Review Cats destroyate Tuggers by 72 points

[Tony Barber]

Martin is the next in line to be dropped or moved to sub imo

But yes it’s pretty straight forward I’ll be bitter if Stevens is dropped after that debut, he may get flogged on a faster track but it’s best we get that exposure early rather than later

Let's wait and see if this 'Stevens won't like a fast track' is fact or fiction.
And I'm not sure that Bankstown is a fast track anyway.

 

[Baudolino]

Yes and no. We can probably only afford to drop one more game (the reality is apart from gws we should win all the others though) if we want a top 2 home final (assuming adelaide/Brisbane keep flying) so the coaches may go horses for courses next week. He would be unlucky to get dropped but i could see why.

Honestly it may be that dropping two games sees us miss the top four entirely, such is the high bar for wins this year.

 

[Tony Barber]

Yes and no. We can probably only afford to drop one more game (the reality is apart from gws we should win all the others though) if we want a top 2 home final (assuming adelaide/Brisbane keep flying) so the coaches may go horses for courses next week. He would be unlucky to get dropped but i could see why.

Hang on. Like me, you said you'd like to play Collingwood in the finals.
4th will be fine.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Except he was not a passenger.

Your opinion.
My view is far milder than my brother sitting next to me last night. Forwards need to kick goals, and he's under 1 per game this season.

And the comment was made after a pretty good goal, admittedly a gift,

He is let down mostly by poor game positioning IQ. He's behind his man when he should be man in front, and he's leading up at the ball when he should be looking for a ball out the back. His positioning is what lets him down, and was it the Bombers game I think where Dangerfield willed himself to numerous F50 contests, often from kicks he was not favoured for. That's elite footballer competitiveness. While Ollie is nowhere near as desperate to force a halved contest.

Vlastuin will go down in history as an average to middling backman,

Vlaustin is a triple premiership player. Always rated him as he was strong and dependable, every week. Past his best now, 250 games is pretty good.

No way. Danger is a future HoF legend but Vlastuin has been an underrated defender. Quality player. Agree dubs.

Your posts are great, always thought provoking and insightful- I am an OH fan, and wish he could regain his form asap, and then reading your take on him is cutting.
Is Bobby still Bobby? I used to appreciate his posts and and his honesty- who is he these days?

I'm not outing him in case he is in petty fashion still persona non grata around here. But he's around and about the site.

 

[Hinkley29]

Honest question: what purpose do questions like this serve? It's just being prickish for the sake of it.

Fair enough on the rest. It sounds like yesterday wasn't a valid game to rate players on, so I'm not sure why those people even watched the game. Anyway, it's time to move on. Somehow Stevens strong game is becoming an arguing point, which I didn't expect.

No one is arguing that Stevens didn’t have a great game. No one is saying it wasn’t great to see him have a good game. I immensely enjoyed watching him torch the atrocious Tigers. We are simply debating how much value you can attribute to the performance. It is a reasonable debate to have, and it is reasonable to be on either side of the debate.

a debate isn’t an argument, maybe our history is skewing your viewpoint on this discourse.

 

[Mr Meow]

No one is arguing that Stevens didn’t have a great game. No one is saying it wasn’t great to see him have a good game. I immensely enjoyed watching him torch the atrocious Tigers. We are simply debating how much value you can attribute to the performance. It is a reasonable debate to have, and it is reasonable to be on either side of the debate.

a debate isn’t an argument, maybe our history is skewing your viewpoint on this discourse.

"Did you watch the game?" etc is bad faith discourse.

Like I said, those mature Tigers midfielders have held up well plenty of times this season - against Gold Coast, GWS, Brisbane, Carlton etc. They were the reason Richmond were competitive for a surprising number of games. Their non existent forward line and creaking defence has nothing to do with Stevens task in midfield.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

17 tackles?! I didn't think Richmond players had the ball enough for him to track that stat up

Had 13 at HT.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Does it make it hard? I would have thought Tony Barber's suggested changes were fairly straightforward.

Yeah on re-read maybe it's easy. Was just thinking about Clohesy today.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I think there is a real chance that Stevens gets dropped.

If they are going a horses for courses line of thinking, he will likely make way. The giants away from home on a fast track is not the course for George.

Horses for courses to an extent, but gee it would be hard to drop him on that.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Duncan out, Martin sub, Smith into the 22.

But then Martin into sub? He just played his best game for us. Maybe his best in years

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Good for you. I'm not demanding you get excited or be convinced. We are just going round in circles with people being told off for being impressed by a debut. We'll see what happens in future games. Give me Stevens over Clark and Knevitt any day. I'm fine with making that call after one senior game.

That's all fine. I'm not telling anyone off as we should celebrate player wins and happy for you to be excited as you like.

One point though-the issue is never whether Stevens was going to impress more than Clark knevitt et al first up (he was always going to he's more physically developed) or whether he's a better player than them. He may well be but that's beside the point. The point is the afl rule changes have sped the game up significantly and that plus capping the interchange has made it very hard for defensively poor slow mids to exist at all in the modern game unless they are endurance beasts. Now Stevens might well become a really good endurance player (he might already be that if he hadn't done his knee before he was drafted) and he has the work ethic that tells you he will put in defensively. But it's perfectly fair why people would be questioning if he can make it and that's got nothing to do with whether he's better than Clark or not. I think you are conflating two separate issues here.

 

[Mr Meow]

That's all fine. I'm not telling anyone off happy for you to be excited as you like.

One point though-the issue is never whether Stevens was going to impress more than Clark knevitt et al first up (he was always going to he's more physically developed) or whether he's a better player than them. He may well be but that's beside the point. The point is the afl rule changes have sped the game up significantly and that plus capping the interchange has made it very hard for defensively poor slow mids to exist at all in the modern game unless they are endurance beasts. Now Stevens might well become a really good endurance player (he might already be that if he hadn't done his knee before he was drafted) and he has the work ethic that tells you he will put in defensively. But it's perfectly fair why people would be questioning if he can make it and that's got nothing to do with whether he's better than Clark or not. I think you are conflating two separate issues here.

What I liked about Stevens over Clark and Knevitt was the composure and decision making. Sure, a bigger frame gives you a greater chance to work through congestion. However the other two either fumble or fall over a lot. When they do get a clean possession, they often waste it or at best take a safe option. Stevens vision, smarts and kicking skills looked a level above those two. It simply can't be explained away by the opposition. Who knows, maybe it was a fluke game and he will be awful in the follow ups. I am merely calling what I saw.

 

[Romeoh1]

But then Martin into sub? He just played his best game for us. Maybe his best in years

Yep- can’t see him being the sub.

 

[Tony Barber]

But then Martin into sub? He just played his best game for us. Maybe his best in years

I must admit that I had a chuckle when I read this.

Jack Martin has 22 disposals today which is more than he ever had for Carlton in a single game.
It's actually two disposals more than he had in the whole 2024 season for Carlton

 

[Hinkley29]

Horses for courses to an extent, but gee it would be hard to drop him on that.

I agree it would be tough.

But I there is a non-zero chance that it happens.

 

[Hinkley29]

"Did you watch the game?" etc is bad faith discourse.

Like I said, those mature Tigers midfielders have held up well plenty of times this season - against Gold Coast, GWS, Brisbane, Carlton etc. They were the reason Richmond were competitive for a surprising number of games. Their non existent forward line and creaking defence has nothing to do with Stevens task in midfield.

Really? Bad faith discourse?

Come on, be real. You are reacting to the source of the comment and not the comment itself.

Those mature Tigers midfielders were statues yesterday. Which is why I questioned how closely you watched the game.

I will promise to be on best behaviour in future, I don’t want to offend anyone.

 

[Mr Meow]

Really? Bad faith discourse?

Come on, be real. You are reacting to the source of the comment and not the comment itself.

Those mature Tigers midfielders were statues yesterday. Which is why I questioned how closely you watched the game.

I will promise to be on best behaviour in future, I don’t want to offend anyone.

No, it's just a pointless sniping rhetorical. Of course I watched the game. I don't understand how it adds to the discussion.

Your last sentence is more bad faith, bordering on a tantrum, so now it's time to end the discussion until you're ready to be an adult.

 

[Mr Meow]

Honestly it may be that dropping two games sees us miss the top four entirely, such is the high bar for wins this year.

The current threshold for top 4 is a 68.8% win rate, which over a 23 game season works out to be 15.8. Round up to 16. No different to 2024. It's highly unlikely that a side with 16 wins and over 130% misses out on top 4.

To put it another way, the chance of there being 4 teams besides Geelong with 16+ wins and 130+ % is remote. Of all teams, we have a draw that gives us the best chance of improving % as well.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Unsure why there’s concern about Stevens playing mids from teams in better form?

Mr Meow mentioned Taranto, Hopper + Prestia. Add Nankervis contributing from the ruck.

patience asked: “Did you see George dispatch that Rick player in the replay?”
That was when, early in the game, Stevens had three Richmond players trying to tackle him. Escaped two + the third, he flicked away like a fly.
He has such strength in his legs, hips + lower back.

While he will be tackled, he just looked like a behemoth yesterday!

 

[Hinkley29]

No, it's just a pointless sniping rhetorical. Of course I watched the game. I don't understand how it adds to the discussion.

Your last sentence is more bad faith, bordering on a tantrum, so now it's time to end the discussion until you're ready to be an adult.

There is no way you can end the discussion, you always have to have the last word while simultaneously insisting that you don’t care enough to respond.

I challenge you not to respond to this post. You can do it, I believe in you.

 

[Mr Meow]

There is no way you can end the discussion, you always have to have the last word while simultaneously insisting that you don’t care enough to respond.

I challenge you not to respond to this post. You can do it, I believe in you.

Okay.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I agree it would be tough.

But I there is a non-zero chance that it happens.

It's not zero but I still can't see it

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Anyone else notice during the celebration of the first goal Dempsey and Miers shadow sparring?

Here they are, at about 0.32 seconds
https://www.geelongcats.com.au/vide...dal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1751700200001

 

[Zouz Kitty]

I'm not worried about George's pace anymore - it doesn't matter if 2 or 3 catch him, they won't actually be able to slow him down

SNAP!

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Unsure why there’s concern about Stevens playing mids from teams in better form?

Mr Meow mentioned Taranto, Hopper + Prestia. Add Nankervis contributing from the ruck.

patience asked: “Did you see George dispatch that Rick player in the replay?”
That was when, early in the game, Stevens had three Richmond players trying to tackle him. Escaped two + the third, he flicked away like a fly.
He has such strength in his legs, hips + lower back.

While he will be tackled, he just looked like a behemoth yesterday!

The concern is that the Richmond midfield, though experienced and featuring big names, is not stocked with the kind of quick players that it's imagined he'd struggle against.

The concern is credible but we don’t know if it's real until we see a combination that is set up against him.

I actually think in our run home north at Marvel would be his biggest challenge. Xerri likely to batter us in the ruck and their ground level players should be able to run away from him.

But it's all theoretical until we see it played out, and I would like to see it play out