Nobody is a breakaway leader this year like us in 2022, but Brisbane’s best is still, IMO, a few goals ahead of everyone else… and Gold Coast is a really good side.
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Review Cats thump Power to the tune of 88 points
- Thread starter cats_09
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Don't want him. Spending big dollars on players like that, who can't do anything when given attention, is how you become a mediocre side.
When our guys, like Holmes and Smith, get attention, it does affect their games but they aren't rendered completely worthless like what happens to Butters. Hawthorn won the game by tagging him a few weeks ago because it reduced him from having a lot, to effectively no, influence. With tagging, you have to juggle the negative of dedicating one of your players to a player defensive role with the positive of quelling the influence of another. You have to question how much of an impact to an opposition player's game is needed to make that a viable play. With butters, there's no discussion needed. You tag every time because he has no means to break it. He's not intelligent enough to adapt to it like better players can.
Serong from Freo is the same. You tag him every time because he's immense without a tag and an ant with one.
Our bigger concern is that Mullin is good at tagging a player like Butters, so he's useful for this match up. But is he necessary every single game, given he seems to have few other tricks up his sleeve? If the opposition player breaks the tag, what then for Mullin? Last week, North didn't have anyone worth tagging. We steamrolled them and Mullin was a spectator.
I thought Jack Bowes did a good job today. Never going to be a gun, but his versatility and capacity to find the sticks is a boon. I think he is growing as a footballer and justified his place in our setup
Honestly, I have the opposite opinion - our average performance is pretty good, but our best isn’t quite as good - especially through the middle - as the other top sides.
If McInerney, Neale, McLuggage, Dunkley, Fletcher and Ashcroft Squared fire, then we do not have the class in depth to go with them.
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Disagree. We've been training ourselves on the kamikaze through-congestion handball lately because we'll need to pull it off now and then in a final. But In a game where we're not 15 goals better than our opponent Scottie will have us playing smarter. I 100% guarantee it.
Finals contenders are always going to have at least one good midfielder for Mullin to humiliate.
1. Rhys Stanley - Subbing him off was the correct strategic call. While Sweet was still flogging Blitz and Neale in the ruck, their midfield had stopped putting in even the slightest effort. I thought he competed hard and was as dangerous as always going forward (unselfishly gave away his goal to Jezza) he has hit the wall a bit. I'd rest him next week (Conway will be fine against Goldstein who- though a champ- is ten thousand years old and thoroughly cooked) and get him right for finals. Big Rhys has one last magnificent coda in his career, and we've got to manage it right.
3. Bailey Smith - Great game again. When you look back at the history of this long flag-winning era and consider who our best poachings from other clubs have been, I reckon the big three names will be Ottens, Jezza, and Bailey Smith. And that's excluding the 2nd coming of GAJ, two-time premiership captain Tom Harley, (edit in: dude named Patrick who won a Brownlow or something but feels like he's been here forever) and another bloke named Smith who was BOG on Grand Final day. The numbers he's racking up are inhuman. And for a team as rigidly coached as Geelong, who can sometimes leave themselves open to accusations of being a bit boring, he's a breath of fresh air.
5. Jeremy Cameron - All the talk is of whether Jezza can get the 100 goals. Maybe, maybe not. But on a day like today all you've got to do is lead and mark and kick straight, and as the full forward he got all that done with no fuss, and no mucking around, and six goals was a pretty fair return.
7. Shaun Mannagh - Another game of racking up midfielder numbers while disguised as a small forward. If not for wayward set shot kicking and getting cruelled by the 1/2 time siren he might have had 3 goals to go with what was otherwise a very effective game.
9. Max Holmes - I thought he was clearly BOG today. After 1/4 time he just cut through Port's so-called midfield with contemptuous ease again and again, and finished the day with 36 and 2 for his trouble. What's impressing me most of all now is that he's added a bit of aerial presence to his already huge bag of tricks.
12. Jack Bowes - A few weeks ago I uncharitably described him as "very vanilla" and compared him to the mediocre and obscure James Parsons. I'm eating my words now. I thought he was excellent. Counterpoint to Mannagh, he's playing like a goalkicking medium forward while deceiving opponents into thinking he's a bog-standard midfielder or even vague HBF lurker. He's showing int eh last two or three weeks why we rated him so highly and were so eager to poach him from the Gold Coast.
14. Connor O'Sullivan - He's reminding me a bit of Neale in how he's somehow able to get those long arms to affect contests he'd normally have no right to have a say in. He's still very, very raw but there's a good footy brain in there and a willingness to work hard. While he didn't have anything to do today given Port's midfield struggles and crap forward line, it's a fair effort.
16. Sam De Koning - Although he let himself down with a dumb free kick off the ball (Georgiades kicked the goal and I dare say an Oscar nomination will be in the mail) I liked his game today. More than any other game all year he impressed with his willingness to put the body on the line. Actually, I'd prefer him to concede goals from throwing that chip scab Georgiades around like a rag doll and giving away a free than getting nudged under the footy and standing there with his hands on his hips and pouting while his opponent takes the mark. Angry-mode SDK going into finals is a big win for us.
17. Lawson Humphries - I reckon Lawson is back approaching his best. Maybe getting half-dropped to be the 23rd man last week has shaken him out of his funk, because he wasn't right following that concussion earelier this year. But today he was almost faultless. He seemed to be pushing up a bit into the midfield too, which I like. A steady head in defence is nice, but surgically precise kicking into the forward line are worth pure platinum.
18. Tyson Stengle - OK, not the best game of Stengle's career. His goalkicking radar was way off today, but getting a few late goals made up for it.
19. Jack Martin - Insane scenes. You don't come on as sub and kick four goals in 5 minutes, especially as a fourth-string forward. Unheard of. You shouldn't be allowed to do that Jack, how dare you? Actually, all the comings and goings in our F50 make it hard for opposition coaches to respond. You can get patches like Martin's today, and it helps the likes of Brad Close to sneak into dangerous positions undected (more on him later). After his injury woes, and getting stuck playing weird positional games for us as times this year, I'm supremely happy for Martin to get some personal reward.
28. Ollie Dempsey - I thought he had a bit of a quiet one. Admittedly, it was a day where he really didn't need to do much. When you win the ball out of the middle again and again and go straight down the corridor, a guy who oscillates between wing and forward pocket seems superfluous no matter how hard he runs. At times he's been accused of short-stepping- not going hard enough when it's his turn to go- so I kept an eye out for it today. I'm glad to say he can be acquitted on that charge today. Actually I was impressed by his tackling.
30. Tom Atkins - It's very rare that Tom Atkins has a down day, but today was one. He couldn't quite get the tackles to stick, for whatever reason, and disposal was uncharacteristically wonky. At least he timed his off game for a day when he'd have been surplus to requirements anyway. Without Rozee, Butters and Wines getting squelched by Team Ireland, and nothing much to kick to Port's midfield were always going to have a miserable time. I reckon he'll feast on Essendon next week.
32. Gryan Miers - When a bloke the calibre of Gryan Miers gets 30 touches you know you're going to be in for a good day. While a few of his ambitious passes did not come off, more of them did, and you just know Cameron and Neale and Danger start smelling goals the minute Miers picks the ball up just forward of the centre circle. I'm in awe at how he's turned himself into a Buddha-level ballwinner while not possessing elite speed or a huge bulky upper body, just footy nous and the ability to run all day.
33. Shannon Neale - Big third quarter got him the rewards he deserved for a truly excellent game all day. I love watching his set shots- they're unpretentious and perfectly straight drop punts like we saw for decades after the demise of the place kick and before Brad Close kicking around a three-degree corner all the time. He can win his own ball in the midfield and as a crumbing forward, which a guy as tall as the Rialto Tower shouldn't be allowed to do, but what I think I like most is how he can get a hand in to affect oppo kicks out of D50 and put them off just enough to turn it over.
34. Oisín Mullin - Clearly the best game of his career. Beat Butters decisively. I'm not just talking about negating him, but he beat him considered on its own merits: both got 10 touches and four score involvements, but Mullin added a goal assist and got on the scoreboard himself while also beating Butters for metres gained. I'm a bit humbled actually. Mullin was described as the Nick Daicos of Gaelic football, someone who has the ball on a string and wins games on his own to the cheers of adulating crowds. And he's given it all away to be an annoying scratchy wet blanket in relative obscurity in a game on the other side of the planet. And all with a big old goofy grin on his face.
35. Patrick Dangerfield - Somehow Danger's metamorphosis into a genuine tall forward is surprising, in other ways it's entirely natural and inevitable. All the things that made him a Brownlow-winning midfielder are still there as a leading forward: hit the ball at full pace, keep it in front of you, don't fumble, and remain aware of where your teammates are. If not for his shonky set shot kicking the entire footballing world would be taking note. And if he's not taking the mark he's feeding the other forwards, and getting competition-best goal assist stats.
38. Jack Henry - Taking the hanger of the day kind of obscured the fact that he was pretty quiet. Of course his opponent was kept pretty quiet too, so that's a win for Henry. I always feel more confident knowing Henry's level head is down there in D50 to keep us out of trouble.
39. Zach Guthrie - I do these reviews every week, and every week I struggle to say something about Zuth that I didn't say seven days ago. But every game he plays he just gets the job done with aplomb and no real showboating. I see shades of Milburn, Scarlett, and Harley in his game, to compare him to champions of Premierships past.
42. Mark O'Connor - Typical competent and understated performace from Shark. Spent some time playing deep in defence, a bit on the wing, and maybe 15 minutes or so squashing Ollie Wines. Few players can get continually shuffled around on the whiteboard, filling in here there and everywhere, without losing continuity or minding that they're sacrificing their own game for the sake of team balance or positional concerns. Shark is one of them.
44. Tom Stewart - He's building good form again, perfect timing with the finals around the corner. While he might have lost just a smidge of his formerly superhero-like speed, he's reading the play upfield as well as ever and his diposal today was as good as it's been for a while. I hope he won't have a case to answer for that big bump, as he was already airborne and did everything to minimise the contact, if he does miss next week a management break wouldn't be the end of the world.
45. Brad Close - All year opposition coaches have been closing down on Brad by playing a tall defender on him- a tactic that's worked because he's not tall or muscular enough to compete in the air and won't get those awesome run-down tackles in if he's playing on a tall back rather than a rebounding defender. Today I think he might have turned the corner. He found a way to be a competitive marking option even against Aliir, and somehow found himself free on occasion to wreak havoc. We'll need peak Close if we're to challenge in September, so today was good signs.
46. Mark Blicavs - If you're an opposition player, Blitz must be intolerably annoying. Here you've got this weirdo who's almost ruckman height but can run all day, rally his teammates like an unofficial vice captain, and also fight and niggle and shove and contest hard ball gets like an inside mid as though he's Tony Liberatore. May he continue to be a pain in the arse for years to come.
3. Bailey Smith - Great game again. When you look back at the history of this long flag-winning era and consider who our best poachings from other clubs have been, I reckon the big three names will be Ottens, Jezza, and Bailey Smith. And that's excluding the 2nd coming of GAJ, two-time premiership captain Tom Harley, (edit in: dude named Patrick who won a Brownlow or something but feels like he's been here forever) and another bloke named Smith who was BOG on Grand Final day. The numbers he's racking up are inhuman. And for a team as rigidly coached as Geelong, who can sometimes leave themselves open to accusations of being a bit boring, he's a breath of fresh air.
5. Jeremy Cameron - All the talk is of whether Jezza can get the 100 goals. Maybe, maybe not. But on a day like today all you've got to do is lead and mark and kick straight, and as the full forward he got all that done with no fuss, and no mucking around, and six goals was a pretty fair return.
7. Shaun Mannagh - Another game of racking up midfielder numbers while disguised as a small forward. If not for wayward set shot kicking and getting cruelled by the 1/2 time siren he might have had 3 goals to go with what was otherwise a very effective game.
9. Max Holmes - I thought he was clearly BOG today. After 1/4 time he just cut through Port's so-called midfield with contemptuous ease again and again, and finished the day with 36 and 2 for his trouble. What's impressing me most of all now is that he's added a bit of aerial presence to his already huge bag of tricks.
12. Jack Bowes - A few weeks ago I uncharitably described him as "very vanilla" and compared him to the mediocre and obscure James Parsons. I'm eating my words now. I thought he was excellent. Counterpoint to Mannagh, he's playing like a goalkicking medium forward while deceiving opponents into thinking he's a bog-standard midfielder or even vague HBF lurker. He's showing int eh last two or three weeks why we rated him so highly and were so eager to poach him from the Gold Coast.
14. Connor O'Sullivan - He's reminding me a bit of Neale in how he's somehow able to get those long arms to affect contests he'd normally have no right to have a say in. He's still very, very raw but there's a good footy brain in there and a willingness to work hard. While he didn't have anything to do today given Port's midfield struggles and crap forward line, it's a fair effort.
16. Sam De Koning - Although he let himself down with a dumb free kick off the ball (Georgiades kicked the goal and I dare say an Oscar nomination will be in the mail) I liked his game today. More than any other game all year he impressed with his willingness to put the body on the line. Actually, I'd prefer him to concede goals from throwing that chip scab Georgiades around like a rag doll and giving away a free than getting nudged under the footy and standing there with his hands on his hips and pouting while his opponent takes the mark. Angry-mode SDK going into finals is a big win for us.
17. Lawson Humphries - I reckon Lawson is back approaching his best. Maybe getting half-dropped to be the 23rd man last week has shaken him out of his funk, because he wasn't right following that concussion earelier this year. But today he was almost faultless. He seemed to be pushing up a bit into the midfield too, which I like. A steady head in defence is nice, but surgically precise kicking into the forward line are worth pure platinum.
18. Tyson Stengle - OK, not the best game of Stengle's career. His goalkicking radar was way off today, but getting a few late goals made up for it.
19. Jack Martin - Insane scenes. You don't come on as sub and kick four goals in 5 minutes, especially as a fourth-string forward. Unheard of. You shouldn't be allowed to do that Jack, how dare you? Actually, all the comings and goings in our F50 make it hard for opposition coaches to respond. You can get patches like Martin's today, and it helps the likes of Brad Close to sneak into dangerous positions undected (more on him later). After his injury woes, and getting stuck playing weird positional games for us as times this year, I'm supremely happy for Martin to get some personal reward.
28. Ollie Dempsey - I thought he had a bit of a quiet one. Admittedly, it was a day where he really didn't need to do much. When you win the ball out of the middle again and again and go straight down the corridor, a guy who oscillates between wing and forward pocket seems superfluous no matter how hard he runs. At times he's been accused of short-stepping- not going hard enough when it's his turn to go- so I kept an eye out for it today. I'm glad to say he can be acquitted on that charge today. Actually I was impressed by his tackling.
30. Tom Atkins - It's very rare that Tom Atkins has a down day, but today was one. He couldn't quite get the tackles to stick, for whatever reason, and disposal was uncharacteristically wonky. At least he timed his off game for a day when he'd have been surplus to requirements anyway. Without Rozee, Butters and Wines getting squelched by Team Ireland, and nothing much to kick to Port's midfield were always going to have a miserable time. I reckon he'll feast on Essendon next week.
32. Gryan Miers - When a bloke the calibre of Gryan Miers gets 30 touches you know you're going to be in for a good day. While a few of his ambitious passes did not come off, more of them did, and you just know Cameron and Neale and Danger start smelling goals the minute Miers picks the ball up just forward of the centre circle. I'm in awe at how he's turned himself into a Buddha-level ballwinner while not possessing elite speed or a huge bulky upper body, just footy nous and the ability to run all day.
33. Shannon Neale - Big third quarter got him the rewards he deserved for a truly excellent game all day. I love watching his set shots- they're unpretentious and perfectly straight drop punts like we saw for decades after the demise of the place kick and before Brad Close kicking around a three-degree corner all the time. He can win his own ball in the midfield and as a crumbing forward, which a guy as tall as the Rialto Tower shouldn't be allowed to do, but what I think I like most is how he can get a hand in to affect oppo kicks out of D50 and put them off just enough to turn it over.
34. Oisín Mullin - Clearly the best game of his career. Beat Butters decisively. I'm not just talking about negating him, but he beat him considered on its own merits: both got 10 touches and four score involvements, but Mullin added a goal assist and got on the scoreboard himself while also beating Butters for metres gained. I'm a bit humbled actually. Mullin was described as the Nick Daicos of Gaelic football, someone who has the ball on a string and wins games on his own to the cheers of adulating crowds. And he's given it all away to be an annoying scratchy wet blanket in relative obscurity in a game on the other side of the planet. And all with a big old goofy grin on his face.
35. Patrick Dangerfield - Somehow Danger's metamorphosis into a genuine tall forward is surprising, in other ways it's entirely natural and inevitable. All the things that made him a Brownlow-winning midfielder are still there as a leading forward: hit the ball at full pace, keep it in front of you, don't fumble, and remain aware of where your teammates are. If not for his shonky set shot kicking the entire footballing world would be taking note. And if he's not taking the mark he's feeding the other forwards, and getting competition-best goal assist stats.
38. Jack Henry - Taking the hanger of the day kind of obscured the fact that he was pretty quiet. Of course his opponent was kept pretty quiet too, so that's a win for Henry. I always feel more confident knowing Henry's level head is down there in D50 to keep us out of trouble.
39. Zach Guthrie - I do these reviews every week, and every week I struggle to say something about Zuth that I didn't say seven days ago. But every game he plays he just gets the job done with aplomb and no real showboating. I see shades of Milburn, Scarlett, and Harley in his game, to compare him to champions of Premierships past.
42. Mark O'Connor - Typical competent and understated performace from Shark. Spent some time playing deep in defence, a bit on the wing, and maybe 15 minutes or so squashing Ollie Wines. Few players can get continually shuffled around on the whiteboard, filling in here there and everywhere, without losing continuity or minding that they're sacrificing their own game for the sake of team balance or positional concerns. Shark is one of them.
44. Tom Stewart - He's building good form again, perfect timing with the finals around the corner. While he might have lost just a smidge of his formerly superhero-like speed, he's reading the play upfield as well as ever and his diposal today was as good as it's been for a while. I hope he won't have a case to answer for that big bump, as he was already airborne and did everything to minimise the contact, if he does miss next week a management break wouldn't be the end of the world.
45. Brad Close - All year opposition coaches have been closing down on Brad by playing a tall defender on him- a tactic that's worked because he's not tall or muscular enough to compete in the air and won't get those awesome run-down tackles in if he's playing on a tall back rather than a rebounding defender. Today I think he might have turned the corner. He found a way to be a competitive marking option even against Aliir, and somehow found himself free on occasion to wreak havoc. We'll need peak Close if we're to challenge in September, so today was good signs.
46. Mark Blicavs - If you're an opposition player, Blitz must be intolerably annoying. Here you've got this weirdo who's almost ruckman height but can run all day, rally his teammates like an unofficial vice captain, and also fight and niggle and shove and contest hard ball gets like an inside mid as though he's Tony Liberatore. May he continue to be a pain in the arse for years to come.
Last edited:
Falconx
All Australian
Neale is up to 34 goals for the year which is looking like a very good return since he had a mere 8 goals in the first 10 games and has now kicked 26 in the next 10.
He is now looking likely to get to 40+ which would have him finish around the top 15 for the year.
He is now looking likely to get to 40+ which would have him finish around the top 15 for the year.
Their raw amount of counter attacks wasn't higher it was that it was the only one of their attacks that was getting through. If a team has more I50 is will likely be a larger varaty of I50 types, repeat stoppages etc. Naturally our zone starting position would be pushed further back, reducing the space for the oppostion on the counter and lowering their I50 efficiency.
Definitely breakout material
Would love to have Butters at the Cats. He's a class player.
He wouldn't have to play on Mullin ever again.
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Also Patrick Dangerfield!
Nice Dangerfield burn.
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Agree, hope he does come to Geelong.
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He is only 2 goals behind Darcy Fogarty who is on track for a career best season and with Thilthorpe is the main driver of the crows momentum up the ladder.
The game against Essendon he really needs to fill his boots being lined up on Blakiston. The Sydney and Richmond backs are more experienced and i would expect lower numbers from him in those ones
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If he's not getting tagged. He gets tagged and he has no idea what to do. Just gets angry.
True. But he's been Geelong all along. He was just biding his time at Adelaide.
Loved Mullin and he is so important going forward given we probably play Collingwood at some stage and we see what happens to them when Daicos is shutdown
I hope his first goal comes soon. I'm backing him to get a big one in a final.
If SDK has a good September it will be such a bonus.
I know Port weren't great but if the likes of Stewart Bowes and Close are building we are in with a shot.
I hope his first goal comes soon. I'm backing him to get a big one in a final.
If SDK has a good September it will be such a bonus.
I know Port weren't great but if the likes of Stewart Bowes and Close are building we are in with a shot.
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It's always a pleasure and insightful to read your game reviews.
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Just needed time and confidence which is growing weekly
Thanks! I always like writing them, I'm glad other people like reading them.
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