Preview Round 19: Geelong V Brisbane, Battle of the Cats - Sat 22nd July 4:35pm @ GABBA

[waggacatssupporter]

Are there still tickets for this game?

Single seats available this morning.

 

[Hamingja]

Surely not Esava unless we have an unexpected out among SDK/J Henry/Kolo? It seems him being 'managed' was an acknowledgement by the coaches that he can't fit in the side with a full strength premiership backline. I saw Leigh Montagna on First Crack last night talking about our backline v Essendon and how it was close to back to its best. I've been a big fan of most of what Esava has brought this season and he was vital in the first half of the year when Henry, SDK and Kolo all missed games but I can't see how he fits in this week.

If Bews doesn't get up we might see Kolo on Cameron

 

[Hamingja]

Is it worth trying O'Connor is a 'tagging' role on Cameron? Just completely shut him out of the game.

Or is he too valuable offensively for that?

I don't think I have ever seen O'Connor mentioned as offensive.

He might play on Cameron in the backline but CS is looking to bring back the tagger. Neale and MoC have gone at it a couple times with mixed results so either match up wouldn't be a surprise.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Surely not Esava unless we have an unexpected out among SDK/J Henry/Kolo? It seems him being 'managed' was an acknowledgement by the coaches that he can't fit in the side with a full strength premiership backline. I saw Leigh Montagna on First Crack last night talking about our backline v Essendon and how it was close to back to its best. I've been a big fan of most of what Esava has brought this season and he was vital in the first half of the year when Henry, SDK and Kolo all missed games but I can't see how he fits in this week.

It is a real dilemma now given they portrayed it as managed and didn’t play him in VFL.

sav has to play this week so they drop him (without needing to officially drop him) to vfl this week? I would but not sure they will. They might instead rest SDK or Henry (Kolo has been managed?) and try a different look? I dont like it but better than going back to 4 talls. Hopefully they have put that experiment away and now just rotate until they get the final mix (which I think was what they had on the weekend!)

 

[catempire]

Surely not Esava unless we have an unexpected out among SDK/J Henry/Kolo? It seems him being 'managed' was an acknowledgement by the coaches that he can't fit in the side with a full strength premiership backline. I saw Leigh Montagna on First Crack last night talking about our backline v Essendon and how it was close to back to its best. I've been a big fan of most of what Esava has brought this season and he was vital in the first half of the year when Henry, SDK and Kolo all missed games but I can't see how he fits in this week.

I agree with you. But listening to Scott he is clear that they are not locking in a best 22 now and they’ll continue to manage players through the squad of 26 or so.

 

[catempire]

It is a real dilemma now given they portrayed it as managed and didn’t play him in VFL.

sav has to play this week so they drop him (without needing to officially drop him) to vfl this week? I would but not sure they will. They might instead rest SDK or Henry (Kolo has been managed?) and try a different look? I dont like it but better than going back to 4 talls. Hopefully they have put that experiment away and now just rotate until they get the final mix (which I think was what they had on the weekend!)

I could see DK being managed. On the other hand he’s a perfect Daniher matchup. Henry is flying, hopefully he doesn’t need the rest.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Bews is a must this week. Otherwise Charlie will put 5 on the board.
Dunkley missing will help... a lot.
Lions will be favourites and rightly so.
Heart would love a win. We need to be at 100% and hope the Lions are down 5% after a heart breaker vs the Dees.
My Wallet/Sportsbet account says a Lions win by 14pts.
The heart is hoping for a 26 point thumping.

IN; Bews
OUT; Mullin

*Injury cloud. Rohan if so maybe Dempsey comes in or Mullin stays.

I hadn’t heard of the Rohan possible injury? If it is just him being sore and needing a rest maybe they move Rohan to sub (with Mullin back to VFL). 2E back into the team (I thought Bews was one more game out?).

In terms of Dempsey I don’t see it unless they have injury to a Miers/Close type. I hope they don’t “reward him” with another sub role - he has proven he can’t play the sub role and it can’t help his mindset nor the team. Either in the 22 or play VFL (more likely). I also think Mullin should now focus on VFL for rest of the year to finish strongly with confidence.

No mucking around now, let’s manage 1 player a week (preferably via sub) - maybe 2 players if one is the sub. That means we can rotate through 25 players for the rest of the year - baring injury. Keeps those who need it fresh but also continuity to build.

Sav is a dillema now - in my view he is either VFL or rotating through giving the KPD one rest each over the next month. Please don’t go back to 4 Talls plus Stewart

 

[Mr Meow]

If Bews doesn't get up we might see Kolo on Cameron

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I hadn’t heard of the Rohan possible injury? If it is just him being sore and needing a rest maybe they move Rohan to sub (with Mullin back to VFL). 2E back into the team (I thought Bews was one more game out?).

In terms of Dempsey I don’t see it unless they have injury to a Miers/Close type. I hope they don’t “reward him” with another sub role - he has proven he can’t play the sub role and it can’t help his mindset nor the team. Either in the 22 or play VFL (more likely). I also think Mullin should now focus on VFL for rest of the year to finish strongly with confidence.

No mucking around now, let’s manage 1 player a week (preferably via sub) - maybe 2 players if one is the sub. That means we can rotate through 25 players for the rest of the year - baring injury. Keeps those who need it fresh but also continuity to build.

Sav is a dillema now - in my view he is either VFL or rotating through giving the KPD one rest each over the next month. Please don’t go back to 4 Talls plus Stewart

I don't mind resting a couple of the older brigade but not if it means Ratugolea is in the AFL side.

 

[CHAWKTS]

I agree with you. But listening to Scott he is clear that they are not locking in a best 22 now and they’ll continue to manage players through the squad of 26 or so.

Our posts just ”crossed”….maybe that squad of 25/26 does work with 1 managed out and 1 managed to sub each week? With 6 games left and assuming we want out best 22 for last round (given they have bye the week after)…we have 5 games to “manage”.

To me one of those managed each week is a KPD (including Stewart). We have Kolo, SDK, Sav, Stewart, Henry, Stewart and we should play 4 of those each week - so each have 1 game off (personally I wouldn’t do it but I can see that as a plan).

I can then see resting one other player per week but maybe to sub. Even giving a O Henry, Tanner, Atkins etc a week despite being young to freshen up. But I would have them as sub as they can play a qtr tactically or not…

What that means is we end up rotating through 24-25 players max which I reckon is the right number as we build continuity…

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Mod note - this is for the preview post above

Like this post rather than the above as PzBlinky deserves the recognition the effort


post by cats_09 (with changed ownership)

Loved the preview PzBlinky - posts like this emphasise the amount of footy knowledge and great writing that many posters on this board display.
Being interstate I greatly appreciate the insights and observations by so many about our great Club - we get 2/5 of 5/8 of non WA teams over here

 

[Shadow89]

Mod note - this is for the preview post above

Like this post rather than the above as PzBlinky deserves the recognition the effort


post by cats_09 (with changed ownership)

Awesome work PZ!

 

[calder_daddy]

Anyone who’s been to the footy at the Gabba wanna tell me a good bar to go beforehand?

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Anyone who’s been to the footy at the Gabba wanna tell me a good bar to go beforehand?

Storey bridge hotel.

 

[Gazzathegoat]

Our defence looks rock solid at the moment. I think Esava can only play if 1 of DK or Henry are injured. His disposal and positioning are too questionable in big games.

DK to Daniher

Henry to Hipwood (or vice versa)

O'Connor, Atkins or Blicavs to play a hard tag on Neale.

Saturday will be a warm 23 degrees, expecting a close game. Hopefully, we don't get too gassed in the 4th like we did against Port.

Expecting a big game from Cameron and Danger. Both have been well rested in recent weeks.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Storey bridge hotel.

The other one is Felons Brewing Co (although it is 1km further away over the bridge). Both are good

 

[Cataholic]

If Bews doesn't get up we might see Kolo on Cameron

Kolo would quickly be subbed off with severe dizziness if that occurred.

 

[Gee Class Loco]

If Bews doesn't get up we might see Kolo on Cameron

Or.... Do we throw Mullin into the FIRE ??

 

[dazbroncos]

I read the Battle Cats part of the title and realise I am this old

GO Catters

 

[catsfootyfan89]

This one feels really impossible to predict for me, given where things are at.

I wouldn't be surprised if we won by 30, neither if we lost by 30.

I feel like we all know what the Lions are going to deliver. We're the ones who have been unpredictable and at times unreliable. I don't know what we'll produce.

I feel like a win implies we'll go deep in September. Does a loss imply the opposite? It feels that way.

 

[you pick one]

I could see DK being managed. On the other hand he’s a perfect Daniher matchup. Henry is flying, hopefully he doesn’t need the rest.

DK managed for this one would be up there with taking no Ruckman to the West a few years ago,SUICIDE.

 

[cats_09]

It is a real dilemma now given they portrayed it as managed and didn’t play him in VFL.

sav has to play this week so they drop him (without needing to officially drop him) to vfl this week? I would but not sure they will. They might instead rest SDK or Henry (Kolo has been managed?) and try a different look? I dont like it but better than going back to 4 talls. Hopefully they have put that experiment away and now just rotate until they get the final mix (which I think was what they had on the weekend!)

The funny thing is, if Kolodjashnij want 'managed' against North, then he would seem the logical choice to miss this week if they really wanted to continue trying to rotate Ratugolea through the backline - main reason being I don't see how we'd want to go into this match without either of SDK or J. Henry. But with Jake managed just a week ago, not sure it works to use the same reasoning this week

I've seen comments on FB over the weekend how we must play Ratugolea this week alongside all of SDK, J. Henry & Kolodjashnij, because otherwise we won't have enough tall defenders to counter Brisbane's tall forwards - and that totally ignores the basic fact that our trio of tall defenders kept Brisbane to just 49 points in the last years prelim which was their lowest score for the season. Plus, we kept them to 70pts earlier in the season & the only other keep to keep them to less was Melbourne in their 2 H&A clashes


It's going to be interesting to see how they handle things going forward, because i don't see any obvious games to 'manage' either SDK or Henry, and with the form Henry's building I'm not sure why we'd want to rest him, while SDK looks like he could use the continuity as we build towards finals

 

[CHAWKTS]

The funny thing is, if Kolodjashnij want 'managed' against North, then he would seem the logical choice to miss this week if they really wanted to continue trying to rotate Ratugolea through the backline - main reason being I don't see how we'd want to go into this match without either of SDK or J. Henry. But with Jake managed just a week ago, not sure it works to use the same reasoning this week

I've seen comments on FB over the weekend how we must play Ratugolea this week alongside all of SDK, J. Henry & Kolodjashnij, because otherwise we won't have enough tall defenders to counter Brisbane's tall forwards - and that totally ignores the basic fact that our trio of tall defenders kept Brisbane to just 49 points in the last years prelim which was their lowest score for the season. Plus, we kept them to 70pts earlier in the season & the only other keep to keep them to less was Melbourne in their 2 H&A clashes


It's going to be interesting to see how they handle things going forward, because i don't see any obvious games to 'manage' either SDK or Henry, and with the form Henry's building I'm not sure why we'd want to rest him, while SDK looks like he could use the continuity as we build towards finals

I agree. But the conclusion of that is that they play Sav in the VFL….which looks really strange after “managing him” last week. I wonder whether ego/stubonness might lead to a (sub optimal in my view) decision to rest SDK. I hope not

 

[you pick one]

The funny thing is, if Kolodjashnij want 'managed' against North, then he would seem the logical choice to miss this week if they really wanted to continue trying to rotate Ratugolea through the backline - main reason being I don't see how we'd want to go into this match without either of SDK or J. Henry. But with Jake managed just a week ago, not sure it works to use the same reasoning this week

I've seen comments on FB over the weekend how we must play Ratugolea this week alongside all of SDK, J. Henry & Kolodjashnij, because otherwise we won't have enough tall defenders to counter Brisbane's tall forwards - and that totally ignores the basic fact that our trio of tall defenders kept Brisbane to just 49 points in the last years prelim which was their lowest score for the season. Plus, we kept them to 70pts earlier in the season & the only other keep to keep them to less was Melbourne in their 2 H&A clashes


It's going to be interesting to see how they handle things going forward, because i don't see any obvious games to 'manage' either SDK or Henry, and with the form Henry's building I'm not sure why we'd want to rest him, while SDK looks like he could use the continuity as we build towards finals

Kolo smashed Stringer the weekend I'd keep him going,If and I'm certain we will manage a few over the next month it will be in Games at Kardinia Park.Best 22 will play Pies at MCG in a few weeks time.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Ahhh it's just about make or break time for Sav selecton now.

He has been rested... Does that mean he comes back now?

I think we will find out pretty soon if MC truly thinks he is best 22 or not.

You can't go flip-flopping with your key defensive structure too much as finals and crunch games are approaching.

Personally, I do not think we should be bringing him in as we are looking pretty sable behind the ball as is (unless we need to rest someone).

If we had to play a GF tomorrow v a random team in the 8 would I risk bringing Sav in?.... Not a chance, and I've been pretty pro Sav as a key back... but time will tell.