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

[Cosmic Energy]

Your dislike for Neale is getting irrational.

He's objectively been better than Hawkins has this year, let alone Hawkins hobbling on one leg after not running for the best part of three months.

As for the 'defenders playing off him' thing - You do realise that's exactly what teams were doing with Hawkins this year?

A family member of mine is very close with Adam Kingsley's son up here in Sydney, and when we played the Giants earlier in the year, it was during the peak of Tomahawk's poor form.

Naturally, being a Cats supporter, he asked Kingers what his plans were for Tom, and he blatantly said they were going to give him no respect and play off him.

He knew Hawk wouldn't (or couldn't) chase, contest marks, or crash packs, and they knew he wasn't going to hurt them on the other end - and even if he could - Hawkins 'hurting you' in the year 2024 is two goals at best.

Say what you want about Neale, but he's going to chase, he's going to tackle, and he's going to throw himself at packs.

If he can hit the scoreboard like he's been doing, then that's even better, and it's more than Tom can offer at this stage of his career.

Tom's been a legend of this club, but take the sentimentality out of it, and there's no objective reason for him to be playing in this finals series.

If it doesn't work and we get done, then we get done. At least we can say we've given the future of this club some finals experience, and made the right choice on all exposed data at the time.

Im not disagreeing that Neale has been a perfectly adequate stand in, but Hawk did kick 4 twice, which is more than 2 ‘at best’. I don’t care who it was against, don’t say it if it isn’t true.

 

[you pick one]

Pushing for selection? Yep, go on, play him. Has kicked 20 goals, 18 behinds this year. Almost a miss for every shot.
Zuth will push him into the ground.

Zuthrie would be the wrong match up on Marshall.

 

[Lana]

Zuthrie would be the wrong match up on Marshall.

If Guthrie can take Roughead as a tween, he is good enough to take Marshall now

 

[CatToTheFuture]

If Guthrie can take Roughead as a tween, he is good enough to take Marshall now

Please do not aggravate my ptsd on this

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

All well and good, but posts like these should also nominate who is to be dropped. Bews I'm guessing?

Yeah probably Bews. Maybe Tuohy/Duncan, though I'd back those guys to perform under finals pressure better than Bews.

My thinking is to play to our strengths. We have probably the worst (or most inconsistent/unbalanced) midfield of all the finals teams and that will most likely stop us in our tracks at some point during the next month. But what we do have that no one else has is 4 big guys that can all play ruck, while being flexible enough to fill other areas of the ground. So I want to see us unleash the giants - Stanley, SDK, Blicavs & Neale all roaming around, taking the ruck wherever, dropping back, pushing forward, playing midfield, and just running the oppo ruckmen ragged. Then, ideally, sub off whichever makes most sense at the time.

Probably won't happen, but that's what I'd like to see.

 

[supahoops]

All well and good, but posts like these should also nominate who is to be dropped. Bews I'm guessing?

Just don’t mention Duncan or he’ll lose his

 

[Lana]

Please do not aggravate my ptsd on this

Gee Kids these days are soft, back in my day you’d be walking down the street when Tony Lockett would run through you like a freight train. You’d limp into work with three broken ribs and work a full 10 hours, with no complaints.

 

[you pick one]

If Guthrie can take Roughead as a tween, he is good enough to take Marshall now

Sorry I'm not giving Marshall 10cm in height and 10ks in weight he's to good in the air to give that advantage playing forward.

 

[Cataholic]

Gee Kids these days are soft, back in my day you’d be walking down the street when Tony Lockett would run through you like a freight train. You’d limp into work with three broken ribs and work a full 10 hours, with no complaints.

Without doubt one of the dirtiest thugs to ever walk the street.

 

[Mangy Carl]

Yeah probably Bews. Maybe Tuohy/Duncan, though I'd back those guys to perform under finals pressure better than Bews.

My thinking is to play to our strengths. We have probably the worst (or most inconsistent/unbalanced) midfield of all the finals teams and that will most likely stop us in our tracks at some point during the next month. But what we do have that no one else has is 4 big guys that can all play ruck, while being flexible enough to fill other areas of the ground. So I want to see us unleash the giants - Stanley, SDK, Blicavs & Neale all roaming around, taking the ruck wherever, dropping back, pushing forward, playing midfield, and just running the oppo ruckmen ragged. Then, ideally, sub off whichever makes most sense at the time.

Probably won't happen, but that's what I'd like to see.

I agree, most likely Bews out for DeKoning.. Touhy or Duncan as sub..
However, Bews is probably our best option for Rioli... We dont have another obvious shutdown player for him.
So if we go with Bews, I'd say it would be Touhy out.. BUT, Duncan's form has been below average the past few games also..

Tough call.

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

I agree, most likely Bews out for DeKoning.. Touhy or Duncan as sub..
However, Bews is probably our best option for Rioli... We dont have another obvious shutdown player for him.
So if we go with Bews, I'd say it would be Touhy out.. BUT, Duncan's form has been below average the past few games also..

Tough call.

I may be underestimating Rioli, but I just don't see him as a big enough threat to warrant selecting someone purely to stop him. I reckon if we are playing well enough around the ground, our team defence will do the job.

And tbh, if Rioli is that dangerous, I'm not sure I'd trust Bews to shut him down anyway. I can't really think of any games this year where Bews has really blanketed a small forward - any examples I'm forgetting?

 

[Mr Meow]

Just don’t mention Duncan or he’ll lose his

Isn't it time we just became best friends?

 

[Mr Meow]

Yeah probably Bews. Maybe Tuohy/Duncan, though I'd back those guys to perform under finals pressure better than Bews.

My thinking is to play to our strengths. We have probably the worst (or most inconsistent/unbalanced) midfield of all the finals teams and that will most likely stop us in our tracks at some point during the next month. But what we do have that no one else has is 4 big guys that can all play ruck, while being flexible enough to fill other areas of the ground. So I want to see us unleash the giants - Stanley, SDK, Blicavs & Neale all roaming around, taking the ruck wherever, dropping back, pushing forward, playing midfield, and just running the oppo ruckmen ragged. Then, ideally, sub off whichever makes most sense at the time.

Probably won't happen, but that's what I'd like to see.

Appreciate the response. I can see the sense in it.

I'm still a bit terrified of "land of the giants" given how bad we played while deploying it mid year. Not to say correlation was causation as we had many issues around that time.

Ultimately this is going to be one where I trust the MC (even if Mullin for Duncan would make me sweat, and no doubt have BORIS332 and supahoops doing victory laps for days). There's a lot of different ways they can slice this up. We have good availability and hopefully whoever gets picked plays out of their skin.

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Appreciate the response. I can see the sense in it.

I'm still a bit terrified of "land of the giants" given how bad we played while deploying it mid year. Not to say correlation was causation as we had many issues around that time.

Ultimately this is going to be one where I trust the MC (even if Mullin for Duncan would make me sweat, and no doubt have BORIS332 and supahoops doing victory laps for days). There's a lot of different ways they can slice this up. We have good availability and hopefully whoever gets picked plays out of their skin.

Which games are you referring to here? My main concern with what I suggested is that we haven't really tried it.

Spot on re your last paragraph though - I don't pretend to know more than the MC (though I do scratch my head at times) and it's easy for me to throw out ideas with zero accountability if they were to fail.

What time are teams named tonight?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Gee Kids these days are soft, back in my day you’d be walking down the street when Tony Lockett would run through you like a freight train. You’d limp into work with three broken ribs and work a full 10 hours, with no complaints.

If Tony Lockett ran through me I'm pretty sure I wouldn't leave the hospital for a week

 

[Footy Smarts]

Zuthrie would be the wrong match up on Marshall.

If they play 3 of Dixon, Ratugolea, Georgiadis and Marshall forward then we've got Blicavs, Henry and Kolo to take them.

The only reason Zuthrie would be needed is if they play all 4 forward. At that point good luck to them cause I doubt that structure works. We should keep our mobility and back ourselves to bring it to ground and rebound.

 

[Mr Meow]

Which games are you referring to here? My main concern with what I suggested is that we haven't really tried it.

Spot on re your last paragraph though - I don't pretend to know more than the MC (though I do scratch my head at times) and it's easy for me to throw out ideas with zero accountability if they were to fail.

What time are teams named tonight?

Well the last game against Port we played Stanley, SDK, Blicavs, Cameron, Hawkins, O.Henry and Rohan. We had a few games going that top heavy.

 

[BIGANT]

Port will no doubt bank on Drew getting the job done on Danger, that leaves Bruhn, Axe, Bowes, Stewart vs Wines, H-f, Butters, Rozee..
Other key match up will be Alir v Cameron.
Just hope Jezza doesn't over think things (being cute). Clean entry to him and spotting it up to Jezza will be the key.
Pressure works both ways! Port have some players in that side that wilt like a lettuce in the sun, it's just a matter if Wines, H-f Butters and Rozee have that extra in the tank to cover the likes of Dbj, Bergman, Lachy Jones.

 

[Commando]

For what it's worth I had a dream last night that we beat Port by 6 points

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Well the last game against Port we played Stanley, SDK, Blicavs, Cameron, Hawkins, O.Henry and Rohan. We had a few games going that top heavy.

True enough, though at that stage we had Blicavs as second ruck and DeKoning as defender - both have looked better switched around. Also Stanley had a stinker and is playing better than he was then.

Regardless of all that, I'm not sure a loss to Port at their home ground is enough to lament how bad we played with that setup (admittedly, that seems ridiculous given we are literally playing Port an their home ground this week - but I hope you get the point I am making...).

 

[cats_09]

How often has Ratugolea played full games forward since moving to Port?

 

[BIGANT]

For what it's worth I had a dream last night that we beat Port by 6 points

Too close for me

 

[cats_09]

 

[Footy Smarts]

How often has Ratugolea played full games forward since moving to Port?

He has played forward the last month or so with Dixon and Marshall missing games. I assume he'll go back to defence if they're both in or they'll leave out a tall.

 

[you pick one]

If they play 3 of Dixon, Ratugolea, Georgiadis and Marshall forward then we've got Blicavs, Henry and Kolo to take them.

The only reason Zuthrie would be needed is if they play all 4 forward. At that point good luck to them cause I doubt that structure works. We should keep our mobility and back ourselves to bring it to ground and rebound.

I hope they play Dixon he hasn't really bothered us to much since the Lachie Henderson days.