Preview Rd 1 Geelong V Collingwood Fri March 17 2023 740 pm @ MCG

[thecatattack]

This game will be a close enough contest to warrant seeing the sides before tipping IMHO.

Never tip against your team. Unwritten rule.

 

[cats_09]

Never tip against your team. Unwritten rule.

Or...

Always tip against your team... Hear me out

If you're team wins then you're happy because they won, but if they lose, while you're annoyed they lost you then get a little bit of joy from the fact you got the tip right

 

[And_ROOS]

Really find it hard to see how we win this, not that it matters in the greater scheme.

Did you not watch Pies V Hawks? Hardly impressive stuff there.

Maybe if Cameron misses due to his kid, no Hawk and no Neale, but we still have the quality to put the Pies down.

The only team I am not confident of beating early in the season is Brisbane at the Gabba because they have our number there, or the Swans at the SCG.

We can do the Pies in.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Geelong are pound for pound simply a better team than Collingwood

 

[And_ROOS]

Geelong are pound for pound simply a better team than Collingwood

Yeah if we take that forwardline from the Brisbane match into the game against Collingwood we are in big trouble.

 

[foxdog50]

Geee it's so hard to pick what our starting 22 be in round 1.... Going to be interesting to see who they will pick

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Tough game to start the year for sure, but a couple of things jumped out at me after watching the Fox Footy doco on the Cats.

1/ Chris Scott stated in the interview with Whateley that after the Saints loss (our last loss for the year) we were 5-4 from memory, and he was pretty happy with where the side sat on the ledger. Thought they would continue to improve and build in the second half of the year once they became more adept at the new game style. So I guess the point there is that we can all fall into the trap of thinking winning every week is critical ........ I expect Geelong to drop a few in the first half of the year, but we should also keep in mind that we have a heavily back ended fixture of 'home' games to come in the back end. If we stay fit and fresh, I think we'll come home strong if we just stay close to the pack in the first half of the season.

2/ Was also interested to see the comments from Selwood and others about that Collingwood QF. I think Joel said they knew exactly what they didn't execute in that game, and it was easily rectified before the PF against the Lions. Interesting that he also said they allowed the crowd to really impact / distract from what they wanted to execute - thought that was interesting. So aside from our starting 22 and who is injured / missing, I think it tells me that the club knows what they need to execute and will likely have learned a bit from that last game against Collingwood. Both sides will look a little different but it really just comes down to execution.

# So for Rd1 - Esava to Mason Cox (when he's inside 50) seems obvious enough. Henry a bit of a loss if Hawkins doesn't get up - but Hawkins seems better than 50/50 based on comments from him and the club in recent days.

# You'd think Cameron will play unless his partner goes into labour late in the day on game day. If he's out then that clearly swings the match into Collingwood's favour. Lose and I don't think you'd read too much into the result if both Hawkins and Cameron miss. If we win under that scenario - sell everything you own and get on the Cats for a flag assault.

Please post more Jumping Jack
You have a fantastic insight to draw far more than what’s obvious and convey it brilliantly

 

[And_ROOS]

Geee it's so hard to pick what our starting 22 be in round 1.... Going to be interesting to see who they will pick

I think a lot of the team picks itself, but there are some spots I can't work out.

I think it also depends on a few injuries. I am assuming Duncan won't be ready in time.

Back 6
Bews, SDK, Kolo
Stewart, Esava, ZGuthrie
If they don't go with Esava, it will be Tuohy back there.

Starting mids
Stanley (R), Blicavs, Bruhn, CGuthrie
Danger might be in there depending on the forwardline or if they want to start him on the bench like they did for games last season.

Wings
Smith and Holmes will start you would think.

Forwards
Miers, Close and Stengle will all be in there. You would think Rohan is too. The last two spots really depend on Cameron, Hawkins or Neale.

So thats 18/22 above. And then if Hawkins and Cameron are good to go they are automatic selections.
Then I can't see Atkins not being in the squad. Thats 21/22.

FB: Bews, SDK, Kolo
HB: Stewart, Esava, ZGuthrie
MF: Smith, Blicavs, Holmes
HF: Miers, Cameron, Close
FF: Rohan, Hawkins, Stengle
Foll: Stanley, Bruhn, CGuthrie
IC: Dangerfield, Tuohy, Atkins, (last spot could be anyone from the list below but I lean towards Bowes or OHenry.)


Theres a lot of guys who are going to be disappointed.
Parfitt, O'Connor, Simpson, Menegola, Clark, Bowes, OHenry, Whyte,

 

[Mr Meow]

Did you not watch Pies V Hawks? Hardly impressive stuff there.

Maybe if Cameron misses due to his kid, no Hawk and no Neale, but we still have the quality to put the Pies down.

The only team I am not confident of beating early in the season is Brisbane at the Gabba because they have our number there, or the Swans at the SCG.

We can do the Pies in.

"Really hard to see how we win this" is quite a stretch. It was always going to be a hard fought game, even before the injuries, but there's no way we go into this one as massive outsiders. Collingwood last year had a million close games. They don't blow teams apart. Geelong/Collingwood games also tend to follow that pattern of late.

It's rare for the Cats not to show up in round 1 and this isn't the first time we've gone in with question marks over some players or conditioning.

People still tend to forget that for the last 3 and a bit quarters of the QF, Geelong outscored Collingwood by 30 odd points and the Pies second half goals tended to come against the run of play. I'm not so sure that their conditioning for this one is going to be immaculate while ours is poor.

In the unlikely event Cameron misses of course it will be tricky - but otherwise some combination of JC, Stengle, Rohan, Close, Miers, O.Henry, Smith and Dangerfield (rotating) has plenty of firepower. Do we seriously believe that group is worse than Miochek, Cox, McStay, Elliot, Ginnivan and McCreery (maybe DeGoey for the odd spell)?

 

[Mr Meow]

I think a lot of the team picks itself, but there are some spots I can't work out.

I think it also depends on a few injuries. I am assuming Duncan won't be ready in time.

Back 6
Bews, SDK, Kolo
Stewart, Esava, ZGuthrie
If they don't go with Esava, it will be Tuohy back there.

Starting mids
Stanley (R), Blicavs, Bruhn, CGuthrie
Danger might be in there depending on the forwardline or if they want to start him on the bench like they did for games last season.

Wings
Smith and Holmes will start you would think.

Forwards
Miers, Close and Stengle will all be in there. You would think Rohan is too. The last two spots really depend on Cameron, Hawkins or Neale.

So thats 18/22 above. And then if Hawkins and Cameron are good to go they are automatic selections.
Then I can't see Atkins not being in the squad. Thats 21/22.

FB: Bews, SDK, Kolo
HB: Stewart, Esava, ZGuthrie
MF: Smith, Blicavs, Holmes
HF: Miers, Cameron, Close
FF: Rohan, Hawkins, Stengle
Foll: Stanley, Bruhn, CGuthrie
IC: Dangerfield, Tuohy, Atkins, (last spot could be anyone from the list below but I lean towards Bowes or OHenry.)


Theres a lot of guys who are going to be disappointed.
Parfitt, O'Connor, Simpson, Menegola, Clark, Bowes, OHenry, Whyte,

In regards to back 6 or front 6 "starters" aren't so important, it's always a group of 7 at least but the key position players will tend to be benched less for structural reasons. So Touhy starting on the bench for 3 minutes or whatever wouldn't be a slight on him.

Duncan seems doubtful so Bowes would take his spot if fit.

Same for O.Henry with Hawkins.

Quite often through the year one or two vets will be rested if not injured, so at least 4 guys from that bottom list will get a bunch of games. It wouldn't surprise me if even a Blicavs or C.Guthrie type gets managed in the back end of the year.

 

[BotsMaster]

Is this our home game or Pies?

 

[And_ROOS]

Is this our home game or Pies?

Home game.

 

[cats_09]

Is this our home game or Pies?

Round 1 versus Collingwood, and Round 4 versus Hawthorn are our "home" MCG matches this season

 

[Ratcat]

I've been raving T Bruhn (more of a kid), but that Jack Bowes

12

Jack Bowes

Age

26

Ht

189cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.3

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.6

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.5

4star

MG

318.1

4star

D

18.0

4star

K

11.8

5star

HB

6.3

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.1

2star

MG

318.1

4star

D

11.6

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.4

4star

was a heck of a pick up for us too this trade period.

 

[#6 Thorp #7 Selwood LOL]

Starting mids
Stanley (R), Blicavs, Bruhn, CGuthrie
Danger might be in there depending on the forwardline or if they want to start him on the bench like they did for games last season.

Minor nitpick in a great post - but I reckon zero chance Danger doesn't start in the middle in his first game as skipper. They even mentioned on the 2022 Doco that they made a mistake not having him at the first bounce for the QF. Doubt they make the same mistake again. Tanner to come off the bench.

 

[witsend]

Surely best case scenario Rds 1 & 2 is Hawkins out Rd 1, Cameron plays, Hawkins back in for Rd 2 and Jezza’s baby drops.
Both back on board for Rd 3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Drunkcat]

Never tip against your team. Unwritten rule.

I have won some good dollars backing the pies when they have paid 5 bucks, when there are good odds you got to give it a try

 

[standupand]

Or...

Always tip against your team... Hear me out

If you're team wins then you're happy because they won, but if they lose, while you're annoyed they lost you then get a little bit of joy from the fact you got the tip right

I get the logic, it's just.. win, lose.. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

 

[Drunkcat]

I am tipping Cooper Whyte for a debut rd1

 

[Gavin Excell]

I am tipping Cooper Whyte for a debut rd1

that would be a surpise

 

[cats_09]

I get the logic, it's just.. win, lose.. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

I think I've tipped against us twice (maybe 3 times in the last decade) when I genuinely thought we'd lose based on how we'd be going compared with our opposition, and was trying to boost my tips score - I'm happy to say that on each occasion I got my tip wrong

There was no reverse psychology shit going on, just trying to tip with my head rather than heart - but not something I would do with and regularity

 

[#6 Thorp #7 Selwood LOL]

Surely best case scenario Rds 1 & 2 is Hawkins out Rd 1, Cameron plays, Hawkins back in for Rd 2 and Jezza’s baby drops.
Both back on board for Rd 3


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My understanding is that Jez will only miss if his baby is coming right around game time in either week. So 1 in 7 chance (at worst) that he will miss a game at all.

 

[And_ROOS]

Minor nitpick in a great post - but I reckon zero chance Danger doesn't start in the middle in his first game as skipper. They even mentioned on the 2022 Doco that they made a mistake not having him at the first bounce for the QF. Doubt they make the same mistake again. Tanner to come off the bench.

You know after posting it that was something that crossed my mind and I was too lazy to edit it. No way Danger doesn't start. That said, if Hawk or Cameron don't come up I feel like we start him forward.

If not, then there is no way he doesn't start in the middle.

 

[Mattttty]

You know after posting it that was something that crossed my mind and I was too lazy to edit it. No way Danger doesn't start. That said, if Hawk or Cameron don't come up I feel like we start him forward.

If not, then there is no way he doesn't start in the middle.

When did Danger last play significant forward-line time? I can't remember seeing him much in that role for quite a long time.. but maybe I'm forgetting..

 

[catsfootyfan89]

It feels weird heading into a season without Selwood. Is anyone even capable of bringing half the amount of heart or endeavour he brought? Massive shoes for Dangerfield to fill. Might even be the biggest pressure he's been under in his career.

Personally this season feels like another big chapter in the re-tool saga. Some of the youth coming in is bloody exciting. I'm expecting we'll be up there at the pointy end but you never know!

GO cats