Unluckiest player to miss out

[Goggin Our Best]

My previous post - that Magpies premiership was 1930 not 1928 - should have refreshed my memory first

 

[Pollywaffle]

look Lord should have played in that GF

There’s only one lord that could have won us that GF..

 

[jim boy]

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

Obviously winning the GF is desirable - but the 94 series was by far the most entertaining series if you ignore the GF.

QF: Brownless kicks the goal after the siren to beat the bulldogs - the first time I had ever witnessed Geelong win with a kick after the siren
SF: Massive underdog win to beat Carlton resulting in one of all-time great headlines
PF: A classic with Ablett kicking a goal after the siren to beat Norf (and in particular Carey) - only the second time I had ever witnessed Geelong win with a kick after the siren

Yeah, the GF was a shocker. I lost my mates at the ground and had to down the 4 points of lager I had just bought them. Everything hazy after that, Brownless took a ripper of a mark, but the reality was we had peaked in the third quarter if the PF and nothing, certainly not the inclusion of Lord, was going to change the result of the GF - we were cooked going in.

 

[Vdubs]

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

Buddha was corked in the first minute of play, by Woosha, bad hip/thigh cork, and spent much time off the ground getting treatment. He was clearly our MVP in finals, and was made lame intentionally. So a bit tough saying he was terrible. Remember, he was sensational in the NM prelim the week before, while Ablett was soundly beaten, then THE HAND OF GOD GOAL.

 

[Hinkley29]

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.

I agree with most of what you have written, but I also think he is best 25-27 for us, and with a normal run of injuries this will mean that he likely plays most weeks.

Then he just needs to hold his form and he will more than likely hold his place in the team. It is just the way it normally goes.

 

[Hinkley29]

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.

I agree with most of what you have written, but I also think he is best 25-27 for us, and with a normal run of injuries this will mean that he likely plays most weeks.

Then he just needs to hold his form and he will more than likely hold his place in the team. It is just the way it normally goes.

 

[uranium_death]

Obviously winning the GF is desirable - but the 94 series was by far the most entertaining series if you ignore the GF.

QF: Brownless kicks the goal after the siren to beat the bulldogs - the first time I had ever witnessed Geelong win with a kick after the siren
SF: Massive underdog win to beat Carlton resulting in one of all-time great headlines
PF: A classic with Ablett kicking a goal after the siren to beat Norf (and in particular Carey) - only the second time I had ever witnessed Geelong win with a kick after the siren

Yeah, the GF was a shocker. I lost my mates at the ground and had to down the 4 points of lager I had just bought them. Everything hazy after that, Brownless took a ripper of a mark, but the reality was we had peaked in the third quarter if the PF and nothing, certainly not the inclusion of Lord, was going to change the result of the GF - we were cooked going in.

I agree that hte 1994 Finals Series was brilliant. Every game was uphill as before half time in the QF, I think we were two players down.
Semi, missing Mansfield (AA HB 1994 and 1995), Bairstow, Couch and Hocking. Aaron Lord stood up nicely that day
The Prelim, down by 18 at 1/4, dominated 2nd quarter. North actually won the third quarter. North actually won 3/4 quarters. The second quarter won it for Geelong
Wayne Carey had a burst in the third quarter, (4 goals) but he wasn't a 4-quarter dominant player - despite Mike Sheahan masturbating over that performance to this day

The Grand Final really upset me at the time. Went to bed very upset, but in hindsight they did well just to get there. I think fairly late in the season, Cats were like 10th and looking poor. Finished the season strongly to finish 4th. Essentially pushed uphill in the final 2 months of hte year. Great effort in the end.
Not the 2nd best team on paper, but ground out wins against the odd. West Coast too classy, and too big. To quote Paul Couch regarding WC's physiques, 'good steaks'.

Most unlucky players are Egan and Menzel
The late 80s players of Hocking, Bairstow, Couch, Ablett etc. were unlucky, but the team lacked depth
I reckon losing S. Hocking and Bews in the finals against Footscray was bad. Both were good at playing negative. Bews could have shut down Evans. Hocking was good at running straight at the ball

Russell Merriman was a small forward but had no effect on the day. Robert Scott wasn't a big-game performer. Bruns was cooked. Stoneham at CHF had to do more. Ultimately not good enough. Poor line up

1989 was all the first quarter, and the stupid mistakes. David Cameron kicking across Hawthorn's goal was idiotic. Bews tried to take on too many and caught too many times. I reckon 4 goals were purely due to mistakes. Hawthorn's experience really showed on the day, and they were deserving premiers and the team of the eta

Menzel and Egan are the two absolutes IMO though. Both in the best 22 at the time, but injury cruelled them in Round 22 and the QF respectively.