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catempire said:
Just leave him close to goal where he has elite reaction times and can do freakish things.

He’s soft. There, I’ve said it.
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Dempsey would be ideal as the 4th target up forward, in the role we're asking Henry to play - he's one who's not scared to leap at the ball and is pretty good with follow up ground level work
 
iameviljez said:
Honestly, the one thing that has worked consistently well over the last three years has been our forward line. It's been a very rare game that we have won the i50s yet still lost the game.
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Fair. We still have a looming issue with Henry and Kolo about to return. You can't play all of SDK, Henry, Kolo, COS in the same backline (let alone Blicavs, Zuthrie and Stewart too). Whether it's SDK into the ruck or someone else switching to wing/forward, something will need to change. Personally, I'd be putting Stew in the middle once the defenders return.
 
I think SDK will be redeployed into more rucking and midfield//forward when Henry is back.

We need his class through the middle.

I still think we should throw him forward more too.
 
fpm84 said:
Fair. We still have a looming issue with Henry and Kolo about to return. You can't play all of SDK, Henry, Kolo, COS in the same backline (let alone Blicavs, Zuthrie and Stewart too). Whether it's SDK into the ruck or someone else switching to wing/forward, something will need to change. Personally, I'd be putting Stew in the middle once the defenders return.
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I agree with both. As per today, Stanley will get beaten by most of the better ruckmen in the AFL, so I'd rather have SDK getting beaten there and at least doing a bit more around the ground.

Henry at least can play small no issues.
 

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bulletproof said:
I think SDK will be redeployed into more rucking and midfield//forward when Henry is back.

We need his class through the middle.

I still think we should throw him forward more too.
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SDK is a bit of a confidence player. At the moment he is dropping marks and letting the ball get over the back. The idea that if we stick him in the middle he will emulate his brother is pie in the sky sort of stuff. It’s chalk and cheese.
 
I've seen this side play way better than what they did against Carlton on the weekend. They just had a bad day at the office. Disappointing to lose, but we move on to next week. Lawson was outstanding. Jezza did his best. Smith, Mannagh, and Atkins held their own. The rest were pretty below average. The umpiring seemed pretty favorable to Carlton. Oh well. That's life.
 
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nohairandfair said:
SDK is a bit of a confidence player. At the moment he is dropping marks and letting the ball get over the back. The idea that if we stick him in the middle he will emulate his brother is pie in the sky sort of stuff. It’s chalk and cheese.
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It has nothing to do with his brother, he was close to best on ground in round one. He is not a number one ruck but can play as an extra midfielder and second ruck as Blicavs has done for years.
 
nohairandfair said:
SDK is a bit of a confidence player. At the moment he is dropping marks and letting the ball get over the back. The idea that if we stick him in the middle he will emulate his brother is pie in the sky sort of stuff. It’s chalk and cheese.
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I think you're overreacting on the back of one game. He has been excellent down back over the last few weeks in general and prior to that one of our best in the first game vs Freo.
 
It's been so long since I've complained about umpires that I really cant remember. Let's call it a decade.

I'm not vocal when I'm at home watching the footy. But gee I said FFS out loud so many times yesterday.
TV was turned off at 3/4 time.

I expect a few poor calls (both ways) during a game. But it became a joke.
I thought Voss coached well though.
 
Live in hope said:
Didn’t get to see the match but on the basis of the comments I’m mighty glad I made it to the ‘G last week, rather than today.

Sounds like not much worked for us, but reading the comments I wonder if the posters are not acknowledging the nominal quality of the opposition- how many top 10 draft picks playing for them ? Three number 1 picks ? Carlton have been massively underperforming on the quality of their top 10 players - not that surprised that a Cats team with players that are physically underdone, inexperienced/speculative picks, struggling with injuries and form loses to them. Sometimes you just can’t defy gravity.

Forget dropping Neale anytime soon- he’s important to our structure and as last week showed can make important contributions at key times. As we all know Ollie H’s talent is not a problem, he just needs to ensure he can get involved and make an impact - I wonder if stints at half back, in Seniors or VFL would help.
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All good, but you have the wrong Henry - keep Ollie right away from the backline. The few times he was there yesterday, I caught him hanging back 3 metres from the pack. He's a receiver, when he's on, not a defender and easily out marked and knocked off the ball. At the moment he seems lost.
 
Seeds said:
Vardy could never get on the park until his body was too busted. Dont think the comparison with Neale is right. The more obvious comparison is Sav. And right now i dont now where it goes. I.e. which one will be better. Neale could be a star. He could be a complete dud. He has got the body. He can take marks. But will he compete hard enough for this level.
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I'm not even sure about the Neale-Sav comparison.

One thing you couldn't fault Sav on was his enthusiasm. The problem was he had almost zero football IQ.

Neale almost feels the opposite. He knows what to do in most situations (and we've seen him do it in patches, but doesn't seem to have the energy/wherewithall to do it consistently.

I agree with others that this was one of the worst games I've seen him play. At least in Brisbane he was playing hampered. Can't and won't write him off, but we really need him to do more - and that's still setting the bar pretty low.
 

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Gazzathegoat said:
It was always going to be a tough ask. A very young Geelong side, missing some key structural players, coming off a bruising fortnight of finals-like intensity, up against Carlton’s best team of the season on their home deck with everything to play for.

We were coming off a short 6-day break, without arguably our most important link player in Gryan Miers. His absence was huge – without his workrate, connection, and ability to create scoring chains, our ball movement looked stagnant and predictable.

It’s also important to remember the context: back-to-back taxing efforts against Adelaide (away) and Hawthorn (Easter Monday) took a lot of emotional and physical energy. Geelong threw everything into those wins. You simply can't play at that finals-level intensity three weeks in a row during the home-and-away season – especially not with a young group still learning to handle the grind.

Our leaders didn’t stand up when we needed them. Cameron and Stewart, in particular, had off nights. Max Holmes, who has been superb all year, looked heavy-legged – unsurprising given the workload he’s been carrying. Bailey Smith deserves credit for battling hard all night, but he was one of the few who still had some spark.

Rhys Stanley also looked like he badly needed a rest. I doubt playing three games in a row was ever part of the plan, but unfortunately we didn’t have the luxury to rest him — and we’ll likely need him again next week against Collingwood. I actually wouldn’t mind throwing him forward at times to stretch their defence and provide another tall option inside 50.

Our forward line overall clearly lacks polish and structure without Hawkins – and even Gary Rohan, whose pressure and ability to create chaos at ground level are sorely missed.

We now find ourselves in a really tricky position. We desperately need to rest players, but unlike previous seasons, we just don’t have the depth to rotate properly. Missing critical midfield rotations like Tanner Bruhn and Cam Guthrie, and now Miers for at least two weeks, is going to put enormous extra toll on Holmes, Smith, and Atkins. Jhye Clark simply isn’t ready to take on significant midfield minutes yet, and it shows.

If we play anything like we did yesterday against Collingwood, we’ll lose by 10+ goals.

There’s no need to hit the panic button yet, but the next month will tell us a lot about where this young group really is.

Side note: Nick Haynes and Mitch McGovern also played probably their best games for Carlton. We made them look like A-graders.
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Brilliant post Gazzathegoat.

I think the hard run in to this game plus the absence of Miers/JH/Kolo and Bruhn really tested our depth.
Miers in particular is a huge loss and it's hard to replace his elite endurance plus ball use.
Shout out to Stanley who would have been battered from the Meek contest and whilst he lowered his colours to TDK his last half was pivotal in our comeback.
Notwithstanding all of the above we were still in it quite late , this is a huge tick for our playing group and coaches.
We are a hard team to play and large defeats are rare with the GFC.

Exerting pressure in F50 and between the arcs is vital for this group.
We are generally good at scoring off turnover but if we let it out of F50 without pressure we do get cut up especially by teams that can run and link it into their F50.
I think we are short a couple of link players or one elite mid - that would make a huge difference to our ball movement and create more chances for our forwards. Wouldn't a Rowell or Butters be amazing !

Very tough run ahead , however it works out it's never dull to be a Cats fan :)
 
PzBlinky said:
I'm not even sure about the Neale-Sav comparison.

One thing you couldn't fault Sav on was his enthusiasm. The problem was he had almost zero football IQ.

Neale almost feels the opposite. He knows what to do in most situations (and we've seen him do it in patches, but doesn't seem to have the energy/wherewithall to do it consistently.

I agree with others that this was one of the worst games I've seen him play. At least in Brisbane he was playing hampered. Can't and won't write him off, but we really need him to do more - and that's still setting the bar pretty low.
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Did you hear the post game interview with Cameron last week?

Something like 'with Hawkins retired, Neale in, Danger forward they're trying to adjust. They keep getting in each others way.'

But yes, when Neale gets his chance he needs to start taking a few grabs.
 
Morning after provocative thoughts / devil's advocacy to prompt discussion:

1. If it takes three months off to get Stewart back to fitness, take it.
2. O'Sullivan is leaking goals, despite all the great signs.
3. Play a goddamn tagger. We have at least two players capable of doing it.
4. Mid year, it is non-negotiable that we have a spot free to pick up the most in-form ruckman outside the AFL.
5. Two marking forwards is enough. Four is ridiculous.
 
Tony Barber said:
Did you hear the post game interview with Cameron last week?

Something like 'with Hawkins retired, Neale in, Danger forward they're trying to adjust. They keep getting in each others way.'

But yes, when Neale gets his chance he needs to start taking a few grabs.
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Didn't hear that, but yeah, it's reasonable that there's an adjustment period. Henry's form is probably the biggest fall-out from the "Danger forward" move.

Still, it's not unreasonable to expect Neale to make more than 1 mark in a game and at least bring the ball to ground more times than not.
 

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fpm84 said:
Pendlebury and Sidebottom have played exclusively centre square mid this year at age 37 and 34, respectively.

When we are being smashed in the middle I think we should be swinging Danger in there for 10-15 minute stints. We didn't do it v Hawthorn and just got over the line. We didn't put Danger in there yesterday until the last quarter from memory, when we were already five goals down.

Our CBAs for the last few weeks have been dominated by just three mids (Atkins, Smith, Holmes) - they can't do it alone and if the ball isn't getting forward enough it is wasteful to keep Danger there, when he's still a match winner.

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I think they're playing the long game and going on exposed form (teams so far this season), Geelong will be playing finals.
Dangerfield will need to be as fresh as possible so the more he can stay away from the midfield where's it's unrelenting on the body, the better he will be when the whips are cracking.
 
you pick one said:
No accountability. This one of four or five I've seen just in the highlights there are worse examples too.
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Wouldn't be surprised to see us play a tighter zone or even man on man at times , especially when the opposition have a run on.
Can't play it all game but definitely could be an advantage at times to arrest opposition momentum.
 

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