Review 2019 Review thread

[dazbroncos]

We have

a CEO who criticises some of the supporter base instead of lifting his hand

a coach who is aloof and insists on playing key players out of position

a forward line based around an undisciplined key forward

a player in Constable who we could loose because he was not given a go

a finals record that is embarrassing.

the culture of the club has changed.

but it is not OK to state what you think in these days of censorship.

where?

GO Catters

 

[Max Milburn]

We have

a CEO who criticises some of the supporter base instead of lifting his hand

a coach who is aloof and insists on playing key players out of position

a forward line based around an undisciplined key forward

a player in Constable who we could loose because he was not given a go

a finals record that is embarrassing.

the culture of the club has changed.

but it is not OK to state what you think in these days of censorship.

We have
a CEO who is upset at a small group of mindless trolls

a coach that has been able to get the best out of the players we have

a section of entitled "fans" who simply cannot win with humility nor lose with humour

a group of young players with promise and a group of senior players who are still hungry

a record of reaching finals that is the envy of the majority clubs, despite not having access to the best draft picks

A club culture that has changed for the better

 

[BUSTER29]

Hi Colin.

We have
a CEO who is upset at a small group of mindless trolls

a coach that has been able to get the best out of the players we have

a section of entitled "fans" who simply cannot win with humility nor lose with humour

a group of young players with promise and a group of senior players who are still hungry

a record of reaching finals that is the envy of the majority clubs, despite not having access to the best draft picks

A club culture that has changed for the better

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[steady2]

We have

a CEO who criticises some of the supporter base instead of lifting his hand

Nothing wrong with criticising people who make personal and spiteful attacks on players and officials. As Cook pointed out, they are a tiny minority. The two issues are not related and are mutually exclusive, however I'm not sure what you think Cook should put his hand up for, he is not a player nor a coach.

a coach who is aloof and insists on playing key players out of position

I disagree with the aloof claim, no player nor ex-player has made that claim. Yes, some of his selection decisions this year and on some occasions previously have been terrible. I hope he learns from this.

a forward line based around an undisciplined key forward

Steady on. His mental breakdown occured once, unfortunately at the wrong time. He was still our leading goalkicker and an AA this year.

a player in Constable who we could loose because he was not given a go

I expect Constable to be let loose in the seniors a lot more next year. Are you claiming a contracted player is leaving the club?

a finals record that is embarrassing.

That is true, still superior to most other clubs who regularly fail to make the finals.

the culture of the club has changed.

You would need to extrapolate on this statement.

but it is not OK to state what you think in these days of censorship.

I see. So if your post was censored why is it here and why am I replying?

 

[dazbroncos]

We have

a CEO who criticises some of the supporter base instead of lifting his hand

a coach who is aloof and insists on playing key players out of position

a forward line based around an undisciplined key forward

a player in Constable who we could loose because he was not given a go

a finals record that is embarrassing.

the culture of the club has changed.

but it is not OK to state what you think in these days of censorship.

If you abused a person on here the way they were allegedly abused you be banned from here permanently too.

Dont see the issue myself.

GO Catters

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

The season started off really well.

We had a lot of young talent getting games and they were holding their own.

Unfortunately like most years instead of focusing on development we go back to the same ole players and the same poor tactics.

Constable got left to rot in the VFL, Clark got moved up the ground and the likes of Bews were fit back in the team.

Instead of bringing in players early like Narkle and Kreuger we went back to the likes of Scooter and Henderson. Menegola got back in early instead of going with Constable. Parsons played his best game against the Swans and then got dropped.

The team started playing too risk averse and we were filling the team with defenders.

Towards the end of the year it all started falling apart, instead of sticking with Stanley in the ruck Blicavs got moved just so Henderson could stay in.

Was just amateur hour again, once pressure goes up even the MC stop making good decisions. Finals ended up being business as usual, poor selections, a game plan that doesn't hold up in finals and players who cant play under pressure.

If this club is to make real improvements it needs to focus on development. We need to be playing kids instead of the usual mediocre players like Scooter, Henderson, Bews, Menegola,Tuohy etc.

We need to stick with strict structures like having a 3rd marking forward, a couple of defenders who can kick, wingers who have an outside game. It's not that hard to keep the same structures every week. We wont win as many games but we will have a better balanced team.

Senior players need to miss out when they dont fit in, stop moving defenders into different positions. Sometimes you need to play lesser players like Parsons, Kreuger or Fort because they fit the role better.

Stop trying to win every game when the structures dont hold up in finals. It's embarrassing to spend each year betting against your team during finals because you know they will under perform.

I’ve been a pretty harsh critic of Tuohy but I though he was one of our best players this final series.

 

[ButterMill]

Would love a draft profile deep write up by on our first year players by the club, with highlights cut together. Selfishly it would help us fans that wasn't to assess what we have, against what we think we need. Really keen to learn more about Jarvis, Kennerley, Tarca etc after a year in the system.

 

[BotsMaster]

First half of the season: 9/10
Second half of the season: 5/10

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

When we reached the bye I wrote a glowing report for the club for its performance to that point. They really caught the competition napping with some tweaks to the game plan over the off season, some handy new recruits, and some very accurate goal kicking. But what happens every season is after the bye the competition at the top often starts to even up as opposition work out strategies to counter gameplans and put them into effect. This happened to Geelong big time. Opposition teams reset over the bye and started to play us differently. Clarkson and Hinkley really showed how to beat Geelong. Namely, don't let defenders be sucked up the ground and stay one on one to nullify the forward strategy they were using so effectively, and make Geelong's slower ball movement from HB become a mill stone to strangle us and cause turnovers.

I know many of us have criticised Scotty for the last part of the season, but credit where it's due, the first half of the season was excellent coaching.

Here's where I began to have a problem with Scotty and the coaches. What opposition teams were doing to us was obvious. It really needed a reset of the game plan to counter it from Geelong's side too, but for some reason, Scotty stuck fat with it to the bitter end. Right to the prelim. Oh, he did tweak a few things like the super slow ball movement from the back half (it improved slightly), but the overall plan which good teams were now countering easily ( and not so good one's like Freo), he stubbornly stayed on course.

Then to add to this, the MC lost faith in Stanley & Smith, and decided to throw Blicavs into the ruck, robbing the side of its AA Full Back. Despite a good win against the WCE in the semi final, Geelong's performance overall in the last 12 weeks was embarrassing. The blame for this, IMO, lies solely on Chris Scott. His arrogance and stubbornness to stick with something clearly not working and to compound this with questionable selection decisions was some of the most shitful coaching I have ever seen at Geelong.

On a side note, another raspberry for the season was Hawkins getting suspended for an action he didn't need to do in the semi final. TBone is known for his brain farts at times, and this was a doozy. Given where we were at half time in the prelim, having him could've caused a different result. But that is just something we'll never know.

 

[David the Cat]

When we reached the bye I wrote a glowing report for the club for its performance to that point. They really caught the competition napping with some tweaks to the game plan over the off season, some handy new recruits, and some very accurate goal kicking. But what happens every season is after the bye the competition at the top often starts to even up as opposition work out strategies to counter gameplans and put them into effect. This happened to Geelong big time. Opposition teams reset over the bye and started to play us differently. Clarkson and Hinkley really showed how to beat Geelong. Namely, don't let defenders be sucked up the ground and stay one on one to nullify the forward strategy they were using so effectively, and make Geelong's slower ball movement from HB become a mill stone to strangle us and cause turnovers.

I know many of us have criticised Scotty for the last part of the season, but credit where it's due, the first half of the season was excellent coaching.

Here's where I began to have a problem with Scotty and the coaches. What opposition teams were doing to us was obvious. It really needed a reset of the game plan to counter it from Geelong's side too, but for some reason, Scotty stuck fat with it to the bitter end. Right to the prelim. Oh, he did tweak a few things like the super slow ball movement from the back half (it improved slightly), but the overall plan which good teams were now countering easily ( and not so good one's like Freo), he stubbornly stayed on course.

Then to add to this, the MC lost faith in Stanley & Smith, and decided to throw Blicavs into the ruck, robbing the side of its AA Full Back. Despite a good win against the WCE in the semi final, Geelong's performance overall in the last 12 weeks was embarrassing. The blame for this, IMO, lies solely on Chris Scott. His arrogance and stubbornness to stick with something clearly not working and to compound this with questionable selection decisions was some of the most shitful coaching I have ever seen at Geelong.

On a side note, another raspberry for the season was Hawkins getting suspended for an action he didn't need to do in the semi final. TBone is known for his brain farts at times, and this was a doozy. Given where we were at half time in the prelim, having him could've caused a different result. But that is just something we'll never know.

Good post Blakey....sums it up pretty well....

While I have given Scott plenty of slack on most issues, the decision to relegate Stanley on the basis of a non existent weather episode was unbelievably amateurish ... I found it hard to believe even before the ball was bounced...basing a critical selection decision on Melbourne's weather....I still shake my head...losing that game realistically killed off our flag chances...

though we shouldn't dismiss that we were 21 points up at half time in a Prelim against the soon to be Premiers after dismissing a very good WCE side, ...add Duncan, Hawkins, Clark and a fit GAJ to the Prelim side and who knows.....

We have reason to be optimistic IMO...

 

[goyoucatters]

Good post Blakey....sums it up pretty well....

While I have given Scott plenty of slack on most issues, the decision to relegate Stanley on the basis of a non existent weather episode was unbelievably amateurish ... I found it hard to believe even before the ball was bounced...basing a critical selection decision on Melbourne's weather....I still shake my head...losing that game realistically killed off our flag chances...

though we shouldn't dismiss that we were 21 points up at half time in a Prelim against the soon to be Premiers after dismissing a very good WCE side, ...add Duncan, Hawkins, Clark and a fit GAJ to the Prelim side and who knows.....

We have reason to be optimistic IMO...

Pretty much in total agreement with you here, DtC. Leaving aside the fact that I don't accept for a moment that the decision around Stanley was eventually based on weather. If it was a moment in isolation across the entire season, I might be prepared to swallow that as the explanation. Although I would still see it as incredibly inept and indicative of not even doing the most straightforward of research to ascertain the actual conditions that were going to prevail on the night.

As it is, the evidence of previous weeks late in the season indicated that the MC had entirely lost their way regarding the ruck position in the seniors. To the point that a player who had been struggling for a couple of years (and was not exactly tearing it up in the twos when he did play) was preferred over our nominal #1, who had performed creditably against some of the competition's very best earlier in the season. And, rather than heeding the evidence that the change wasn't really working (or necessary), they doubled down in subsequent weeks by playing an AA-contending full back in the ruck instead. With predictable results.

So I don't believe the Stanley QF debacle was finally anything other than a drastic miscalculation about how important the ruck role would be on the night. As it is, Grundy's work around the ground itself was enough of a dagger, let alone any advantage he won for the Pies at the ruck contests. And Blitz drifting back to defence meant he got used on transition in a way that would surely have been more difficult for the Pies to manufacture if Rhys had been out there.

A monumental error in my view. And I entirely agree that the accompanying loss we suffered (with team selection as a key factor) pretty much cruelled our premiership chances in one disastrous result. Win that game, and Toma plays in the PF. Which likely means more scoreboard pressure from us when we were dominating in the second quarter, as well as an ability (with rested legs) to better match the run of the Tigers after half-time.

Not in any way suggesting that the decision cost us the flag. But I certainly believe it cost us our best shot at it. And all for want of a MC who doesn't yearn to outsmart itself and instead simply plays to our (relative) strengths.

And, to add insult to injury, Wellsy's comments in Trade Week about how Stanley was more than capable of doing the job for us in 2020 must have sounded very hollow to Rhys as he considered how he'd been treated in the latter part of season 2019.

Fix this one lamentable selection gaffe (and the obsession with choosing surplus defenders in the senior team every week) and we'll be closer to maximising our potential in 2020 straight away.

 

[Vdubs]

First half of the season: 9/10
Second half of the season: 5/10

That is statistically and numerically very accurate.