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, Clark, Knevitt and Clohesy. The first three 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.

 

[rapidfire7]

After the events of yesterday, I have changed my tune a bit on how I view our Preliminary final loss to the Lions the week before.

Had we gotten through, it looks as though all we would have to do was turn up yesterday, and it would have been another flag for us.

The more I think about it now, the more the loss hurts. It really was a golden opportunity missed by our club.

25 points up in the 3rd quarter against a banged up interstate side away from home and we blew it.

Terrible execution of skills by our players and Scotty was very badly outcoached. We gave them a ridiculous amount of free time and space through the middle, which they took full advantage of. It was almost unbelievable to see how easy we made it for them.

I hope what happened really hurts everyone at the club and that they bottle it and use it to come back angry and hungry to take home the chocolates in 2025.

GO CATS 2025!

 

[Klink]

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.

I could not like this post anymore. Those who continue to dismiss the Lions, it just comes across as sour grapes.

We weren't good enough when it mattered, the Lions were. That's not to say we had a bad year, I for one think we had a great year.

Too many on here thinking history will just repeat. They thought due to Brisbane's previous MCG record, previous finals record, and our recent dominance over them, that it automatically means we dropped the ball and threw away a cup. It's entitlement and its living in the past.

The same people then saying the GF would be done and dusted at half time in the Swans favour.

They earned it and did it the hard way. They were the best team when it mattered and won 4 games in a row in three different states.

People should not feel shame in admitting they were wrong and just be gracious in defeat.

Onwards and upwards for our Cats.



On SM-A526B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

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

Agree with this 100%.

It's disappointing we've lost multiple finals over the years when we had a lead and we got over run. Especially every single one of them we "should've" been further in front had we kicked strait.

The PF was another one that slipped away from Geelong.

 

[joe444]

all we would have to do was turn up yesterday, and it would have been another flag for us.

 

[barmy44]

After the events of yesterday, I have changed my tune a bit on how I view our Preliminary final loss to the Lions the week before.

Had we gotten through, it looks as though all we would have to do was turn up yesterday, and it would have been another flag for us.

The more I think about it now, the more the loss hurts. It really was a golden opportunity missed by our club.

25 points up in the 3rd quarter against a banged up interstate side away from home and we blew it.

Terrible execution of skills by our players and Scotty was very badly outcoached. We gave them a ridiculous amount of free time and space through the middle, which they took full advantage of. It was almost unbelievable to see how easy we made it for them.

I hope what happened really hurts everyone at the club and that they bottle it and use it to come back angry and hungry to take home the chocolates in 2025.

GO CATS 2025!

It looks like that, but is it true?

If yesterday's game was somehow replayed immediately after, there's no guarantee Brisbane themselves repeat that win.

Every game is an isolated outcome.

Do Collingwood stroll to the flag in '07 'but for' one more goal in the PF? Port in '14?

Maybe, maybe not.

GWS were 44 points up. Maybe this Brisbane side actually had something to them and we did well to be 25 points up and get within 10?

Brisbane strolled to it yesterday. No guarantee we would have. 12th placed St Kikda made us look utterly terrible for a half a couple of weeks earlier.

We were a side with a 112%, who at one stage lost 6 out of 7. It's obviously disappointing, but many years are.

Agree with this 100%.

It's disappointing we've lost multiple finals over the years when we had a lead and we got over run. Especially every single one of them we "should've" been further in front had we kicked strait.

The PF was another one that slipped away from Geelong.

Dogs in '21. Crows in '93. Collingwood in '70. Sturt in '78. Hawthorn in '11. Hawthorn in '12. GWS in '24 (twice).

There are plenty of others, in plenty of other sports.

We aren't unique. It's disappointing, but it's sport.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

It looks like that, but is it true?

If yesterday's game was somehow replayed immediately after, there's no guarantee Brisbane themselves repeat that win.

Every game is an isolated outcome.

Do Collingwood stroll to the flag in '07 'but for' one more goal in the PF? Port in '14?

Maybe, maybe not.

GWS were 44 points up. Maybe this Brisbane side actually had something to them and we did well to be 25 points up and get within 10?

Brisbane strolled to it yesterday. No guarantee we would have. 12th placed St Kikda made us look utterly terrible for a half a couple of weeks earlier.

We were a side with a 112%, who at one stage lost 6 out of 7. It's obviously disappointing, but many years are.



Dogs in '21. Crows in '93. Collingwood in '70. Sturt in '78. Hawthorn in '11. Hawthorn in '12. GWS in '24.

There are plenty of others.

We aren't unique. It's disappointing, but it's sport.

Hence why I said "it's disappointing" in my post.

 

[nohairandfair]

Tremendous opportunity squandered with a premiership there for the taking. Not sure why they persisted with Bews and Duncan at the backend of the season when they are essentially cooked.

The contrast between Bews and Lawson was never more acute than in that preliminary final. Lawson exhibits boldness, excellent decision-making and the ability to execute pinpoint disposal when under pressure; traits that the prodigal son has never exhibited.


A self-inflicted, own goal for mine, lost at the selection table. Gutting really.

 

[barmy44]

Hence why I said "it's disappointing" in my post.

Yep. You also said you 'agree 100%' that we somehow 'dropped the cup' - the idea this year's flag was ours but for our own ineptitude simply doesn't stack up.

That's the sentiment I was challenging. We obviously agree it's disappointing, but apparently for very different reasons.

 

[barmy44]

To follow up - had we held on in the PF, and then saw Brisbane fans on here saying 'we dropped the cup in our first 3 weeks, the PF should have been at the Gabba' guarantee they'd be getting called 'arrogant flogs' on here.

Footy is a dynamic game, with - this is the important part - an opposition trying to win. And Brisbane are a good opposition.

We too often seem to assume it's like a playstation game, and if only Scott has pressed the right buttons at the right time, we win it.

We were capable of being one of the best teams in it this year. And at times this season, we were one of the worst teams in it.

 

[year of the cat]

To follow up - had we held on in the PF, and then saw Brisbane fans on here saying 'we dropped the cup in our first 3 weeks, the PF should have been at the Gabba' guarantee they'd be getting called 'arrogant flogs' on here.

Footy is a dynamic game, with - this is the important part - an opposition trying to win. And Brisbane are a good opposition.

We too often seem to assume it's like a playstation game, and if only Scott has pressed the right buttons at the right time, we win it.

We were capable of being one of the best teams in it this year. And at times this season, we were one of the worst teams in it.

And as bad as Sydney were yesterday there’s no guarantee we would have got over the line without Holmes, and Bruhn and a few others not 100%.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

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.

Ageing list with a lot of holes. Gun u24 group but not much in the middle age bracket 24-28. While mannagh was a massive find there we need to bring in some FAs in that age bracket next year-smith alone won't fix it and I can see a slide next year.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Look we overachieved as there's no way we have a top 4 list coaches did well. But the reality is we had Brisbane on the rack-enough inside 50s to win and poor decision making in the 2nd half. Given how poor Sydney were we threw away a flag which is an obvious fail. Its probably our worst finals loss in the last 10 years-an interstate team off a week off was an utter fail. Guys like danger won't win another one now as I don't think we can win it in the next 2 years but I think by 28-29 we will be a good chance of winning it again if we can get some quality mid age free agents over the next couple of years.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

And as bad as Sydney were yesterday there’s no guarantee we would have got over the line without Holmes, and Bruhn and a few others not 100%.

Sydney are mentally soft in GFs. While Holmes would have been a blow we still likely would have won it.

 

[year of the cat]

Sydney are mentally soft in GFs. While Holmes would have been a blow we still likely would have won it.

Can’t see it myself. Look what happened to us against Bris when he went off last week. For us to compete against the big guns we needed all our mids fit and available. Our Achilles heel was exposed.