Season review thread

[Warhorse]

Time for a season review thread

Exceeded expectations and did great to make a prelim but to lose the flag with everything falling our way was terrible. We dropped the cup and picked up our handbag instead. So dissappointing.

Look at Brisbane's record at the MCG in finals, the fact they had a tiring game against GWS and we go into a winnable position

 

[supahoops]

Clearly should’ve got more games into Mullin early, then lifted the

 

[Warhorse]

Clearly should’ve got more games into Mullin early, then lifted the

We had Dempsey and Humphries exceed expectations.

Mullin and Bruhn did not meet expectations.

Bruhn only improved very marginally from 2023 and 17 touches a game is not good enough for a midfielder. Needs to average over 20 touches a game next year, preferably closer to 25 - the level of a serviceable full time midfielder

Mullin, outside of one or two games, was poor in all games he played. Next year needs to become AFL standard. Currently he is not.

We are so reliant on Dangerfield, let's hope his decline due to age is offset by Smith's introduction. Atkins could well find himself on the outer next year if he doesn't improve on his 2024.

 

[gogeelongcats]

How do you explain we are 16 to 1 to win next year and we missed playing in the grand final because of our loss to Brisbane with a couple of minutes to go?

Need to top up on talent a little more and go again.

 

[supahoops]

End of the day we were bent over by poor umpiring, poor decision making and an injury curse in one game otherwise we’d all be nursing hangovers this morning. Would’ve helped making hard decisions easier - Stanley, Duncan may well have gone out on top now I fear we will be average in 2025 which I could’ve lived with as Premiers re-tooling for another tilt. Ahh well, rather be in the mix but yesterday’s viewing hurts.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Can we get a health check on Warhorse please? Managed to start a thread without mentioning Bruhn. I fear there's something very wrong.

EDIT - Cancel that request. The issue was resolved in post 3.

 

[Cataholic]

Hawkins injury and announced retirement forced us to re-invent the forward line, and it is better off for it. It's far more mobile, unpredictable and dangerous as a result. No offence Tommy.

The transition was smoother than expected, and Neale showed enough to warrant more time. He was inconsistent, as virtually any newbie is, but I expect he'll come good with more experience.

I'm also hoping to see continuing improvement from Ollie Henry. He's got something, and we need it.

Our midfield is a problem. We rely too much on Danger, and he'll decline just that little bit more next year. Smith will help offset some of that, but we need more. Equalisation is hurting us here.

Anything from Cuthrie is a bonus. I won't be relying him on him to make a difference.

Hopefully Clark, Clohesy and Knevitt can step up, and we see more improvement from Dempsey.

Bruhn and Mullin? Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

obviously disagrees with some here.

It seems Stanley is going around again, but he'll need a regular chop out. Blitz struggled this year, and he isn't getting any younger. SDK is best positioned in the backline imo, so I'm really hoping Conway can give us a few games.

Our backline will be that much better if SDK can get back to his form from a couple of years ago. His confidence took a hit when his face got smashed, and he's been somewhat average and timid since. There's improvement to be had right there.

I'd love for us to improve our handballing, and to wear better boots. Our handballing is slow and loopy, whilst we fell over like drunk ice skaters too often this year.

Above all, we need to work on our forward entries. We struggle to get our hands on the ball given our midfield woes, and simply can't afford to butcher so many forward entries. We need to become more efficient moving forward.

Of course, every other side will be chasing continual improvement and the game will morph yet again. It isn't going to be easy keeping up with the pack. We're in a state of transition and next season will be on us real quick.

I'm looking forward to the draft and the evolution of our squad. Here's hoping we have a solid and productive off-season.

Bring on 2025.

 

[standupand]

Huge credit to the coaches for steering the ship mid-season with what was, let's be frank, some true generation changes that occurred.

None bigger than the retirement of one of the clubs greatest ever players, a lynchpin to the team's forward structure for more than a decade, in Hawkins. To make the prelim and get so close to the eventual premier, without him, was a massive achievement.

I'm of the view that we're in a true rebuild, but that the best way to rebuild is to stay competitive, play finals, attract the right players with the right fit, at the right time of their careers, and with the right motivation to succeed.

Can't fault the club on that front with how they've approached things.

There will be some interesting questions for 2025. How much do we get out of Danger? Will Stewart remain VC and continue to have midfield time especially with the rise of Humphries in the distributor role off half-back? Can C.Guthrie get back on the park and back to his 2022 form? Similarly for Blicavs, can he get back to his best? What will the fortunes be for Stanley and our young rucks? How does the Cameron/Neale combination evolve?

Player of the year for me was Z.Guthrie. Barely played a poor game and held up our defence when we were under the pump on many occasions this year. Deserves to win the best and fairest imo.

 

[year of the cat]

To make a prelim and be within 2 kicks of a GF is a pretty remarkable effort when you consider we are in a “regenerating” phase.

The important takeout from this year is we’ve found some more players. Dempsey, Humphries and Mannagh are all going to be excellent contributors to our club for a long time. Holmes now a legitimate A grader.

As others have said our midfield is our area of concern. When Holmes went off in the prelim our lack of depth in this area was exposed. Smith coming in will help to address that. We probably need another.

The improvement next year will also have to come off the back of development in Bruhn, Knevitt and Clohesy. The first two plateaued this season. They need breakout years in ‘25. Conway needs to also get some continuity into his game.

Our fortunes will also depend on whether Dangerfield and Stewart can hold their form. Dangerfield in particular had a great year I thought. For a 34 year old to still be playing with that power is remarkable. Stewart started to show a couple of signs of decline I thought this year with some uncharacteristic decision making errors. Still had a good year.

 

[joe444]

Overall:
- The whole year the challenge was if we could succeed with a subpar midfield. The answer, probably fittingly, was "almost". We did an excellent job but just didn't have the equipment.

Things that didn't really matter in the end:
- We were a bit slow to pull the trigger on players and role changes, including Mannagh. Didn't really use the sub effectively all year.

Quirks
- A surprising number of games came down to whether Cameron was kicking straight or not.
In losses, he kicked 13.12 (52%: avg 1.4 goals). In wins: 51.29 (64%: avg 3.2 goals)

 

[barmy44]

Time for a season review thread

Exceeded expectations and did great to make a prelim but to lose the flag with everything falling our way was terrible. We dropped the cup and picked up our handbag instead. So dissappointing.

Look at Brisbane's record at the MCG in finals, the fact they had a tiring game against GWS and we go into a winnable position

This seems less 'well reasoned frustration' and more 'pouting and baiting for reactions'... out of frustration.

You can't drop a cup from the prelim. And not sure how we lost the flag with everything falling our way - Brisbane beat us. That's a pretty major element that didn't fall our way.

Records in finals are just that - records. Much like assuming we stroll to a premiership if we beat them last week. It's an entirely different GF. You can't extrapolate from one week to the next.

We were good at times this year, we were great at times this year. We were awful at times this year. In the finals, we got a bit of all of that.

And the 'inability to cash in' thing needs to be put to bed.

Brisbane went PF, straight sets, PF, losing GF and finally nabbed one.

Sydney's record is well known.

Dogs have been thereabouts since their premiership without getting another. Melbourne have teased for one. Port almost.

Getting close and not 'succeeding' (in the sense of winning the flag) is the rule, not the exception.

Well done to Brisbane. Thoroughly deserved premiership after years of 'not cashing in'.

Could we have beaten them last week? Yes. Could we have beaten Sydney yesterday? Yes. Could we have lost to Sydney yesterday? Yes. Do any of those hypothetical matter? No.

An AFL season is endless possibilities coalescing into a single outcome.

And every single year there are at least 3 top 4 teams and often a few outside the 4 and the 8 who 'could have, should have, would have' if not for the pesky persistence of reality and what ultimately did happen.

Unfortunately, this year we were one of those. Saying we dropped the cup is daft and disrespectful.

Congratulations Brisbane.