Preview Round 6 - Flag unfurling in GF rematch: Geelong vs Sydney, 22 April, 7:25pm @ HOME (KP)

[Pure_Ownage]

He was ok last year and average against Gold Coast in my eyes. Not great but definitely not the worst backup ruck.

The biggest issue for me is that he looks physically cooked this year. He's currently being rested every second week and then only playing limited game time. He and Witts could barely move late in the GC game. Can he really go from that to playing 5-6 consecutive games?

I think we need another solution for at least part of this period and play Ceglar where he can have an impact.

He will have to because he is the only specialist ruck left on the list (who isnt injured) until neale and stanley are back. Fortunately we have kept his vfl workload low. He will need to play the next month and maybe we get stanley back by then.

 

[Chinacats]

Swans at Geelong have decent records v us.
They'll be wanting some revenge for 22 GF.
Losing 2 weapons will be very difficult.
Stengle has been our point of difference, and Stanley is underrated here- a very 50-50 game.

As a club a very good record vs Geelong at this venue. However not this particular team…

 

[Chinacats]

We’ve done the business vs 18th & 17th and failed against 16th on the current standings… hopefully home ground and unfurling of the flag sparks them up! Need a 20% increase…!

 

[geelong_crazy26]

have to win this one. need a decent scalp... WCE and hawks mean sweet stuff all in terms of wins.

 

[Heckler]

Stanley will likely miss over a month of footy
Ceglar was brought in as a backup ruckman.
His many detractors have been harsh, considering:
Difficulty of new players to gel on a few odd games.
He will finally get a block of games to show his wares.
His performance have been reasonable but varied.
Adjust your expectations: Stanley was no superstar.
All Ceglar has to do is, break even, in the ruck.
Give our midfielders 50/50 chance to win clearances
Has adequate mobility and general skills and is competitive.
Work hard, improve every game and be a pleasant surprise.
Give the Guy a break... we may need him for the finals.

 

[gogeelongcats]

Not an option as it robs us of too much with blitz elsewhere imo.
Need to go ceglar for the next couple of weeks until neale is fit (then you could consider neale and blitz).
We will need to rookie a mature ruck for depth in the mid season draft if stanley isnt back by then.

Neale is not a ruck. I tihnk he is a Key forward only and a good one at that.

 

[magic_johnson!]

They're a young list so it's not really relevant. Different to the 2014-2018 squad getting consecutive wins in Geelong together. Their last game in Geelong was in 2019 for a loss, back in 2018 they won but both teams are quite different from back then.

Just as likely to leave a mental scar as it is to cause a revenge win.

Their injuries are more concerning than ours. Practically no first choice key defenders or forwards or ruckmen.

Their ruckman is Ladhams and Stengle has been our least in-form forward this season, while O.Henry is showing good signs and will get further opportunity.

Home team would be favourites in either case, and that is us this week so we will wear the favourite tag and if we lose so be it.

They played a few games in Geelong in 2021 - it was their elected home for that brief period Sydney was locked down and Geelong wasn’t.

 

[Mr Meow]

They played a few games in Geelong in 2021 - it was their elected home for that brief period Sydney was locked down and Geelong wasn’t.

Forgot about that. Not against Geelong though, right? Or in front of a packed stadium.

 

[moruyatom]

John Longmire ruled out the Mccartin brothers for this weekend. Rampe & Franklin are only 50/50. If we can match them in the middle, we will win this match.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[cats_09]

A big thanks to catstorm for this weeks preview write up - please find it in the second post of this thread

It's a great read

 

[you pick one]

Yes and no. Even if we lose the numbers say we are still in it.

I agree with what you say regarding still being in it even if we lose. I was more thinking along the lines of us seeing just how much hunger is still in this team and belief to get through adversity.

 

[cats_09]

 

[allrighty]

I agree with what you say regarding still being in it even if we lose. I was more thinking along the lines of us seeing just how much hunger is still in this team and belief to get through adversity.

I think that is the more pertinent issue

 

[goyoucatters]

John Longmire ruled out the Mccartin brothers for this weekend. Rampe & Franklin are only 50/50. If we can match them in the middle, we will win this match.

This is absolutely true. But it is far, far easier said than done, based on the output of our mids group so far this season. We have had plenty of quarters where they appear to have barely turned up at all.

 

[Catman]

We have to have faith in the system and the next-man-up mentality when it comes to Ceglar. We all thought we'd be in some trouble when Stewy missed that month last year, yet we won all four. Yep, we're in a different situation and poorer form, but the club continues to prove us wrong, so why not again?

 

[goyoucatters]

It's not a question of not 'getting behind' Ceglar. It's just a sober assessment of how much value he can realistically provide. The idea of him breaking even for a few weeks against AFL rucks is not easy to see at the moment, given how little footy he's played and how much he appears to be running out of puff as a player. Has he even played two consecutive games at any level this season without being withdrawn long before the final siren? It's hardly ideal preparation for being the main man as an AFL ruck over the coming weeks.

But as a person who admittedly has a very low bar for what I'm expecting from him, I still accept that it's best to play him rather than shoehorning Blitz back into the key ruck role. We lose so much from the overall structure of the team (and our ability to defend the ground, in particular) when the #46 is designated as the ruck. Just have to hope the mids group stands up with Ceglar in there, and trust that Rhys recovers strongly and quickly from his setback. At least he won't be off legs and absent from the training track for too long, so he can hopefully return in reasonable shape when the time is right.

 

[Generalissimo]

OUT: Stengle (inj), Stanley (inj), Parfitt (sub, omit)
IN: Rohan, Ceglar, Knevitt (sub)

Those would be my changes.

Parf quite stiff, but given our ruck woes the sub needs to be a medium-tall player. That way if Ceglar breaks down you can still have Ratugolea or de Koning helping out in the ruck for five minutes at a time while Knevitt drops back to play as a tallish defender.

 

[Chinacats]

Could be a game whereby we show our real form. It’s hard for the premiers who have played many finals , climbed the mountain and reached the summit to get up for a round 3 match vs GC or a round 5 game vs WC or a round 14 game vs kangaroos etc… However for a few big H & A games during the season they would be up for it and I think the first home game when the flag will be unfurled in the GF rematch would be one of those games! Go cats!

 

[bombersboy]

He will have to because he is the only specialist ruck left on the list (who isnt injured) until neale and stanley are back. Fortunately we have kept his vfl workload low. He will need to play the next month and maybe we get stanley back by then.

Neale is a part time ruck able to take a handful of centre bounce taps to give our first ruck a rest. It's Stanley and Ceglar with Neale a break glass option.

 

[bombersboy]

What's everyone's take on what is going on with Parfitt. He was dreadful at the weekend. Is he trying too hard or is it confidence? Should we perservere with him knowing he is a lot better than how he has been playing.

 

[Lana]

I think Ceglar is the right kind of match up for Hickey, but then I looked and saw Ladhams has been their number 1 ruckman all year.

The Witts match up for Ceglar was never going to go his way, there was no area of advantage for Ceglar. I think we should back Ceglar into go head to head. If he can't be competitive then we'd almost draw a line through his name and shift to a Blicavs/Sav ruck pair until Stanley is right.

 

[Mr Meow]

It's not a question of not 'getting behind' Ceglar. It's just a sober assessment of how much value he can realistically provide. The idea of him breaking even for a few weeks against AFL rucks is not easy to see at the moment, given how little footy he's played and how much he appears to be running out of puff as a player. Has he even played two consecutive games at any level this season without being withdrawn long before the final siren? It's hardly ideal preparation for being the main man as an AFL ruck over the coming weeks.

But as a person who admittedly has a very low bar for what I'm expecting from him, I still accept that it's best to play him rather than shoehorning Blitz back into the key ruck role. We lose so much from the overall structure of the team (and our ability to defend the ground, in particular) when the #46 is designated as the ruck. Just have to hope the mids group stands up with Ceglar in there, and trust that Rhys recovers strongly and quickly from his setback. At least he won't be off legs and absent from the training track for too long, so he can hopefully return in reasonable shape when the time is right.

Despite all that, against arguably the best and most consistent ruck in the comp (at least top 2 alongside Gawn) he didn't disgrace himself. Witts dominated hit outs, as he usually does against Geelong but was otherwise 13 disposals at 84.6% DE, 0 goals, 1 mark, 4 clearances and 144m gained. Ceglar 14 disposals at 78.4% DE, 0 goals, 4 marks, 5 clearances and 110m gained. His untidy and glaring errors with 4 clangers (2 other clangers were free kicks against) were the main concern. There were 4 or 5 moments that his sloppiness hurt us, so we have to hope he rectifies that as his output and competitiveness otherwise was fine for a journeyman 3rd choice ruck.

 

[PzBlinky]

Could be a game whereby we show our real form. It’s hard for the premiers who have played many finals , climbed the mountain and reached the summit to get up for a round 3 match vs GC or a round 5 game vs WC or a round 14 game vs kangaroos etc… However for a few big H & A games during the season they would be up for it and I think the first home game when the flag will be unfurled in the GF rematch would be one of those games! Go cats!

I bloody hope so.

Unlike the last two weeks, I think the first 15 minutes sets the tone for the rest of the game. Come out like we did against the Eagles and Hawks, we'll be 3-4 goals down... and there won't be a 9-10 goal streak to get us out of the hole.

Come out hard and ready for the contest and at least break even early on and we're in the game.

 

[Mr Meow]

What's everyone's take on what is going on with Parfitt. He was dreadful at the weekend. Is he trying too hard or is it confidence? Should we perservere with him knowing he is a lot better than how he has been playing.

My semi-hopeful take, if he is picked from here, is that he is not the kind of player who can plug into a side after a long absence. And any VFL time is not helping him get AFL confidence. I think he's the worst possible sub there is, he needs to be backed with a run of a few full games and if he is still terrible then he gets dropped for the long term. Had no problem finding the footy or applying pressure but his touch and skill were abominably bad. Like worse than GFL standard.

 

[goyoucatters]

Despite all that, against arguably the best and most consistent ruck in the comp (at least top 2 alongside Gawn) he didn't disgrace himself. Witts dominated hit outs, as he usually does against Geelong but was otherwise 13 disposals at 84.6% DE, 0 goals, 1 mark, 4 clearances and 144m gained. Ceglar 14 disposals at 78.4% DE, 0 goals, 4 marks, 5 clearances and 110m gained. His untidy and glaring errors with 4 clangers (2 other clangers were free kicks against) were the main concern. There were 4 or 5 moments that his sloppiness hurt us, so we have to hope he rectifies that as his output and competitiveness otherwise was fine for a journeyman 3rd choice ruck.

That's the truth of it right there. He is what he is, which is not anything like the standard required over the long term to make us a truly competitive team against the best rucks. Hope he does well, of course, and really hope Rhys gets back soon.

And am so disappointed that Conway isn't up and going this year. This would have been a fantastic opportunity to see how ready he is for the big time. A run of games in the seniors could have been absolutely perfect for him at this point, if he'd had a full preseason and then a month in the twos up till now.