Review Geelong tries its best to lose and finds a way to stagger to a 4 point win over Demons

[Cataholic]

Scott saying hendo the most likely replacement for stewart. Bloody hell why not just say no players under 30 and be done with it.

Play the game as it should be played (in a retirement home).

Excellent, that'll slow us down some more.

We'll never get done for speeding, hey?

 

[cats_09]

Surely Henry and Atkins are on the edge of being tipped out.

Last week I would agree, but I thought today was his best game for the year

Maybe with Stewart going down in the first quarter, he took on some more responsibilty - just seemed that he was more physical than previous weeks and attacked the ball a bit more but in controlled way rather than unnecessarily smashing a teammate such as with Stanley last week

 

[cats_09]

Hendo and Taylor cannot play in the same side EVER again. Please for the love of God.

One or the other

Or neither...

 

[Spazz Cat]

We officially tanking??

No! It's a new thing. Blanding!
Wonder if Chris Scott takes his kids on holidays to a brick factory? Then won't let them touch a finished brick just incase they get too hyped up for the car ride home.

 

[Generalissimo]

We officially tanking??

If, God forbid, we ever did bottom out the AFL would be on our backs immediately. We'd be the first, last, and only team ever seriously punished for tanking- whether we actually did it or were just genuinely crap.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Excellent, that'll slow us down some more.

We'll never get done for speeding, hey?

Can't speed in a Prius with a governor towing a caravan.

 

[Down at K Park]

I've said several times in the past few years that the top goal of the club admin was to stay competitive enough to keep in the 8 until the stadium is finished.
A corollary to this is the recruiting of 'name' vets. This helps sell memberships more than unknown and untested rookies.
We saw how close to disaster the club could be when the season was threatened by covid.
How much the game plan is predicated by this focus in not certain, but CS may be directed to make the 8 at all costs, with the opportunity cost of not being a finals type team and restricting real development of the future group.
IMHO

Stage 5 is locked in. Why would it matter now? The stadium rebuild is finished, just need the last part built and its done. All contracts are signed and shovel ready, once the cricket world cup is over.

Wouldn’t matter if we got the spoon.

 

[ADA23]

Out Stewart Atkins Peppermint
In Clark Narkle Krueger

what will actually happen

out Stewart
In Harry

 

[haywood jablome]

Nothing to say that hasn't already been said. The writing has been on the wall for a long long time.

 

[thejester]

To paraphrase General Pickett, I suspect the Demons had something to do with the speed of our ball movement.

 

[iameviljez]

Stage 5 is locked in. Why would it matter now? The stadium rebuild is finished, just need the last part built and its done. All contracts are signed and shovel ready, once the cricket world cup is over.

Stage 5 will happen so long as Geelong contains several swing seats... ... ... which it does

 

[Spazz Cat]

Stage 5 is locked in. Why would it matter now? The stadium rebuild is finished, just need the last part built and its done. All contracts are signed and shovel ready, once the cricket world cup is over.

Wouldn’t matter if we got the spoon.

Really? Wow. I thought some of it was still up in the air.
Yeah I wonder why they're still so hellbent on this path then.
Maybe they just have different values to us now?
Maybe like the Family Club we're now the rate internally club?
F**k I hope not.

 

[Munich]

We're in the 8. It's a miracle

 

[Pollywaffle]

I've thought this too.

Corporate mentality. I guess its everywhere, Sport is a big ticket money earner. Execs control the narrative..

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

I’m off this coaching staff. They refuse to get the best out of this team. Atkins is a ****ing plodder. **** him off to st Joseph’s. Menegola is a potato. Piss him off to the velodrome.

outs - Atkins, Menegola, Stewart,
In- cockatoo, narkle, schlensong.

no point bringing Taylor or Henderson back in. Blood the kids. Schlensong has been playing down back in the vfl. Let see what he’s got. And cocky - bring him in. If he gets more than 1 possession he’s an upgrade on Atkins.

 

[year of the cat]

Outs: Stewart, Atkins, Menegola

Ins: Taylor, Narkle, Clark

 

[cats_09]

Below is the link to the press conference, and I thought Scott's answer the question about "what responsibility do you see to make the game more attractive? If any?", was actually quite interesting and had a bit of detail

He did start by acknowledging "yeah we do have a bit of responsibility", then he went on to talk about the AFL rules committee and the role they play but how some people then get upset or annoyed with rule changes because they want the game to be the way it used to be

What I liked was when he started talking about a less congested game and it being more open, you could hear him enjoy discussing our 2 scratch matches - 16 per side against Carlton, then 14 per side against Melbourne, and how it opened up and that if a team got into space it was hard to stop them

Be interesting to see the AFL actually trial a 16 per side during the pre season

Chris Scott post-match (R4)

Chris Scott reveals star defender Tom Stewart is suspected to have suffered a broken collarbone in his side's narrow win over Melbourne

www.geelongcats.com.au

 

[Goggin Our Best]

A lot of baby out with the bath water tonight.

Few tweaks sure but most experts had Melb above us. We controlled them for 45 minutes playing well below par. Long season with lots of upsets. We have plenty of scope to improve.

Yeah agree- it wasnt much of a game ( but that is modern footy - with low scoring ) but Geel controlled the game - as evidenced by being in front on scoreboard for 90% of the time - and it would have been an absolute miracle win by Melb ( and undeserved ) if they had pinched it at the death

I liked Jake Kolos game - 1st game back in the seniors - very good

Fort - i thought was ok - played alot better than i thought he would - and really battled hard at each contest

Danger Sellwood and Ablett - 3 champions and a class above the rest

No standout sides in the comp - so Geel are 2-2 thats ok

Gold Coast beat Freo by 2 goals - yet some posters are saying they are going to wallop the Cats - i dont think so

One thing i wouldnt mind seeing is if a midfielder is on the run 50-55 metres from goal - just kick the goal rather than short passing it .

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Outs: Stewart, Atkins, Menegola

Ins: Taylor, Narkle, Clark

Age and AFL had Mena in our best players. His game today was similar to Worpel a couple hours later.
Lots of the pill but little poise or finesse.

Not getting dropped.

 

[BigCat1]

It was big win as well. Otherwise we’d be 15th with 4 of the next 5 away. If we can win 3 of the next 5 then we should have a lot of the back half at home.

 

[David the Cat]

Stage 5 is locked in. Why would it matter now? The stadium rebuild is finished, just need the last part built and its done. All contracts are signed and shovel ready, once the cricket world cup is over.

Wouldn’t matter if we got the spoon.

Geelong doesn't tank.....not now, not ever.

 

[The Casey Cat]

Reality is we don’t have the list we did,

but that last 10 mins was woeful and we should have lost it in that last 40 secs.

I don’t know what the answer is but we aren’t the team we used to be.

Same old, same old, bring some kids in please.

PLEASE !!!!

We have a list that is PLENTY able to move the ball better than that (as you see in those lovely games we spend 80% of 5-6 goals down before exploding to nearly pinch it in the last 10 mins). Just absolute rubbish.

Well done Guthrie. Not only got a lot of it and worked hard but also when he got it looked to go in board or quick and direct a lot. Stewart out is a concern as he is direct with the footy. Really could do with Clark in but instead we will go with a large plodding defender who should have retired 18 months ago in Taylor then wonder why a spritely Suns fwd line tear us to pieces especially when the ball hits the deck.

 

[Whopper32]

Geelong doesn't tank.....not now, not ever.

But we were insipid last year and were only able to lead a prelim by 21 points at half time to ultimately lose to eventual premiers. Best we finish on the bottom and rebuild via draft picks...
Look at the evidence on the table for this season to date and we are no worse a chance than last year. Need to get better...yes. There is enough unfounded negativity in the world right now. Not our best four game stint but on balance what would have the most optimistic (me) supporter have predicted? 3-1 and we are 2-2. Remember the Giants who were so good in Rd 1...2-2 but below us on the ladder.

 

[Larry Donohue]

Good post Larry D, agreed with basically all of it although maybe I was a touch more lenient on Tuohy than you ..

re: the bolded; Ratugolea continues to frustrate and very occasionally tantalize ...

I've been a big advocate, but then again I was also an advocate of giving all of our post-Podsiadly Key Forward options a good strong run at it.
Mitch Brown, Josh Walker, Shane Kersten; I never felt as though the MC quite gave them enough time or support to really establish themselves - granted, none of those 3 really screamed out to be picked, there were ups and downs, mainly downs, a few glimpses of potential here and there.

Tom Hawkins himself is the best example of a talented KF taking his time to lock down the role (and he still has more 'off' days than most would like - playing KF in the modern age is a tough gig even for the best).

I'd run out of patience with Esava by half time of this match, despite a determined and concerted effort on my own fickle part not to 'blink' when it came to his development - I kept making myself remember the fact that he helped contribute to a win against WCE in a do-or-die final just last year.
And he has been horribly out-of-form in recent weeks, highlighted last week by a terrible decision to double-fist the ball back into play rather than mark or shepherd on the goal-line.

He was pretty poor again today apart from the 10-minute patch both you and I have alluded to, and yet even then I thought he had his opponent dead beaten on a few occasions only to fluff his lines badly.

I'm still inclined to persist with Esava; he does himself a small favour by being reasonable ruck relief, too.

I would persevere with Ratagolea too. He is potentially a game breaker. Needs time to become that.
Understand your leniency with Tuohy. I like him but he hasn't started well this season.
What is going on with Cockatoo. How much cotton wool is there.
Cocky, Narkle, Clark, Parfitt, Constable, Fogarty and Stephens are our future midfielders.
We need to be informed on all of them. I don't pay my membership for nothing.

 

[Lana]

It's boring as **** but its the only way we're going to win with our team as selected.

We use safe ball movement cause we're old and slow, so we try to hold the ball rather than risk an opening. Every second we have the ball is one less that we're fighting to get it back. As a team we can't beat the other team in a hour long foot race up and down the ground. There's nothing scarier then the other team counter attacking off a turnover we just can't close down the space. If we have to risk it's better having it be 100+ meters from our goal with our defensive structure already setup then 70 meters with everyone caught out of position as they are running forward ahead of their opponents.

We couldn't go for a territory game as we were outclassed in the ruck, every stoppage is rolling a loaded die.