Review Defining moments of 2022

[PhatBoy]

The thing too about the QF is there was always the spectre of "will they perform in finals" to deal with.

And truth be told - we were friggin shaky in that first quarter. We worked our way into the game and Rohan's moment gave him and the team a lot of confidence going forward.

For all the s**t Scott and the team copped about playing cautious, short kicking football, that win over Collingwood owed a bit to our ability to still default to that style to some extent: we were under the pump in that first quarter and we did very well to absorb it, take some of the sting out of the game and hit a few targets as we found our feet.

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

Had the ARC not overruled that shot and it was called a goal, Richmond would have won that game.
Geelong would have come up against an MCG tenant at the prelim instead of Brisbane.

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Only thing this changed was that we didn’t get the opportunity to belt the Tigers or Melbourne and extract a little September revenge

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

Round 1 showed we had changed. The comeback against the pies was something else.
For mine, I believed when we beat Melbourne and Carlton back to back, they had no answers.

 

[kickazz]

Only thing this changed was that we didn’t get the opportunity to belt the Tigers or Melbourne and extract a little September revenge

Yep.

Though if it were Tigers I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the game with the extra friends that came as it would have been 1 ticket per member for sure.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Some great observations in this thread.

On GF day at the ground a few early signs had us feeling we were on a mission -

-Support for Neale - a significant number of players and coaches ( Scott included) wandered down to cheer on Neale before his heat - there were zero Swans there at that stage and only a few rocked up just before their players heat.

• McLean - shouldered every Cats player before the bounce trying to intimidate - not one Cats player reacted - they all were focused on the start
• Buddy - whacked Henry in the chest just before the bounce - I think Henry just smiled at him.

 

[Sttew]

What where the moments throughout the year that made you take notice and think, "this is different, this just might be our year"?

Round 1 v Bombers. Cats started in a frenzy, led by Danger. Looking back we saw glimpses in that match of the new game plan, and what this new kid called Stengle brought to the forward line, but it took a month or two, and 4 losses, to fine tune things.

 

[Jumping Jack]

For me the defining moment was when it became apparent that we had a star in the making at FB who had only played one game the previous year. Maybe about Round 6-8.

I think back to the start of the year and my biggest concern was teams scoring against us if SDK didn't stand up. The flow on impact of that was having to take Blicavs from the midfield and put him down back to cover. It's easy to overlook how raw this kid was going into the 2022 season, and the fact that he not only stood up, but developed into a weapon, was a large reason we won the flag in my opinion. His impact cannot be understated.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

For me the defining moment was when it became apparent that we had a star in the making at FB who had only played one game the previous year. Maybe about Round 6-8.

I think back to the start of the year and my biggest concern was teams scoring against us if SDK didn't stand up. The flow on impact of that was having to take Blicavs from the midfield and put him down back to cover. It's easy to overlook how raw this kid was going into the 2022 season, and the fact that he not only stood up, but developed into a weapon, was a large reason we won the flag in my opinion. His impact cannot be understated.

Absolutely.
SDK could have easily been a huge weakness for us if he didn't stand up.
In the end he become a huge strength of ours and allowed our game to involve even more intercepting plays due to absolute trust in him.
Stewart/Henry/Kolo etc didn't have to worry about holding back to help cover a tight 1 on 1, they played their game because they knew SDK wouldn't lose that contest, if not win it out right.
His stats when compared to other key defenders who matched up against the same quality of opponent is staggeringly good.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Absolutely.
SDK could have easily been a huge weakness for us if he didn't stand up.
In the end he become a huge strength of ours and allowed our game to involve even more intercepting plays due to absolute trust in him.
Stewart/Henry/Kolo etc didn't have to worry about holding back to help cover a tight 1 on 1, they played their game because they knew SDK wouldn't lose that contest, if not win it out right.
His stats when compared to other key defenders who matched up against the same quality of opponent is staggeringly good.

Just defies logic the more you think about it.

Much in the same way you think about Bowes (former top 10 pick) Ollie Henry and Tanner Bruhn (top 20 picks) possibly coming to a premiership team + We possibly end up with pick 7 and use it on a local kid who Selwood has been mentoring for 12 months.

Crikey we’ll be hated by every other club and supporters.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Mr Meow]

For me the defining moment was when it became apparent that we had a star in the making at FB who had only played one game the previous year. Maybe about Round 6-8.

I think back to the start of the year and my biggest concern was teams scoring against us if SDK didn't stand up. The flow on impact of that was having to take Blicavs from the midfield and put him down back to cover. It's easy to overlook how raw this kid was going into the 2022 season, and the fact that he not only stood up, but developed into a weapon, was a large reason we won the flag in my opinion. His impact cannot be understated.

One of the biggest conundrums the last few years was how we would survive without Taylor and Henderson. But that also they were inevitably slowing down so by intense finals, might not be optimal options.

Last year was the adjustment year, losing Taylor and Henderson hitting a wall. It just didn't suit Kolo and Bews with their skill sets to be next to two defenders without peak pace, agility or reaction times.

So, then we lost Henderson and nobody had an idea that SDK was now not just capable to play, but actually to star and help refresh that whole defence. Along with Zuthrie. Stewart now the main man, which he already borderline was, but now this was absolutely his group of charges.

I have no doubt the emergence of SDK and Zuthrie, the class of Duncan on a back flank and the increased responsibility put on Kolo, Henry and Bews was a huge step in allowing the more attacking game plan and more decisive ball movement. We'd always had solid backlines, but now we had one that could sync with a more progressive and daring team. Rather than being that little bit slow or reactive, especially in high pressure finals.

 

[sauron256]

For mine, it's Rohan's mark and goal with 4 minutes left in the qualifying final to put us back in front.

Maligned finals player, kicking from 50 in front of 90,000+ at the G in a big final when five points down, there's no minimising what a massive moment it was and he just flushed it. Just about the biggest moment of the year for mine.