Review Round 14, 2023 vs Geelong

[Bevoman]

Special mention to Dylan Williams

He has gone from a SANFL forward who got delisted looking like he was no better than an amateur league player, lucky enough to get re-rookied to being a key pillar of our backline.

I'll be honest and thought Port were wasting their time giving him another go, but wow has he turned it around. I dont know what the hell happened in the off season and who thought they would give him a go at the other end of the ground but its been a master stroke

He has a fantastic mark, and his kicking out of defence is a real weapon. He reads the play very well and his fitness has gone to another level after not even being able to run out a quarter before being completely gassed last season. Defensively he is very solid and he has slotted into the backline seamlessly. He is absolutely cemented his spot in this team. He has some real composure for someone still so early into his AFL career

He absolutely deserves a being put back on our main list and offered decent contract moving forward. He is a real asset to the team.

He is an absolute shining light this season and i am so happy for him

Sometimes gifted players are lazy: in the off season Williams hired a personal trainer in Melbourne, where he and Lord had three sessions a week.

 

[ibd77]

I'll put my hand up. I did before the Bulldogs game. It is clear as day that Hinkley is not coaching this team anymore - which is all I've ever wanted. He's either going to get the arse at the end of the season (as he should), or they're going to be crazy and give him another deal. I decided that I've made my point and with the deal offered to renew I felt now was the time to do so. I've been missing going to the Footy something chronic and I couldn't bare missing another couple of years, let alone the rest of this season if they do renew him. I'm satisfied based on what I can see that Josh Carr is coaching this team, and even if that's not official, that's good enough for me. We are playing the best Football I've seen for years and after last night, I am starting to believe that we are a real chance to finally break the drought.

The only problem was I couldn't go last night because it was a bloody Thursday night game and my daughter had activities on!

Would it be a strange concept in today's world that Hinkley steps down as head coach but remains as a support coach on the bench where he does his best work? A bit like Choco's roll at Melbourne. He is still very invested in the club, the players and achieving ultimate success but less worried about the technical & strategical elements of the game leaving that to Josh Carr to manage. There is no rule saying that the head coach is the be all and end all of a football club.

 

[Gazzathegoat]

What a win by your mob!! I see a lot of Geelong 2022 in your team/club this year (albeit, a lot younger and quicker!!)

Genuinely hope your team goes all the way. Regardless, your midfield talent will hold you in good stead for the next 6-10 years. Exciting times ahead.

The first quarter was deceptive, it didn't feel like we were a 20-point better team. We were just very clean and efficient inside 50 and took our chances. Your midfield simply annihilated us thereafter.

I can't see anyone beating you at home in the finals if you secure a top 2 spot and remain healthy.

Spewing we have to face you again in 7 weeks

All the best for the rest of the season!!

 

[Bevoman]

I can't believe I'm saying this but Damien Barrett is right. While SPP only had 13 disposals they felt like 30

Not to mention how he keeps the defenders looking over their shoulder.

 

[kittypurry]

Congrats on eleven in a row!

You remind me of us last year--just red hot. I hope you guys win the flag. We finally got over our prelim voodoo last year and I have no doubt your boys will do the same this year too.

 

[Ray Nolan]

Would it be a strange concept in today's world that Hinkley steps down as head coach but remains as a support coach on the bench where he does his best work? A bit like Choco's roll at Melbourne. He is still very invested in the club, the players and achieving ultimate success but less worried about the technical & strategical elements of the game leaving that to Josh Carr to manage. There is no rule saying that the head coach is the be all and end all of a football club.

If the club want to keep Hinkley on in that role and negotiate an appropriate deal, I'm happy for him to stay. I just do not want him near the coaches box or the senior role. I've never denied that Hinkley is great when it comes to relationship management with the players, he just has no tactical nous or acumen. I'll happy keep Hinkley to whisper sweet nothings in the players ears and give them pats on the back when needed if it helps to win flags.

 

[Poo Eckert]

There isn't a thread for our next game yet but I was trying to remember the last time we played Essendon at the MCG. I looked it up - 1998 and that was the second time. Docklands ever since.

Don't worry, it will happen more often as they won't want to play us at Marvel

 

[Bevoman]

There isn't a thread for our next game yet but I was trying to remember the last time we played Essendon at the MCG. I looked it up - 1998 and that was the second time. Docklands ever since.

We are the Marvel masters of the Dockland universe.
We need the experience of playing at the G.

 

[bomberclifford]

Probably a unpopular opinion but im playing Lord and giving Dixon an extended break.
His knee is obviously not right, needs time like Duursma.

Said the exact same thing to my lads walking back from the game. He was not in a good way for most of the match and as admirable as it is that he's prepared to go through that for the team, we need to prepare for life after Charlie. I might end up being wrong here, but to me, it's looking like this will be his last season.

Giving our older guys a regular break, and at the same time getting games into the next tier, is something that I think we've not done very well over the past ten years. This year seems different. There's almost a fast tracking process going on to get games into a few select players coming up. Way more than we've ever done in the past.

Giving Jonas, Dixon, Burton, MG, DBJ, (possibly even Fantasia?) etc some time in the reserves to get back to form, or not, has happened so fast that it's almost a blur.

It's an exciting time because we're seeing a changing of the guard in real time and we're still winning.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Nah everyone rates it

You've obviously never been to the drafts and trading board lol

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[Enviable Tradition]

Probably a unpopular opinion but im playing Lord and giving Dixon an extended break.
His knee is obviously not right, needs time like Duursma.
Lycett is another who has to be managed closely to from here

I'd rest him til the Collingwood game.

Maybe a half in the SANFL the week before.

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[rogerjames]

One thing I'm no longer hearing is, "We hope to put up a good performance." (or words to that effect) There now seems to be an expectation to win every time we take the field because of the myriad of weapons we have at our disposal, and that's a powerful position to be in.

Agree, the language has changed totally. We are no longer saying how hard it will be to beat opposition teams. Kens frequent loser talk & quest to lower expectations to save his arse drove me insane.

 

[Bevoman]

If the club want to keep Hinkley on in that role and negotiate an appropriate deal, I'm happy for him to stay. I just do not want him near the coaches box or the senior role. I've never denied that Hinkley is great when it comes to relationship management with the players, he just has no tactical nous or acumen. I'll happy keep Hinkley to whisper sweet nothings in the players ears and give them pats on the back when needed if it helps to win flags.

It reminds me of the top flight soccer manager in Europe.
Where managers in the EPL have to get inside their players head to understand what best motivates them.
EPL mangers wear thousand dollar suites and have other people wearing footy shorts and running the training sessions.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

How good is it to hear King say we "found ways to out the Geelong back 6 under pressure. They have them a situation they really couldn't handle"

That has been the most promising improvement.

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[Powertron]

What a win by your mob!! I see a lot of Geelong 2022 in your team/club this year (albeit, a lot younger and quicker!!)

We’re aiming at Geelong ‘07 not ‘22

 

[Handyandy]

My dad had one three weeks ago and spent time in the RAH, now in rehab at Hampstead. Your mum's in good hands there. My old boy can't talk at the minute, but if he could he'd be saying * the cats too!
All the best to your mum on her recovery

Thanks, I wish your dad a speedy recovery too. My mum calls Hawkins ‘piggy eyes’ and hates him and Geelong with passion.

 

[bomberclifford]

Favourite part of the game was Hawkins throwing a tanty in the final quarter because he wasn't getting his usual soft touch free kicks that he was clearly playing for. A thoroughly detestable player.

 

[TazD]

Once we collect all the Duursmas we'll be unbeatable.

 

[rogerjames]

Would it be a strange concept in today's world that Hinkley steps down as head coach but remains as a support coach on the bench where he does his best work? A bit like Choco's roll at Melbourne. He is still very invested in the club, the players and achieving ultimate success but less worried about the technical & strategical elements of the game leaving that to Josh Carr to manage. There is no rule saying that the head coach is the be all and end all of a football club.

This needs to be acknowledged though if it continues into next year. I'm not sure the current arrangement is sustainable. Ken will get tired off his lack of involvement on game day & Josh will want more public acknowledgement of his role. But it's working beautifully atm.

 

[Powerade 08]

How good is Farrell the last 2 weeks, hes still learning how to find the ball back there. Feels like the opposition is cooked when he starts getting those handball recieves through the corridor.

 

[melanChronic]

Good to see Wines have a strong game.

Interesting how he was basically out of the guts last week with 12% CBA and then up to 74% CBA last night. It seems they rested him up last week with a 6 day break and the view that he would be important in nullifying Geelong on the inside.

Boak on the other hand had 0% CBA, despite high minutes in the middle against WB. If they can rotate those two in as required then it gives our midfield a few different looks. Carr has a fair few levers to pull in the midfield at the moment, and he's doing it brilliantly.

There has also been some good squad management decisions happening over the last few weeks (Lycett coming off against Hawks another one).

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Another case of all played, but especially from middle of 2nd quarter its all played very well.

We didn't play that poorly in the first quarter, but we had poor conversion and Gary Rohan

23

Gary Rohan

Age

33

Ht

189cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.6

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.8

2star

K

6.0

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.3

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.8

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

4.2

5star

G

1.2

4star

was white hot. I thought of Luke Darcy's very excited comment in one of last years finals the way he took a big contested pack mark and Darcy said he looked like Wayne Carey the way he hit the pack. I was thinking like that 3 or 4 times in that 1st quarter.

Plus we were slipping over at critical times. I reckon they got 3 maybe 4 of their first 7 goals from players losing their footing and giving Geelong opponents an advantage to set up the goal or kick the goal. I wrote at half time if we stop falling over and fumbling and bumbling the ball we will win. We did and then we did.

Every one of our games between between Rds 16 and 22 are at night or twilight and that means dew and a slippery ball and being winter - rain, so Alfie and the boys had better get our boot selection right and hand out plenty of grippo to the players. (Rd 23 is 2.40pm Perth time game and Rd 24 hasn't been announced yet).

After quarter time Geelong had 24 x I50s yep only 24 and they managed to only score 5.4. That's great pressure all around the ground from our blokes. Winning centre clearances also helps. I think it was 14 v 5 after 1/4 time.

In those 3 quarters we had 44 x I50s for 14.8 which is a pretty good conversion rate for us. We had 42 x I50 in the first half against Hawthorn for 16.9 when there was a lot less pressure and we struggled to convert the first 8 or 9 of those I50s.

Geelong's old legs got them in the end, but they still can move the ball well if you give them time and space.

They still have a decent set up down back but we worked really hard on stopping Tom Stewart take so many of his usual intercept marks. I heard on radio last night driving home that he didn't take one intercept mark. Hats off to Jed McEntee who had the job on him most of the night, but I saw Narkle and Sammy stand by him a few times after a goal was kicked and setting up before the centre bounce. At one point in the 1st quarter I think we had 1 maybe 2 of the KPF's off the ground and I looked at the match ups after a goal and every Geelong defender was a few cms taller than our forwards except for Dixon and De Koning seemed equal height.

When Geelong got to 2 goals down early in the last quarter I was still confident we would win, but if Joel Selwood was playing I wouldn't have been. He just knew what to do when the game was on the line. I wrote after they were 0-3, 3 close losses, no Selwood, no Geelong. I said they would still make finals, given how many games they win at Kardinia Park, but Selwood dragged them over the line so many times in the previous 15 years. I still think they will make finals as they have 6 more games at Kardinia Park. But if Port and Melbourne win down there then they might not make it.


Got a question - who was mainly on Cameron for the last 3 quarters?? The first quarter we seemed to play 3 or 4 guys on him as we shuffled things around to try and stop Rohan. I saw Bergman on him in a few critical plays but didn't really pick up if he got the job after 1/4 time.

 

[Papa G]

For those at the game, the crowd was listed at 36,316. It looked pretty full on TV. Is this accurate? It's basically sayong the ground was less than 2/3rds full.

 

[philreich]

Got an email this morning from a Collingwood fan which read, "I hope you enjoy your short time on top of the ladder." It only served to strengthen my already considerable desire to smash those muppets in round 19.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

For those at the game, the crowd was listed at 36,316. It looked pretty full on TV. Is this accurate? It's basically sayong the ground was less than 2/3rds full.

Usual SMA bullshit. There is noway 17,000 more people could have fitted in there. That's saying 1 in ever 3 seats was empty.

I did something unusual last night and went and watched the replay on Fox Footy at the pub. There was some dumb arse crows supporter there trying to tell me we are going to play our GF in 6 weeks time - against collingwood, we won't make the GF yadha, yadha. Then he started going on about the crowd and how 36,000 was a poor crowd, and I said I don't give a flying **** about the crowd size and I don't get an orgasm about crowds like he does. He then said you need crowds to pay me and others and that's when I noticed he had an SMA blue jacket on. I told him in no uncertain terms how corrupt and incompetent the SMA are, they have been caught out many times and anyone who believes their crowd figures is a moron. Glad to say he didn't stick around for too long.