Preview QF2 Geelong v Port Adelaide Thursday Sept 5 2024 @ AO 7:40 pm

[Pure_Ownage]

We are 10 and 4 when they both play, 5 and 4 when they don't.

I get this but finals go up a gear in pace and heat.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Not an outlier at all.

Stanley has never had more than 16 touches this year. SDK never had less than 20 touches in the 5 games he played as number 1 ruck.

Stanley has only got over 5 score involvements twice this year in 12 matches. Both were in barely VFL standard games against West Coast and North. SDK did that against both Collingwood and Hawthorn.

SDK had 4+ clearances in every match he played as number 1 ruck. Stanley only did that 3 of 12 games. Once again in the dominations of West Coast and North, and the game against the Saints where Marshall dominated him.

He's missed 3 games. He'll have a run out in the VFL. He's taking on the might of Jordan Sweet. This isn't some impossible task and his ceiling is clearly miles above Stanley's now.

We are not debating his ceiling though.
We can debate that next year when stanley is retired.
We are debating what our next best option is for the next 3 games to win us a flag given hes new in the role and has been out injured.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Stanley has returned to some stellar form.

One could be forgiven for thinking this is a CS macro play.

Who knows what Stanley has left in the tank.

Fit, and at his best he has always been able to match it with even the very best of the competition's ruckmen.
Equally, he has historically been just as likely to drop his bundle against an unheralded 2-stringer.

He's already a Premiership player; a big month here though and he can really cement his reputation from here until the caps melt/

 

[rocker_oz33]

Who knows what Stanley has left in the tank.

Fit, and at his best he has always been able to match it with even the very best of the competition's ruckmen.
Equally, he has historically been just as likely to drop his bundle against an unheralded 2-stringer.

He's already a Premiership player; a big month here though and he can really cement his reputation from here until the caps melt/

Stanley can get up for someone like Gawn.

As you said he can spud it up vs a second stringer ..

 

[Cursed Cat]

Stanley can get up for someone like Gawn.

As you said he can spud it up vs a second stringer ..

I don't watch a lot of peripheral AFL stuff these days, but I did happen to see Max Gawn talking about the unique nature of Rucking in our favourite sporting competition.

I've never known quite what to expect from Rhys, but I excuse my lack of judgement in this case because his output has been seemingly entirely random.

He really copped a nasty facial injury last year; I reckon that has been undersold a little bit when weighing his late-career output.

Again; big September; massive career - he's done it once already!

 

[Play it Sam]

Watch party is no charge but booked through ticketmaster at one ticket per membership. There doesnt appear to be seats assigned either.
I find this event very unusual from the Club, since COGG had to be shamed into letting members watch the GF from St Mary's, and came around to giving permission very late. And not to be a negative Nelly, they are not giving very many details, like where will the screen be placed. The last time they had a free for all like this against Ess practice match, they completely effed it up, and worse for the disability sector.
Then again, at 7.40 pm and freezing, I wonder how many will go to the ground, rather than watch ( and probably abuse ) their own big TV's

 

[cats_09]

Watch party is no charge but booked through ticketmaster at one ticket per membership. There doesnt appear to be seats assigned either.
I find this event very unusual from the Club, since COGG had to be shamed into letting members watch the GF from St Mary's, and came around to giving permission very late. And not to be a negative Nelly, they are not giving very many details, like where will the screen be placed. The last time they had a free for all like this against Ess practice match, they completely effed it up, and worse for the disability sector.
Then again, at 7.40 pm and freezing, I wonder how many will go to the ground, rather than watch ( and probably abuse ) their own big TV's

There's a more info in the email from the club compared with the social media posts:

• it's an inside event, not outside
• the watch party is in the Social Club; hence no assigned seats
• food & drink available
• when I booked, I could book for as many attending as I wanted and wasn't limited to a single attendee like my membership

 

[Play it Sam]

There's a more info in the email from the club compared with the social media posts:

• it's an inside event, not outside
• the watch party is in the Social Club; hence no assigned seats
• food & drink available
• when I booked, I could book for as many attending as I wanted and wasn't limited to a single attendee like my membership

View attachment 2097065

Thanks, that makes sense. I have attended other events held there, and there are smallish overhead TV's placed around the venue and probably holds about 500? Different to what I thought was happening, so thanks for the tea.

 

[witsend]

Re SDK in the ruck…I feel like his stats and perceived form as a ruck (with the exception of his first half against his brother) would suggest he is our best overall ruck option, even though Stanley has been “Good Stanley” of late. Let’s be realistic…he’s not a high-risk option, even if a little underdone, against PA rucks! We’d be far less likely to use him as a ruck against virtually any other current finalist.
I actually think it’s MORE pressure on him as a KPD. Notwithstanding the fact that our current KPDs should be able to handle Ports KPFs.
The midfield is PAs one wood. In fact it’s pretty much their only club in the bag!
SDK in the ruck virtually plays as an extra mid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[catempire]

Sdk will play in the 18 as kolo can play on smaller players.

The question is do we play stanley or not

I suspect tuohy is sub.

Are you playing Blicavs mid?

 

[Mattlock]

With Blicavs playing decent down back, using SDK as second ruck and roaming a bit forward and helping down back when need be could be a huge asset.

 

[BORIS332]

Who knows what Stanley has left in the tank.

Fit, and at his best he has always been able to match it with even the very best of the competition's ruckmen.
Equally, he has historically been just as likely to drop his bundle against an unheralded 2-stringer.

He's already a Premiership player; a big month here though and he can really cement his reputation from here until the caps melt/

Stanley's best is keeping up with his opposition. His worst is uncompetitive. His last effort vs Port Power was so pathetic he was subbed out at half time. He rucked against Dante Visentini, a 20-year-old with less than 10 games experience and got destroyed. Many on this board thought that would be the last we'd see of him. Unfortunately, we haven't had many other options. I'm sure the coaching staff will have flagged him as a high risk and will have contingencies in place.

 

[BORIS332]

Re SDK in the ruck…I feel like his stats and perceived form as a ruck (with the exception of his first half against his brother) would suggest he is our best overall ruck option, even though Stanley has been “Good Stanley” of late. Let’s be realistic…he’s not a high-risk option, even if a little underdone, against PA rucks! We’d be far less likely to use him as a ruck against virtually any other current finalist.
I actually think it’s MORE pressure on him as a KPD. Notwithstanding the fact that our current KPDs should be able to handle Ports KPFs.
The midfield is PAs one wood. In fact it’s pretty much their only club in the bag!
SDK in the ruck virtually plays as an extra mid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agree with you, though I think the club likely starts with Stanley and has SDK playing back, and if/when Stanley gets murdered by Sweet they sub him out and move SDK into the ruck. That way, best case scenario Stanley holds his own and SDK takes a Port tall for Henry, Kolo, Zuthrie to intercept.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Stanle has returned to some stellar form.
One could be forgiven for thinking this is a CS macro play.

Could be, but almost Machiavellian in scope if true.
I was also wondering if that game where we jumped the swans was a test run for a ‘Scott master plan’ which was put away at half time to be used later.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Are you playing Blicavs mid?

I mean id drop blicavs if it was me but that wont happen.
But yes i think he will play mid unless kenny is stupid enough to play that statue dixon in which case he might play back.

 

[catempire]

I mean id drop blicavs if it was me but that wont happen.
But yes i think he will play mid unless kenny is stupid enough to play that statue dixon in which case he might play back.

I reckon they will stick with Blicavs back which has been working pretty well. To revert to DK back and Blicavs mid would be a combo we haven’t seen a lot of since mid year when we were going awful.

 

[CoolCat75]

SDK hasn’t played a single minute forward this year. So expect him to line up at CHF this week and give Stanley a chop out in the ruck - sorry having flashbacks to 2019.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[D BRIDGE]

SDK playing VFL in 90 minutes.

One would think if he plays ruck today then he is most likely to play ruck next week.

Same thing if he plays back... although we were playing Mannagh full forward in the VFL.

We assume he will only be on the ground for a half or so.

If he looks underdone and off the pace I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't even play at all v Port since it's only in 5 days... but maybe he has been training the house down for a couple of weeks and we have just been cautious with him.

Fingers crossed he looks the goods and dominates in whatever position he is set.

 

[cats_09]

SDK playing VFL in 90 minutes.

One would think if he plays ruck today then he is most likely to play ruck next week.

Same thing if he plays back... although we were playing Mannagh full forward in the VFL.

We assume he will only be on the ground for a half or so.

If he looks underdone and off the pace I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't even play at all v Port since it's only in 5 days... but maybe he has been training the house down for a couple of weeks and we have just been cautious with him.

Fingers crossed he looks the goods and dominates in whatever position he is set.

He had knee surgery between rounds 22 & 23 - that's why he didn't play either of our last 2 matches

It was reported as being a 1-2 week thing, so timeline wise, he was on track to return this week

 

[D BRIDGE]

He had knee surgery between rounds 22 & 23 - that's why he didn't play either of our last 2 matches

It was reported as being a 1-2 week thing, so timeline wise, he was on track to return this week

Yep I agree.

All I'm saying is that if he doesn't look ready today, it isn't without possibility that he doesn't play in a final in 5 days.

He has been out for a while.

Fingers crossed he dominates today.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I reckon they will stick with Blicavs back which has been working pretty well. To revert to DK back and Blicavs mid would be a combo we haven’t seen a lot of since mid year when we were going awful.

Thats fair. I think we will play all of blitz sdk kolo and henry (just a matter of if we play stanley as well we could sub stanley at 3/4).
I nean we could play blitz back and dk as your mid/r2 but that would be more radical.

 

[cats_09]

First ruck contest of the VFL QF

SDK, Clohesy, Knevitt & Parfitt

 

[Baudolino]

I actually think if SDK comes back in its in the old Blicavs role.

Keep Blicavs as a KPD where its working, keep Neale at FF, keep Stanley in the ruck and SDK as 2nd ruck.

SDK was in that role this season and was better than Blicavs in the role, and it means if Neale or Stanley struggle they can be subbed out.

But then it really depends on who the sub is.

I agree with this logic, but I wish we'd trialled SDK in that role throughout the season with Blicavs as KPD. Debuting new set-ups or positional moves in finals isn't ideal, it's much better to go in with what you know.

Theoretically though it makes sense, SDK proved in his stint in the ruck that he is capable of gathering more of the pill around the ground than Blitz when given the chance to do so, and he is also a better ball user and decision maker.

My preference is to either play only two of the Stanley/SDK/Blicavs trio OR to use Blitz as a KPD and SDK in the old Blitz role like you said. One of those two options. I don't want us going back to Blitz as a mid and SDK as a defender.

 

[JackHiscoxWasFast]

Hardly any discussion about this match from the media, all assuming it’s a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile at the Cattery, Geelong are roaring into form and JC is just about the best player in the comp over the past fortnight.

Port’s Achilles heel is pressure. If your midfield can keep an in your face press, Port will turn to water. Not convinced on their forwards and their backs are panicky.

Knowing Scott, he has also managed the squad perfectly to peak for finals again.

So I’m calling a Geelong win.

JHWF Believes.

I like fast players.

 

[catstragic]

IMO lose and we go out in straight sets. Win and we go into the GF. Huge game. looking forward to it. We lucked out with Houston's suspension, means we have the edge on either end which will hopefully balance out our weaker midfield. Would be very surprised if Stewarts colors get lowered twice in a row as well.

We are a much better team than when we played Port last time, Port have lost some key soldiers. Humphries in particular is a huge improvement. Its like having a 25 year old mitch Duncan lasering the ball off half back.