Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week.

[Ninty]

Re: Before the knives come out

**** off. They did it when it mattered, yes... but they were ****ing lucky to win three in a row, with Port and Pies choking year after year. They NEVER dominated during the season like we have. They never finished on top in the H&A season.

 

[Beth]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

It aint over yet. We aren't the favourites now for sure and just quietly I reckon the Saints played their GF last night looking at their reaction. Anything can happen!

 

[Just do something]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

The issue i see is that we are losing the one on one contests more and contested ball more this year so sides have more confidence spreading from contests when they win the ball.

The first half was i thought alot like the pies game. They'd win the ball and spread away and have blokes running and we would be chasing tail. We seem to have players getting sucked into the contest to often and then they loose there oponents out the back.

The second half you could see we had the set up we wanted with Milburn loose and spoling or running off to set up. Another thing i would like to see sometimes is Josh Hunt barrel a torp from kicks out to a big pack of players and we try and smash the ball forward with numbers. It would be worth a try when we look like we can get it out of our 50. We need more run but we also have to win our share of ball and then get it out to free flowing players. We hardly had any overlap in the first half when we had the ball.

 

[Archangel]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

If Collingwood lose tonight, then our side of the draw really opens up.

If they win, then we'll just have to do it the harder way

 

[Archangel]

Re: Before the knives come out

Is it too late to trade Blake for Mumford

 

[catswhiskers2007]

Re: Before the knives come out

Go you Cats! All IS NOT lost. We'll all be there barracking hard as normal. The past years of pride we have will not be lost on our Cats as they march forward to a likely match-up and revenge against the Pies. C'MONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

 

[Vdubs]

Re: Before the knives come out

**** off. They did it when it mattered, yes... but they were ****ing lucky to win three in a row, with Port and Pies choking year after year. They NEVER dominated during the season like we have. They never finished on top in the H&A season.

we finished on top for 1 flag, Hawks didn't, Saints didn't this year, you don't have to dominate all season, specially if there is so much interstate travel as they dealt with. The luck they had was the ability to have some concessions and the melding of their team. We didn't ever have such luxuries. But from a purely personnel point of view, and finals performances, they were supreme.

 

[isen river]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

I have faith that the lads can win it this year, look out for Selwood next week, will be filthy with himself and we can bank on him returning to form. Think this loss might be thing we need to go all the way this year it will have the team all on the same page for the rest of the finals, more so than if we beat the saints. Freo could do some damage but their a bit too dependent on their key players, we should account for them reasonably.

I'm genuinely excited about this series unlike last year when we had the added pressure of needing to win more than one flag, anything that we win this year is an added bonus.

 

[Partridge]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Weren't we supposed to learn after Round 14? Weren't we supposed to have received the kick up the arse we needed after the Collingwood game? At some point you need to actually win, and in some areas it doesn't look like we're learning at all: our kick ins, for example, have been horrendous all year.

Well said, and absolutely correct.

I have one question for the majority of people on this forum.........

What are the excuses now?

All season we have been told that it's all about planning for September, that you don't need to win every week, it's about player management and making sure we're 100% for the finals. During the season, we've had excuses offered for every loss, along with the intriguing "but they'll learn from this".

Well, what did they learn? Nothing it seems. It took them two and a bit quarters to realise that it was actually a final, they were actually playing quality opposition and they needed to put in effort and work to win.

I hope this demonstrates to people that you can't play one good quarter of football per game during the season - or at least large chunks of it - and expect to suddenly flick a magical switch when the finals start.

I hate to say this, but all the things Chapman attacked three years ago after the North loss are occurring again. They're picking and choosing when to compete, when to put their bodies in, and when to work hard. They are NOT prepared to work hard for four quarters week in, week out, as St.Kilda and Collingwood however definitely are. Too many players are comfortable - they'll never be dropped, and the lack of energy and enthusiasm last night was disgraceful.

I'm sure the vast majority of sheep - sorry, posters - on this forum will spout the usual "Oh, but they'll learn from this and you'll see the real Geelong next week etc.". Bullshit - that should have occurred last night. In case anyone has forgotten, Fremantle beat us last time. So don't think we're going to just turn up and win. It won't happen.

 

[fpm84]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

We lost by less than a goal to a genuine premiership contender.

Each side had prolonged periods in the match where they made the other look inept.

We were unlucky to lose in the end, but at the same time would have been lucky to win if we'd pinched it, due to our awful first half.

We need to come out breathing fire against Freo and I have no doubt our players would go into a prelim v Pies with confidence - remember, they've only beaten us twice since 2007. If we get over Freo, we study the tape of round 19 and try to devise a plan to beat the Pies.

I'm keeping the faith and anything less than 100% effort/determination next week is not good enough.

 

[And_ROOS]

Re: Before the knives come out

Brisbane were looking veeeeery ordinary for the finals in 03 as well, and look how that ended. Too old, too slow was the common "theme".


That said, we want our club to stand as one of the most dominant ever. Win the flag from this position and we prove we are.

 

[flatcat]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

I tend to agree with some of the negative posts here. The football we've shown indicates we aren't as hungry as st kilda or collingwood. these two teams display disciplined defensive pressure all over the ground, while our defensive pressure is non-existant at times. It leaves our defence naked. and we're lulled into a false sense of security because we blow teams off the park with 20 minutes of potent offence. but that's not what wins you premierships. hard, disciplined and consistent effort is needed. The boys showed a lot of character to come back last night, but they need that effort all game. I hope they feel gutted, angry and cheated about last night. though that isn't the only reason we lost, I hope the circumstance hits a nerve. Get mean, get nasty, get defensive, get angry, take no prisoners, tackle to hurt, out number the opposition at every contest, smash bodies.

 

[gazzas army]

Re: Before the knives come out

Ah but the knives are already out, wielded by the Wonder Coach. All blame is being laid on the players and once again he takes no responsibility.

What's he got to take responsibility for?..............If you couldnt see the diiference between the two sides with respect to the pressure applied to the ball carrier, then you are kidding yourself. It was evident that St Kilda was more desperate then we were to apply pressure when they didnt have possession of the ball. That has nothing to do with the coach, and everything to do with the players hunger. Too often we allowed the Saints to run the ball out from the kickouts, with little or no pressure from Millburn Mackie and Wojo. St Kilda smashed us in Application, and when / if we can up the ante on that aspect of the game, I am confident we will the premiership again this year. My concern is not that we are still the best team in the competition, but rather that a few blokes are content in the success of the last few years, and are lacking in hunger.

 

[Vdubs]

Re: Before the knives come out

What's he got to take responsibility for?..............If you couldnt see the diiference between the two sides with respect to the pressure applied to the ball carrier, then you are kidding yourself. It was evident that St Kilda was more desperate then we were to apply pressure when they didnt have possession of the ball. That has nothing to do with the coach, and everything to do with the players hunger. Too often we allowed the Saints to run the ball out from the kickouts, with little or no pressure from Millburn Mackie and Wojo. St Kilda smashed us in Application, and when / if we can up the ante on that aspect of the game, I am confident we will the premiership again this year. My concern is not that we are still the best team in the competition, but rather that a few blokes are content in the success of the last few years, and are lacking in hunger.

Agree and disagree . We are simply NOT THE BEST. Currently, Collingwood is the best. Saints are likely to win the flag. Winning last year's flag doesn't give us that BEST status indefinitely, look at Hawks since 08. Any unbiased supporter (yes,oxymoron) shouild see that Pies have the best ruck set up, the best mids, excellent defence, and they are beating teams comprehensively with premiership like playing. They have a huge array of scoring potential. Mostly, they are desperate and committed. Saints very similar. We may well be talented>those teams, but we are not obviously able to deal with both Pies/Saints clogging up our handball crazy play on game. And we are complacent and slow. We nearly pinched it on Fri pm, and it would have been a steal. Not having the week off to rest those many ageing bodies is far from ideal , and it would certainly be miraculous for us to even make the GF, and more so to win it.

Freo are very talented and quick and HUNGRY,, nothing to lose, they would be worthy Prelim finalists if they beat us.

 

[Vdubs]

Re: Before the knives come out

**** off. They did it when it mattered, yes... but they were ****ing lucky to win three in a row, with Port and Pies choking year after year. They NEVER dominated during the season like we have. They never finished on top in the H&A season.

This should be a separate thread, but the argument about who's best-Lions 2001-2004 vs Cats 2007-2010 has virtually been answered already, but nevertheless, that Lions team is THE BEST outfit I've seen in watching footy for 46 years. Easily. All over the ground, absolutely the best team ever as far as talent. How they were allowed to get and keep that talent may be a negative, but the fact is those teams had the best CHB, CHF, FF, and close to the best FB, along with the best array of 4 mids all at their best. Their BP was the best I've seen. X factors everywhere with White, Hart, Notting, Copeland, Pike and brutally tough H B's with the Scott's. Rucks were as good as any going around.

We are /were an excellent team, achieving 2 GF's ,Brownlows and AA's, but not as good as that Lions team. BUT, as has been mentioned, winning the next 3 would put us in contention statistically.

 

[yebbo]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Whats with the negativity about Geelong. It wasnt the best game from them on Friday and I couldnt believe how lazy they were. If I was on 300k a year id be running my arse off.

Buttttt, they have won 70 out of 80 games, i dont think that gives anyone the right to bag them. Thankgod we won two premierships out of that, didnt win any once upon a time. Football these days has many weird and wonderful things happen, imagine if Zak Dawson last year punched the ball into his path rather than onto Scarletts foot we might have lost....and i'd rather win that one than a qualifying final....and we aint finished yet thats why the double chance.

So look at it most like other Geelong look at it (from reading other threads), we should beat Freo, they dont win in Melbourne and we play in a prelim like we would have anyway albeit a harder team...where anyone can win from any of the strange events that will no doubt take place.

We should be match hardened, like bris 03 wce 05 syd 06 or something like that, and coll 07 prelim and bulldogs 09 prelim (another saints/umpire match).

Partridge, they did "the excuses" thing last year and won the flag, your right though they could plan better and run harder and make less mistakes, esp selwood every touch was bad but thats the one game, he might have had a fight with his model girlfriend. Saints played well, they trumped us, any team in the league are confident that Kosi will not take 10 first qtr marks. I'd bring in THunt cos I agree with everyones theme that you dont a deserve a place just for what youve done in the past (JHunt should use his weight more) so give THunt a go and let him light us up.

 

[meto]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Think we were a bit to soft to start up, thankfully pride got us back into the game, and superior talent, but Geelongs reputation for not liking the hard stuff is something oppoents still think is exploitable.

Taylor Hunt for Josh might be a change for the better, the kids' full of courage.
Menzell for Byrnes as well, youthful desparation will inspire the others.

Some of the old brigade must go, just two, but it will make a difference.

 

[Rellik666]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Sorry we went out hard and then sat back and let St Kilda dictate the contest up until the second half....what is with this stuttering out of the box after a behind....kick it out quickly for gods sake....many times on Friday I saw people on the lead and J.Hunt & Dasher took too long to kick it out....soo ended up kicking to a contest.

Geelong are best coming out of the back at full pace..not this holding up the ball....get back to the way we want to play. St Kilda weren't all that...we were just worse.

How much do Geelong want this....you can't just turn up any more and win...

I am pretty confident we will beat Freo, but we need the want to turn up not just the bodies!

 

[witsend]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Well said, and absolutely correct.

I have one question for the majority of people on this forum.........

What are the excuses now?

All season we have been told that it's all about planning for September, that you don't need to win every week, it's about player management and making sure we're 100% for the finals. During the season, we've had excuses offered for every loss, along with the intriguing "but they'll learn from this".

Well, what did they learn? Nothing it seems. It took them two and a bit quarters to realise that it was actually a final, they were actually playing quality opposition and they needed to put in effort and work to win.

I hope this demonstrates to people that you can't play one good quarter of football per game during the season - or at least large chunks of it - and expect to suddenly flick a magical switch when the finals start.

I hate to say this, but all the things Chapman attacked three years ago after the North loss are occurring again. They're picking and choosing when to compete, when to put their bodies in, and when to work hard. They are NOT prepared to work hard for four quarters week in, week out, as St.Kilda and Collingwood however definitely are. Too many players are comfortable - they'll never be dropped, and the lack of energy and enthusiasm last night was disgraceful.

I'm sure the vast majority of sheep - sorry, posters - on this forum will spout the usual "Oh, but they'll learn from this and you'll see the real Geelong next week etc.". Bullshit - that should have occurred last night. In case anyone has forgotten, Fremantle beat us last time. So don't think we're going to just turn up and win. It won't happen.

Listening to the talkback at the G after the game, it was all Saints fans bitching about how bad the Saints were. My point being that we were inept for 2 quarters, and so were they.
Toss of a coin.

 

[Belisarius]

No one likes to lose a final.

But it has happened and I do not think it is such a bad thing. It will force us to really put out heads down and wake up that we need to be at our best - get the structures and match ups (with alternatives also considered) right.

It may awake the giant from its slumber - which really cost us the game against the Saints. We need to be turned on for the whole game - and apply more pressure and realise that if we are not fully switched on - we can lose.

Having said that we still nearly beat the Saints - so an improved effort this week should see us beat Freo. Then we will be primed for the Pies.

So not all bad news IMO.

 

[ant0s]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

I tend to agree with some of the negative posts here. The football we've shown indicates we aren't as hungry as st kilda or collingwood. these two teams display disciplined defensive pressure all over the ground, while our defensive pressure is non-existant at times. It leaves our defence naked. and we're lulled into a false sense of security because we blow teams off the park with 20 minutes of potent offence. but that's not what wins you premierships. hard, disciplined and consistent effort is needed. The boys showed a lot of character to come back last night, but they need that effort all game. I hope they feel gutted, angry and cheated about last night. though that isn't the only reason we lost, I hope the circumstance hits a nerve. Get mean, get nasty, get defensive, get angry, take no prisoners, tackle to hurt, out number the opposition at every contest, smash bodies.

hope so man.. we can only hope for the best now..

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Re: Cop it sweet; learn; improve. On to next week...

Listening to the talkback at the G after the game, it was all Saints fans bitching about how bad the Saints were. My point being that we were inept for 2 quarters, and so were they.
Toss of a coin.

It's clear that the only way to beat us is sustained defensive pressure to a degree seldom seen before. Both the Saints and the Pies have applied this sort of pressure -but neither can sustain this effort for the full game. We have shown that we are capable of rapid scoring when the defensive pressure marginally drops off but we have also shown an inability to score/ match the opposition when it is at its peak.
I thought we had developed a better response to this pressure by experimenting( later in the Season ) but disappointingly we just did more of the same in the first half.
We can still win this because our best is more than good enough when the pressure comes off slightly but we need to minimise the damage when the pressure is at its peak.

 

[Ron Fisher Fan Club]

Re: Before the knives come out

I think we are done and dusted for 2010. Sadly, we won't get over Collingwood. They will smash us in the clearances. I look to where we lost it - not being able to keep hold of Mumford. We should have moved everything to keep him. Serious ruck deficiancy now and Collingwood will run us off our legs because they have had a break and we haven't. It's been good while it lasted.

 

[year of the cat]

A change in attutide from the "hunted" to the "hunter" might just be in order. We need to go tackle crazy. If we do that we win.

 

[MontyMensch]

Re: Before the knives come out

We are /were an excellent team, achieving 2 GF's ,Brownlows and AA's, but

Before you post again - please read what wrote above, as I think this information has a habit of slipping easily out of your mind.

Honestly I would have hate to heard your views on the Cats in the early/ mid 90's and god only knows what you wrote in the dark times of the late 90's VEEDUBS.. I'm guessing in Gazza Snr days you would of hard us wooden spoon certs and in the later Ayres days as already disbanded.

When we finally won the flag in 2007 - I thought we could finally push on with a new winning culture, one were the players and fans had self-belief even when a few of the chips were down. Similar to what I experienced at East Fremantle when my family moved west whilst I was school.

Now we have that culture, we need to keep hold of, and use it in an ideal situation: which is now. That means alongside other things having a bit of faith in your team. We should of won last week except for a dodgy free kick - and we showed we had St Kilda's measure as long as we have a half decent first half.

Most importantly a Grand Final winning culture is one thing the current Saints and Pies do not have - so let's not be a bunch of Geelong moaners and back our side that has brought so much joy in!