Autopsy Geelong loses to PA in QF2 by about 6 goals.

[catman2006]

Out Higgins Dalhaus and Oconnor
In Tuohy Holmes and Clarke

 

[Warhorse]

I thought Henry was our best. Our small forwards totally ineffectual again. dahlhause, miers and close kicked a couple of points between them.

Close was Aliirs direct opponent in the first quarter when he went on a rampage. Aliir knew he is not a capable goal kicker and just ignored him. Credit to Hinckley for identifying the weak link.

Not sure why so many people thought Henderson would be OK in a final. Has dished up red hot garbage in finals for years. Along with Menegola and Rohan.

Parfitt tried hard and was great defensively. Dangerfield is a shocking finals player unfortunately. He was putrid and we were absolutely flogged in the middle. Boak and Aliir the dominant players on the ground.

I have to say, Port Adelaide play an exciting brand of footy compared to the dour stuff Geelong dish up.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I thought Henry was our best. Our small forwards totally ineffectual again. dahlhause, miers and close kicked a couple of points between them.

Close was Aliirs direct opponent in the first quarter when he went on a rampage. Aliir knew he is not a capable goal kicker and just ignored him. Credit to Hinckley for identifying the weak link.

Not sure why so many people thought Henderson would be OK in a final. Has dished up red hot garbage in finals for years. Along with Menegola and Rohan.

Parfitt tried hard and was great defensively. Dangerfield is a shocking finals player unfortunately. He was putrid and we were absolutely flogged in the middle. Boak and Aliir the dominant players on the ground.

I have to say, Port Adelaide play an exciting brand of footy compared to the dour stuff Geelong dish up.

In QI, according to CD, Allir played on Miers and Dahlhaus for short periods, and on Rohan for a longer period.

 

[PzBlinky]

I thought Henry was our best. Our small forwards totally ineffectual again. dahlhause, miers and close kicked a couple of points between them.

Close was Aliirs direct opponent in the first quarter when he went on a rampage. Aliir knew he is not a capable goal kicker and just ignored him. Credit to Hinckley for identifying the weak link.

Not sure why so many people thought Henderson would be OK in a final. Has dished up red hot garbage in finals for years. Along with Menegola and Rohan.

Parfitt tried hard and was great defensively. Dangerfield is a shocking finals player unfortunately. He was putrid and we were absolutely flogged in the middle. Boak and Aliir the dominant players on the ground.

I have to say, Port Adelaide play an exciting brand of footy compared to the dour stuff Geelong dish up.

The game style and our players going to water in finals feels "chicken and egg".

Are our players falling apart because on some level they don't feel the game plan stacks up in finals, or is the game plan so horribly ineffective in finals-type pressure that it causes turnovers and errors that make the players look VFA level?

 

[google_this]

Correction. Blicavs has been sh*t the whole time. blicavs is Chris Scott’s project player. Thé player that represents Scott’s approach to football. mobile defensive player who hesitates, has no footy nous and too short for the ruck. And Scott keeps giving him best and fairest votes just for Trying. scott Sinks with the Blicavs ship.

this, he is a liability, loopy hospital switch kicks and every time he tries to break a tackle he fails, people bag kolo and Henderson yet Blicavs constantly balls up play in the back half and no one says a thing

 

[BigCat1]

Henderson, Higgins, Dahlhaus should not go around again.

The politics of the club will be interesting over next month, they need to aggressively re-shape the list.

I wonder who makes the calls? Wells or Scott?

How can you do that with what happened last year. We went all in with Cameron so we owe it maximise our opportunities for the next 2-3 years. There really is no alternative with the draft at the minute. It’s a pointless exercise

The only lever we haven’t pulled is to try and re-shape the back line and re think ball control. Bring in some elite kicks and allow them to be exposed more. We have to be more aggressive down there. Only really Stewart and Henry should be safe.

We need an experienced full back. All teams have them. Just a stopper and then De Koning at CHB. Clark was drafted as a running intercepting half back. Play the kid there. Kolo needs to go. I’ve got more athleticism than him for modern footy on top of his section making and Hendo signed his papers. He’s not big enough anyway.

some smartar$e Rich troll had it right but I don’t want to see Duncan get 30+ cheap back 50 possies. He is our best inside 50 kick.

We also have a huge issue in the midfield. 3 30 year old mids + a 30 year old ruck who are now constantly injured or playing injured and are below ave kicks.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Why wouldn’t they get a home prelim?

That’s usually what happens when you finish top 4 and win the first week lol

Where are Geelong playing next week?

Where would the prelim have been played had we won last night?

And that's considering the AFL came out and said both prelims would be in Perth for quarantine reasons.

Now don't come onto our board half cocked when you missed the original conversation

 

[kickazz]

We have 2 Coleman medalists. I had hoped we would change tack this year to move the ball quicker and try to take advantage of them in 1v1 and yet, we prefer to play chip it around and kick long into a flooded forward 50 instead.

We had Dees on the ropes when we went fast clearing it out of the midfield and we made the best defense in the league look average, yet we don't replicate it and go back to slow protective footy. Then there was that game vs Tigers when we made that premiership defense look average and belted them by 10 goals.

Aside from that we play this slow, hold up the ball, look left or right then try to switch or if not kick it long down the line and hope we mark it. Put some pressure on the opposition for a change, instead of it all being on us ffs.

The players seem incapable of executing this game plan, it's too difficult to do under pressure.

Indeed.


Time to get Captain Obvious into the coach's box.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Cats are booked on a flight tmw morning to Perth for their Semi Final. They gonna fly to Brisbane for the Prelim if they win? Unlikely.

Yes.

 

[Hinkley29]

The saddest part about that game is that Port were bog average. It is just that we were diabolical.

Some of the mistakes that gifted port goals were beyond laughable and the lack of pressure was embarrassing. Port will need to improve a fair bit to beat a decent team. That says a lot about how shite we were.

I don't like to isolate individuals after a performance like that, but there is some damming footage from behind the goals in the second qtr that highlights Guthrie and his lack of defensive running. Embarrassing for a professional footballer.

 

[Hinkley29]

Hmm heard that a few times now, might explain that easy mark he dropped? But if not fit, don't play

There was more than one drop. And a couple of double grabbers as well that he held onto. Just not as clean in the air as n normal.

Maybe Hendo has a broken hand also.

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Hi All,
I'm not a Cats supporter, but can i ask a question.

Dangerfield, he seems to go missing come finals time. True?

I have been saying it for years, but people look at me in amazement when i say it.

Depends on how you define “goes missing.”

Thought he was conspicuously terrible last night.

16 QF, 17QF 17PF 18EF 20QF 21QF all really poor games, but was very involved in each. 2020 GF and the second half of the 19PF he went missing.

 

[Jeff76]

Is it worth bringing Clark in for a back pocket and throwing Atkins forward so we can dump Dollhouse? Evans maybe? I’m out of ideas. Maybe go big with Hawk, Cameron, Sav and Rohan with Close Miers and dare I say it Higgins?

 

[Cursed Cat]

I'll drive him myself!

I've already packed his bag ...

 

[Cursed Cat]

In QI, according to CD, Allir played on Miers and Dahlhaus for short periods, and on Rohan for a longer period.

Allir's dominance is directly on Chris Scott/Corey Enright, not the small forwards who were unlikely to ever curb his dominance in the air.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Talia clearly cooked. No way they'd let him go otherwise.

Clearly an ideal pickup for us then

 

[foxdog50]

5, 6, 7, 5, 5. Who knows what this pattern is………….?







Number of goals kicked in first final the last 5 years. Not good enough.

After I saw 5 6 7, I thought the next step be 8... I was starting to sing Steps 5678

 

[WaxiesDargle]

These guys have been trained to play a bruise-free, slow-paced, timid game style for years. It’s no surprise that come finals, when the heat is on and the level goes up, they look soft, slow and lacking composure.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

The problem with Scott and the MC is they aren't ruthless enough at selection.

Both Kolodjashnij and Dahlhaus are two most average players in the comp but both will never get dropped. It's sends a poor message to players at the lower level who come in and play well yet are the first to make way.

As for Guthrie he's playing like he was the year before his AA jumper. Jogging around without a care in the world. No effort, no intensity.

 

[kickazz]

Kolo is a stopping defender not to launch attacks and he kind of did his role bar few dropped marks hurt, but when you look at the defence as a whole it was Henry and Kolo versus Port Adelaide, the rest of our defensive unit was totally AWOL

Fair enough, if that is the case we need a running defender like Clark ready to take a handpass. same with Blicavs

 

[kickazz]

These guys have been trained to play a bruise-free, slow-paced, timid game style for years. It’s no surprise that come finals, when the heat is on and the level goes up, they look soft, slow and lacking composure.

It's so obvious

 

[Gavin Excell]

No run, no dare

Dreary rubbish

 

[foxdog50]

I know there can only be 1 winner out of 19... but if we dont win it, it is a failure of a season for me... We recruited for now, in bringing in Cameron, Higgins, Smith, Rohan, Dahlhaus etc.
I'm not saying Cameron and Smith havnt been good for us, of course they have. But We are sacrificing not playing kids, and also the kids that aren't getting games like Narkle, Holmes, Constable, Clark, Evans etc.. which disgruntle them , who 3 of them in Narkle, Clark, Constable will most likely ask for a trade.. yes people will say Constable and Narkle won't make it , but how would of we know if they didn't get game time like our kids back before 2007, who played when they shouldn't of...

 

[Cursed Cat]

And it's been a decade of embarrassments:
2012 - down 5.7 to 0.1 at quarter time at home to Fremantle. Bundled out.
2013 - concede 4.8 to 1.1 in the final quarter to choke in the Prelim
2014 - out in straight sets after North score 7 goals in the first 25 mins
2016 - Go into the Prelim as flag favourites. Down 7.2 to 0.5 at quarter time. Outski.
2017 - Prelim. Down 6.3 to 1.2 at quarter time. Outski.
2018 - Down 5.3 to 0.2 at quarter time. Bundled out.
2019 - Collingwood kick 7 of the first 8 goals in the qualifying final. Tigers kick 8 goals to 2 to run over us in the Prelim.

but but but - the scenarios are different every year, different factors, different group of players; that's what our coach says.

CS doesn't realise that when he says this he is not factoring in the one common denominator in those losses; his inability to get his players to enact his game plan when finals roll around.

how many more years now?

 

[mcwilrob]

Just rinse and repeat every year. As soon as I saw Duncan mopping up across half back without an opponent from the start of the game, you just knew the way this game was going to play out. Duncan is by a country mile Geelong’s best distributor of the ball inside 50 and he had 2 I50’s for the match. Aliir snuffed out any chance Geelong had for getting a good start because there was no lowering of the eyes going forward.

There’s no doubt Geelong’s list is good enough to win a flag. The trouble is their game style is designed as a ‘don’t lose’ style, not a ‘play to win’ mindset. A ‘don’t lose’ style is fantastic against middling and lower teams as they simply cannot win as Geelong don’t allow them to score. It’s also effective against higher teams if the pressure is off a little or they’re out of form etc…As a general rule Geelong games are not pretty to watch as it’s ultra defensive ball retention and defending ‘with’ the ball.

But in finals a ‘don’t lose’ mentality gets found out too regularly. High quality teams always bring pressure in a final. There’s always heat on the ball carrier etc…

I don’t write Geelong off for the flag, but Scott has to coach them to dare to win.

Here’s where I’d start:

- In a PF and GF drop Rohan. There’s enough rock solid evidence now he’s terrible in finals. Just drop him.
- Play Duncan mid/fwd. Duncan has to be used as on offensive weapon. Play Selwood or Parfitt off half back.
- Play Blicavs key back. I don’t care if he’s a steeple chaser with a good tank …. I’ve seen enough of him in finals to know the heat is too hot for him to thrive in the ruck or on a wing… not saying he’s soft, he’s just too slow of mind and unable to influence around the ground in the heat of a final. Stop trying to protect the defence by sliding Blicavs back … put Blicavs and Henderson as key backs and use Henry as the interceptor.
- Play Ratagolea as key fwd / back-up ruck (I assume he’s fit?). He doesn’t have to do a single thing except not get out marked.
- Tell Danger to stop diving onto his stomach every time he gets the ball - he gets the occasional free but it puts him out of the contest constantly by going to ground. Wines and Boak ran rings around him as he was always grounded.

That’s my take.



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Agreed - the issues with the supposed "don't lose" game plan is that as soon as the pressure goes right up (which it always does in finals) Geelong players can't cope, and make stupid errors, turn it over, etc. and bingo, there's the game...