Autopsy Geelong defeated by GWS by 4 points - Rd 4, 2019

[Scottland2007]

That's an interesting point I'd not thought about before - what is the origin of the "cut of (their) jib" phrase?

Back in sailing days, people liked straight sails. “Straight is great, curvy is pervy” they’d say.*









*may not be true.

 

[Down at K Park]

Totally agree. This was a game where the raw numbers around centre clearances and possessions (contested and uncontested) were entirely consistent with what I remember seeing (and lamenting) on the day.

Once the Giants started to win the ball in close, they got it to the outside way too easily. And to players who were then under almost no pressure. Which led to neat F50 entries that gave our defensive unit little chance.

The comparison between their fluid ball movement after half-time and our sporadic and haphazard 'blazing away' to the forward half under serious pressure was stark and alarming.

Also agree that, given the nature of the midfield massacre after the main break, it was quite staggering that we didn't get rolled by much, much more.

So if the midfield group stands up again this week (as they did in all three earlier matches), I think we have every reason to believe we can match it with the Hawks in every other department.

Gws seemed to have an extra bloke on the field. There was always a free man in the middle to kick too. Every single time. Frustrating to watch. How did that keep happening?

 

[goyoucatters]

Trouble is none of the VFL guys have played with the eye catching, convincing form needed to put themselves front and centre of the MC as a viable alternative that would bring an improvement to the team vs Sav

It's impossible to tell with certainty. But I would be quite surprised if Esava wouldn't have been putting up numbers comparable or better than the likes of Buzza if he had been playing in the twos over the last few weeks.

As we have seen before with someone like Wylie, the step up to senior football can be a yawning chasm for those who end up struggling to make it at AFL level.

Whereas I would argue Esava has already clearly shown much more potential as a senior player than Buzza has in his time playing in the ones. Neither has much experience but I would argue exposed form shows that Esava's ceiling is significantly higher.

So I, for one, am comfortable with Rata currently holding the ascendancy over Wylie and the other players supposedly 'in the mix' who are entirely untried at senior level.

 

[Mr Blicavs]

Dangerfield cleared by the MRP so we know thats a change that wont need to happen.

 

[Mr Blicavs]

Gws seemed to have an extra bloke on the field. There was always a free man in the middle to kick too. Every single time. Frustrating to watch. How did that keep happening?

Said that to the bloke sitting next to me, all day.... they were everywhere. We werent.

 

[goyoucatters]

Gws seemed to have an extra bloke on the field. There was always a free man in the middle to kick too. Every single time. Frustrating to watch. How did that keep happening?

My exasperated son pointed this out many, many times as we endured the second half together on Saturday.

As Bomber used to say when we were struggling, we looked 'very easy to play against.'

 

[iameviljez]

Gws seemed to have an extra bloke on the field. There was always a free man in the middle to kick too. Every single time. Frustrating to watch. How did that keep happening?

2 reasons:
1) They are the best gut-running team in the comp
2) They switched the ground brilliantly, just brilliantly, and opened up all the space.

Their first move coming out of defence was the forty-metre switch - a ballsy move at times - to a guy about 40m out in the opposite pocket, and then they hit the "go" button, big time. That allowed all the space in the world provided their mids were able to push really, really hard from wing to wing.

 

[Cataholic]

My exasperated son pointed this out many, many times as we endured the second half together on Saturday.

As Bomber used to say when we were struggling, we looked 'very easy to play against.'

We were.

The whole team, with the exception of Rohan, looked lethargic, lazy, disinterested, and incapable of running.

They had no focus or concentration, and lapsed back into the age old habit of blazing away into the F50 and just hoping someone else would find a way to make something of it.

To see the whole side effectively collapse like that was a troubling spectacle.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Now finished watching the game (ie. the bad bit). As I said early in this thread, we dominated the first half and should have put them away so I was surprised when I checked the scores and found we had lost.

Not enough has been made of the key reason for the loss: we were absolutely smashed in winning the ball - centre clearances (8-14) and contested (119-131) and uncontested possessions (183-251). I can’t remeber seeing a team find space on our narrow ground so well against us.

It was also evident in the individual possession count. The top 5 winners on the ground were all GWS:

View attachment 655103

Our best was Duncan with 26!

Our two best mids had 17 and 9 respectively.

It was quite simply a shocking midfield performance.

The good news is, that sort of lightning is unlikely to strike twice. To have so many of our best mids play that badly and so many of theirs play so well is very unlikely to be repeated.

And after all that we only lost by 4 points! Could easily have still won playing so badly. That’s a very good silver lining.

While I’m disappointed not to take the opportunity to go 4-0, this is an extremely open year and we are right up in the mix with the best teams which I wasn’t expecting when the year started.

We seemed to lose all our pressure , speed and appetite for the contest after 1/2 time.
That's a complete midfield smashing we got and even Duncan admitted he used it poorly so really GWS should have won by 50+.
Next 2 weeks will determine whether this one is an outlier or whether we are making up the numbers again.
Hope it's the former

 

[cats_09]

Not surprising to see minimal Geelong players in the votes:

GEELONG v GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
10 Lachie Whitfield (GWS)
7 Jacob Hopper (GWS)
5 Stephen Coniglio (GWS)
3 Jeremy Cameron (GWS)
2 Tom Stewart (GEEL)
2 Tim Taranto (GWS)
1 Tom Hawkins (GEEL)

 

[Pollywaffle]

Most encouraging thing from that largely forgettable game was Parfitt, who is showing some great poise, tackling, evasive skills and vision.
Can't teach that stuff ( sadly)

 

[Max Milburn]

they wee everywhere.

 

[foxdog50]

Trouble is none of the VFL guys have played with the eye catching, convincing form needed to put themselves front and centre of the MC as a viable alternative that would bring an improvement to the team vs Sav

Ahhh it's only 2 rounds in the VFL season.....
I have to say Buzza done not to bad... Plus Kruger has shown a bit in his 2 games.. There both playing a fair bit in defence as we have to many bigs. Which will help them as well... I'm not a huge Buzza fan but if he starts to show a bit a in the VFL it's only fair he should have a go in the AFL..

 

[TheCattery2007]

GWS class shone through (unfortunately). We were smashed around the ball and their spread was very good.
First time this season we looked a bit slow, but, plenty of upside.
Tim Kelly only had 9 possessions. Assume he wasn’t quite right.
Rata is recovering from his finger injury everyone seems to have forgotten about and started to clunk some marks. Watch out when he gets going.
We actually looked like we didn’t know how to play our own ground which was a little worrying. Seemed they had more space than us!
Anyway, I suspect at end of the season to lose this game by only 4 points will look pretty good.
Bring on the Hawks!


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I think your battle hardened and bigger bodied mids will try to overpower our young lads

Maybe, but we are also rotating a lot of youth in there like Constable and Parfitt similar to the hawks with Worpel

 

[Live in hope]

Think the 3-0 start made many of us forget this is a team in a development period. As much as a number of our newbies had a down day on Saturday, with a focus on development the key question is are these players the right players for the longer term - IMO the answer is yes, so persist and get games into them, and accept they are going to have bad games. If tired, rest but otherwise stick with them. I remember Ling, Bartel, Chapman, Hawkins etc taking some time to develop.

As pointed out by others, all of the newbies have either had some very good games or shown very good signs in their first handful of games.

 

[Vdubs]

Maybe, but we are also rotating a lot of youth in there like Constable and Parfitt similar to the hawks with Worpel

Worpel is a good find for them, frustrating that we could not get our own.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Worpel is a good find for them, frustrating that we could not get our own.

That's drafting. You take the good with the bad. How many WCE fans wanted Kelly?

 

[iameviljez]

Worpel is a good find for them, frustrating that we could not get our own.

You do know who we took instead of Worpel, right?

 

[Isaac Norm Smith]

Think the 3-0 start made many of us forget this is a team in a development period. As much as a number of our newbies had a down day on Saturday, with a focus on development the key question is are these players the right players for the longer term - IMO the answer is yes, so persist and get games into them, and accept they are going to have bad games. If tired, rest but otherwise stick with them. I remember Ling, Bartel, Chapman, Hawkins etc taking some time to develop.

As pointed out by others, all of the newbies have either had some very good games or shown very good signs in their first handful of games.

I think you're absolutely spot on here. I'm certainly not convinced we're a contender yet, and I fully expect these young players to tire towards the end of the year. There will also be a level of inconsistency at times, as all young players display. But the signs are good for the future, and if I'm wrong and we can somehow compete for a flag whilst rebuilding / rejuvenating the list, then that's great.

I personally think it's likely and more realistic that we will finish somewhere between 5th and 9th. If we can make the finals and win one or two, I think it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Isaac Norm Smith]

Worpel is a good find for them, frustrating that we could not get our own.

I think Constable (pick 36) whom we took with our pick before the Hawks selected Worpel at pick 45 is looking pretty good. We then picked up Miers with pick 57 which is shaping as an absolute steal. Fogarty and Kelly were picked up with the two picks in the 20's. We nailed that draft mate.

 

[Vdubs]

I think Constable (pick 36) whom we took with our pick before the Hawks selected Worpel at pick 45 is looking pretty good. We then picked up Miers with pick 57 which is shaping as an absolute steal. Fogarty and Kelly were picked up with the two picks in the 20's. We nailed that draft mate.

We did. But something about picking up our own Falcons, rather than seeing them at HAWTHORN.

 

[Vdubs]

You do know who we took instead of Worpel, right?

I can be greedy though. Just don.t like seeing Falcons at Hawthorn, like Hodge etc. Anyway, we do have some beauties from that draft.

 

[Isaac Norm Smith]

I can be greedy though. Just don.t like seeing Falcons at Hawthorn, like Hodge etc. Anyway, we do have some beauties from that draft.

Yes you certainly can. If I remember correctly he was actually a Bannockburn boy. He would look great in Cats colours. Great value pick by the Hawks. I do agree, I don't like seeing Geelong boys at that club.

 

[Down at K Park]

We did. But something about picking up our own Falcons, rather than seeing them at HAWTHORN.

Outside our control.