Autopsy Cats lose to Dogs by 25 points.

[Pure_Ownage]

What draft picks do we have? Late top 10, but do we have any others or did we forward trade them all?

Pick 7 and then 82 (as we traded our r2 and r4 in henry deal and r3 in bowes deal).
But there will only be 60 odd picks so our 100s picks will come in to give us the last 3 picks in draft (like we had in 2015) and we will get a r2 for sav.

So might be like 7 37 58 59

 

[Pollywaffle]

I'm not sure. Stanley will likely be gone at the end of 2024, but who knows how long Blitz can play for? It wouldn't surprise me to see him still there in 2026.

A fit guy, massive tank. If he remains injury free with fire in the belly could go for years yet.
Smith could have kicked on too. His last game showed that, but he was limited in potential roles.
Blicavs is so versatile If he can still play, he will.

 

[patience]

There's no online evidence of it, at least.

Can't imagine the club accepting that for one second.

 

[Catman]

I just think you could get a bloke 7 or 8 years younger and really not lose much, Rhys is physically unreliable and statistically one of the worst Rucks in the comp.

Not sure you can use Rhys' 2023 as evidence that he's physically unreliable.

A fractured eye socket isn't your body failing you.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Some very harsh assessments of SDK in this thread, in my opinion.

He's still basically a kid and had his face caved in early in the season. I'm sure that would have rattled him, and having even 1-2% 'fear'/loss of confidence is enough for a player to drop off a bit at this level.

Hopefully his touch and confidence returns over the pre-season, and hopefully if there are any mental demons in there, the club will work hard to sort it out.

 

[year of the cat]

Don’t think you can justify an AFL list spot for him but I’d consider a rookie spot.

That’s a fair call.

 

[CHAWKTS]

I thought this was interesting from the cats chaps (do we still call these tweets?)

Good sign for tackles and pressure acts - all youngsters…noting Dempsey was the only one who didn’t play midfield

Not surprising with the turnovers…they were trying to make big plays all night for their last games…

 

[ShaunWDT]

Not sure you can use Rhys' 2023 as evidence that he's physically unreliable.

A fractured eye socket isn't your body failing you.

Think it was pretty obvious he had nowhere near the same mobility he used to have, everyone has been quick to blame the midfield but our main Ruck getting smashed around the ground consistently has been as big of a reason for our demise as anything else this year.

 

[And_ROOS]

I expected more from him but I have unreasonable expectations. 5 gamer with one of those as sub playing ruck/fwd. If we sunk 70 games into Sav as a ruck forward then surely we do the same here before judging

Especially since talls take a few years to develop.

And honestly, he needs games with Cameron and/or Hawkins so he can learn better leading patterns and how to use his size to his advantage. People sometimes forget Hawkins wasn't elite when he started and look how much he learned playing forward with Mooney and Johnson.

 

[And_ROOS]

A fit guy, massive tank. If he remains injury free with fire in the belly could go for years yet.
Smith could have kicked on too. His last game showed that, but he was limited in potential roles.
Blicavs is so versatile If he can still play, he will.

Depending on Hawkins, I could see Blicavs going forward to help Neale and Cameron. He is a great mark, even if he is winding down has a great tank and is a decent shot at goal.

Imagine if we had 3 tall mobile forwards in Blitz, Neale and Cameron in 2025 if Hawkins retires, and they have Close/Stengle/Miers around them as well.
I doubt they do it, but then again Blitz has been everything except a permanent ruck and I wouldn't be surprised to see him end up there.

It would also be a radical change if Hawkins were to retired end of 2024. Rather then trying to replicate what Hawkins did as a key forward, we go something completely different and have an insanely mobile and flexible forwardline.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

Someone please tell me Stanley and Kolo won't be putting on the hoops again... please dear Jesus let us recruit some good mids and backs.. is Hawkins calling it quits?

 

[HaroLad]

Unlike some of the other giraffes weve used there in the last 10 years

Made me chuckle

 

[dazbroncos]

Someone please tell me Stanley and Kolo won't be putting on the hoops again... please dear Jesus let us recruit some good mids and backs.. is Hawkins calling it quits?

Stanely will be back.
Kolo is contracted and will be back.
Hawkins also playing on.

That should buck you up a treat.

Go Catters

 

[kittypurry]

Even though we lost, it was so satisfying to see the boys go hard at the footy and give it a real crack. We missed so much of this spirit all year. We ended on a high note imo and the future looks very exciting with these kittens.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Parfitt played the best game I've seen him play all season, possibly ever. Just shows when he has a crack, he can be an above-average midfielder. If he stays at Geelong, we need to see more of what he did against the Dogs next year.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Neale was better than last week, and showed a few glimpses of potential, but he'll still need a lot more development before he's even considered AFL standard.

Toby Conway's debut was about as good as anyone could have hoped. I was impressed with what I saw, and I haven't concerned myself with whatever the stat sheet says.

It was not an unexpected loss. Giving all the kids a run while getting the veterans in for surgery a week early should give us the best chance to re-load in 2024.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Geelong's gap year — how the Cats' premiership defence unravelled

Off the back of the 2022 flag, Geelong were once again expected to compete strongly this year. But with a round to go, a series of crucial losses and key absentees mean their defence is already over, write Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson.

www.abc.net.au

 

[BORIS332]

That’s nice. Is anything I said wrong?

Yes, this part:

Any suggestion that he can carry our ruck from this point forward is fanciful at best.

 

[BORIS332]

I thought this was interesting from the cats chaps (do we still call these tweets?)

Good sign for tackles and pressure acts - all youngsters…noting Dempsey was the only one who didn’t play midfield

Not surprising with the turnovers…they were trying to make big plays all night for their last games…

Maybe Smith, but Menegola was just too slow-thinking and fumbly, as he has been his whole career.

 

[Reg Hickey]

I thought this was interesting from the cats chaps (do we still call these tweets?)

Good sign for tackles and pressure acts - all youngsters…noting Dempsey was the only one who didn’t play midfield

Not surprising with the turnovers…they were trying to make big plays all night for their last games…

Fascinating. Great games from Atkins, Parfitt, Dempsey and Bowes. Wouldn't be at all disappointed to see all 4 of those guys playing a lot of footy for us next year (provided Parfitt in particular brings last week's game and not the one he was dishing up earlier in the season).

Not surprised at the Menegola/Smith stat either. Smith because he was just out for personal glory all night, and Menegola because unfortunately the game is past him now.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Parfitt played the best game I've seen him play all season, possibly ever. Just shows when he has a crack, he can be an above-average midfielder. If he stays at Geelong, we need to see more of what he did against the Dogs next year.

He had something ridiculous like 5 tackles in the first 15 minutes....

I wonder if his best role would be as a run-with player/tagger type? Even when he struggled to find the ball earlier in the year, I thought his defensive pressure was good. Make best use of what you've got.

(And if the opposition's best mids are leading him to the ball all the time, perhaps he gradually regains his offensive touch as well).

 

[catempire]

Yes, this part:

Sorry, I said “wrong”. If you think he can carry our ruck from this point forward it you who is obviously wrong.

 

[BORIS332]

Sorry, I said “wrong”. If you think he can carry our ruck from this point forward it you who is obviously wrong.

"it you who is obviously wrong"

 

[dazbroncos]

Im WRONG all the ******* time.

Read my "hes' gonna make it list" Cam Eardley FFS.

Ask my wife as well.

No we can all move on.

GO Catters

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

There were queries about our "culture" before this game putting a negative spin on our approach - picking a side that would lay down.

Great Clubs don't do that and we are the definition of a great Club.
2022 was perfect , all the stars aligned - this year our planning never had a chance as we suffered one set back after another.
A big factor was our inability to rest older players due to injuries plus the need to win in order to contend.
Not being able to rest Hawk, Duncan , Tuohy , Blitz , Danger , Cameron and Smith at times just bled the well dry unfortunately.

However being Geelong we hit the right tone for this game - we honoured Isaac and Sam and put our future on display through Conway , Dempsey , Knevitt , Neale and Ted.
Even though we went down in the last 1/4 our competitiveness over the 3 quarters will provide fantastic motivation leading into the preseason.
Sitting out September will hurt but also provide extra time and incentive to get back on the horse and give it a shake in 2024.