Preview How to beat Geelong

[Knightmare]

Important matchups:
Joel Selwood –Luke Ball: Only Ball can match Selwood through the midfield and must go head to head with Geelong’s next captain. Pendlebury has played on Selwood in some past games and just doesn’t go well with that matchup so I would have Ball as the primary head to head with Selwood. But others will be rotated through the midfield onto him, midfield matchups are hardly going to happen 100% of the game, but optimally at most stoppages I’d like to see it happen anyway – when practical.

Jimmy Bartell – Dale Thomas: Has done the job before and think he can do the job, and win again. Bartell is dangerous because he can go forward and take a grab but expect Daisy to hurt him going the other way and force Jimmy to play more accountable footy than he would like.

Paul Chapman – Heath Shaw: Think Shaw is just about the only man for the angry ant. Johnson will probably also get some minutes on him. But Chapman is a big, big game player and always has a good one against us. Shaw was big last year in the finals and I think is the only player who can match Chapman. If he can win the matchup and still provide some drive. Big win!

Steve Johnson – Harry O’Brien: Has done the job before and is the man for the job. With the Stevey J injury don’t expect him to play great midfield minutes. O’Brien is a good fit because physically he can unsettle the genius and put him off his game as well as anyone in the comp.

James Podsiadly – Alan Toovey: While others will be pushing for Tarrant v Podsiadly I REALLY want to see Toovey take him and I think we can really surprise Geelong with this matchup and do the best job at containing him. Has in the past done well against some talls this year and I trust him to shut down any forward of any size or type. Doesn’t lose one on ones and will just spoil anything that comes his way. Podsiadly has the size advantage but Tooves has played bigger before and should be able to compensate for this with his smarts. For mine is the perfect matchup for the dangerous old fella.

Tom Hawkins – Chris Tarrant: Our biggest defender and probably the only man who physically might be able to compete with Hawkins. Hawkins is not a super strong one grab out in front marker so Taz just needs to keep his feet, get into the right positions and play the smart game to beat the big man who has played some good finals games this series.

Brad Ottens/Trent West (When Fwd) – Ben Reid: Reid can play some extra man back when one of these is resting on the bench, but more important is stopping the big ruck duo when they move forward. Ottens in the past has really hurt us when he pushes forward and West this finals series has shown the same things and looked serious good leading up forward and marking strongly. Massively important that we stop these two, actually view them as being the two biggest dangers to us, particularly if Jolly doesn’t come good. Stop these two rucks and I think we win the game. Would give Reid the responsibility down back to watch these two when they come forward.

Some other player notes:
Corey Enright – A fixture in the All Australian team down back. Important to stop his drive.

Harry Taylor – Has done the job extremely well v Cloke in the past. Will probably go to him again if not thne he will go to Dawes. The key with Taylor is taking him to full back. Not comfortable near goal at all and think if Cloke/Dawes can take him to the goal square and isolate him that we can kick a couple on him.

Josh Hunt – Watch for his long kicking. If he sneaks forward cannot let him get a kick. Likes doing the Harry O’Brien load up from 60 goal.

Brad Ottens – If Jolly doesn’t play Ottens is my tip for best on ground. Has hurt us in the past and will absolutely rip Wood to shreds. Have to limit his impact in the ruck, stop him from hitting to advantage and when he moves forward have to watch him and make sure he doesn’t clunk those big marks he is capable of taking.

Trent West – Big bodied ruckman who with the injury of Nathan Vardy has established himself as a ruckman and frankly rate this guy as a top 10 ruckman around the league. Has been BIG this finals series and absolutely ripped Hawthorn up then played a very good game v West Coast. Can do everything Ottens can and more, just kicking isn’t great. Requires respect.

Allen Christensen – Looks like Stokes. Can do many of the same things up forward but his clearance work is fantastic and can take a run in the midfield. Has a great burst of speed. Has great agility and can easy run around tacklers. Watch him around stoppages inside 50. Can run onto it and come out the other end for the goal very easily. Is a danger player even though he is a lesser known. Can’t take him easy just because he is a 2nd year player.

Travis Varcoe – Has incredible pace. Really rate his work around stoppages. Hits it at pace and often comes out the other end with it for a goal. At stoppages really need to stay goal side of him at all times and put a body on him to stop him running at it at the pace. Also around the ground obviously has the unbelievable pace so you just need to limit his time + pace as much as possible.

David Wojcinski – Has been an absolute energiser this year as he has always been. Has lost no athleticism and if the ball is in his hands you just need to create a wall so that he can’t run the ball through, because he can run end to end easily and either create a goal or kick it himself.

Areas:
Rucks:
Big danger. Must give mids first use to give them the greatest chance to get on top. Must also watch for Ottens + West when they move forward because they could very easily kick 2-3 goals between them. If Wood ends up playing he absolutely must get to front position at every boundary throw in because in the past he just gets pushed out of the contest too easily physically and if playing from behind is no hope at getting the tap to advantage.

Mids:
Has premiership midfield written all over it. Absolutely need to get on top in the midfield if we want to win this match. Make no mistake. Have to get it forward more than Geelong get it forward to give ourselves the best chance possible to win. Geelong have the better ruck combination – whether or not Jolly plays so our on balls all need big games and to just go for it.

Geelong’s defence is incredibly settled and hard to score on so midfield goals will be incredibly important.

Def:
Drive from Geelong’s back line in recent weeks has been incredible and frankly a beautiful thing to watch. Drive is absolutely instant, they move it incredibly fast and in two kicks can go end to end for the goal, easily.

Absolutely need to shut down the centre square to ensure that whenever Geelong are on the rebound that they can’t go down the corridor. Really need to force them to go as wide as possible and well onto the wings. Also important is just locking the ball inside our forward half and have our forwards just tackle, tackle, tackle.

Fwds:
Big forwards are a concern. Particularly with the fitness questions over Reid. Podsiadly could easily go off for 4-5 and just needs to be shut down. Hawkins has been in form of late and has really been having an influence on games because he is that much bigger than everyone else and has now increased his work rate and is now crashing packs and attacking the ball well. Could go off for 2-3 so really requires a physically strong opponent who can stop him from getting his hands on it. Then Ottens + West when they go forward will be very hard to cover because they also are serious marking targets who could very easily clunk a couple.

Then you’ve got to stop the likes of Stevey J, Chappy who always explodes against us, Christensen who is dangerous, then Stokes and Duncan who might start as sub. There’s allot of potential goal scorers who could easily go off. Great variety of talls and smalls.

Geelong have quality midfield delivery and we need to amp up the pressure to max. Pressure alone won’t win us the game, but if we can dominate the midfield battle and still additionally add that pressure when they have the ball, then we can take some pressure off our backline, which is necessary with many underdone.

Other team notes:
Geelong now move the ball allot more willingly by foot and take better advantage of their superiority by foot which has led to quicker ball movement and the ability to go end to end for goals even easier.

Pressuring alone won’t give us the edge it might have previously and we need to get on top through the midfield and get the edge through winning more of the contested ball than Geelong do and by getting those clearances and that inside 50 advantage.

 

[TradeDraft]

Well put it Simply we need to score more points then Geelong

 

[Swooop]

Well done Knight.

We probably have a pace advantage, hope we maximise this.

They'll take the game on I think, attack with more flair than we did last few times against them and get more pressure onto them ... just like in PF last year.

Oh, and if we blindly bomb the ball into the forward 50, Scarlett and Enright will destroy us.
That was the biggest change between the two GFs last year, when we started looking for targets and cut Fisher's influence.

Hope we use the corridor a bit more aswell.. when we do we seem to do really well and outscore the other team easily.

 

[Knightmare]

Well done Knight.

We probably have a pace advantage, hope we maximise this.

They'll take the game on I think, attack with more flair than we did last few times against them and get more pressure onto them ... just like in PF last year.

Oh, and if we blindly bomb the ball into the forward 50, Scarlett and Enright will destroy us.
That was the biggest change between the two GFs last year, when we started looking for targets and cut Fisher's influence.

Hope we use the corridor a bit more aswell.. when we do we seem to do really well and outscore the other team easily.

Good points. Around the ground in most positions Geelong are that little bit slower so run and carry certainly isn't a bad idea. Their tackling game has reached a new level this year and they aren't that finesse team they might once have been. Really have that defensive side of their game down now.

Control of the centre will be big. Both teams just need the superiority of numbers in there. It will no doubt be a theme with the way Geelong can use the corridor. I'd really like to see us use it a big more, and look for options in there when the opportunity is there.

Very true about the forward 50 enteries. It's even more important because of the way they are just rebounding the ball with such damage.
Our mids really have to get meaningful forward 50 entries, that will be the key there. Kick it to advantage or to a target because Scarlett is a savy enough defender to continue to work to front position and there are a number, Mackie as well who can just read it and mark any ball that isn't directed at a forward 50 target.


On form Geelong are the better side so we absolutely need to nail all that matchups. Get the right plans in place and prepare and understand our opposition better than they understand us.
With a bit of luck Butters can get our boys up for one more week and get Reid + Jolly good to go. As well as getting Thomas, Shaw and those others who have missed time primed and ready to rumble.

 

[PieBeast]

Nice comprehensive write up.

Couple of things I strongly disagree with. Having Taz play on Hawkins would be a waste, as Podsiadly is their most favorite forward and Taz is our best defender. Pods will be way too big and too strong for Toovey.
IMO Tooves is the perfect man to go with Chappy, we will shoot ourselves in the foot by playing Heater on him as it will be detrimental to our run.

 

[kevind]

in your whole essay, I can't believe you haven't addressed one of Geelong's keys, Scarlett.

We seem incapable atm of setting up our press from last year so IMO that makes a plan for Scarlett even more important. The forward press often stifled his ability to run, carry and deliver.

I take it we will play 7 in defence with Maxwell loose. That leaves Scarlett free at the other end. I would bring in Goldsack(if we roll the dice with REid) to be the defensive forward on Scarlett.

As you point out though the ruck and midfield will largely determine the result. We will need blinders from Swan, Pendlebury and Ball to counteract Ottens.

Either Ottens or James Kelly will win the Norm Smith.We need a good spread from the whole team and I hope to God we don't take injured players into the game. Never works in GFs unless you are Brisbane playing the rubbish we dished up in '03.

 

[daics_35]

Great write up and I agree with you, we simply have to limit and make it harder for them to run out of deffence, this is where we need the forward press to work effectively and stick the tackles. As much as I dont rate Wood, I dont think Ottens will kill him as much as people think. Ottens hasnt looked great in recent weeks. To beat them we will need 90+ tackles for the game and I think we can deffs do it.

 

[mattys123]

We beat them through pressure, to put it simply, just like we have when we have beaten them over the past 4-5 years, on those very rare occasions.

Geelong are not a great foot skilled side, they are not, players like Christensen (53% on the weekend), Corey (47%, first game back, won't get much better), West (56%), Hawkins (50%). Ling (57%) and the over rated receiver in Varcoe (58%) are flawed, and can be exploited.

And those percentages occurred in a game that had about 40% of the pressure that the Grand Final will have.

We will hit them hard, we will tackle hard, we will harass, and if we do, we can win.

They are not unbeatable, the round 8 game showed that when we played poorly early yet should have won, and Sydney also showed them up as a team that struggles under intense pressure if you place it early.

If Johnson doesn't play, they will be going in with a weaker side then what most are actually talking about, West got slaughtered by NicNat, and if Cox had of been fit, he would have been killed by him too.

They are missing Vardy, who could be a superstar, and also Menzel, who will be a star, and this hurts them also, and can be an area to exploit.

They used Ottens sparingly also, something you do not do in a knockout final unless that player has pre existing injury concerns.

They are ripe for the beating, we are on the up, they are coming off a practice match, they will not be able to match us for 4 quarters, if we maintain our effort and intensity, WE WIN.

 

[kevind]

Great write up and I agree with you, we simply have to limit and make it harder for them to run out of deffence, this is where we need the forward press to work effectively and stick the tackles. As much as I dont rate Wood, I dont think Ottens will kill him as much as people think. Ottens hasnt looked great in recent weeks. To beat them we will need 90+ tackles for the game and I think we can deffs do it.

For God's sake, mate. Have you been on Mars. Ottens was BOG in their final against Hawthorn. Single handedly turned the game Geelong's way when they looked in trouble.

NIc Nat is the best tap ruck in the AFL atm. no shame in Ottens game on Sat. It was basically a training run. Ottens killed us in the 2007 PF, round 8 this year and round 24 this year. He is vital for Geelong. If he goes down, there will be a huge pendulum swing our way.

 

[PieBeast]

For God's sake, mate. Have you been on Mars. Ottens was BOG in their final against Hawthorn. Single handedly turned the game Geelong's way when they looked in trouble.

NIc Nat is the best tap ruck in the AFL atm. no shame in Ottens game on Sat. It was basically a training run. Ottens killed us in the 2007 PF, round 8 this year and round 24 this year. He is vital for Geelong. If he goes down, their will be a huge pendulum swing our way.

2007 Prelim has nothing to do with Wood, rd 8 game on the other hand......

Apparently Ottens has a sore groin, whatever that means.

 

[daics_35]

For God's sake, mate. Have you been on Mars. Ottens was BOG in their final against Hawthorn. Single handedly turned the game Geelong's way when they looked in trouble.

NIc Nat is the best tap ruck in the AFL atm. no shame in Ottens game on Sat. It was basically a training run. Ottens killed us in the 2007 PF, round 8 this year and round 24 this year. He is vital for Geelong. If he goes down, their will be a huge pendulum swing our way.

He has also looked fairly slow as well, Wood has also been playing much better when he has played in recent games than Jolly. Not that worried about Wood playing tbh, I have faith in him.

 

[kevind]

He has also looked fairly slow as well, Wood has also been playing much better when he has played in recent games than Jolly. Not that worried about Wood playing tbh, I have faith in him.

What worries me is that I can not think of a winning GF team that had a No.1 ruck who lacked physical presence. It's usually a recipe for disaster eg 2002,2003.

Jolly is clearly going to be out, so we have no choice. I sincerely hope that no Geelong player gets injured, but if there is one that does I would hope it be Ottens. He will be the major influence on the result IMO.

 

[daics_35]

[/b]

What worries me is that I can not think of a winning GF team that had a No.1 ruck who lacked physical presence. It's usually a recipe for disaster eg 2002,2003.

Jolly is clearly going to be out, so we have no choice. I sincerely hope that no Geelong player gets injured, but if there is one that does I would hope it be Ottens. He will be the major influence on the result IMO.

You make a good point. Wellingham said on channel 10 today that Jolly was a bit sore but he was walking alright at the beach for recovery today and gives him a good chance. So there is still a chance he could play.

 

[Knightmare]

Bigs guys never get any smaller. Even if hampered by injury Ottens will still push forward and take big grabs and kick goals. They have managed him well this season and has taken over big games against us before and I have no reason to believe he can't do it again.

Don't think the loss of Vardy is anything significant. West is the better player and would argue he is as good as Ottens is already. The Vardy injury was a blessing in disguise for them.

@mattys With regard to the footskills of many around ground the problem is that it won't always be in the hands of those players you identified because they aren't the primary ball winners - bc types like S.Johnson, Chapman, Enright, Selwood, Bartell, Kelly will always be the leading ball winners.
I don't personally see much of a disposal efficiency drop at all from Geelong on grand final day. Pressure will be there. But they've been there before.
Also v WCE while the pressure in Q1 was poor, after the first quarter WCE's pressure was probably better than ours has been for much of the year to be honest. So we have to be prepared for perfect play.


Scarlett and Kelly I intentionally didn't address.

Kelly is a worthy All Australian. Is probably their in form midfielder. Had some meaningful clearances v WCE. Didn't make mention of him because I don't think he specifically needs a head to head matchup. Maybe Wellingham can have him for a portion of the night or a Swan. But don't see any great advantage in any particular matchup v Kelly unless others they can spot a way to generate an advantage there.
The main thing for me is get that big midfield assendency and through that limit the influence of the Geelong's mids because they just won't get their hands on the ball if we do first.

Scarlett is a great all round player and really is just about without weakness. Some of the ideas which have been used before are to push him away from the play. So for example if Dawes is playing Scarlett he should lead away from the ball to take Scarlett away from the contest then have Cloke leading into the goal square to take down Taylor 1v1.
The other idea I thought of was going small v Scarlett. Geelong in the past have struggled against the midget forwardlines like that of Carlton and a couple of others. Maybe use a smaller forward as a type of forward tag. But unsure how much use this will be.

But hopefully the club have some other tactics to use to limit the influence of both Kelly + Scarlett.


The other thing many are talking about is the pressure. The pressure will be important. But the actual winning of the contested footy I think will be the most important thing. Lots of 1v1s and man on mans in the grand final. Have to win your own footy and beat your direct opponent.
We have to be of the view that if we let them get their hands on the ball, we will not win.
Pressure when they have it will be vital, no doubt. But if we don't win the clearances, win the inside ball. We are that much further away from winning our 16th flag.

 

[Pera]

Toovey will go to Chapman. Has given him a bath on many occasions.

Tarrant to play on the stay at home forward while Reid to push up the ground and use his speed against the somewhat slow Hawkins/J-Pod.

Shaw to Stokes and O'Brien to Johnson.

We match up very well with the Cats down back.

 

[daics_35]

Toovey will go to Chapman. Has given him a bath on many occasions.

Tarrant to play on the stay at home forward while Reid to push up the ground and use his speed against the somewhat slow Hawkins/J-Pod.

Shaw to Stokes and O'Brien to Johnson.

We match up very well with the Cats down back.

Yep we do and also the midfield as well. The main worry is their backline and run from their back half.

 

[Ed D]

How to beat Geelong:

- Win the clearances
- Don't bomb the ball to an outnumbered contest in the forward line

That's about it.

 

[Shellz]

Apparently Ottens has a sore groin, whatever that means.

Oh good! Him and Jolly can play on eachother and maybe we can organize for the umpire not to bounce the ball too high so neither have to jump!

 

[Football God]

nice write up. i would put leigh brown on either ottens and west while theyre resting up forward or down back and play tough intimidating football

 

[sr36]

Does anyone else remember Daisy on Selwood the first time we played the cats this year. Selwood killed it in the first term, then Daisy went to him and cut him up and brought us back into the contest. I expect to see this match up at times in the GF.

Dane Swan to slay them and carry us over the line. But the norm smith to be given to someone more fashionable - probably Pendles or Daisy.

 

[THATSGOLD]

Don't allow Scarlett and Enright and Mackie lose in defense when they are moving the ball out. Forward tag Scarlett and probably Enright.

Hard tag selwood and kelly in the middle

We need to break even in the ruck Ottens and West can't be allowed to dominate.

If Hunt goes to krak push krak further up the ground away from him and run him off his legs, Krak won't like it too physical don't allow krak to struggle against a big Hunt for the whole match.

 

[Somebody]

MM has just said we need to be more risk-taking and use the corridor more. Last times we played geelong this year they looked the more skillful attacking team so it's a bit of a worry but we have to try to match them in this area, can't just go "tight" and defensive. It does look as if they'll be a bit better with this, just seem to be able to slice through with slick handball and loose men. One reason is that we tend to not take those risks as much, so maybe if we go all out with attack we can surprise everyone, but can't count on it.
That means we may have to compensate with other areas of the game - the press and pressure although Geelong seems to be matching that as well, and a superior attack hopefully giving more conversions per entry to compensate for Geelong's likely edge in inside 50's.

It's a bit late in the day to be going for an attacking style, having only had one quarter practicing it. Just have to play and take risks with confidence for 4 quarters - even if it backfires a fair bit just have to persist because it's too late to develop some new super press mark 2, and hope we eventually get a run-on of a lot of goals.

Wow

Also I hope Didak starts on the ground - need those superb passes into f50 to buy a couple of extra goals. Doesn't nec have to have a big disposal game, GF's are different. Looked pretty humbled by being on the bench and he would come out very intense.

 

[larrikan]

Great write up...I disagree with Toovs on Pods. I am amused at this whole formline argument. We are comparing apples and oranges with both sides preparation. AND Geelongs form prior to round 24 was woeful...they were looking slow. I think they were rated 6th on formline. We need our second tier players Wellingham, Beams, Sidebottom, Didak and Blair and co. on song.

WE BEAT GEELONG by coming out in the first quarter like the last quarter against the Hawks. Firing up the intensity, pressuring them out of contests, hitting the scoreboard and putting doubt in their minds. If the dominant 2011 Pies show up from the get go, form and the past is out the door. Oh, and apparently there is something called "structures" which win us games convincingly. In round 8, MM said our structures broke down. FFS I am praying for our "structures" to hold up this weekend.

 

[Big Fozza]

Good read.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

What's sooooooooo frustrating about this game, is that if we bring our top line tackling and pressure game, we win.

But we haven't brought that for most of this year. Can't see us turning it on out of nowhere.