Opinion Best team 2022

FWIW Scott was interviewed on the big screen before the game and was asked about the injured players - he said only Menegola is ruled out and that we expect Duncan, Henry and Ceglar to be available for round 1. I didn’t hear him mention Miers either way.
And Lloyd said everyone is available at this stage.
 
Not big deal at all.
He took apart your argument with facts.

Your claim should have instead read as “Scott isn’t inflexible with players but he doesn’t make the one move I want to see”.
 

PeasFC

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Higgins was good today..let's see if he can produce when the whips are cracking.

Higgins and selwood!
Both used the ball well and seemed to be moving well too.

Selwood actually looked good when he played the high half forward role.
Expect both to get rests at different stages but both will have a role to play this year.
Surprised to see people leaving Selwood out of Best 22's.
 

PeasFC

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Id drop kolo for zuthrie too but that leaves us short for kpds compared to our normal structure. We have a lot of small/med def options compared to kpd.

Otherwise thats my side too our main issue is still ruck sav is an ok fwd but is a potato at actual ruckwork but what do we do if we drop him? Do you play both cegs and stanley or does stanley up forward get in hawk's way? You cant really 2nd ruck blitz unless both kolo and sdk are in the 22 i think.

I also think simpson will be very close to the 22 if fit but we do have lots of competition for spots.

Zuthrie was good.
Hopefully will be good again on Monday and deserves a chance.
Took a big stride in limited games this year, but like his brother, maybe taking a little longer to start consistently showing his best.

SDKs game wasn't as bad and some would make it out to be. Certainly made some errors with ball in hand, but like every key defender on the ground saturday - you'd need a lot more pressure on the ball coming in before we get too worried about his ability to defend at the level. All the key fwds from both teams had a lot of space and some really good service. Hopefully Monday we see a bit more structure and get a better look at him in one on ones. We will have to wear a few clangers from a one game 20yo KPD.

If Cegs is fit, playing two genuine rucks would give us such a different look around the ball. I think it would help Stanley and help our defence around the footy/stoppages. IMO we'd get a lot more value around the ball for what we give up in the fwd50. Also not a bad scenario to have Sav play big minutes in the twos, get his hands on it a bit more and hopefully start hitting the scoreboard with more regularity. Knock the door, take your chance.

Any info on why Simpson missed? Looking forward to watching him on Monday.
So much competition for wing/hf. O'Connor coming back in probably means Touhy stays on a wing. Smith, meners, duncan. Selwood and Higgins both played really well in the high half fwd role and their ball use stood out. Close, Holmes and Stengle look like locks for round 1 and still haven't seen miers and rohan. Evans & Dal were quiet though.
 
Zach was good today :thumbsu: and Cam didn't look for a cheapy all game :thumbsu: I hope that's the result of a permanent change of thinking at the Cats that could result in more direct movement of the ball our of our backline.
My biggest frustration last year was watching Guth of the Cam variety become a chip scab, would get it a lot with very little actual benefit and far far too often at games he would demand a short sideways chip for a cheap stat and then sulk if he didn't get it... potentially a result of confidence after his shoulder issue though to be fair, as 12 months prior he was fantastic and damaging and i reckon he went away from that last year
 

BORIS332

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Updated best 18 with extended bench post-practice match.

FB: Stewart, Blicavs, Henry
HB: Bews, Kolodjashnij, Z.Guthrie
C: Smith, C.Guthrie, Duncan
HF: Selwood, Hawkins, Close
FF: Dangerfield, Cameron, Stengle
1R: Ceglar, Holmes, Parfitt

INT: O'Connor, Menegola, Higgins, Miers, Ratugolea, Rohan, Simpson, Stephens, Stevens, Tuohy, De Koning.

Points of interest:
  • Selwood and Higgins to play high HFF as a 5th midfielder.
  • Always felt Zuthrie would make it, I think this year he'll be firmly best 22, a la Henry's 2021 campaign.
  • Everyone named on the bench will be in and out of the side throughout the year, with the exception of O'Connor and Menegola who are clear best 22.
  • Danger will play more forward, which means there's not enough room for marking forwards Danger, Cameron, Hawkins, Rohan and Esava.
  • Ceglar will take over #1 ruck if he stays fit. I feel Stanley's best is better, but Ceglar more reliable.
  • Felt Holmes was our best MID on the weekend, if the club's talk about promoting the youth is true, then he and Parfitt will take more responsibilty in the MID this year.
 
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My biggest frustration last year was watching Guth of the Cam variety become a chip scab, would get it a lot with very little actual benefit and far far too often at games he would demand a short sideways chip for a cheap stat and then sulk if he didn't get it... potentially a result of confidence after his shoulder issue though to be fair, as 12 months prior he was fantastic and damaging and i reckon he went away from that last year
I've said before that I think the shoulder injury had a huge impact on Cam last year. He was legitimately one of the best mids in the comp before the injury, was in top 5 or so in Brownlow betting and coaches votes IIRC. His game against Hawks on Easter Monday was one of the best games a Geelong mid has played in years.

I suspect his injury was actually pretty serious and would have probably ended his season if we weren't in top 4 contention.

Look forward to seeing back in full flight this year, no reason he can't be AA and top 10 Brownlow if he recaptures his 2020/early 2021 pre-injury form.
 
Ceglar is being mentioned here like he is a an upgrade... he is in no way an upgrade IMO.

Stanley isn't a star, but he is fine... if i am being honest i think the ruck "issues" are vastly overstated in general and a large part of that is Rhys having the whipping boy status.. he is a mid level ruckman and bar like 3 star ruckman he is no better or worse than any of the rest, has his good days and his bad... they all do unless their names are Gawn, NicNat and Grundy.

So he likely gets a chance to claim Stanleys spot, but it isn't going to move the needle for us one way or the other, and potentially the MC yo-yo's between the 2 for a bit
 

PeasFC

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Updated best 18 with extended bench post-practice match.

FB: Stewart, Blicavs, Henry
HB: Bews, Kolodjashnij, Z.Guthrie
C: Smith, C.Guthrie, Duncan
HF: Selwood, Hawkins, Close
FF: Dangerfield, Cameron, Stengle
1R: Ceglar, Holmes, Parfitt

INT: O'Connor, Menegola, Higgins, Miers, Ratugolea, Rohan, Simpson, Stephens, Stevens, Tuohy, De Koning.

Points of interest:
  • Selwood and Higgins to play high HFF as a 5th midfielder.
  • Always felt Zuthrie would make it, I think this year he'll be firmly best 22, a la Henry's 2021 campaign.
  • Everyone named on the bench will be in and out of the side throughout the year, with the exception of O'Connor and Menegola who are clear best 22.
  • Danger will play more forward, which means there's not enough room for marking forwards Danger, Cameron, Hawkins, Rohan and Esava.
  • Ceglar will take over #1 ruck if he stays fit. I feel Stanley's best is better, but Ceglar more reliable.
  • Felt Holmes was our best MID on the weekend, if the club's talk about promoting the youth is true, then he and Parfitt will take more responsibilty in the MID this year.

Like it.
Certainly lots of points of interest this year.

  • Can Henry elevate to AA contention
  • Can we keep our guns fit this year (Stewie, Jezz, Danger & Duncan all missed big chunks last year)
  • Will we find a short term best ruck combination in Stanley & Cegs or will the merry go round continue
  • Who of Esava / Zuthrie / O'Connor / Simpson / Stengle can make themselves best 22 locks
  • How good (and how quickly) can Max Holmes be?
  • What contributions will we get from Selwood/Higgins/Touhy
  • We actually have some kids now so watching their development will be a great source of interest this year. Neale, SDK, Stephens, Stevens and Tsap joined by Conway, Knevitt, Willis, Kroeger, Whyte, Dempsey (shame re mullin)
 

PeasFC

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Ceglar is being mentioned here like he is a an upgrade... he is in no way an upgrade IMO.

Stanley isn't a star, but he is fine... if i am being honest i think the ruck "issues" are vastly overstated in general and a large part of that is Rhys having the whipping boy status.. he is a mid level ruckman and bar like 3 star ruckman he is no better or worse than any of the rest, has his good days and his bad... they all do unless their names are Gawn, NicNat and Grundy.

So he likely gets a chance to claim Stanleys spot, but it isn't going to move the needle for us one way or the other, and potentially the MC yo-yo's between the 2 for a bit

I think it's maybe just the sum of the part (ceglar) that has people bullish. I think we all agree that Stanley is a better back up than Fort and for me, that's largely why I feel like I have more confidence with our rucks this year.

Stanley has always had patches of both really good and really poor form but we have always look vulnerable when it was time for Blics Or Sav to give him a chop out. Hopefully some more legitimate competition helps him play at or close to his best for longer this year

If we believe Cegs is an upgrade on Fort, there are three ways in which this helps us.

1. If Stanley is injured or suffers a form slump, Cegs comes in as a better back up than Fort
2. If they can play together, Cegs is definitely an upgrade on Sav/Blics around the footy
3. Ceglar has never held the number 1 mantle, so we don't actually know what his best footy is - he had a five week window last year where his output was better than 3 stars.
 

Shadow89

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Updated Best 22, post practice match:

B: Henry, Blics (chop out ruck), Stewart
HB: Tuohy, Kolo, Bews
C: Menegola, Parfitt, I. Smith
FO: Stanley/Ceglar, Guthrie, Danger
HF: Selwood, Cameron, Duncan
F: Stengle, Hawkins (chop out ruck), Close
INT: O'Connor, Holmes, S. Higgins, Zuthrie/Atkins

EMG: Ceglar/Stanley, Sav, Atkins/Zuthrie, Miers

Next in line - Simpson, Rohan, SDK, Stevens, Stephens
 

Phipppppa

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Ceglar is being mentioned here like he is a an upgrade... he is in no way an upgrade IMO.

Stanley isn't a star, but he is fine... if i am being honest i think the ruck "issues" are vastly overstated in general and a large part of that is Rhys having the whipping boy status.. he is a mid level ruckman and bar like 3 star ruckman he is no better or worse than any of the rest, has his good days and his bad... they all do unless their names are Gawn, NicNat and Grundy.

So he likely gets a chance to claim Stanleys spot, but it isn't going to move the needle for us one way or the other, and potentially the MC yo-yo's between the 2 for a bit

Completely agree, well said.
 
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Ceglar is being mentioned here like he is a an upgrade... he is in no way an upgrade IMO.

Stanley isn't a star, but he is fine... if i am being honest i think the ruck "issues" are vastly overstated in general and a large part of that is Rhys having the whipping boy status.. he is a mid level ruckman and bar like 3 star ruckman he is no better or worse than any of the rest, has his good days and his bad... they all do unless their names are Gawn, NicNat and Grundy.

So he likely gets a chance to claim Stanleys spot, but it isn't going to move the needle for us one way or the other, and potentially the MC yo-yo's between the 2 for a bit

Really well said.
I’ve been told Ceglar is very much banged up. Stanley is our #1 ruck but hopefully Ceglar when he plays will produce good games.
At best he will get rested regularly.
 

standupand

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Really well said.
I’ve been told Ceglar is very much banged up. Stanley is our #1 ruck but hopefully Ceglar when he plays will produce good games.
At best he will get rested regularly.
The ruck merry-go-round just confuses me. It's as if with rucks every club is convinced the grass is greener over in the other paddock. The fact is there is a large group of average rucks out there. I would have thought having one like Fort that had at least been at the club for a few years and was therefore familiar enough with the centre bounce dynamics would be an advantage over someone like Ceglar who doesn't and only has a few years left at best...
 

BORIS332

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Like it.
Certainly lots of points of interest this year.

  • Can Henry elevate to AA contention
  • Can we keep our guns fit this year (Stewie, Jezz, Danger & Duncan all missed big chunks last year)
  • Will we find a short term best ruck combination in Stanley & Cegs or will the merry go round continue
  • Who of Esava / Zuthrie / O'Connor / Simpson / Stengle can make themselves best 22 locks
  • How good (and how quickly) can Max Holmes be?
  • What contributions will we get from Selwood/Higgins/Touhy
  • We actually have some kids now so watching their development will be a great source of interest this year. Neale, SDK, Stephens, Stevens and Tsap joined by Conway, Knevitt, Willis, Kroeger, Whyte, Dempsey (shame re mullin)

I just came across this graphic, it is the centre bounce attendances from the weekend. It looks like Selwood only spent time on the ball in the 1st & 3rd quarters, and Higgins only the 2nd quarter.

It looks like our main MIDs will still be Danger, Cuthrie and Parfitt, but certainly seems Holmes will play a bigger role.

1646084343035.png
 

CoolCat75

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Our biggest weakness is our defence in my opinion, in particular winning ground ball, and quick rebound by foot. I cannot understand why Tuohy isn't a defender anymore. Yes he is a good wingman but his strengths are more needed down back. I don't think we can have a defence with Blicavs, SDK, Henry, and Kolo. All good players, but collectively too stagnant. In fact, I might be in the minority but I only rate Blicavs as an OK defender. Get's beaten a bit one-on-one. I have no issue if he plays the 2nd Ruck role. Really wished we kept Clark and told him he had a spot on the HBF if he earnt it.

Bews, Blicavs/SDK, O'Connor
Stewart, Henry, Touhy (Kolo bench)
 
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Our biggest weakness is our defence in my opinion, in particular winning ground ball, and quick rebound by foot. I cannot understand why Tuohy isn't a defender anymore. Yes he is a good wingman but his strengths are more needed down back. I don't think we can have a defence with Blicavs, SDK, Henry, and Kolo. All good players, but collectively too stagnant. In fact, I might be in the minority but I only rate Blicavs as an OK defender. Get's beaten a bit one-on-one. I have no issue if he plays the 2nd Ruck role. Really wished we kept Clark and told him he had a spot on the HBF if he earnt it.

Bews, Blicavs/SDK, O'Connor
Stewart, Henry, Touhy (Kolo bench)
I'm on board with Tuohy down back there was a game late last season where Tuohy was killing it early down back and Geelong looked in control they then switched him more forward and we fell apart in the back half.
 

bellpark

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It is genuinely depressing to see best 22's with virtually the same names as last few years - that group not quite good enough. Unless there are 3 or more new faces I think we are looking at a reliable solid season followed by one win and one loss in the finals again.
 
It is genuinely depressing to see best 22's with virtually the same names as last few years - that group not quite good enough. Unless there are 3 or more new faces I think we are looking at a reliable solid season followed by one win and one loss in the finals again.
Football at the elite level serves the purpose of entertaining masses of people each week. For fans of 17 clubs they will get that entertainment without a tangible reward at the end, but entertained nonetheless.

What’s happened in Ukraine is depressing, what’s happening with our team is just football.
 
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It is genuinely depressing to see best 22's with virtually the same names as last few years - that group not quite good enough. Unless there are 3 or more new faces I think we are looking at a reliable solid season followed by one win and one loss in the finals again.

Agreed, It's hard to figure out in an ideal world who needs to be removed entirely, who needs to be persevered with and who needs to move positions.

A few for me.
Higgins - VFL start
Dahlhaus - VFL start and behind Stengle, Miers, Close and Evans in a small forward role
Rohan - VFL only
Rategolea - AFL start
Kolodjashnij - AFL start
Selwood - AFL starts half forward
Zuthrie - AFL start
SDK - VFL start

We need the 22 to change and develop over the year, but for round 1.

B: Henry - Blicavs - Bews
HB: Stewart - Kolodjashnij - Z. Guthrie
C: Smith - Parfitt - Tuohy
HF: Close - Cameron - Selwood
F: Stengle - Hawkins - Rategolea
R: Ceglar - Dangerfield - Duncan
I: Holmes - Atkins - C Guthrie - O'Connor

Not sure if the balance is right there either.
 

Goggin Our Best

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Not big deal at all.
He took apart your argument with facts.

Your claim should have instead read as “Scott isn’t inflexible with players but he doesn’t make the one move I want to see”.

Honestly mate - you and Veedubs and a few others - Chris Scott could burn down every Grandstand at Kardinia Park - and you lot would still be defending Scott to the hilt

FWIW - i watched that interview with James Kelly on the boundary line after the Rich game - and he spoke brilliantly - he was a huge admirer of J Worsfold at Ess - and Woosha told him - dont get too carried away with the wins- and also dont get too down with the losses - just keep an even keel - and that was Kelly to a tee - wasnt getting overhyped/sucked in by the young bloke who kicked 4 goals etc

Iwill give you a long range forecast - lets hope its short range - but in 2 years times James Kelly will be Geel Senior coach - bookmark it now
 
Honestly mate - you and Veedubs and a few others - Chris Scott could burn down every Grandstand at Kardinia Park - and you lot would still be defending Scott to the hilt
Completely irrelevant and beside the point, Goggin.

I never assessed the validity if the move you’d like to see. It could very well be a good one.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Scott as coach, it is about one fan (you) making a statement, and another fan (Dubs) disagreeing with it and using evidence to support his stance. Simply saying big deal is actually a bit disrespectful.
 

Phipppppa

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I’m not the biggest CS lover, but if Scott did burn down every stand at K Park in spite of the AFL not giving us finals and every home game. I wouldn’t be too mad. 🤣

But nonetheless the original dig at Art and Veedubs is off topic and unnecessary. They’re entitled to believe in our senior coach.
 

Mikevk123

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Round 1

B T.Stewart M.Blivcas T.Atkins
HB Z.Guthrie S.De Koning Z.Tuohy
C M.Duncan M.O’Connor I.Smith
HF P.Dangerfield J.Cameron B.Close
F G.Miers T.Hawkins T.Stengle
FOLL: R.Stanley B.Parfitt C.Guthrie
INTER: J.Selwood, E.Ratogolea, M.Holmes, C.Stephens
Sub: N.Stevens
 
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