Geelong - Too old, too slow?

[Jake98]

Sure, and we were the oldest list to win a flag ever, regularly field the oldest and heaviest sides on record, the oldest team to make the GF (2020). We are always the oldest list and have been for a long time and we are the best performed club (in general not flags) over that time period.

Hawthorn were also quite an old side during their far more successful three-peat period. Again, they hit a point where they dropped down for a while. The same will happen to Geelong because the quality in their youth just isn't there.

Geelong are about to make the exact same mistake Hawthorn did too: further compromise youth for an expensive top-up.

 

[MisterMarcus]

So? They were said about Hawthorn too before they actually did drop off.

Geelong's squad demographic is different now. They have clearly hit a point where they're too slow to compete and their youth is clearly lacking in quality.

So do you think Geelong have some similarities to Hawthorn 2018?

I’m not quite sure any of us caught it the first 100 times you said it.

 

[Taper]

We've been saying that for over a decade...

People began writing us off in 2009 when we went 5-4 in the back end of the home and away season.
We won the flag and those who wrote us off ended up with egg on their faces.

People wrote us off coming into 2011, after we'd been flogged in the preliminary final and lost our coach and best player.
We won the flag and those who wrote us off, ended up with egg on their faces once again.

It's nothing new.
I mean, this thread was started in 2021 and we won the flag in 2022.

 

[Jake98]

People began writing us off in 2009 when we went 5-4 in the back end of the home and away season.
We won the flag and those people ended up with egg on their faces.

People wrote us off coming into 2011, after we'd been flogged in the preliminary final and lost our coach and best player.
We won the flag and those ended up with egg on their faces.

It's nothing new.
I mean, this thread was started in 2021 and we won the flag in 2022.

Yes, and?
Same could be said about Hawthorn post-2008, post-2012, etc.

Eeked out one last flag on the back of the remaining older generation players + a few top-ups. Much like Hawthorn in 2015.

As of today, Geelong's youth is bottom 4 in the AFL, and the mid-age contingent isn't great either. Even with that in mind, Crazy Chris Scott is still driven to top up, and is pushing to sign both Clayton Oliver and Bailey Smith. That will be a yikes from me.

 

[STPer18]

How many rookie picks have ever won the Rising Star award? Ollie Dempsey is set to join those ranks, and our first winner since Joel Selwood in 2007.

 

[PhatBoy]

Do you have reading difficulties? I clearly called Fremantle bottlers.

I don't "hate" Geelong, I just happen to have an opinion that clearly doesn't conform with Geelong supporters on this website. I think there are clear similarities between Geelong in 2024 and Hawthorn in 2018.

Geelong have an even older list than Hawthorn did that year, and pursuing a player like Bailey Smith bares striking resemblance to Hawthorn pursuing Chad Wingard in 2018.

So you keep telling us

If you say it more, people will be more inclined to believe you. And you’ll convince yourself at some point

 

[PhatBoy]

Yes, and?
Same could be said about Hawthorn post-2008, post-2012, etc.

Eeked out one last flag on the back of the remaining older generation players + a few top-ups. Much like Hawthorn in 2015.

As of today, Geelong's youth is bottom 4 in the AFL, and the mid-age contingent isn't great either. Even with that in mind, Crazy Chris Scott is still driven to top up, and is pushing to sign both Clayton Oliver and Bailey Smith. That will be a yikes from me.

Crazy Chris Scott - the coach with more flags than any current coach beside Hardwick and Clarkson, and with a better win percentage than any coach in history. Right. So…. Just to be clear, you think that you, the guy who can’t maintain an account on a free-of-charge footy forum where the rules are basically ‘say anything you want within reason as long as you’re not being an uncontrollable pest’ know more about team and club development than he does, and the recruitment team that have been working in tandem with him for 14 seasons.

I’m continually staggered as to how in a land where 18 - count them, 18, professional football clubs are constantly on the look out for coaching and development talent, no one has picked you up yet.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

How many rookie picks have ever won the Rising Star award? Ollie Dempsey is set to join those ranks, and our first winner since Joel Selwood in 2007.

2007... Rising star winner and we lose by single digits to Port at home.
2024... Rising star winner? and we lose by single digits to Port at home.

 

[Freomaniac]

If cats Beat Port on Thursday night at Adelaide oval, I will load up on them for the flag.

 

[Cleansweep17]

If cats Beat Port on Thursday night at Adelaide oval, I will load up on them for the flag.

I’m with you on that. Probably see a repeat of the 2022 GF.

But Dogs and Hawks can make this finals series very interesting.

 

[Mr Meow]

I’m with you on that. Probably see a repeat of the 2022 GF.

But Dogs and Hawks can make this finals series very interesting.

You're not gonna like it, but with the two form teams of the comp, straight sets for the Cats wouldn't even be embarrassing (unless they get spanked both times). Especially if it's Hawthorn and so the semi final would be at their home ground.

It's slightly different for Port as they are at AO the next match regardless and are more in their "peak" years. But just how they were unlucky to take on a red hot GWS in a SF last year, it would be the same if they had to play WB or Hawthorn this finals series.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Second oldest team still. I think with the multiple retirements starting to come Geelong will start to go through a period of falling down after this year. I do hope they have a crack at the flag this year but logic says it's finally time imo.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Second oldest team still. I think with the multiple retirements starting to come Geelong will start to go through a period of falling down after this year. I do hope they have a crack at the flag this year but logic says it's finally time imo.

The thing is, I reckon if you're picking up three long-term players over the course of a draft, you're doing pretty well. And, while it's not at the point where you could guarantee every one of these players will get to 100 games, considering our draft hands, the current top 15 from our 2019-23 drafts looks pretty damn solid to me. I'd be interested to see how it measures against other teams.

Sam de Koning, Brad Close, Max Holmes, Shannon Neale, Tanner Bruhn*, Ollie Henry*, Toby Conway, Mitch Knevitt, Ollie Dempsey, Jhye Clark, Oisin Mullin, Ted Clohesy, Connor O'Sullivan, Shaun Mannagh, Lawson Humphries.

*Bruhn and Henry of course weren't selected by Geelong, but departed their original clubs for Geelong practically as soon as they could and Geelong spent roughly equivalent picks via trade to get them.