Autopsy QF 2019 - Pies d Cats by 10 points

[Scottland2007]

FYI, I emailed the address for CScott in this thread: re: coaching
You’ve wasted Joel Selwood’s career
You’ve wasted Tom Hawkins career
You’ve wasted Harry Taylor’s career
You’re wasting Dangerfield’s career.
Just. Walk. Away.

 

[Turbocat]

The pre-game presumptions of Anxious Fans concerning the composition of the team they would be supporting were thrown into Utter Chaos when it came to light that Rhys Stanley would not be opposing All-Australian Brodie Grundy in the ruck - yes, the same Rhys Stanley who was among our best in the round 1 win over the Magpies.

Perhaps it was down back that had begun the cascade into structural disarray; with Collingwood’s paucity of tall forwards there just didn’t seem to be enough work for all of Harry Taylor, Mark Blicavs and tallish Jake Kolodjashnij.

And so Blicavs was re-deployed as a ruckman, a job which I heard him say with my own two ears just two weekends ago that he didn’t particularly relish.

Coming into the side was one Sam Menegola, whose issues with injury contributed to a forgettable H&A season. Many would have preferred the youthful promise of Charie Constable; at least he might learn something. To Menegola's credit he ended up having a relatively solid night; he played at or near his standard Sam Menegola game.

Like everything else riding on this game though, the Final Result would be the only metric by which these decisions would be judged; that which appeared reactive in the lead-up might take on the appearance of a prescient plan in the wash-up.

But everything went to S-hit.

The last-minute decision to omit Stanley - which Chris Scott goofily admitted on-air that the MC had got wrong during the freakin’ pre-game - bore no fruit. Blicavs wasn't our worst player, but Grundy definitely was one of Collingwood's best, and the whole gambit smacked of a too-clever desperation.

Dangerfield smirked in the centre of the ground with the first bounce about to go down - I never like that from him … but then took two resolute marks in the first 3 minutes and ultimately played pretty well. Never perfectly; few do that. He had a big quiet patch from late in the 1st to half-way through the 2nd, but thereafter he was influential.

In a ridiculous comedy of errors we somehow had Bews proppy before the ball had been bounced, and Luke Dahlhaus limping around within 2 minutes of the game's commencement - Jed Bews’direct opponent Jamie Elliott proved very dangerous early on and was a problem all night long - Bews has one job, and the past two occasions in which he has been really required to fulfill his brief he has struggled - albeit with the mitigation of tonight's rolled ankle in the warm-up.

From the first bounce Collingwood looked more composed, more accustomed to the level of intensity, and they used the ball far, far better.
For the first 10 minutes we struggled to adjust to the intensity of finals football - Again!

It was the unlikely figure of Gary Rohan, playing in front, who finally got snapped the fugue, only for the perennial Finals-Flop to miss a potentially team-lifting sitter minutes later. He cuts an increasingly fragile figure, too; since his couple of nasty concussions early in the year he seems ginger at every turn .......

When Tom Hawkins sprayed another from within 10 meters out not long after Rohan's miss the Choke was on.

The goal we conceded right before quarter time was damning - while Mark Blicavs was busy trying to ‘set up’: pointing his fingers around and barking orders, Grundy casually sharked the ruck contest, Collingwood won another decisive clearance and Kolodjashnij made a defensive error, conspiring to damage us further on the scoreboard.
________

When Collingwood’s Jeremy Howe dobbed a speculative shot from 50 to kick the 1st goal of the 2nd quarter I knew it would not be our night.
We’d played our boring old style of football for a good 3-4 minutes, breaking even, cutting off angles, going down the line. But we could not hit the scoreboard, nor could we limit Collingwood’s forays.
At an even 4 goals in the red I looked at the clock and there were still 15 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter; theoretically plenty of time to mount a comeback. But if anything we just got worse; scrappier, sloppier.

8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter and we have 1 friggin goal on the board.
The coverage flashed to Chris Scott and I swear to god he had a tear in his eye.
I wasn’t far behind him, fortunately I had anaethsetized myself thoroughly by this point.

Brandon Parfitt snapped one to reduce the margin to 5 goals - to his credit he tried to give the impression that he believed we could generate something.

But we were toothless moving the ball forward, reverting to the type of forward Sludgery which has been a hallmark of the Chris Scott years. It’s hard to watch, even when it is chalking up 'premiership' points

We somehow got to the main break only 4 scoring shots down, and had finally found ways to kick the ball through the tall sticks.

What we needed in the 2nd half was real, genuine leadership, sharper, faster ball movement and a far more ruthless approach.
What we didn’t have was a hobbled Mitch Duncan (who had been harried) and ruckman. Perhaps Rhys Stanley could've jumped over the top of Grundy in that last quarter to land a couple of decisive taps-to-advantage .. he's been known to take the odd contested mark in the forward line, too ...

Again we kicked early points when goals might have put genuine pressure on the Pies.
Again the Pies showed their superior knowledge of the MCG, stretching us and pulling us around the ground like puppets on strings.

When Blicavs gave away a free to 300-gamer Scott Pendlebury, directly leading to a Collingwood goal, we were behind the 8-ball for the 3rd straight quarter; you can’t win games of football like that, let alone Finals.

The last quarter was a prolonged agony, we arguably played our best football of the night but it bore no resemblance whatsoever to the style of football Chris Scott wants the team to play.

Overall though we played the way we’ve played Every Other Week since our 2019 bye (which is *not* an issue!) - constipated, constricted, anti-sport.
We try to make sure the opposition don’t win.


* Jack Henry’s (un)officially gone past Jake Kolodjashnij as our 3rd tall defender - Henry the better runner, more decisive with the ball, at least Kolo’s equal in the air too. Kolo has started to show a pattern of beginning a season in rock solid form only to end each year a fringe player once more.

* Chris Scott is surely coaching for his career next week against the Eagles. Straight sets cannot be accepted.

an excellent splinter by splinter of the game.... You make this site worth the pain with quality like this ...

may i suggest one thing I think you may have just missed. In the third Blitz had the ball on the 50'' I went of my head watch at home ..becuase he had passed and abdicated the responsibility ..why..cause he knows he not a great shot and didn't want to waste it ... minutes later ..up the other end Pendles..got the ball ..and what seemed marginally further out ..and off a few steps.. nailed it and put another nail in our finals coffin

I must have missed the cross to scott as I first saw him in the presser.. looking like he had seen a ghost. I honestly think he was in shock...

 

[Cataholic]

FYI, I emailed the address for CScott in this thread: re: coaching
You’ve wasted Joel Selwood’s career
You’ve wasted Tom Hawkins career
You’ve wasted Harry Taylor’s career
You’re wasting Dangerfield’s career.
Just. Walk. Away.

Let us in on his reply

 

[Vdubs]

Sorry VD but that’s simply not true.

The club gave up draft picks to get Stanley, Dangerfield (fair enough there), Tuohy, Henderson and so on. No one put a gun to their head. They gambled and so far it has failed.

Scott’s had nine years to build a list, and he hasn’t done it.

We've been pretty good over that time, without finals success, better than the majority of teams in our predicament. Gamble was worthwhile from my pov. Tuohy and Hendo have dropped off and Stanley will always be Stanley.

 

[Cataholic]

an excellent splinter by splinter of the game.... You make this site worth the pain with quality like this ...

may i suggest one thing I think you may have just missed. In the third Blitz had the ball on the 50'' I went of my head watch at home ..becuase he had passed and abdicated the responsibility ..why..cause he knows he not a great shot and didn't want to waste it ... minutes later ..up the other end Pendles..got the ball ..and what seemed marginally further out ..and off a few steps.. nailed it and put another nail in our finals coffin

I must have missed the cross to scott as I first saw him in the presser.. looking like he had seen a ghost. I honestly think he was in shock...

He should be too.

Turns out his apparent relaxed, dripping confidence before the game was severely misplaced and arrogant.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

View attachment 741831

"Slip up"? To make a blunder? We were smacked about because of an arrogant decision, which every Geelong supporter knew was a fatal error!
[/QUOTE]


We make the same slip-ups and blunders every year because they refuse to look at the past and learn from their mistakes.

Very arrogant indeed. I think one day we'll look back at this period and rue the chances we've missed.

 

[Turbocat]

24 of the last 28 finals .... 1/4 time leader wins the game....

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Can someone more knowledgeable of the AFLs rules please answer this for me: when Scott mentioned in the pre-game telecast that they'd misjudged the weather and erred in leaving out Stanley, did they still have time to reverse that change and bring Stanley back into the side?

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

It's the fact that literally ALL the ingredients from previous finals losses were there that made this so demoralising.

Unnecessary, self-defeating, galaxybrain selection decision by Scott that backfires spectacularly? Check.
Atrocious first quarter leaving us chasing the game the entire match? Check.
Constant fumbling from the entire side? Check.
Normally reliable set shots choking and missing easy shots? Check.
Slaughtered in the ruck? Check.
Hawkins having a down game? Check.
Killed on the outside? Check.
Endless directionless long bombs inside 50? Check.
Normally composed players suddenly becoming a panicky mess? Check.
Inexplicable moments of bizarre clownishness (eg defenders spoiling goalward directly to an opponent, players running in to one another, etc)? Check.
Brilliant but ultimately futile performance from one of Selwood or Dangerfield? Check.
Desperate, doomed-to-failure decision to throw Harry Taylor forward? Check.
Final term comeback resulting in a full time margin that's way more flattering than we deserve? Check.

How many times have we seen this *exact same script* with all the exact same elements?

Ugh.

This is the post of the year. Thanks to Scott, footy doesn't matter any more. We are top of the ladder...So what, Scott.

 

[Captain chaos]

Just couldn't believe how bad bews looked. He are slow and are in trouble in my view. margin flattered us.

 

[Mahlepi]

who prepare the team to play under pressure M... Who has been in charge while this barrel of monkeys has been placed on our shoulders ...

Let see how many goals Dogs and Lions kick today... sure they have some good players... at that the issue... this continual stay at the top attitude means other teams do have a few extra premiums on us.. The top that has happened since 2015 ... only Danger is a win

Agree, but the blame does not sit with the coach
our trades are woeful

people persist with parfitt's value, and to date he has not measured up to caddy
giving up on varcoe for a player with addiction and mental health issues was a joke
first round pick for henderson another
not picking up grundy and getting thurlow another
not trading sj for an early first round pick was a joke
downgrading an early pick for ablett, another joke
and then i can go on

coach prepares them, everyone raves about about scarlo etc
we miss blake c - a genuine decent forward coach
enright is a good bloke, but is he really the forward coach we need, i would be bringing in sj

 

[Turbocat]

Sorry VD but that’s simply not true.

The club gave up draft picks to get Stanley, Dangerfield (fair enough there), Tuohy, Henderson and so on. No one put a gun to their head. They gambled and so far it has failed.

Scott’s had nine years to build a list, and he hasn’t done it.

Its starting to look like a guy who smoked 80 a day for 50 years.. and then says why didn't someone tell me it was dangerous

I have a different pov than VD...... he think our side is about as good as a middle rung team. I maintain we have more than enough talent if it was coached in a better method ... I could only imagine ..if Luke Bev or who ever had our list ..how we would play ..and probably who we would have on our list.

So I think he has enough of a list to be good enough to do a lot more than .....THAT.

 

[Mahlepi]

Just couldn't believe how bad bews looked. He are slow and are in trouble in my view. margin flattered us.

moc was worse - the blowtorch is applied to bews alone and moc escapes the scrutiny

 

[crocsta]

Still angry... Hawkins is one of those happy losers.

The team needs a few more players with the “we’re not f**king going to lose this” mentality.

The players don’t trust each other to get the job done. It’s clear from the comical way they crashed into each other and spoiled each other all night.

A player that struggles under pressure in a QF is going to turn to water in a Prelim or GF. The pressure doesn’t get easier from here on so if they can’t handle the heat... don’t play ‘em!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cursed Cat]

an excellent splinter by splinter of the game.... You make this site worth the pain with quality like this ...

may i suggest one thing I think you may have just missed. In the third Blitz had the ball on the 50'' I went of my head watch at home ..becuase he had passed and abdicated the responsibility ..why..cause he knows he not a great shot and didn't want to waste it ... minutes later ..up the other end Pendles..got the ball ..and what seemed marginally further out ..and off a few steps.. nailed it and put another nail in our finals coffin

I must have missed the cross to scott as I first saw him in the presser.. looking like he had seen a ghost. I honestly think he was in shock...

thanks Turbo - I think I did indeed miss Blicavs with ball in hand on our 50 - definitely recall him conceding a marking infringement against Pendlebury despite being in a better position and having a distinct height advantage - directly led to a goal unfortunately.

 

[cats_09]

Just caught part of the replay - woohoo, fun

When Hawkins was kicking for goal in the first quarter and Howe touched it on the line - who the * let that happen? He had a free run to do that, and it looked like the only Geelong player in the area looked to be one of our smalls.

Were all our players convinced he'd make the distance that they decided no effort or support was needed on the goal line? Can't work out how no one was there to put a body on Howe

 

[Whit3y]

My friend....... You are confused.

The AFL is NOT about sporting endeavour. It does NOT have the integrity of the competition at heart.

It's about money, and nothing but money. Rules, scheduling, everything, is manipulated to squeeze every last bit of revenue from the consumer. It's all that matters to them.

Money and protecting their image at all costs is all that matters

 

[Cursed Cat]

Can someone more knowledgeable of the AFLs rules please answer this for me: when Scott mentioned in the pre-game telecast that they'd misjudged the weather and erred in leaving out Stanley, did they still have time to reverse that change and bring Stanley back into the side?

good question; there was talk when Bews hurt himself during the warm-up that we could make a late change if we got the relevant paperwork in (to whom I don't know) on time - unfortunately we were very close to the first bounce when that happened ... the Stanley thing though; Chris Scott conceded that error at least half an hour out from the bounce, possibly longer - if he recognised a mistake had been made and then failed to take appropriate measures to rectify it then that is bizarrely defeatist ..

 

[Cataholic]

Money and protecting their image at all costs is all that matters

Yep. It's a corporation that exists not for the love of the game, but for the love of the money the game generates.

 

[Mahlepi]

The competition is very even and too many teams have holes in their list. The pies have injuries, yet are amongst the top 3 teams when fully fit. We are not. We had a coach who got us to the number one spot with an average list.
It will be shown in prelim finals. If Richmond get through today the flag is theirs, as they will come up against a weak Geelong or a much travelled WCE. On the other side if the dogs get through their next two they will give the pies a shake.

 

[2Knights]

Not surprised by last night's 'effort'. I had no expectations for this team.

I've seen worse Geelong teams, but I haven't seen worse Geelong teams to watch.

 

[cats_09]

thanks Turbo - I think I did indeed miss Blicavs with ball in hand on our 50 - definitely recall him conceding a marking infringement against Pendlebury despite being in a better position and having a distinct height advantage - directly led to a goal unfortunately.

Wasn't Blicavs being held, the umpire paid a free kick and everyone stopped because they didn't who was getting the free kick?

 

[Cursed Cat]

Wasn't Blicavs being held, the umpire paid a free kick and everyone stopped because they didn't who was getting the free kick?

I'd have to see it again but if we're talking about the 2nd half marking infringement then I thought at the time that Blicavs just had to do better at that particular contest ..

 

[Chinacats]

It's the fact that literally ALL the ingredients from previous finals losses were there that made this so demoralising.

Unnecessary, self-defeating, galaxybrain selection decision by Scott that backfires spectacularly? Check.
Atrocious first quarter leaving us chasing the game the entire match? Check.
Constant fumbling from the entire side? Check.
Normally reliable set shots choking and missing easy shots? Check.
Slaughtered in the ruck? Check.
Hawkins having a down game? Check.
Killed on the outside? Check.
Endless directionless long bombs inside 50? Check.
Normally composed players suddenly becoming a panicky mess? Check.
Inexplicable moments of bizarre clownishness (eg defenders spoiling goalward directly to an opponent, players running in to one another, etc)? Check.
Brilliant but ultimately futile performance from one of Selwood or Dangerfield? Check.
Desperate, doomed-to-failure decision to throw Harry Taylor forward? Check.
Final term comeback resulting in a full time margin that's way more flattering than we deserve? Check.

How many times have we seen this *exact same script* with all the exact same elements?

Ugh.

Unfortunately true. Add the bye to that too. Coach problem!

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Its starting to look like a guy who smoked 80 a day for 50 years.. and then says why didn't someone tell me it was dangerous

I have a different pov than VD...... he think our side is about as good as a middle rung team. I maintain we have more than enough talent if it was coached in a better method ... I could only imagine ..if Luke Bev or who ever had our list ..how we would play ..and probably who we would have on our list.

So I think he has enough of a list to be good enough to do a lot more than .....THAT.

I agree. I do think we have a team capable of winning a flag currently but the way the team is coached and the culture of mediocrity that Scott has brought back to the club is the real problem. I have never been anti-scott before, but more and more this year I feel his arrogance and stubbornness to stick to something that just isn't working anymore is dragging this team down. Geelong should never have resigned him for such a long extension, it was a silly decision based on the back slapping and bullshit that surrounds Scott and the board. Scott has said numerous times on AFL360 he thinks the win/loss focus used to judge coaches is wrong, deflecting from his poor finals records no doubt. Scott has created a team capable of making the top 8, God with the talent in this side I could do that. But there it stops.

The finals aren't over yet, and the Cats might take this loss as the kick they need. I'll wait and see how they respond next week but I'm so not confident.


Last nights loss keeps up the win/loss/win/loss record since the bye. Win to Carlton, Loss to Pies... so maybe that means we'll win against the eagles, but loose in the prelim. Sigh.