Geelong – most loved to most disliked?

[Dan26]

Maybe individual 50-50s. I've never seen Bartel fly like he did on Saturday and assumed the umpire was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

There no way a first year player, taking a similar dive, would get the benefit of the doubt from the umpire.

 

[Books]

Love Jimmy but cannot stand Selwood, Johnson and Guthrie.. Hard to like a team with those 3.

Lots of people loved Jimmy. Sad to see him now stooping to the same antics as his more hated teammates.

 

[Books]

The longer Geelong play good footy while pretty much everyone forecasts their downfall means my respect for them only grows. They've replaced many ageing stars without the draft picks many think are so essential to building a list. They have shown there is a lot more to list management than that. They don't play negatively and they don't have a reputation for being dirty either. I think my club could learn a lot from them, and I wish they would.

Also I think the supporters are generally pretty good too.

OP can speak for himself.

I agree with the first paragraph. Geelong develop players well, and stay competitive despite retirements. They don't have COLA, priority picks, blatantly favourable fixturing, any of the other advantages some teams get.
They compete on a level playing field and they consistently out-perform most rivals. You have to respect that.

In my opinion, the Hawk-Cat rivalry is so good because neither team gets handouts from the AFL. Stevie J has been very lucky this year at the MRP, but Cat fans may think some Hawks are lucky also.

With Geelong, I enjoy beating them because I respect them.
With Sydney, I enjoy winning because every time the Swans lose it also sticks it up the AFL.
With Essendon, winning is always a pleasure because you know they are cheats and yet we're still better!

As for the fans - Geelong fans are like any supporter group: A mixture of decent humans and rabid morons. Eventually, you learn to appreciate the one and ignore the other.

 

[SuperCats9]

Collingwood, essendon, hawthorn, Carlton, these teams are all hated more than geelong.

 

[barmy44]

i would be shocked if there are any more than 10 objective posts in this thread... the rest of the posts will be opposition supporters calling geelong out on their 'unquestioned cheating' and 'umpire assistance' and geelong supporters calling them out on their 'jealousy' in return.

who gives a f***? footy tribalism never lends itself to objectivity.

i can virtually guarantee, though: if any of the geelong 'cheats' played in your teams, your views on them would be a complete 180. same goes for geelong supporters dishing it straight back about opposition players.

 

[romeoh]

Haha Jimmy Bartel gets his 3rd soft free in 12 years of footy and epic meltdown occurs.
Mostly from the usual suspects-lots of Hawks, Pies and Freo-I get the hatred coming from them to a degree. North? Weird-they got the wrong bro or something? They got the wrong ducker? Unbecoming of you all though I have to say.
Yep stats don't tell all the story but they do tell some of it. Geelong is 8th on frees for and 8th on frees against -suggesting they are not favored, nor discriminated against. They are ranked lowest on goals from frees-guess that means they have to earn their goals.
Hawkers lol-sanctimonious sooking about Geelong 'playing for frees' etc. Yep only team in history to try and get a free kick now and then.
Crikey, this from a team that has caused rules to be changed a few times because their whole team, under instruction, employed some most unsporting tactics.
Not to mention the lovely tactic of taking out the man on the mark, an unsavoury act instigated and propagated to good effect by Hawks and Pies-far more offensive than Jimbo taking a dive once in a blue moon.
Time to move on you whingers-the day will come soon enough when we are no longer a force, and we no longer play attractive footy. Then you can have some fun. Why don't you all take a hike until that day comes?

 

[Theo X]

Hate 'em, they're stealing our backline 1 by 1, and sending spuds like Gillies and Byrnes back.

 

[Off The Couch]

Why don't you all take a hike until that day comes?

I don't like hiking
So that's a no from me

 

[romeoh]

I don't like hiking
So that's a no from me

Fair enough Couchy!

 

[Podsnap]

There no way a first year player, taking a similar dive, would get the benefit of the doubt from the umpire.

True, but a 270 game veteran with a good reputation did and it will probably happen to another player again. Hopefully not Jimmy, once is enough.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

One dive's was an isolated incident, the other was routine. Wake up Chunky

I'm wide awake lad. First time jimmy has thrown himself comically forward (again, doesn't excuse it) but he's been 'cleverly milking' for a couple of years now. Regularly throws his head about like a dead soldier on a horse.

Look. It's not an exclusive club by any means. It is just a little frustrating that he has essentially got a free pass because he is such a brilliant player. He effectively cheated and has not been held accountable by anyone.

 

[mcuzzy]

Love Bartel, don't care for the rest.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Did you want him to receive a 2 week suspension?

Go on then. Rub Selwood and Hawkins out for 2 weeks too. I don't care about an even playing field. I just want to win.

 

[Seeds]

Season average
Hawks 16.3 Frees For cats 17.1
Hawks 15.4 Frees Against 16.8

So in other words Hawthorn have a better free kick differential despite being a team that prides themselves on playing the man.

 

[Seeds]

Hate 'em, they're stealing our backline 1 by 1, and sending spuds like Gillies and Byrnes back.

You stole Moloney and Bizzell (one of may favourites players) first. Karma.

 

[Cynic]

So in other words Hawthorn have a better free kick differential despite being a team that prides themselves on playing the man.

Has 'unsociable football' even been mentioned for the past few years?

 

[raskolnikov]

I have a theory about this. I reckon the teams that have been successful often get favourable treatment because the umpires subconsciously think, "They are experienced and successful, so they don't make mistakes"

It's not that the umpires outwardly feel this way. It's on a subconscious level. So, when it comes to a 50-50 situation, the more experienced team, who an umpire might subconsciously think can't make mistakes get the favourable treatment.

I noticed this in the Geelong-Hawthorn game on Saturday night that the umpires let a hell of a lot go, both ways, that would have been called in any other game. I strongly agree that the better teams, especially the better players, get an advantage because the umpires are always loathe to give a free kick against them.

 

[juss]

I found the playing group with Ablett a lot more likable than the current one. Used to love watching them play with him dominating.

I certainly still respect them, right now they would sit middle of the ladder on my like/dislike table.

 

[Pendles!]

I can't stand them. I hate watching Joel Selwood because every time he goes for a footy he drops his knees and plays for a free kick. It's embarrassing that one of te best players in the game and a captain of the best footy club for the past 7 years does it week in week out.

Bartel on the weekend was embarrassing also.

 

[WN123]

I can't stand them. I hate watching Joel Selwood because every time he goes for a footy he drops his knees and plays for a free kick. It's embarrassing that one of te best players in the game and a captain of the best footy club for the past 7 years does it week in week out.

Bartel on the weekend was embarrassing also.

My thoughts also. I cringe watching Joel Selwood play now. Every time he goes to ground he looks up pleading at the umpire. He is destroying his own legacy and leading the way in a trend towards the same level of staging and manipulating you see in soccer.

 

[dean33]

I don't really like the cats but I have huge respect for what they have done the last 7 odd years.

The team I really hate is the swans, not for their success but for the undoubted leg up they receive from the afl that has no doubt helped them achieve it.

 

[#gosaintas]

I don't really like the cats but I have huge respect for what they have done the last 7 odd years.

The team I really hate is the swans, not for their success but for the undoubted leg up they receive from the afl that has no doubt helped them achieve it.

I used to respect them but the way they flop about these days is a blight on the game

 

[BOP66]

Respect Geelong but by no means like them. The team I deplore & have a vitriolic hate for is those AFL lappies the Sydney Bleeders.

 

[Sam_27]

How can anyone like a team with a terrible human being like Johnson in it.

I could say the same about Crowley and Ballantyne

 

[Mezz]

I was watching Johnson being interviewed on 360 last night, trying to get in the gate of the footy club and he had a permanent grin on his face, and I think I would quite like having a chat with him. He has a nice, approachable look/demeanour about him. So, as a human being, I don't mind him, and yet I loathe him as a player, which I find odd.

If I watch too many of his interviews, I might actually begin to like him full stop.