the MCG is dry.
But when the winter sets in..................

 

[iameviljez]

Am ok with the talls- we have a team now that might mean we can start playing to our strengths and other teams can try and match us up!

This could be an issue against the best sides though, particularly Hawthorn.

That said, I am less concerned about us being too tall down back that I was with us being too tall up forward - the reason being that you can generally cover being too tall down back with decent positioning and getting first hands on the mark, whereas being too tall up forward means that the opposition cuts you to ribbons on the turnover. I was concerned that Vardy/Clark/Hawk/Stanley/Smith was too much, but with Clark out and McCarthy/Gregson in, it starts to make sense.

 

[romeohwho]

That may work while the MCG is dry.
But when the winter sets in..................

Yep but they play the games that count in the dry weather and our draw is so soft, should do ok in winter and get into a good spot in the 8!

 

[Cronin]

That's a pretty tall bench.
I like your forward-line, with a slight change, I've chosen to play an extra small over Vardy,
Work rate is what will win us the match, we can't afford to carry the extra tall or players with limited tanks like Bews.

FB Kolodjashnij Lonergan Enright
HB Guthrie Taylor Mackie
C Motlop Selwood Duncan
HF Caddy Stanley Gregson
FF McCarthy Hawkins Menzel
Fol Smith Dangerfield Blicavs
Int Murdoch Bartel Horlin-Smith Lang

There's no match up for Henderson where as Kolodjashnij could probably line up against someone like Bruest
Murdoch is the 7th defender
Bartel rotating pretty much where ever to fill any gaps we have in our rotations
Horlin-Smith to take over from Caddy's 2015 rotations, Ideally he should be our most "inside" mid. To free up Dangerfield and Selwood to burst away from packs
Caddy and Motlop rotate between Half forward and the Midfield. At around the ground stoppages Motlop should be in an offensive position ahead of a stoppage while Caddy plays closer to the stoppage.
Even if Lang doesn't get a lot of the ball at the very least he won't let us down with our defensive structure.

I thought you already ruled Selwood out?

 

[Lana]

I thought you already ruled Selwood out?

I wasn't serious, and even if I was the talk coming from the club is a lot more positive. He should be playing on friday in the VFL trial match

 

[romeohwho]

This could be an issue against the best sides though, particularly Hawthorn.

That said, I am less concerned about us being too tall down back that I was with us being too tall up forward - the reason being that you can generally cover being too tall down back with decent positioning and getting first hands on the mark, whereas being too tall up forward means that the opposition cuts you to ribbons on the turnover. I was concerned that Vardy/Clark/Hawk/Stanley/Smith was too much, but with Clark out and McCarthy/Gregson in, it starts to make sense.

Yep, you are right, but quite fancy our improved looking forward line, with nice mix and as you say, McCarthy/Gregson-its great and should match well against their backline anyway. Am quite sure the most important step in beating the Hawks rests in the head and that means we have to worry about our team, not theirs(within reason).
Hawks are very good, but can they be beaten? Absolutely.
We might not be quite settled enough by Round 1, but let's make some progress in many aspects of the game-our team has to let them know we can back ourselves against them.

 

[ChookNorris]

With Thurlow out we need Mackies disposal.

4 tall backs + Mackie isnt the right balance but i guess they will try it until Lang/Cowan/Ruggles replaces one of the talls

Shame Mackie was so poor this weekend.

Probably, won't stop me from thinking that we are top heavy

If our round one side has Smith, Stanley, Hawkins, Vardy, Lonergan, Henderson, Taylor, Kolo and even mackie. We are in for a looong year.

 

[The rabbi]

Shame Mackie was so poor this weekend.

If our round one side has Smith, Stanley, Hawkins, Vardy, Lonergan, Henderson, Taylor, Kolo and even mackie. We are in for a looong year.

Then who do you suggest Chooky?

 

[ChookNorris]

Then who do you suggest Chooky?

I think Smith, Stanley, Hawkins & Vardy can function well. Stretching teams is alot easier to do offensively.
Then I think you need to pick 3 out of the 5 of Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, Longergan or Mackie.
Large guys rotating through the forward line should force hawks to stay accountable on all 3 they may be down there at any given time. Up forward for them Schoenmakers will be their only true KPP up forward, no need for Taylor, Henderson and Lonergan. Those 3 might be useful against a full compliment of talls from North Melbourne, but they might be about it this season.
I said earlier that Henderson should be a lock round one, particularly after what the club paid for him, but he has been massively underwhelming so far this pre-season. Perhaps the club will need to make some harsh calls early with players just to show them they aren't here to do the proverbial to spiders.

 

[catempire]

I think Smith, Stanley, Hawkins & Vardy can function well. Stretching teams is alot easier to do offensively.
Then I think you need to pick 3 out of the 5 of Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, Longergan or Mackie.
Large guys rotating through the forward line should force hawks to stay accountable on all 3 they may be down there at any given time. Up forward for them Schoenmakers will be their only true KPP up forward, no need for Taylor, Henderson and Lonergan. Those 3 might be useful against a full compliment of talls from North Melbourne, but they might be about it this season.
I said earlier that Henderson should be a lock round one, particularly after what the club paid for him, but he has been massively underwhelming so far this pre-season. Perhaps the club will need to make some harsh calls early with players just to show them they aren't here to do the proverbial to spiders.

What you say makes intuitive sense but the other side of the equation is who are the other 3 defenders? Mackie is on the nose around here but the fact is his ability - both defensively and offensively - is irreplaceable right now. He is also not contributing to the "top heavy" problem because he has played mostly as a small/medium defender for the last 4-5 years and done it well.

I don't mind Ruggles playing instead of Kolo but that hardly makes us any quicker and Kolo is a better user of the ball from what I've seen. If they want to try him playing on small forwards you just have to disregard his height.

 

[Sttew]

Then I think you need to pick 3 out of the 5 of Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, Longergan or Mackie.

Unfortunately, in the 3 NAB Challenge games Henderson has not done enough to warrant a R1 selection in my opinion. Harsh?

 

[romeohwho]

I think Smith, Stanley, Hawkins & Vardy can function well. Stretching teams is alot easier to do offensively.
Then I think you need to pick 3 out of the 5 of Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, Longergan or Mackie.
Large guys rotating through the forward line should force hawks to stay accountable on all 3 they may be down there at any given time. Up forward for them Schoenmakers will be their only true KPP up forward, no need for Taylor, Henderson and Lonergan. Those 3 might be useful against a full compliment of talls from North Melbourne, but they might be about it this season.
I said earlier that Henderson should be a lock round one, particularly after what the club paid for him, but he has been massively underwhelming so far this pre-season. Perhaps the club will need to make some harsh calls early with players just to show them they aren't here to do the proverbial to spiders.

Just drop Kolo for the mo. I can think of a few games in the last few years where being top heavy was a problem.
I can think of a zillion when the midfield and failure to get the ball at stoppages was the problem. If we are getting the ball and using it well, all those guys all become an asset, against any teams.
ps any chance we can put a serious tag on Mitchell would also be helpful round 1. Who?

 

[Cronin]

Unfortunately, in the 3 NAB Challenge games Henderson has not done enough to warrant a R1 selection in my opinion. Harsh?

It's not harsh because that's your opinion. In my opinion I think he HAS done enough and has looked solid, considering it's just his 3rd pre-season game in a completely new defensive setup to what he's used to.
Also, if he's going to be our next FB or CHB then he needs to play as much as possible and he'll only get better.

 

[Willo_]

Unfortunately, in the 3 NAB Challenge games Henderson has not done enough to warrant a R1 selection in my opinion. Harsh?

I have been a big fan of the Hendo recruitment, but I don't think you are being harsh

What will keep him in though is that Kolo has been far less impressive. So if a tall defender comes out it won't be Hendo IMO

To his credit after being absolutely shithouse in NAB 1 I feel he has steadily improved each game as well

 

[Willo_]

Does the elimination of a sub player and the reduction of interchange rotations help us bring a player like Selwood back, or does it hinder it? Be interesting to see how this plays out during the year.

My initial thoughts are, providing we don't pick up an injury or two on the day that they can manage his time more effectively. We have some good midfield depth that can certainly rest forward and be an attacking threat.

I think regardless of the fact we are bringing Sel back in off a limited prep we should expect to see him forward plenty this year.
We are fortunate that a large amount of our best mids are very capable of playing well forward. Sel has improved drastically in this area the last couple of years, Danger has done it well before, Duncan started there and is just silk with the footy and I have often mentioned how impressive I find Caddy when he plays forward.
Add in Mots/Cocky/Lang/Guth who are also very capable on the pill and around the goals and I think we have some seriously good depth and some seriously dangerous potential when it comes to players 'resting forward'

 

[Cronin]

I have been a big fan of the Hendo recruitment, but I don't think you are being harsh

What will keep him in though is that Kolo has been far less impressive. So if a tall defender comes out it won't be Hendo IMO

To his credit after being absolutely shithouse in NAB 1 I feel he has steadily improved each game as well

To be fair, the entire backline was shithouse in game 1

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Probably, won't stop me from thinking that we are top heavy

How many KP players is too top heavy ?

If we just go with the following setup than we have the same number of tall players as most other teams.
2 KP forwards- Hawkins and Vardy
2 Rucks - Smith and Stanley

Hawthorn won a premiership last year Roughead,Gunston,Schoenmakers,Hale and Mcevoy.

 

[Willo_]

To be fair, the entire backline was shithouse in game 1

Valid Point

Many times I even questioned if we were playing a backline that game

How else could that shittruck Fasolo get 5

 

[Cronin]

Valid Point

Many times I even questioned if we were playing a backline that game

How else could that shittruck Fasolo get 5

I guess all we can really do is judge it properly after round 1 against the best attack in the comp

 

[4quarter_cat]

Just a quick comment on Murdoch.

Anyone else notice his bounce on defensive 50 as he beat a man which gave him the time to compose himself then a long kick up the wing to a contest involving one of Smith,Vardy,Hawkins,Stanley?

Murdoch hasn't been known to take a bounce, I felt like he turned a corner in my perception of him in that moment.

I agree with others he may finally be coming good.

 

[Boxhead_31]

Shiels out for 6 weeks with a broken wrist means one less small forward we have to worry about.