Autopsy Cats lose to Freo by 29 in Perth.

[And_ROOS]

DeKoning and Henry back. Is there still a place for Sav?

Likely we see SDK in the ruck, it was working before his injury...

 

[Strange Cat]

Likely we see SDK in the ruck, it was working before his injury...

Careful Daz might read that and get twitchy

 

[Mr Meow]

J Henry, Ratu, SDK, Kolo - quick?
I dons thin so! Maybe in a straight line but not when they have to turn to chase an opponent or bouncing ball. O'Connor and Bews are quicker and more mobile but Bews is hopelessly out of form, lacks fitness and has lost some speed. We desperately need a small zippy defender.

You must be watching Bews from a few seasons ago. J.Henry when he is up and running will have more agility and athleticism than Bews. Esava and De Koning are mobile for big men.

Ratugolea, SDK, J.Henry, Kolo, O'Connor, Stewart and Zuthrie has considerably more zip than:

2019 and 2020: Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, J.Henry, Stewart, Tuohy, Bews
2016: Longergan, Taylor, Henderson, Kolo, Ruggles, Enright, Mackie

And several others. All defences that made PFs or GFs, without an elite forward line up the other end to counteract any defensive exposedness. Being well organised and in sync is as important, likewise having a really competitive midfield. At the moment neither are in play and hence the struggles.

 

[catempire]

I always get a little chuckle when someone says J Henry isn’t quick (or agile).

 

[Warhorse]

I always get a little chuckle when someone says J Henry isn’t quick (or agile).

I thought it was being discussed within the context of playing on small forwards? It is possible that he is not quick or agile enough for that I would have thought

 

[catempire]

I thought it was being discussed within the context of playing on small forwards? It is possible that he is not quick or agile enough for that I would have thought

Still so funny.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

I thought it was being discussed within the context of playing on small forwards? It is possible that he is not quick or agile enough for that I would have thought

Why do you seem to only post after losses?

 

[Warhorse]

Why do you seem to only post after losses?

Thats your confirmation bias. I didn't post last week after we lost to the Tigers but posted after the Adelaide game.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Thats your confirmation bias. I didn't post last week after we lost to the Tigers but posted after the Adelaide game.

Actually no, you disappeared for almost the entirety of our 5 game winning streak.

You're a troll. Ignore you go.

 

[Warhorse]

Actually no, you disappeared for almost the entirety of our 5 game winning streak.

You're a troll. Ignore you go.

I also disappeared for our first few loses as well. Thats confirmation bias for you. Perhaps you need some self reflection on why you are getting so upset.

Also, no need to tell everyone you are going to ignore. Just slap the button

 

[FredLeDeux]

Actually no, you disappeared for almost the entirety of our 5 game winning streak.

You're a troll. Ignore you go.

Putting him on ignore is no good, he's still using up valuable virtual space.
What the board needs for him and his fellow trolls is a DISSOLVE button.

 

[Strange Cat]

I also disappeared for our first few loses as well. Thats confirmation bias for you. Perhaps you need some self reflection on why you are getting so upset.

Also, no need to tell everyone you are going to ignore. Just slap the button

You’re unbearable

 

[Finknottle]

We will have to pinch some games but look at the top 8.
Other than melb pretty much all teams have a % 130 or below. Theres several teams in the top 8 that are barely above 110 %.
This tells you a couple if things.
One is the comp is even and apart from hawks and wce (and not every team has played them both yet) no one is smashing anyone consistently.
It also tells you there are no standout teams.
Hence if we get fit and in form (which we are not we lack cohesion due to all the changes) we can win a run of games and end up top 4, and if we are not fit we wont do that anyway.

Careful Daz might read that and get twitchy

I think we have to persist with Sav in the backline, Savaloy gets battered in the ruck. Plenty of upside with Sav down back.

 

[Sire of Claude]

I agree with the scrutiny of our back half. It's ages since I have seen us leak so many s**t goals. There is always an unchecked forward able to mark within shooting range. We struggle to make quick exits.

Bews, young Guthrie, even Stewart don't look like themselves. We need a better small defender than Bews now. Tuohy's decision-making has been poor. Kolo looked his former self at the weekend.

At least Sav takes marks, though he does run under the ball too often.

Meanwhile Simpson and Parfitt are low possession players and are too slow. I assume they'll make way for Danger and Cam Guthrie in due course.

 

[Finknottle]

Why do you seem to only post after losses?

Why not stick to the point instead of having a go at your fellow posters?

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Why not stick to the point instead of having a go at your fellow posters?

Well he seems to thrive on negativity... Aimed at getting a reaction.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I agree with the scrutiny of our back half. It's ages since I have seen us leak so many s**t goals. There is always an unchecked forward able to mark within shooting range. We struggle to make quick exits.

Bews, young Guthrie, even Stewart don't look like themselves. We need a better small defender than Bews now. Tuohy's decision-making has been poor. Kolo looked his former self at the weekend.

At least Sav takes marks, though he does run under the ball too often.

Meanwhile Simpson and Parfitt are low possession players and are too slow. I assume they'll make way for Danger and Cam Guthrie in due course.

You make some great points SOC.
Backline was very disorganised at times and we leaked goals easily , particularly to their smalls.
Being at the game you could see the structure falling apart even when the ball was coming in from 100 metres away - there seemed to be very little communication between our guys and their smalls were running riot creating space which we failed to defend.

Agree on Parfitt and Simpson - the game gets faster each year and these guys despite the effort are at a severe disadvantage.

Regarding the sub I thought it was pointless bringing on Dempsey only to park him in the forward pocket - nothing against him but why have fresh legs in no mans land?
We were getting slaughtered in the midfield - would much rather have picked Willis and given him a run on the ball for a quarter........................

 

[51niwstac]

Seems to be a little too much emphasis on feeding Hawkins and Cameron. Unless Port/Lions start getting an abundance of injuries it's going to be tough to make the top 4 at COB.

 

[CHAWKTS]

You make some great points SOC.
Backline was very disorganised at times and we leaked goals easily , particularly to their smalls.
Being at the game you could see the structure falling apart even when the ball was coming in from 100 metres away - there seemed to be very little communication between our guys and their smalls were running riot creating space which we failed to defend.

Agree on Parfitt and Simpson - the game gets faster each year and these guys despite the effort are at a severe disadvantage.

Regarding the sub I thought it was pointless bringing on Dempsey only to park him in the forward pocket - nothing against him but why have fresh legs in no mans land?
We were getting slaughtered in the midfield - would much rather have picked Willis and given him a run on the ball for a quarter........................

Defence needs to sured up by J Henry who I think has that athleticism to inject some “speed” into defending. 2E is interesting as we are just seeing the decline - but his value add when he has the ball is pretty good. He simply can’t challenge defenders in the air anymore nor speed on the ground. But as I say when he gets it, his experience is useful. I just don’t know what to do with him.

Parf and Simpson look like salt of the earth Cats players which makes it hard for me to agree - but I do. I think they are better off getting experience into the young guys who can add speed on the ball (but won’t be as good at contests right now)

On the sub, I am not sure we have figured out a strategy for how to use it. Maybe we just expect an injury each week so don’t have to have a tactic! I am not sure Willis was the answer (I am very high on him over medium term but he still needs to get some continuity imho)….but I do agree bringing someone on to sit in the forward line when you are getting killed out of the middle doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense? I think they could have put him on wing and had more impact?

I thought they left it too late too. If you are going to bring on a HHF, giving them more time to get the pace of it (replacing Simpson who got 6 touches in 3 1/2 qtrs should have been easier to do just before half time rather than after). And then the week before they shouldn’t have taken Dempsey off but replaced Parf with Jhye or another slower player?

I assume they debate and discuss it at length but to my eye it feels like we haven’t worked out best strategy yet for sub?

 

[Pollywaffle]

I agree with the scrutiny of our back half. It's ages since I have seen us leak so many s**t goals. There is always an unchecked forward able to mark within shooting range. We struggle to make quick exits.

Wasn’t there a game not so long ago where Freo beat us. The consensus then was that they compressed the backs by pushing up in defence to the point where if they exited out the back it made many of their forward entries look easier. It seems we got sucked in again. They have some good runners and their switching looked good in the bits I managed to watch. One for the coaches to contemplate maybe?

 

[Sire of Claude]

Re the sub, Dempsey is reportedly one of the 5 or 6 best runners at the club. He should have been introduced earlier, put on the wing, told to both get to contests and also to find space. It would have been chance for the kid to show what he can offer; after all they just signed him for another 2 years so presumably they think he can play.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Re the sub, Dempsey is reportedly one of the 5 or 6 best runners at the club. He should have been introduced earlier, put on the wing, told to both get to contests and also to find space. It would have been chance for the kid to show what he can offer; after all they just signed him for another 2 years so presumably they think he can play.

Dempsey may turn out a decent player, but right now he's miles off providing anything substantial to our best 22. Injuries or not.

The fact that he was held off the ground as long as they did on the weekend is probably a fairly good indication of where the coaching staff see any ability on his part to make an impact. It's reflective of our broader problems thanks to the number of best 22 we currently have unavailable.

Season is slipping away ........... we just need to scratch out a win Vs GWS this week and hope to get the Dogs off guard the week later. Drop one or both those games and I think we're almost cooked for this season.

 

[Sire of Claude]

Agree season is on the brink. As for Dempsey if they think he can't "make an impact" surely they wouldn't have picked him.

 

[catempire]

Agree season is on the brink. As for Dempsey if they think he can't "make an impact" surely they wouldn't have picked him.

The next possible options were a player with about 3 VFL games to his name (Willis) and an Irishman. The cupboard is bare.

 

[Cataholic]

The next possible options were a player with about 3 VFL games to his name (Willis) and an Irishman. The cupboard is bare.

When you look at it, we've lost:

Selwood.......enough said.

Then:

Backline: SDK & Henry

MF - Stanley, Danger, Guthrie, Duncan

Forward: Rohan and Stengle

They're big hits across all lines, and then factor in the early form of Hawkins, the decline of Cameron, and the issues we're having with the form of other players, PLUS the limited (naturally) contribution that the likes of Dempsey, Knevitt, Clark etc have been able to bring to the table.

We're skint.