Are we ruthless enough?

[Commando]

Very late to the reply party here:

But no they wouldn’t have. Because they wouldn’t have.

Being aggressive etc helps.

But being good at football helps more.

Yeah it is an element of the game. It’s an element of any sport. The West Indies cricket side were great partly because they were aggressive and uncompromising. They were great moreso, though, because at any one time they had 4 of the best 6 fast bowlers in the world in one attack, along with one of the best opening batting pairs and the best batsman from 1975-1990, and 2 other world class batsmen.

Being a c**t only makes up for so much a of a gap in class. Hawthorn wouldn’t have won that game. Neither would we if we played like them. We’d have still lost.

See I disagree
GF is like a cup tie in Soccer
Physicality is the reason a lot of underdogs win
Happens at all levels too

 

[iameviljez]

See I disagree
GF is like a cup tie in Soccer
Physicality is the reason a lot of underdogs win
Happens at all levels too

Underdogs win in soccer because it is such a low scoring sport

 

[Pollywaffle]

Hawks just smashed us tactically on the day.

Crawford spoke of it afterwards how Clarkson instructed them to hug the boundary line to get around geelong who flooded the corridor, and it worked in spades.

They also invented “clarksons cluster” to pressure run and carry which was geelongs game.

The game was won in the coaches box, not with “ physicality”

Yeah. We should call both 1989 and 2008 the ‘rope a dope’ finals
The good thing was that 2008 really stung a proud and genuinely talented group and probably propelled us to bigger and better things instead of a few years of drinking bath water.

 

[Vdubs]

I think we have lacked that "violent aggression" most Premiership teams have, I think many times we've had the talent, but at times were a bit limited when it came to the thuggery!!! …that edge counts in finals.

I see it differently.
I think we have a few undoubted supertalents, but that 2022 team had many players that were labelled as plodders, B minus types, and they were able to lift their games to the required level. Selwood, Danger, Cameron, Smith and Stewart formed an elite skeleton. Now Selwood and Smith are retired, Danger is nearly done, Cameron is ageing, Stewart was injured.
I honestly believe we have been able to overachieve with our list. I love them as players, but we are simply not anywhere near as talented player by player as Brisbane. Most other teams we can match, although GC and a few others have recruited very well.
When a team is clearly the best in the comp (Cats 22), it's great when it all comes off, and no thuggery.

 

[Pollywaffle]

I see it differently.
I think we have a few undoubted supertalents, but that 2022 team had many players that were labelled as plodders, B minus types, and they were able to loift their games to the required level. Selwood, Danger, Cameron, Smith and Stewart formed an elite skeleton. Now Selwood and Smith are retired, Danger is nearly done, Cameron is ageing, Stewart was injured.
I honestly believe we have been able to overachieve with our list. I love them as players, but we are simply not anywhere near as talented player by player as Brisbane. Most other teams we can match, although GC and a few others have recruited very well.
When a team is clearly the best in the comp (Cats 22), it's great when it all comes off, and no thuggery.

Not sure we were ‘clearly the best’ but everything just came together on that perfect day.
Deer in the headlights Swans helped..

 

[Vdubs]

Not sure we were ‘clearly the best’ but everything just came together on that perfect day.
Deer in the headlights Swans helped..

16 consecutive wins...
Buckley et al on Fox Saturday night rd 18 said "give the flag to Geelong already- there's to lose"

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Not sure we were ‘clearly the best’ but everything just came together on that perfect day.
Deer in the headlights Swans helped..

The collingwood final was the real GF in 22.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

16 consecutive wins...
Buckley et al on Fox Saturday night rd 18 said "give the flag to Geelong already- there's to lose"

We also won 8 in a row leading into this years granny including beating the eventual premiers by 38 points 2 weeks prior.

 

[iameviljez]

We also won 8 in a row leading into this years granny including beating the eventual premiers by 38 points 2 weeks prior.

Yes, but for all that, we had lost time and again to the best mids in the league except for that QF against Brisbane. It wasn't as clear as in 2022.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Yes, but for all that, we had lost time and again to the best mids in the league except for that QF against Brisbane. It wasn't as clear as in 2022.

Exactly this. We couldnt hold our own against the elite mids. We tend to perform much butter against the weaker or average midfields. Which is why we generally perform well against collingwood

 

[geelong_crazy26]

What does ruthless enough even mean?? What are some expecting to see??

 

[Seeds]

Signing the coach to another 4 years suggests clearly no.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I think if Geelong was a racehorse , i think the form guide would simply say , look they certainly dont win Premierships out of turn

1962-1969 and it was a final 4 - Geel made the finals every year, 8 years in a row for just the one flag , certainly underachieved for the talent they had on the list , then late 80s early 90s , alot of games won and finals won but no flag

And now last 14 years for 1 paltry flag

Cats have been pretty good for a long part of their history/existence , but they havent maximised that by winning silverware they just havent

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

What are some expecting to see??

To shit on our enemies! Skulls for Zouz Kitty's skull throne!!

 

[cats_09]

Signing the coach to another 4 years suggests clearly no.

It was a 3yr extension

But please keep sooking about retaining stability at the top, and while you're at it - how about explaining how well those teams who chop & change their senior coach every couple of years have fared this century

 

[geelong_crazy26]

It was a 3yr extension

But please keep sooking about retaining stability at the top, and while you're at it - how about explaining how well those teams who chop & change their senior coach every couple of years have fared this century

We seemed to take care of the “ruthless hawks” well enough

 

[cats_09]

We seemed to take care of the “ruthless hawks” well enough

If we look at Carlton, going back to 2000 they've had 8 senior coaches and 2 caretaker coaches through to this season

Wonder how that ruthlessness with senior coaches is going for them

 

[dudusmaximus]

Yes, but for all that, we had lost time and again to the best mids in the league except for that QF against Brisbane. It wasn't as clear as in 2022.

It is an easy problem (solve with the snap of one's fingers; recruit best mids) and the solution just evaded the Team?

Also TB was an unexpected spanner in the works in 2025.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

If we look at Carlton, going back to 2000 they've had 8 senior coaches and 2 caretaker coaches through to this season

Wonder how that ruthlessness with senior coaches is going for them

What does ruthless even mean? Do they mean we are poor at contested footy or they want a team full of ballantynes and crowleys?? Or they want half the club sacked everytime we dont win a flag??

 

[cats_09]

What does ruthless even mean? Do they mean we are poor at contested footy or they want a team full of ballantynes and crowleys?? Or they want half the club sacked everytime we dont win a flag??

I honestly have no idea and bet you'd get a dozen different answers from a dozen different folk

 

[geelong_crazy26]

I honestly have no idea and bet you'd get a dozen different answers from a dozen different folk

All i can recall of modern day ruthlessness are brain snaps 50m penalties, frequent reports, and or admin teams who are trigger hapoy firing everyone.

Ruthless imo is a mindset of optimism and persistence in the face of adversity of difficult times to keep pushing for success. Which chris scott and geelong show in spades

 

[Goggin Our Best]

If we look at Carlton, going back to 2000 they've had 8 senior coaches and 2 caretaker coaches through to this season

Wonder how that ruthlessness with senior coaches is going for them

Well when they had a highly talented list for a long period they cashed in won flags where as we have underachieved to a degree

1968 1970 1972 1979 1981 1982 1987

Thats seven flags in about a 20 year era , and all this absolute nonsense about stabilty , they had 5 different premiership winning coaches for those 7 flags

Ken Hinkley apparently gave Port Ade great stabilty for 13 years and what have they got to show for it , absolutely nothing

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Well when they had a highly talented list for a long period they cashed in won flags where as we have underachieved to a degree

1968 1970 1972 1979 1981 1982 1987

Thats seven flags in about a 20 year era , and all this absolute nonsense about stabilty , they had 5 different premiership winning coaches for those 7 flags

Ken Hinkley apparently gave Port Ade great stabilty for 13 years and what have they got to show for it , absolutely nothing

Geelong doesnt have brown paper bags ti go handing out like carlton did and it isnt the amateur days of who wins is dictated by zones ( well i spoke to soon.. Brisbane.. cough…)

But not the best example to throw out from an irrelevant era.

Carlton have struggled enormously to adapt to the professionalism of the equalisation model of AFL.

I think half the issue is there are too many old school boys from the 70’s-90’s eras of Carlton and Essendon lurking around board levels like a bad smell who refuse to let go of the old ways and are adamant on flogging a dead horse.

Nostalgia can be a danger

 

[Cataholic]

I think if Geelong was a racehorse , i think the form guide would simply say , look they certainly dont win Premierships out of turn

1962-1969 and it was a final 4 - Geel made the finals every year, 8 years in a row for just the one flag , certainly underachieved for the talent they had on the list , then late 80s early 90s , alot of games won and finals won but no flag

And now last 14 years for 1 paltry flag

Cats have been pretty good for a long part of their history/existence , but they havent maximised that by winning silverware they just havent

It can't be denied that essentially the last 40 years of the 20th century were a barren period for the GFC.

At times we were just middle of the road, and for a period we were bridesmaids. We just couldn't land the big one.

Hawthorn were winning flags for fun, Carlton had a go, and then the Eagles toyed with us.

There was always someone better.

Then we had the first 6 years of the 21st century and I reckon a few of us despaired about ever seeing a flag, whilst the Lions churned out 3 in a row.

We finally struck a little gold patch 2007 - 2011 before again entering a decade of being close, but not good enough, whilst Hawthorn again stockpiled the flags with wins in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

I suspect a poster's opinion on what the club has or hasn't achieved will be influenced somewhat by the period of time said poster has followed the club.

Personally, I can see both sides of the argument. I can see reasons why we haven't won more but think we still could've done a little better too.

 

[Matthew Jelley]

Yes