VFL VFL 2024 - Geelong & the greater league

[Pure_Ownage]

I enjoyed watching the game.

I don’t think Mannagh will be B22 but I expect he will get games when we need to rest Stengle, Gryan, or Close. Or we drop Rohan and bring him into the side.

I reckon Hardie deserves at least one game. I don’t think he is going to be significantly worse than what Atkins, Parfitt, Clark, and Guthrie are currently producing. I would rest Atkins for a game.

I actually don’t mind Jekka from what I’ve seen. He cruises around and has excellent skills. I have more confidence when he has the ball than a Kolo and Henry. He looks like good insurance in case we lose a key defender during the season. Is his contest work that bad??

I think the biggest issue with jeka is not his contest work per se but defensive running. When his team doesnt have the ball theres times where he just jogs and doesnt cut off space but then when its in his area he can close at speed and use the ball well. To me he just lacks intensity which is annoying because everything else with him is afl standard.

 

[year of the cat]

Yeah they are probably concerned about his size given our midfield mix is small.
But honestly he has speed and his ball use is great and we have too many whose ball use is poor.
We need to be bold and try him
Move miers upfield (due to his tank) or put dempsey in the main MF or drop rohan etc, but just get mannagh in there.

Gulden isn’t big and he’s doing just fine.

We can accommodate him in our midfield mix. But I agree we will need to get a couple of bigger bodies.

 

[thejester]

Why cant or wont any football journalist ask Scott are those 2 close to senior selection !!!!

There are plenty of Geel supporting journalists out their FFS - like Shayne Hope and Peter Ryan , why wont they ask Scott that question

I would like those 2 to come into the senior side and Parfitt and Bruhn to go out and i think that would improve Geelongs senior team

They ask him about Hardie all the time. Answer is some variation of ‘he’s doing all he can’.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

because its disrespectful.
How you treat people is important, and gets remembered.

We have a good record with how we treat our players and it undoubtedly plays a part when chasing trade and FA targets.
We treated Kilpatrick, McGrath and Mensch with respect way back when. Slowly drifting into the sunset after a year guiding our young players in the reserves.

Any familiar young faces you recognise? Wonder what wisdom Bluey and Mensch imparted that later had some small impact on a talented young group.

Who knows what Bews could say to a young COS that helps him in future years.
Stuff the MSD. Respect a good servant.

I broadly agree with you that having experienced players to teach the academy kids is really good.
But i disagree that they need to be on the playing list to do it. The two arent mutually exclusive in my view.

Tom lynch was essentially pushed to retire in his last year at north so they could use an MSD pick. And now he coaches their vfl side.

Higgins we essentially parked in the vfl (as we are doing with bews) and then had him retire at years end and hes now on our coaching staff.
And there are other examples of this.

Bews could be 'retired' before the deadline next fortnight, but be kept on as a coach with the vfl side for the rest of the year (on his normal wage plus more) and moved into a formal coaching role for 2025. And i dont see that impacting culture negatively.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Gulden isn’t big and he’s doing just fine.

We can accommodate him in our midfield mix. But I agree we will need to get a couple of bigger bodies.

Yeah i agree with that and mannagh is the antidote we need to a one paced midfield so we have to get him in.
We will need to bring in a couple of taller mids next year to round out the mix though.

 

[iameviljez]

Bews could be 'retired' before the deadline next fortnight, but be kept on as a coach with the vfl side for the rest of the year (on his normal wage plus more

I doubt that you would be able to convince a 30 year old AFL footballer to retire for the good of the club, having been a regular up until the very end of last year.

I mean, from his perspective, if we do go deep into September and three of our small backs get injured, it'd be a bad decision to have "retired".

He would also harbour ambitions of playing professional football next year, whether at AFL level, a state league, or as a well-paid local player. Missing out on half a season's worth of footy would have a poor impact on that. And we have no idea whether he'd make a decent coach or not, but he doesn't strike me as the type.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I personally don't think Hardie has "it"
Have to reward him really just as a reward for effort thing, but I don't expect him to be a real difference maker in any way. Very vanilla, no hurt IMO

I tend to agree he's a long shot but we've given games to worse players.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

because its disrespectful.
How you treat people is important, and gets remembered.

We have a good record with how we treat our players and it undoubtedly plays a part when chasing trade and FA targets.
We treated Kilpatrick, McGrath and Mensch with respect way back when. Slowly drifting into the sunset after a year guiding our young players in the reserves.

Any familiar young faces you recognise? Wonder what wisdom Bluey and Mensch imparted that later had some small impact on a talented young group.

Who knows what Bews could say to a young COS that helps him in future years.
Stuff the MSD. Respect a good servant.

Especially because there's almost certainly nothing worth taking on the msd anyway

 

[allrighty]

3 dreadful umpiring decisions within the first minute!

 

[standupand]

I personally don't think Hardie has "it"
Have to reward him really just as a reward for effort thing, but I don't expect him to be a real difference maker in any way. Very vanilla, no hurt IMO

"Vanilla" isn't the most popular flavour of ice cream for nothing.

 

[Willo_]

Ok that is fair enough you have given your opinion on both Hardie and Mannagh

What is your opinion of Parfitt then

Good first month of games... Shocking since, is on borrowed time

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I doubt that you would be able to convince a 30 year old AFL footballer to retire for the good of the club, having been a regular up until the very end of last year.

I mean, from his perspective, if we do go deep into September and three of our small backs get injured, it'd be a bad decision to have "retired".

He would also harbour ambitions of playing professional football next year, whether at AFL level, a state league, or as a well-paid local player. Missing out on half a season's worth of footy would have a poor impact on that. And we have no idea whether he'd make a decent coach or not, but he doesn't strike me as the type.

I mean thats all possible in a theoretical world but honestly his chances of getting picked are like 0.001 % and no matter what happens this year i dont see any chance another afl club picls him up. Like dahlhaus hes been a good servant but this year will be it.

Hard to say whether he would want to coach or not just pointing out its an obvious option to retain mentorship without him being on the list.

 

[Willo_]

"Vanilla" isn't the most popular flavour of ice cream for nothing.

I'm more of a choc mint guy myself

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I mean thats all possible in a theoretical world but honestly his chances of getting picked are like 0.001 % and no matter what happens this year i dont see any chance another afl club picls him up. Like dahlhaus hes been a good servant but this year will be it.

Hard to say whether he would want to coach or not just pointing out its an obvious option to retain mentorship without him being on the list.

His chances of getting picked are about the same as our chances of getting anything useful from the msd

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'm more of a choc mint guy myself

 

[iameviljez]

I mean thats all possible in a theoretical world but honestly his chances of getting picked are like 0.001 % and no matter what happens this year i dont see any chance another afl club picls him up. Like dahlhaus hes been a good servant but this year will be it.

Hard to say whether he would want to coach or not just pointing out its an obvious option to retain mentorship without him being on the list.

Agree, but a state league club may take him, certainly a local club would

 

[Footy Smarts]

I think Mannagh was disappointing yesterday and I can see why we're not picking him. He often tries to do too much and runs himself into trouble. He can often get away with that at VFL level because he's physically stronger and quicker than the opponents and it leads to some great highlights. But he still gets caught or coughs it up regularly. But at AFL level especially against good teams he won't get away with that.

He's unlucky that there's so much competition for that small forwards spot but he's also got some stuff to work on and I think yesterday showed he hasn't done that yet.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I think Mannagh was disappointing yesterday and I can see why we're not picking him. He often tries to do too much and runs himself into trouble. He can often get away with that at VFL level because he's physically stronger and quicker than the opponents and it leads to some great highlights. But he still gets caught or coughs it up regularly. But at AFL level especially against good teams he won't get away with that.

He's unlucky that there's so much competition for that small forwards spot but he's also got some stuff to work on and I think yesterday showed he hasn't done that yet.

I think theres a couple of things small things he can work on but needs to learn that at afl level. Hes clearly above vfl level and he wont learn that there bc of the speed of the game. If we put him.in and keep him in he will be very good.

We also shouldnt pigeonhole him as a non mid as he can be.

At some teams like carlton for example hed be their best small fwd immediately and hes better than half a dozen players in our current team.

 

[feelinfeline]

I think Mannagh was disappointing yesterday and I can see why we're not picking him. He often tries to do too much and runs himself into trouble. He can often get away with that at VFL level because he's physically stronger and quicker than the opponents and it leads to some great highlights. But he still gets caught or coughs it up regularly. But at AFL level especially against good teams he won't get away with that.

He's unlucky that there's so much competition for that small forwards spot but he's also got some stuff to work on and I think yesterday showed he hasn't done that yet.

Really? I watched the whole game and didn’t see him do that much. Maybe once or twice but certainly not ‘regularly’.

 

[Footy Smarts]

I think theres a couple of things small things he can work on but needs to learn that at afl level. Hes clearly above vfl level and he wont learn that there bc of the speed of the game. If we put him.in and keep him in he will be very good.

We also shouldnt pigeonhole him as a non mid as he can be.

At some teams like carlton for example hed be their best small fwd immediately and hes better than half a dozen players in our current team.

Sorry but there's no way in the world "he's better than half a dozen players in our current team". Clark looked a class above Mannagh yesterday and right now he's right on the border of our best team. I'd have Mannagh right in the Hardie, Knevitt, Humphries mix for next in line but not clearly ahead of them.

I think Mannagh is suffering a bit from the gulf in class between AFL and VFL now that the are more clubs diluting the talent. It's trained him into some bad habits. It's frustrating because there's some class there but he can't be taking the game on in those naive ways at AFL level.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Really? I watched the whole game and didn’t see him do that much. Maybe once or twice but certainly not ‘regularly’.

I didn't watch the whole game but I saw him run himself into trouble 5-6 times in the period I watched. 2-3 times he coughed the ball up but often he got out of it because he's got a better turn of pace and is stronger than the average VFL player. At AFL level he wouldn't be breaking the tackle or getting through the gap that he's able to do at VFL level.

 

[lettheboysplay]

I haven't advocated anything unreasonable though I wouldn't have thought.
Just want him in the VFL. I think he's a s**t footballer.

If it were Wylie Buzza or Tom Ruggles having this said about them no one would bat an eyelid.
Just calling a spade a spade. Brandon is probably a wonderful guy, he can just be a wonderful guy helping our reserves IMO.

Truly delicious after your post about being disrespectful to Bews - who I agree will live on in Geelong folklore for his commitment to the club. 'I think he's a shit footballer' - yeah, let's slap a premiership player of this great club and call it constructive.

Sorry, last bit was unneeded, but I think you're being very harsh on Brandan, who has been a very serviceable player for us over his tenure.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Truly delicious after your post about being disrespectful to Bews - who I agree will live on in Geelong folklore for his commitment to the club. 'I think he's a s**t footballer' - yeah, let's slap a premiership player of this great club and call it constructive.

Sorry, last bit was unneeded, but I think you're being very harsh on Brandan, who has been a very serviceable player for us over his tenure.

I strongly disagree on both fronts.

1. He was sub. Watching him every week only ends up enraging me. There is nothing he excels at but tackling. A metric for footballers without the footy.
2. In his free agency year and has reached a disposal average above 20 just once. Unlikely to do so this season. That is objectively by anyone's measure below AFL average and below AFL standard.

Comparing Brandan to Bews is very unfair on Jed. Jed has actually at times been very good in his position.

 

[feelinfeline]

I didn't watch the whole game but I saw him run himself into trouble 5-6 times in the period I watched. 2-3 times he coughed the ball up but often he got out of it because he's got a better turn of pace and is stronger than the average VFL player. At AFL level he wouldn't be breaking the tackle or getting through the gap that he's able to do at VFL level.

Maybe I need new glasses or my memory is failing me.

Anyway, all good.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Sorry but there's no way in the world "he's better than half a dozen players in our current team". Clark looked a class above Mannagh yesterday and right now he's right on the border of our best team. I'd have Mannagh right in the Hardie, Knevitt, Humphries mix for next in line but not clearly ahead of them.

I think Mannagh is suffering a bit from the gulf in class between AFL and VFL now that the are more clubs diluting the talent. It's trained him into some bad habits. It's frustrating because there's some class there but he can't be taking the game on in those naive ways at AFL level.

Im not talking about clark i actually think hes better than mannagh and will be elite.

I am talking about guthrie (who is clearly either injured or woefully out of form), tuohy, rohan, moc, parfitt and even atkins much as i love axe (i would have put jack on this list but hes needed for structure). Mannagh is in better form than all of those guys right now and likely to contribute more currently.

I understand what youre saying about bad habits however these are the types of habits more vfl wont get out of him because the speed of vfl isnt quick enough to challenge him that way. He needs to play afl and if he does what you think he will im confident he will learn from that quickly and by years end be a rounded player. But more vfl isnt going to teach him that.
You either have to play him or if you think thats not viable then you trade him to a contending club that wants him.