Preview Round 12: Bulldogs vs Cats, Sat 3 June @ 7:25pm - Superhero Stadium

[cats_09]

After 3 frustrating losses, the team will look to bounce back against the Bulldogs under the roof on Saturday night, while the Dogs had a surprising loss to the Suns on Saturday night and will be wanting to make amends

Doubt there's a Geelong fan, let alone those involved with the club who isn't a little frustrated at not just the last 3 weeks but how our season has been going - we've been hit & miss across our 11 games to date (even in our wins), but a highlight has been getting the chance to watch our next gen coming through when prior to the start we weren't maybe sure we'd see as many of our Kittens as we have. Some are getting a small taste of the big time, while others are getting a bit more of a run

And last weekend along with the return of a couple of youngsters, we also saw the debut of Oisin Mullin, making us the first team to play 3 Irish lads in the same team - and in what wasn't our best evening, watching Mullin who was playing just his 4th game of Aussie Rules was a clear highlight

Yes he's raw, but he's exciting which was evident by the crowd noise every time he got near the ball, let alone when he showed a few tricks in his goal of the year attempt - hopefully we get a good number of Cats fans travelling to the enclosed stadium for Saturday evening, because if we see similar again but this time through the big sticks, then the noise from those wearing blue & white may well lift the roof off the stadium

Saturday night will be a tough ask - the Bulldogs have a strong midfield, while at the moment it's a key area of weakness as we're missing a number of best 22 options that would normally run through there each week. As fans we're crossing fingers to see the return of key options through the guts, and maybe some speed up forward as it's been all too easy for the opposition to waltz the ball from our forward 50 of late

We saw in the last quarter on Saturday that we have the competitive beast inside us - hopefully come this Saturday night they bring that attack & intent from the opening bounce, and not leave our run too late

And that we get too see more of our new #34

 

[fpm84]

If you thought our VFL level midfield we are forced to play at the moment struggled against Richmond, Fremantle and GWS...

You'll love seeing them up against Bontempelli, Liberatore, Macrae, Treloar and Smith!

 

[Chinacats]

Might be first game this year where we ain’t the bookies favourites ….. need Paddy against their mids!

 

[STPer18]

We'll go in as understandable underdogs(cats?) but Footscray aren't some unbeatable behemoth. Grab a win, hit the bye and then hopefully with a healthier side we give the 2nd half of the season a huge shakeup.

 

[Micksy]

Paddy can take the week off and the Bye.
We've got bigger fish to fry and I'd prefer him to be tickety-boo come September.

 

[35dangerwood14]

Paddy can take the week off and the Bye.
We've got bigger fish to fry and I'd prefer him to be tickety-boo come September.

Need to qualify to play in September yet Micksy. Taking this one too lightly might be a huge f@#k myup

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

If you thought our VFL level midfield we are forced to play at the moment struggled against Richmond, Fremantle and GWS...

You'll love seeing them up against Bontempelli, Liberatore, Macrae, Treloar and Smith!

Yes, I'm afraid this is the reality. I don't think Paddy will be back for this either. I've reached the stage where I think the Cats should use this year to give the young blokes experience playing at AFL level and not worry about the W's anymore. We've had such a great run, so what if we have an off-year?

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Bontempelli could break records on the weekend.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Bontempelli could break records on the weekend.

He will eat our undersized mids up.

 

[lettheboysplay]

Yes, I'm afraid this is the reality. I don't think Paddy will be back for this either. I've reached the stage where I think the Cats should use this year to give the young blokes experience playing at AFL level and not worry about the W's anymore. We've had such a great run, so what if we have an off-year?

Tut tut... what would Joel Selwood say about this post!?!?!

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Really can't see how we beat the Dogs, their midfield is going to rack up insane numbers Saturday night.

 

[Jumping Jack]

We’ve had a good record over the Dogs but they’ll easily get the W this week.

We’re just too light on in the contest / midfield and picked a bad time to come up against a top tier midfield.

I’m calling it sorry ….. if we get rolled this week it’s just about season over. Just been one of those years and we’ve not really been able to overcome the injury curse.

Missing finals is a very strong likelihood.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[winty]

Thanks Kingy!

 

[CHAWKTS]

We’ve had a good record over the Dogs but they’ll easily get the W this week.

We’re just too light on in the contest / midfield and picked a bad time to come up against a top tier midfield.

I’m calling it sorry ….. if we get rolled this week it’s just about season over. Just been one of those years and we’ve not really been able to overcome the injury curse.

Missing finals is a very strong likelihood.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I think you are probably right.

Not just bulldogs but then PA away and Melbourne at home (maybe not as scary as it looked a few weeks ago). Not out of question we lost 2 or even 3 of these and then we need to do a 2022 back half run but just to make finals.

We can probably lose 4 more for the rest of the year and sneak in (Reckon you will need 13 wins given 23 games)…if we lose 2-3 over next month then it becomes near elimination finals most weeks.

Of course predicting in this season from week to week is very difficult so who knows.

We might not be far away from hearing about “mathematical possibility” from our coach…

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

It's time to take a risk with Danger, Rohan, Duncan and Bowes and refrain from holding them back.

 

[fpm84]

It's time to take a risk with Danger, Rohan, Duncan and Bowes and refrain from holding them back.

Duncan has already ruled himself out (pre-game on KRock). Would be playing the other three for sure.

 

[CHAWKTS]

It's time to take a risk with Danger, Rohan, Duncan and Bowes and refrain from holding them back.

We must be close to pushing that emergency button. But I don’t think (from what I understand) 3 of those are even an option. Rohan is back for sure but I think all other three are just not ready. I hope I am wrong but they are all back post bye.

And as have been noted…we need them back for a few weeks before it all gels…so the quicker the better.

I counted 7 of our last 12 games are against 5 teams that would genuinely believe they can be top 4 (Bulldogsx2, PAx2, Melbourne, Brisbane, Collingwood)…we also play 2 others who are currently in the 8 (Essendon and St Kilda) and Freo who are gunning for the 8

Our best team all playing well wouldn’t worry about this draw - but boy it looks frightening as we sit today…even though A lot are at home

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

We must be close to pushing that emergency button. But I don’t think (from what I understand) 3 of those are even an option. Rohan is back for sure but I think all other three are just not ready. I hope I am wrong but they are all back post bye.

And as have been noted…we need them back for a few weeks before it all gels…so the quicker the better.

I counted 7 of our last 12 games are against 5 teams that would genuinely believe they can be top 4 (Bulldogsx2, PAx2, Melbourne, Brisbane, Collingwood)…we also play 2 others who are currently in the 8 (Essendon and St Kilda) and Freo who are gunning for the 8

Our best team all playing well wouldn’t worry about this draw - but boy it looks frightening as we sit today…even though A lot are at home

Danger and Bowes were supposedly minor injuries. Danger himself said he could have played last week.

 

[CHAWKTS]

Danger and Bowes were supposedly minor injuries. Danger himself said he could have played last week.

You are right. And Scott said he was pretty optimistic about next week for Danger back…
“I'm still thinking that (returning before the bye) but with an open mind. We will be cautious but my take on it is we've already been cautious, so it looks likely for it to be next week. There's quite a few that fit into that category but with the bye coming up it adds an extra wrinkle, and that combined with the fact that it looks like we'll have a big group of players coming back at roughly the same time we just need to think through how all that looks but, it's been good all the way through.“


I suppose I am just worried that we have heard all this before and get disappointed (remember Rohan was minor too) - so was managing my own expectation! But lets hope he and RoHan back this week for sure

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

Thanks Kingy!

He’s spot on. Like he says, even if we do get all the players back, it takes time to build the cohesion.

We started the year too far back. When everyone else was ready to play we were still in preseason mode.

 

[Finknottle]

The Sav picked a bad week to ping his hammy. Ugle-Hagen and Naughton will be hard to stop. If Danger doesn't play, their midfield will be providing plenty of inside 50s. I'm sure we'll go in intending to be competitive but if it doesn't happen you don't want more players getting injured. At the same time we want to avoid a shellacking that would destroy our percentage.

 

[Mr Meow]

We must be close to pushing that emergency button. But I don’t think (from what I understand) 3 of those are even an option. Rohan is back for sure but I think all other three are just not ready. I hope I am wrong but they are all back post bye.

And as have been noted…we need them back for a few weeks before it all gels…so the quicker the better.

I counted 7 of our last 12 games are against 5 teams that would genuinely believe they can be top 4 (Bulldogsx2, PAx2, Melbourne, Brisbane, Collingwood)…we also play 2 others who are currently in the 8 (Essendon and St Kilda) and Freo who are gunning for the 8

Our best team all playing well wouldn’t worry about this draw - but boy it looks frightening as we sit today…even though A lot are at home

There is one, possibly two strong teams at the moment. It's all irrelevant if we don't return to good form with Dangerfield and a couple of others back though.

 

[Vdubs]

Tut tut... what would Joel Selwood say about this post!?!?!

He is partly responsible

 

[Mr Meow]

He is partly responsible

Yeah, because he should've played until 40 right?

 

[Vdubs]

It's time to take a risk with Danger, Rohan, Duncan and Bowes and refrain from holding them back.

rubbish