Preview 2nd Prelim Final Geelong v Brisbane Sat Sept 21 2024 515pm @ MCG

[Lingsface]

This year has been huge beyond what I thought possible and our young brigade is so promising now!

 

[CHAWKTS]

But GWS are already in the GF aren’t they?

 

[4quarter_cat]

Ahhh yes. After spending a year largely off the board, I'd forgotten there was always that one Geelong poster who wrote their posts like prose

I think you mean poetry. Prose is what the rest of us serve up.

 

[iameviljez]

I think you mean poetry. Prose is what the rest of us serve up.

I stand corrected

 

[witsend]

I’m flying to Europe at 12:00pm on Saturday 28th September. 4 months ago when I booked it, I thought that we might make finals but a GF was a step too far. And I’m an eternal optimist with the Cats!!!
God knows how I’ll cope if we get into the “big dance”!
I’ll have subscribe to some AFL international viewing service for an exorbitant amount of money , and watch when I arrive in London…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kittypurry]

I like what he said about tactics too. How Scotty created 'layers', and the WCE coaching team had no idea how he did it. Would love to have gotten more insight into that. However, as usual, CS didnt talk about the second part and instead gave credit to the development coaches for the first part. And then the conversation moved on.

I have a soft spot for Simpson. Stopped the Pies from winning a flag and seems a decent guy. I thought that was really interesting too what he said about layers. All the coaches say ours is the hardest to go against on game day and I would love more insight into that.

Sadly the footy media is just obsessed with whinging that someone like Ginni wrote a comment on an ex-teammate's Insta instead of giving us insight into game day tactics and how teams gather and break down opposition analysis, etc. The footy media landscape is so dumbed down. Any attempt at 'analysis' comes from idiots like David King who has his little grudges and always gets it wrong.

Wish they'd pushed Simmo more on AFL 360 about things of actual substance instead it was just tabloid journalism about how his family handled him being sacked which is none of their business anyway.

 

[supahoops]

David King at least does some homework. Picked CS pre-game vs Poort as being the difference. Think he’s judged harshly here..

 

[Cataholic]

David King at least does some homework. Picked CS pre-game vs Poort as being the difference. Think he’s judged harshly here..

He has his moments, but his case history isn't so good.....

 

[Cataholic]

I have a soft spot for Simpson. Stopped the Pies from winning a flag and seems a decent guy. I thought that was really interesting too what he said about layers. All the coaches say ours is the hardest to go against on game day and I would love more insight into that.

Sadly the footy media is just obsessed with whinging that someone like Ginni wrote a comment on an ex-teammate's Insta instead of giving us insight into game day tactics and how teams gather and break down opposition analysis, etc. The footy media landscape is so dumbed down. Any attempt at 'analysis' comes from idiots like David King who has his little grudges and always gets it wrong.

Wish they'd pushed Simmo more on AFL 360 about things of actual substance instead it was just tabloid journalism about how his family handled him being sacked which is none of their business anyway.

Simpson is articulate and calm, considered and insightful with his observations.

I like him.

I too was very curious to learn more about the 'layers' he referenced, but as Mr Meow pointed out, he probably withheld any further explanation out of respect for Scott and our finals campaign.

That in itself shows the character of the man.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

David King at least does some homework. Picked CS pre-game vs Poort as being the difference. Think he’s judged harshly here..

His interview with Whately post our 22GF win was very insightful.
He had 5 major factors as to how we won it , explained each in great detail and was so , so complementary toward us.
Don't mind him , speaks his mind in an opinion based business and at least he isn't vanilla.

 

[Gunf]

I have a soft spot for Simpson. Stopped the Pies from winning a flag and seems a decent guy. I thought that was really interesting too what he said about layers. All the coaches say ours is the hardest to go against on game day and I would love more insight into that.

Sadly the footy media is just obsessed with whinging that someone like Ginni wrote a comment on an ex-teammate's Insta instead of giving us insight into game day tactics and how teams gather and break down opposition analysis, etc. The footy media landscape is so dumbed down. Any attempt at 'analysis' comes from idiots like David King who has his little grudges and always gets it wrong.

Wish they'd pushed Simmo more on AFL 360 about things of actual substance instead it was just tabloid journalism about how his family handled him being sacked which is none of their business anyway.

I would love a proper analysis show that goes through each game and no shows like First crack and On the couch don't count as half of each episode is them moaning or bitching.

I am talking about a show that is purely about the tactics of each game showing what worked what didn't with vision.
That show would probably need to be 2-3 hours long or so to make it work.

 

[supahoops]

His interview with Whately post our 22GF win was very insightful.
He had 5 major factors as to how we won it , explained each in great detail and was so , so complementary toward us.
Don't mind him , speaks his mind in an opinion based business and at least he isn't vanilla.

Look he’s not a fan like we are, calls it how he analyses it but not afraid to change his tune when things change as they clearly have since our mid season slump. Most are just pure lazy and trot out the same cliched responses.

 

[fpm84]

Win interstate final as underdog
Largest ever interstate finals win by Victorian side
Week off and home prelim
Next game v interstate side

Surely we’re first, or at least second, in Fox Footy’s power rankings?

 

[PzBlinky]

Win interstate final as underdog
Largest ever interstate finals win by Victorian side
Week off and home prelim
Next game v interstate side

Surely we’re first, or at least second, in Fox Footy’s power rankings?

View attachment 2107414

Forget us, having Brisbane at #2 just because they won their HOME final over an out-of-sorts Blues is a joke in itself.

 

[STPer18]

Win interstate final as underdog
Largest ever interstate finals win by Victorian side
Week off and home prelim
Next game v interstate side

Surely we’re first, or at least second, in Fox Footy’s power rankings?

View attachment 2107414

The yearly 'overrate the elim finalist winners and underrate the QF losers'.

 

[Lingsface]

I’m flying to Europe at 12:00pm on Saturday 28th September. 4 months ago when I booked it, I thought that we might make finals but a GF was a step too far. And I’m an eternal optimist with the Cats!!!
God knows how I’ll cope if we get into the “big dance”!
I’ll have subscribe to some AFL international viewing service for an exorbitant amount of money , and watch when I arrive in London…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They give you the daily or monthly option in finals from memory. It has become a lot better in recent years in quality as well. I am living overseas and subscribe every year.

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

Win interstate final as underdog
Largest ever interstate finals win by Victorian side
Week off and home prelim
Next game v interstate side

Surely we’re first, or at least second, in Fox Footy’s power rankings?

View attachment 2107414

I like how they completely ignore that the Hawks got belted by 51 points against Geelong and that they had Port as the most in form team (other than the Hawks) coming into finals.

Reality is Geelong, Brisbane, Hawthorn, Port, GWS are all 8-2 in the last 10 games, Swans are 5-5 .

Personally I'd have Swans and Cats 1 & 2 because, you know, they're in a prelim. Giants and Hawks 3 & 4. Brisbane and Port 5 & 6.

I reckon Port bounce back and beat the Hawks too, that's my Power Rankings!

Just as relevant as their cherry picked stats!

They can keep underrating us all they like, just makes it sweeter when we win!

 

[cats_09]

Win interstate final as underdog
Largest ever interstate finals win by Victorian side
Week off and home prelim
Next game v interstate side

Surely we’re first, or at least second, in Fox Footy’s power rankings?

View attachment 2107414

The Power Rankings are also based on various statistical categories, not simply a review of what happened over the weekend - going into week 1 of the finalsi, I'm pretty sure that the Bulldogs were #1 with Hawthorn #2 or #3


As for how they've worked things out

1. HAWTHORN

Yep.

We’re on a hiding to nothing here, because the odds remain stacked against Sam Mitchell’s side. They need to win two away finals, against the top two teams from the home and away season, to even make the Grand Final (where they would almost certainly have a home ground advantage, even against Geelong).

And it would be simply extraordinary for a team that was 0-5, and 1-6, to win the premiership. Probably the greatest in-season recovery in V/AFL history.

But since that point the Hawks have been the best team in football; since Round 8 they are (AFL ranks) No.1 for points for, No.1 for points against, No.2 for the turnover game and No.2 for the stoppage game.

And since the Round 10 loss to Port Adelaide, where they threw away a huge late lead and conceded two goals in the final minute, they are No.1 for both points from turnovers and points from clearance. It is almost a perfect profile.

---

And this is why we're down a bit

4. GEELONG

We didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in the Cats going into the qualifying final - but the history of teams that dominate that game is pretty telling.

This century, 11 previous teams have won a qualifying final by 50+ points, and eight of them won the flag (with two of the others losing to one of that eight). Geelong joined the likes of Richmond 2017, Hawthorn 2013 and Collingwood 2010.

So your view on the Cats may depend on what you think ‘form’ is - and this is the same debate for Port Adelaide but in reverse.

Obviously based on last week the Cats are much better than the Power; they absolutely demolished them in all areas; though the margin was also reflective of how in finals, teams don’t have to worry about percentage so things will often blow out.

But before the qualifying final Geelong had been less than impressive for almost two months; in between the 51-point belting of Hawthorn (which looks even better now) and now, they’d lost to St Kilda, nearly lost to Adelaide and only convincingly beaten North Melbourne and West Coast. (In contrast the Power had won six straight including the smashing of Sydney.)

So clearly the qualifying final is the most important game over that stretch of time, but do we scrap all of our priors about how good the Cats are?

The key here is actually the midfield, because since Patrick Dangerfield came back in Round 15, it hasn’t only stopped being a weakness, it has arguably been a strength. The Cats have been a fantastic team at scoring from stoppages in that period.

Dangerfield is very important by himself - arguably the most important player to any one team’s premiership chances - while the likes of Tanner Bruhn, Jack Bowes and Tom Atkins are good enough to lead them to glory; they’re not the reason the Cats will win, but they aren’t the reason the Cats will lose.

And clearly, with a home preliminary final to come against a non-Victorian team that either struggles at the MCG (Brisbane) or rarely plays there and has been better at GMHBA Stadium in recent years (GWS), the Cats are pretty well-placed to make a Grand Final. They don’t feel like a massive flag threat but reality says they are.


---

Key statistical categories say that Hawthorn should be #1 and likely even flag favorites - it's really only their ladder position at the end of the H&A season why they aren't

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

The Power Rankings are also based on various statistical categories, not simply a review of what happened over the weekend - going into week 1 of the finalsi, I'm pretty sure that the Bulldogs were #1 with Hawthorn #2 or #3


As for how they've worked things out

1. HAWTHORN

Yep.

We’re on a hiding to nothing here, because the odds remain stacked against Sam Mitchell’s side. They need to win two away finals, against the top two teams from the home and away season, to even make the Grand Final (where they would almost certainly have a home ground advantage, even against Geelong).

And it would be simply extraordinary for a team that was 0-5, and 1-6, to win the premiership. Probably the greatest in-season recovery in V/AFL history.

But since that point the Hawks have been the best team in football; since Round 8 they are (AFL ranks) No.1 for points for, No.1 for points against, No.2 for the turnover game and No.2 for the stoppage game.

And since the Round 10 loss to Port Adelaide, where they threw away a huge late lead and conceded two goals in the final minute, they are No.1 for both points from turnovers and points from clearance. It is almost a perfect profile.

---

And this is why we're down a bit

4. GEELONG

We didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in the Cats going into the qualifying final - but the history of teams that dominate that game is pretty telling.

This century, 11 previous teams have won a qualifying final by 50+ points, and eight of them won the flag (with two of the others losing to one of that eight). Geelong joined the likes of Richmond 2017, Hawthorn 2013 and Collingwood 2010.

So your view on the Cats may depend on what you think ‘form’ is - and this is the same debate for Port Adelaide but in reverse.

Obviously based on last week the Cats are much better than the Power; they absolutely demolished them in all areas; though the margin was also reflective of how in finals, teams don’t have to worry about percentage so things will often blow out.

But before the qualifying final Geelong had been less than impressive for almost two months; in between the 51-point belting of Hawthorn (which looks even better now) and now, they’d lost to St Kilda, nearly lost to Adelaide and only convincingly beaten North Melbourne and West Coast. (In contrast the Power had won six straight including the smashing of Sydney.)

So clearly the qualifying final is the most important game over that stretch of time, but do we scrap all of our priors about how good the Cats are?

The key here is actually the midfield, because since Patrick Dangerfield came back in Round 15, it hasn’t only stopped being a weakness, it has arguably been a strength. The Cats have been a fantastic team at scoring from stoppages in that period.

Dangerfield is very important by himself - arguably the most important player to any one team’s premiership chances - while the likes of Tanner Bruhn, Jack Bowes and Tom Atkins are good enough to lead them to glory; they’re not the reason the Cats will win, but they aren’t the reason the Cats will lose.

And clearly, with a home preliminary final to come against a non-Victorian team that either struggles at the MCG (Brisbane) or rarely plays there and has been better at GMHBA Stadium in recent years (GWS), the Cats are pretty well-placed to make a Grand Final. They don’t feel like a massive flag threat but reality says they are.


---

Key statistical categories say that Hawthorn should be #1 and likely even flag favorites - it's really only their ladder position at the end of the H&A season why they aren't

Yes, it’s just a statistical analysis based on an arbitrary point of time that the Fox Footy analyst team has chosen and some key statistics, that admittedly are impressive.

They did lose to the two Preliminary Finalists by a combined total of 127 points though & lost tight games to two of the three semi finalists.

 

[Vdubs]

Last time we played Hawks, Sicily and Ginnivan missed- major outs.
If we get to play them again, it'll be the GF, which in itself will be great efforts for both teams.
Hawks seem to have this incredible spirit, belief and momentum at present; would LOVE to beat them in a GF, but it'll be hugely nerve-wracking

 

[catters078]

Don't have a preferred opponent although if the semi is a brutal close affair will mean the Giants have played 2 exhausting finals...maybe there would be some benefit in playing them in a prelim.

Our front half speed may be a deciding factor late in a game where fatigue is possible.

I don't think the bye freshens them too much, they had a big 2nd half of season, went on a 7 game heater before the dogs loss in the Ballarat slog.

Do think fatigue could be a factor if it's GWS.

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

Last time we played Hawks, Sicily and Ginnivan missed- major outs.
If we get to play them again, it'll be the GF, which in itself will be great efforts for both teams.
Hawks seem to have this incredible spirit, belief and momentum at present; would LOVE to beat them in a GF, but it'll be hugely nerve-wracking

A massive IF, but if we were to meet them in a GF. It was 30 scoring shots to 14 that day. The bigger ground will help them but they've lost Day, Lewis and Frost - major outs. We'll have Bruhn & Stanley back and possibly Bews. Henry not having to share with Rohan is also a win for us, Oisin could be another ace up the sleeve. SDK could be the only significant out, but considering match ups, we might get away with that. Mannagh and Humphries have also really gelled now with the team. Both teams in cracking form, but with our big bodies and experience I'd back us in to the hilt!

 

[cats_09]

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Why unbelievable? It’s building the winning formula…. I like the No name brand , but buy in to the team ethos of hunt, pressure, tackle and to have a youthful dog hunger . It’s not about names… Hawkins & Guthrie & Stewart are names, but I would prefer Humphries, Mannagh, Dempsey & Bruhn…..
remember Grant Thomas said tigers list was worst ever to win a premiership, but in hindsight not really.
Look at hawks no name kids, they’ll be champions of their club. They are not duds it’s just the football world don’t know their talents yet.
If they want it then take it!

Maintaining these on field results through what is a pretty massive list turnover is entirely unprecedented.

You look at the Hawks no name kids but it was 8 years between finals wins for that list. It's nothing alike

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

He’s such an impressive young man on and off the field