Review Geelong defeats Hawks by 5 points

[catstragic]

If this is our side instead today:

OUT: Dahl, Constable, Evans, Holmes
IN: Danger, Menegola, Cameron, Rohan

We win by a lot...and I mean, a lot. It was a really tough watch, but it clicked for me halfway through the second what was happening, and why we couldn't just bomb it forward - because we didn't have the structure up forward to bring it to ground (they had Hartigan and Frost - we only had Hawkins as a tall, with Evans, Dahl, Holmes, Higgins and Smith, as other forward options). If we had Cameron, Rohan and even Danger up forward, we could get it in quick as much as we'd like.

We then ended up two down on the bench, so we doubled down on that strategy, and essentially just defended the game - and nearly lost it - until Clark and Henry's match-winning, GF esque moment in the last, gave us that little bit of spark that ultimately carried us across the finish line (just).

It was ugly AF, no denying that, but I think we look vastly different come round 5. We'll look even more different once Sav is available too, and even Simmo.

Bring on next week and the Cameron debut!!

This so much.

 

[Chinacats]

Weird thing to thing to say. Would never be embarrassed to tell people about the team that I support.

Now’s the time for a lot of teams to take shots at the top 4 from 2020. All coaches know that the best teams of last year are underdone. They know that as the season goes on, fitness will build and catch up to tactics and skill, and these highly credentialed teams will turn it on.

At what round does that even up? Cats generally start seasons well and then fall away in September. Yes it’s an even shorter pre season, but it’s still that same month difference we usually have on non top 8 teams from the previous years, so ....
3 games in now so when can we wipe ‘the shorter pre season’ excuse off the table?

 

[Live in hope]

The Good, the bad and the ugly-

The Good -
- Great to get to my first game in 18 months, albeit the ‘nose bleed’ level 4 seat.
- Cuthrie, Duncan, MOC.
- Atkin’s moment- huge
- Clark’s goal (actually had a few good patches earlier - good game, but with things to work on)
- Holmes- looked at home (pun unavoidable, sort of). Sure, didn’t smash it, but pretty assured first game.
- some good running, linking by Smith and foremost of the game Meirs
- Henry forward- whilst tempting to get carried away a bit, his athleticism and agility (and potential for a big grab) with reasonable finishing skills makes him a possible third tall. The forward line had an element of danger/less predictability once the move was made.

The Bad -
- our fitness and drop away
- Dahl - said all above. Scott backs the veterans and the role he’s probably playing so forget him being dropped
- Stanley- gez he’s a frustrating player. I think Fort is more solid, but that change won’t happen
- weak efforts at the basics - half volleyed short kicks under little pressure (unbelievable at this level), weak spoils (Kolo’s lame effort on Mitch in 4th Qtr was pathetic) and missed tackles.

The Ugly
- game plan. I know it is probably due to personnel shortages, fitness etc but damn me the number of good field position about 65 metres out that was blown by an obsession of not taking a risk kicking long. Stupid. Just ended up as turn overs at 65m from our goal rather than a contest or worst a turn over at deep forward. Was super frustrating to watch Evans in goal square, back turned to 30 metres of free space available to lead into but instead under instruction to keep Frost in the goal square.

Yes - four points and we should improve but not great to watch not much to indicate that we are going to challenge this year.

 

[00VicWard001]

Still love the team, but find it annoying having to increasingly defend their stodgy game style. (A new experience for a long time cat supporter )so usually just don’t fess up any more, unless pressed

Why need to defend anything? It’s not on you. The team plays the way it plays and is one of the best in the league. And who gives a flying f*ck about how the team wins, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. End of story.

 

[00VicWard001]

At what round does that even up? Cats generally start seasons well and then fall away in September. Yes it’s an even shorter pre season, but it’s still that same month difference we usually have on non top 8 teams from the previous years, so ....
3 games in now so when can we wipe ‘the shorter pre season’ excuse off the table?

I actually think it evens up at the bye. Bank the wins and learn what’s working with the new rule changes and apply. It’s a clever team and experienced coaching group. Id back them in to adapt.

 

[Cattery]

I know he hasn't always been a fan favourite, but after his last 18 months this guy can wear his hair however he bloody hell wants

Nope, I'm sticking to my guns, either gets it tidied up or he'd out, how a bloke looks is every bit as important as how he plays.

After reading the first page on here I had to check whether we actually won the match TBH, lot of negativity. Sure it wasn't pretty, but we did what we needed to do, and that was secure the four points, plus that play of Henry, Clark and Hawkins in the last quarter more then compensated for the overall standard of the game.
Even if we happen to lose next week (don't think we will though) 2/2 is still not a bad position to be in given the talent to return.

 

[kickazz]

I don't know.

We can say that we've had a shortened pre season, players are out, etc and blame our fade outs and lack of fitness on that.

But same thing happened in the Grand Final last year. We dominated and harassed Richmond in that first half and stopped doing in the second half for one reason. We ran out of petrol tickets.

We just need to find a balance where we can play a bit of slow footy sometimes in the first half and save a bit of energy for a big finish.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

Our fitness is shocking, two weeks in a row we’ve had 4 goal leads in the last Q and stopped dead in our tracks. Hope we can continue banking wins as our fitness base and improves.

I guess the last few years we’ve started the season strongly and faded, don’t mind the slower build up this season.

Dangerfield and Cameron will make us a 20% better side soon.

Longer quarters are terrible for our team - we don't have the fitness due to older blokes and lack of good runners

 

[cats_09]

Isaac Smith

7

Isaac Smith

Age

35

Ht

188cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

13.0

5star

HB

8.4

5star

M

5.5

5star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.7

4star

D

19.4

4star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.3

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.5

3star

CL

1.3

4star

D

19.2

5star

K

10.6

4star

HB

8.6

5star

M

7.6

5star

T

2.0

4star

CL

0.6

3star

the pre-match preparation of spending the past 48 hours in the bathroom throwing his guts up - not that you'd know if from the way he went about things during the match

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I didn't notice any injuries, who were they? The booing of Isaac was a disgrace though.

Evans syndesmosis higgins hammy.
Smith was crook before game (gastro) but played.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

He’s been a massive inclusion in the side this year imo

Has he ever...great get ive wanted smith ever since 2010. Better late than never issie

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Loved in roaming mark after the game when he asks Guthrie “ guth, did you get 45 disposals today?? Guthrie; I don’t know mark, yeah something like that”. Just seemed clueless and showed a selfless piece of him, where as other players more self absorbed would have googled their stats the moment they walked off the ground. Really loving his team first footy and it shows the way he is going about it every round

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Has he ever...great get ive wanted smith ever since 2010. Better late than never issie

Don’t think it’s a coincidence clarkson went out and got Tom Phillips to replace Isaac smith. Elite wingers are very valuable on the MCG surface with the large fat wings to cover up and down all game. Was expecting Clark to utilize it more today and had a big opportunity to stand up. Was a bit disappointed he didn’t take that step, did some ok things tho

 

[xtatik222k]

Does anybody have any hypothesis for the slow, cautious inside-50 approach? Perhaps the coaches have identified the team gets burned on the turnover? Were we trying to limit opposition spread and carry from the backline? Is this a structural thing? Or were we being conservative with the running game to avoid fitness drop-off in the last?
Seemed like a very deliberate choice by the team, frustrating at times. Even detective BT noticed it, so it must have been very obvious.

 

[David the Cat]

People have short memories.

Go back to round 3 2020 v Melbourne...we played a similar style as today, basically "keepings off" and the same criticism ensued...and ended up a similar result...I think we won by 3 points. The critics went ape shit..

We weren't playing that system of play later in the season.

Add Cameron, Danger, Menegola and even Rohan to the side today and things will be very different.

Patience grasshopper.

 

[dazbroncos]

Does this surprise anyone

now THAT is a rivalry.

GO Catters

 

[dazbroncos]

Jeff loved it

View attachment 1094739

just wanted to make sure Jeff's total suck face gets the air time it deserves

GO Catters

 

[Live in hope]

As I understand it our offensive plan up until this season essentially revolves around targeting marks/contests inside 50 from Danger/Hawk/Rohan. We now have JC to add to that list, and I suspect that only having one of those options available for the last two games has contributed to the slow gameplan.
Zero point zinging it into the forward half if its going to come straight back out again, so each entry is slow, giving the teams defenders a chance to form up behind play and try and hold the ball in. If possible target Hawkins leading out on the boundary, odds are he either marks it or it becomes a throw in where Hawk is again a powerful presence.
Its pretty ugly to watch, but its clever coaching. As others have mentioned once the marking targets come back we need to start using quicker movement, but until then ugly wins are much more fun than attractive losses.
Great to have Duncan back, looked a bit rusty but to be expected. Unfortunate that Higgins is down, he has been good and I was salivating at watching him work in tandem with Duncan. Hawk huge as always (we are gonna miss him so bad when he hangs up the boots). Guthrie huge, tough to pick between him and Duncan as our number one mid now. Also LOL at the pidgeon who had the most CBA's of the day. Go catters.

Good post.
Good explanation/defence of the game style - problem is that it is predictable, easy to defend and the turn overs happen high up the field with failed dinky passes while waiting for Hawk to find space. Quite often fat side space was not exploited. Only huge luck that we ain’t 0-3, against three struggling sides.

Sure- a win possibly justifies the game plan (sort of a ‘live to fight another day’ philosophy) but the ingrained slow footy won’t change that much when Danger, Cameron returns and that style doesn’t win premierships. Aside from being awful to watch, the wins don’t give you a lot of hope for ultimate success- and IMO that tarnishes the win significantly.

 

[Live in hope]

People have short memories.

Go back to round 3 2020 v Melbourne...we played a similar style as today, basically "keepings off" and the same criticism ensued...and ended up a similar result...I think we won by 3 points. The cities went ape sh*t..

We weren't playing that system of play later in the season.

Add Cameron, Danger, Menegola and even Rohan to the side today and things will be very different.

Patience grasshopper.

Remember it well...
and that style was resorted to in 2nd half of 2020 GF when the game was there for the winning and was comprehensively smashed.

Yes - agree that we need to find a way to bank wins, but see that style is the default ‘backs to the wall’ style - and it will ultimately end in tears. I think that tarnishes the win for many of us.

 

[allrighty]

Isaac Smith the pre-match preparation of spending the past 48 hours in the bathroom throwing his guts up - not that you'd know if from the way he went about things during the match

Already becoming a favourite of mine. Love his spirit, and got handy skills too.

 

[Jmac2225]

Don’t think it’s a coincidence clarkson went out and got Tom Phillips to replace Isaac smith. Elite wingers are very valuable on the MCG surface with the large fat wings to cover up and down all game. Was expecting Clark to utilize it more today and had a big opportunity to stand up. Was a bit disappointed he didn’t take that step, did some ok things tho

It feels like Clark is playing with a leash on at times. He is playing team first footy rather than instinctively and it makes him look a uncertain with his decision making at times.

Instances like him kicking to Henry instead of going for goal when he streamed down the wing even though he could of kicked it look to be becoming common place in his game. This isn’t necessarily bad just a learning curve.

He needs to gain the confidence to know when to do the team thing and when is the right time to back himself in.

 

[Down at K Park]

Longer quarters are terrible for our team - we don't have the fitness due to older blokes and lack of good runners

Chris scott last night said we have 4 of the best 5 runners in the comp. Blitz, smith, miers and menegola? At a guess.

Other good runners like duncan, stanley (for a ruckman), o’connor, tuohy. So it’s not like we are short in that area at all.

 

[Turbocat]

Their reaction was ordinary but predictable... Im not sure if they boo buddy like that ..so I wonder if some of it was him.. not just leaving but going to geelong. Not sure how it would have been seeing Paul Chapmen playing for Haw in "that" jumper

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Kreuger is 196, he is 3cm closer than Kolo and about 113 games further away from stopping those forwards.

Edit: also 6kgs lighter than Kolo according to his bio.

We need the second ruck so we can keep Blicavs down back imo.

The height number for Kolo doesn't matter its a furphy. He's just not a kpd. I really like kolos work as a medium defender at ground level, but he is a liability against a kpf with the ball in the air. Krueger might never make it, but there is a gaping hole in the backline that is hurting us. Whatever the solution is it's not Kolo defending a Darling or Kennedy

 

[bulletproof]

Chris scott last night said we have 4 of the best 5 runners in the comp. Blitz, smith, miers and menegola? At a guess.

Other good runners like duncan, stanley (for a ruckman), o’connor, tuohy. So it’s not like we are short in that area at all.

Clarke is a great runner too. I don’t think our issue is leg speed or fitness. Momentum swung against us and we were hanging on. We ran over Crows, so it is not something I worry about.

Holmes was absolutely gassed and we had Higggins off.