Autopsy Cats lose to Pies by 22 points

[Catsace]

Just on a side point and apologies if someone has allready mentioned it - i have only read the last 3-4 pages of the thread etc

But watching the game last night - and i like to have the volume off so i just watch the game in a relaxed fashion - but every time Cam Guthrie - (with the neat new short haircut ) came into the play - my brain instantly said to me - theres Menegola - boy he looked like Menegola

I thought Sam had done the Tom Hickey miracle trick - listed in the paper in the week leading up to the game as 6-8 weeks with a knee issue - then miracously played against us and was BOG . But the karma bus ran over poor Tom in the GF- because in that game he looked every inch of a 4 club journeyman - blooody hopeless

You're not wrong....i saw this #29 with the ball and was thinking, Menegola? Maybe after so many years of scruffy hair around Guth's head removing it all reveals quite a longish thin bonce, and of course with the classic Menegola crew cut.

After a day thinking about the game, we were just outplayed by a side that was hot for the contest, their run was overpowering, and no side can genuinely cope with 4 in-game injuries, especially to probably a group that would be among the top 8-9 players in the side. In one sense sort of like the Sydney game early last year, the difference being we kicked very well last night but the Pies smashed us in possessions like Geelong rarely is ever done over. 50-odd uncontested possessions just showing the run and carry and switching the Pies were able to do.

Mind you the Suns really looked pretty ordinary against Sydney, Geelong should in all honesty take care of them up there. The Blues were a bit strange against Richmond, they played Harry McKay quite high, he was regularly up around the wing and high half forward. Any bets though against Geelong they'll play both big men in the goalsquare!

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

did scott mention anything about duncan and kolo return dates in his presser?

Kolo is back round 3, but Duncan could have actually played yesterday, but they're holding him back on purpose like Danger last year.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I think we have to unless SDK dodged a bullet

Scott suggested it was a recurrence of an injury sustained at training , hope it’s short term only

 

[scaryness]

An outside rando's personal rankings after analysing the replay in detail for anyone who cares.
Everyone starts at 0 and goes up incrementally; accounting for the entire game (i.e. most players average out to a 5 and below that doesn't necessarily mean a "bad" game. 10's are rare and not everyone can be a stand out.)

J Cameron 7
-
O Henry 6
I Smith 6
M Holmes 6
E Ratugolea 5
G Miers 5
T Hawkins 5
G Rohan 5
T Stengle 5
T Atkins 5
M Blicavs 5
-
Z Guthrie 4
M O'Connor 4
P Dangerfield 3
R Stanley 3
Z Tuohy 3
B Close 3
S de Koning 3
C Guthrie 3
-
J Bews 2
T Bruhn 2
T Stewart 1
-
B Parfitt (s) 0

Collingwood rankings for comparison: Toast - Round 1 = Geelong 103-125 Collingwood

 

[And_ROOS]

Felt like a preseason match. As said, I'm not worried. We were always going to drop games early in the season especially when the afl gifts our opponents home games that aren't theres.

Let teams like Melbourne and Collingwood be April Premiers, worked so well for them last year.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

I must say, I've been pretty surprised by how many pies supporters have been refusing to acknowledge just how under-manned we were in that game. "This is a win, there's no asterisk" etc. Feels like they want the win to mean more than it does. I guess that's understandable.

Looking forward to playing them with a full squad again later in the year.

 

[And_ROOS]

I am amazed how the media is claiming this is De Goeys big year, talking about his performance in the QF and against us Friday night as examples he is about to "break out" but then they ignore the fact he was complete trash in the PF. And I wouldn't be surprised if he is inconsistent all season and poor next week or the week after.

 

[allrighty]

Sorry for the intrusion, I tipped the cats so I'm flat as well. That saying drives me crazy, feels like we've had more 'famous victories' in the past 5 seasons than we did the previous 120. Howie is the worse with using it, every close game is famous according to him, right up there with the 96 or 99 preliminary finals. Without knowing who said it if it was channel 7 my guess would be Hamish McLachlin. Melbourne beat the reigning premiers north melbourne in round 1 1997 and then finished bottom, so it means nothing just another game. Sorry about my vent on here, best of luck.

Love the King Crimson avatar.

 

[allrighty]

Karma going to take a giant s**t on them all once the clubs are matching their fitness

They threw everything at us with better fitness and none of their key defenders f getting injuired in the game and they barely won

Acting like they won the GF is laughable

Let them have their moment. Karma is a bitch.

Sad for Howe though, a great player to watch.

 

[allrighty]

CS on the surface:

"I have some opinions I'm going to keep to myself"

Narrator: he did not keep his opinions to himself

But but but BT stressed there was absolutely nothing wrong with the surface, so that is that then.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I must say, I've been pretty surprised by how many pies supporters have been refusing to acknowledge just how under-manned we were in that game. "This is a win, there's no asterisk" etc. Feels like they want the win to mean more than it does. I guess that's understandable.

Looking forward to playing them with a full squad again later in the year.

I feel like it's a moot point too. We'll never know how we would have gone at full strength. All we know is the players we had failed to get it done

 

[CatToTheFuture]

But but but BT stressed there was absolutely nothing wrong with the surface, so that is that then.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

You’re not alone there - at the ground it was very confusing and took until the last quarter to get my head around that being Guthrie & even then I kept confusing myself

Think it’s going to take a while to get used to and if Menegola gets back & is playing seniors alongside Cam, then it’ll be even more confusing

I will confess i thought he looked like sam for the whole first half too! Cant get used to cam with no hair

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I didn't see it but apparently he said Kolo ain't coming back next week. Not sure what he said about Duncan

He basically said duncan could play in a week or two but they are going to give him a slow build up ala danger 2022. Dont expect to see him for a month at least.

 

[Strange Cat]

He basically said duncan could play in a week or two but they are going to give him a slow build up ala danger 2022. Dont expect to see him for a month at least.

Best approach imo non need to start bringing in undone players off the back of one lost where the team played well in anycase

 

[allrighty]

Agreed. And many of their players weren't much better towards him. It shows a lack of honour.

TBH it's childish s**t that belongs in the olden days way back.

This

Without wanting to go down the OT rabbit hole I understood Colbert was treated badly off field by some senior people and left because of that. Ayres was a bonus.

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

TBH it's childish s**t that belongs in the olden days way back.

Without wanting to go down the OT rabbit hole I understood Colbert was treated badly off field by some senior people and left because of that. Ayres was a bonus.

Hated the way the Pies players treated Ollie, it’s such childish crap, I lost a lot of respect for them in this game for that. Bunch of heroes picking on a kid who wasn’t getting games. Our players didn’t do that to Clark. Maynard doing the same to Langdon last year was lame too, just beat them on the field ya tossers.

Also, how much dropping of the knees for high tackles do the pies players do?

Last year was such a win for a great football team that plays the game as it should be played and with respect for all.

We’ll be fine, ran out of legs and lost cohesion in our backline. Midfield is finding its way without Joel’s leadership, it’ll come. Pies were desperate and played like it was a final, Cats didn’t. Premierships aren’t won in March.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

I am amazed how the media is claiming this is De Goeys big year, talking about his performance in the QF and against us Friday night as examples he is about to "break out" but then they ignore the fact he was complete trash in the PF. And I wouldn't be surprised if he is inconsistent all season and poor next week or the week after.

It'll be the same old story when he's caught snorting coke off some girl in a bar somewhere.

 

[volcboy]

Never much fun travelling all the way up to the 'G, only to have to put up with The Filth after Collingwood win.

My thoughts on the match after a couple of days to calm down:

* We were horrible at defending the ground as a team. Collingwood moved the ball as they pleased for the whole game, through the corridor or switching the ball with ease. This was a problem at the start of 2022 as well, so hopefully it is a focus of the review this week. It is a team setup and/or attitude problem and has nothing to do with any injuries we sustained.

* This Collingwood spread started at the stoppage - we couldn't or wouldn't defend their extra, so their second 'spread' possession out of the stoppage killed us all night.

* Apart from a period in the third quarter when we got on top, we were smashed out of the middle. Whatever the stats say, any clearances we got at other times were low quality, whereas they were able to exit from the front of the square and get quality deep entries into their forward line. When we were 4 goals up and had kicked 16.1, I said to my companions that we were lucky to be up at all. It proved to be so.

* Don't blame this loss on injuries - we weren't the best side out there last night.

The Good:

* SavRat was good in defense, and will become more important with Stewart and SDK possibly out. Only made one glaring error (not spoiling Cox from behind in the first quarter) and saved a couple of certain goals with desperate acts and/or marks.

* Atkins was Atkins. Stengle was Stengle. Cameron was good. Ollie Henry was also good IMO - handled the pressure and showed he will add something to the forward line.

The Bad:

* Our ball movement. I can count on one hand the times we took a kick into the middle or switched the play - it was all long to a contest down the line. A few times we got it over the back in this situation and got some flow, but it shouldn't be the go to play. We have to rediscover some quick movement from 2023 in a hurry.


* Parfitt had the opportunity to put his hand up as the early sub. He didn't. Bruhn still in front of him at this stage. Worried that he won't ever put it together, but hoping that he does in his late 20's a-la Cam Guthrie.

The Ugly

* Why on earth did they play Hawkins? He was proppy with his foot from the first five minutes. Why you would play a 110kg 34-year old coming off a foot injury in Round 1 with little preparation is beyond me.

 

[Vdubs]

what do you mean they have not gelled well with their system yet?? they are a very seasoned group who just brought in a brownlow medalist who played close to BOG and bobby hill was probably up there amongst their best as well with 3 goals... so what players from the offseason recruitment are not gelling??

we had if i am recalling correctly 7 players out from our grand final team or playing injured.., they only had ginnivan and howe missing.

imagine how the look of the game would have played out last night if collingwood lost degoey, moore, maynard, tom murphy at a minimum..

i get you believe downplaying us and talking up oppo is a good thing, but i think a bit of perspective of circumstances needs to be applied to last night.

i still consider brisbane a premiership threat, even after an absolute thrashing today with a fit 22...

i imagine all teams are currently trying to play an attacking run and carry game... and it will work for some, and buckle badly for others... not all teams are going to like what they see playing attacking footy.... the game still is and always has been defensive skills as a priority.

alot of teams are going to be fumbly and get opened up badly trying to play a gun slinger style of footy... and will alter their approaches as the year goes on to try and rectify it.

I feel like the game will come back to a balance between defensive focus and attacking focus midyear, and the best will triumph with sound defensive structures that generate quality forward ball movements, and the other teams will be behind with their deficiencies.

McStay.
Agree with you about our losses- JHenry, Stewart, Kolo, DeK- that's a massive loss from our GF defence.
Sav did really well in our new structure.
But I don't see any really good mids missing that can help us with run and carry, and brilliance. Duncan is not that player.
If you are not worried about our MF, I'm reassured because you are sensible, but it concerns me.
I hope #4 is going to be a beauty, and I know nothing about Bowes.
And I get we are behind in our preparation.
But we need to have an intact list, and luck with those things helps win flags. Being able to manage players loads is crucial, and already we played an underprepared Hawkins.
We hear it's a long season, and that means finals, so hoping that we can stay in touch until we get all our keys back, and that they all meld together in time.
The good things we saw on Friday night, for round 1, were sublime.

 

[Strange Cat]

Let them have their moment. Karma is a bitch.

Sad for Howe though, a great player to watch.

But she is sure beautiful

I’m more angry at the pies players and their fans for their behaviour than the loss itself

Couldn’t give a stuff about a round 1 loss, but the disgusting behaviour has left a sour taste in my mouth.

I think it’s a shock as I haven’t seen that for a long time from both the players and the supporters, I’m not too worried about them in the future they won’t get away with that later in the year when the fitness level is matched

 

[DanA]

My thoughts:

Overall we didn’t play badly, we just ran out of gas. The midfield rotation seemed to lack an inside extractor like Tom Mitchell and once we got tired it showed even more. I was a bit disappointed with Guthrie, Blicavs, Bruhn and Parfitt. Hopefully they can lift and Bowes/Duncan can have impact. It looked like we had a Selwood sized hole so it’s something to watch.

The defensive structure struggled (understandably) with injuries on the day but Ratugolea (dispite mistakes) showed enough to persist with. I think 12-15 games starting as a key defender could see a very good player develop but I did think that having him impacted how Dekoning played, we need to see how/if they work in tandem.

Up forward we were very efficient. A hobbled Hawkins still had influence but wasn’t presenting up the ground and allowed Moore to run off him. I thought we didn’t put enough defensive effort into stopping Daicos but it was very promising in general. Henry flashed but just made too many mistakes and needs to develop IMO, his position is in question moving forward.

 

[cats_09]

The Ugly

* Why on earth did they play Hawkins? He was proppy with his foot from the first five minutes. Why you would play a 110kg 34-year old coming off a foot injury in Round 1 with little preparation is beyond me.

I'm not sure Hawkins is playing at 110kg anymore - he does appear to have slimmed down a bit as he's got older

And not sure what we saw Friday night was necessarily his foot being the issue - it's since been reported he received a cork to the calf, and he had that strapped after the game. It would also explain he seemed to have bit of a limp during the night - and that's not something you can plan for going into a game

 

[Strange Cat]

I'm not sure Hawkins is playing at 110kg anymore - he does appear to have slimmed down a bit as he's got older

And not sure what we saw Friday night was necessarily his foot being the issue - it's since been reported he received a cork to the calf, and he had that strapped after the game. It would also explain he seemed to have bit of a limp during the night - and that's not something you can plan for going into a game

We were killed in the middle and the defence …I find it hard to level any criticism towards the forwards on the night

But it may had just been that the medicos signed off on Hawkins and he needed the run , but I would be resting him early if possible

 

[Munich]

I think people are being a bit harsh calling Henry's position is in question.

The kid had his first game in the hoops against his old club with their feral supporters booing him incessantly. And without his brother.

From what I saw he looked pretty good.