Autopsy Cats lose to GWS* AFL trust fund babies by 26 points.

[MacStradbroke]

Hawks losing leaves us top 4 to end the round.

A game behind top 4 in reality though (no way Suns lose to Essendon in that game still to be played)

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Hawks losing leaves us top 4 to end the round.

Wait Hawks lost? There's a positive for the weekend

 

[Mr Meow]

A game behind top 4 in reality though (no way Suns lose to Essendon in that game still to be played)

Not once they play Adelaide and Brisbane the next two weeks though.

 

[ShaunWDT]

Deserved lovefest last week but I’ll ask, is Geaorge Stevens really any better than Clohesy, Clark & Knevitt?

Reality check for people that carry on after one game of footy on a very weak opposition, if the opposition has burst out of the stoppage hes a total liability, Calla and co made him look like a traffic cone today.

 

[kickazz]

One of our last chances to see how we go against decent opposition and all in all you have to be disappointed with that.

Still a long way to go but hard to see us doing real damage in September

 

[ShaunWDT]

One of our last chances to see how we go against decent opposition and all in all you have to be disappointed with that.

Still a long way to go but hard to see us doing real damage in September

Just not sure we are good enough ultimately, weaknesses get exposed by top sides, been a common theme for a while now unfortunately.

 

[hoopla]

Just not sure we are good enough ultimately, weaknesses get exposed by top sides, been a common theme for a while now unfortunately.

The cats have won more games against top 8 teams than anyone else. They’re just going through a bit of a slump in the last few weeks. Hopefully they can win enough games to be in the top 4 and give it a good crack

 

[TheCattery2007]

I reckon you’re only as good as your bottom 6. And our bottom 6 aren’t good.
O Henry
Steven
MoC
Mullin
Stanley
Martin

Plus replacements are Clarke Knevitt Clohesy

Deckchairs on the Titanic

Replacements are:
SDK
Stengel
Stanley had a bad day
MOC is usually very good
I’d bring in Clohesy
Mullin stays?

 

[Mr Meow]

Reality check for people that carry on after one game of footy on a very weak opposition, if the opposition has burst out of the stoppage hes a total liability, Calla and co made him look like a traffic cone today.

They also made Holmes, Smith and Atkins look like traffic cones a lot of the time too, in fairness. It was like a training drill around stoppages and when they won the ball back.

 

[FootyIslanders]

The cats have won more games against top 8 teams than anyone else. They’re just going through a bit of a slump in the last few weeks. Hopefully they can win enough games to be in the top 4 and give it a good crack

Their defence has completely disappeared at key times against some of the better teams.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Neale kicks 5 at AFL level, while Molier kicks 4 in the magoos.

Decent look into the future there, and suggests we're not in a bad spot for young key forwards. Nice little ribbon on a pretty forgettable day.

Outside of that, thought Stewy battled really well through injury, and Jack Henry

38

Jack Henry

Age

27

Ht

192cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

142.6

2star

D

8.6

2star

K

6.7

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.1

3star

MG

142.6

3star

D

9.6

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

2.6

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.0

4star

was terrific IMO.

On the other hand, it was a bit more noticeable being at the ground, but Smith was just awful.

Simply refused to chase, body, or pick up a man in transition, while the Giants paid him no respect the other way.

Unfortunately, it worked for them, as for one reason or another he couldn't punish them when the ball went our way.

Holmes looked NQR. Jezza likewise, while pretty much everyone else was forgettable or poor. That being said, most of us had this pencilled in as a loss anyway.

Burn the tape and move on to the Saints. Just means we have to be perfect from here to get the final we want, but we knew that anyway.

 

[Mr Meow]

Neale kicks 5 at AFL level, while Molier kicks 4 in the magoos.

Decent look into the future there, and suggests we're not in a bad spot for young key forwards. Nice little ribbon on a pretty forgettable day.

Outside of that, thought Stewy battled really well through injury, and Jack Henry was terrific IMO.

On the other hand, it was a bit more noticeable being at the ground, but Smith was just awful.

Simply refused to chase, body, or pick up a man in transition, while the Giants paid him no respect the other way.

Unfortunately, it worked for them, as for one reason or another he couldn't punish them when the ball went our way.

Holmes looked NQR. Jezza likewise, while pretty much everyone else was forgettable or poor. That being said, most of us had this pencilled in as a loss anyway.

Burn the tape and move on to the Saints. Just means we have to be perfect from here to get the final we want, but we knew that anyway.

Agreed on all points.

Our Holmes-Smith reliance is all duck and no dinner really. If they aren't causing opposition problems, breaking lines and equalising the clearances - then they don't offer much defensive grunt going the other way. Really smart and damaging midfields who link up with prolific half backs capitalise in that way.

We know our mids will turn the ball over a bit and that's fine if they have hurt factor with the rest of their disposals. Brisbane and GWS have found ways to reduce the damage, setting up for the slingshot off turnovers. They've also just outmuscled us in the scrimmages so that we're on the back foot, while they have pace and skills to burn in getting it to the outside.

Strong forward lines and rock solid defensive units complete the formula.

Overall it looks like it's our kryptonite currently, in a way no other contenders really offer. I'm sure they all know this is the way to get on top of us, but maybe their personnel make up and ball movement style isn't capable of executing it. The Giants and Lions though, it's as if they were made in a lab to deconstruct us.

It would be a hell of an effort if Scott and our players find the antidote if we meet again in finals. As supporters we'll be pessimistic about that until we see evidence to the contrary - a bit like when facing Richmond 2017-2020.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Agreed on all points.

Our Holmes-Smith reliance is all duck and no dinner really. If they aren't causing opposition problems, breaking lines and equalising the clearances - then they don't offer much defensive grunt going the other way. Really smart and damaging midfields who link up with prolific half backs capitalise in that way.

We know our mids will turn the ball over a bit and that's fine if they have hurt factor with the rest of their disposals. Brisbane and GWS have found ways to reduce the damage, setting up for the slingshot off turnovers. They've also just outmuscled us in the scrimmages so that we're on the back foot, while they have pace and skills to burn in getting it to the outside.

Strong forward lines and rock solid defensive units complete the formula.

Overall it looks like it's our kryptonite currently, in a way no other contenders really offer. I'm sure they all know this is the way to get on top of us, but maybe their personnel make up and ball movement style isn't capable of executing it. The Giants and Lions though, it's as if they were made in a lab to deconstruct us.

It would be a hell of an effort if Scott and our players find the antidote if we meet again in finals. As supporters we'll be pessimistic about that until we see evidence to the contrary - a bit like when facing Richmond 2017-2020.

Bang on. Amazing how quickly it changes too.

1/3 of the way through the third quarter of the prelim (roughly 10 months ago, feels like yesterday) it looks like we're going to beat Brisbane when it matters yet again, and we've well and truly got their number.

10 months later, and it's the opposite. The general vibe amongst the supporter base is we'd rather play anyone but them, or the Giants.

Guess it was similar with Richmond too tbh. Hoodoos are there until they aren't anymore, and it takes just two games going the wrong way to completely flip the script.

It does bode well for us too through, if we want to look on the bright side if we do have to play them in the finals.

 

[Bunnings]

Neale kicks 5 at AFL level, while Molier kicks 4 in the magoos.

Decent look into the future there, and suggests we're not in a bad spot for young key forwards. Nice little ribbon on a pretty forgettable day.

Outside of that, thought Stewy battled really well through injury, and Jack Henry was terrific IMO.

On the other hand, it was a bit more noticeable being at the ground, but Smith was just awful.

Simply refused to chase, body, or pick up a man in transition, while the Giants paid him no respect the other way.

Unfortunately, it worked for them, as for one reason or another he couldn't punish them when the ball went our way.

Holmes looked NQR. Jezza likewise, while pretty much everyone else was forgettable or poor. That being said, most of us had this pencilled in as a loss anyway.

Burn the tape and move on to the Saints. Just means we have to be perfect from here to get the final we want, but we knew that anyway.

Funny how we just don’t look quite right against the lions and giants of the world, but look great against the Tigers.

 

[allrighty]

I don’t understand the coaching. It’s obvious Cameron was injured.

WTF would you sub a healthy kid, leave Cameron on and be exploited by his opponent every single time the ball left the forward line.

Can anyone make sense?

Given Dangerfield was awful also, why wouldn’t you sub Cameron and replace with Henry then at least you have another player who can play in mid rotation.

Very strange coaching behaviour.

I haven't seen the game but by the posts read i wonder if the coaches were playing funny buggers and leaving aces up sleeves? I dont think I'll bother with the replay.

 

[Mr Meow]

Funny how we just don’t look quite right against the lions and giants of the world, but look great against the Tigers.

Magpies, Crows, Hawks, Suns, Bulldogs, Dockers.

 

[Bunnings]

Magpies, Crows, Hawks, Suns, Bulldogs, Dockers.

Good wins, but more recent challenges not as promising

 

[Mr Meow]

Good wins, but more recent challenges not as promising

True. Form fluctuates across a season. Look how badly we failed against Port, GWS, Carlton and Sydney at a similar stage in 2024. There are more ups and downs ahead of us. Being overly defeatist is as foolish as being overly triumphant after a good win (which we've had quite a few of).

We are just one team of the flawed chasing pack - after Collingwood and Brisbane - which is about what we expected heading into 2025. The Giants and Crows are currently playing better than us, but they have also had their dips.

 

[catman2006]

Teams with good midfield depth give us trouble, Carlton ran in waves against us, Lions used the ball better now GWS twice move the ball quick and we have no counter, sadly until few of the VFL mids can step up we will be vulnerable.

 

[you pick one]

I'm hoping that the report that the bug that kept Smith out last week swept through the club early in the week was true and that we are a better side than was on display last night.It certainly looked as though energy levels dropped quickly.

 

[Schmegg]

Had a night to think about it, a real cold harsh reality check, like a cold plunge you aren’t expecting.

Thing is we were expecting it, we’ve looked ordinary against the Giants for a while now, haven’t beaten them since Rd 8 2022, a much different side, maybe we’ve not worried so much as only played them once a season in 23/24, but if they schedulers are going to make us play them twice then we need to find an answer.

It’s weird because I’ve watched GWS against mediocre and good opposition look rubbish, but it’s an almost 80’s Dawks type belief in the way they play us now were it really doesn’t matter what we are doing or whether we get a bit of a run on they just go bang and we are on the floor.

Brisbane as well, like others have mentioned, we were looking super comfortable against them in last year’s Prelim, but again the reality we have only beaten them once since the 22 Prelim. Maybe that’s their Kennett Curse thing against us, but these should be extremely high priorities for the brains trust at the club to figure out. We have no such issue against any of the other top flight clubs, with only perennial spud teams like St Kilda and Carlton who seem to be able to bring us down to that level as well.

Not sure how we can navigate a finals series with avoiding both GWS and Brisbane but if we can find a way of playing anyone else and beating Pies in Grand final then that would be fairly satisfying, probably more satisfying than anything I’ve experienced in 38 years of supporting the cats.

 

[PzBlinky]

Seems like this is pretty much the standard when GWS play us, though we did better than we usually do.

 

[Lana]

We came out firing we, I don't think attitude was the issue.

We need a win somewhere around the ground which we can then pull the game to. Against well structured teams with inside strong midfields, we just have no counter. When we play someone at our level it becomes clear we're relying on quite a few oldies to be our difference makers who are just hanging on by a thread.

I wish we could protect Stanley, Danger, Cameron, Blicavs and Stewart by giving them 2 games off over the rest of the home and away season. Our positional depth just isn't there. We need them fresh in September if we are to compete.

 

[Turbocat]

I think it started by Briggs being physical with Stanley and it progressed from there. They looked bigger , stronger , faster

We looked old , rickety and inept. We have a real problem with these guys now. For what ever reason..we have now allowed a monkey to climb on when we play these guys.

I don't think this is the first time where we have come off a less pressured game and hit a full frontal opposition who played at a different level and we failed to perform. Doesn't leave me with a great feeling for how we go when it counts.

Cant really expect more than that from neale..5 in a loss when those around him were playing poorly

George found this game a different level. COS got a less against a young gun KPF about to become bigtime.

 

[StonedCat]

Side note that sounds disgusting and I want one

On another side note at the Graceland Mall in Memphis, you can buy the famous 'Toasted Bacon, Banana and Peanut Butter' sandwiches. I had one and it was as good as Dangerfield's shot on goal in the 1st yesterday.