Review Cats defeat Bombers by 95 points

[Pure_Ownage]

i get a really good feeling about Jack. Great vibes.

Need to judge him against much better opposition than we had today but signs were good.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

He has all the attributes to an absolute elite key forward

Can take marks, excellent runner, Brilliant set shot and has a good footy brain.

He has all those attributes. But he needs to take his marks much more consistently before he becomes a top quality kpf.

 

[dudusmaximus]

I know of two others Daz. My boy is the Axe and Messi/Miers is Kitty's boy.

We've got a few PAGs here? Parents And Godparents

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

To me F2G: that was 'the highlight of the match' yet hardly a word mentioned, the kid is going to be a star and yeah, he sure has a high footy IQ and is extra nibble on his feet, moves like 'A CAT' and a bloody good one.... just love him!

He's a star , hope he never gets homesick

I think our DNA this finals series will revolve around pressure. We look uber fit and are hitting over 200 regularly now . In particular our F50 pressure is elite. Repeat stoppages in F 50 are leading to scores.
We are also scoring off turnover and getting better at going fast into F50 to let our forwards get to work with even numbers. We are so dangerous when our forwards can do their work with space around them.
We are setting up the season nicely

 

[joe444]

I reckon Mannagh has had a chat with Axe about mature AFL and he told him ya gotta add grunt to your game to sur-thrive, and he is doing it so well.

But he's also burning teammates at a rate of one or two a game. Gotta stop that.

 

[Gunf]

He has all those attributes. But he needs to take his marks much more consistently before he becomes a top quality kpf.

Yes he does but he is still young and inexperienced so that will/should improve.

 

[bombersboy]

But he's also burning teammates at a rate of one or two a game. Gotta stop that.

Mannagh also needs to lower his number of errors. He had 14 disposals and 7 turnovers. Kicked 3.1goals and went at 43% DE. A mixed bag

 

[standupand]

I’m struggling to find too many positives. Merrett is just a cheap accumulator who doesn’t hurt you. Caldwell is ok. He was their most effective mid but plays in bursts. Obviously they have a young group. They will take time. Pretty pleased with the O’Sullivan/Caddy decision…

I haven't seen today's game yet, but just wanted to say I've thought this about Merrett too for many years. Can't quite understand why so many people seem to rate him so highly. The way he plays, he just doesn't hurt you. You can give him 50 possessions because even though they may be accurate, they will also be short and slow.
When you look at the way we utilize Smith and Holmes and also Danger - not to mention the other Smith (Isaac) back a few years. Players who can destroy a defensive zone with 70-100m plays. The difference is so stark in my view.

 

[cats_09]

Double milestones next week

 

[cats_09]

 

[Tony Barber]

But he's also burning teammates at a rate of one or two a game. Gotta stop that.

I am the complete opposite.
Mannagh doesnt think. He just goes for it. I'll accept misses.

Because when you have no time to think, just go for it.

 

[standupand]

For degree of difficulty, that's gotta be up there for one of the goals of the year.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

He has all those attributes. But he needs to take his marks much more consistently before he becomes a top quality kpf.

We'll worry about that later.

Considering half this board (including you) didn't rate him, we'll just play it by ear with him. He's still developing, and the improvement will be steady.

He doesn't need to be a top tier KPF yet, or in 2025, as much as we'd love it to be the case.

He just needs to make the opposition accountable, and ensure Cameron and Dangerfield aren't double and triple teamed in finals, and he's doing that thus far.

Hopefully it continues.

 

[GaelicCat]

34. Oisin Mullin - I think he was on Merrett most of the day and got handily beaten, and utterly munged a lot of his disposals as well. Have noticed though that he reads the ball very well in the air and with his pace can pick off a lot of hack kicks, from both teams. One day he'll be able to turn that into a weapon for us, but that day has not come yet.


One Turnover today from a poorly executed kick, 77% disposals efficiency. Slightly down on his 81% season average but take the point his kicks aren’t the most penetrating. Unless you look at the kick to Lawson for his goal. Utterly munged is 10 turnovers from one of our best - Bailey. 58% disposal efficiency.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I am the complete opposite.
Mannagh doesnt think. He just goes for it. I'll accept misses.

Because when you have no time to think, just go for it.

He had some howlers last season ( missing better options) but he's improved this season as most of his " howlers" have been 50: 50 type decisions where he gets a pass if he had a shot - awesome if he nails it but disappointing if he misses

 

[Kobe Gryant]

I am the complete opposite.
Mannagh doesnt think. He just goes for it. I'll accept misses.

Because when you have no time to think, just go for it.

Tend to agree. He plays on instinct, and he'll have 1-2 howlers a week. It just comes with the territory.

Similar to Smith though, he's always trying to drive the ball forward, so it's acceptable on the odd occasion it doesn't work out.

A bit like Stevie-J back in the day, he'll probably make up for that mistake 4 minutes later too.

If he was getting pinged HTB on the half back flank, then yeah that's different, but that's not his game.

 

[Commando]

As a kid of the 80s, I watched just about every kid I disliked decide to barrack for/switch to the Bombers.

I still don't like those people at the age of 50.

So there is no team I enjoy humiliating quite like Essendon.

Old chap behind me remarked
We've still got 16 premierships...

My reply
Yeah that's great it will be a while until you get another one!

 

[Mattttty]

When players of the calibre of Smith, Holmes, Miers, Stewart, and O'Connor get 150-odd touches between them you know the Cats are going to romp it in. Add a lazy ten goals from our two tall forwards, and an utter shellacking is on the cards.



1. Rhys Stanley - Broke even with Goldstein in what must rank as one of the oldest head-to-head ruck matchups of all time. I was super happy to see him get that late goal, and I wish he could go on again in 2026 because his form and fitness certainly merit it.

3. Bailey Smith - Wow. What a game. 41 touches, and some absolutely sublime passes among them. Best on ground by some margin, which says a lot when the 2nd best on ground was a bloke with 36 touches, infinity billion bounces, and a goal himself. Since coming to Geelong he has added "contested ball beast" to his resume which, while never a real weak point at the Doggs was also not his focus.

5. Jeremy Cameron - Maybe one or two lazy moments, but when you kick six in a 95-point drubbing you have done your job. Made the young and inexperienced Essendon full backs look a bit inadequate. He's looking more interested in playing as part of a great team than he has since 2022 in my opinion.

7. Shaun Mannagh - We seem to have half forward flankers coming out of our ears, but Mannagh provides a point of difference to Close, Miers, Stengle, and Dempsey in being a contested ball dynamo. Geelong's forward 50 pressure is relentless, and Mannagh is a big reason why. Three goals today and five tackles is a good day's work for a small forward.

9. Max Holmes - Really starting to become a ball magnet and, like Smith, has begun to add a lot of contested ball wins to his game. Watching him take a hundred bounces on his runs down the wing is nice, but seeing him poke a little handball out of a pack inevitably to a teammate is just as satisfying. It's making him hard to stop and, now that teams are beginning to tag him every week, actually almost untaggable.

14. Connor O'Sullivan - Another pretty good game from COS. Admittedly, Essendon's F50 entries were few and mostly shit so he was favoured from the outset, but he bustles hard for a tall guy and I see he's leading the team for 1%ers this year. Had to laugh when he gave up a free by forgetting to bounce the thing. Still, beat Caddy convincingly.

16. Sam De Koning - It was a shame he injured himself early because I thought he was playing pretty well up until that point.

17. Lawson Humphries - One ridiculous howler andone crazy long goal from outside 50 aside, it was just a competent and low-key game from Humphries. He didn't really have to do much given Essendon's inability to get the ball inside 50 much. Still, as always, he was a handy link-up option and excellent kick of the footy.

18. Tyson Stengle - Unlucky not to end up with three goals, given he hit the post once and had another set shot taken off him after an advantage call. He had an excellent game once again. That goal he did kick though was preposterous. You shouldn't be allowed to be that good a kick of the footy. It isn't fair.

19. Jack Martin - I wasn't sure what he'd bring to the table when we recruited him, especially after missing a lot of weeks through injury and then a couple of pretty ho-hum games in the VFL. Maybe just cover for injuries. Just goes to show that Chris Scott should be coaching the club and not me. He's slotted into the backline pretty handily and is an excellent kick of the footy.

22. Mitch Duncan - Subbed on in the 3rd for Sam De Koning. I reckon we've found our specialist sub for the rest of the year. His disposal was spot on, and I think at this stage of his career he does well when players on both teams are beginning to tire and all the slyness he's accumulated over the years can be used to greatest effect.

28. Ollie Dempsey - Ending up with two late goals was a fitting reward for another clever and hard working game. Dempsey covers a lot of ground to win the ball on a wing and then zoom forward, and it's often unrewarded, but to be a ball winner in the midfield and then a high-marking medium forward, occasionally even in the same passage of play, is a dream come true for a coach who knows how to effectively deploy him. Which Scotty does!

30. Tom Atkins - 18 touches, of those 11 contested, and 9 tackles. Crazy contested ball numbers, but we've come to expect that from Axe. He's the reason Smith and Holmes can work their way free so often- an underrated part of our midfield mix, but very much appreciated by those uf us who know.

32. Gryan Miers - Very very smart player who always looks like he's got all the time in the world with ball in hand. Got a lot of touches through the midfield and attacking half, and almost invariably used it well. Thos flat passes to a leading player give the defender no chance to spoil. I didn't have him in the votes today, but he was pretty unlucky not to be.

33. Shannon Neale - Awesome game. The guy is leading the club for contested marks, is crazy fast for a guy the size of a ruckman, and is a long and accurate set shot for goal. The highlight for me was making a pretty shit centering ball inside 50 from Smith, straight to two Essendon defenders, look like genius by just rushing at the footy faster than anyone that height has a right to do and then making the set shot look trivial. The Neale train has arrived.

34. Oisin Mullin - I think he was on Merrett most of the day and got handily beaten, and utterly munged a lot of his disposals as well. Have noticed though that he reads the ball very well in the air and with his pace can pick off a lot of hack kicks, from both teams. One day he'll be able to turn that into a weapon for us, but that day has not come yet.

35. Patrick Dangerfield - There was talk in the game day thread of PFD potentially reaching the hallowed 400 game mark. Days like today make that seem more within reach. He spent all day up forward and only got 11 touches, but 2.1 off his own boot, 10 score involvements, and a staggering 5 goal assists show how valuable he remains even when he doesn't go near the centre square at all.

38. Jack Henry - A bit of a nothing game, with only 8 touches, but he kept his opponent out of it entirely. He was handy, but wasn't really called upon to do much.

39. Zach Guthrie - Huge in the first half especially, when Essendon were still kinda sorta in the game. He attacked the ball hard and wore some pretty heavy hits, but didn't give an inch all day. Sound disposal and accurate reading of the play helps immensely too.

42. Mark O'Connor - Career best season so far. Played on Nic Martin, who usually torches us, and beat him handily IMO. Martin may have got a couple of touches more, but wasn't damaging and was always gonna get a lot of cheapies with Essendon's handball-happy and aimless sideways crabby play style. MOC on the other hand was always dangerous steaming forward through the midfield; he's a big unit and fast, and is turning into a valuable attacking option for us.

44. Tom Stewart - Welcome back Tom! After a few good, but rusty, weeks it was excellent to see Stewy back to his best. Backed himself in marking contests and clunked them all, fifteen times in total. Just magnificent. He's so vital to our chances in the finals and is tracking perfectly.

45. Brad Close - Another meh game from Close, who isn't having the best year so far. He gets outmuscled a little too easily IMO and is occasionally guilty of short stepping. Thought the run-down tackle and goal were nice though!

46. Mark Blicavs - He just keeps doing everything week after week. When SDK went down he ended up with the job on Two Meter Peter and handled him pretty well. Together with 11 contested possessions and 2 contested marks, he gave us a lot of both grit and smarts down back. I hope he plays on for several more years, because I have no idea how we could ever replace him.

Beautiful summary. Agree on literally everything except for Close. I think he's been good this year but is playing a defensive role most weeks - dampening their run off half back - that easily goes under the radar, and then getting creative and supporting attacking forays the other way.

 

[small 4wards]

Beautiful summary. Agree on literally everything except for Close. I think he's been good this year but is playing a defensive role most weeks - dampening their run off half back - that easily goes under the radar, and then getting creative and supporting attacking forays the other way.

100%, he was running with Dale and Rioli before. If he's keeping pace and they aren't chosen as an option because of his running that's something that won't show up on a stat sheet but does do a lot for shutting out players like that.

 

[Pods]

Is Howie a geelong supporter? I know he lives in Geelong but…

He’s a hawks supporter

 

[Commando]

Did what we needed to do with conviction.
Personally think we left a few goals on the table too.

Huge game next week
Possibilities are endless this season!

I was also right behind the Humphries goal, wow all class!

Finally I have a very happy little kitten at home, got a footy on the fence after the game from Jack Martin

19

Jack Martin

Age

30

Ht

186cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.2

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

3.7

5star

G

0.9

4star

D

14.9

4star

K

7.9

3star

HB

7.0

4star

M

4.3

4star

T

3.6

4star

G

1.1

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

1.8

2star

T

2.0

4star

G

0.6

3star

, agree on the good vibes

 

[Glassjaw]

What a ridiculous team. Honestly.

I remember being super pumped after we beat Freo in a normal game back in 2006. Even went out with my guernsey underneath my jacket flashing everyone I was that excited. Now that game would be just a regulation, expected win. That's how insane our club is. Losing barely enters our mind.

Edit: I understand it was a young Bombers side tonight, but honestly I'm just reminiscing on the last 20 odd years and I can scarcely believe it.

 

[Gazza Greatness]

For degree of difficulty, that's gotta be up there for one of the goals of the year.

standupand: You'd be hard pressed to think there's another player in the entire comp that could kick a goal similar to what Lawson did on his non preferred.... Lawson Humphries exhibits CLASS in every sense of the word!

 

[patmatcat]

Went to the game, a great watch
Saw a couple of nice connections between Scratcher and Smith ! Our full forward is improving

 

[The rabbi]

Player Stats from the game can be found here: https://www.afl.com.au/afl/matches/7082#player-stats