Prediction How Will The Cats Fare in 2025?

[iameviljez]

Mooney was our only premiership player for a while there before he straightened us up and got others into flagdom.
Yes, very lucky in that NM team.
But Mooney was special.
I watched him be bog v Demons in a final, and he was CHB or FB.
Brilliant. He had gifts. Could ruck, then he swung himself to CHF because we needed him to.
A little underrated in our era, imho.
I'd be rapt if Neale is in the same league as Mooney, and he well could be.

He was very good, but playing as a third tall defender is probably the “easiest” role in footy. He was a good second-tier CHF IMO - not as good as Tredrea, Riewoldt or Brown, but still good.

 

[And_ROOS]

Honestly I wasn't using it to slam Neale. It was more like "if Playfair turned out somewhat good". I think Hawkins has passed off enough smarts on the basics. Besides the basic lead-present-convert goals, I want to see him get to as many contests as possible and compete in the air next year, stopping easy opposition marks. And that's the area I think he might still be inconsistent on. He had a good final against Port and a poor one against Brisbane, but he is still (sort of) a kid in key forward terms. Big year ahead. I think 2025-2026 is where we get a better idea on his projected ceiling.

I.e the purple patch he had in 2005 when he was kicking goals, setting them up, crashing packs, looking awkward and getting a bit of the ball.

That would be super.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Sure, but Hawkins looked completely lost for a lot of that period from 2007-2011, to the point that his future seemed to be in serious question and many rightly thought he was getting games on draft rep.

My point is that young tall forwards look a long, long way from the finished product for a long while.

His development wasnt linear, but the talent he displayed was on par with nathan ablett. He oozed class and natural ability. He was probably more a victim if anything of the game shifting from your monster forward to more athletic endurance key forwards who can cover ground. In many ways hawkins had to re invent himself from scratch which took alot of hard work and made him a little fish out of water eske at times.

I dont think neale has this same problem, neale is a modern day prototype.

 

[catswhiskers]

Just an observation.

In the twos Neale led well. He was not always honoured by the kick, but when he was, his kicking at all distances was pretty good.

It's a one wood he can fall back on if need be.

Playing in a side as 3rd banana means spaces you might like are pretty much devoured by established forwards. Cameron is not conventional but does get into open spaces really well..and often . That means Neale can't just attack space, he has to forgo opportunities.

Watch the newbies in the ones (Dempsey is a great example) and you will see them defer.

Neale offers a lot, IMO. Getting to 50 games would see him be a "target" rather than part of the support ( but important) players in the forward line.

I am also bullish on Henry. His development has been steady, and without checking stats, his involvement seems to be more consistent. He will grow into a big body (check Jack out) and take marks on the ground as well as on the fly. He will be a match up nightmare. Scoring in 2025 should not be a problem . If you are an optimist.

Next season looks to be a good chance to go top 4. Even without a Conway.

 

[And_ROOS]

Just an observation.

In the twos Neale led well. He was not always honoured by the kick, but when he was, his kicking at all distances was pretty good.

It's a one wood he can fall back on if need be.

Playing in a side as 3rd banana means spaces you might like are pretty much devoured by established forwards. Cameron is not conventional but does get into open spaces really well..and often . That means Neale can't just attack space, he has to forgo opportunities.

Watch the newbies in the ones (Dempsey is a great example) and you will see them defer.

Neale offers a lot, IMO. Getting to 50 games would see him be a "target" rather than part of the support ( but important) players in the forward line.

I am also bullish on Henry. His development has been steady, and without checking stats, his involvement seems to be more consistent. He will grow into a big body (check Jack out) and take marks on the ground as well as on the fly. He will be a match up nightmare. Scoring in 2025 should not be a problem . If you are an optimist.

Next season looks to be a good chance to go top 4. Even without a Conway.

OHenry will kick goals, thats not his issue, 41 goals then 37 and next year I think he goes close to 50.
What he needs to work on is holding marks and not going to ground in every marking contest. Fix those two things and he will have a monster season.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Wouldn't say the same, throws his weight around and likes a good shove. Watch some of his off the ball work to shepherd other players and you'll see where I'm coming from.

He does but he has concrete hands at times which will hold him back unless he improves on it.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Most of this..

Stay the same and go backwards.
Thus.. we need 2-3 kids to really push forward at least.. Dempsey, Holmes, Neale.. At a minimum and that to keep level with last year.

To go further.. Humphries, COS, Smith, Martin, Conway.. all need to get from bottom 6 to top 10-14 players. That will push us over the top.

Note - smith is there bc he hasn’t played with the group. He will push up and I think he’ll be a top 10 just starting slow ..

Go Catters

Smith certainly is a key and we need a few of the blue chip kids like neale and osullivan and Clark to take steps forward and we desperately need Conway to be fit.

It will be interesting to see how we integrate the new players in as we have a tough 6 weeks or so to start the year and then having Carlton and Collingwood big G games in b2b weeks. The good news is the back half of the year is quite soft with us basically having 2 extra byes (that's what playing Richmond will be in 2025) plus a bunch of very winnable games at skilled in the run home.
The first 2 months will tell us if we can contend or not. If we can go say 7 and 3 through the 10 week block then we are a chance for top 4.

 

[MacStradbroke]

Even if Neale just didn't improve at all - which is unlikely - he'd still give us 35 goals across a full season, marks around the ground, and a secondary ruck option.

For a key forward who's literally played 20 games, that's a decent output I would have thought. Certainly worthy of a spot in the side.

In an ideal world, he does improve and elevates past that performance standard...but acting like he's just some passenger in the side is disingenuous.

If Neale kicks 35 goals this year I’m confident we go real deep and top 4 is not out of the question.