Fickle fans ?

[hoody]

Ran into yet another fellow Cat fan tonight who wanted to tell me how well the Cats are travelling. Trouble is the same guy told me a fortnight ago that Bomber just had to be sacked and that Lingy should give it away.
My question is:
Do we at Catland have this perverse fickleness to ourselves or is it much the same at all clubs?
I suspect that there is a wide sweeping spread of the disease but us Catters have mastered the art.

 

[Prismall32]

I think we are far LESS fickle than many others. We have every right to be critical of Bomber - particularly last year with pathetic, off-hand excuses - and of particular players from time to time but that does not undermine our basic loyalty. Richmond are self-destructive by comparison.

 

[dtrainium]

For what it's worth I've never disliked Bomber or Ling, only Charlie Gardner.

 

[tin can sam]

Bomber should still go, Ling should never have gone because he's been fantastic this year.

 

[chapmanmagic35]

We are far from fickle. In fact, we are one of the most loyal. Robert Walls commented on this last year and I agree.

 

[cat in sydney]

Bomber should still go, Ling should never have gone because he's been fantastic this year.

We say that about Ling now because he is proving his doubters wrong.
Maybe Bomber is beginning to do the same? You can't fault his past couple of weeks at least.

 

[Hood007]

I think most clubs would be the same. I don't know why any one club would be different.
I got no problem with fans who want to make blunt and honest assesments but some people are just far too pessimistic and negative...

 

[Cattery]

We say that about Ling now because he is proving his doubters wrong.

Don't know why he had doubters to begin with, been one of our most consistent players for many years; had one slightly down year last year, as did most of the team actually, and suddenly everybody was calling for his head

 

[Mooney_d'King]

We're emotional - we swing downwards very quickly because (mostly) of recent history and because we think the boys should be up there. Now they're starting to play the way we want and we feel encouraged. I guess we should remember those 2 extremes when things aren't going well and not want the blood of players and the head of the coach when it can only be a matter of two weeks to turn it around.

No offence to Richmond supporters, but imagine barracking for the Tiges at the moment - THAT would be hard.

PS. I admit to being guilty of the above at times.

 

[someday-somehow]

Don't know why he had doubters to begin with, been one of our most consistent players for many years; had one slightly down year last year, as did most of the team actually, and suddenly everybody was calling for his head

No I think most sensible people were calling for him to play the role that he excells at; -tagging. Not being a run-receive player because he is just not creative enough.

 

[sarah.13]

Fickle fans are the ones the ride the waves and duck the falls, there would be very few of those amongst us.We just get disappointed,angry,disheartened,heartbroken..etc,when the team does not do well.When this happens we all have our opinions as to why. Mine is Bomber Thompson!!

 

[Cattery]

No I think most sensible people were calling for him to play the role that he excells at; -tagging. Not being a run-receive player because he is just not creative enough.

That's true in some instances, but there were also quite a few calling for him to be shown the door; to slow, the game has passed him bye, holds play up to much etc, etc, just a few of the comments directed at him.

Just think people are to quick to pass judgement at times, the same thing happened with Wojcinski, just returning from a knee reconstruction last year yet he was bagged by quite a few as well.

 

[Cattery]

Fickle fans are the ones the ride the waves and duck the falls, there would be very few of those amongst us.We just get disappointed,angry,disheartened,heartbroken..etc,when the team does not do well.When this happens we all have our opinions as to why. Mine is Bomber Thompson!!

Guess if any team is going to get it's fans like that it would be the Cats, if you don't really expect your team to perform, or realise that they're not quite good enough for one reason or another it's not so hard to take [ I guess ] but when you know your teams capable of so much better, as most of us do, it's get's pretty damn annoying seeing then perform below their capabilities.

And leave Bomber alone, he's on a roll now, the first seven years he was just finding his feet.

 

[conanthelibrarian]

This is usually my mindset during the week after Geelong loses:

Immediately after the game and the next few days: Bomber's a dud, and players X,Y and Z are duds and should be dropped and never seen again.

Midweek: Well, players A,B and C did well so there are some positives there. We also played crap, the other team didn't and we got within *insert margin* of them, so it's not all doom and gloom

Thursday night (usually): Wow, our team looks good this week, we're in with a chance on the weekend

Friday: Can't wait for the weekend, we're gonna smash them!

After a win it's usually a lot more of Friday's mindset and a lot less of the negative stuff!

 

[sarah.13]

And leave Bomber alone, he's on a roll now, the first seven years he was just finding his feet. [/quote]

Seven years to find out he has two left feet!!

 

[darren forssman]

dont know if fickle is the word but two weeks ago before the richmond game this upcoming game against freo looked like a danger game.

now everyone thinks we will smash freo this week, but if we had lost the last two games everyone would be calling for thompsons head and doubting if we could beat freo.

the ebbs flows back and forth.

 

[Hood007]

Seven years to find out he has two left feet!!

I don't think Bomber has been all that bad to be honest.
His only bad year was last year.
'02/'03: Bit up and down, more about the youngsters there. Hardly his fault. He had them playing some good footy in patches.
'04: Was great, unlucky not to play in the GF.
'05: We got shafted by injuries and still managed to get within 3 points of the eventual premiers (even if we did choke a little...)
Not sure why he gets so much crap. I suppose people need someone to blame when we lose though...

 

[hbk_aus]

I think every team has its own fickle supporters. I think Geelong supporters seem more "fickle" as we are frustrated about a 43 year drought that really shouldve been broken by now.

 

[CF]

Bomber is an average Coach and I hope he goes this year. Ling has the knack of getting the ball but his disposal has been terrible especially last year. Ling has found a spot in the side as a tagger which suits him and well done. But he is not a midfeilders arseh*le anymore because he is too one paced and often coughs it up in an error.

 

[Hood007]

Bomber is an average Coach and I hope he goes this year. Ling has the knack of getting the ball but his disposal has been terrible especially last year. Ling has found a spot in the side as a tagger which suits him and well done. But he is not a midfeilders arseh*le anymore because he is too one paced and often coughs it up in an error.

If, and note I said if, we win the flag this year, would that change your opinion of Bomber?

 

[CF]

If, and note I said if, we win the flag this year, would that change your opinion of Bomber?

No, he has good points and bad points as a Coach. He is simply just an average Coach, not a great one.

 

[DanA]

Bomber drives me crazy sometimes.

On the one hand he has built an exceptional list, is good at developing our young players and has got us playing an attractive style of footy.

People really don't talk enough about how the kick in rule effected us last year. I think it is probably 75% of the reason we dropped of the pace last year.

On the other hand he makes some shocking tactical decisions:
Ling on Wells? WTF was that.
Leaving Luke Hodge loose in our forwardline
Playing Corey in the back pocket

The list is endless. I would be happy for him to stay coach if he could fix his gameday coaching.

 

[Hood007]

No, he has good points and bad points as a Coach. He is simply just an average Coach, not a great one.

What do you think his bad points are? Not so I can argue, just curious...

 

[DanA]

What do you think his bad points are? Not so I can argue, just curious...

I think he is very good strategically and poor tactically. That is he develops a good game plan, good at list management etc. Always seems to stuff up a matchups and is slow to react, does not deal with the unexpected well.

 

[cat in sydney]

I think he is very good strategically and poor tactically. That is he develops a good game plan, good at list management etc. Always seems to stuff up a matchups and is slow to react, does not deal with the unexpected well.

I'd have to agree. He always seems slow to react to issues on the ground on game day as they happen.
Maybe this year however, he is improving even on this, and maybe being freed up from all the other stuff he had on his plate last year (that Balmey etc have taken over), so he can concentrate on coaching only, is reaping some rewards.
I guess we need to wait and see.