Shannon Neale - underrated season.

[allrighty]

Same mate, thought he was Matt McCarthy Mk2 in that he couldn't hold marks and didn't offer much around the ground but I was wrong.
The QF was mighty impressive, 1 clunked every mark and contested well in the air, gives me lots of hope for the future.

I said last year that Neale would not be doing the roving mic job around the rooms if the Club did not rate him very highly.

Then early this year, give him time he is raw but there is a lot of upside.

The guy is a beast and his confidence is growing. Just at the right time.

 

[Lana]

I said last year that Neale would not be doing the roving mic job around the rooms if the Club did not rate him very highly.

Then early this year, give him time he is raw but there is a lot of upside.

The guy is a beast and his confidence is growing. Just at the right time.

Him doing work with Cotton On is a stronger sign

 

[allrighty]

Riewoldt got over his early yips to become a reliable kick (718.455 in his career).

I still think Riewoldt is the best tall forward we've seen since Carey. Doesn't get the respect he deserves because he played for StKilda.

He is one of my favourite oppo players of the 2000's

 

[allrighty]

Did he seem unreliable?

He seemed like a young key position player finding his way, but his output has consistently built through the year.

He is actually very reliable - his floor performance is consistent and steadily increasing. His game is built on contest, link play, running ability and contested marking. It allows for a far more consistent level of performance than one who stays within 35 metres of goal and needs to kick 3 goals to have an impact.

It was clear early he could get to the ball, but timing was off sometimes.
He could take a grab, but hard hands sometimes.
He has a great kicking action, but still mistimes the run in sometimes.
I am rapt, what a great pickup and coaching win.

 

[allrighty]

I've seen a similar film before...

I would expect that Hawk has been working with him for months to fine tune his game, so who knows?

 

[Gtowncrow]

Sorry for the intrusion guys.

I've followed the Cats for years due to living in the town. But Adelaide is still home..ish.
I'm interested to what you guys feel about the Neale vs Hawkins selection in the final games of this year.

To my eye...
Hawkins is Hawkins and a proven performer. But has he missed too much to bring in now?
Neale has been impressive and although not the finished article, adds to your forward line due to being mobile. Good mark too. For his level of experience, surely he's delivered. But is it enough to hold his spot?

Appreciate the conversation and opinion.

 

[Warhorse]

Breaking news: Young player has his performance improve has he gets more experience at AFL level.

We were discussing in the context of his performance at VFL level.

 

[Cataholic]

Sorry for the intrusion guys.

I've followed the Cats for years due to living in the town. But Adelaide is still home..ish.
I'm interested to what you guys feel about the Neale vs Hawkins selection in the final games of this year.

To my eye...
Hawkins is Hawkins and a proven performer. But has he missed too much to bring in now?
Neale has been impressive and although not the finished article, adds to your forward line due to being mobile. Good mark too. For his level of experience, surely he's delivered. But is it enough to hold his spot?

Appreciate the conversation and opinion.

Hawkins is too far behind the 8 ball to play finals now, barring injury.

Neale also brings far more athleticism, and with it, mobility, unpredictability, leading and marking.

Bring Hawkins in and our forward movement will stagnate and become predictable with long bombs on his head.

Hawkins is break glass only now.

 

[cats_09]

Sorry for the intrusion guys.

I've followed the Cats for years due to living in the town. But Adelaide is still home..ish.
I'm interested to what you guys feel about the Neale vs Hawkins selection in the final games of this year.

To my eye...
Hawkins is Hawkins and a proven performer. But has he missed too much to bring in now?
Neale has been impressive and although not the finished article, adds to your forward line due to being mobile. Good mark too. For his level of experience, surely he's delivered. But is it enough to hold his spot?

Appreciate the conversation and opinion.

My opinion based on how each has played across the season, how the team has looked with each of them in it and how both are moving at the moment

It's Neale's spot and not even close

Hawkins should be considered a break glass option, and even then we could look at Stanley or SDK before him based on how all are going at the moment

 

[dazbroncos]

In at the ground floor brothers

toot toot

GO Cstters

 

[Hinkley29]

Sorry for the intrusion guys.

I've followed the Cats for years due to living in the town. But Adelaide is still home..ish.
I'm interested to what you guys feel about the Neale vs Hawkins selection in the final games of this year.

To my eye...
Hawkins is Hawkins and a proven performer. But has he missed too much to bring in now?
Neale has been impressive and although not the finished article, adds to your forward line due to being mobile. Good mark too. For his level of experience, surely he's delivered. But is it enough to hold his spot?

Appreciate the conversation and opinion.

It isn’t close.

Neale is a better option than Hawkins right now for this iteration of Geelong team.

That doesn’t diminish from Hawk who is an all time great .

Our mc would be insane to mess with the current set up to being hawk back.

Our mc is not insane.

 

[Gunf]

It isn’t close.

Neale is a better option than Hawkins right now for this iteration of Geelong team.

That doesn’t diminish from Hawk who is an all time great .

Our mc would be insane to mess with the current set up to being hawk back.

Our mc is not insane.

I would almost say "they are no longer insane"

 

[Vdubs]

There was a post match interview where a player was saying he has barely touched his athletic capability. 800m runner and a now can clunk. I am calling him the next N Riewoldt who can kick

Sent from my SM-S928B using Tapatalk

Massive compliment- NR was a brilliant mark. Neale's mobility and desperation is very similar, and as he develops his tank, we will have yet again, enviable KPP lineups with DeK, Henry, Cameron and Neale

 

[D BRIDGE]

He had taken multple contested marks only once in his first 9 games this year.

But has now taken multiple contested marks in 3 of his last 5 games.

It is slowly coming together.

 

[Hinkley29]

He's averaged 1.6 goals per game across this season, and he's had more 2 goal games than single goal games

To get to 50 goals season, he just needs to convert those single goal games to 2 goal games and then pop up with the odd 3 goal game - he's shown an ability to get into the right positions, so with confidence & experience, no reason he can't push towards 50 goal seasons

We say that about players all the time - just need to improve by x%, just need to get better at this, etc.

But how many key forwards that spend a lot of time as an outlet player on the wing/outside 50 actually get to 50 goals? Not many. Only the truly elite.

It is incredibly difficult and rare. If he gets there it will mean he is AA level. That would be awesome, but we need to accept that it would mean that Neale has hit his best possible performance outcome.

 

[My Tilly]

He had taken multple contested marks only once in his first 9 games this year.

But has now taken multiple contested marks in 3 of his last 5 games.

He will now demand close attention which really gives Cameron some room to do his thing.

GWS have Taylor, Himmelberg, Buckley and all three are agile.
Lions with Andrews, Lester and now a injury to Payne (MCL) bamboozles their squad. Especially against a team like Geelong or GWS who have two very agile key forwards.

Sydney's defense started shaky but Melican and McCartin began to compose themselves the longer the game went on.

 

[Willo_]

Building so so nicely... I think earlier this year people judged him far too harshly but ignored the fact big forwards take longer, and the fella he is replacing is an absolute all time great, it's not a fair comparison... Especially to a 21 year old kid.
I had concerns over his cement hands but he's settled in wonderfully, attacks the contest, hates getting beaten, his hands are sticking better and he is such a lovely pure set shot.

Plus I reckon he'll prove to be a bit of a spark plug for the side going forward.. Is a super enthusiastic team mate and goal celebrator... The side will absolutely feed off his energy when he kicks a big goal. Seems just a fantastic genuine young bloke as well.

 

[allrighty]

He had taken multple contested marks only once in his first 9 games this year.

But has now taken multiple contested marks in 3 of his last 5 games.

It is slowly coming together.

And that's a lot more than N Daicos who has not taken one contested mark in his career ffs

 

[iameviljez]

And that's a lot more than N Daicos who has not taken one contested mark in his career ffs

So? Caleb Daniel doesn't win a lot of hitouts and Kolodjashnij doesn't kick many goals.

Daicos is a superlative footballer, and should have been the youngest player to win the Brownlow since Judd. Wining a Brownlow at age 20 in the full-time professional era, where players now play good football well into their 30s, would be an insane achievement.

 

[Gunf]

So? Caleb Daniel doesn't win a lot of hitouts and Kolodjashnij doesn't kick many goals.

Daicos is a superlative footballer, and should have been the youngest player to win the Brownlow since Judd. Wining a Brownlow at age 20 in the full-time professional era, where players now play good football well into their 30s, would be an insane achievement.

N.Daicos is an elite player and should probably win a brownlow at some point but him not having even taken 1 contested mark is an amazing stat that i didn't think was possible for a mid that gets that much of the ball.
Hell even Caleb Deniel took a contested mark in his first 3 years and that bugger barely comes up to most peoples knees.

 

[Mangy Carl]

Hawkins is too far behind the 8 ball to play finals now, barring injury.

Neale also brings far more athleticism, and with it, mobility, unpredictability, leading and marking.

Bring Hawkins in and our forward movement will stagnate and become predictable with long bombs on his head.

Hawkins is break glass only now.

Absolutely 100%.

Hawkins went out injured after Rd 15, Neale became the 2nd tall with Cameron from Rd 16.

Geelong's formline from that point -

16 - W V Ess
17 - W V Haw
18 - W V Coll
19 - L V WB - Did Not Play
20 - W V Nth
21 - W v Adel
22 - W V Freo
23 - L V STK
24 - W V WCE
QF - W V Port

Hawkins was becoming a liability.. If the kick wasn't too his advantage he was getting outmarked a lot. If it was a pack situation he was having ZERO impact. Neale is creating a contest, taking some good marks, bringing the ball to ground for our smalls..

Now we just need to work on Ollie Henry's defensive one-on-one work, as he gets out-marked too often..

 

[you pick one]

I would expect that Hawk has been working with him for months to fine tune his game, so who knows?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Hard to put into words how much I love this.

 

[catstragic]

I think people should keep this in mind if he happens to have a quiet one in the next game or two.

The blue chip version in JUH is getting dragged for a quiet one in a team that was smashed in the middle. It happens.

This- just gotta take the good with the bad will he gets up around 50 games of experience. fortunately for him I don't think anyone is expecting him to tear a game apart, he's just gotta play his role, stay healthy and accrue experience then most supporters will be happy. FWIW I think he's our best KPF since Hawkins, though a very different player. Josh Jenkins
comes to mind for me.

 

[catstragic]

Humphries to Holmes to Neale

Amazing how fast it swung from "we're going off a cliff" to "Kids are alright eh?".