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Dilemma

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GeeCat

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After a satisfying win, the club now has the a big task ahead of them of planning the team to next take on the Weagles.

We were well below full-strength, with the likes of SJ, Gardiner, Harley, Milburn, Mooney, and Sanderson still to return; all of whom can make claims to being in our best 22.

Yet with strong performances all around (which were undoubtedly helped by the quality of the opposition, or lack thereof) by their replacements/'best-22-fringe players', it makes it very difficult to justify dropping 3-4 players from the team that beat the Tigers.

Should Harley and Mooney come back into the side, Egan will probably be squeezed out (which is fairly unfortunate considering the promising display he put on yesterday).

Should Dash and Sanderson be ready, do we drop Koula and Rooke?

And do we try to fit SJ and Charlie back in, on the way dropping a Mackie or a Byrnes from the team?

Even looking further down the track, will the likes of Haynes, Thurley, or McCarthy be able to squeeze into the team? How will we allow for the expected debuts of Lonergan, Ablett, and perhaps even Prismall? Mind you, this is a make-or-break year for the likes of Thurley and Lonergan. Yet it will be mightily difficult for them to force their way ahead of the 'best-22-fringe players', let alone the best 22.

This undoubtedly highlights our significant depth, which is in effect a good problem to have, but I'd hate to have to justify the dropping of a Mackie or Byrnes.

Thoughts?
 
Thompson said on K-ROCK that Milburn and Harley will play this week,but Mooney and Sanderson won't.

There's no VFL this week,but I don't think they'll rush either Charlie or Tumbles Johnson in.No need too.

IN : Milburn and Harley
Out : Koula [inj] and Egan [inj or bloody unlucky].
 
It is a good problem for the selectors to have. When you've got 10 players who deserve to be in the side that you just haven't got room for, at least you don't have to worry about what'll happen if someone gets injured or rubbed out.

Yesterday we had three of our best defenders out, and Egan, Rooke and Playfair did well, all of whom are not in our theoretical best defensive unit. Geelong's major strength is its depth. We just keep rolling along and it'd take a lot of misfortune to stretch our personnel.

The other benefit is that there's no need to rush anyone back from injury. We've got the luxury of giving Steve Johnson another half a game in the VFL because of the talents of Mackie and Byrnes.
 
If i had to choose, i'd rather keep Egan in the team and have Rooke/Fumbles make way for Milburn.
 

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Agree with JubJub. Koola and Egan out for Harley and Milburn.

S johnson probably needs another 1-2 games in the magoos. He only played a quarter yesterday.
 
Interesting call Geecat. Id agree with you on Thurley. Eventually, I think we will have to admit his pickup has been a rare error. When a kid like Byrnes can come off our rookie list and slip in, a 2nd round draft pick who was picked to be ready to play but has struggled to break into our team.From what ive heard of Prismall,what ive seen of him he will more than likely be given more of a go than Thurley.Lonergan in once sense is not in a make or break year, he is still developing and still might become a very handy player for us but then along came NA23.If he gets a game like most think will happen , Longergan might find, just like Thurley, that he has failed to grab a spot when spots were available and now the vaccancies are becoming less frequent and might find himself looking for a gig elsewhere.
The other alternative is being proactive and use senior player stocks to get an earlier pick in the draft but as shown with Moloney that comes with pain. As shown with Brisbane if you are willing to do this we could pick up someone like a Jarred Brennan while still being a top side.Then these guys would be kept because the players that keeping them out would be the players to go.
 
Cantdrop Egan after his game.

Koula (Inj) + Rooke for Harley and Milbrun
 
JUBJUB said:
Thompson said on K-ROCK that Milburn and Harley will play this week,but Mooney and Sanderson won't.

There's no VFL this week,but I don't think they'll rush either Charlie or Tumbles Johnson in.No need too.

IN : Milburn and Harley
Out : Koula [inj] and Egan [inj or bloody unlucky].
Click to expand...

I didn't expect to see SJ, Charlie, or Sanderson back this week, but surprised MoonDog won't be available. Must be one hell of a gluteus problem Cam's got.
 
Turbocat said:
Interesting call Geecat. Id agree with you on Thurley. Eventually, I think we will have to admit his pickup has been a rare error. When a kid like Byrnes can come off our rookie list and slip in, a 2nd round draft pick who was picked to be ready to play but has struggled to break into our team.From what ive heard of Prismall,what ive seen of him he will more than likely be given more of a go than Thurley.
Click to expand...

We can bide our time with Pris, but not with Thurley.

There were some expectations on Thurley already, considering he was drafted reasonably early. But he's going to have to lift his game a hell of a lot more if he's going to give himself any chance of cracking the line-up; something he'll need to do or he's outta here.

Turbocat said:
Lonergan in once sense is not in a make or break year, he is still developing and still might become a very handy player for us but then along came NA23.If he gets a game like most think will happen , Longergan might find, just like Thurley, that he has failed to grab a spot when spots were available and now the vaccancies are becoming less frequent and might find himself looking for a gig elsewhere.
Click to expand...

That last sentence of yours pretty much summed it up.

T-Lo is entering his 3rd season now, putting him in the same boat as Mackie and Callan. Granted, he hasn't the same amount of sheer talent as Mackie, nor the consistency of Callan, and he's a tall forward.

However, 3rd year's are usually when we're given some sort of indication as to whether or not the kid's going to make it in the big time -- something we've been denied of by T-Lo.

We need to put him in the side sooner or later to see how he fares, yet of course he has to demand that spot first, which is a big ask of him. This is why I was fairly disappointed he didn't get more of a run in the Wiz Cup.

Time's running out for him, he needs to make some sort of mark this season, which will be bloody difficult considering the forementioned depth of our squad and the growing list of players ahead of him in the queue.

Turbocat said:
The other alternative is being proactive and use senior player stocks to get an earlier pick in the draft but as shown with Moloney that comes with pain. As shown with Brisbane if you are willing to do this we could pick up someone like a Jarred Brennan while still being a top side.Then these guys would be kept because the players that keeping them out would be the players to go.
Click to expand...

I think I see your point.

Sooner or later, the players who make up a large portion of our 'depth' are theoretically going to be wanting to look elsewhere for a better chance. You're then proposing we trade them off for picks, draft youngsters again and in effect ensure we don't hit a point where we're lacking talent, thus ensuring a 'cycle' of sorts is in place?

I, personally, would like to think the boys are close enough to think about the team before their own interests, but I take your point there will come a time when some of the individual's interests must be taken to thought.
 
With next week's game being against West Coast, they're likely to field a forward line of Gardiner, Hansen and Lynch (McDougall having hurt his shoulder and unlikely for next week), so Egan may be needed as I'm not sure that Dash can take Hansen. Therefore, I'm not sure that Egan will be dropped if he is fit, or we may be one tall short. Rooke, despite playing a solid game in defence and showing sensational courage, may be dropped due to the fact that he was not outstanding, and Koula is reported to be injured. These 2 will make way for Harley and Milburn who will be ready to roll.

Charlie, Sando and SJ still a week or 2 away, then spots get tough.
 
I think i read that Thompson wanted to get charlie gardiner back into the team. Is this true?

It would be very hard to fit him into the side after mackie performed yesterday.
 
Tweak Talent said:
I think i read that Thompson wanted to get charlie gardiner back into the team. Is this true?

It would be very hard to fit him into the side after mackie performed yesterday.
Click to expand...

I am not 100% sure if he said he wants him back ASAP, but he did say he has Charlie in the Best 22 for the GFC!
 

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Don't let a 10 goal win cloud over the short-comings Geelong had this week. Changes need to be made to the cats backline as it was leaking goals on Sunday. A full strength defence would have kept Richmond goalless in the 2nd quarter and down to 10 goals for the game. When we play better teams we cannot afford to be giving away an extra 50% goals in a game, even though this week was different, we are not the high scoring team we were in the 90's. We got to our top 4 position last year by having the best defence in the league and we need our best backmen on the ground to be a one of the top sides in the league.
 
NineLives said:
Changes need to be made to the cats backline as it was leaking goals on Sunday.
Click to expand...

Name me a defence that would have held up as well without four of your best six defenders, and without one of your only two (on the day) key defenders for the second half?

Our backline was absolutely decimated yet fought through it pretty well. Put Harley and Milburn in there this week and the other two the following week and we'll be fine.
 
Our backline did a great job with the blokes that they had! Scarlett, Egan, Rooke, D.Johnson, Hunt were the main blokes down there with Playfair and King helping out when Egan went off. This defence only gave away 15 goals to a side who had Richo, Simmonds, Krakouer, Brown. Pretty bloody good effort I say. If we had the Scarlett, Harley, Milburn, Mooney, Hunt, Sanderson backline playing, they wouldnt have even kicked 10 goals.
 
We had issues with playing tight on smaller forwards, but that's been a problem of the club for years now.

When Fresh eventually gets a chance we'll go a long way to fixing the problem.
 
NineLives said:
Don't let a 10 goal win cloud over the short-comings Geelong had this week. Changes need to be made to the cats backline as it was leaking goals on Sunday. A full strength defence would have kept Richmond goalless in the 2nd quarter and down to 10 goals for the game. When we play better teams we cannot afford to be giving away an extra 50% goals in a game, even though this week was different, we are not the high scoring team we were in the 90's. We got to our top 4 position last year by having the best defence in the league and we need our best backmen on the ground to be a one of the top sides in the league.
Click to expand...

I think you've misunderstood some of the points being made in this thread NineLives.

No doubt some changes have to be instigated to allow the likes of Harley and Milburn to come in this week, and Sando and Mooney in the upcoming weeks, but these changes won't be because of the job our stand-in defenders did. If anything, their performances don't justify them being dropped.

Egan for one was debuting, and was matched up against Richo and Simmonds -- no easy task for a first gamer. Yet despite that, he put on a performance that would have Bomber and the staff smiling. Did some nice things that often go unnoticed on the stat sheet and showcased his courage on more than one or two occasions.

Another in DJ was playing out of his usual midfield tagging role, instead designated to run off the half back flank, a job he did well.
 
Spot on GeeCat.

Fumbles and Egan were superb in roles that would have been difficult for them, and both deserve another go (whether they get it or not is another matter).

Still not happy with the lack of leg speed and genuine small defenders, but we'll be better when Sanderson and Fresh come back.
 

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Agree on the point about our match-ups on small forwards, and this could be a problem this week against Sampi and Matera. Both are quality small forwards, and Sampi is lightning quick, Hunt is probably quick enough to go with Matera, but Sampi is another proposition. With Wojcinski likely to get Judd, we need someone to take Sampi, any ideas?
 
I think some of you are forgetting that we still have to get Will Slade into the team.

C'MON THE MIGHTY CATS GET IT ON!
 
phat said:
If i had to choose, i'd rather keep Egan in the team and have Rooke/Fumbles make way for Milburn.
Click to expand...


Agreed I would keep Egan in as we will still be that one tall short (or is that short a tall).

Rowdy will be in and it looks like Harley & Mooney will miss, so Egan needs to get his arse massaged to be fit.
 

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