Preview Rd 1 Geelong V StKilda Sat 16th Mar 2024 730pm @ GMHBA

[Hamingja]

So Mannagh or Touhy for sub.

I really, really, really hope we don’t debut Mannagh as a sub and he gets to speed some time around the middle.

I think Scott has spoken about not liking that in the past… but still debuted Clark as one last year.

I'd prefer Mannagh starts too but suspect he will see a lot of the vest across the season as he will make a good sub. Kind of guy that could come on midway through the 3rd and have 15 touches and kick 2 goals.

 

[year of the cat]

Nice team. Rapt to see both Dempsey (expected) and Mannagh (somewhat unexpected) named. Hopefully Bowes is only a week or 2 away.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Bews out of the 26 is a bold but obvious and good call (body is slowing down this is dahlhaus 2022 on repeat).

Clark (will play all year) and dempsey and mannagh are very good ins.
Neale had a case but going for more run to combat the saints outside run is fair.
Id want tuohy or kolo out once bowes is fit but otherwise cant fault too much.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I'd prefer Mannagh starts too but suspect he will see a lot of the vest across the season as he will make a good sub. Kind of guy that could come on midway through the 3rd and have 15 touches and kick 2 goals.

I dont think you can use the same player as sub all the time for fitness reasons-you need to rotate it around so guys get enough minutes..but i agree mannagh is a good impact sub type.

 

[STPer18]

Can't complain, it's the strongest team we can put out given availability. Looking forward to seeing Bruhn and Clark link up - they worked well with each other in the preseason game.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Bowes with a calf ‘complaint’ per the Geelong website.

Team Selection | Round 1

The Round 1 team is in, thanks to Simonds Homes

www.geelongcats.com.au

brett johnson injury reports as bad as lloyd ones.

 

[D BRIDGE]

I'd prefer Mannagh starts too but suspect he will see a lot of the vest across the season as he will make a good sub. Kind of guy that could come on midway through the 3rd and have 15 touches and kick 2 goals.

If he ends up that good I’d argue why not play him for the entire match and let a “less effective” player sit on the pine.

 

[Catastrophe!]

Players likely to run through the mids:

Danger
T. Atkins
Holmes
Bruhn
J. Clark
Duncan
Blics

+ possibly pinch hitting from:

Jez
Miers
Mannagh
Stewart

Gonna be a very interesting midfield, whatever happens. Gonna need Danger to have a blinder, IMO.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

At least we can now confirm that Bews is bigtime on the outs.

Mullin even named EMG ahead of him.

To be fair it was obvious he trained with the 2nds team all summer.
Guys like bews and parfitt (you could probably say this about hardie too) will play vfl all year unless we have a few injuries.

Whereas guys like tuohy moc kolo (and even rohan when hes back) are genuinely in the best 23 (even if 20 to 23) but you would want to see guys like mannagh dempsey neale clark knevitt etc pushing them out this year (creates good competition) and similar re stanley and conway.

 

[D BRIDGE]

If our midfield breaks even and doesn’t get killed on the outside, we win easily.

If we can’t handle that St Kilda team without Sinclair and with 3x 18/19 year olds running around on our home deck, it’ll be a long season.

20+ points or I’m dirty.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Players likely to run through the mids:

Danger
T. Atkins
Bruhn
J. Clark
Duncan
Blics

+ possibly pinch hitting from:

Jez
Miers
Mannagh
Stewart

Gonna be a very interesting midfield, whatever happens. Gonna need Danger to have a blinder, IMO.

St kildas midfield is bog average if we cant beat it we arent doing anything this year.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Players likely to run through the mids:

Danger
T. Atkins
Bruhn
J. Clark
Duncan
Blics

+ possibly pinch hitting from:

Jez
Miers
Mannagh
Stewart

Gonna be a very interesting midfield, whatever happens. Gonna need Danger to have a blinder, IMO.

Holmes will run though the midfield without doubt.

We'll see the future big 3 in there together at some point in Bruhn, Holmes & Clark.

 

[small 4wards]

Players likely to run through the mids:

Danger
T. Atkins
Bruhn
J. Clark
Duncan
Blics

+ possibly pinch hitting from:

Jez
Miers
Mannagh
Stewart

Gonna be a very interesting midfield, whatever happens. Gonna need Danger to have a blinder, IMO.

My friend it appears you forgot Max Holmes, the 2024 Brownlow medallist?

 

[winty]

Very confident in saying if we can't comfortably beat that side we will not be featuring this year.

View attachment 1927680

Still need to put in the workrate and have the right mindset going in though.

Can still remember Adelaide embarrassing us in the first round 3 years ago with a team who only had 8 players with more than 50 games experience, and the combined games experience was 3141 to 1523 our way.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Seems like a slow team.
Ball tearing pace: Danger, Holmes, Dempsey?
Decent Pace: Close, Miers, Rhys, Mannagh
Plodders: The rest

Sent from my SM-S928B using Tapatalk

Quite literally one of the quickest and youngest Geelong sides named in recent memory, and that was evident in the pre-season.

This team has some question marks. Midfield is young and a bit thin, and we're relying on a lot more kids around the ground than we have in a long time....but speed won't be one of those question marks.

If we're to struggle this year while healthy, it'll be a too young/too old problem. Pace isn't even on the radar of issues.

 

[Catastrophe!]

My friend it appears you forgot Max Holmes, the 2024 Brownlow medallist?

Oops!! (Had him off half back in my mind, but he'll pinch hit at the least!)

 

[Mr Meow]

If our midfield breaks even and doesn’t get killed on the outside, we win easily.

If we can’t handle that St Kilda team without Sinclair and with 3x 18/19 year olds running around on our home deck, it’ll be a long season.

20+ points or I’m dirty.

19 you'd be filthy on, 21 you'd be delighted?

 

[small 4wards]

19 you'd be filthy on, 21 you'd be delighted?

We have a habit of playing three really good quarters then giving away a few junktime goals, final score beyond win/loss isn't too concerning imo, its more if we do concede what's it from.

 

[D BRIDGE]

19 you'd be filthy on, 21 you'd be delighted?

I’d take 19 and no injuries.

Wouldn’t be fist pumping much over it though.

 

[Catastrophe!]

St kildas midfield is bog average if we cant beat it we arent doing anything this year.

Rowan Marshall, Jack Steele, Brad Crouch and Marcus Windhager, are definitely a very strong starting quartet. Outside of that though, it drops off pretty heavily, IMO. Seb Ross is way past it in my opinion, and then it's the other youngsters in Owens and Phillipou.

 

[winty]

Impressive story from the best commentator in the Channel 7 stable.

 

[bloodygoose]

Oops!! (Had him off half back in my mind, but he'll pinch hit at the least!)

Jack Bowes?


Sent from my iPad using BigFooty.com

 

[thejester]

I keep coming back to something CS said about SDK in late 2022 - that going into the year the coaches made a commitment to playing him and ignoring peaks and troughs. I wonder if they’ve done something similar with Clark and Dempsey.

 

[Mr Meow]

I’d take 19 and no injuries.

Wouldn’t be fist pumping much over it though.

Apologise for the upcoming ramble.

For me it'll be a little less binary than winning margin.

This St Kilda side really aren't bad. They're well coached and tough to put to the sword, as they showed all of last year.

Sometimes the opposition play a blinder, even with stars missing. Adversity can strengthen resolve (as long as its not too many).

They're fielding 16 players from the side who just finished 6th and were in an elimination final. Big bodies in midfield with an elite ruck. A few exciting younger players, a rock in the backline and good role players all over.

Membrey is in from that 2023 EF side and gives them a bit up forward. Sinclair is their one big miss (so is Guthrie for us), Butler is handy (so is Rohan) then a couple of okayish defenders are missing through injury/suspension. But Bonner isn't a bad player to cover one of them.

They're fielding a highly rated kid (Wilson) like we are (Clark), then have Phillipou with a full season under his belt.

The onus is on us to prove we aren't a cellar dwellar (most neutrals have this impression of us heading into 2024), so any win against a middle of the pack side would be valuable. How the veterans are holding up and how the kids look will be more important than a strict winning margin.