Autopsy Lions prevail by 10

[BigCat1]

Gutted by the loss but have to give credit where it's due to the lions who were the better team in a hell of a contest.

I thought we had the tactical upper hand for most of the game, but some of the basic skills were off. Missed shots, missed marks, fumbles, miscommunication.

When Stengle kicked the ball away to give away an ill-disciplined 50m penalty, I thought something's not quite right, this is going to be one of those nights.

Finals is like that. The pressure finds a way to throw a cruel spotlight on even the smallest of cracks and weaknesses.

At the end of the day it's a missed opportunity, nothing more. But you just never know whether it will be 12 months or 12 years before you get another chance.

When you look at how much change there has been to this team even during the season itself it reminds you that next year may have to have a few steps back before the 2 steps forward. But it's the rise of the likes of Dempsey and Humphries and others that gives me faith that we will be back in the not-too-distant future.

Stengle had his worst game for the club by the length of the Flemington Straight.

Missed a goal in the second from the goal square to put us 4 goals us when he could have handballed to Dempsey.

Slid off the tackle in the first when he had the bloke dead to rights 20m out.

That dribble effort from 10m out in the 3rd

That last inside 50 kick when we were 5 points down and he just torched it. He had Danger on for an eternity but shanked it to Atkins.

Uncharacteristic game. It happens but it was a bad time to have a bad game

 

[Overhang]

Out of interest when was the last time we had a come from behind finals win?
Feels like we have been on the receiving end a lot during our 2 decades success.
Tonight up by 25 in the 3rd
Up by 21 late in the 2nd qtr the 22 GF Richmond
Up by 21 at half time in the 2019 Prelim Richmond
Up by 20 at 3/4 time in the 2013 prelim Hawthorn
There are prob more I'm missing too

I remember us getting really close to stealing that final against North with a late come back but fell short

Not GWS level but still stings when we have found ourselves in such strong positions and go on to lose

 

[kickazz]

Ollie Henry take a bow. Where have all the haters gone?

He completed really well in the last quarter, but way particularly bad in the third, let them get way to many intercept marks, and insisted on the cheap leads toward goal instead of the ball carrier.

That miss in the first quarter - his accuracy has give from very reliable in the first half of the year to quite yippy in the second half.

Hopefully that last quarter is the making of him as a player, but overall he did not have a good game imo with the same problems on display.

 

[BigCat1]

Ollie Henry take a bow. Where have all the haters gone?

Take a bow . At the game he doesn’t chase ever, doesn’t compete in the air at all. Goes to ground so he doesn’t have to compete. Zero tackles again. Every time they run it out it’s always off his guy because he’s just thinking if they just turn it over I’ll be “on” here.

As I said earlier he is like a supremely talented local football who kicks goals and does absolutely nothing else to help the team.

We had 60 inside 50s and outside of the mark in the last he didn’t halve or win one contest. The 3rd quarter when we were up against it he got out marked one on one what 4 straight entires?

Glad he got us back into it at the very end but he’s got plenty of work to do this off season. Or he could just sit back and say hey I kicked 4 in a prelim.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'll throw a positive up:

Lawson Humphries

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Stengle had his worst game for the club by the length of the Flemington Straight.

Missed a goal in the second from the goal square to put us 4 goals us when he could have handballed to Dempsey.

Slid off the tackle in the first when he had the bloke dead to rights 20m out.

That dribble effort from 10m out in the 3rd

That last inside 50 kick when we were 5 points down and he just torched it. He had Danger on for an eternity but shanked it to Atkins.

Uncharacteristic game. It happens but it was a bad time to have a bad game

All that. Brisbane were also burned, same as us in 2009, so wanted it FAR MORE.. I'm still wasted so will not add to this but that's how I see it now. They wanted it and they wanted it MORE.

 

[Scottland2007]

Doubt we'll get any quality mids other than Smith. We definitely need to look for a ruck. I thought Conway looked okay when he played earlier this year, but the bloke is made of glass. Until his body can withstand a season or two, we can't rely on him coming along at all.

If he stays, maybe we should focus on making SDK our starting ruck option. If he moves on, maybe we can use him as capital to get something in the area.

If SDK goes to Carlton we should say the only acceptable trade is TDK…..

 

[MisterMarcus]

Exactly my thoughts on this one.

No Holmes. J Henry and Bruhn banged up apparently. Potentially no Danger depending on how the Chooklotto tribunal saw it. A few guys already looking sore and slow.

Sydney would have belted us next week. Let's not kid ourselves.

 

[Romeoh1]

We gave it a good go and kept trying against a team that played very good footy. Not everyone played their best footy but we still could have almost pinched it. We didn’t play as well as we played against port, but that’s how our year has been really- a bit up and down. Still we fought on. I’m impressed by the year we have had, by the improvement of some of the kids. By the tenacity of some of the older players.
We will see a few retirements but things are looking ok. I’ll be going into next season more optimistically than I went into this one-and look how well that turned out. Go cats.
Reckon brissy are a good chance to get up next week. They played some lovely footy last night. Swans are very good too. Should be a good game. And I don’t really mind who wins.

 

[kickazz]

The more I look at it, the more I think it was a great effort by us to get that close considering:


Midfield got smashed. Just checked the numbers. Simple as that. Has been the big weakness all year, Smith might help but need some inside grunt.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

The umpires had an absolute mare and ruined the flow of the game.

Not that it matters now but the Charlie Cameron

23

Charlie Cameron

Age

30

Ht

180cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.1

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.5

5star

D

9.6

2star

K

7.9

3star

HB

1.7

1star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.7

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

9.6

3star

K

5.4

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.2

4star

mark in the pocket was out on the full I had the perfect angle of it.
Stewart bumped a bloke fair and square and it’s a free against?
Christ are we umpiring a juniors game or an AFL prelim? Let it go for **** sake. It was embarrassing to watch.

We should have known it would be over umpired, just like it was in the other prelim on Friday. Massive contrast to the way week 1 was umpired.

The loss is a bitter pill to swallow. To me it’s just another wasted opportunity.
Yes we did well to get there and good job and all but to put yourself in that position then lose like that is hard to deal with.
That Stengle miss at the start of the 3rd to put us 4 goals up was so costly. You could tell at the time. Normally he kicks those easily.

Oh well life goes on and there’s nothing we can do about it now.

 

[kickazz]

Sydney would have belted us next week. Let's not kid ourselves.

That was my feeling watching the game. In the moment I so wanted to win but I didn't feel we were much chance next week. Final siren I was kind of circumspect about it all rather than totally gutted.

Swans midfield just too good, and their deliver into F50 was spot on on Friday night.

They will likely be too good for Brisbane too, but the Lions have a game that could trouble them.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

Sydney would have belted us next week. Let's not kid ourselves.

Maybe, but we will never know now.

 

[kickazz]

Our midfield was ranked number 1 in the last 8 weeks of the season.
They just had an absolute mare last night.

H&A vs Finals though. This current lot can play well but not finals hardened.

 

[kickazz]

The umpires had an absolute mare and ruined the flow of the game.

Not that it matters now but the Charlie Cameron mark in the pocket was out on the full I had the perfect angle of it.
Stewart bumped a bloke fair and square and it’s a free against?
Christ are we umpiring a juniors game or an AFL prelim? Let it go for **** sake. It was embarrassing to watch.

We should have known it would be over umpired, just like it was in the other prelim on Friday. Massive contrast to the way week 1 was umpired.

The loss is a bitter pill to swallow. To me it’s just another wasted opportunity.
Yes we did well to get there and good job and all but to put yourself in that position then lose like that is hard to deal with.
That Stengle miss at the start of the 3rd to put us 4 goals up was so costly. You could tell at the time. Normally he kicks those easily.

Oh well life goes on and there’s nothing we can do about it now.

Haha there was at least three occasions where we were screwed by a boundary umpire who had good position. Weird.

Not mention a couple of missed 50s

 

[BIGANT]

I love this club. Shattered. Go Swans next week

 

[catman2006]

I'll throw a positive up:

Lawson Humphries

Would like to see if he could play Wing, best junior I have seen cats produce in a while.

 

[Commando]

I have a theory someone dished out rotton bananas to the boys at half time - energy was missing, mistake after mistake. Players turning to water... Whatever happened at half time should never happen again. Brisbane did not 'turn it on' - they were extremely average all night we were just happend to find a way to play even worse. Could not buy a clean forward entry - every kick went to Brisbanes advantage... Turnover after turnover all night.

Started thinking about the next week once we got 25 points up probably...

 

[year of the cat]

I'll throw a positive up:

Lawson Humphries

Possibly the biggest positive of the season. We’ve found a 200 game player.

After the game last night I went out for dinner near the ground with my brother and all the kids. At 10pm we are walking back to Richmond Station to get home and my soon to be 19 year old daughter says to me, “Dad, do you reckon Lawson Humphries is good looking?”. I replied, “He looks pretty bloody good to me”. I’m not sure we were talking about the same thing.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

I'll throw a positive up:

Lawson Humphries

Yep, thought the same. Watching him live he’s a special player. Probably our most composed player and he’s played under 10 games.
I just love watching him play.

 

[Commando]

Watched the last few minutes when I arrived home and just after we got in front the lions got a hand to smother Atkins centre clearance, they go inside 50 and goal

Really is just a game of inches isn't it...

 

[Warhorse]

"Put it to bed": Champion Data's major objection to Geelong's midfield reproval

"If I hear anyone talk about that Geelong midfield as their weakness, I will vomit!”

www.sen.com.au

Atkins 12
Bruhn 10
Bowes 13
Holmes 20 (inj)
Dangerfield 24

v

Neale 31
Dunkley 28
McCluggage 27
Ashcroft 22
Berry 20

 

[Hinkley29]

Take a bow . At the game he doesn’t chase ever, doesn’t compete in an air at all. Goes to ground so he doesn’t have to compete. Zero tackles again. Every time they run it out it’s always off his guy because he’s just thinking if they just turn it over I’ll be “on” here.

As I said earlier he is like a supremely talented local football who kicks goals and does absolutely nothing else to help the team.

We had 60 inside 50s and outside of the mark in the last he didn’t halve or win one contest. The 3rd quarter when we were up against it he got out marked one on one what 4 straight entires?

Glad he got us back into it at the very end but he’s got plenty of work to do this off season. Or he could just sit back and say hey I kicked 4 in a prelim.

 

[fpm84]

Maybe, but we will never know now.

There is zero chance we would have won a GF with Holmes missing, let alone with J Henry, Stanley and Bruhn all injured last night as per reports.

 

[you pick one]

Hmm it was 59-24 after paddy’s first goal of the third quarter… when they stepped it up we looked lost. Quite a few players didn’t do enough….

Sometimes you just have to admit you were not quite good enough on the day.