Club Focus Geelong 2024

[Ticky009]

Data from footywire. To check the draft order see the thread here.

Footywire says: "While we make every effort to keep up to date with player contracts, it is likely that our data may at times be out of date, incomplete or inaccurate. If you find any player contracts that need updating, please let us know using our brand new contract submission form."

 

[CatToTheFuture]

What's he paying for the Coleman?

Just imagine the fun we'll have on the very slight chance he does become a player.

I actually think he has a lot of skills he can bring to the table. But yeah, he wasn't delisted for no reason.

I'm more confused about him being referenced as a key forward.

 

[Keeper]

You joined this week and have 50-odd posts.

3 of those lament how bad Geelong having to rely on Jeka will be. Seriously? You've talked about Emerson Jeka in the last week more than any Geelong poster.

You talk about how great our core and kids were when we recruited Dangerfield but include Stewart who wasn't even on our list. You compare it to our "core" now but leave out SDK, Henry (one or other), Close, Z Guthrie, O'Sullivan, etc but somehow find a spot for Emerson Jeka of all people.

Then you decide that the club notorious for never overpaying on salaries is going to fork out $1m+ over 6 years for Clayton Oliver.

Come on mate. You need to improve your trolling.

Now you're looking through my post history? Getting pretty pathetic and embarrassing from you.

I've made my point but you just can't let go of the mere mention of Emerson Jeka. Continue being hung up on this at your leisure, I couldn't care less. Literally all your replies to me are just nitpicks over individual players and not addressing the key point.

You're even more precious than the Doggies supporters on this board.

Why on earth would we be fielding Knevitt or Jeka as key forwards? One is a wing/mid the other a key defender. And Cameron has only played 59 hands for us, though we were extremely dependent on Hawkins 2014-2020

More nitpicks...
Also you are still heavily dependent on a 35 year old Hawkins to this day.

What if I told you the possible Round 1 team has 5 first round draft picks that didn’t play in the 2022 Premiership?

Future is bright at the Cattery.

Doesn't say much until they have runs on the board.

 

[Keeper]

I actually think he has a lot of skills he can bring to the table. But yeah, he wasn't delisted for no reason.

I'm more confused about him being referenced as a key forward.

Of course none of this is nearly as confusing as your continued obsession with bringing him up in this thread.
You don't really like my opinion regarding the state of your club's youth so you nitpick the position of some specific player. Pretty lame.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

View attachment 1927120View attachment 1927121

Of course none of this is nearly as confusing as your continued obsession with bringing him up in this thread.
You don't really like my opinion regarding the state of your club's youth so you nitpick the position of some specific player. Pretty lame.

Mate you are the one who brought him up not me. You'll struggle to find a single cats fan who thinks he'll ever be best 22. As for his position, your own club was playing him as a kpd, he has spent all his preseason with us as a kpd, in interviews he has said he is a kpd. He is as much chance of lining up in the forward line a I am.

Of course we can't replace Hawkins. No one can. But we can have Cameron, Ollie Henry, and of Ollie Dempsey or Shannon Neale as marking targets for the next 3 years and trade for a kpf then. Don't see the issue with that strategy.

 

[Tonythetiger]

Well, at the end of the day what matters is winning the flag.

If topping up helps a team win a flag, even one there can be no good argument against it.

If it doesn't win a flag, then you have to think about the long-term effects of what you've done. All of Titch, O'Meara, Wingard were good enough for our best 22, and so were Scully, Patton, Frost, Hartigan, Phillips, etc. Problem is, we didn't win any flags, and resulted in a bit of a problem with the state of our list.

It was even worse for North Melbourne. Picked up guys like Jasper Pittard, Jared Polec(on big money), Dom Tyson, Aaron Hall, Josh Walker... the rest is history.

Taranto and Hopper might improve your list, and will be around for 5-6 years... but who will they be playing alongside? Can Richmond win a flag in the next 5-6 years with Taranto and Hopper playing alongside Dow, Cumberland, Koschitzke, Baker, Ryan, Rioli, etc? Not for me, therefore I don't think those trades were a good idea.

It's too early to call. In 2016 we brought in Nank, Caddy and Prestia. Everyone thought we overpaid for Prestia. Nank wasn't exactly rated as a premier ruckman of the company. Caddy was coming into his third club. We took risks, they paid off. With the players Hawks brought in, guys like Patton and Scully were salary dumps who came in cheaply and had injury clouds. You guys have now done a cleanout and are in rebuild mode. It's a symptom of being up the top for a golden period, you don't get the access to the best picks so have to get very lucky with trades and later picks. You need to be a destination club to have any hope of avoiding the equalisation measures the league has implemented.

North overpaid for guys because no one wanted to go there and they still go smashed by injuries too.

I really can't fault Geelong's list strategy at present. Whilst they do have a lot of older players, over the years they have managed them well. Every one of the over 30 guys if they get an ACL they would be retiring for sure. There is similarities to Richmond where you just need to retire maybe 2 of the older guys per year and turn over your list through the normal trading/delisting/drafting route.

Geelong should be thinking can they win the flag with the remaining years of having Cameron on the list? Because you add Oliver and Smith next year, surely that gets them closer. If you at JUH, they would have refreshed the list in a big way.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

It's too early to call. In 2016 we brought in Nank, Caddy and Prestia. Everyone thought we overpaid for Prestia. Nank wasn't exactly rated as a premier ruckman of the company. Caddy was coming into his third club. We took risks, they paid off. With the players Hawks brought in, guys like Patton and Scully were salary dumps who came in cheaply and had injury clouds. You guys have now done a cleanout and are in rebuild mode. It's a symptom of being up the top for a golden period, you don't get the access to the best picks so have to get very lucky with trades and later picks. You need to be a destination club to have any hope of avoiding the equalisation measures the league has implemented.

North overpaid for guys because no one wanted to go there and they still go smashed by injuries too.

I really can't fault Geelong's list strategy at present. Whilst they do have a lot of older players, over the years they have managed them well. Every one of the over 30 guys if they get an ACL they would be retiring for sure. There is similarities to Richmond where you just need to retire maybe 2 of the older guys per year and turn over your list through the normal trading/delisting/drafting route.

Geelong should be thinking can they win the flag with the remaining years of having Cameron on the list? Because you add Oliver and Smith next year, surely that gets them closer. If you at JUH, they would have refreshed the list in a big way.

Even if you add Smith and all that happens is that Clark and Bruhn get more space around the ball and we don't have overpay the kids then he's paid for himself

 

[Keeper]

Mate you are the one who brought him up not me. You'll struggle to find a single cats fan who thinks he'll ever be best 22. As for his position, your own club was playing him as a kpd, he has spent all his preseason with us as a kpd, in interviews he has said he is a kpd. He is as much chance of lining up in the forward line a I am.

Mate, you and that other touchy whinger are the one who can't stop harping on about him. I mentioned him once among a list of other non-30 year olds, and suggested you were going from Hawkins and Cameron to Neale and Jeka. If not Jeka, then replace him with whoever else you deem appropriate, it's not significant to my point.

Of course we can't replace Hawkins. No one can. But we can have Cameron, Ollie Henry, and of Ollie Dempsey or Shannon Neale as marking targets for the next 3 years and trade for a kpf then. Don't see the issue with that strategy.

That's only if Cameron can keep up. He was one of a handful of older players last season who's performances tanked.
If Hawkins and Cameron cannot be expected to maintain their best and you're forced to rely on the rest, that is nowhere near good enough to content.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Mate, you and that other touchy whinger are the one who can't stop harping on about him. I mentioned him once among a list of other non-30 year olds, and suggested you were going from Hawkins and Cameron to Neale and Jeka. If not Jeka, then replace him with whoever else you deem appropriate, it's not significant to my point.


That's only if Cameron can keep up. He was one of a handful of older players last season who's performances tanked.
If Hawkins and Cameron cannot be expected to maintain their best and you're forced to rely on the rest, that is nowhere near good enough to content.

Cameron was being talked up for the Brownlow until he got KOd. I'm not sure what you were watching but it must not have been Geelong

 

[Keeper]

It's too early to call. In 2016 we brought in Nank, Caddy and Prestia. Everyone thought we overpaid for Prestia. Nank wasn't exactly rated as a premier ruckman of the company. Caddy was coming into his third club. We took risks, they paid off. With the players Hawks brought in, guys like Patton and Scully were salary dumps who came in cheaply and had injury clouds. You guys have now done a cleanout and are in rebuild mode. It's a symptom of being up the top for a golden period, you don't get the access to the best picks so have to get very lucky with trades and later picks. You need to be a destination club to have any hope of avoiding the equalisation measures the league has implemented.

North overpaid for guys because no one wanted to go there and they still go smashed by injuries too.

I really can't fault Geelong's list strategy at present. Whilst they do have a lot of older players, over the years they have managed them well. Every one of the over 30 guys if they get an ACL they would be retiring for sure. There is similarities to Richmond where you just need to retire maybe 2 of the older guys per year and turn over your list through the normal trading/delisting/drafting route.

The difference between Richmond in 2016 and Geelong now is that Richmond still had their backbone of high-end talent acquired through drafting. They were adding Prestia, Caddy and Nankervis to a core of Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt, Rance, Ellis, Grimes, Rioli, etc. They had also finished 5th in 2015 so despite one bad year, there was still reason to believe they weren't that far off.
In Geelong's case, they would be adding an Oliver or a Smith to a core of: Atkins, Bowes, Henry, Mulin, Clark, Holmes, Knevitt, Jek-whoops can't say that one with out driving a couple posters berserk.

Sure not all their old players are retiring imminently, but this side missed finals last year despite retaining most of their flag-winning list. For me the writing is on the wall; you cannot win a flag if you're leaning this heavily on such a large contingent of oldies, and it's well past the point where one or two top-ups can fix that.

Geelong should be thinking can they win the flag with the remaining years of having Cameron on the list? Because you add Oliver and Smith next year, surely that gets them closer. If you at JUH, they would have refreshed the list in a big way.

Could ask the same question about Richmond. Should your mob be thinking they can win the flag while you still have Tom Lynch, Dustin Martin, Toby Nankervis and Dylan Grimes hanging around? Why stop at trading the kitchen sink for Hopper and Taranto, now is the time to bring in the Olivers, Zurhaars, Englishes, Yeos, Smiths, etc.

Sure, adding Oliver and Smith would technically get them closer, but Hopper and Taranto got your club closer through the same line of reasoning. I still think it was the wrong decision.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Parfitt emergency round 1.
Stick a fork in him.

 

[Tonythetiger]

The difference between Richmond in 2016 and Geelong now is that Richmond still had their backbone of high-end talent acquired through drafting. They were adding Prestia, Caddy and Nankervis to a core of Cotchin, Martin, Riewoldt, Rance, Ellis, Grimes, Rioli, etc. They had also finished 5th in 2015 so despite one bad year, there was still reason to believe they weren't that far off.
In Geelong's case, they would be adding an Oliver or a Smith to a core of: Atkins, Bowes, Henry, Mulin, Clark, Holmes, Knevitt, Jek-whoops can't say that one with out driving a couple posters berserk.

Sure not all their old players are retiring imminently, but this side missed finals last year despite retaining most of their flag-winning list. For me the writing is on the wall; you cannot win a flag if you're leaning this heavily on such a large contingent of oldies, and it's well past the point where one or two top-ups can fix that.


Could ask the same question about Richmond. Should your mob be thinking they can win the flag while you still have Tom Lynch, Dustin Martin, Toby Nankervis and Dylan Grimes hanging around? Why stop at trading the kitchen sink for Hopper and Taranto, now is the time to bring in the Olivers, Zurhaars, Englishes, Yeos, Smiths, etc.

Sure, adding Oliver and Smith would technically get them closer, but Hopper and Taranto got your club closer through the same line of reasoning. I still think it was the wrong decision.

In some respects, I think that's what Richmond are doing. We are going for a rebound rather than a rebuild. I'm pessimistic on whether we could actually compete with the top sides however I definitely think we weren't going anywhere further with Dimma at the helm. The irony is we recruited Hopper and Taranto while Dimma was the coach, however I think that if Yze proves to be decent, these are more moves I think he should be doing to help us take a step forward.

We still have some decent players of a good age on our list who have achieved a lot in the dynasty era like Short, Bolton, Baker, D.Rioli, Balta, however our younger guys are unproven and yet to cement their spots.

Theoretically, if a handful of the youth come on quick, we should compete quite well with our list profile, but if they are all duds we are well and truly ****ed.

With respect to Geelong, I reckon their youth is more proven than ours, their 25-30 year olds are worse than ours and their 30+ guys have more in the tank than our guys do. I reckon list performance potential wise their isn't a heap that separates us, and that either side can pull ahead with a couple of really good trades.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Anyone who seriously thinks that Geelong supporters are pinning their hopes on Emerson Jeka should be disqualified from giving their opinion on the direction of the club.

And no, one bloke juiced up on meth on twitter who rates him doesn't count as a reason to keep bringing him up.

It's a little suspicious that a recently signed up "Hawthorn supporter" isn't aware that he's been a key defender for the best part of 18 months, but I digress.

To Falc...I mean Keeper...you can rest easy, young Emerson won't be at the Cats for much longer.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/1507771/three-recommit-to-the-hoops

Clark signed to 2026
Mullin and Zuthrie to 2025

Clark the standard r1 pick 2 year extension.
Zuthrie is interesting the club would have offered at least 3 he must be backing himself to play well and get more $ from us (cap will open up massively next year with retirements) as he will be FA again next year.

Leaves
Hawkins Dangerfield Duncan all RFAs
Stanley Bews Tuohy Parfitt UFAs
The first 3 will either go 1 yr or retire so no poaching risk
The 4 in the second group i would say will all retire or in parfitts case find another club

Henry Kolo MOC all RFA
Stengle UFA
Plus Holmes OOC
These are the guys we want to retain. Holmes is the biggest priority and will cost a lot.
Stengle we will want to retain but only up to a certain $ point (now we have dempsey and mannagh) otherwise we let him go.
Henry wont leave.
Kolo and MOC are squad players who you give a couple of years to but dont break the bank.

Everyone else OOC is a small fish.
Id say rohan will retire (parfitt is a goner as mentioned)
Hardie Foster Jeka Murdoch Willis all in trouble depending on how many spots we want to clear.

A lot of cap $ will be going out the door this year so a lot of room will open up.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/1507771/three-recommit-to-the-hoops

Clark signed to 2026
Mullin and Zuthrie to 2025

Clark the standard r1 pick 2 year extension.
Zuthrie is interesting the club would have offered at least 3 he must be backing himself to play well and get more $ from us (cap will open up massively next year with retirements) as he will be FA again next year.

Leaves
Hawkins Dangerfield Duncan all RFAs
Stanley Bews Tuohy Parfitt UFAs
The first 3 will either go 1 yr or retire so no poaching risk
The 4 in the second group i would say will all retire or in parfitts case find another club

Henry Kolo MOC all RFA
Stengle UFA
Plus Holmes OOC
These are the guys we want to retain. Holmes is the biggest priority and will cost a lot.
Stengle we will want to retain but only up to a certain $ point (now we have dempsey and mannagh) otherwise we let him go.
Henry wont leave.
Kolo and MOC are squad players who you give a couple of years to but dont break the bank.

Everyone else OOC is a small fish.
Id say rohan will retire (parfitt is a goner as mentioned)
Hardie Foster Jeka Murdoch Willis all in trouble depending on how many spots we want to clear.

A lot of cap $ will be going out the door this year so a lot of room will open up.

Zuth one year is interesting. Fast becoming our second most reliable intercept rebound defender. See himself as the heir apparent to Stewart maybe.

 

[Baudolino]

Leaves
Hawkins Dangerfield Duncan all RFAs
Stanley Bews Tuohy Parfitt UFAs
The first 3 will either go 1 yr or retire so no poaching risk
The 4 in the second group i would say will all retire or in parfitts case find another club

I'm not convinced Stanley will retire. Even if Conway has edged him out of the side by the end of the season - surely the scenario the club wants to see happen, although by no means a guarantee - we'll still need some mature-age backup for Toby, not just as an insurance policy in case he goes down at some point next year, but potentially to help manage his load given as a young player in a physically taxing position. We don't have any other senior rucks on the list, unless you count Blicavs, and I'd rather us not be forced into using Blitz in that capacity. All things considered, I'd say there's a good chance Rhys sticks around for one more year.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

I'm not convinced Stanley will retire. Even if Conway has edged him out of the side by the end of the season - surely the scenario the club wants to see happen, although by no means a guarantee - we'll still need some mature-age backup for Toby, not just as an insurance policy in case he goes down at some point next year, but potentially to help manage his load given as a young player in a physically taxing position. We don't have any other senior rucks on the list, unless you count Blicavs, and I'd rather us not be forced into using Blitz in that capacity. All things considered, I'd say there's a good chance Rhys sticks around for one more year.

There's been murmurings that Stanley has had to be convinced to play on the last couple of years.

Wouldn't surprise me if true. He's a family man, got his premiership now, reckon we see him hanging them up at the end of this year.

Conway will probably play the 8-10 games this year, and then be groomed to take over full time next year.

We'll probably pick up some Ceglar style insurance this off-season, Conway gets the gig in the seniors, and Edwards & Furphy develop in the VFL.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I'm not convinced Stanley will retire. Even if Conway has edged him out of the side by the end of the season - surely the scenario the club wants to see happen, although by no means a guarantee - we'll still need some mature-age backup for Toby, not just as an insurance policy in case he goes down at some point next year, but potentially to help manage his load given as a young player in a physically taxing position. We don't have any other senior rucks on the list, unless you count Blicavs, and I'd rather us not be forced into using Blitz in that capacity. All things considered, I'd say there's a good chance Rhys sticks around for one more year.

I agree we will need a backup.
But next year we need conway starting so we can find out if hes good enough.
If we kept rhys it would be essentially as vfl backup and i think for that he would rather retire (hes got business interests outside of footy plus his farm) than sit on the list as backup.
Id say we will rookie some mature vfl ruck as backup for conway.

 

[Vindicater]

I'm not convinced Stanley will retire. Even if Conway has edged him out of the side by the end of the season - surely the scenario the club wants to see happen, although by no means a guarantee - we'll still need some mature-age backup for Toby, not just as an insurance policy in case he goes down at some point next year, but potentially to help manage his load given as a young player in a physically taxing position. We don't have any other senior rucks on the list, unless you count Blicavs, and I'd rather us not be forced into using Blitz in that capacity. All things considered, I'd say there's a good chance Rhys sticks around for one more year.

Stanley still looks okay. Would he go again if he knows he will play mostly VFL?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Stanley still looks okay. Would he go again if he knows he will play mostly VFL?

Was a rumour he had already had to be talked into continuing so I think not

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Stanley still looks okay. Would he go again if he knows he will play mostly VFL?

I think he wanted to retire last year and we asked him to stay 1 more year to help conway.

I think he will retire and we will either trade in a backup ruck or get a state league one in the rookie draft (to backup conway).

 

[DanA]

The rebuild is going way better than I expected but we’re still getting a fairly substantial contribution from our over 30’s. Until the young guys start get towards the 100 game mark it’s hard to pass judgement.

 

[Vindicater]

The rebuild is going way better than I expected but we’re still getting a fairly substantial contribution from our over 30’s. Until the young guys start get towards the 100 game mark it’s hard to pass judgement.

Incoming Bailey Smith to help with that as right age to grow with the youngsters.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Incoming Bailey Smith to help with that as right age to grow with the youngsters.

We gotta talk him out of the Hawks first

 

[Yoda_]

I was not presenting my posts as facts. I made it perfectly clear that this is just my opinion.

You're entitled to the glass half-full outlook of your club's list. Personally I don't think you can expect the old guard to just keep on producing (signs of decline were already very evident last year) and yeah, I don't see Premiership-winning foundation when I look at Geelong's youth right now. Better than Richmond and Hawthorn(circa 2016)? Sure, but that's it.

I mention Jeka because I've read a few Geelong fans claiming he could be a replacement for Hawkins or Cameron. Maybe that's not popular belief among most Geelong fans but whatever. You certainly wouldn't want that to be the case...

When people talk about the topping up, its based off the match winners still reigning supreme.

I can actually see a fair changing of the guard at Geelong. Dangerfield still has spurts in the midfield but its been largely placed on the shoulders of Bruhn, on Atkins etc. Obviously the forward mix will be questionable when Hawkins hangs up the boots but Cameron will still be going strong. The backline looks sorted for another 5 - 8 years.

If they can get a genuine 50+ goal kicker a year next to Cameron they may well go again. The potential is there in O/Henry, Dempsey. Maybe Neale can become a decent role player and kick 25 whilst the aforementioned two can. pick up the slack

 

[Kobe Gryant]

We gotta talk him out of the Hawks first

There was an article the other day where the Hawks weren't even mentioned. It's purely a BigFooty rumour that he's going there.

Don't get me wrong, it could still happen, but after hearing that Hopper, Parish, Grundy, JDG, Brayshaw etc where all done deals to Geelong on here in the last two years, I'm not prepared to put any faith in it.

The actual 'In the know' posters on BigFooty would be 1 out of 100. It's almost always just some bloke talking s**t.