Autopsy Geelong defeated by Swans by 46 points..

[hoopla]

So without their No1 ruck and No1 midfielder it was their strongest team of the year.
I'll agree it was our weakest team of the year.

I saw an article on player ratings and I think it implied it was their strongest team of the year...and our weakest. It's pretty rare for a team to have their best 22...there's always someone injured/suspended.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Let's not get too melodramatic after one loss. Crippled with injuries to the majority of our regular forward line, best player out suspended, 2nd best player injured part way through the match, many of our depth players who would usually come in to cover for the injured also out injured so we had to play many more kids than we would choose. The scoreline blew out in towards the end, but we didn't get thumped from start to finish.

I think some just like to take every opportunity to bag the coach. Tonight it was on the players. Really poor kicking, both in the field and at the goals, took the wind out of our sails. Some really woeful on-field discipline by senior players sealed the deal. Convert half of the easy ones and we would have been right in it at 3/4 time, and I don't think the heads would have dropped so early in the last. Apart from the crappy idea of playing Taylor forward until the dumbness of that decision dawned and he was switched down back, I don't think the coaching or game plan was a problem. The execution by the players was ordinary, and I think Scott would have been as frustrated about it, and probably more so, than we were.

The kids are kids, and are expected to make mistakes in a high pressure game. That said, I was keen on sticking with Buzza before tonight, but I've changed that opinion. Nowhere near ready. Stanley or Black would have been far better options tonight. Buzza will be good, but isn't yet, and needs to work on his game in the VFL.

Kolo is a different story. He's not a kid, been in the system for some years now, but just isn't up to AFL football and I don't think he will get better. Being a defender and having really poor awareness does not make for a long or stellar career. Twos and then trade for whatever we can get.

Tom Hawkins, how dumb can you be?? Already without much of our forward line and he goes and gives the MRP the opportunity to rub him out for a match. Duncan the same. People can harp on about game plans and coaches and whine about umps, but the stupidity of some of our senior players really needs to be put under a bigger spotlight.

Tom Stewart is has become vital for us, a real working-class star. Apart from his goal kicking Menegola was good, right in the guts is by far his best position. I had doubts about Parsons a couple of weeks ago but he's quickly cementing himself in the best 22. Not sure exactly what role C Guthrie is playing week to week, but whatever it is he's doing it poorly. Only staying in until others are fit.

Spare me the melodrama about our season being over. We are second, and just trying to tread water for a few rounds while we get some players back. We've done it pretty well so far, one loss was probably expected and doesn't mean the sky is falling. And we'll probably lose more while our fit playing stocks are thin. It's all about making the Top 8 and then the game starts again in finals - and by then we should have a fitter list to choose from.

On to Richmond, hopefully better kicking, better discipline and a better result.

Go Catters!

The AFL has a bit to answer for...how one of the competitions best and FAIREST players can be rubbed out because he tackled a large unco-ordinated player is laughable. Surely thay want the best out on the ground. Some people I know went to this game to watch Dangerfield they were extremely disappointed in the game and not being able to watch one of the best in action. Not to mention the 50 bucks for a ticket.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Scott Selwood is hugely overrated. Needs to be moved out of midfield. Not clean enough.

26 contested possessions and 15 clearances combined between 2 Selwood's, we need more tough ball players, not less.
No need to knee jerk.

 

[DangerHere]

Mate. We get sucked in every single time. We are a dumb club and Hawkins and Duncan will pay the price

It makes me really mad, that we are soooo effing dumb.

What is it UFC or something we're playing ?

 

[Nickoo]

The frustrating bit for me was the effort was there, I would be more frustrated if it wasn't we put in and the reality is we smashed them in clearances and broke even in the inside 50s but it was just such an EFFORT to score. We have no sync in our forward half and have to work so hard for goals and half the time our delivery inside 50 is poor and then we can't pressure the opposition well enough to stop it coming out. Some of these issues have no easy structural fix ie all our small forwards are injured but I wish our coaches wouldnt let Sydney play the same against us every time. Always they go blitzkreig for 20 minutes then flood numbers behind the ball as they know if we dont mark it I50 our forward crumbing is poor and then they can slingshot out the back against our slow defence. While it's a morally disgusting game plan they play our coaches never seem to bring different tactics against it which frustrates me.

On the umpires tonight with our ball use being what it was we may have lost either way (hard to tell) but the afl shouldn't wonder why fans don't love the game the way they used to when there is no accountability. The number of times Sydney scored a goal from an obvious umpiring error was staggering. The 3 guys that 'umpired' that game tonight weren't up to umpiring the auskick game at half time let alone a real football game, have no grasp of the rules and just guess when they don't know what happened. But you can bet there will be no accountability for them as the AFL is an organisation that consistently rewards mediocrity in it's staff, the kind of mediocrity that would lose the rest of us in the real world our jobs.

Back to Geelong:

In: Dangerfield Menzel Ruggles (pending vfl) Cunico Black/Stanley

Out: Hawkins (susp) Kolo Simpson Zuthrie Thurlow

Don't really care which of Buzza or Stanley we play so long as Taylor plays CHF.

Never play lonners and kolo together again their combined lack of kicking skill is too much. Kolo out until they decide to move Lonners on. Replace one of them with someone who can run the ball from the back half.

Our forward pressure is too bad to carry both Menzel and Motlop and Menzel scores more clutch goals.
Thurlow just looks too rusty right now.

Unfortunately we need a small forward but have no options there. Cockatoo is a big loss.

We need to stop moving Taylor back the problem is every time Kolo or Lonners panic and give away a goal Scott shifts Taylor back to cover them within 5 minutes. Hold your nerve man! Memo given our lack of small forwards the only way we win this flag is with deep one out entries before Hawkins has multiple numbers against him and the only way that happens is with Taylor forward 30m out from goal. The only 10-15 minutes of the game we looked good tonight were when he played there. Stanley is a good ruckman (although after Smith's game tonight Stanley won't get another game as a ruck this year) and Buzza is a kid, FFS if you don't put Taylor there it won't matter how much our defence struggles as we won't kick enough goals to win finals.

Good post Pure ownage. Totally agree.


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[AM]

Oh well, at least I won't have to bother applying for Grand Final tickets this year.

 

[romeohwho]

We shat ourselves and nearly lost a game that shouldn't have been close to the Hawks - in no way did that game reflect well on us. Dangerfield is a bandaid solution and we can't keep arguing that our injury prone players like Cocky, McCartney, Gregson, Menzel etc are going to fix anything. It's too big a what if argument when the reality is they will never manage an extended period on the field to prove their worth.

Menzel is being rested and will play the finals-he was alway going to miss games this year-that was the plan. He does make a difference. Gregson will be back no probs. McCarthy -lets see how the tassie dr goes. Cocky-we'll see. But all those players are but in our 22 because they are quality and make a diff.
We beat the hawks, that's all you have to do.

 

[Reppie]

Seriously, I can't take any more of this "will Dangerfield present the Brownlow?" crap. Or "Bob Murphy is a travelling emergency". Seriously?!?! More manufactured rubbish from imbeciles.
The media who cover AFL are truly incompetent.

The media in general.
Not just AFL.
Not incompetent just pushing agendas.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

In Round 16 last year we played Sydney at Geelong.

With Dangerfield. And Menzel. And McCarthy. And Cockatoo.

It made a big difference too. We only lost by 38 points.

Thats the problem with this club - too many sailing down denile river.. Coach included. Its like they think next time we play Sydney somehow Scott will figure out out and fix our structures... Its ridiculous... Our team is simply not good enough to beat them.. Doesn't help when we have a shit game plan and the players are so undisciplined.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

All I can say is - Same Shit —Different Game.

I will say the team tonight was pretty young and immature. No Menzel, Cockatoo, Blicavs, Motlop, Paddy, and Joel out injured at half time, we were pretty undermanned against a near full strength Sydney. That's the only excuse I can give them.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Well said.

We have been saying that for a couple of years. Sorry but Lingy is the Tool

 

[romeohwho]

In Round 16 last year we played Sydney at Geelong.

With Dangerfield. And Menzel. And McCarthy. And Cockatoo.

It made a big difference too. We only lost by 38 points.

So what, this is another year. Those guys play tonight and we would have been in the game.

 

[DangerHere]

Thats the problem with this club - too many sailing down denile river.. Coach included. Its like they think next time we play Sydney somehow Scott will figure out out and fix our structures... Its ridiculous...

Mission accomplished

 

[The_Todd07]

Can anyone tell me what the tactical advantage is, in letting Sydney play a spare man in defence every single time we play them

 

[SleazySimon]

Sydneys recruiting of talent makes Steven Wells look like a snake oil salesmen. We are ******* great and recruiting injury prone kids who turn it on for 2 minutes when they manage to get on the field. When that fails we have some d-graders to step up that weight as much as a wet towel and poop themselves on the big stage. What exactly is there to look forward to with this team?

$ydney get an academy all to themselves that no other team is entitled to. It would be like all geelong fancons players going straight into the AFL side. Zoning by another name

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

This is an important point.

I've always hated the way the phrase "injuries are no excuse" is used to remove injuries from the table of "acceptable" factors to cite when listing reasons for a downturn in performances and/or outcomes. The idea seems to be predicated, as with so many false premises that exist within footy fandom, on the fallacious overestimation of the value of endeavour and workrate relative to the value of talent and skill. Quality of personnel on the park is the biggest factor in all sports, including AFL, in sporting results, and therefore it seems to me obvious that citing of injuries as an an explanation for a loss is not a practice that should carry a stigma.

I have no qualms in stating that the main (not *only*, but certainly *main*) reason we lost tonight is due to our injury list.

I was going to make the same point, but you've just said it far better than I could have.

We had enough periods of dominance around the ground to at least make a contest of it tonight, but we were simply bereft of forward options. Having your 2nd, 3rd & 4th highest goal kickers across the season sitting in the stands obviously affects that.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Can anyone tell me what the tactical advantage is, in letting Sydney play a spare man in defence every single time we play them

It gives us one, which we use every week.

 

[Partridge]

So what, this is another year. Those guys play tonight and we would have been in the game.

If it's another year, where is the evidence that they would have made a difference? McCarthy and Cockatoo are still pretty unproven.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

Can anyone tell me what the tactical advantage is, in letting Sydney play a spare man in defence every single time we play them

It's so we have an extra player waiting in the oppositions goal square to receive the 'switch play' kick - we then follow that up with a turnover. Works great. Sydney must have been laughing at us try to switch the ball by going 100m backwards and then following it up with a turnover kick while they simply stayed in the same positions as previous. Then once they got the ball all they had about 3-4 players on their own ready to take an easy mark in their fwd 50... Geelong players meanwhile are implementing the famous guard fresh air tactic that has proven to work time and time again.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

We needed Duncan next week though.

He can't help us sitting in the coaches box

Hawkins is more likely to get done than Duncan because of the head high stuff.

Duncan will be a fine at worst ala Martin.

 

[Mahlepi]

1. afl can we please get the rule book 20minutes before the game, hard to know what is going on.\
2. c7 want duncan suspended and 3aw believe papeley should be fined for the same incident. if commentators are that far apart the game is a joke.
3. ling go to sydney, you are a moron
4. hawkins get smashed and receives no umpire assistance, as for the jumper punch, from is there there were punches going each way, people need to move on
5. if every player got a free for a push like guthries, the game would be pushing and ball, given push in the back were not paid
6. i would have thought buddy owes selwood a duty of care, and should be suspended for a reckless tackle, or is he allowed to continue to tackle like a moron

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Menzel is being rested and will play the finals-he was alway going to miss games this year-that was the plan. He does make a difference. Gregson will be back no probs. McCarthy -lets see how the tassie dr goes. Cocky-we'll see. But all those players are but in our 22 because they are quality and make a diff.
We beat the hawks, that's all you have to do.

Gregson and McCarthy are done for the year.

 

[Munich]

Hawkins is more likely to get done than Duncan because of the head high stuff.

Duncan will be a fine at worst ala Martin.

And Papley for staging.

 

[Nickoo]

yep i think they got the rub too. it may of cost us two goals max though. to say they are cheating cos they got the slight rub of the green is beyond pathetic. its delusional and shows a lack of maturity and rationality.

Ease up, I'm emotional. Cats played something like 6 players with less then 12 games experience. They were a seasoned GF side of mature players and we were not. I'll not be put down by our own supporters; swans supporters are enough. You can't tell me the number of times we took marks had the ball smacked out and its play on, on a windy night. Let alone Joel getting coat hangered-nothing to see here umpire. Blighty was correct all those years ago. Yet they get frees which are 50/50. Last week they didn't get them. Immature/irrational move on matey jim.

 

[thylacine60]

Had our weakest team vs their strongest team. I actually think the cats controlled most of the game but didn't kick straight. Some positives with the kids. Umpiring was the worst I have ever seen but only part of the reason for the loss.

er, kennedy?