Review 2019 Review thread

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Sep 15, 2005
13,075
20,637
AFL Club
Geelong
And so another season comes to a close; another top 4 finish with little to show for it other than the world’s most pointless trophy: the McClelland.
A season that started so brightly, full of fresh promise, with uncluttered minds and dreams of September Special Edition Blu-rays.

So now we sit around wondering whether it is better to have hoped and lost than to have avoided the tyranny of hope all together.

Chris Scott, the winningest H&A AFL coach in the history of winning stuff, goes into the post-season sunset with a Finals record that would make a magpie cry, and an asterisk next to his 1xPremiership that would weigh as heavy as an obelisk.
I don’t begrudge the man a holiday.

Inevitable questions must be raised as to whether he is the man to steer Geelong to its next premiership - none of us want to endure another 44 year wait; I know I’d be pushing it to abide such a prolonged drought and would be more likely to be pushing up daisies. He did say we'd be better next year...:mad:

More learned and astute supporters than myself rightly point out that each dashed finals campaign features a unique set of mitigating factors...

Sadly, like the lowest-of-common-denominator supporters - the ‘just kick it long’ types - I can only identify one unifying factor in these blown top 4 opportunities, the man steering the ship, our own Captain Ahab.

The same man who point blank refuses to publicly acknowledge that the club has an issue with fronting up after a bye.

And it was that post-bye loss that set alarm bells screaming in the ears of many burnt supporters this year, too (once again).
I know it definitely sent a chill up my spine.
That Rd. 14 loss to the Power came only a fortnight after we’d blown tonight’s conqueror’s Richmond out of the water.

Like many, I am a man who once wished for *just one premiership* in his lifetime.
I was lucky enough to get it, and then two more into the bargain as well…and I could rationalise it all so much more easily if we hadn’t positioned ourselves so strongly on 5 separate occasions since 2011.

It’s hard to see it now, but there are some positives to take from the season… it is, however, very very easy to see the negatives;

Players who repeatedly wilt under finals pressure, year after year. Mark Blicavs had a terrible finals series again. He was woeful last night, his set shot on goal was damning. It's not funny Mark.
A coach who seems jittery and unfocused come September, pulling hero-selection moves, mounting ill-advised home-final campaigns at exactly the wrong time, trying to play mind games with the opposition when his own mind and those of his charges are scattered and skittish.

Glacial starts.
Ill-disciplined senior players.
Year after year.

In an effort to end on a somewhat brighter note, I will briefly list the positives as I see them:
1. Esava Ratugolea, Jordan Clark and Gryan Miers.
Who knows if we will retain these guys moving forward. I’ve said a few times that I wouldn’t be surprised if Miers never matches his efforts this season, too.
But all provided me with plenty of enjoyment this year.
Clark’s efforts when the rest of the team went completely off the rails post-bye were very good until injury, he was a beacon of hope for a few weeks there.

2 …. no, actually that was pretty much it.

Hawkins, Stewart, Kelly (bye bye) all had great seasons up until that damned bye, and then to one degree or another dropped off.

Joel Selwood played one last great final, in a season which marked an alarming decline in his output.
Dangerfield had moments of transcendence, other moments when he reminded me that even the far greater Gary Ablett sr couldn’t get the job done by himself.
His finals series was weird. Probably gave his all. Probably carrying some kind of niggle. Regardless, he went missing for large patches of each Finals game for some reason.

Our foreign legion of Zac Smith, Rhys Stanley, Scott Selwood, Lachie Henderson, Sam Menegola, Gary Rohan, Zac Tuohy, Luke Dahlhaus and whoever else I’ve not bothered to look up no longer bolster the team; they are the team; or at least they represent where we're at.
Where once we may have looked to top up with a player or two to augment Selwood, Taylor, Hawkins, now we’ve invested so heavily in so-so talent from other clubs that we find ourselves a million miles away from the so-called ‘Geelong way’ which reaped our flags - investment in the draft; growing a group of like-minded peers organically into a cohesive unit.

3 more years.
Yes, I know I wasn’t quite able to end on that somewhat brighter note.
 
May 18, 2016
13,022
24,890
AFL Club
Geelong
We lost to the better team last night. I thought our effort was there. Just couldn’t do it for long enough.

Losing the collingwood game was unforgivable. It cost us a gf birth, where anything can happen on the day ala 08.

Failure to perform post bye is beyond a joke now. As much as we all want a new coach, we are stuck with scott for at least a few more years.
 

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At the start of the season who thought we would finish top and make a Prelim final? I certainly didn't. Thought we may scrape into the bottom part of the eight and that would be it.

But having a closer look at the season shows there were issues that bit us in the end....which all have been around for a couple of years but haven't been solved.
- Ruck situation still a mess
- the bye
- the coach being too 'smart' for his own good

Something HAS to change on the coaching front. I can't see the board sacking Scott, so a big shake up of the Assistants. But the question is, does Scott take any notice of the Assistants when they suggest something anyway? So will new Assistants change anything?

Anyway, next year is a big unknown. Would have liked a couple of the younger players in the VFL get a more games this year (Constable), or even a game or two just for a final look at them to see if they are worth keeping (Buzza).
 

Overhang

Club Legend
Sep 29, 2011
1,762
3,027
AFL Club
Geelong
What a year hey. No one expected us to finish top 4 never mind top of the ladder, we had the most difficult start to the year and yet went 11-1 and some pundits were saying hand the cup to us now. And then our arch nemesis entered and again we scummbed to the bye and sadly found no rhythm or consistency on the back half of the year. And here we are today scratching our collective heads wondering what could have been as we threw away another prelim final.

There was a lot to like about this year, the kids exceeded expectations and we had 3 rising star nominees, Dahlhaus did what we brought him to the club to do, we got pretty good output from Rohan for what we gave up but sadly those 2 concussions really hampered his year.

We are at a crossroads again, the club seems to think we're still in a premiership window by going after Higgins and Jack Stevens but I feel it's finally time to rebuild. We're going to lose TK who imo was our best finals performer, Selwood's body despite a great finals series has caught up with him, Ablett will probably retire and if not he may not be best 22 by late next season, Taylor should retire and Hendersons best also seems well past him. I'd love the club to have a crack at Cameron next year as we need a replacement for Hawkins.
 

xtatik222k

Club Legend
May 24, 2008
2,775
6,582
australia
AFL Club
Geelong
Last night was the last nail in the coffin, for me. We will drop off now in a big way. Personally, I hope the end of Chris Scott's career is miserable and tedious. He's taken the greatest team the game has ever seen and turned it into a side of predictably choking easy beats. I hate the guy. I'm done with him. Never felt less allegiance for my team than I do right now, and I really resent him for that. We've proven that H&A results are meaningless. It doesn't matter how we finish a season. We'll snatch defeat from the jaws of victory each time - and it will come in the form of undisciplined senior players, boring game plans, stupid MC decisions before crucial games and all the while, the bloke responsible will deny every single data metric that suggests there's something wrong. I think I'll be pretty checked out of footy now - until he's gone.
 

Raabs

Cancelled
Sep 19, 2019
37
87
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Seattle Supersonics
IMO the team was so well settled for the first half of the season with hardly any changes, aswell as players being played in their best positions and it was reflected with us being 11-1 and having some great wins against really good opposition.

But then along comes the bye and we turn back into old habits of unbalanced team selection, inconsistent effort and game style as well as relying on individual brillance to win games rather than team structure.

Too many simular defenders playing in the same team and frankly too many defenders full stop.

I still don't understand why Blicavs was taken away from fullback at all this year, let alone dumped on a wing during a finals campaign where he was redundant; Poor coaching IMO.

Our disposal is so poor and if you've got a midfield who prodominatly run one way they better be elite kicks going forward.... ours are not and neither are the backline, which makes it extra hard for the forwards get consistency.

We haven't won 2 finals in a season since the 2011 Premiership and once again we were outworked in another finals campaign.

I don't buy that we just weren't good enough this season, we were damn good for the first half of the year when we had things working but unfortunately we went away from those aspects.

A disappointing end to a season that had so much potential.
 
Sep 15, 2005
13,075
20,637
AFL Club
Geelong
IMO the team was so well settled for the first half of the season with hardly any changes, aswell as players being played in their best positions and it was reflected with us being 11-1 and having some great wins against really good opposition.

But then along comes the bye and we turn back into old habits of unbalanced team selection, inconsistent effort and game style as well as relying on individual brillance to win games rather than team structure.

Too many simular defenders playing in the same team and frankly too many defenders full stop.

I still don't understand why Blicavs was taken away from fullback at all this year, let alone dumped on a wing during a finals campaign where he was redundant; Poor coaching IMO.

Our disposal is so poor and if you've got a midfield who prodominatly run one way they better be elite kicks going forward.... ours are not and neither are the backline, which makes it extra hard for the forwards get consistency.

We haven't won 2 finals in a season since the 2011 Premiership and once again we were outworked in another finals campaign.

I don't buy that we just weren't good enough this season, we were damn good for the first half of the year when we had things working but unfortunately we went away from those aspects.

A disappointing end to a season that had so much potential.

Nice debut post Raabs ...


but .. Seattle Supersonics? Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton still floating your boat? Fair enough!
 

Raabs

Cancelled
Sep 19, 2019
37
87
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Seattle Supersonics
Nice debut post Raabs ...


but .. Seattle Supersonics? Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton still floating your boat? Fair enough!
I'm very loyal and also a die hard Dallas Cowboys supporter dispite their lack of recent success.

Being a Sonics and Cats fan until the day i die i wish nothing but pain for OKC Thunder and obviously Hawthorn so while it sucks to lose(or currnetly have no NBA team) at least those two other s**t-stain organisations aren't doing any better:thumbsu:
 

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Spazz Cat

Brownlow Medallist
Jun 10, 2013
24,890
30,162
AFL Club
Geelong
Good and bad. That period of Gazza against Hawthorn, Kangas, Bombers Richmond was the real highlight for me.
Very, very enjoyable.
Some of the second half of the year was not enjoyable at all. Not cause of a few losses but a style of play sometimes unwatchable.
Finals went exactly as expected. So not really a letdown TBH, though the Coach turned out to be even more of a dickhead than first thought. Went to another level.
 
Feb 12, 2017
16,024
42,125
AFL Club
Geelong
Season of two halves, pre bye we looked fresh, innovative and generally exciting, led largely by the crop of new additions to the team in Miers, Constable, Clark, Esava, and even Rohan.

Post bye however everything seemed to change for the worst. Dour gameplan that was a hassle to watch, scoring seemingly dried up as we looked to defend more than attack, and the newer players either were injured (Clark) or foolishly left out of the side (Constable) as we brought in the same old guys who have failed when it counts year after year.

Without trying to scapegoat him, our defence pre-bye was already the best in the comp, so why we rushed Bews back into the side when we did was a head scratcher - but ultimately an indicator of what the current coaching group value most. Dour, uninspiring, poorly skilled football.
 
Sep 28, 2014
2,317
3,590
Geelong
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Melbourne Renegades
Some random thoughts
- Ratugolea showing a lot of promise and should only get better with experience
- Krueger must play next year, we cannot afford to go into finals with no back up tall forwards with games under their belt.
- Clark only got better and better as the year went on, a great pick up and look forward to seeing his development
- Miers had a great year, is very goal smart and sets up well creatively. He will need to keep this up to replace the role Ablett played this year
- Stanley had another good game last night including some strong marks, he should definitely stay in the 22 and the club needs to bring in a "monster" ruck for horses for courses games when we need one plus develop a young ruck as well
- With Kelly going and Selwood slowing the next wave needs to be given an extended run, centre bounces next year should include mix of - Dangerfield, Parfitt, Narkle, Constable
- Jack Steven cannot come to the club for a pick lower than 3rd round
- The likely 2 or 3 first round picks we will have should be split between 1 or 2 new draftees and also getting in some high end talent from another team in the 23-26 age bracket
- We have too many defenders squeezed into the team, this showed last night with having to plonk them in the wrong positions and ending up with Blicavs on a wing . I would like to see the backline like this,

Henry Blicavs OConnor
Stewart Kolojashnij Tuohy

Clark should be a winger and Bews on the bench, Taylor and Henderson can replace Blicavs and Kolo on a form/injury needs basis but not add them in at the expense of a smaller player

The first 12 rounds were such a memorable experience, the team was playing beautiful footy especially against many teams that we were tipped to lose against prior to the season starting.
Its such a dreadful shame the team got so close to having another crack at a premiership yet overall the team brought me a lot of joy to watch this season and it is always exciting and intriguing how the team changes and develops from year to year, bring on the off-season where we can dream of who is coming and going to be the next big hope
 
Sep 15, 2005
13,075
20,637
AFL Club
Geelong
Some random thoughts
- Ratugolea showing a lot of promise and should only get better with experience
- Krueger must play next year, we cannot afford to go into finals with no back up tall forwards with games under their belt.
- Clark only got better and better as the year went on, a great pick up and look forward to seeing his development
- Miers had a great year, is very goal smart and sets up well creatively. He will need to keep this up to replace the role Ablett played this year
- Stanley had another good game last night including some strong marks, he should definitely stay in the 22 and the club needs to bring in a "monster" ruck for horses for courses games when we need one plus develop a young ruck as well
- With Kelly going and Selwood slowing the next wave needs to be given an extended run, centre bounces next year should include mix of - Dangerfield, Parfitt, Narkle, Constable
- Jack Steven cannot come to the club for a pick lower than 3rd round
- The likely 2 or 3 first round picks we will have should be split between 1 or 2 new draftees and also getting in some high end talent from another team in the 23-26 age bracket
- We have too many defenders squeezed into the team, this showed last night with having to plonk them in the wrong positions and ending up with Blicavs on a wing . I would like to see the backline like this,

Henry Blicavs OConnor
Stewart Kolojashnij Tuohy

Clark should be a winger and Bews on the bench, Taylor and Henderson can replace Blicavs and Kolo on a form/injury needs basis but not add them in at the expense of a smaller player

The first 12 rounds were such a memorable experience, the team was playing beautiful footy especially against many teams that we were tipped to lose against prior to the season starting.
Its such a dreadful shame the team got so close to having another crack at a premiership yet overall the team brought me a lot of joy to watch this season and it is always exciting and intriguing how the team changes and develops from year to year, bring on the off-season where we can dream of who is coming and going to be the next big hope

Good post Mr Jelley - Ratugolea needs to be locked away on a long contract asap - tying his future to the club would be close to my top priority ..
 
Dec 10, 2003
58,438
66,185
Newtown
AFL Club
Geelong
And so another season comes to a close; another top 4 finish with little to show for it other than the world’s most pointless trophy: the McClelland.
A season that started so brightly, full of fresh promise, with uncluttered minds and dreams of September Special Edition Blu-rays.

So now we sit around wondering whether it is better to have hoped and lost than to have avoided the tyranny of hope all together.

Chris Scott, the winningest H&A AFL coach in the history of winning stuff, goes into the post-season sunset with a Finals record that would make a magpie cry, and an asterisk next to his 1xPremiership that would weigh as heavy as an obelisk.
I don’t begrudge the man a holiday.

Inevitable questions must be raised as to whether he is the man to steer Geelong to its next premiership - none of us want to endure another 44 year wait; I know I’d be pushing it to abide such a prolonged drought and would be more likely to be pushing up daisies. He did say we'd be better next year...:mad:

More learned and astute supporters than myself rightly point out that each dashed finals campaign features a unique set of mitigating factors...

Sadly, like the lowest-of-common-denominator supporters - the ‘just kick it long’ types - I can only identify one unifying factor in these blown top 4 opportunities, the man steering the ship, our own Captain Ahab.

The same man who point blank refuses to publicly acknowledge that the club has an issue with fronting up after a bye.

And it was that post-bye loss that set alarm bells screaming in the ears of many burnt supporters this year, too (once again).
I know it definitely sent a chill up my spine.
That Rd. 14 loss to the Power came only a fortnight after we’d blown tonight’s conqueror’s Richmond out of the water.

Like many, I am a man who once wished for *just one premiership* in his lifetime.
I was lucky enough to get it, and then two more into the bargain as well…and I could rationalise it all so much more easily if we hadn’t positioned ourselves so strongly on 5 separate occasions since 2011.

It’s hard to see it now, but there are some positives to take from the season… it is, however, very very easy to see the negatives;

Players who repeatedly wilt under finals pressure, year after year. Mark Blicavs had a terrible finals series again. He was woeful last night, his set shot on goal was damning. It's not funny Mark.
A coach who seems jittery and unfocused come September, pulling hero-selection moves, mounting ill-advised home-final campaigns at exactly the wrong time, trying to play mind games with the opposition when his own mind and those of his charges are scattered and skittish.

Glacial starts.
Ill-disciplined senior players.
Year after year.

In an effort to end on a somewhat brighter note, I will briefly list the positives as I see them:
1. Esava Ratugolea, Jordan Clark and Gryan Miers.
Who knows if we will retain these guys moving forward. I’ve said a few times that I wouldn’t be surprised if Miers never matches his efforts this season, too.
But all provided me with plenty of enjoyment this year.
Clark’s efforts when the rest of the team went completely off the rails post-bye were very good until injury, he was a beacon of hope for a few weeks there.

2 …. no, actually that was pretty much it.

Hawkins, Stewart, Kelly (bye bye) all had great seasons up until that damned bye, and then to one degree or another dropped off.

Joel Selwood played one last great final, in a season which marked an alarming decline in his output.
Dangerfield had moments of transcendence, other moments when he reminded me that even the far greater Gary Ablett sr couldn’t get the job done by himself.
His finals series was weird. Probably gave his all. Probably carrying some kind of niggle. Regardless, he went missing for large patches of each Finals game for some reason.

Our foreign legion of Zac Smith, Rhys Stanley, Scott Selwood, Lachie Henderson, Sam Menegola, Gary Rohan, Zac Tuohy, Luke Dahlhaus and whoever else I’ve not bothered to look up no longer bolster the team; they are the team; or at least they represent where we're at.
Where once we may have looked to top up with a player or two to augment Selwood, Taylor, Hawkins, now we’ve invested so heavily in so-so talent from other clubs that we find ourselves a million miles away from the so-called ‘Geelong way’ which reaped our flags - investment in the draft; growing a group of like-minded peers organically into a cohesive unit.

3 more years.
Yes, I know I wasn’t quite able to end on that somewhat brighter note.

Id love to see Chris roll up to a Presser.. and he gets a question he does not like and says....You media ... You ... to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee ....


This year positives ... the kids Clark and Miers probably the best of them Sav showed a bit ..
 
Sep 15, 2005
13,075
20,637
AFL Club
Geelong
Id love to see Chris roll up to a Presser.. and he gets a question he does not like and says....You media ... You ... to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee ....


This year positives ... the kids Clark and Miers probably the best of them Sav showed a bit ..

haha excellent quote.

agree on your positives.
 

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