Roast I've seen Ross Lyon-coached sides play more exciting football

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Oct 20, 2004
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Let's count it up: over this last few weeks our scores have been 73, 50, 66, 93, and 69 - and three of those games were wins, and no serious weather to account for any of it. Let's face it, that's some awful footy to watch.

That'd be fine if we were an any-win-as-good-as-any-other kind of team like, say, Richmond - but we're not. I've grown up pretty much all my life watching Geelong playing attacking, high-risk high-scoring footy under Blight and Thompson, and it's something that's been great about being a Geelong supporter.

Not this, though. This is bad to watch, even when it's a win. When it's a loss, it's downright awful. It's also not exactly giving Hawkins, Gregson and other permanent forwards a chance, either. Doesn't exactly get the crowd involved.

This kind of footy should be an absolute anathema to Geelong, and it's a shame we're playing it.
 
Our only clear area of advantage on the ground - the midfield - is disfunctional so the game we want to be playing isn’t happening and when the opposition wants to drag us into another style we can’t find a way out of it.

#fixthemidfield
 

Spazz Cat

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Jun 10, 2013
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Our only clear area of advantage on the ground - the midfield - is disfunctional so the game we want to be playing isn’t happening and when the opposition wants to drag us into another style we can’t find a way out of it.

#fixthemidfield
It's not just the opposition dragging us down, we are also initiating it.
Watching the 2nd qr against the Dees I thought You Beauty This is alright. But it's been a bit of a slog since then.
 

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It's not just the opposition dragging us down, we are also initiating it.
Watching the 2nd qr against the Dees I thought You Beauty This is alright. But it's been a bit of a slog since then.
What’s an example of us initiating it?
 
Dec 10, 2003
58,438
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Newtown
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Let's count it up: over this last few weeks our scores have been 73, 50, 66, 93, and 69 - and three of those games were wins, and no serious weather to account for any of it. Let's face it, that's some awful footy to watch.

That'd be fine if we were an any-win-as-good-as-any-other kind of team like, say, Richmond - but we're not. I've grown up pretty much all my life watching Geelong playing attacking, high-risk high-scoring footy under Blight and Thompson, and it's something that's been great about being a Geelong supporter.

Not this, though. This is bad to watch, even when it's a win. When it's a loss, it's downright awful. It's also not exactly giving Hawkins, Gregson and other permanent forwards a chance, either. Doesn't exactly get the crowd involved.

This kind of footy should be an absolute anathema to Geelong, and it's a shame we're playing it.



You are not wrong

What do we stand for any more? We play the game as it should be played... oh do we ? I guess I have swung 180 degrees for when I was young. At what point does the self focused winning become like drug addled person who is so addicted to their ways that they cant stop.. even when the end outcome is apparent.

This is killing my willingness to go to the game at the highest level ..i can feel the love seeping from me ..like some helpless soul watching their partner move away from them. Not quite like Little Bill in Boggie Nights but heading that way. Scoring is low but its not just that. Where are the highlights? Its all effort .. one may as well watch a plumber on the end of an 18inch spanner striving to undo a rusted nut.

Is it any wonder that so many less competitive types struggle once they are picked. Lightweight skilled types beware before picking them because its a game in a phonebox. Do we need less on the ground if they want to play this way. Do we need to increase the size of the square to help with clearances and quick entries into the forwardline. There are many theories but I fear the the Butterfly has actually turned into a caterpillar . There may be no going back.

Is it a surprise that CS has said he has been influenced from Lyon? No ..what is a surprise is he seems to be less influenced by his Brisbane days.... but maybe he sees that football is just like taking a knife to a gunfight. Maybe he plays the modern game because its what he think you have to do to win. How many that are advocates of this muck actually pay to watch it. Listening to the 774 and Nathan Bourke last night he didn't see a boring game , I listened to the first 1/2 on Krock and they seemed enthralled. In truth ... I was looking at the watch..how long before we can go...and thats a dire way to be at entertainment.

Its not just us ..its the comp..its the way its been going for a long time.
 
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Baudolino

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Apr 20, 2011
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What’s an example of us initiating it?

The defensiveness and slow ball movement is clearly intentional. Nathan Buckley described us pretty well after we beat them a few weeks ago:

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-13/cats-new-defensive-style-does-the-trick-again

"They have the slowest ball movement in the comp by design, so they don’t lose shape when they turn the ball over," Buckley said.

"They have got that aerial advantage so they play the game that way and they are able to enforce that style on us for the most part."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-13/cats-new-defensive-style-does-the-trick-again
 

Spazz Cat

Brownlow Medallist
Jun 10, 2013
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What’s an example of us initiating it?
Last night is an example. Even when they didn't have a lot of numbers back, sideways kicks, slow and steady.
1st half of WC game, came out moving it quick in the 3rd and 4th.
Were buggered half way through the last. As soon as we stopped kicking to a contest and went slow and tried (poorly) to hit up free targets it was obvious we were gonna lose.
Collingwood game we just suffocated them from the outset. Was good coaching. CS knew they've liked to open us up in the past so slow and steady.
Hawthorn game for 3 qrs. Chipping round the backline. Abandoned it out of necessity in the last.
Just a few examples.
 
Apr 20, 2008
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I was going to start a similar thread. How s**t are we to watch? We’d have to be the worse team in the Comp to watch at the moment. We are moving the ball at snails pace. Chipping it around for 5 mins, Then bomb it in, lose possession, retain possession rince and repeat.
I couldn’t wait for the game to be over last night.
I love my team and I always will. I bleed blue and white. But I’m absolutely not enjoying watching us play at all.

The issue is competition wide though. The game in general is shocking to watch. And unless the AFL somehow sort it out (whether it be rule changes or whatever) people will actually stop going.
 
Sep 26, 2017
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It’s the way the modern game has been playing out for the last few years, I hear the experts proclaim that the game will evolve into something different so we shouldn’t implement rule changes...but geez between the gameplay and the umpiring last night I was both bored and livid

Not fun watching anymore
 

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Dec 10, 2003
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It’s the way the modern game has been playing out for the last few years, I hear the experts proclaim that the game will evolve into something different so we shouldn’t implement rule changes...but geez between the gameplay and the umpiring last night I was both bored and livid

Not fun watching anymore

The evolve argument is such a crock .. evolve in what direction. as if every evolutionary outcome is for the better.
 

Lana

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 23, 2010
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Slow and wide ball movement out of defence has been a staple of the last two years.

We definitely playing more direct this year, our first option last year on a turnover was to switch it to the fat side of the ground, we're now willing to kicking it long and fast if we have a 1 in 1 up the ground. All Team are so focused about forcing the opposition to move the ball wide and slow. We're brilliant at it, so I can't complain when they do it to us. When ever we had space in the corridor against Carlton we took the option, Duncan and Tuohy had the skills to cut them open, you don't want everyone trying it, if your disposal is slightly off you just give away an easy goal.
 
Nov 12, 2002
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Something needs to be done I agree

I blame terry Wallace for all of this crap

I think if there was "blame", it would be professionalism.

They're paid to win. Not to entertain. Whatever works is what will be implemented or followed. A lesser talented team is always going to try and stifle better teams by whatever tactics they can. Geelong wasn't the lesser talented last night, but you get the idea.

It's also not like every single team is playing that way. West Coast are pretty good to watch. And Richmond ticked over the 100+ mark for the 7th time in 10 games. The apparent malaise is not endemic just yet.
 

finale

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May 19, 2016
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The way the "modern game" is played and the rubbish we have been serving up for the last month or so are two different things. Half the modern game is about players working hard to put opponents under extreme pressure, then restricting them from doing anything effective with the ball in order to force a turnover. The second half of it, is then the ability to quickly transition from that turnover into a counterattack with quick kicking into an open forward line.

Geelong currently can restrict opponents, but it isn't through pressure. We actually don't really put any pressure on. We just have a rolling flood of players that forces the opponent to kick to an area where it will always be a contest with lots of numbers. It's horrible to watch. When we do regain possession, we have no desire to transition quickly, instead kick it around the boundary line because CS seems to want to play risk-averse football (the boundary line is a better result than a turnover in the middle).

Teams with quicker and more precise ball movement, and good decision makers will always be a good chance against us because we leave holes all over the place. The amount of times I see opposition players strolling through midfield with no pressure because all our players are too slow to move from the quarter of the field they were protecting....boy is it frustrating.

When we do actually get the ball we have no urgency, and would rather kick sideways or handball around in congested areas, than kick forward, and to me it feels like this is completely against the instincts of the players. Not only that, it also ends up putting us under more pressure when we finally try to go forward because the other team has had ample time to get back. At least in the past two seasons, we had been able to play a more free-flowing style of game, it was enjoyable to watch, and suited our good players. This season is a stark contrast.
 
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Isaac Norm Smith

Cancelled
Apr 8, 2011
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For the first time ever, I'm seriously questioning where the game is heading. I know it's been heading down a bad path for a while, but I think I've been in denial. I agree with many of the experts, particularly the old-school ones, the game is no longer an exciting spectacle. I am normally dead against rule changes, but something has to happen. Time to reduce how many players per side are on the field or a certain number of players are restricted/ confined to certain areas. I never thought I'd be advocating this. Really sad. Thinking about not renewing my social club membership and just purchasing a 3-game or general admission membership with the intention of just watching my Cats on the TV. I still want to financially support my great club, so those options are appealing. I didn't go last night, I just watched it on foxtel. I'm glad I didn't. Something I am doing more of lately.
 
Slow and wide ball movement out of defence has been a staple of the last two years.
Why though? It's obvious enough that there are times in games when we are left with no choice that we take the game on and move it quickly. I really don't understand why it isn't tried more.

But I do accept that when you are constantly on the back foot because of the midfield getting flogged it makes it hard to plan an execute anything else at all.
 

Spazz Cat

Brownlow Medallist
Jun 10, 2013
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Why though? It's obvious enough that there are times in games when we are left with no choice that we take the game on and move it quickly. I really don't understand why it isn't tried more.

But I do accept that when you are constantly on the back foot because of the midfield getting flogged it makes it hard to plan an execute anything else at all.
Just playing to our strengths and minimising weaknesses.
Have had a tall backline that reads the ball well, but overall lack the elite footskills to take risks through the middle.
 
Just playing to our strengths and minimising weaknesses.
Have had a tall backline that reads the ball well, but overall lack the elite footskills to take risks through the middle.
That doesn’t explain why when we do try it from time to time we look great and score heavily.
 

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