Autopsy Cats lose to Saints by enough to end our 23 Finals hopes

[Mr Meow]

Thought this was interesting - difference between last year and this year is pretty stark. Really shows we lost that outside fast run and gun game


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Good pick up. I'd say it's been a bigger issue than winning hard footy at stoppages (the more talked about problem). Giving opposition their spread/outside game and not really having ours.

Biggest culprits (decline):

Tuohy (-4.3 per game)
Blicavs (-2.9)
Close (-2.3)
Stengle (-2.1)
Duncan (-2.1 per game)
Stewart (-1.6)
Rohan (-1.1)
Z.Guthrie (-1.0)
Hawkins (-0.9)
Dangerfield (-0.7)
Smith (-0.7)
Atkins (-0.6)

Also:

NOT HAVING GUTHRIE (14.2 per game he had in 2022)
Selwood's 12.5 per game

The replacements simply didn't get that outside ball.

 

[HaroLad]

A lot of players in this team just don’t give a s**t.

Names? Curious

 

[iameviljez]

I still reckon our best is good enough

You must be joking

 

[moond0g]

How the Dogs come out next week will really show where they're at as a club.

If Bevo still has control, expect them to come out hard.

If he doesn't, they should just roll over.

I expect his "tough love" approach is rubbing a few players the wrong way.

When did this happen?

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Also LOL. I bet you would. You might win something:

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Beveridge is the most overrated coach going around. I don't understand how he still has a job.

He got very lucky once when finishing 7th, and then consistently underachieves with a stacked list.

 

[Generalissimo]

We're going to play a bunch of kids, cop another spate of injuries and another absolute reaming from the umps, and the Dogs will knock us off by a goal or two. Then everyone will be all "Bevo's a genius who knocked off the reigning premiers" and all will be well at the Kennel.

 

[Jackington]

Going to be very funny next week when, despite adding Close and Sav to the injury list, a decimated Geelong side still manages to beat the Dogs and keep them out of finals.

All things aside, definitely a year where injuries can be looked at as a fair reason why the year played out the way it did, but also the losses to Fremantle (x2), Richmond and Gold Coast. Within two goals of Collingwood, Brisbane and Carlton, beat Melbourne, beat Port. Good enough when even close to the best team was on the park and the care factor was there.

Loved what I saw from Bruhn, Neale promising, baby Zuth to another level this year, Knevitt will be better with consistent games, Miers elevated again.

Tuohy has to go, Duncan might just decide that it's time, and Ceglar must be delisted.

Not too worried about the future, and I reckon we reload again next year and probably finish inthe 5-10 bracket.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

How the Dogs come out next week will really show where they're at as a club.

If Bevo still has control, expect them to come out hard.

If he doesn't, they should just roll over.

I expect his "tough love" approach is rubbing a few players the wrong way.

When did this happen?

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Also LOL. I bet you would. You might win something:

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Hey you might want to crop names out, even if you're not trolling. Slippery slope

 

[Vdubs]

Good pick up. I'd say it's been a bigger issue than winning hard footy at stoppages (the more talked about problem). Giving opposition their spread/outside game and not really having ours.

Biggest culprits (decline):

Tuohy (-4.3 per game)
Blicavs (-2.9)
Close (-2.3)
Stengle (-2.1)
Duncan (-2.1 per game)
Stewart (-1.6)
Rohan (-1.1)
Z.Guthrie (-1.0)
Hawkins (-0.9)
Dangerfield (-0.7)
Smith (-0.7)
Atkins (-0.6)

Also:

NOT HAVING GUTHRIE (14.2 per game he had in 2022)
Selwood's 12.5 per game

The replacements simply didn't get that outside ball.

Great post.
Seems to have been an issue from day 1 this season
Lots to work on over our very early preseason.

 

[Vdubs]

If only this were true, we'd have finished higher, clearly in our best in our last two losses.

Possessions maybe, quality, no

 

[TheCatStevensExperience]

Hey you might want to crop names out, even if you're not trolling. Slippery slope

Ah yep, thanks for the heads up. I'll do that

 

[TheCatStevensExperience]

You must be joking

I mean, it is good enough. It's just not consistently there

 

[TEDDY24INC]

David king questions Hudson on the first crack. If you come out and say ‘ we are the danger’ 4 weeks ago when we knew then about 10 years of shorter pre seasons , some banged up players etc… then that narrative doesn’t change 4 weeks later so can’t really go down the excuse path…. Fair enough by Kingy.

No it’s not.. king was being a smart ass. Scott was trying to get the players to buy in and give more knowing how adverse the situation had become.

 

[iameviljez]

I mean, it is good enough. It's just not consistently there

It was good enough… last year.

This year it’s been a fair way off the leaders.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Possessions maybe, quality, no

Duncan's ball use the last few weeks has been back close to his best. He was struggling early in the year but the last few weeks he's been great and in our top handful of players.

 

[Mr Meow]

Duncan's ball use the last few weeks has been back close to his best. He was struggling early in the year but the last few weeks he's been great and in our top handful of players.

It'll be even better if our players start leading hard and creating space again. A lot of players have looked stupid coming out of half back or delivering inside 50 this season.

 

[Partridge]

Great post.
Seems to have been an issue from day 1 this season
Lots to work on over our very early preseason.

Not a massive surprise either. Of those 12 players named, 8 are the wrong side of 30, and 7 of those are 32 or more. Not exactly unreasonable that they'd drop a little particularly in that aspect.

 

[Mr Meow]

Not a massive surprise either. Of those 12 players named, 8 are the wrong side of 30, and 7 of those are 32 or more. Not exactly unreasonable that they'd drop a little particularly in that aspect.

Agreed. But we really need Close, Stengle, Zuthrie and O'Connor types to step it up in that regard next season. Holmes has the capacity to be truly elite for UP - he and Miers have to run the show next year. We're reliant on C.Guthrie hitting the ground running and I would say recruiting another big ball winner.

 

[Partridge]

Agreed. But we really need Close, Stengle, Zuthrie and O'Connor types to step it up in that regard next season. Holmes has the capacity to be truly elite for UP - he and Miers have to run the show next year. We're reliant on C.Guthrie hitting the ground running and I would say recruiting another big ball winner.

I think only now are we seeing how unbelievably important Atkins, Close, and Miers were to last season. Not only them among the young players, but especially them.

 

[And_ROOS]

2 quality midfielders short all season has been the issue with Selwood gone and Guthrie injured. We get Guthrie back next season, but another year older. Its why if we can get 2 decent mids back this off-season, Guthrie back, guys like Bruhn another year of experience and another pre-season under his belt, that all of a sudden we are a comfortable top 8 and likely top 4 since this seasons poor result means hopefully an easier fixture next season (but I don't trust the AFL to look after us to be honest).

Oh well, all the talk of last years short pre-season messing up our year this season can't be used as an excuse next season.

 

[TheCatStevensExperience]

It was good enough… last year.

This year it’s been a fair way off the leaders.

Not really - the graph showing results if margins under 11 points were reversed had Geelong on top of the ladder, prior to the St Kilda game.

A few games go the other way and we're positioned perfectly.

Injuries screwed us, but our footy wasn't all that bad.

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Thought this was interesting - difference between last year and this year is pretty stark. Really shows we lost that outside fast run and gun game


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I’ve been convinced our fitness, group wide, hasn’t been up to scratch this season. It was noticeable in every game I went to, starting round 2, and true again on Saturday.

This stat seems to support that.

 

[And_ROOS]

Not really - the graph showing results if margins under 11 points were reversed had Geelong on top of the ladder, prior to the St Kilda game.

A few games go the other way and we're positioned perfectly.

Injuries screwed us, but our footy wasn't all that bad.

The issue was when we were playing well this year we looked really good.

But then you have games like GWS at home, Freo at home, Saints the other night, Carlton start of the season... Games that we were horrendously poor.

 

[TheCatStevensExperience]

The issue was when we were playing well this year we looked really good.

But then you have games like GWS at home, Freo at home, Saints the other night, Carlton start of the season... Games that we were horrendously poor.

Yeah and I think if we had a fit list we'd have won those games - the style of footy isn't the issue, nor the cattle (by and large), just the injuries.

 

[TheCatStevensExperience]

I’ve been convinced our fitness, group wide, hasn’t been up to scratch this season. It was noticeable in every game I went to, starting round 2, and true again on Saturday.

This stat seems to support that.

Yeah absolutely - not sure what changed, but hopefully a full pre-season will get them back to their best

 

[And_ROOS]

Yeah and I think if we had a fit list we'd have won those games - the style of footy isn't the issue, nor the cattle (by and large), just the injuries.

The injuries, the season preparations, the fitness levels of players have all been what killed us. Its why I hope they have a real, proper look at the strength and conditioning coaches. Look at the injury list week on week, sure you have freak ones like Stewart and SDK, but Esava now twice has done soft tissue, Hawkins who is usually ultra reliable does a soft tissue injury, the decision to hold off on Guthrie, guys like Smith and Tuohy looking a mile off the pace.

We were at times only behind WCE as the club who had lost the most experience to injury. And they are doing a full cleanout of their departments as a consequence.