Autopsy Cats lose to GWS by 4 points

[PzBlinky]

Watching the VFL, you get the opportunity to see both Clark & Stevens playing in the guts, in roles that they both seem most comfortable playing and that they've both topped the coaches votes polling for in a game this season

Neither of them have that Dangerfield type explosiveness over the first few steps, though Stevens isn't slow once he's moving but for a guy listed as 189cm I haven't really seen a strong contested marking presence from him which is something that would add another element to his game

So while I'd love to see Stevens given an opportunity at senior level, if it's a case of Clark out & Stevens in to the wing or the forward flank, I'm thinking it's going to take less than a half for some to be writing him off as those roles don't play to his strengths. Let's give him a game, but throw him into the thick of it to see what he can do

As for Clark; we can return him to the VFL where if we throw him into the guts we know he'll get 25/30 disposals and be hard as a cats head at every contest, but if we're not going to play him in the middle in the seniors it may not actually be helpful to him. When returning him to the VFL, maybe try playing him on the wing for a period of time, see how he goes actually developing into that role

100% to playing him midfield in the VFL.

Give him the rest of the season and only use as a last resort emergency.

Watching him bounce off the bigger GWS bodies was hugely frustrating, and he doesn't have the experience or skillset to play anywhere else right now.

I've not written him off completely, but I don't think 2025 will be his breakout year.

I do think Stevens is worth 1-2 games to give him a taste and you never know how someone handles the step up until you actually give them a chance. And as I said yesterday, it's not like he could contribute much less than what Clark did.

P.S. I'm not angry or annoyed by Clark, because it's not his fault he's being selected. Either the MC are playing conservative but shoehorning players into positions and rotating or they don't trust any of the last few options. So it's not a great situation either way.

Personally, I'd like to play Mannagh more in the middle but right now, he's basically the only one consistently pressuring in our F50 so would be too big a loss to the forward line.

 

[fpm84]

And in most (if not all) the losses we’ve had we arguably ought to have won or had a shot at it. Some of the reactions on here have been way over blown given the context of our season

4 losses by a combined 38 points (average losing margin 9.5 points). Pies and Lions have both been destroyed already this year (by GWS/Pies respectively). We've been in every single game down to the last five minutes.

Not making excuses for throwing the game away yesterday, as we really should have won, but in the grand scheme of things we are going OK.

Get Stewart, Henry and Humphries back in over the next 1-2 weeks and things look a lot better.

 

[you pick one]

4 losses by a combined 38 points (average losing margin 9.5 points). Pies and Lions have both been destroyed already this year (by GWS/Pies respectively). We've been in every single game down to the last five minutes.

Not making excuses for throwing the game away yesterday, as we really should have won, but in the grand scheme of things we are going OK.

Get Stewart, Henry and Humphries back in over the next 1-2 weeks and things look a lot better.

I think half that 38 points would be to Carlton and in my opinion we'd have won against Brisbane rd1 if it hadn't been for Alfred postponing the game.

 

[fpm84]

I think half that 38 points would be to Carlton and in my opinion we'd have won against Brisbane rd1 if it hadn't been for Alfred postponing the game.

Yep, 18 point loss to Carlton and all others have been by under 10.

 

[Mr Meow]

This stings. The 2nd column is expected score.

View attachment 2312082

Yeah that looks about right. On the balance of both sides chances, Geelong should have won by 2-3 goals. But bad kicking is bad football.

 

[you pick one]

Yeah that looks about right. On the balance of both sides chances, Geelong should have won by 2-3 goals. But bad kicking is bad football.

Not putting your head over the ball and going when it your turn to go is bad footy too and there were a few guilty of that in my opinion yesterday I'd suggest that will be addressed today and won't occur as much against Port this week.

 

[Stab Pass]

A few themes through the 17 pages to date. Clark - he's an inside mid and we had him on a wing. He has a dip but he's not a winger. Put him back in the VFL as an inside mid and he'll rack them up again. At present he isn't going to get a gig as an inside mid in the AFL so he has to learn another gig or bide his time and get bigger. Mullin - potted for no other reason than a few like potting him. At the ground, he was good. His opponents did nothing, he is clean when he gets it and when he does compete in the air he doesn't get out marked. He's a tough little bugger and probably deserved at least one or two more frees when driven into the ground or taken high. Neale, he is going to be good but having to play ruck and key forward is tough for someone who has played all of 29 games. By the way, the biggest difference between the sides (besides the set shot kicking) was delivery into the forward line. We break from the centre and kick high floating bombs to no one's advantage. They ran and kicked to advantage. Neale kicked one, deft tap set up another and getting the ball to ground set up another one or two. He's not kicking bags but it isn't a bust by any means. By the way, he plays for the Giants with their delivery forward and on COS and he kicks a few as well. COS - looks tired which is to be expected. Good as the third tall down back, not as a KPD. Close - he's been ordinary for a while now with a few flashes occasionally. He was MIA yesterday and for me, worse than Clark who at least puts his head over the ball. Close at his best chased and tackled. 1 tackle yesterday and 50m gained. No ruck so Blitz plays there and not on Hogan. Hogan doesn't kick 7 on Blitz, or Henry or Kolo or even Stewart.

 

[iameviljez]

I think half that 38 points would be to Carlton and in my opinion we'd have won against Brisbane rd1 if it hadn't been for Alfred postponing the game.

We were lucky to be as close to Brisbane as we were in the make-up game. I don't think time of year really played into it.

 

[winty]

Why were Brad Close and Max Holmes the two Geelong players on the last line of defence in this clip? Where were our actual defenders?

 

[iameviljez]

This stings. The 2nd column is expected score.

View attachment 2312082

Where do you get the xG from?

 

[Pollywaffle]

Hogan doesn't kick 7 on Blitz, or Henry or Kolo or even Stewart.

The difference in the game right there..

 

[winty]

Where do you get the xG from?

Someone posted it on X.

 

[cats_09]

I think we broke the system in the 4th as there's no 4th quarter data yet, but here's our first three quarters:

 

[Gavin Excell]

Why were Brad Close and Max Holmes the two Geelong players on the last line of defence in this clip? Where were our actual defenders?

We don't have any

 

[Gavin Excell]

I know the fixture is the fixture and no point crying about it but when a team like Carlton plays the bottom 3 (Eagles, North, Tigers) 4 times before we get to play them at all is head scratching

 

[BORIS332]

For all the skill errors and missed shots at goal we only lost by a kick. The biggest thing though we probably had at least 10 instances of players not body lining the ball or going when it was their turn. I cannot recall one instance from GWS. It is been an issue or us for a while and it is getting worse.

Agree, we've got a few blokes that don't put their head over it when they need to.

 

[BORIS332]

Watching the VFL, you get the opportunity to see both Clark & Stevens playing in the guts, in roles that they both seem most comfortable playing and that they've both topped the coaches votes polling for in a game this season

Neither of them have that Dangerfield type explosiveness over the first few steps, though Stevens isn't slow once he's moving but for a guy listed as 189cm I haven't really seen a strong contested marking presence from him which is something that would add another element to his game

So while I'd love to see Stevens given an opportunity at senior level, if it's a case of Clark out & Stevens in to the wing or the forward flank, I'm thinking it's going to take less than a half for some to be writing him off as those roles don't play to his strengths. Let's give him a game, but throw him into the thick of it to see what he can do

As for Clark; we can return him to the VFL where if we throw him into the guts we know he'll get 25/30 disposals and be hard as a cats head at every contest, but if we're not going to play him in the middle in the seniors it may not actually be helpful to him. When returning him to the VFL, maybe try playing him on the wing for a period of time, see how he goes actually developing into that role

Imagine Stevens on a wing or HFF with blokes like Whitfield and Zorko running off him all day. Unfortunately, his running ability is not up to AFL standard and that was clear from U18s.

 

[you pick one]

We were lucky to be as close to Brisbane as we were in the make-up game. I don't think time of year really played into it.

The game in-between we lost Stewart they gained Cameron and Lion didn't look that impressive first up v the Swans,still only an opinion.

 

[X_box_X]

Let us know if you guys need advice to beat GWS.

 

[Gee Class Loco]

So here's my 2 bobs worth.
I've let the dust settle.
Was pretty filthy yesterday tbh.
That was one we should've pinched with a side lacking it's backline.
Stood in the standing area closer to the ground.
A couple things i am 100% sure of now.
Put a line through O Henry.
As lazy as they come. With a real lack of footy smarts or awareness at times.
Said it a while ago. The other Ollie will be the GEM. This bloke is just a pebble.
We took a stab at Jack Martin

19

Jack Martin

Age

30

Ht

186cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

3.7

5star

G

0.9

4star

D

14.9

4star

K

7.9

3star

HB

7.0

4star

M

4.3

4star

T

3.6

4star

G

1.1

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.6

3star

and drafted Polk for a reason. As OH is not gonna be the answer.
Brad Close and to a lesser extent Stengle. Shadows of their former selves.
Their form(more so Close) is mostly down with a few upwards yips this year.
Fookin SDK... Geezuz... he seems like he is in LaLa Land.
Not one bit of killer instinct lives in those bones of his.... Looks like his brother got them all. Pity.
Young Clark. Never saw the hype before and probably never will.
Best player we got outta that trade. Was Jack Bowes

12

Jack Bowes

Age

27

Ht

189cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.3

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.6

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.5

4star

MG

318.1

4star

D

18.0

4star

K

11.8

5star

HB

6.3

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.1

2star

MG

318.1

4star

D

11.6

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.4

4star

.
Unfortunately for us it was a Potato draft.... Full of spuds.
Cursed when Bailey Humphrey was taken b4 us... and still do.
But hey hindsight is for harry's.
So now we go into an interesting month.
Port at Port.
Dogs at GMHBA.
WCE is a gimme even in the West.
Suns at GMHBA. Another bogey side of ours.
I can see us splitting them at 2-2 we'll be 7-6 sitting 7-9th.
With a bit of luck along with Stewart/Henry/Humphries & even Stanley returning we can go 3-1 maybe even 4-0.
Then we'd be looking good coming home with the wind at season's end.
Anyways... that's it for me.
Chin up boys... I have a feeling we will do alright in Adelaide next week.

 

[Bostonian]

For someone athleticly gifted that last effort to let Riccardi waltz around and kick a goal under no pressure was really really poor

As a neutral I remember watching that play and thinking, Cats fans will blame him for that.

And at that time of the game with not a lot of time left I couldn't believe there was that much space left open in front of the last line.

Should have had more players flood back into the area rather than leaving SDK and O'Sullivan so exposed.

Easy to blame SDK there but the rest of the team should have had the GWS forward line well and truly clogged up in that situation.

 

[Commando]

Let us know if you guys need advice to beat GWS.

Kick goals basically
We nutted that out ourselves

 

[Commando]

Pot all the players you want. We lost because we couldn’t execute when it mattered. That was the difference. Generated the opportunities and missed. Very frustrating.

Absolutely
5.9 v 7.2 in the second half is the game

Not to mention some wasteful entries that didn't score

 

[fpm84]

Let us know if you guys need advice to beat GWS.

Will do, let us know if you guys need advice on how to make top 4.

 

[CatAttack84]

Let us know if you guys need advice to beat GWS.

We're good. Nothing that some kicking practice on a basically no-wind day (like yesterday) can't fix. There's a quaint idea, footballers that are able to kick straight from 50m.