Prediction Geelong will bottom out some time between 2015-2017

[Cataholic]

Its not blind optimism

I have a little more of a level headed opinion of what geelong are doing compared
to some supporters who think the sky is falling when we drop a few games to
premiership contenders.

Looking at our list the midfield is the weakest point and I know that will be much improved by next year
with a recruit or two not to mention a number of players reaching that 50-80 game bracket.

If you go through the list

Will improve- 31
Same- 7
Drop off-3

with a few gone as well.
Thats a team on the rise and if we can sneak into the 8 with our injuries our new ruck set up
we will only be better next year.
We are already starting to play better and this side has only played a handful of games together.
Duncans injury hurts but I think it will benefit Caddy who has to step up now.
Enjoy the year we will keep rolling along and improving.

Wasn't being sarcastic. You make some good points, and I hope your confidence is well-founded come next Sunday night.

 

[Moneypenny]

Yep, I echo everyone's thoughts that there is a lot more that we can improve on rather than what will go the opposite direction. What is bottoming out anyway? Losing more than we win? Sinking like a stone? We have far too many excellent players and have too many intelligent executive types (Cookie, Scotty, Hocking) for us to Carlton/Melbourne/St Kilda/Doggies it. And three out of those 4 are getting back on track when they back the younger players in, have a simple strong ethos and excellent leadership.

I have two best case scenarios. A: this year is no more than a Hawthorn 2009 blip of young players and injuries lead to not making the finals, then motoring on as if it never happened.

The other model is B: Sydney circa late 2000s to 2011 where they just hung around on the middle of the ladder usually making the eight, biding their time then BAM grand finals come.

This is definitely my most optimistic, dream on scenario but it's not completely out of the realms of possibility is it? It's not Menz kicking 5 in a Premiership in the foreseeable future type of ridiculous (but please oh please oh please).

Why concentrate on what we can't do? I'd rather be excited by what we can do, or what we might be able to do with growing experience. Like West Coast next week: let's see how we go! We might get surprised.

 

[Cataholic]

Maybe we've already bottomed out and are slowly starting to clmb the mountain again?

 

[Vdubs]

Maybe we've already bottomed out and are slowly starting to clmb the mountain again?

Let's revisit after WCE in WA.
Owaat.

 

[wcadams88]

We are higher than North and Port so far who would have thought that after round 3.

Sent from my SM-N915G using Tapatalk

 

[4quarter_cat]

I'm optimistic.

I've been really impressed with the way our less experienced players have stood up the last couple of weeks. Players that should hopefully be with us for a long time to come.

So long as their are no unexpected outs, I think we might be able to surprise the football media next sunday.

The question that Mackie I think will return to the starting 21. So who becomes the sub? My guess is Lang, only because I can't see them wanting to rest any of the others for structural reasons.

 

[bph25]

Possible Geelong side 2016

Bews Lonergan Rivers
Taylor Henderson Thurlow
Guthrie Dangerfield Duncan
Motlop Clark Caddy
Gregson Hawkins Murdoch

Stanley Selwood Blitz

Menzel Bartel Lang SJ

Will also play AFL during the year
Cockatoo, Cowan, Vardy Stokes, GHS, Kersten, Delaney, Gore, Jansen, Cunico, Kolo, Smedts, McCarthy

Wont lose too many games that side

 

[James1970]

Maybe we've already bottomed out and are slowly starting to climb the mountain again?

We could be top 6 leading into the bye with 3 winnable games of the next 4 (I'm expecting a loss next week) - maybe our start to the year was our 'bottoming out'.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Problem with creating a plastic club and feeding them with a silver spoon is that you can't give it culture.

That's got to be grown, cultivated......carefully. Money can't buy it.

Too reliant on GAJ. GWS was only sprinkled with a couple of experienced players (Having Sheedy would have helped in their formative years too), none of which has the influence of Gary. Now that they've learnt to win their own ball they've brought in Mummy, Griffen and Patful as the experienced cream to add more polish etc. seems to be paying dividends atm.

 

[Heckler]

Imagine how delicious the Cats would be if we had Menzel, Vardy and Cowan all on 80-100 games, HMac playing in 2013-2015 fully fit, even Kersten and McCarthy on 40-50 games each....

 

[Teriyakicat]

View attachment 137738

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Wow, we really have a large loser mentality down at Geelong, some of the supporters on here need a serious attitude adjustment, you would think from the way everyone is talking that we are performing worse then Carlton. There is no reason at all why we can't move towards a premiership threat next year and the year after that, we have a very potent forward line and a very good midfield developing With potential A graders Duncan blicavs selwood caddy Guthrie by 2016 all standing as genuine A standard, half of them are already there, the rest are verging on it.
We are the same win loss as hawthorn, with far less reliance on 30+ year olds like they do, hawthorn are going to be in a lot worse condition 2-3 years time then we will be, but I can guarantee you will not find anything from hawthorn supporters stating how they are going to bottom out, despite about 8 starting 22 30+ years age, all you will read is talk of premierships and how to make it happen.

Geelong supporters need to fix their pessimistic attitude, it seems unless we have a talented side as good as 07-12, then it will appear as if the sky is falling and everything is gloom.

We have had the hardest draw of any side in the AFL to date, playing potential every top 4 team, we have beaten comfortably all the middle road sides and teams below, we are going to arguably be the 5th best side come seasons end, might even sneak into the top four if everything falls right come the end of the season.

The sky is not falling, our future looks very bright.

I will take what I see from Geelong 2016-2017 any day over hawthorn 2016-2017

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Wow, we really have a large loser mentality down at Geelong, some of the supporters on here need a serious attitude adjustment, you would think from the way everyone is talking that we are performing worse then Carlton. There is no reason at all why we can't move towards a premiership threat next year and the year after that, we have a very potent forward line and a very good midfield developing With potential A graders Duncan blicavs selwood caddy Guthrie by 2016 all standing as genuine A standard, half of them are already there, the rest are verging on it.
We are the same win loss as hawthorn, with far less reliance on 30+ year olds like they do, hawthorn are going to be in a lot worse condition 2-3 years time then we will be, but I can guarantee you will not find anything from hawthorn supporters stating how they are going to bottom out, despite about 8 starting 22 30+ years age, all you will read is talk of premierships and how to make it happen.

Geelong supporters need to fix their pessimistic attitude, it seems unless we have a talented side as good as 07-12, then it will appear as if the sky is falling and everything is gloom.

We have had the hardest draw of any side in the AFL to date, playing potential every top 4 team, we have beaten comfortably all the middle road sides and teams below, we are going to arguably be the 5th best side come seasons end, might even sneak into the top four if everything falls right come the end of the season.

The sky is not falling, our future looks very bright.

I will take what I see from Geelong 2016-2017 any day over hawthorn 2016-2017

If we'd beaten North Melbourne, I would honestly be saying that we would be in the box seat for top four again. That's the only really appalling loss so far, in terms of a game that we shouldn't have dropped (and perhaps couldn't afford to...we'll see).

 

[Claude Balls]

Wow, we really have a large loser mentality down at Geelong, some of the supporters on here need a serious attitude adjustment, you would think from the way everyone is talking that we are performing worse then Carlton. There is no reason at all why we can't move towards a premiership threat next year and the year after that, we have a very potent forward line and a very good midfield developing With potential A graders Duncan blicavs selwood caddy Guthrie by 2016 all standing as genuine A standard, half of them are already there, the rest are verging on it.
We are the same win loss as hawthorn, with far less reliance on 30+ year olds like they do, hawthorn are going to be in a lot worse condition 2-3 years time then we will be, but I can guarantee you will not find anything from hawthorn supporters stating how they are going to bottom out, despite about 8 starting 22 30+ years age, all you will read is talk of premierships and how to make it happen.

Geelong supporters need to fix their pessimistic attitude, it seems unless we have a talented side as good as 07-12, then it will appear as if the sky is falling and everything is gloom.

We have had the hardest draw of any side in the AFL to date, playing potential every top 4 team, we have beaten comfortably all the middle road sides and teams below, we are going to arguably be the 5th best side come seasons end, might even sneak into the top four if everything falls right come the end of the season.

The sky is not falling, our future looks very bright.

I will take what I see from Geelong 2016-2017 any day over hawthorn 2016-2017

Crazy, you'd be far better off just minding your own business and not presuming to judge posters' mentalities based solely on whether they rate our youth or not.

Maybe there are a few who are consistently pessimistic or disparaging... well who the * cares, just move along. It's a forum ffs.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Crazy, you'd be far better off just minding your own business and not presuming to judge posters' mentalities based solely on whether they rate our youth or not.

Maybe there are a few who are consistently pessimistic or disparaging... well who the **** cares, just move along. It's a forum ffs.

Not sure why your getting all upset , if its ok for pessimists to call the optimist delusional than Its ok for the optimists to say the pessimist have a loser mentality when it comes to the Geelong Football Club.

 

[Covertackle]

OP nailed it. Geelong are down the ladder a bit. Well run club. Wont be for long.

 

[Claude Balls]

Not sure why your getting all upset , if its ok for pessimists to call the optimist delusional than Its ok for the optimists to say the pessimist have a loser mentality when it comes to the Geelong Football Club.

Neither is okay, but your assertions are more tenuous and more personal. I.e. you can't possibly judge a poster's mentality from the way they rate our youth, or where they think we'll finish this year, and it's downright insulting to claim they think like losers.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Neither is okay, but your assertions are more tenuous and more personal. I.e. you can't possibly judge a poster's mentality from the way they rate our youth, or where they think we'll finish this year, and it's downright insulting to claim they think like losers.

I did not say that anyone had a loser mentality with regards to life, I said that many Geelong supporters had a loser mentality with regards to supporting the club .

 

[Partridge]

If you go through the list

Will improve- 31
Same- 7
Drop off-3

Just as a matter of interest (and to avoid listing 31 names), who are the ones who will remain the same or drop off?

 

[Partridge]

Not sure why your getting all upset , if its ok for pessimists to call the optimist delusional than Its ok for the optimists to say the pessimist have a loser mentality when it comes to the Geelong Football Club.

Absolutely. The optimists can tear into the pessimists all they want (and as I can attest, will). As long as that's established, no problem there.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Not sure why your getting all upset , if its ok for pessimists to call the optimist delusional than Its ok for the optimists to say the pessimist have a loser mentality when it comes to the Geelong Football Club.

Hear hear. My thoughts exactly. Optimistic views get ridiculed but they don't like it when you give a bit back to the DQ, doom and gloom, the end of the world opinions.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Absolutely. The optimists can tear into the pessimists all they want (and as I can attest, will). As long as that's established, no problem there.

It's sometimes difficult to tell the difference, however. Many of those "occasionals" who come into the post-game threads after a loss squealing that the sky is falling look like pessimists, but are actually optimists who over-rated our chances before the game.

 

[fpm84]

We are the same win loss as hawthorn, with far less reliance on 30+ year olds like they do, hawthorn are going to be in a lot worse condition 2-3 years time then we will be, but I can guarantee you will not find anything from hawthorn supporters stating how they are going to bottom out, despite about 8 starting 22 30+ years age, all you will read is talk of premierships and how to make it happen.
I will take what I see from Geelong 2016-2017 any day over hawthorn 2016-2017

This I entirely agree with. I was surprised to read last week that Burgoyne had signed for 2016 - he'll be 33 at the start of next season. He's still playing good football of course, but they certainly aren't attempting to stagger retirements.

I thought Lake (33) would have retired after last year's flag, but he's looking like the only possible retirement at the end of this season with Hodge (31 next month), Mitchell (33 at the start of next season), Gibson (32 at the start of next season) and now Burgoyne (33 at the start of next season) already signed for 2016.

These are Hawthorn's key players, too - most Hawthorn supporters blamed the suspensions of Hodge and Lewis (29) for their loss to GWS.

I think all Geelong supporters would rather lose an Enright, Mackie or Johnson to injury at the moment than a Duncan, Blicavs or Stanley, given the importance and current form of the younger players. I don't think Hawthorn fans can say the same about their younger players.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

This I entirely agree with. I was surprised to read last week that Burgoyne had signed for 2016 - he'll be 33 at the start of next season. He's still playing good football of course, but they certainly aren't attempting to stagger retirements.

I thought Lake (33) would have retired after last year's flag, but he's looking like the only possible retirement at the end of this season with Hodge (31 next month), Mitchell (33 at the start of next season), Gibson (32 at the start of next season) and now Burgoyne (33 at the start of next season) already signed for 2016.

These are Hawthorn's key players, too - most Hawthorn supporters blamed the suspensions of Hodge and Lewis (29) for their loss to GWS.

I think all Geelong supporters would rather lose an Enright, Mackie or Johnson to injury at the moment than a Duncan, Blicavs or Stanley, given the importance and current form of the younger players. I don't think Hawthorn fans can say the same about their younger players.

Fpm. Those Hawks players ages and their importance to the Hawks is why I for one (I suspect Bobby_ too) will enjoy bigfooty over the next 24 months. The slow realisation from Hawks fans that the end is coming will be good to witness, you tell em now that it's coming but they still don't believe you

Grab a chair and some popcorn this will be good viewing.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Just as a matter of interest (and to avoid listing 31 names), who are the ones who will remain the same or drop off?

I did my list based on 22 that played against Collingwood and basically made the call based on age.

We had 4 players over 30 -Johnson,Rivers,Lonegan and Enright.
we had 4 players 25-29.

Given we won easily in the end you would have to say the future looks good.