Preview AFL 2nd Semi Final - Geelong v Port Adelaide, MCG, 7:50PM Friday 13 September

[Copernicus]

Can we just fast-forward to Friday morning, around 8am Atlanta time, so I don't have to feel miserable and anxious all week?

We should take care of Port - but we all thought we'd be able to handle Freo at home, and we all saw how that turned out.

 

[dazbroncos]

Can we just fast-forward to Friday morning, around 8am Atlanta time, so I don't have to feel miserable and anxious all week?

We should take care of Port - but we all thought we'd be able to handle Freo at home, and we all saw how that turned out.

I feel ya... I REALLY hate getting up at 1am going thru the pre game, the game and the aftermath and then going to work on 2 hrs sleep after a LOSS.

Makes the day so ******* hard...

Go Catters

 

[PatrickBateman]

So members who had a ticket on Saturday get a 20% discount this week??

So generous of the club. Especially when Scott comes out in front of the crowd after a pathetic showing against Brisbane and pleads for support "at Simonds next week". Then the players come out on Twitter requesting the same, and are becoming very playful to the crowd when kicking goals. How about the hard stuff? Did they watch Carlton's last quarter I wonder?? I saw none of that on Saturday.

So... A discount as they're thinking they may lose support and can't fill the MCG? I think I'll give it a miss myself.

 

[FredLeDeux]

So members who had a ticket on Saturday get a 20% discount this week??

So generous of the club. Especially when Scott comes out in front of the crowd after a pathetic showing against Brisbane and pleads for support "at Simonds next week". Then the players come out on Twitter requesting the same, and are becoming very playful to the crowd when kicking goals. How about the hard stuff? Did they watch Carlton's last quarter I wonder?? I saw none of that on Saturday.

So... A discount as they're thinking they may lose support and can't fill the MCG? I think I'll give it a miss myself.

It's an AFL thing, nothing to do with the club. It applies to all clubs still competing in week 2.

 

[PatrickBateman]

It's an AFL thing, nothing to do with the club. It applies to all clubs still competing in week 2.

Damn... Squashed my chance of putting the stick in.

All for the same reasons though. Game in Sydney and Port down here. Geelong and Port surely won't even crack 40,000?

 

[Topper]

We need someone to play a proper midfield tagging role. With our ruck deficiencies we cannot allow to simply go head to head in the midfield.

Someone needs to tag Boak, whether it be a Kelly or bringing in the Hyphen, someone needs to come in for that sole role.

It could be Guthrie, but I think he really suits to play on Wingard.

I don't think T Hunt does it tight enough, so I'd hope to go with one of the 2 mentioned above

 

[FredLeDeux]

Damn... Squashed my chance of putting the stick in.

All for the same reasons though. Game in Sydney and Port down here. Geelong and Port surely won't even crack 40,000?

Yeah, they announced it before week 1 because they could see the possibility of some poor drawing games in week 2.

 

[CoolCat75]

Our midfield need to lift as that is where the game was lost on Saturday, both defensively and offensively. That's why our forward like was so ineffective. Their mids would run back into space and our ball movement was too slow. Also, I don't like the trend of getting out scored in the last quarter. We rank 14th, and guess who is first and second?

http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_ladder?year=2013&pt=PD&st=Q4&sb=p

In: J. Hunt, Hawkins (or West),
Out: Enright, Walker.

And GHS replaces Caddy if unfit.

 

[JUBJUB]

Geelong and Port surely won't even crack 40,000?

Yes it will.People with series tickets,AFL Members & MCC Members have only the one MCG game this week.

 

[Cataholic]

I couldn't get over how repetitively our run broke down because we missed our targets by hand and foot, and, often as not, when there was no pressure on the ball carrier.

Our skills were terrible on the day.

 

[Partridge]

But this bloke has gotta be pretty good at it.
Stopped Selwood dead last game.
Stopped Stokes dead Q1 yesterday.
Stopped Johnson dead Q2-4 yesterday.

He is. So, we just concede? He's too good? Like Hawthorn didn't do to us in 2008?

 

[FredLeDeux]

He is. So, we just concede? He's too good? Like Hawthorn didn't do to us in 2008?

Of course not, we try to do something to overcome it. I just don't know what that is, because nobody from any club seems to have worked it out.

 

[Turbocat]

I couldn't get over how repetitively our run broke down because we missed our targets by hand and foot, and, often as not, when there was no pressure on the ball carrier.

Our skills were terrible on the day.

Our big bodies are slow , our pace players are not big. Freo has quick , big guys. So our run seem to have gone and everything we did was under pressure.

Motlop and Varcoe needed more space and would have been better at the G but they should have been better with what they did. Varcoe has failed to hit targets continually since coming back in the side. Motlop just can't rely on a small amount of high end and give little else. Duncan has turned the ball over a heap as well. Bad options or bad form , not sure but it sure is bad football.

 

[Cataholic]

Our big bodies are slow , our pace players are not big. Freo has quick , big guys. So our run seem to have gone and everything we did was under pressure.

Motlop and Varcoe needed more space and would have been better at the G but they should have been better with what they did. Varcoe has failed to hit targets continually since coming back in the side. Motlop just can't rely on a small amount of high end and give little else. Duncan has turned the ball over a heap as well. Bad options or bad form , not sure but it sure is bad football.

True, but there were also regular instances where we were on the burst only to have the ball kicked direct to an opposing player or have a handball miss its target by the proverbial mile.

The best example for mine was Varcoe running free and handballing off to someone running solo on the wing only for the ball to sail clean past him and out of bounds.

 

[vinum coupe]

I dont think it's time to throw the toys out of the cot. They weren't that far off it on Saturday.
But the MC definitely have to fix up their stuff ups.

West has to come in. Walker has to go out.
And if Hawkins comes in, Vardy or Pods go out.

And then, they need to change it up. They need to reinvigorate.

Other possible ins. T Hunt, J Hunt, Thurlow, Schroder, Brown
Other possible outs. Caddy (inj), Enright (inj), Kelly, Varcoe, Lonergan.

Whatever they do. They've got to change it up.
And if that means bringing Brown in so they can swing Taylor forward then so be it.

IF I did throw the toys out of the cot, this is how it would look.

J. Hunt J. Rivers C. Guthrie
M. Brown H. Taylor T. Hunt
A. Mackie J. Bartel S. Motlop
S. Johnson J. Pod M. Stokes
M. Duncan T. Hawkins J. Thurlow

T. West A. Christensen J. Selwood

Bench. M. Blicavs, J. Corey, P. Chapman, J. Schroder

In: Hawkins, T. West, J. Hunt, T. Hunt, M. Brown, J. Thurlow
Out: Enright, Caddy, Lonergan, Walker, Vardy, Varcoe, Kelly.


Remember, this is only IF I threw the toys out

 

[Topper]

I dont think it's time to throw the toys out of the cot. They weren't that far off it on Saturday.
But the MC definitely have to fix up their stuff ups.

West has to come in. Walker has to go out.
And if Hawkins comes in, Vardy or Pods go out.

And then, they need to change it up. They need to reinvigorate.

Other possible ins. T Hunt, J Hunt, Thurlow, Schroder, Brown
Other possible outs. Caddy (inj), Enright (inj), Kelly, Varcoe, Lonergan.

Whatever they do. They've got to change it up.
And if that means bringing Brown in so they can swing Taylor forward then so be it.

IF I did throw the toys out of the cot, this is how it would look.

J. Hunt J. Rivers C. Guthrie
M. Brown H. Taylor T. Hunt
A. Mackie J. Bartel S. Motlop
S. Johnson J. Pod M. Stokes
M. Duncan T. Hawkins J. Thurlow

T. West A. Christensen J. Selwood

Bench. M. Blicavs, J. Corey, P. Chapman, J. Schroder

In: Hawkins, T. West, J. Hunt, T. Hunt, M. Brown, J. Thurlow
Out: Enright, Caddy, Lonergan, Walker, Vardy, Varcoe, Kelly.


Remember, this is only IF I threw the toys out

There's all kinds of craziness going on in this post

The main thing I want to say is, if there's ever a question relating to improving the Geelong side, the answer will never be Mitch Brown

 

[Partridge]

Whats the story with him money? long term deal?

Let's see. Left one club for more money (yet amazingly is still adored by those fans!), so I'd bet it'll be money again.

 

[Partridge]

absolutely, I think Port are only starting to realise their own potential, their midfield has class and also the kind of 'run and spread' that can worry us.

we knocked them over twice in the H&A season but they played smart football against the Pies and they run run run.

Out : Enright, Caddy, Vardy, Walker
In : J. Hunt, T. Hunt, S. Kersten, T. West

If Kelly is injured bring in GHS.

Why does he need to be injured? He shouldn't be kept in on form that's for sure.

 

[Partridge]

I'll allow it. Vardy is permanent forward and this ruck experiment has shades of the Hawkins bullshit that went on all those years ago.

I'm not sure what Vardy will be to be honest. What I am sure about is they need to make up their mind and let him develop in that role only. If it's as a ruckman, fine. If it's as a forward, that's fine too. But stop selecting him like's Doug Wade and Polly Farmer combined, and realise he's still a very inexperienced player, he hasn't actually done that much at senior level (I'd say 2 good games at most this year), and needs a lot more time to develop.

 

[Partridge]

I dont think it's time to throw the toys out of the cot. They weren't that far off it on Saturday.
But the MC definitely have to fix up their stuff ups.

West has to come in. Walker has to go out.
And if Hawkins comes in, Vardy or Pods go out.

And then, they need to change it up. They need to reinvigorate.

Other possible ins. T Hunt, J Hunt, Thurlow, Schroder, Brown
Other possible outs. Caddy (inj), Enright (inj), Kelly, Varcoe, Lonergan.

Whatever they do. They've got to change it up.
And if that means bringing Brown in so they can swing Taylor forward then so be it.

IF I did throw the toys out of the cot, this is how it would look.

J. Hunt J. Rivers C. Guthrie
M. Brown H. Taylor T. Hunt
A. Mackie J. Bartel S. Motlop
S. Johnson J. Pod M. Stokes
M. Duncan T. Hawkins J. Thurlow

T. West A. Christensen J. Selwood

Bench. M. Blicavs, J. Corey, P. Chapman, J. Schroder

In: Hawkins, T. West, J. Hunt, T. Hunt, M. Brown, J. Thurlow
Out: Enright, Caddy, Lonergan, Walker, Vardy, Varcoe, Kelly.


Remember, this is only IF I threw the toys out

I love your outs. Couldn't agree more with those three omissions.

For purely hypothetical purposes (as we know it won't happen). Anyway, here goes nothing.........

B: Guthrie - Taylor - J.Hunt
HB: Brown - Rivers - Mackie
C: Motlop - Johnson - Duncan
HF: Stokes - Podsiadly - Bartel
F: Chapman - Kersten - Murdoch

R: West - Christensen - Selwood
I/C: Blicavs - Horlin-Smith - T.Hunt - Corey

Ins: Horlin-Smith, Brown, Murdoch, West, Kersten, J.Hunt, T.Hunt
Outs: Kelly, Lonergan, Varcoe, Vardy, Walker, Enright (inj), Caddy (inj)

I would give the first three omissions no chance of occurring. Vardy a maybe (they'll probably invent an injury), and Walker the only clear omission. They'll play a half-fit Hawkins instead of Kersten.

Horlin-Smith should be the first one selected.

 

[kriso182]

So members who had a ticket on Saturday get a 20% discount this week??

So generous of the club. Especially when Scott comes out in front of the crowd after a pathetic showing against Brisbane and pleads for support "at Simonds next week". Then the players come out on Twitter requesting the same, and are becoming very playful to the crowd when kicking goals. How about the hard stuff? Did they watch Carlton's last quarter I wonder?? I saw none of that on Saturday.

So... A discount as they're thinking they may lose support and can't fill the MCG? I think I'll give it a miss myself.

Discount is an AFL initiative that was worked out before the final series not because Geelong lost. Harden up.

And what do you want from Chris Scott. "Don't turn up this week because we lost last week". Pathetic!

Did you even watch the game on Saturday? Comparisons to Carlton.....We would have smashed Carlton.

 

[Partridge]

Discount is an AFL initiative that was worked out before the final series not because Geelong lost. Harden up.

And what do you want from Chris Scott. "Don't turn up this week because we lost last week". Pathetic!

Did you even watch the game on Saturday? Comparisons to Carlton.....We would have smashed Carlton.

Doesn't matter. They won. We didn't.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

there will be so many free tickets in our game
less than 35k will be there
given the pies struggled to get 50k

Col v PA was one of four Victoria games on the weekend and was on a Saturday night. It would have got practically zero neutrals through the gate. The neutral MCC and AFL members who are in the area anyway after work, will make up a fair chunk of the crowd (I'd say 15,000 or so). Although this will be offset, in part, by Port supporters who won't be able to make back-to-back trips to the MCG. If I was a Port supporter, I'd be saving it up for a potential PF clash the week after (either they lose this week and you could consider it as a saving of a few hundred bucks minimum, or they win and you can go to the PF the week after anyway).

I think it has to be assumed that Hawkins will not play, or at least that he is the shell that played against Sydney and Brisbane. If he doesn't come up, I quite like the three-headed monster idea in the ruck, with Vardy spending most of his time forward. That would definitely make things tougher on Lobbe than they were last time and you sub (probably) West off after he's played 66-75% of the game and give Vardy and Blicavs the opportunity to go at a (hopefully) worn-down Lobbe in the final quarter.

 

[vinum coupe]

Bit of a history lesson.

QF -
Hitouts.
Cats- Vardy 6, Blicavs 7, Walker 0.
Freo - Sandi 31, Clark 19

Round 20 v Port
Cats - Walker 6, Vardy 17
Port - Lobbe 59, Westoff 5

Round 9 v Port
Cats - Blicavs 20, West 17
Port - Redden 22, Westoff 8.

If they dont bring West in this week, we are going to get slaughtered by Lobbe. Even then he could still slaughter us.
He actually had a pretty average game on Saturday and still got 29 taps.

 

[Partridge]

Disagree. Caddy plays inside and Murdoch is outside. Hypen for Caddy is a like for like. WE have Mots,Bundy, Stokes and Tv outside. We dont need another to clear the ball,we need another to get it.

GO Catters

Except one thinks before he gets rid of the ball and one doesn't.