Review AFL Round 5 - Geelong defeat Hawthorn by 19 points

[rooie]

For me the guys who need to be looking over their shoulders are the usuals, the kids. So burbs, sherry, blitz then maybe still a bit shaky are TV and hunt.

Given blitz only contested a few hit outs, he has to be judged on his game as a winger, and it was horrid. Burbs was a good link man, but massive yips when having a shot, Murdoch also struggled a bit for clean possession but his 50m set shot was great. Hunt scratchy, TV still not getting enough.


I would consider dropping sherry and blitz for motlop and walker and see how that goes next week, or possibly keep blitz to tag westoff as an experiment as he is by far their most damaging player.

 

[manboob]

All in all, very happy to be 5-0 and get the job done over one of the leagues pacesetters this year.

This is the big one 5-0 with no Motlop or Bundy.

 

[manboob]

Anyone care to guess what changes for next week then?

If Motlop be fit bring him back but I don't know how long he'll last. Given Port's run and carry I think Ballroom may last one more week. We have a shit tonne of injuries I can't really think of anyone screaming out to come back...

 

[Cat A]

good win great signs with Hawkins, Rivers and HMac all playing really well

Burbury clearly not up to it and Blicavs is far from an AFL player.

Quoting from pretty far back but I noticed that about Blic today too, still rough as.

 

[Podsnap]

I hope Burbury gets more games. He reminds me a bit of Motlop pre 2013 - half a million shots on goal point blanc range misses every one of them. Just wait until they start slotting through...

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Pot shots at Taylor Hunt, a little disappointing, had a nightmare start but showed great mentality. Never stopped trying and didn't hide after his errors. Pass for me.

Look some of his clangers by foot were ordinary and costly but I thought he kept going in the second half, some of his chase and tackle pressure in the second half was great when others tired. Also defensively he was pretty good, yes Breust kicked 3 but 1 was from a free on Lonergan and the other was when hunt was off the ground. Cheap over the back handballs aside, he had little influence for a guy who hada great first four weeks.
Long term if Hunt is to make it as a defender he needs to learn to play within his disposal limitations like Lonergan did. Domsy has not suddenly become a much better kick, he just kicks up the line more, takes less risk with corridor kicks and leaves those to guys like Mackie and Taylor. If Hunt can learn that too he will do fine, otherwise not so much.

I wouldn't be dispensing with him yet though unless we have a better option. And I doubt most want Guthrie to have to return to the back six given how well he is playing.
While Thurlow is very good offensively I am not sure he can lock down a man as well at afl level yet, Smedts would have been destroyed in the role Hunt played today, and Sheringham has not played enough as a defender at vfl level for me to be convinced of it. So Hunt gets more opportunities until we have a better option, for me right now he is playing his role. For me the pressure may come to him to lose his spot if we decide to shift Kelly back full time, but I don't think we can do this until Bundy is back, which is a while away.

That aside, I was very happy with the game. I said we would win it on forward pressure if we were to win, and we did. I said Hawkins would monster them with good delivery and a forward setup to get him 1 out, and boy did he.
I felt we shut Hawthorn's possession game down well and denied them space, and having ruckmen helped us keep the game in tight.

Apart from Hawkins Johnson was fantastic (although his clangers infuriate me sometimes), Duncan was great, Rivers impassable and that was the best game Hamish has played as a cat, probably the best he has played since 09-10.

A great team effort.

More than that, I am just so happy with this club. At the start of the year most people were saying we would struggle to make finals, and here we are. While I want to win premierships every year, and getting so close last year and not succeeding hurt, for us to continue to go deep into September every year since 2007, with a sustainable list of young talent, is utterly remarkable and defies all the equalisation measures. You only need to look at how Brisbane have gone after their three flags to see how remarkable it is what we are doing, whether we can be there on the last Saturday in September or not. Very happy we have such good leadership on and off the field to drive the club forward.

 

[Teriyakicat]

For me the guys who need to be looking over their shoulders are the usuals, the kids. So burbs, sherry, blitz then maybe still a bit shaky are TV and hunt.

Given blitz only contested a few hit outs, he has to be judged on his game as a winger, and it was horrid. Burbs was a good link man, but massive yips when having a shot, Murdoch also struggled a bit for clean possession but his 50m set shot was great. Hunt scratchy, TV still not getting enough.


I would consider dropping sherry and blitz for motlop and walker and see how that goes next week, or possibly keep blitz to tag westoff as an experiment as he is by far their most damaging player.

Sheringham wasn't on for very long but only got 2 possessions- you'd expect him to come out and be running a foot higher than everyone else, after being left on the leash for so long. It's a shame he couldn't really get much of a touch because it would've been handy to have been able to take a little pressure off the boys doing the hard work, who have to back up next week v Port after a 6 day turnaround.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Anyone care to guess what changes for next week then?

The only possibility is if one of the rucks need to be rested, and before people pot shot me they were great, but 6th game in a row for both, 6 day break, plane travel, and we know both have long injury histories, preventative management with our rucks may be needed in the next few weeks or so. I assume in that case Walker would be the 2nd forward and Blicavs the second ruckman.

Other than that, unchanged if Mackie is fit.

Burbury is clearly the one likely to make way for Motlop but I would say they will give Motlop at least one more run in the vfl.

 

[Gold Member]

Both sides will be hardened by the pressure of todays game. Different 22 for each club next time

Yep. For the guys with a low games tally, today was worth 5 for experience.

Big picture says today was nothing for either club relative to September...

 

[Duskfire]

I know it's not cool to criticise Varcoe but for someone who had an extremely quiet game he gets little notice. Burbs had much much more impact and yet people are talking about dropping him. The amount of pressure and harressing he did constantly is extremely understated.

Anyway great game. Another big test next week.

 

[BIGANT]

This is huge, and ģonna hate 5aa this week. They will talk up port deservedly so...****ing mouthwatering our kids vs there's

 

[cynical]

I'm not sure they're going to play a second tall forward after today, at least not immediately. They've gone two full games (West Coast and Hawthorn), plus the final quarter against Collingwood, with just Hawkins and maybe McIntosh or Simpson resting down there. They could figure they need the speed of Murdoch and Burbury defensively instead. It's working right now.

Better off giving Brown or Walker a run. We need a backup plan and not do what we did last year.

I think Brown will be in the mix next week.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Better off giving Brown or Walker a run. We need a backup plan and not do what we did last year.

I think Brown will be in the mix next week.

McIntosh has clearly outperformed Brown as a KPF, and by a very considerable margin. Why would we decide to go go backwards?

 

[cynical]

McIntosh has clearly outperformed Brown as a KPF, and by a very considerable margin. Why would we decide to go go backwards?

Brown played one good game then played 2 games somewhat injured.

What happens if HMac or Simpson get injured later in the year? are we going to put all our eggs in one basket like last year?

We need to get games into Brown and/or Walker at least as a contingency. Both are no worse than Blicavs roaming around doing nothing.

When September comes around we can play the best team, until then we should be working on some contingencies.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Brown played one good game then played 2 games somewhat injured.

What happens if HMac or Simpson get injured later in the year? are we going to put all our eggs in one basket like last year?

We need to get games into Brown and/or Walker at least as a contingency. Both are no worse than Blicavs roaming around doing nothing.

When September comes around we can play the best team, until then we should be working on some contingencies.

I haven't ruled a line through Brown; I half suspect the MC may have done, but we'll have to wait and see.
A replacement for Blicavs would be Thurlow (when and if he starts doing something in the 2nds) or someone of that ilk, rather than Brown or Walker.
As to playing players as contingencies in case someone gets injured, well that's a good idea in theory, but it can only happen in one of three ways - a replacement for an injury, change the team balance, or drop a better player for a poorer player. If we can work it with some combo of the first two options, that's good selection policy, but the third option isn't, full stop.

 

[Scottland2007]

i thought we were fairly average today... so much messing around forward. room for improvement after a win like that is a very good thing.

But Derm reckons we were at our best?!

 

[Scottland2007]

Anyone care to guess what changes for next week then?

Walker to stay in.

 

[FredLeDeux]

But Derm reckons we were at our best?!

Well, he's a club supporter like me, and when my side loses it's because we were crap, or the other mob played above themselves, or some combination of those two things.
Also the umpires continue to get sucked in by the opposition's star player, despite my repeatedly emailing and faxing them with details of what's happening.
But then, of course, I don't get paid megabucks to be an impartial observer and reporter.

 

[romeoh]

But Derm reckons we were at our best?!

Haha -he wishes. Hawks went into the game in the stellar form. We are playing well but lots of improvement to come. Hawks will talk up Lake but the missing players for both teams negate each other-if anything we will be better off when both teams have full complement. Tommy will knock Lake off, no worries, and Motlop/Bundy will slot all those missed opportunities that Burbs and co weren't quite ready for yet( but they will get there). I'm wondering if Caddy can bullock away on Mitchell-you take him out and we win by 12 goals!

 

[Scottland2007]

I haven't ruled a line through Brown; I half suspect the MC may have done, but we'll have to wait and see.
A replacement for Blicavs would be Thurlow (when and if he starts doing something in the 2nds) or someone of that ilk, rather than Brown or Walker.
As to playing players as contingencies in case someone gets injured, well that's a good idea in theory, but it can only happen in one of three ways - a replacement for an injury, change the team balance, or drop a better player for a poorer player. If we can work it with some combo of the first two options, that's good selection policy, but the third option isn't, full stop.

When do we start resting / rotating players for September. I know it's only round 5, do we wait til round 11? Some others might get a chance if we have a resting policy. I might actually "tweet the coach" this question.

 

[allrighty]

Haha -he wishes. Hawks went into the game in the stellar form. We are playing well but lots of improvement to come. Hawks will talk up Lake but the missing players for both teams negate each other-if anything we will be better off when both teams have full complement. Tommy will knock Lake off, no worries, and Motlop/Bundy will slot all those missed opportunities that Burbs and co weren't quite ready for yet( but they will get there). I'm wondering if Caddy can bullock away on Mitchell-you take him out and we win by 12 goals!

It wasn't just stellar form. It was "the best form of any team ever before". It's an old truism that the higher you are pushed up the further you can fall - I love it!

 

[allrighty]

I'm wondering if Caddy can bullock away on Mitchell-you take him out and we win by 12 goals!

We just can't stick our tackles on him. He is very strong through the lower body - low centre of gravity like Daicos and a big arse like GAJ.

 

[you pick one]

It's taken me to page 14 to get in,words fail me,the culture,professionalism and drive at our club is second to none,I feel proud and privileged to support this organization,at the start of the season I had them finishing as low as 12th,Mia culpa.On changes for next week,I think the MRP will have first dibs but other than that I keep every one going for another 2 weeks up to the bye,especially the rucks as neither has had much footy in the last couple of years and you can see them getting better week by week,they have made a huge difference.

 

[FredLeDeux]

It's taken me to page 14 to get in,words fail me,the culture,professionalism and drive at our club is second to none,I feel proud and privileged to support this organization,at the start of the season I had them finishing as low as 12th,Mia culpa.On changes for next week,I think the MRP will have first dibs but other than that I keep every one going for another 2 weeks up to the bye,especially the rucks as neither has had much footy in the last couple of years and you can see them getting better week by week,they have made a huge difference.

Agree with all of that, YPO, except I didn't think we'd be that low.

PS, did you see a bloke wearing nos 26 (and also 34) starting at CHF yesterday?

 

[Glacier]

Well done Geelong, too good