Preview Rd 22 Cats V Bombers Fri Aug 8th 2025 735 pm @ GMHBA

[fpm84]

I think this will be a lot closer than people think (<60 points). Essendon were not too far off vs Sydney last week. We will also be resting a few players and will be prioritising staying injury free over boosting % (our % is already very strong). It’ll be interesting to see what our team line-up will be as it will give us an insight into how we are approaching this game.

Hard to see too many being rested though - Danger seems a certainty to miss and it makes sense for one of Stanley/Blitz too.

I can't see us resting Stewart when he's finally got some continuity back, Jezza is on #Jezza100 watch, and we effectively managed Martin last week by making him sub.

 

[Mangy Carl]

I think this will be a lot closer than people think (<60 points). Essendon were not too far off vs Sydney last week. We will also be resting a few players and will be prioritising staying injury free over boosting % (our % is already very strong). It’ll be interesting to see what our team line-up will be as it will give us an insight into how we are approaching this game.

Essendon were 'up' last week, and put in a pretty spirited effort against the Swans. Reckon they will be dead flat this week.. Cats are just warming up and will clock up a triple figure winning margain.

Points Bet paying $34 for Jezza to bag 12+, Sports Bet $15 for 10 goals.. Might have a nibble..

 

[Tony Barber]

I think this will be a lot closer than people think (<60 points). Essendon were not too far off vs Sydney last week. We will also be resting a few players and will be prioritising staying injury free over boosting % (our % is already very strong). It’ll be interesting to see what our team line-up will be as it will give us an insight into how we are approaching this game.

Geelong have stated that they are in 'go' mode.
For a long time I've thought that Scott loves set up a lead and then protect it.

But I'm seeing a gradual change in the players. I dont know if it's the influence of Holmes and Smith.
But there appears to be no off button now.

 

[iameviljez]

Essendon were 'up' last week, and put in a pretty spirited effort against the Swans. Reckon they will be dead flat this week.. Cats are just warming up and will clock up a triple figure winning margain.

Points Bet paying $34 for Jezza to bag 12+, Sports Bet $15 for 10 goals.. Might have a nibble..

Nobody has kicked 12 since the heyday of Buddy, I can't see that happening...

 

[wcadams88]

Geelong have stated that they are in 'go' mode.
For a long time I've thought that Scott loves set up a lead and then protect it.

But I'm seeing a gradual change in the players. I dont know if it's the influence of Holmes and Smith.
But there appears to be no off button now.

This has to happen

We cant pick and choose when we deicide to play well.

All games need to be treated as if it's out last up until the GF (hopefully)

 

[iameviljez]

This has to happen

We cant pick and choose when we deicide to play well.

All games need to be treated as if it's out last up until the GF (hopefully)

Both yes and no. I mean, you don't decide when you do and don't play well, it's hardly as though anyone lines up and says oh, five out of ten today please fellas.

That said, we should and we will rest players with September in mind.

 

[catters05]

Cameron with 15 goals…..

No injuries, reports and bank the 4 points with percentage, chase that top 2.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Plenty of chat about Geelong's "soft" draw coming home. It's a simple narrative, but also overlooks that our draw in the first half was far tougher.

Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

50

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

has a couple of advantages in this regard. He can rest a few players and freshen them up if he chooses and will clearly benefit from a very healthy list with plenty to choose from. Overall I'm not sure we could wish to be in a better position than we are currently.

Cats also came home with a easier draw in 2022 if I recall correctly. We have an experienced group who know how to get their preparation honed perfectly to the minute. The club will love the fact that there's little to no media attention. All the talk is about Collingwood losing a few - Adelaide flying - and little bits and pieces on other clubs. The only chat about Geelong is Jezza kicking 100. It's a perfect distraction, and even better smokescreen for the media.

And my final take on our run home is that it suits the "Geelong style". We've always been a side that plays on confidence and momentum, and I think that's what this last month gives us. Don't stress about who we're playing - it's largely irrelevant and it's outside our control anyway. Focus more on the fact that it potentially supercharges our gameplan and builds confidence. Don't underestimate how important that is. We've done what we needed to the last few weeks - but one thing that stands out to me is that these recent weeks have lit the fuse and we are playing with a lot of confidence - a bit more dare - and a healthy dose of confidence. Some of the stuff we saw in bursts against Port and Saints was harlem globetrotter stuff. Flicking the ball around in close - run and carry - support for each other - and playing with a lot of flare.

Yes it's an easier run home - but for Geelong it might be a case of lighting the fuse and going into finals healthy and with our gameplan in good order. As we've seen over many years, Geelong are a confidence team, and when "they're on" they look unbeatable. Hopefully that's a mindset that builds over this last month and has us peaking come September. Because when "we're on" I'm not sure many can beat us. Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

50

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

would be confident that our best is good enough to win it - so far he's got a few key boxes ticked. Let's see if it stacks up against the best.

Time well tell.

 

[Gunf]

Plenty of chat about Geelong's "soft" draw coming home. It's a simple narrative, but also overlooks that our draw in the first half was far tougher.

Chris Scott has a couple of advantages in this regard. He can rest a few players and freshen them up if he chooses and will clearly benefit from a very healthy list with plenty to choose from. Overall I'm not sure we could wish to be in a better position than we are currently.

Cats also came home with a easier draw in 2022 if I recall correctly. We have an experienced group who know how to get their preparation honed perfectly to the minute. The club will love the fact that there's little to no media attention. All the talk is about Collingwood losing a few - Adelaide flying - and little bits and pieces on other clubs. The only chat about Geelong is Jezza kicking 100. It's a perfect distraction, and even better smokescreen for the media.

And my final take on our run home is that it suits the "Geelong style". We've always been a side that plays on confidence and momentum, and I think that's what this last month gives us. Don't stress about who we're playing - it's largely irrelevant and it's outside our control anyway. Focus more on the fact that it potentially supercharges our gameplan and builds confidence. Don't underestimate how important that is. We've done what we needed to the last few weeks - but one thing that stands out to me is that these recent weeks have lit the fuse and we are playing with a lot of confidence - a bit more dare - and a healthy dose of confidence. Some of the stuff we saw in bursts against Port and Saints was harlem globetrotter stuff. Flicking the ball around in close - run and carry - support for each other - and playing with a lot of flare.

Yes it's an easier run home - but for Geelong it might be a case of lighting the fuse and going into finals healthy and with our gameplan in good order. As we've seen over many years, Geelong are a confidence team, and when "they're on" they look unbeatable. Hopefully that's a mindset that builds over this last month and has us peaking come September. Because when "we're on" I'm not sure many can beat us. Chris Scott would be confident that our best is good enough to win it - so far he's got a few key boxes ticked. Let's see if it stacks up against the best.

Time well tell.

Hindsight with the draw is a wonderful thing

If Port and Sydney didn't fall apart we would of had 2 top 4 opponents from last year in the final month

It is why some people are advocating for a 17-6 draw in which you play everyone once and then determine double ups after that

 

[Jumping Jack]

Hindsight with the draw is a wonderful thing

If Port and Sydney didn't fall apart we would of had 2 top 4 opponents from last year in the final month

It is why some people are advocating for a 17-6 draw in which you play everyone once and then determine double ups after that

Yes agree.

There's also been some mixed results in matches between contenders placed 1-8 at the time of playing each other. Geelong's record stacks up ok in that comparison. As Chris Scott often says - it's not who you play but when you play them.

Brisbane got us comfortably at GMHBA but that result still looks like a bit of an outlier. GWS generally play well against us. Outside of that we've played well and beaten all other sides in the top 8 as well as Bulldogs in 9th (currently).

 

[Gunf]

Yes agree.

There's also been some mixed results in matches between contenders placed 1-8 at the time of playing each other. Geelong's record stacks up ok in that comparison. As Chris Scott often says - it's not who you play but when you play them.

Brisbane got us comfortably at GMHBA but that result still looks like a bit of an outlier. GWS generally play well against us. Outside of that we've played well and beaten all other sides in the top 8 as well as Bulldogs in 9th (currently).

Top 9 record against each other:

Brisbane 7-4
Geelong 6-4
Freo 6-2
Adelaide 5-5
Collingwood 5-5
GC 5-5
GWS 5-5
Hawthorn 3-6
Bulldogs 2-8

All four of our losses are against the same 2 teams

 

[Jumping Jack]

Top 9 record against each other:

Brisbane 7-4
Geelong 6-4
Freo 6-2
Adelaide 5-5
Collingwood 5-5
GC 5-5
GWS 5-5
Hawthorn 3-6
Bulldogs 2-8

All four of our losses are against the same 2 teams

Looks like we'll dodge GWS week one and hopefully we can rely on other teams to knock them out.

Brisbane seem to have built their game around beating us in recent times and I think the areas where they get us is midfield depth and how many quality players they have running through there. Not sure we can click our fingers and fix that too quickly.

If we're glass half full - Brisbane only got us by 9pts at the Gabba, and taking the GMHBA result in isolation makes it look comprehensive (which it was), but I think we'll fare better against them at the MCG in finals as our game stacks up better there in my opinion. Easy to use as an excuse, but Lions were red hot that night at GMHBA and Geelong in comparison looked very flat.

 

[bulletproof]

Geelong have had an easy draw. This is luck, not a conspiracy that the AFL want to reward one of the most successful sides of the AFL era, that is a mid market team in terms of size.

Our early form against good sides was very sound, but our last 2 performances have been very poor.

All of this will be forgotten in the first week of finals. It doesn’t matter as much as people make out, if we are exposed, our haters can enjoy that. I don’t think we can say with a high degree of confidence that will not be the case after that effort versus the Giants and Lions.

But if we win through to the Grand Final, we will have earned our spot there. That can’t be disputed.

I don’t believe any team has been denied a Premiership by getting harder double up games than another club. And no team has won a Flag because of an easy draw.

The only sides with genuine advantage in terms of winning Premiership are the MCG tenants, because the Grand Final is played there.

 

[cats_09]

Good to see Ollie H out there on the training track

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Good piece here from Hoyney from Champion Data on Miers form post midfield move.

I've thought about this a bit over the last couple of years with his move up the ground, and he's kind of become our equivalent to Errol Gulden.

Gryan's so hard to pidgeon-hole into a role, and even harder to find a player comparison with.

With that role being a bit more defined now though (at least traditionally), then Gulden is the one.

Both elite kicks. Slighter bodies who are mainly outside, but can play inside, and who can run all day between the arcs.

Much has been made of our midfield (and I've been as potent on that as anyone) but if we can get Stanley, Smith, Holmes, Miers, and Atkins all in form at the right time, with PFD and Mullin as the finals wildcards in there, it's a chance.

I still don't think it can match Brisbane's, but against anybody else we're likely to play, we should be able to breakeven or win the battle.

 

[The_Todd07]

Mullin kicks his first after the siren on GF day, it's written in the stars.

I'd prefer Jez after the siren, can be for the win or just icing, to bring up #100

They can present the cup with all of us on the ground because good luck getting us to leave

 

[Seeds]

Hindsight with the draw is a wonderful thing

If Port and Sydney didn't fall apart we would of had 2 top 4 opponents from last year in the final month

It is why some people are advocating for a 17-6 draw in which you play everyone once and then determine double ups after that

That suggestion is insane. Changing the draw halfway through the season is nuts.

 

[Seeds]

Geelong have had an easy draw. This is luck, not a conspiracy that the AFL want to reward one of the most successful sides of the AFL era, that is a mid market team in terms of size.

Our early form against good sides was very sound, but our last 2 performances have been very poor.

All of this will be forgotten in the first week of finals. It doesn’t matter as much as people make out, if we are exposed, our haters can enjoy that. I don’t think we can say with a high degree of confidence that will not be the case after that effort versus the Giants and Lions.

But if we win through to the Grand Final, we will have earned our spot there. That can’t be disputed.

I don’t believe any team has been denied a Premiership by getting harder double up games than another club. And no team has won a Flag because of an easy draw.

The only sides with genuine advantage in terms of winning Premiership are the MCG tenants, because the Grand Final is played there.

Richmond 2017 won a flag because of an easy draw. Both home and away and finals.

Geelong 1993 lost a flag because of a tough draw (and too small a list of finalists which was changed the very next season)

If we could properly test theory with repeat sampling im pretty sure we would find some less obvious examples as well.

 

[Gunf]

That suggestion is insane. Changing the draw halfway through the season is nuts.

It isn't changing the draw it is giving the draw for the first 17 rounds at the start and then after everyone has played each other once assign the double ups based on the same bullcrap they do now.

Changing the draw would be to release the whole draw and then after 17 rounds change it.

 

[numbwombat]

Good piece here from Hoyney from Champion Data on Miers form post midfield move.

I've thought about this a bit over the last couple of years with his move up the ground, and he's kind of become our equivalent to Errol Gulden.

Gryan's so hard to pidgeon-hole into a role, and even harder to find a player comparison with.

With that role being a bit more defined now though (at least traditionally), then Gulden is the one.

Both elite kicks. Slighter bodies who are mainly outside, but can play inside, and who can run all day between the arcs.

Much has been made of our midfield (and I've been as potent on that as anyone) but if we can get Stanley, Smith, Holmes, Miers, and Atkins all in form at the right time, with PFD and Mullin as the finals wildcards in there, it's a chance.

I still don't think it can match Brisbane's, but against anybody else we're likely to play, we should be able to breakeven or win the battle.

Miers is a gun but I don’t agree that this is good analysis by Hoynes, we have played 3 of the bottom 5 in the past 5 weeks, ludicrous cherry-picking

 

[numbwombat]

Richmond 2017 won a flag because of an easy draw. Both home and away and finals.

Geelong 1993 lost a flag because of a tough draw (and too small a list of finalists which was changed the very next season)

If we could properly test theory with repeat sampling im pretty sure we would find some less obvious examples as well.

Our draw isn’t even that easy, if GWS managed to climb back into the top 6 (probably won’t happen but they were thereabouts late in the season) we would have played 2 from each of the top-middle-bottom 6

EDIT and if the saints climb into the middle 6, I forgot they were a double up and not the swans. Still possible

 

[Seeds]

It isn't changing the draw it is giving the draw for the first 17 rounds at the start and then after everyone has played each other once assign the double ups based on the same bullcrap they do now.

Changing the draw would be to release the whole draw and then after 17 rounds change it.

But picking who a team plays in the last 6 round based on how they performed in the first 17 is insane. At that point we may as well give up on finals and flags as what would be the point if the best teams are handicapped and the middle of the road teams given a leg up. You would see teams that were 3rd and 4th at round 17 falling to 7-8 or even missing finals altogether and replaced by inferior teams. Im sorry thats nuts. If you were going to have everyone play each other once in the first 17 rounds and thus a fair draw to that point we should adopt the 17-5 approach advocated by the afl 5 years ago.

 

[Johanpetro]

But picking who a team plays in the last 6 round based on how they performed in the first 17 is insane. At that point we may as well give up on finals and flags as what would be the point if the best teams are handicapped and the middle of the road teams given a leg up. You would see teams that were 3rd and 4th at round 17 falling to 7-8 or even missing finals altogether and replaced by inferior teams. Im sorry thats nuts.

So a team like hawks or bulldogs will give them an easier run home cos they’re 8th/9th but a team like crows or Brisbane get a tough run home after doing all the hard work to be in the top 3. Such a silly idea. Teams fighting for a finals spot will be laughing to themselves

 

[Gunf]

But picking who a team plays in the last 6 round based on how they performed in the first 17 is insane. At that point we may as well give up on finals and flags as what would be the point if the best teams are handicapped and the middle of the road teams given a leg up. You would see teams that were 3rd and 4th at round 17 falling to 7-8 or even missing finals altogether and replaced by inferior teams. Im sorry thats nuts. If you were going to have everyone play each other once in the first 17 rounds and thus a fair draw to that point we should adopt the 17-5 approach advocated by the afl 5 years ago.

I agree it wouldn't be fair but the current system isn't either

The best case would be playing everyone twice once home and once away but will never happen.

Next best would be a 17 round season swapping home teams each year.

Next would be a pure rolling fixture.

None of the above or any other decent solutions will ever happen as the AFL want to give certain clubs blockbuster games and rivalry doubles etc

 

[Seeds]

So a team like hawks or bulldogs will give them an easier run home cos they’re 8th/9th but a team like crows or Brisbane get a tough run home after doing all the hard work to be in the top 3. Such a silly idea. Teams fighting for a finals spot will be laughing to themselves

Exactly. You would find teams 7th and 8th at round 17 with a cushy last 6 weeks while teams above them all play each other multiple times leading to loses.

At this point i would have to consider giving up on the game.