Review 2019 Review thread

[Geelong_Sicko]

Overall I am happy that we looked a much better team this year than in previous. The players we picked up did better than expected.

I was happy that a few players with questionable finals history played dinner good finals (Kolo, Thuoy, Menegola)


We're not far off, bitty Selwood is slowing down and Kelly probably gone. Had we had Duncan, a fit Rohan and Hawkins then I recon that would be the difference.

We could have pinched it this year, there are no stand out great teams.

Two MASSIVE outs, it must be said. Mitch Duncan is invisible to all but us Geelong folk. He's never praised, never even noticed. But he goes out and does his good work. We missed him out there, we really did.

And Hawkins. What could have been...

 

[nohairandfair]

I'd say Clark would be one of those types.

He has penetration in his kicking and certainly has the pace to break lines … BUT he has a slightly unorthodox kicking style with a very high ball drop and can miskick at times. He's never going to be a first rate user of the ball.

 

[catman2006]

I was only able to watch about 8 VFL games but surely some here have watched almost full year early day but how did you rate Ben Jarvis, Jacob Kennerley, Jake Tarca, Blake Schlensog are they going to be keepers or just solid VFL players

 

[dazbroncos]

I was only able to watch about 8 VFL games but surely some here have watched almost full year early day but how did you rate Ben Jarvis, Jacob Kennerley, Jake Tarca, Blake Schlensog are they going to be keepers or just solid VFL players

Jarvis and Tarca both flashed in moments - rarely at the same time from what I saw. Tarca seemed to have more from memory - but when they both did things you'd remember them. Id like that aspect to seeing Jack Henry play when he was a rookie.

Kennerly I saw less from but he did flash.

Schlensog was interesting. He probably flashed the least - but he worked very hard in the games I saw him play but the work wasnt rewarded.
Seemed like he would get to positions and not be used whence he got there. I saw him in 3 games get prety annoyed with that.

SKills wise he seemed good and id keep persisting with him - but he's a long way off. The ultimate free hit. And given our Academy area has not produced anything other than him to this point, keep him rolling and developing.

GO Catters

 

[Ray Donovan]

I thought Sav was excellent and was very surprised by how little he had the ball.
He's going to be something special with another 30-40 games under his belt.

Sav is talented I think he has a bit of the natanui issue which he doesn't read the play particularly well.

He can jump tackle create a contest mark the pill.

Not a natural footballer or tall so his progression will be interesting to see on the future

100% agree he is full of talent though

 

[catman2006]

Sav is talented I think he has a bit of the natanui issue which he doesn't read the play particularly well.

He can jump tackle create a contest mark the pill.

Not a natural footballer or tall so his progression will be interesting to see on the future

100% agree he is full of talent though

Big year next year for Sav, works on his set shots on goals and can hang on to some more marks he will be very valuable, really needs to cement his place in the team...

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I think one slightly dissappointing/annoying thing about Geelong is they dont win premierships out of turn

What i mean by that - is when the Cats have the best team they win the flag - so you have to give them credit for that eg 2007/9/11 - 1963 they won by about 10 goals so they must have been clearly the best team - ditto 51/52 - because they won over 20 games ( record ) in a row

However unlike some other teams ( and this piisses me off ) - they have never won a flag - when their the 2nd 3rd 4th best team - and its a bit of an upset/bonus - thats why i would have rated this year as the best flag ever

You go back to the 60s - these are the Prelim Finals that Geel have lost

1962 1964 1968 1980 1981 1991 2004 2010 2013 2016 2017 2019 - 12 of them in total -

If you look at that list fairly and objectively - i would say that 64 81 13 and 19 - all narrow defeats - i think in those 4 years if they had made the GF - they could have won the flag - the other years i think they would have got soundly beaten - but who knows they might have fluked an upset on the day - like some other clubs have done

Thus thats the thing about Geel 9 times out of 10 ( 2008 exception ) if they have got the best team they will win the flag

But the record books show if they havent got clearly the best team they dont win it .

 

[OddYears]

11-1 was great. The second half of the year played out how I thought the whole year would. Injuries at the start of the year were a blessing in disguise that gave us the opportunity to play a balanced side with guys that were hungry but you always knew that it would only be a matter of time before the team was once again filled with defenders, some out of position. And once all these guys were back in the team that's when we started to slip. It coincides with the kick down the line, turnover game plan.

Rohan played as expected. Some great games, some woeful, injured.
Still can't win after a bye.
Still stupid selections.
Still can't make the hard decisions on a select few.
Still can't settle on a team.
Our best footy will be played in September... please give this a rest. We usually play our worst footy in September.

What I really liked about this year was the progress of the younger guys. Constable, Miers, Clark, Henry, MOC, Rat. If they're our bottom 6 wtf is the rest of the team doing? Hard to find games where these guys let us down.

Compared to last year which I found the most boring I can remember following the cats, this was far better. All in all, a mostly predictable, yet enjoyable year.
The finals exit gets easier to handle each year. Plenty of Ups and downs and I'll be back to do it all again next year with blind faith that we can make it all the way knowing full well it will never happen under Scott.

 

[Pollywaffle]

The finals exit gets easier to handle each year.

Exactly. Me too. That's a worry.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

AFL Media Geelong Season Review

AFL Media reviews season 2019 at the Cattery.

geelongcats.com.au

 

[kickazz]

I think one slightly dissappointing/annoying thing about Geelong is they dont win premierships out of turn

What i mean by that - is when the Cats have the best team they win the flag - so you have to give them credit for that eg 2007/9/11 - 1963 they won by about 10 goals so they must have been clearly the best team - ditto 51/52 - because they won over 20 games ( record ) in a row

However unlike some other teams ( and this piisses me off ) - they have never won a flag - when their the 2nd 3rd 4th best team - and its a bit of an upset/bonus - thats why i would have rated this year as the best flag ever

You go back to the 60s - these are the Prelim Finals that Geel have lost

1962 1964 1968 1980 1981 1991 2004 2010 2013 2016 2017 2019 - 12 of them in total -

If you look at that list fairly and objectively - i would say that 64 81 13 and 19 - all narrow defeats - i think in those 4 years if they had made the GF - they could have won the flag - the other years i think they would have got soundly beaten - but who knows they might have fluked an upset on the day - like some other clubs have done

Thus thats the thing about Geel 9 times out of 10 ( 2008 exception ) if they have got the best team they will win the flag

But the record books show if they havent got clearly the best team they dont win it .

Despite being favourites on GF day, I'd say overall we were a clear second best to the Saints in 2009 and knocked then off.

But yeah, we just don't win often enough as underdogs in finals. Surely we have to pinch one one of these days

 

[AlcoaCat]

This year was a massive tease. Fabulous first half, well beyond anyone's expectations. Magical almost. Then the feared decline followed by the false dawn of the Carlton game.

And then it was finals. The bye. The bizarre and unaccountable coaching decisions. The comeback game. Then the bizarre and unaccountable coaching decisions all over again.

We could have been premiers this year. Dammit.

 

[Whit3y]

but what we do know is Lynch with 5 won them the game .

I wonder if Scott has analyzed the data yet and has come to this same conclusion.

 

[Moggy]

What a mixed bag of emotions really.

I, like most it seems, didn’t hold out much hope of us being a contender in 2019. It just didn’t seem like we had enough improvement in the list. I clearly underestimated us but I wasn’t alone there. Many had us missing the eight.

The difference between this year and last was really the output we got from the the 80-100 games from Constable, Miers, Dahlhaus, Rohan, Clark, Atkins and Ratugolea in 2019. It far exceeded the games replaced from Murdoch, Thurlow, Horlin-Smith, Black, Menzel, Crameri, Parsons, McCarthy, Gregson, Jones and Buzza in 2018. The mere fact that it was a more consistent group of players went a long way to helping play a more consistent brand of footy.

The coaching group also had clearly done more work on the playing style and tactics. We controlled the play more and didn’t rely so much on winning the midfield. The defensive unit was excellent both in output and statistically. We also were a notably better pressure team, helped by the likes of Dahlhaus, Atkins and Rohan in the forward line in place of former defensive liabilities like Menzel and McCarthy. We scored freely in the first half of the season and were impressively efficient (perhaps to the point of masking that we weren’t really generating enough chances and we would ultimately regress to the mean).

Notably, we won most of our MCG games. Something was clearly different. That was an important box to tick.

And it was an enjoyable team to watch in the first half of the year. It was tough, consistent and frugal, whilst being relatively high scoring (by modern standards at least). It looked to be a team working well as a machine with all components working well and complementing each other. They appeared to enjoy playing footy.

By half way through the year there were no other teams really “coming”. It was definitely up for grabs and we were in a strong position with a fit list and a dominant win-loss record and percentage. It could not have been poised better for us.

So what happened? Did they overthink it and make too many changes to what worked? Did the competition get better? I’m not sure. Possibly both.

What was clear was that in the second half of the year we were a shadow of the team we were in the first half. We didn’t win two games in a row after June. Let that sink in. A team, supposed to be a credible flag threat (which requires winning at least two or three games in a row in September against the best opposition) lost to lowly teams every second week for three months heading into the finals. It was nothing like the preparation needed for a good crack at the flag.

Then, the most disappointing part of the season IMO. After all of the talk of being ready for finals and all that came before it being about preparing for this moment, we absolutely bottled it in the first 12 minutes of our finals campaign. Dropped marks, two defenders crashing into each other and missed shots at goal from inside 20m. Season over. From that point onwards I knew we were cooked. From that point onwards we had to find a way to beat the two best H&A teams over the next two weeks to earn the right to play the team that had just demolished us in the first 12 minutes (or, as it turned out, ANOTHER team that was better than them!). Those 12 minutes put us on the wrong side of the finals draw and even our best would not be good enough from then on.

Despite all of that, if you look at the three finals in totality, they were a vast improvement on what we saw in 2016-2018. We dominated big periods of each match, our best players stepped up well for most parts and some well worn scapegoats even played some good footy. Perhaps best of all, some youngsters with very little finals experience showed great signs for the future in finals conditions. To beat West Coast was an impressive result for me. I think they’re every bit as good as Richmond on their day.

But vast improvement didn’t deliver different results and that’s what the team will be judged by. Some head scratching team selection calls will draw most of the fire which is a shame because it glosses over much else of what went on in 2019. People will generally have no time to appreciate the good when the bad looked so bloody awful. I’m not viewing 2019 in that way. To produce the season we did when everyone expected slide is to be commended. To do so while introducing many new faces, several of whom should feature fro the decade to come, was all the more heartening. I think 2019 was an important step along the path to our next flag and really that’s what’s most important to me.

Still, I can’t help but be disappointed as this group was capable of delivering a flag this year, given the quality of opposition. That will hurt for some time.

Excellent post.

 

[Max Milburn]

This year was a massive tease. Fabulous first half, well beyond anyone's expectations. Magical almost. Then the feared decline followed by the false dawn of the Carlton game.

And then it was finals. The bye. The bizarre and unaccountable coaching decisions. The comeback game. Then the bizarre and unaccountable coaching decisions all over again.

We could have been premiers this year. Dammit.

The decisions weren't that bizarre as they were directly related to two things: our deficiency in the ruck and injuries/suspension.
It doesn't make the end result any less frustrating, and it doesn't mean they were the correct decisions.
Unaccountable though? I'm not sure about that.

 

[dazbroncos]

I had posted earlier that this thread was a bit premature and it was too raw to do this properly, so I'll ust chuck thus here and people can have a crack if they choose to.

The premise is for each poster to pick a player and write an evaulation of their 2019 season.
It does not have to be puff piece but but should list good, bad and things to work on going forward.

Troll stuff and known player haters need not rip their player crushes to pieces as it will just be deleted - but balanced analysis of good and bad things is sought.
Doesn't need to be a War and Peace dissertation. Just some info for others to read.

Go Catters


1 Rhys Stanley

2 Zach Tuohy

3 Brandan Parfitt

4 Gary Ablett Jnr

5 Nakia Cockatoo

6 Jordan Clark

7 Harry Taylor

8 Jake Kolodjashnij

9 Zac Smith

10 Ben Jarvis

11 Tim Kelly

12 Wylie Buzza

13 Lachie Fogarty

14 Joel Selwood

15 Nathan Kruger

16 Scott Selwood

17 Esava Ratugolea

18 Charlie Constable

19 Quinton Narkle

20 Oscar Brownless

21 Jacob Kennerly

22 Mitch Duncan

23 Gary Rohan

24 Jed Bews

25 Lachie Henderson

26 Tom Hawkins

27 Sam Menegola

28 Darcy Fort

29 Cameron Guthrie

30 Tom Atkins

32 Gryan Miers

33 Jake Tarca

34 James Parsons

35 Patrick Dangerfield

36 Blake Schlensog

37 Sam Simpson

38 Jack Henry

39 Zach Guthrie

40 Luke Dahlaus

42 Mark O'Connor

43 Stephan Okunbor

44 Tom Stewart

45 Ryan Abbott

46 Mark Blicavs

 

[Mad_Hatter]

I can do Blicavs pretty quickly.

Can play everywhere, shouldn't though.
Can't kick goals.
Is a really really good fullback when the MC actually play him there.
Reckons he's a chance for an Emmy.

 

[cats_09]

I can do Blicavs pretty quickly.

Can play everywhere, shouldn't though.
Can't kick goals.
Is a really really good fullback when the MC actually play him there.
Reckons he's a chance for an Emmy.

Can I add - needs to kick with the left more than the right. I know he's naturally a righty, but he tends to look better off the left - maybe he concentrates more when doing so

 

[cats_09]

I'll grab a couple of our small defenders and write up on Bews & O'Connor

 

[dazbroncos]

I can do Blicavs pretty quickly.

Can play everywhere, shouldn't though.
Can't kick goals.
Is a really really good fullback when the MC actually play him there.
Reckons he's a chance for an Emmy.

All he wants to do in off season...

1 - Rides stationary resistnace bike for 45 seconds 110% intensity blindfolded.
2 - Dismounts bike with assistance while blindfolded.
3 - Is spun around 360 once in either direction by training staff.
4 - Blindfold removed and given 10 secs of eyes to adjust.
5 - Ball kicked to him which he must mark any point inside F 50.
6 - Gets 10 secs to line up for goal and take set shot.

Rinse and repeat 1-6 x 150,000 times in offseason. Gets kicking under duress, pressure, disorientation and short recovery to be practiced.

Get it done for entire list.

GO Catters

 

[goyoucatters]

For all the disappointment of 2019 (and I can totally understand and sympathise with it), today's result provides another layer of perspective.

In particular, today's shellacking becomes the fourth time in six finals games across the Tigers premiership years that they have not been seriously challenged. Only against us in the '17 QF and in last week's game was the opposition even remotely close to their level.

So for a club and a coach that we're told by some here are light years away from being a contender, I have to wonder what that makes so many of the other supposedly powerful clubs of recent years.

Our season ended in a crushing reality check, I do admit. But where that leaves the rest of the comp who again couldn't get within a bull's roar of the Tiges when it mattered is beyond me.

And it also gives some background to the incessant criticism of our game style that some engage in here as well. In short, I wonder how many of the detractors were thriilled with how the Giants went about it as the scoreboard took on its horrifying proportions this afternoon.

We have much to be frustrated about, of course. But, compared to many other clubs (including the losers today), I don't think we have a great deal of which to be incredibly envious as we leave '19 behind and look forward to the hope that another season brings.

 

[steady2]

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...

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.

There is little that I agree with.
"...The same man who point blank refuses to publicly acknowledge that the club has an issue with fronting up after a bye..."
Patently wrong. Scott does acknowledge it. I saw him interviewed last year and again this year, where he said that he does not understand why this occurs, he has tried different methods and it still happens. This year was worse as we feel apart for the remainder of the year and could not string two wins together. We still finished on top, made a prelim and were 10 points down with 5 minutes to go, did far better than GWS with our key forward and leading goalkicker missing.

Atkins was good most of the time, O'Connor improved, Narkle and Constable showed promise and we have some younger players such as Simpson and Krueger coming along. Menegola is not part of the "foreign legion" he did not play AFL prior to coming to the Cats. Claiming these are the players who represent where we're at makes no sense. Henderson was good in the few games he played, until thrown forward in the prelim. Scott Selwood played about three games. The two players we signed up from other clubs Dahlhaus and Rohan were both very good early, Rohan injured and faded but Dahl remained a solid player for the year.

If Duncan and Clark were not injured and Hawkins not so stupid we may have even knocked over the Tigers in the prelim and won another flag.

There are serious questions to be raised though, our mental capacity to handle the pressure Richmond applied in the prelim, our pathetic game against Collingwood in the first final, our inability to get our mojo back for the back half of the season are issues which must be addressed by the coach and the players.

Some appalling selection decisions, most notably Henderson playing as a forward in the prelim must be recognised by Scott.

 

[steady2]

i was all for it in this game and got laughed at

Go Catters

I thought it was ridiculous, however in hindsight, after the Picket experience not such a bad idea after all. He could not have done worse than Hendo.

 

[Gogeelong]

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.

 

[Gogeelong]

Looking forward to Kreuger next year