Review Geelong defeats Saints by 8 points

[Generalissimo]

SDK was confident enough to go for some intercept marks - but was just a bit off with his marking . That will improve. Happy to see him going at the ball again like 2022.

That's how I saw it too. The timidness of last year was gone, he just wasn't clunking the marks and was fumbly.

 

[catempire]

OHenry needs to look at Cameron and learn. Sure Jez probably is a rule unto him self but get involved. Gees its not like it was back in the day where plaers were chained to position. He is still very young and like all was probably well off his best.. which added to the opposition made it a hard night.

Do you think he’s being asked to lead up the ground and ignoring that instruction?

Far more likely to my mind, when we insist on bombing the ball in and he’s our best aerialist, is that he’s doing as told.

 

[Willo_]

Also it felt like every time the ball bounced off someone or spilled free it went to a free Saint... Just one of those frustrating nights

 

[catempire]

The Saints are much better than people think. They finished 6th and are improving not declining. The Max Kings etc are going to be guns. Their preseason was great. This was a good win and for the large parts we played very well and had the game in control. Lots of positives as ppl have pointed out

We do have a real structural problem with Rohan out of the team. When we bring the ball down the line Tommy and Cameron aren’t playing those roles anymore. Last night was bad. Any kicks down the line or long (which are inevitable with every team when there is pressure) were horrendous. We can’t even halve those which is a killer with our quality smalls.

Unless Danger or Blitz compete down the line we get out marked.

We need to bring Neale in and let Jezza play a flank role. Only trouble is for as good as Ollie is his fwd pressure is by far the weakest part of his game. Can you have 3 talls and Ollie on the ground at the same time? Not sure. Rohans strenght is both his pressure but he is fantastic at halving arial contests.

They will struggle to make the eight. Similar to last year.

 

[Play it Sam]

Fun night at the new look ground, some bright points for us, especially Shaun getting a run and a few touches. We christened Dempsey The Ghost- apart from popping up for goals, looking down the ground he was free so many times without receiving. Seems to have a great knack of finding space.

To rain on the parade, if GFC are going to cater for a crowd of 40k going forward, they need to employ more gate staff. The queues were absolutely horrendous at every entrance. Lots of oldies in the heat of the moment saying never coming again.

Same as the team, improvement needed.

 

[The_Todd07]

Also it felt like every time the ball bounced off someone or spilled free it went to a free Saint... Just one of those frustrating nights

And so many hack kicks forward that landed on the tit of a saints player

 

[Play it Sam]

Stengel seems to lack intent at times - when switched on he is a dangerous player, not just in terms of kicking goals but also setting up teammates

There's games though where he looks almost to be going through the motions - that was something he could get away with a bit last year when we didn't really have other small forwards pushing for selection

But with Mannagh on the list now & watching his last quarter after coming on as sub, suddenly we've got a bit of competition for spots, and not sure we'll continue to see all of Close, Mannagh, Miers & Stengle in the same 23 - we could easily see a few premiership players in the VFL at times this year, and not sure that's necessarily a bad thing

I'm not sure the scrummy style of game STK played suited Stengel, so I wouldn't write him off just yet. Granted their defence was fairly good, but I felt the saints skills were pretty raw, and reduced us to their level.

 

[Gee Class Loco]

De Koning had a dirty night on 1 on 1s

Agreed.
He has had about a dozen of them now in the last 20 odd games.... which is alarming TBH.
The trajectory has gone in the opposite direction for me.
Fingers crossed King is just a lot better than we give him credit for.
But enough of that for me, it was round 1 and we hope for all of them to get better as the season goes on.

 

[Sttew]

Fun night at the new look ground, some bright points for us, especially Shaun getting a run and a few touches. We christened Dempsey The Ghost- apart from popping up for goals, looking down the ground he was free so many times without receiving. Seems to have a great knack of finding space.

To rain on the parade, if GFC are going to cater for a crowd of 40k going forward, they need to employ more gate staff. The queues were absolutely horrendous at every entrance. Lots of oldies in the heat of the moment saying never coming again.

Same as the team, improvement needed.

You need to tell the Club.

 

[BigKegs]

Does anyone know the song they played after Tuohy kicked a goal?

 

[catswhiskers]

The way they are also carrying on about the umpiring someone should remind them they won the free kick count 18-14!

I think the half time free count was 11 to 5 our way. Discussed this at half time.

With 14-18 Free count at the end, the second half was 3 - 13 their way.

I said at the end of the third quarter to my boy ...." the umps must have checked the count at half time!"

 

[Pure_Ownage]

They were worried about Bruhn’s ankle. Otherwise they would have.

Which is fair but mannaghs zip is noticeable and he needs to start next week so i wonder who we demote to sub.

 

[Play it Sam]

You need to tell the Club.

Have done for years re accessible car park - crickets. Ess game no wheelchair spaces-crickets. Ess game- no entry- crickets.
So I'm telling BF, the AFL and KRock. Next stop discrimination board.

 

[year of the cat]

Interesting to see whether they bring in Neale after an apparently good performance in the VFL and Scott's pre match comments? Not sure whether a forward line with Neale, Hawkins and Cameron can work?

Otherwise Bowes needs to come in if fit.

I'd be playing Mannagh for a full game and possibly either dropping Tuohy or at the very least making him the sub.

Changes will be interesting. If Stengle doesn't come up it makes it a little easier.

 

[catempire]

Which is fair but mannaghs zip is noticeable and he needs to start next week so i wonder who we demote to sub.

Assuming Stengle’s ankle is fine it’s going to be tight. Bowes is available and Bews played well in the VFL.

But I would like to see Mannagh for a full game. You get the feeling he will create some chaos.

 

[Play it Sam]

Does anyone know the song they played after Tuohy kicked a goal?

We laughed our heads off. What's this Cowboy s**t?
My mate says no it's Riverdance. And we did.

 

[Play it Sam]

Assuming Stengle’s ankle is fine it’s going to be tight. Bowes is available and Bews played well in the VFL.

But I would like to see Mannagh for a full game. You get the feeling he will create some chaos.

Oh yes he will.
Baby coming in May, so get him in now without sleep deprivation.

 

[calder_daddy]

Interesting to see whether they bring in Neale after an apparently good performance in the VFL and Scott's pre match comments? Not sure whether a forward line with Neale, Hawkins and Cameron can work?

Otherwise Bowes needs to come in if fit.

I'd be playing Mannagh for a full game and possibly either dropping Tuohy or at the very least making him the sub.

Changes will be interesting. If Stengle doesn't come up it makes it a little easier.

I was keen to bring in Neale for the saints game due to match ups.
Seeing we have the crows in doubling down.
They have no KPD

We can exploit that big time

As for Mannagh I don’t get the love, I see he got the ball but I think 3 of his 5 kicks were smothered.

But I did see that as a positive, he will now learn the speed difference between VFL and AFL and will make a decision quicker

I can see Bews coming in this week to play on Rachelle or Rankine

 

[year of the cat]

I was keen to bring in Neale for the saints game due to match ups.
Seeing we have the crows in doubling down.
They have no KPD

We can exploit that big time

As for Mannagh I don’t get the love, I see he got the ball but I think 3 of his 5 kicks were smothered.

But I did see that as a positive, he will now learn the speed difference between VFL and AFL and will make a decision quicker

I can see Bews coming in this week to play on Rachelle or Rankine

Who do you drop?

Reckon you have to give Mannagh a few games before making an assessment. He was working with little space and acquitted himself well I thought.

 

[AlcoaCat]

He is capable. He'll be a player

He's a likely lad too. After his excellent little dink under pressure which created a goal, he dropped a perfect little wink to whoever kicked it (Dempsey?). Reminded me a lot of titanic sports personalities like Allan Border or Boony. He's calm, mature and ready to grab his opportunity now that he's been exposed to the increased pace of the AFL game. Really excited to see what comes next for him.

 

[AlcoaCat]

I thought Close played with very low desperation, urgency. He will need to lift with Mannagh on the scene.

Hope that's the spur he needs. Gomez is an excellent player, way too skilful to drop. Mannagh and Close should be in the same team. Zac Tuohy is the obvious out with some shuffling to do thereafter.

 

[AlcoaCat]

Our youth. Just unreal.

Dempsey might be the best of them. Give Holmes what he wants. Bruhn is a hard nut, tackling machine. Clark is an absolute nutcase with no regard for himself or what's in front of him.

The rest, Henry, SDK, Stengle etc we know what that can produce.

Not worried about our future at all, in fact, I'm very excited about it.

"Clark is an absolute nutcase". Absolutely. He's still built like a praying mantis but he goes so hard. Imagine what he'll be when he's a unit. He'll be like Millane even if he weighs only half of that legendary beast. Great to have a skilful headcase in the team.

 

[BigKegs]

We laughed our heads off. What's this Cowboy s**t?
My mate says no it's Riverdance. And we did.

It was brilliant and Touhy loved it. They should do it after every goal he kicks.

River dance you reckon? I need to find the exact song. Classic moment.

 

[AlcoaCat]

When I saw them trying the clog-up, cheat out the back on the fast break, I knew we’d win. It’s such a gimmick.

Absolutely. You don't have to be a tactical genius to defeat that strategy.

 

[cats_09]

Fun night at the new look ground, some bright points for us, especially Shaun getting a run and a few touches. We christened Dempsey The Ghost- apart from popping up for goals, looking down the ground he was free so many times without receiving. Seems to have a great knack of finding space.

To rain on the parade, if GFC are going to cater for a crowd of 40k going forward, they need to employ more gate staff. The queues were absolutely horrendous at every entrance. Lots of oldies in the heat of the moment saying never coming again.

Same as the team, improvement needed.

In terms of entry, what time were you trying to get in?

I walked up to the Selwood end (no idea if there's a gate name) just before 6:30, walked straight up to the bag check area with no one in front of me. The only frustration & I actually walked in front off people is that they weren't using all the available ticket scanners - there was at least 2 open scanners not being used that I walked up to rather than waiting

It definitely helps if people make use of all available gates and don't just blindly line up behind the person in front

And it's not just at Geelong, but I find with all sporting matches - there tends to be a mass influx of numbers the closer you get to the starting time - that itself puts added pressure on resources, and you could have 100 gates but it wouldn't be enough