Review Cats defeat Bombers by 95 points

[The rabbi]

Nice to be able to get 10:2 on the scoreboard from your two key forwards.

 

[dudusmaximus]

Went to the game, a great watch
Saw a couple of nice connections between Scratcher and Smith ! Our full forward is improving

Trying to determine the symbiotic relationship between the two. Either
1) Neale's making Smith's mis-kicks look good with his contested marking OR
2) Smith's helping bring out Neale's contested marking through challenging kicks.

Either way, can't complain. Long may the "Smith to Neale" continue.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Trying to determine the symbiotic relationship between the two. Either
1) Neale's making Smith's mis-kicks look good with his contested marking OR
2) Smith's helping bring out Neale's contested marking through challenging kicks.

Either way, can't complain. Long may the "Smith to Neale" continue.

@Smith2Scratcher account name for anyone who wants it.

 

[catempire]

A relentless commitment to turning it over

Their list or the ball?

 

[Gunf]

1 big gripe i have about this game was the stupid ****ing score review for a behind when we had got the ball out of defence and up to HFF almost and they called it back. Like **** call for a review straight away and stop play or **** off.

 

[catempire]

Recent years where we’ve been 10-4 or better:

2022 -
2021 - 3rd
2020 - 2nd
2019 - 3rd
2016 - 3rd

 

[JoeyJoJoJuniorShabadoo]

Looks like Jez misread the script. Since he was playing with Danger in the side, he accidentally kicked too many.

Seriously though, hopefully it puts to bed any discourse around Danger mucking up Jez's form.

As a side note watching Danger live, it never ceases to amaze me how he impacts a contest every single time. You just know he's doing something any time he gets in the vicinity of the pill.

 

[catempire]

I’m struggling to find too many positives. Merrett is just a cheap accumulator who doesn’t hurt you. Caldwell is ok. He was their most effective mid but plays in bursts. Obviously they have a young group. They will take time. Pretty pleased with the O’Sullivan/Caddy decision…

Merrett would look ten times better in Geelong’s midfield and system.

 

[catempire]

Hey dazbroncos it took others a while to get on board but I think our Neale is starting to reach full capacity.

 

[catempire]

I have to say it's one of the few games I've watched on TV (Kayo) where the commentators actually praised Geelong and talked about what the Cats players did (other than talking about our opposition most of the time). I guess with Huddo and Howie (Geelong supporters), we had to get one sooner or later.

Howie is a Hawfie. One of the rare good ones.

 

[Gunf]

Hey dazbroncos it took others a while to get on board but I think our Neale is starting to reach full capacity.

Still plenty of room for hold outs but do we want them

 

[Mr Meow]

He had some howlers last season ( missing better options) but he's improved this season as most of his " howlers" have been 50: 50 type decisions where he gets a pass if he had a shot - awesome if he nails it but disappointing if he misses

The criticism gets wild at times (other occasions it's fair enough, but who never stuffs up as an attacking half forward?).

An example this game was people melting down when Mannagh didn't handball to Dangerfield in the pocket, who was running out even closer to the boundary. In reality all he did wrong was miss, or at worst not run in a bit further first.

He is still kicking plenty of goals and setting up plenty of team mate scores when he's further up the field. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Scott gives him a license to shoot, since so many others pass at all costs. Of course that won't work out every time.

 

[Mr Meow]

Looks like Jez misread the script. Since he was playing with Danger in the side, he accidentally kicked too many.

Seriously though, hopefully it puts to bed any discourse around Danger mucking up Jez's form.

As a side note watching Danger live, it never ceases to amaze me how he impacts a contest every single time. You just know he's doing something any time he gets in the vicinity of the pill.

I couldn't agree more.

Cameron has kicked 3 bags of 4, and now a bag of 6 when Dangerfield has played a full game forward. 2 goals in 2 other games. They've played fine together.

Cameron seems to have been instructed to sit deeper forward lately, with or without Dangerfield. Players form also naturally fluctuates - its happened with Cameron each season.

If anyone misses out or was getting in the way, it was Ollie Henry. He's the one who doesn't quite fit there on current form and with his current skill set.

 

[Mr Meow]

Stengle has 9 goals and 8 goal assists over his past 4 games. 4.25 combined per game.

Sensational form.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

Another lazy 9 tackles for Tommy boy! Not a bad effort in a 100 point belting.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

Hello to my arch-nemesis's supporters. I have no clue why you guys don't have player threads, so I thought I'd post this here. But Max Holmes could very well be the best running player the game has seen since Keith Greig in the 1970s.

I'm only 17 myself, but I was watching your game with my father, who is old enough to remember most of the greats of the '70s, and he said Holmes reminds him of Greig in many facets.

It pains me to compliment a Geelong player in that manner, but I also think he could well end up with a Charles Brownlow around his neck at the end of this season if he continues in this form (and Smith doesn't take too many votes).

 

[catsfootyfan89]

Hello to my arch-nemesis's supporters. I have no clue why you guys don't have player threads, so I thought I'd post this here. But Max Holmes could very well be the best running player the game has seen since Keith Greig in the 1970s.

I'm only 17 myself, but I was watching your game with my father, who is old enough to remember most of the greats of the '70s, and he said Holmes reminds him of Greig in many facets.

It pains me to compliment a Geelong player in that manner, but I also think he could well end up with a Charles Brownlow around his neck at the end of this season if he continues in this form (and Smith doesn't take too many votes).

I can't remember who said it but when he first started playing there was someone at Geelong who remarked that he was quite similar to Chris Judd in many ways. Now personally I'm not sure if he will ever quite reach the level of Judd but he's a gun and he's probably going to be a captain of the club someday.

 

[TheYid]

When players of the calibre of Smith, Holmes, Miers, Stewart, and O'Connor get 150-odd touches between them you know the Cats are going to romp it in. Add a lazy ten goals from our two tall forwards, and an utter shellacking is on the cards.



1. Rhys Stanley - Broke even with Goldstein in what must rank as one of the oldest head-to-head ruck matchups of all time. I was super happy to see him get that late goal, and I wish he could go on again in 2026 because his form and fitness certainly merit it.

3. Bailey Smith - Wow. What a game. 41 touches, and some absolutely sublime passes among them. Best on ground by some margin, which says a lot when the 2nd best on ground was a bloke with 36 touches, infinity billion bounces, and a goal himself. Since coming to Geelong he has added "contested ball beast" to his resume which, while never a real weak point at the Doggs was also not his focus.

5. Jeremy Cameron - Maybe one or two lazy moments, but when you kick six in a 95-point drubbing you have done your job. Made the young and inexperienced Essendon full backs look a bit inadequate. He's looking more interested in playing as part of a great team than he has since 2022 in my opinion.

7. Shaun Mannagh - We seem to have half forward flankers coming out of our ears, but Mannagh provides a point of difference to Close, Miers, Stengle, and Dempsey in being a contested ball dynamo. Geelong's forward 50 pressure is relentless, and Mannagh is a big reason why. Three goals today and five tackles is a good day's work for a small forward.

9. Max Holmes - Really starting to become a ball magnet and, like Smith, has begun to add a lot of contested ball wins to his game. Watching him take a hundred bounces on his runs down the wing is nice, but seeing him poke a little handball out of a pack inevitably to a teammate is just as satisfying. It's making him hard to stop and, now that teams are beginning to tag him every week, actually almost untaggable.

14. Connor O'Sullivan - Another pretty good game from COS. Admittedly, Essendon's F50 entries were few and mostly shit so he was favoured from the outset, but he bustles hard for a tall guy and I see he's leading the team for 1%ers this year. Had to laugh when he gave up a free by forgetting to bounce the thing. Still, beat Caddy convincingly.

16. Sam De Koning - It was a shame he injured himself early because I thought he was playing pretty well up until that point.

17. Lawson Humphries - One ridiculous howler andone crazy long goal from outside 50 aside, it was just a competent and low-key game from Humphries. He didn't really have to do much given Essendon's inability to get the ball inside 50 much. Still, as always, he was a handy link-up option and excellent kick of the footy.

18. Tyson Stengle - Unlucky not to end up with three goals, given he hit the post once and had another set shot taken off him after an advantage call. He had an excellent game once again. That goal he did kick though was preposterous. You shouldn't be allowed to be that good a kick of the footy. It isn't fair.

19. Jack Martin - I wasn't sure what he'd bring to the table when we recruited him, especially after missing a lot of weeks through injury and then a couple of pretty ho-hum games in the VFL. Maybe just cover for injuries. Just goes to show that Chris Scott should be coaching the club and not me. He's slotted into the backline pretty handily and is an excellent kick of the footy.

22. Mitch Duncan - Subbed on in the 3rd for Sam De Koning. I reckon we've found our specialist sub for the rest of the year. His disposal was spot on, and I think at this stage of his career he does well when players on both teams are beginning to tire and all the slyness he's accumulated over the years can be used to greatest effect.

28. Ollie Dempsey - Ending up with two late goals was a fitting reward for another clever and hard working game. Dempsey covers a lot of ground to win the ball on a wing and then zoom forward, and it's often unrewarded, but to be a ball winner in the midfield and then a high-marking medium forward, occasionally even in the same passage of play, is a dream come true for a coach who knows how to effectively deploy him. Which Scotty does!

30. Tom Atkins - 18 touches, of those 11 contested, and 9 tackles. Crazy contested ball numbers, but we've come to expect that from Axe. He's the reason Smith and Holmes can work their way free so often- an underrated part of our midfield mix, but very much appreciated by those uf us who know.

32. Gryan Miers - Very very smart player who always looks like he's got all the time in the world with ball in hand. Got a lot of touches through the midfield and attacking half, and almost invariably used it well. Thos flat passes to a leading player give the defender no chance to spoil. I didn't have him in the votes today, but he was pretty unlucky not to be.

33. Shannon Neale - Awesome game. The guy is leading the club for contested marks, is crazy fast for a guy the size of a ruckman, and is a long and accurate set shot for goal. The highlight for me was making a pretty shit centering ball inside 50 from Smith, straight to two Essendon defenders, look like genius by just rushing at the footy faster than anyone that height has a right to do and then making the set shot look trivial. The Neale train has arrived.

34. Oisin Mullin - I think he was on Merrett most of the day and got handily beaten, and utterly munged a lot of his disposals as well. Have noticed though that he reads the ball very well in the air and with his pace can pick off a lot of hack kicks, from both teams. One day he'll be able to turn that into a weapon for us, but that day has not come yet.

35. Patrick Dangerfield - There was talk in the game day thread of PFD potentially reaching the hallowed 400 game mark. Days like today make that seem more within reach. He spent all day up forward and only got 11 touches, but 2.1 off his own boot, 10 score involvements, and a staggering 5 goal assists show how valuable he remains even when he doesn't go near the centre square at all.

38. Jack Henry - A bit of a nothing game, with only 8 touches, but he kept his opponent out of it entirely. He was handy, but wasn't really called upon to do much.

39. Zach Guthrie - Huge in the first half especially, when Essendon were still kinda sorta in the game. He attacked the ball hard and wore some pretty heavy hits, but didn't give an inch all day. Sound disposal and accurate reading of the play helps immensely too.

42. Mark O'Connor - Career best season so far. Played on Nic Martin, who usually torches us, and beat him handily IMO. Martin may have got a couple of touches more, but wasn't damaging and was always gonna get a lot of cheapies with Essendon's handball-happy and aimless sideways crabby play style. MOC on the other hand was always dangerous steaming forward through the midfield; he's a big unit and fast, and is turning into a valuable attacking option for us.

44. Tom Stewart - Welcome back Tom! After a few good, but rusty, weeks it was excellent to see Stewy back to his best. Backed himself in marking contests and clunked them all, fifteen times in total. Just magnificent. He's so vital to our chances in the finals and is tracking perfectly.

45. Brad Close - Another meh game from Close, who isn't having the best year so far. He gets outmuscled a little too easily IMO and is occasionally guilty of short stepping. Thought the run-down tackle and goal were nice though!

46. Mark Blicavs - He just keeps doing everything week after week. When SDK went down he ended up with the job on Two Meter Peter and handled him pretty well. Together with 11 contested possessions and 2 contested marks, he gave us a lot of both grit and smarts down back. I hope he plays on for several more years, because I have no idea how we could ever replace him.

Great assessment but I will defend Mullin a bit here: When he was on Merrett, Merrett didn't get that much done and a few times he ran off Merrett as well. His disposal efficiency was 76.9%, which is actually above average. At least 3 of his kicks forward hit their target on the chest, including that beauty to Humphries, and by my memory each resulted in a score, for a total of 4 score involvements.
Not bad for a guy who I didn't think was going to be playing much AFL this year. Give him another 2 seasons at this rate and I reckon he'll be in our best 22 easily.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

To what can we attribute the huge numbers of scores from turnover this season?

When did this become a core identity of ours? Is it a deliberate coaching move or just a natural result of something else? At one point in the game it was ten goals to three points from turnovers.

 

[Turbocat]

There is how good you can play ..and how good you are allowed to play. Ess looked like a team in transition and a team without many guys in their prime. We did what we had to do.

The run from Holmes and Smith is what they could do against much better teams. Especially Holmes , Im struggling to think of a player we have had like him. The two of them give us so much run.

Neale adds another group of goal to his book. Bit by bit his self belief is building. If he starts taking clunks in pack then with his efficiency of conversion he could a very high end forward. For the moment he looks a very competent piece of the puzzle and he is giving us more than Hawk was at the end. It seems Cadman is just starting to grow into the role approaching game 50… SN has only played 34.

 

[Generalissimo]

Max Holmes running looks like if you recorded James Kelly

James Kelly

Age

41

Ht

183cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.8

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

10.5

5star

M

4.2

4star

T

5.6

5star

MG

273.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

20.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

6.8

5star

at 25fps and played him back at 30.

 

[Seeds]

Peak Gaz Jr in the '08-10 era?

Given smith didnt actually get 40 possessions against the eagles then i think you count danger in 2016 and 2017 when he racked up 48 and 37 in two weeks and 45 and 38 in two weeks.

 

[Generalissimo]

When did this become a core identity of ours? Is it a deliberate coaching move or just a natural result of something else? At one point in the game it was ten goals to three points from turnovers.

It's a pretty simple principle: every possession the opposition have to take without gaining meters gives them one additional opportunity to stuff it up. Set up well upfield, across the center and wings, and they have to crab around sideways and try to pick their way through. A team like Essendon, who aren't gelling as a group yet because they're a bunch of rookies dropped into the seniors due to injuries, is especially vulnerable to this strategy.

 

[Seeds]

There is how good you can play ..and how good you are allowed to play. Ess looked like a team in transition and a team without many guys in their prime. We did what we had to do.

The run from Holmes and Smith is what they could do against much better teams. Especially Holmes , Im struggling to think of a player we have had like him. The two of them give us so much run.

Neale adds another group of goal to his book. Bit by bit his self belief is building. If he starts taking clunks in pack then with his efficiency of conversion he could a very high end forward. For the moment he looks a very competent piece of the puzzle and he is giving us more than Hawk was at the end. It seems Cadman is just starting to grow into the role approaching game 50… SN has only played 34.

Holmes is like danger in 2016-17 without the contested marking and not quite the same contested work but getting better.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

It's a pretty simple principle: every possession the opposition have to take without gaining meters gives them one additional opportunity to stuff it up. Set up well upfield, across the center and wings, and they have to crab around sideways and try to pick their way through. A team like Essendon, who aren't gelling as a group yet because they're a bunch of rookies dropped into the seniors due to injuries, is especially vulnerable to this strategy.

None of this is wrong, but for whatever reason the turnover stats this season have been huge. Not sure why? Maybe a combination of increased pressure and incisive kicking from our players up field?