Autopsy Cats lose to Hawks by 12

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Goggin Our Best

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He doesn't just rag doll tall thin ruckman, I seen him man handle rucks like Nankervis and Grundy and literally push them aside when they have both feet firmly planted.
I don't think I have ever seen a stronger footballer than Hawkins. Lockett rag dolled everyone in his era but you put him beside Hawkins and he'd get embarrassed in a wrestle of strength.

Only bloke who would be in the same class is Steven May.
Iwas going to mention that one

Nankervis did everything possible to hold his ground - but it was futile - and he knew it was going to happen - and you could see he was embarrassed afterwards
 

Drunkcat

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He doesn't just rag doll tall thin ruckman, I seen him man handle rucks like Nankervis and Grundy and literally push them aside when they have both feet firmly planted.
I don't think I have ever seen a stronger footballer than Hawkins. Lockett rag dolled everyone in his era but you put him beside Hawkins and he'd get embarrassed in a wrestle of strength.

Only bloke who would be in the same class is Steven May.
Harris or Lake what ever his name beat hawkins, he has wrestled a few full backs and lost hell butts from crows beat him
 

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My Tilly

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Jun 30, 2018
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Scarlett?? I know he was skinny but he was so crazy strong.
Tommy is huge. When you see him in person it's actually surprising just how big he is.
Not just tall. Not just muscley. But just big.
One of those big people you encounter every now and again.

Yeh definitely Scarlo.
I remember David Neitz once talking about his strength in marking contests. Could not shift Scarlett out of position and Neitz was a big unit himself.

Fraser Gehrig was another who had superhuman strength. I don't want put him down here but he honestly had a similar torso to that of a silver back gorilla. Literally had no neck and was all back.
Hawkins v Gehrig would have been interesting.
 

Sensible Cat

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Yeh definitely Scarlo.
I remember David Neitz once talking about his strength in marking contests. Could not shift Scarlett out of position and Neitz was a big unit himself.

Fraser Gehrig was another who had superhuman strength. I don't want put him down here but he honestly had a similar torso to that of a silver back gorilla. Literally had no neck and was all back.
Hawkins v Gehrig would have been interesting.
Oh yeah Fraser! I forgot.
Technically the greatest athlete to ever play the game.
Holds the 100m record and the bench press record.
Gary Ablett snr like.
Would of been interesting if he played FF his whole career.
 

BotsMaster

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He's just trying to blame anyone but the coach. Our fitness is fine. We ran all over collingwood in the 4th to win that game.

Footy Classified showed one section of play where the hawks slipped through 7 straight geelong tackles. 7 straight. And they were tackles that didn't have a high degree of difficulty either. Very poor. And those slipped tackles continued all game.
So is that from a lack of effort?
 

Spearman

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I'm not sure how so many people on this forum want to look at "big sweeping" statements as to why we lose.
It's always the same stuff, "too old", "lack onfield leadership", "MC too stubborn", "Higgins/Sav/Kolo/Dal" or worse "Selwood is done, Blicavs no good".

All of these big arguments, you have cited a lack of leadership and an environment that is too comfortable.
We have the highest winning percentage of any team over the last 11 years. The highest.

For the most part, we are well coached, we have good leaders and a culture that cultivates more wins than losses. We haven't been good enough to win flags in that time, no doubt. Close, but ultimately not good enough. The reason we lost on Monday is because at the moment, we are a team that will likely finish between 4 and 10th. It's highly likely that our system, our leaders, our home ground advantage and our culture will ensure that's closer to 4th than 10th. However, we are now a side that will need to play at their best to win every week. We started poorly, kicked inaccurately and were wasteful going inside 50 - against a team that brought effort and pressure for four quarters and were better on the day. It wasn't cos enright didn't give a pregame speech, or because the coaches have created a millennial culture that lacks motivation.
Yes we do. No argument there. I made note of our success in the H/A. The H/A is a grind that is quite different from the intense finals though. My point is that our H/A preparation or training or psyche may not be working as well in finals. Our guys spend more time in that comfortable environment than in the intensity of a pressurized final. Sure we kicked poorly, tackled weakly, just bad on the day. Has there been a pattern over the past few years of bad days? Consistent inconsistency?
Scott is known as a cerebral kind of guy. I can believe he has decided to break out of the mold of club culture. Mental health, stability, and professionalism taking precedence over say dropping a player as soon as he got fewer possessions as set as KPI.
Players today don't spend much time at actual training during the season. I have before wondered if maybe game sims should be more physical and faster paced. The Hawks looked like they got something from a similar workout. We clearly have a problem getting up for every game. Has anyone done a breakdown of the percentage of games where we just couldn't get energized enough, even for a final? Maybe Enright wasn't the direct cause and the boys were already charged up. But superficially at least, in that game, we came out like dambusters. Many here noted we were particularly hard at it, that game. Enright's speech was the only obvious difference. There may have been something else, certainly. While they are professionals and should be able to find the requisite motivations, they are also human and subject to influences of both work and home environments.
There are of course many, many variables to such a large group size, both individual, interpersonal and the group psyche as a whole. It would be akin to authoring a graduate thesis to try to go into each possible issue.
I just think there is an underlying issue contributing to our underachieving and inability to deal pressure games.
 

PeasFC

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Yes we do. No argument there. I made note of our success in the H/A. The H/A is a grind that is quite different from the intense finals though. My point is that our H/A preparation or training or psyche may not be working as well in finals. Our guys spend more time in that comfortable environment than in the intensity of a pressurized final. Sure we kicked poorly, tackled weakly, just bad on the day. Has there been a pattern over the past few years of bad days? Consistent inconsistency?
Scott is known as a cerebral kind of guy. I can believe he has decided to break out of the mold of club culture. Mental health, stability, and professionalism taking precedence over say dropping a player as soon as he got fewer possessions as set as KPI.
Players today don't spend much time at actual training during the season. I have before wondered if maybe game sims should be more physical and faster paced. The Hawks looked like they got something from a similar workout. We clearly have a problem getting up for every game. Has anyone done a breakdown of the percentage of games where we just couldn't get energized enough, even for a final? Maybe Enright wasn't the direct cause and the boys were already charged up. But superficially at least, in that game, we came out like dambusters. Many here noted we were particularly hard at it, that game. Enright's speech was the only obvious difference. There may have been something else, certainly. While they are professionals and should be able to find the requisite motivations, they are also human and subject to influences of both work and home environments.
There are of course many, many variables to such a large group size, both individual, interpersonal and the group psyche as a whole. It would be akin to authoring a graduate thesis to try to go into each possible issue.
I just think there is an underlying issue contributing to our underachieving and inability to deal pressure games.

Appreciate the generous reply mate.

I guess I think we have a winning culture, that largely whatever the work we are doing to make it a positive environment is what keeps us so competitive. Rather than lacking any psychological edge, I think it's largely been a personnel problem.

1. We've had a perennial ruck problem which we have not been able to address.

2. We've been a gun mid short the last few years - relying too heavily on Dangerfiled and an aging Selwood. Guthrie & Menegola have been very very good but I thought we looked best when Kelly was around. We miss that type, Duncan being more outside and therefore more reliant on the work getting done at the coalface. The over reliance on Danger created too things - i think it's clear in finals teams have looked to shut him down and have done it successfully and knowing that i think MC have been guilty of throwing him around too much in finals.

3. Since 2018 we've largely been a side that is contending without a core group of players between 23 - 28. Flag teams tend to have exactly the opposite.

I think the above has seen us adopt a game plan that whilst successful in the H&A, it hasn't stacked up in finals. I'm not sure we would have been as successful playing any other way. In a way I feel like it's a product of culture, psychology and structure that we have largely bucked the trend and in some ways over achieved. Being so close for so long has rightly or wrongly fuelled the desire to keep at it which may result in us being further away from our next flag.
 

Pollywaffle

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I disagree.
Saw enough of Enright to realize he was in the discussion for greatest mid-sized defender of the modern era.
Never saw Doull but seen a lot of his career on film and he look a fair level above Enright.
Ayres has to be top 5 all time for his position.
Bluey McKenna rarely lowered his colours and another in the discussion.
Obviously so many other top defenders.
Stewart is a better mark than Enright. I don't think he's a better defender though. Boris had an innate ability to read the play before his opponent. It is why we entrusted him to play on some of the most explosives smalls and Enright was hardly a speedster in his own right.

Stewart has also played the majority of his career beside Henderson & Taylor. No doubt he would have been just as good if playing from 07 onward but so too would Enright in his prime in the current day and age.
Enright/Stewart
Both pulled from relative obscurity…interesting :think:
how many more diamonds in the rough out there, or are those days over?
 

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