Autopsy Cats lose to Saints by 10 points.

[Play it Sam]

I mentioned this a few weeks ago. What is the point of Cameron in the centre bounce? It makes no sense at all. He even mentioned in a post game interview he doesn’t know what he’s doing in there. Madness

His physique is just not midfield material. Somehow they must think he'll feed Hawk.
So Sel, Danger, Guthrie, Parf, just smash it forward from the bounce, and he's still out.
You've got to give it to him though-he's a funny bastard. Bit too honest.

 

[Cat Woman]

With this group of players we have missed our chance. Losing the preliminary final against Richmond in 2019 without the suspended Tomahawk. Then losing the 2020 Grand Final against Richmond with the amazing Dustin Martin on fire. Too many of our senior players are now past their best.

 

[kickazz]

Looking how exposed we can be with a poor midfield now, and thinking how it was pretty good a few years ago ... makes me angry that it is NOW we adopt a play on, more attacking game plan.

If we played with a bit more initiative over the last decade......

 

[Art Vandelay_]

That's where we differ.

Seasonal average so far of 70.5% efficiency of disposals which is high for a pure inside midfielder.

Wines 2021 - 68.2%
Neale 2020 - 72%
Fyfe 2019 - 70.8%
Mitchell 2018 - 72%
Martin 2017 - 64.8%
Dangerfield 2016 - 69.2%

His ball use is in the same ballpark area as recent brownlow medallists in their winning year. So not exactly a concern given his position. Would say his ball use this season is more than satisfactory.

 

[Finknottle]

When the intensity steps up, as it did in that 3rd quarter, he’s now exposed. He needs help but the others aren’t able to lift their games either. C.Guthrie and Parfitt were slaughtered as well. The midfield needs a rebuild.

Guthrie can hold his own against the better midfields but Parfitt struggles. Dangerfield wil get 20 disposals but only half of them are effective. Dusty Martin only needs 15 disposals to dominate a game.

 

[#cats2021]

Miers is a disaster out there at the moment, should be back in the VFL next week to get his confidence up. Was fantastic against Brisbane and has been regressing since then.

The real elephant in the room is Parfitt. Generally speaking I am a fan because he busts his ass and does a lot of defensive work but his disposal at times just kills us. He cost us two goals today due to errant kicks.

He's now played 104 games. I think the club would have been hoping for a bit more at this stage. Not sure how much upside there is in his game.

 

[ShaunWDT]

Had our chances to win in all honesty but we are going to struggle when the midfield is so poor, got absolutely belted yet again when another side upped their intensity at the stoppage.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Can't see even a miracle accomplishing that.

Absolutely. We can barely play two good games in a row against mediocre opposition. The thought that we can play 3 or 4 in a row against the best of the best when the heat is on is blindly optimistic.

 

[Chinacats]

Saints pushed an extra into stoppages , so they dominated territory in the 3rd. 3rd quarter was poor.

 

[Chinacats]

Jez is a concern. Big games against kangaroos and Giants but quiet against Dockers and Saints. Is Cameron a flat tracker for Geelong?

 

[Chinacats]

Midfield mix needs a change. Coop and Holmes to get a run of games
Together when fit I think. Paddy having his worst year ever for the club..

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Miers is a disaster out there at the moment, should be back in the VFL next week to get his confidence up. Was fantastic against Brisbane and has been regressing since then.

The real elephant in the room is Parfitt. Generally speaking I am a fan because he busts his ass and does a lot of defensive work but his disposal at times just kills us. He cost us two goals today due to errant kicks.

He's now played 104 games. I think the club would have been hoping for a bit more at this stage. Not sure how much upside there is in his game.

I might be alone in this but I've never understood the bashing. Mainly because I never saw the star potential that others saw even from the early days.

To me, he is what he was always going to be: A 3rd or 4th midfielder. He's not quick, he's not big, his disposal is neat enough over 30 metres but after that it's errant. This has all been evident since he was drafted. He's a solid but not spectacular footballer mainly due to him trying his guts out as a defensive midfielder. I'll take that from a mid twenties pick.

He was never going to replace Joel or Danger, he is what he is and will only ever be a slightly better version of what he is now. It's not the disaster some make it out to be. I don't know why we expect more from him tbh.

 

[Live in hope]

While a loss like today is a bit galling I’m a little surprised about the kicking dished out to some of our stars -

- Stewart has been an amazing player for us over his career. This year has been more challenging because he’s coming back from a nasty injury but also because with Henry out there is enormous additional reliance on him for intercepts. Opposition coaches are more savy instructing his forward opponents to make it difficult to intercept and that is why Scott is playing him on the wing, so he can play seventh man - that is massively tricky if you’re still go to keep an eye on your midfield opponent.

- really surprised that those digging Danger today have omitted the context of how bashed up his body is. Sure, he’s light years away from his Brownlow days, but I’m sure that Scott and the team know that even at his reduced capacity he’ll give 100% and influence games. Yes - likely he’ll sadly never win a premiership but that is actually pretty common for lots of great VFL and AFL champions.

- Duncan (and MOC and Meirs also) copping it without mention of disrupted preseason and delayed starts. (I’m no fan of Gryan due to his right foot technique and no left foot which is a massive liability, but got to take account of his injury challenges)

- Close and Cameron have had fabulous seasons save for a couple of relatively quiet games. That is going to happen during a season, the key thing is how they respond.

Hey - I’m disappointed like everyone to lose games like this but think we really have to take account of the number of injuries on the list and the fact (as we all accept) we’re in a transition stage. I’m just loving that we’re playing the kids and my only real disappointment for the year is the injury to Holmes. Big list decisions at year end, but just going to enjoy the ride this year without any expectations.

 

[Chinacats]

Got to be careful with motivation now with some of the old failed campaigners. Those that have done the heavy lifting for years without success might just struggle to be motivated knowing they won’t be winning a cup after all these years. On motivational watch: Paddy, Guthrie, Bews, Stewart, Blicavs, kolo, Stanley, Touhy.. et al. The failed generation..
I mean they’ve been to the summit without touching the ultimate prize.. what’s the point now for them?

 

[Phipppppa]

Got to be careful with motivation now with some of the old failed campaigners. Those that have done the heavy lifting for years without success might just struggle to be motivated knowing they won’t be winning a cup after all these years. On motivational watch: Paddy, Guthrie, Bews, Stewart, Blicavs, kolo, Stanley, Touhy.. et al. The failed generation..
I mean they’ve been to the summit without touching the ultimate prize.. what’s the point now for them?

They’ll start dropping like flies as the years go on.

 

[Chinacats]

After 97 3 father sons propelled us back to the summit. Hawkins, Ablett, Scarlett .
Over to you Mackie…

 

[sarah.13]

Up against one of the best ruck combo's in the game and clearly restricted with injury. I'll cut him some slack for tonight.

Reckon he won't play next week (and maybe the week after) and we'll go with Blicavs against Hayes.

Finally a realistic view of what happened. Stanley was doing fine until he went of late in the 1qtr. Hobbled around when he came back and hardly did any Rick work. Agree he’ll be out injured next week.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Got to be careful with motivation now with some of the old failed campaigners. Those that have done the heavy lifting for years without success might just struggle to be motivated knowing they won’t be winning a cup after all these years. On motivational watch: Paddy, Guthrie, Bews, Stewart, Blicavs, kolo, Stanley, Touhy.. et al. The failed generation..
I mean they’ve been to the summit without touching the ultimate prize.. what’s the point now for them?

Pretty simple, prove you're an asset to the team or you're dropped. That should be how sport works, there shouldn't be favourites, but we all know that's not the case.

 

[strauchnyy]

I’m genuinely worried we have no real youth coming through.

Besides SDK, Close, Holmes and Stengle ehst really do we have? Cupboard if quite bare.

Don’t rate Cooper to be honest. Knevitt is just too timid, no competitive killer instinct, kroeger + Willis n we’re more draft Smokey’s who are injury prone. We really not much coming through the mids… need to prioritise the mid above all else in the upcoming drafts

 

[Phipppppa]

I’m genuinely worried we have no real youth coming through.

Besides SDK, Close, Holmes and Stengle ehst really do we have? Cupboard if quite bare.

Don’t rate Cooper to be honest. Knevitt is just too timid, no competitive killer instinct, kroeger + Willis n we’re more draft Smokey’s who are injury prone. We really not much coming through the mids… need to prioritise the mid above all else in the upcoming drafts

Neale and Dempsey too.

I personally disagree with your opinions on Knevitt and Stephens. I think they’ll be good.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Tough contest and one that we could have won had a few things gone our way.
To be honest I had us around 7th this year and games like this and the Hawks seem to vindicate that.
We really should have been much further ahead early with some very easy shots missed. Our pressure and ball movement early was excellent- so did we tire or did the Saint’s adjust?
We had a few play stinkers and I cannot recall us dropping so many gettable marks all over the ground
Reminder how tough this comp is when you see how Knevitt struggled - we need to be mindful of that with the young kids.

I think our dare was fantastic early but we just don’t seem to have the cattle to play that way for the whole game - that’s where the Dees are and where we need to aspire

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Take your time. What you hear, where would that come from?
CS will stay with us at least another 3 years.

Why would we feel the need to rebuild because we lost a game of footy by 10 points to a top four side?? Bit exaggerated by a few.

 

[DanA]

Why would we feel the need to rebuild because we lost a game of footy by 10 points to a top four side?? Bit exaggerated by a few.

We are nine games into the season. It's not really one game where we lost by 10 points. There's an underlying theme of subpar work rate in the midfield that isn't going to be solved by the current playing list IMO.

 

[thejester]

Problem is that when the intensity and speed ramp up we can no longer go with teams. Our stars are fading and the rest just aren’t good enough.

Not sure that's exactly right - I suspect a lot of St Kilda fans would have been saying the same thing at half time. Problem was we couldn't sustain it.

 

[thejester]

He has been quite a good ruck this year. Probablg in the top half dozen in the comp. Was terrible today though after being touch and go back from injury. Clearly needed another week off.

Was off the ground for most of the first quarter getting assessed and didn't look super comfortable coming back onto the ground.