Unluckiest player to miss out

[Jhye Clark 13]

Peter Riccardi - played in 3 losing GF sides and won a B&F in 98.

Unfortunate to retire the year before our dynasty started.

Having 50th for tomorrow to the great man.

 

[Vdubs]

Peter Riccardi - played in 3 losing GF sides and won a B&F in 98.

Unfortunate to retire the year before our dynasty started.

Having 50th for tomorrow to the great man.

So true. Loved his class and skill.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Definately Menegola for the reasons listed on Page 1. Delisted twice and fought his way back and then some from the WAFL.

The footage of Selwood trying to console him after the game when he's on the field with his mum is quite heartbreaking.

 

[Selfield]

Has to be Matthew Egan. Broke his foot and never played again. At least Menegola will get his chance this year and others mentioned eg Menzel got the opportunity to play again and have another chance at becoming premiership players.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Has to be Matthew Egan. Broke his foot and never played again. At least Menegola will get his chance this year and others mentioned eg Menzel got the opportunity to play again and have another chance at becoming premiership players.

I know what you mean as egan never played a game again at least menegola is fit and on the list. But realistically at his age (31) with the depth in our side that was probably his last chance and its gone. He will probably not play finals again this year unless we get injuries which is sad-hes made a great contribution to us the last few years.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Definately Menegola for the reasons listed on Page 1. Delisted twice and fought his way back and then some from the WAFL.

The footage of Selwood trying to console him after the game when he's on the field with his mum is quite heartbreaking.

Yeah that was heartbreaking to watch.

 

[Biggy_Boy]

Certainly started brilliantly v Hawks in the QF 2011

With the last game and his first quarter against the Hawks, he was hitting some serious form and looked about ready to break out big time and have a huge impact in finals. A lot of factors were converging for us, and his rise was one of them. But it wasn't meant to be.

Guy would have been 31 in 2022, so had he been able to return the player to the player he promised to be, he may have been in our next premiership side, and what an incredible fairytale story that would have been, something we I think many here at one point dreamed of. He would come back from all the knee recos, after all the years, and be part of a premiership team to get the medal he went without in 2011.

But while his delisting was somewhat contentious, he never really came back the type of player he could have been, and his subsequent performance at the Swans vindicated the decision (would have also been interesting had he been in the opposing side last year!)

 

[Phipppppa]

Jason Snell

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

Has to be Matthew Egan. Broke his foot and never played again. At least Menegola will get his chance this year and others mentioned eg Menzel got the opportunity to play again and have another chance at becoming premiership players.

Hands down the stiffest Cat IMO.

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

Barry Stoneham.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I think you have to add Andrew Bews name to that list re the 92 GF - i have watched highlights of that game recently - and you could argue that flag slipped through the Net a bit

But from memory - Bews was clearly in Geel best team - but he got hurt - it might have been in the PF i cant remember

His replacement in the GF was Neville Bruns - a class player - and a lovely penetrating kick - but again from memory - Bruns had been out injured himself and hadnt played senior football for 4-5 weeks - but they had to pick him - underdone and all the rest of it - simply because Bews couldnt play

 

[Vdubs]

I think you have to add Andrew Bews name to that list re the 92 GF - i have watched highlights of that game recently - and you could argue that flag slipped through the Net a bit

But from memory - Bews was clearly in Geel best team - but he got hurt - it might have been in the PF i cant remember

His replacement in the GF was Neville Bruns - a class player - and a lovely penetrating kick - but again from memory - Bruns had been out injured himself and hadnt played senior football for 4-5 weeks - but they had to pick him - underdone and all the rest of it - simply because Bews couldnt play

Loved both of these little gems. Bewsy was an excellent captain. His ACL was tragic, and I was there at Geelong when he did it v Tigers in a rare loss to them at K Park. Some crazy score like 9-28 to 13-18.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Loved both of these little gems. Bewsy was an excellent captain. His ACL was tragic, and I was there at Geelong when he did it v Tigers in a rare loss to them at K Park. Some crazy score like 9-28 to 13-18.

Bews was like David Dench - an absolute gun player before he did his knee - but just servicable after they did their knee - no where near as dynamic

Supporters forget how good Bews was before his knee injury

 

[Vdubs]

Bews was like David Dench - an absolute gun player before he did his knee - but just servicable after they did their knee - no where near as dynamic

Supporters forget how good Bews was before his knee injury

Great comparison.
I got to meet AB when he was an emerging gun (1982), and he was engaging, humble, and likeable. He has remained that way ever since. Little known fact is that he shared the exact same birthday with teammate Paul Couch (19 July 1964)

 

[Strange Cat]

Egan, Menzel, Holmes are the big ones

 

[Pollywaffle]

Gary Sidebottom

 

[Drunkcat]

Gary Ablett snr

 

[catsfootyfan89]

For me, the one that broke my heart the most was Dan Menzel. If his knees held up, I genuinely believe he could have been the second-best player in the competition behind Junior. The kid was on par with Stevie J level brilliance inside 50, with an added bonus of being able to mark overhead. Could find the goals from anywhere inside fifty on either side. He had that split-second decision making ability like Junior, could finish on the run, from a snap, had a pretty good set shot too. If he was able to string 4-5 years together, he would have been one of the best forwards the game had ever seen.

Massive claim I know, but I believe it to be true.

 

[Hinkley29]

I know what you mean as egan never played a game again at least menegola is fit and on the list. But realistically at his age (31) with the depth in our side that was probably his last chance and its gone. He will probably not play finals again this year unless we get injuries which is sad-hes made a great contribution to us the last few years.

I wouldn’t be so sure about this.

The chances of us having the same run with injuries as we did in 2022 is very low. He was very close to being in the team despite having an extended absence himself.

I would not be surprised at all if he is in the team for most if not all games in 2023.

 

[Vdubs]

With the last game and his first quarter against the Hawks, he was hitting some serious form and looked about ready to break out big time and have a huge impact in finals. A lot of factors were converging for us, and his rise was one of them. But it wasn't meant to be.

Guy would have been 31 in 2022, so had he been able to return the player to the player he promised to be, he may have been in our next premiership side, and what an incredible fairytale story that would have been, something we I think many here at one point dreamed of. He would come back from all the knee recos, after all the years, and be part of a premiership team to get the medal he went without in 2011.

But while his delisting was somewhat contentious, he never really came back the type of player he could have been, and his subsequent performance at the Swans vindicated the decision (would have also been interesting had he been in the opposing side last year!)

To be fair, NOBODY has ever come back successfully from as many ACL reconstructions as Menzel had. For him to even play again was hugely meritorious. He would definitely have been a 2011 flag player, and would have helped us in 2013 for sure. Knee arthritis and damage to hamstrings as part of the grafting procedures had a huge toll on his career and effectiveness.
A great interview from 2014- a real tear-jerker to see how much talent he had

Menzel opens up about his battle with injury

Daniel Menzel admits the last few years have been as mentally detrimental as they have been physically

www.geelongcats.com.au

 

[allrighty]

He owned the Magpies in the R22 game in 2011 and gave us something to look forward to when the Cats and Pies met again in the finals

Is this it?

 

[allrighty]

Bews was like David Dench - an absolute gun player before he did his knee - but just servicable after they did their knee - no where near as dynamic

Supporters forget how good Bews was before his knee injury

And a top bloke

 

[Pollywaffle]

For me, the one that broke my heart the most was Dan Menzel. If his knees held up, I genuinely believe he could have been the second-best player in the competition behind Junior. The kid was on par with Stevie J level brilliance inside 50, with an added bonus of being able to mark overhead. Could find the goals from anywhere inside fifty on either side. He had that split-second decision making ability like Junior, could finish on the run, from a snap, had a pretty good set shot too. If he was able to string 4-5 years together, he would have been one of the best forwards the game had ever seen.

Massive claim I know, but I believe it to be true.

He did manage to snag back to back sanfl premierships (topped their goalkicking along with Stengle if I remember correctly) and get to enjoy that alongside his brother, so didn’t do too badly post AFL

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I wouldn’t be so sure about this.

The chances of us having the same run with injuries as we did in 2022 is very low. He was very close to being in the team despite having an extended absence himself.

I would not be surprised at all if he is in the team for most if not all games in 2023.

Im a massive Sam fan and i agree he was very unlucky not to win a flag and at his best is best 23 at most clubs.
But our depth is better than last year
Holmes to come back in plus this is how our depth has changed
Selwood-Bruhn
Higgins-Bowes
Stephens-Clark
Evans-ollie henry
Narkle-Clohesy
Dahl-Riccardi
Tsapolitis-Foster
Stevens-Murdoch
Williams-Mullin

Now joel is irreplaceable but its hard not to argue we've improved our depth across the board both in the mids and forward line (henry) so its going to be harder for sam to get a game than it was in 2021.
The plus is that hes fit and back near his best in match sims and his body didnt allow that last year.
The downside for him is a no of our over 30s are undroppable due to form or structure ie danger hawkins stanley/ceglar blicavs guthrie duncan (you could probably put smith in this category too) which means if you want to put younger players in menegola and rohan are vulnerable (as they are good but droppable).
I would love to see sam be best 23 but realistically i can see him only playing a few games unless we get injuries.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

It is easy in hindsight - very easy - but 94 and Geel only had a modest 13-9 win/loss record - and there was no way known the Cats were going to beat the Eagles - but maybe they might not have got flogged

Any supporter who was around back then knows that the real stain on Geelong as a club - and its record - is those 2 shocking ( and by very big margins ) in 94 and 95 GF defeats - take those 2 off the score card - then Geel would just have such a super impressive record

Of course - the 69 1st semi was an absolute shocker - Tigers beat the Cats by about 20 goals - but thats over 50 years ago - and most definitely the next one you add to the final list is the 1928 loss to Collingwood in the GF - i read about that 3-4 years ago . Magpies finished on top i think - definitely higher than Geel - but they had that weird system because Geel some how got leapfrogged into the GF- i think that is fair comment - and played Coll - the Cats won easily by about 4-5 GOALS

Coll had the right to challenge - and the Magpies were going for 4 flags in a row the record - in the 2nd GF - H/Time its a carbon copy - the Cats are going beautifully - 4 to 5 goals in front again - this is easy peasy Campese

In the 3rd qtr ( and thank goodness i wasnt around ) the Magpies rattled on 8 goals 7 behinds - to the Cats solitary point . And apparently the big instigator of the Magpies comeback ( and would of been awarded the Norm Smith medal ) - was the bloke ( and i actually liked him ) was the bloke who had his hair immacutely parted dead centre - Bruce Andrew of Champion Kick fame

So the annihilation in the 94GF - i believe is one of 4 losses youd love for them not to have happened . In 94 Geel had a sensational win over Carlton in the finals - in the GF - 3 players got ommitted Lord - who had a slashing game against the Blues - Tim Darcy played very well and there was someone else - they all got dropped for the 3 obvious ones

In the GF - Hocking was terrible - Couch was borderline average - and Bairstow - and it turned out to be his last game - there was a passage of play in that GF - which was easily the worst passage of play that Mark Bairstow had been involved in as a Geel footballer

I just wonder if those 3 players - they all missed the Carlton because of injury -i wonder if they hadnt recovered from their injuries and thus not selected in the GF - and the 3 who got dropped actually played - whether Geel would have performed considerably better- well the Cats couldnt have gone any worse thats for sure

Gareth Andrews ( the old number 6) who wasnt a board member at the time - but he had a football column at the time - im pretty sure it was the Sunday Age - and he just simply said - look Lord should have played in that GF