Autopsy Cats get belted by Suns by 50 odd

[Live in hope]

Clark - has some very good, albeit inconsistent attributes. Shows some X factor flashes. Just got to be settled into a role and build the tank.

I remember when Wojo started - could see some attributes (the speed in particular) but naturally had limited time and few possessions. After one of those games at Princes Park (remember those days?) I remember driving past the Zoo and saw Wojo and the fitness coach on a post game run. Was impressed. By next season fitness Wojo’s fitness was 1st team level. Wonder if they really need to really push extra running into Clark’s training.

 

[standupand]

I'm not anti-Close, but I'm not sure his form over the past 12 months warrants what seems like near automatic selection

I've read some call him a barometer for the team - that when he plays well, is up & about etc, that the team plays well... But is it a bit of the opposite in that when the team is playing well, they're up & about that is when we see Brad at his best as he gets carried along with that momentum

I'm trying to remember games over the last year or two where we haven't played well as a team, but Brad was one of our standouts, cause I came really remember him being a momentum changer or team on the back type player


I also wonder if we went a bit early on the 3yr extension this time 12 months ago - he's a solid player in our, love that he's a premiership player, but feel he could also be one that if we treated him that we'd have someone who could slot into the playing 23

He hasn't had the best year but how could he be the one getting "carried" when his role is almost entirely defensive forward pressure and assists? Literally no-one is meant to be feeding him the ball.

I think what were witnessing is how physically demanding that role is. It's hard for players to back it up year after year without periods where they struggle to be influential.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

quite harsh but i laughed

Clark was an A grader limited by mental health issues and the other 3 were plodders so im not sure that meme is an accurate one.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

AFL Gold Coast Strategy:

Lets give them an Academy that will guarantee a regular supply of really top end talent. Lets make them available almost for free. It means they can use all their top draft picks purely for trades. Lets give them some bonus draft picks anyway. Even better, lets give them an extended list so they can have more players on their list. Eventually it will do the job.

Then rince and repeat for the other NSW and Qld clubs. Who gives a rats arse about St Kilda and other Victorian clubs. We know they will keep coming back no matter what. (Go on Ross Lyon for speaking out.)

It might be a great recipe for making AFL a national competition.

But maybe they are treating their long term loyal supports like they don't matter might backfire. Balance is everything and I feel the AFL is way out of balance. It will show up in attendaces and TV ratings. And Vic clubs getting desparate with salaries and trades and AFL interest overall. The Siants are seriously at risk. North are dead men walking.

We will see. But when the only team that looks like being able to stop a Brisbane 3 peat for the second time this century is another Qld team, the AFL is commiting serious self harm.

It is but sadly all they really care about is having brisbane and gc in big finals to try and pull more fans in QLD in away from the QLD NRL clubs.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

More pressure on the surface of mars than that f50

It will be fine for now but if king is ever fit it will be a problem because I dont think you can have any of tdk marshall or king in the vfl given the money they are on. And Ryan and Higgins aren't exactly defensive superstars. That said they will be lethal offensively at marvel with fhe right delivery. But the best sides will likely exploit them.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

When you look at the quality players that the Demons have lost/let go in recent years- Jesse Hogan, Brayshaw, Petracca, Oliver, I wonder where they would have been IF they'd kept Hogan

That's a valid question. It depends on whether you think hogan could have sorted out his off field problems in Melbourne or if he needed to be out of the fish bowl to do it.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Clark was an A grader limited by mental health issues and the other 3 were plodders so im not sure that meme is an accurate one.

The meme is having Mitch Knevitt at CHF isn't a good option, much like those names.

It's Twitter. Never delve too deep into the details.

 

[Romeoh1]

So what about the interstate game? Badly timed given we had 5 there? Should we have had no nplayers in that game? Smith, Danger both were off after it. Stewart still nqr. Holmes looks fit. Humphries looks great. Not a blanket decision clearly.

Yep - its pretty tricky. I imagine it’d be good luck trying to stop danger playing in it. Footy actually asks a lot of players these days. Great career but lucky they love it.
Stewart hasn’t really been himself consistently for sometime now- and doesn’t look like he will get back to his best. Humphries is an amazing footballer. So pleased we have him.

 

[Mr Meow]

The meme is having Mitch Knevitt at CHF isn't a good option, much like those names.

It's Twitter. Never delve too deep into the details.

Knevitt has still gone past a heavily declining Jeremy Cameron.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

TOG was pre planned. Not to do with tank but rotations. Each game teams are really going to have to pick someone to play 50%. And it was him

Effectively we have moved to a “flexible sub” arrangement now. Without an injury the 25th player will play “sub like”minutes

Interesting. And I get that some teams will do this because the rotations havent increased so if you don't have a few guys like miers who can play +90% tog then someone has to have low tog. But it cant be good for his development either in needing to build endurance (which he lacked last year) or in getting his play to a higher standard to just be playing half a game every week. So im assuming they are going to rotate the low tog player each week?

 

[Pure_Ownage]

The meme is having Mitch Knevitt at CHF isn't a good option, much like those names.

It's Twitter. Never delve too deep into the details.

I get that im just saying using Mitch Clark (hes nothing like the others and was a quality player) undermines the knevitt argument. You might as well use some spud like kersten or timm house with those others in the meme instead.

 

[cats_09]

He hasn't had the best year but how could he be the one getting "carried" when his role is almost entirely defensive forward pressure and assists? Literally no-one is meant to be feeding him the ball.

I think what were witnessing is how physically demanding that role is. It's hard for players to back it up year after year without periods where they struggle to be influential.

I don't think anyone has said anything about feeding him the ball

But if he's game is meant to be built around defensive forward pressure, he's not exactly dominating in that area

Based on last year, Close's rankings at Geelong was:

• average tackles: 16th, 2.23
• average tackles inside 50: 12th, 0.62
• one percenters: 14th, 1.19
• TOG: 8th, 83%

One area he was at the top was for goal assists, where he's 1.15 per game was second only to Dangerfield

Interestingly for Dangerfield last year, he averaged 1.30 goals per game & 1.30 goal assists per game; fair effort that

 

[darrenmorgan]

Not too concerned about last night, we were always losing that game from the moment the fixture was released, and we're a bit behind atm. I expect we might have a tough few weeks to start this year, before we get up and running, hopefully things don't spiral too much in the meantime.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

He hasn't had the best year but how could he be the one getting "carried" when his role is almost entirely defensive forward pressure and assists? Literally no-one is meant to be feeding him the ball.

I think what were witnessing is how physically demanding that role is. It's hard for players to back it up year after year without periods where they struggle to be influential.

Spot on
Close is also very reliant on quick ball movement into F50 when he can use his smarts to block ,create space and use his hands for deft knock ons and taps to advantage.
He's poor when it's a contest in a crowd or as a marking target , not his one wood.
He needs speed on the ball and constant flow to bring out his best attributes.

 

[noclashjumpers]

My take-away is that we were woeful in the first possession post clearance. Double touches galore. Really, that was the difference in the first half. They were clean, we weren't. They had the ball, we didn't. Then pressure mounted from there. So strangely, I'm not overly concerned.
Plus, we were playing a club that has 13 top 5 draft picks on their list! By comparison, we're a bunch of rag-tag misfits,

 

[Mr Meow]

I don't think anyone has said anything about feeding him the ball

But if he's game is meant to be built around defensive forward pressure, he's not exactly dominating in that area

Based on last year, Close's rankings at Geelong was:

• average tackles: 16th, 2.23
• average tackles inside 50: 12th, 0.62
• one percenters: 14th, 1.19
• TOG: 8th, 83%

One area he was at the top was for goal assists, where he's 1.15 per game was second only to Dangerfield

Interestingly for Dangerfield last year, he averaged 1.30 goals per game & 1.39 goal assists per game; fair effort that

Danger had a great season in his new role. Only a cooked GF let him down, but as a 35 year old forward pocket he was terrific. Any really down game he had, we still felt the impact heavily.

 

[cats_09]

Danger had a great season in his new role. Only a cooked GF let him down, but as a 35 year old forward pocket he was terrific. Any really down game he had, we still felt the impact heavily.

He has a presence that not many others in our team have

 

[Mr Meow]

He has a presence that not many others in our team have

Correct, and with that is a certain mojo/self belief that carries others. Selwood had it too and I am fully convinced that only Dangerfield's presence reduced the impact of that loss - although the next season was tough and we still miss him at times.

Imagine even 2019-2022 era Selwood in this current team. Unfortunately the timing didn't quite work out, as he came to the end or retired when we finally had forward weapons + up-and-comers in midfield (Holmes/Smith).

If we had Dangerfield, Selwood, Holmes and Smith all in their pomp that's where we'd have sufficient weapons/attributes to beat these stacked midfields. We're up against it without those outstanding contested players- who were also pretty damaging ball users (Dangerfield hit and miss, but more "hit" than Holmes/Smith).

 

[Tony Barber]

Not too concerned about last night, we were always losing that game from the moment the fixture was released, and we're a bit behind atm. I expect we might have a tough few weeks to start this year, before we get up and running, hopefully things don't spiral too much in the meantime.

I'm concerned because we didn't even show 2 minutes of quality footy.
It's ok to be defeated. But looking like you dont even look like you deserve to be in the league is a big problem.

 

[Mr Meow]

I'm concerned because we didn't even show 2 minutes of quality footy.
It's ok to be defeated. But looking like you dont even look like you deserve to be in the league is a big problem.

A belting goes one of two ways. The team responds positively the next week and recovers, or heads drop and they lose again - at that point, it's a massive concern. Next week will show us which one it is.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

A belting goes one of two ways. The team responds positively the next week and recovers, or heads drop and they lose again - at that point, it's a massive concern. Next week will show us which one it is.

Well this is technically the second belting in a row

 

[Mr Meow]

Well this is technically the second belting in a row

I'm talking about the 2026 season and week-to-week response. Technically we have lost 4 in a row if you want to be even more dramatic.

 

[andoman21]

i think we need to face reality guys...we are so slow and thing a couple of 35 year olds will save the day is delusional.

We have had a good run

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'm talking about the 2026 season and week-to-week response. Technically we have lost 4 in a row if you want to be even more dramatic.

Oh oh



I think we'll win probably 2 of the next 3 though

 

[ndduyk6]

toby conway whats the go with him?