Preview Rd 14 Bye week - time to look ahead.

[D BRIDGE]

On Hawkins playing on next year, if it was to support Neale and prevent him from hitting the wall by giving him a spell one week in three- like the Stanley/Conway situation right now- I'd be 100% on board with that.

I'd hate to see one of the greats of our club go out getting the occasional game and being backup to a guy who isn't very good.

 

[Vdubs]

On Hawkins playing on next year, if it was to support Neale and prevent him from hitting the wall by giving him a spell one week in three- like the Stanley/Conway situation right now- I'd be 100% on board with that.

Many think he should not have played this year. He looks well past his use by date right now, champion as he is. 2025 looks impossible. Time will tell.

 

[Finknottle]

Many think he should not have played this year. He looks well past his use by date right now, champion as he is. 2025 looks impossible. Time will tell.

I'd be shocked if Hawkins played next year. In a team that had a strong midfield like Sydney he would still be useful, but not Geelong. He cannot run or jump. I strongly doubt he would even contemplate another year.

 

[Live in hope]

Going through our OOC players my most interesting thoughts are on some established names.

Cam Guthrie
Guthrie played mostly half back in his return match before moving into the middle where he was largely ineffective and strained his Achilles in his 4th match back.
If he's going to be ineffective and his body won't hold up, then does he need to play HBF from here on?

This is the first tension point for 2025. We need to manage him into the same position where we need to be giving games to Mullin and Humphries in. The manage in position is the same as the manage out position

Patrick Dangerfield
His best work is still breathtaking, but even in his last match you could see he's being deployed forward for longer. Midfield will tear his body to shreds for any sustained period.

This is the second tension point. The only position he can likely take is Henry's. He can be effective there but we also need to invest in Henry.

Tyson Stengle
Offers for this guy could, and should, be huge. He owes us nothing and needs to catch up on earnings. Without him we'd be out of the 8 in my opinion.

The third tension point is where do we draw the line on dollars here? He is worth whatever money is thrown at him, but need to be using cash to throw at a trade in mid. What if the same dollars as tyson stengle and Brandon Parfitt gave you bailey smith and Shaun Mannagh?

Those are my big 3 talking points and I don't have an answer for any of them.


On the other OOC players they're mostly easy and it's a more boring list. Status taken from footywire so if it's wrong don't @ me

I'll miss you:
Hawkins
Duncan
Tuohy
Bews
Parfitt
Rohan
Stanley

Thanks for coming but it didn't work out:
Foster
Hardie

One more year
Jeka
Murdoch
Willis

Multiple years
J Henry
Bowes
Kolo
O Henry
Clohesy

That's 9 out, possibly 10 if Stengle walks. Near a quarter of the list and 8-9 are senior spots. A lot of the senior guys seem to have understudies too though. So the baton passes:

Hawkins > Neale
Duncan > Bowes *
Tuohy > Knevitt
Bews > Mullin
Parfitt > Bruhn *
Rohan > Henry
Stanley > Conway

Bowes and Bruhn asterisk because they're already b22 mids.

This means that we need to add 2x midfielders. If we want to improve they need to be better than Bruhn and Bowes. Smith this year is my hope, the other position I'll be looking for a step up from existing rotations.

Very late to the party on this thread -

Mostly agree with CatTotheFuture, although might be a little line ball with Murdoch. Hardie would be very stiff to be delisted but his age will count against- might be kept on as insurance if Parfitt and Duncan leave (and if we get someone like Smith, who is coming off a season ending knee).
Foster is actually quite skilful but looks too slow for AFL (and even VFL, TBH). Also concerned a little on temperament - same for Jeka, actually.

Interesting to see how they approach ruck depth. Hopefully, they don’t go another Celgar - I’d prefer they’d take another promising ruck with upside- at this stage Pike would look ideal if available at a R3 onwards.

 

[Finknottle]

Is Smith really a good fit for the Geelong culture? I doubt it. He had problems at the Dogs before he was injured.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Is Smith really a good fit for the Geelong culture? I doubt it. He had problems at the Dogs before he was injured.

I would say he's not a bad fit. He's pretty notable in the way he drives his own training standards and if we want to maintain this culture where we trust players to lead their own programs the he could be critical driving it

 

[dazbroncos]

I would say he's not a bad fit. He's pretty notable in the way he drives his own training standards and if we want to maintain this culture where we trust players to lead their own programs the he could be critical driving it

not sure id be using Baz and Culture in the same sentence as regards to driving it with his off field exploits.
I get he might train hard.... but IMO culture is a total approach not just regards to training.

GO Catters

 

[CatToTheFuture]

not sure id be using Baz and Culture in the same sentence as regards to driving it with his off field exploits.
I get he might train hard.... but IMO culture is a total approach not just regards to training.

GO Catters

Yeah, I wouldn't want to read too much into one incident though. Let's hear what Stokes thinks

Mathew Stokes: My road back after cocaine arrest

In 2010, Geelong premiership player Mathew Stokes was suspended by his club after police caught him buying cocaine. He details the aftermath and what helped him learn from his mistake.

www.google.com