Analysis 2016 Geelong Mid-Season Review

[Art Vandelay_]

Well we're at the halfway point of our season as we hopefully surge towards a return to finals football. Hopefully like last year we can get some player ratings from ChookNorris again.

LIKED:

• The marked improvement that the club has taken in clearances and contested possessions. From the worst last season to amongst the best few this season. Sure some recruits help with that massively but glad to see it be rectified.
• Menzel in the team and contributing.... Just needs to clean up his kicking for goal.
• Beating the filth once more. Order has been restored. There is balance in the force again
• More broadly, beating finals bound sides again. Last season were 4-7 against top 8 teams. So far 4-1
• Our recruits. From big head Smith to #PFD to Hendo. All have played their part in the senior team. Hopefully SS will as well later on.
• Cam Guthrie. Has raised his game up a level, whether it be down back or in the guts. Becoming very important.
• The mobile ruck duo of Stanley and Smith. Stark contrast to the Blicavs and Walker combo
• Seeing Kelly playing some good footy for Essendon.
• The improvement in Kersten. Hasn't starred or been dominant, has had some down games but let's face it everyone of us would have taken 17 goals from him to this point. Most of us (raises hand) myself included didn't even have him in the best 22 over summer.

LEARNT:

• The 3 talls v 4 talls hasn't been the reason for wins and losses. we've played well and poorly with both.
• We're no closer to solving what to do with Guthrie. Has played well both in the midfield and down back and is needed in both areas.
• Motlop has AA ability but at times not AA desire, work rate, effort or consistency.
• Those BF posters cats or otherwise who bemoaned, laughed or mocked our trade week, along the lines of traded for a FA, VFL player, NEAFL player and WAFL player or similar. By and large off the mark so far. We look to be getting good value from those players.
• We are still prone to lapses, not exclusively 3rd quarters, and in those periods we get dominated.
• The club does get some list management decisions correct. Say hello Menzel and Lincoln. they get some wrong however. Say hello Cowan
• For whatever reason GHS is the ugly duckling of the GFC. That kid in the school yard that's last to get picked.
• There's still life in the old timer. What a renaissance from Jimmy. 300 games in a canter. #fearthebeard
• Our VFL depth has some work to be done. Not a lot of players pushing up from below.
• We waste a shitload of chances, inside 50's and periods of dominance by being so s**t in front of goal.

DISLIKED:

• We waste a shitload of chances, inside 50's and periods of dominance by being so s**t in front of goal.
  
• Undoing some of the good work by losing to dross that is the Pies and Blues.
• Losing Thurlow for the season. Could really use his kicking out of the back half.
• Nakia getting injured. Was very useful with our press with his pressure and tackling.
• The sporadic boos that GAJ copped. Some don't like the way he left. I hate him getting booed by our fans.
• Kelly and Stokes donning the sash. Doesn't look right.
• SJ at the giants. Doesn't look right.

 

[Cronin]

With all due respect to those teams, how the hell did we lose to Collingwood and Carlton

Hopefully it doesn't cost us later in the season.

 

[Catsace]

Good write up there Doc! I do think that sometimes we just seem to be a little unbalanced against some sides, the Pies and Blues ran us off out feet and spread like crazy...(then again the Pies spread like frozen molasses today). Think we need to still err on the side of pace as when Geelong is troubled it's usually by small quicker players rather than big blokes. Having a much more serviceable ruck combo this year is making a difference and if we can get Menegola and Cockatoo back it may also help our run from the backline, which can get exposed at times.

Cronin, if the Pies put that up against the North Shore under 18's they'd get knocked over, the contrast between today's complete tripe and what they showed against Geelong is like chalk and cheese. Inexplicable really.

 

[Bobby_]

Good write up there Doc! I do think that sometimes we just seem to be a little unbalanced against some sides, the Pies and Blues ran us off out feet and spread like crazy...(then again the Pies spread like frozen molasses today). Think we need to still err on the side of pace as when Geelong is troubled it's usually by small quicker players rather than big blokes. Having a much more serviceable ruck combo this year is making a difference and if we can get Menegola and Cockatoo back it may also help our run from the backline, which can get exposed at times.

Our ground is also a huge advantage. Apart from round 1, we are struggling at the MCG as we get opened up. This is also the same problem at Docklands under the roof which we will see next week against North Melbourne.
On those grounds, you need precise foot skills as we get burnt on turnovers. It also opens up where we have a few too many uncontested ball winners who lose more of those crucial 1-on-1 battles than some other sides.

 

[ChookNorris]

Well we're at the halfway point of our season as we hopefully surge towards a return to finals football. Hopefully like last year we can get some player ratings from ChookNorris again.

LIKED:

• The marked improvement that the club has taken in clearances and contested possessions. From the worst last season to amongst the best few this season. Sure some recruits help with that massively but glad to see it be rectified.
• Menzel in the team and contributing.... Just needs to clean up his kicking for goal.
• Beating the filth once more. Order has been restored. There is balance in the force again
• More broadly, beating finals bound sides again. Last season were 4-7 against top 8 teams. So far 4-1
• Our recruits. From big head Smith to #PFD to Hendo. All have played their part in the senior team. Hopefully SS will as well later on.
• Cam Guthrie. Has raised his game up a level, whether it be down back or in the guts. Becoming very important.
• The mobile ruck duo of Stanley and Smith. Stark contrast to the Blicavs and Walker combo
• Seeing Kelly playing some good footy for Essendon.
• The improvement in Kersten. Hasn't starred or been dominant, has had some down games but let's face it everyone of us would have taken 17 goals from him to this point. Most of us (raises hand) myself included didn't even have him in the best 22 over summer.

LEARNT:

• The 3 talls v 4 talls hasn't been the reason for wins and losses. we've played well and poorly with both.
• We're no closer to solving what to do with Guthrie. Has played well both in the midfield and down back and is needed in both areas.
• Motlop has AA ability but at times not AA desire, work rate, effort or consistency.
• Those BF posters cats or otherwise who bemoaned, laughed or mocked our trade week, along the lines of traded for a FA, VFL player, NEAFL player and WAFL player or similar. By and large off the mark so far. We look to be getting good value from those players.
• We are still prone to lapses, not exclusively 3rd quarters, and in those periods we get dominated.
• The club does get some list management decisions correct. Say hello Menzel and Lincoln. they get some wrong however. Say hello Cowan
• For whatever reason GHS is the ugly duckling of the GFC. That kid in the school yard that's last to get picked.
• There's still life in the old timer. What a renaissance from Jimmy. 300 games in a canter. #fearthebeard
• Our VFL depth has some work to be done. Not a lot of players pushing up from below.
• We waste a shitload of chances, inside 50's and periods of dominance by being so s**t in front of goal.

DISLIKED:

• We waste a shitload of chances, inside 50's and periods of dominance by being so s**t in front of goal.
  
• Undoing some of the good work by losing to dross that is the Pies and Blues.
• Losing Thurlow for the season. Could really use his kicking out of the back half.
• Nakia getting injured. Was very useful with our press with his pressure and tackling.
• The sporadic boos that GAJ copped. Some don't like the way he left. I hate him getting booed by our fans.
• Kelly and Stokes donning the sash. Doesn't look right.
• SJ at the giants. Doesn't look right.

Yeah I'd love to. Will need to procrastinate at some point this exam period.

 

[catempire]

This time last year…

• We were 10th on the ladder at 6 wins, 6 losses and a percentage of 98.4. We are now 2nd at 9-3 with a percentage of 139.1.
• We had been belted in Round 1 by Hawthorn, a result which we have turned around by 90-odd points 12 months later.
• We had lost 3 out of our 4 games at Kardinia Park by a combined total of 84 points. We are 4-0 at the venue in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 243 points.
• We had lost 2 out of our 3 interstate games by a combined total of 97 points. We are 2-1 in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 74 points.
• Our record against the eventual top 8 sides was 1-5 for a percentage of 59.8. This year it’s 5-1 for a percentage of 126.2.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

This time last year…

• We were 10th on the ladder at 6 wins, 6 losses and a percentage of 98.4. We are now 2nd at 9-3 with a percentage of 139.1.
• We had been belted in Round 1 by Hawthorn, a result which we have turned around by 90-odd points 12 months later.
• We had lost 3 out of our 4 games at Kardinia Park by a combined total of 84 points. We are 4-0 at the venue in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 243 points.
• We had lost 2 out of our 3 interstate games by a combined total of 97 points. We are 2-1 in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 74 points.
• Our record against the eventual top 8 sides was 1-5 for a percentage of 59.8. This year it’s 5-1 for a percentage of 126.2.

That's amazing.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Going Ok
Positives:
*Ruck division working well .Like the agile big men. Active trees are the way of the future. Like having an extra mid
*Menzel If he stays on the park will provide us with much needed forward X factor
*Dangerwood -say no more
*Backs are working well despite fears of too tall/old (but still likely to be exposed by astute opposition planning )
*Kersten developing
*Ruggles looking better by the week.
* Still some handy players to come in if needed
* Bartel and Enright still racking them up.

Negatives:
Thurlow down.miss his kicking
Blicavs seems a little unsure of his role and his skills are down
Hawkins too one dimensional (sorry Tommy, stop arguing/wrestling and get the pill)
Motlop/caddy inconsistent
Goal kicking stinks
Gregson second year blues?
Still need another reliable rebound small defender IMHO. Bews failing to grab his chances.
Murdoch going nowhere, but continues to get picked

Anyway 9-3 still pretty good. Just the nature of those losses to middling teams has me a little perturbed..
Bring on the doggies

 

[Dawn2Dark]

Solid interstate wins/performances
Ability to out-perform top 8 teams more often than not
Tired of people complaining about losing ex players. Happy to hand Danger back, then?
SJ wasn't booed and repaid fans by showboating.

Despite the obvious losses to sub-par teams there are so many reasons to be excited about the second half of the sesason.

 

[Vdubs]

With all due respect to those teams, how the hell did we lose to Collingwood and Carlton

Hopefully it doesn't cost us later in the season.

How can it? We are now second. It is totally from this week onwards that our future is determined, not what happened back then. If we lose games from now on, and we slide, so be it, that is our true situation. Those losses were valuable. We will have learned from both of them and aspects should help us v Bulldogs this week. It is only spilt milk if they were very near losses, but no, we were truly beaten by much better teams on the day, even if we hardly lost any actual quarters of footy.

 

[Cataholic]

This time last year…

• We were 10th on the ladder at 6 wins, 6 losses and a percentage of 98.4. We are now 2nd at 9-3 with a percentage of 139.1.
• We had been belted in Round 1 by Hawthorn, a result which we have turned around by 90-odd points 12 months later.
• We had lost 3 out of our 4 games at Kardinia Park by a combined total of 84 points. We are 4-0 at the venue in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 243 points.
• We had lost 2 out of our 3 interstate games by a combined total of 97 points. We are 2-1 in 2016 with an aggregate winning margin of 74 points.
• Our record against the eventual top 8 sides was 1-5 for a percentage of 59.8. This year it’s 5-1 for a percentage of 126.2.

Goddamn it!

If not for clueless coaching, lazy list management, daft drafting, senseless strategies and a distinct lack of effort we'd be so much better than last.......oh, wait.......say that again?

 

[DanA]

Struggling with:
- Goal kicking
- Quick rebounding and dare say scoring from rebound 50's is very low.

Big improvements:
Contested footy, clearances and ruckwork
Spread of goal kickers
Intercept marks, zone and forward pressure.

I suspect we could be better at scoring from stoppages inside 50 as well but that's my gut feeling from watching games. It might not be reflected in the stats. All in all you've got to say things are pretty darn positive though.

 

[Cronin]

How can it? We are now second. It is totally from this week onwards that our future is determined, not what happened back then. If we lose games from now on, and we slide, so be it, that is our true situation. Those losses were valuable. We will have learned from both of them and aspects should help us v Bulldogs this week. It is only spilt milk if they were very near losses, but no, we were truly beaten by much better teams on the day, even if we hardly lost any actual quarters of footy.

They weren't much better teams, they had better attitudes than we did and we didn't work hard enough, plain and simple.

Have you looked at the ladder? It's tighter than a Nun's V!
Now we could play great footy for the rest of the year and still end up on the same amount of wins as Sydney or GWS because they've also played great footy, but they've had an easier draw going home and their % might be higher so we have to travel interstate. If this happens, I'll be thinking about those two loses and what if.

 

[Vdubs]

They weren't much better teams, they had better attitudes than we did and we didn't work hard enough, plain and simple.

Have you looked at the ladder? It's tighter than a Nun's V!
Now we could play great footy for the rest of the year and still end up on the same amount of wins as Sydney or GWS because they've also played great footy, but they've had an easier draw going home and their % might be higher so we have to travel interstate. If this happens, I'll be thinking about those two loses and what if.

If a team is good enough, like HAWKS LAST YEAR, it can be won from 2 interstate finals.
We don't win our home finals at Geelong, so far, and MCG is not always a happy venue.
What will be will be.
I still think slumps occur, and we seem to have got out of it.

 

[dazbroncos]

catempire nailed it for mine with the compare and contrast.

Really good stuff.

My criticism would be on ruck depth - (im being picky as im still excited to actually have rucks to begin with, let alone depth) but if one of them go down we are in Barney.

Im not sure Blitz has adjusted as well as id have liked IMO - but he's also taking other players out of the games at times so its still a learning thing for me.

We also need the MF behind PFD-Sel to get more consistent and clearly our goal kicking accuracy % to lift....

Other than that... going well IMO.

GO Catters

 

[DanA]

I would be playing Vardy or Clark ahead of Blicavs in the ruck. I think we are alright with one of Stanley or Smith but the preference is definitely for both.

 

[Pollywaffle]

I would be playing Vardy or Clark ahead of Blicavs in the ruck. I think we are alright with one of Stanley or Smith but the preference is definitely for both.

Not sure he really is in the ruck although he does the third man up thing often or takes a bounce or two in some situations. I still think he is a little betwixt and between in his current role. Still love the guy. Does a lot of unheralded grunt work in the packs but I'd like to see him getting used on the spread and backing his foot skills a bit more.

 

[Hood007]

If a team is good enough, like HAWKS LAST YEAR, it can be won from 2 interstate finals.
We don't win our home finals at Geelong, so far, and MCG is not always a happy venue.
What will be will be.
I still think slumps occur, and we seem to have got out of it.

If we finish 3rd and have to play either of the Sydney teams up there in the 1st week of finals then the Carlton game in particular could be looked at as a lost opportunity to have a home final and gain easy passage to a home prelim.
Of course teams can win from anywhere but Hawthorn last year should be looked at as the exception, not the rule.

 

[David the Cat]

catempire

Other than that... going well IMO.

GO Catters

So well in fact Daz.....that David King picks us for the Premiership.

Oh well.....maybe next year.

 

[Vdubs]

If we finish 3rd and have to play either of the Sydney teams up there in the 1st week of finals then the Carlton game in particular could be looked at as a lost opportunity to have a home final and gain easy passage to a home prelim.
Of course teams can win from anywhere but Hawthorn last year should be looked at as the exception, not the rule.

If we finish 3rd, it will be a great result.
That Carlton game was not ours to win. We were not up to it. History.
Now we are.
More important is to beat the Dogs, a real contender. If we continue to beat these teams, we will have the confidence that we can get up for the teams we'll face in September. Carlton will be but a blur.
Do you recall Blues in 95? Successive losses to the bottom 2 teams- Swans/Saints , iirc, and not another loss.
It is now up to us to keep winning, that is all.

 

[Lana]

It has been a great start to the year. In most games we've been able to play to our gameplan and dominate our match, it plays to our strengths but our current execution has holes. The GWS(1st), Collingwood and Carlton games showed us that if we're beaten in the ruck we can't control the I50s nor do we rebound effectively enough to win a game. If we want to take then next step we need to become a more well rounded team. It might just be a case of a lack of a certain type of personnel and our issues might not be fixable. If so we'll need to dominate our opponents for control of the ball for a month against good opposition, which is doable but very hard.

 

[catempire]

It has been a great start to the year. In most games we've been able to play to our gameplan and dominate our match, it plays to our strengths but our current execution has holes. The GWS(1st), Collingwood and Carlton games showed us that if we're beaten in the ruck we can't control the I50s nor do we rebound effectively enough to win a game. If we want to take then next step we need to become a more well rounded team. It might just be a case of a lack of a certain type of personnel and our issues might not be fixable. If so we'll need to dominate our opponents for control of the ball for a month against good opposition, which is doable but very hard.

Well summed up.

On the bolded, I do think we are limited personnel-wise in what we can reasonably expect to execute tactically. We simply do not have the run and carry players in the back half to implement and succeed with a game plan that some people want to see. I think the coaching staff deserve great credit for being realistic about our strengths and weaknesses and formulating a gameplan accordingly. The fact that it is, at least, a very competitive gameplan against quality opposition is very pleasing.

The one thing I'd add to what you say is I don't think we've seen the best of this side yet. It has been patchy both within and across games and there are signs that the individual players are still getting used to one another. There is upside for this team in the 2nd half of the year that isn't there with a lot of other top 8 sides. It is a very even top eight so with an even run with injuries and a couple of small improvements we are in this up to our eyeballs.

 

[Lana]

Well summed up.

On the bolded, I do think we are limited personnel-wise in what we can reasonably expect to execute tactically. We simply do not have the run and carry players in the back half to implement and succeed with a game plan that some people want to see. I think the coaching staff deserve great credit for being realistic about our strengths and weaknesses and formulating a gameplan accordingly. The fact that it is, at least, a very competitive gameplan against quality opposition is very pleasing.

The one thing I'd add to what you say is I don't think we've seen the best of this side yet. It has been patchy both within and across games and there are signs that the individual players are still getting used to one another. There is upside for this team in the 2nd half of the year that isn't there with a lot of other top 8 sides. It is a very even top eight so with an even run with injuries and a couple of small improvements we are in this up to our eyeballs.

I'd say since the start of 2013 the bolded part has been a strength of our team, Scott has had no issue shifting the gameplan around to ensure we have a way to win with the card we have. It hasn't always been conventional or pretty but it has usually worked.

I don't think that our execution of our current gameplan we have too much improvement in it, I think our lack of goal accuracy has disguised how well we've played this year. At best I think the improvement of certain individuals will take the pressure off our more productive players rather than increase the overall productivity of the team. For us to get even better we'd have to change how we play but as we both say you pick the gameplan to the players you have, it is better to stick with a weaker plan you can execute then institute a better plan that you can't.

 

[catempire]

I'd say since the start of 2013 the bolded part has been a strength of our team, Scott has had no issue shifting the gameplan around to ensure we have a way to win with the card we have. It hasn't always been conventional or pretty but it has usually worked.

Absolutely. It is an underrated feature of Scott's tenure.

I don't think that our execution of our current gameplan we have too much improvement in it, I think our lack of goal accuracy has disguised how well we've played this year. At best I think the improvement of certain individuals will take the pressure off our more productive players rather than increase the overall productivity of the team. For us to get even better we'd have to change how we play but as we both say you pick the gameplan to the players you have, it is better to stick with a weaker plan you can execute then institute a better plan that you can't.

Don't get me wrong, I think our execution of our gameplan is probably 90-95% on the mark. It's a small scope for improvement I'm talking about.

As for individuals, I see it a bit differently as I think the improvement can come from some of our more productive players. As good as Dangerfield has been, I think we only started to see him gelling really well with the team (Selwood especially) last week. Selwood has been up and down, ditto Guthrie. Blicavs hasn't been great even though he's probably doing OK in a role. Motlop could certainly improve although his workrate is good. Hawkins has been OK but would be more productive if the forward line was functioning 5-10% better and with some better midfield delivery. Our rucks have been solid but have upside.

 

[nohairandfair]

Absolutely. It is an underrated feature of Scott's tenure.


Don't get me wrong, I think our execution of our gameplan is probably 90-95% on the mark. It's a small scope for improvement I'm talking about.

As for individuals, I see it a bit differently as I think the improvement can come from some of our more productive players. As good as Dangerfield has been, I think we only started to see him gelling really well with the team (Selwood especially) last week. Selwood has been up and down, ditto Guthrie. Blicavs hasn't been great even though he's probably doing OK in a role. Motlop could certainly improve although his workrate is good. Hawkins has been OK but would be more productive if the forward line was functioning 5-10% better and with some better midfield delivery. Our rucks have been solid but have upside.

Like most of us I suspect you have very little idea what our gameplan is. Placing percentages on how well we have executed it is fanciful at best.