Will Geelong win the 2017 premiership ?

[JackFlash]

Anywhere between 5th -10th. The Cats are no match for GWS this year who will win 20 games or more during the H&A season. Too many good players to completely drop off, so it will be a spot down among the mid table battlers hoping to finish 7th or 8th. I picked them for 5th in my ladder prediction, but that was bias and my heart. My head says 7th or 8th. Geelong need absolutely everything going right for them to finish top 4. The problem is they have Dangerfield and Selwood arguably in everybody's top 5 players in the comp lists, but there is a lot of daylight after that.....They have some good young players, but someone will need to surprise us all, breakout and have a stellar season for the Cats to get anywhere near it this year.

 

[dean33]

Considering we own the cats 1st rd pick this year I wish them nothing but misery.

 

[Gunstall555]

Last year, the Cats were the most improved side in the competition, having jumped 8 spots on the ladder from the previous year.

This year, they will be looking to take the next two steps - making a grand final and then winning it.

Zach Tuohy and Aaron Black have arrived at the Cattery, and Jackson Thurlow is back from injury.

Tuohy and Thurlow fix the issue of ball movement out of the defensive 50, and Black provides an extra dimension to the forward 50 setup.

The Cats have a strong winning culture, and with a core of players that includes J Selwood, Hawkins, Taylor, Lonergan, Duncan and Mackie - these blokes know what it takes to win flags.

Write the Cats off at your own peril is all that I can say.

Personally I believe they will be the biggest roadblock standing in the way of the Bulldogs quest for back to back flags.

Do you rate the Cats for 2017 and how do you like their chances of winning their 4th flag in 11 years?

They have lost Enright and Bartel. They have the oldest slowest backline in the AFL. Their recruitment of young players over the last 5-6 seasons has been underwhelming to say the least.
I think they'll have a fight on their hands just to make the 8.

 

[Gunstall555]

Undefeated and premiership.

This isn't a GWS prediction thread.

 

[BotsMaster]

Its hard to totally predict where they will fall because their future is so hugely dependent on 3 players: Selwood/Dangerfield and Hawkins. If any of them were to miss most of the season: Out of the 8 for mine. Incidentally it seems unlikely to me they will get any more output of these 3 than they got last year. If you compared the seasons each of them had to their best you would say as a group they ain't getting any better (especially if you factor in they pretty much didn't have an injury between them that caused them to miss games).

I disagree with you with not getting more output from Selwood and Danger. Selwood did not have a pre-season last year due to injury and had to learn how to play with Danger during the season proper. So I expect them to perform better this season after having a preseason together and they'll probably be rested in the forward line at times during the game (though neither can kick a goal to save the team ).

Other players I expect to step up are: Menegola, Motlop, Guthrie and Duncan.

 

[Bokonon_]

This isn't a GWS prediction thread.

Cause there's not nearly enough discussion about us already. Catters are big enough and tough enough to look after themselves.

 

[HumanMeatball]

6-11th average midfield depth, dodgy backline and lack of Hawkins support

 

[Gydafud]

This isn't a GWS prediction thread.

It is the same prediction I have for the Cats every year

 

[catters078]

They have lost Enright and Bartel. They have the oldest slowest backline in the AFL. Their recruitment of young players over the last 5-6 seasons has been underwhelming to say the least.
I think they'll have a fight on their hands just to make the 8.

Backline will add Touhy and get Jackson Thurlow back from injury

Add those two to Kolodjashni, Lonergan, Henderson and Mackie and its the right spread of youth, experience, size, speed and versatility.

Way off on that call

On the last call "a fight to make the 8"

Losing Enright and Bartel wont be the difference between finishing 2nd and making a prelim one year, to missing the 8 the next.

Good troll attempt by a hawks guy though i guess

 

[JohnnyFontane90]

think the whole is greater than the sum of their parts. their defense is the real deal and probably the best 1-2 midfield combo we've seen in the AFL since probably judd and cousins.

with that said i'm still not convinced that the new crop coming up is all that fantastic and they lost the least games through injury last year and have to deal with losing enright, bartel and caddy so there's not a lot of upside. i think they'll end up around 6-7th.

 

[The 747]

Semi final. They will finish fifth or sixth, win a final and bomb out the next week.

Yeah that's about my expectation - could go worse if we get injuries to key players (Selwood, Danger, Hawkins) or could go better if we get a good finals draw (ie running into the Dogs or Adelaide, not Sydney and GWS).

But....the strategy of trading out good draft picks for experienced players is leaving very thin on developing talent and it will start to bite at some stage

 

[The 747]

Put your glasses down - very little chance of winning the flag. It was 2016 or nothing.

Yeah we had a huge shot at it in 2016, awesome draw, Brownlow medal season from a recruit, and the Doggies our perennial bitches won the GF. But we ****ed it up. This year, harder draw, hard to imagine Danger being better, lost an AA defender and I suspect the Dogs won't be our bitches anymore. Plus the third man up rule disadvantages us.

 

[HBFlanker]

Higher than Hawthorn

 

[exxcessivve]

Had $15 on them winning the flag last year after that game where they demolished WBD, but this year, I'm looking with clearer eyes (I hope). Currently got them finishing 9th (because of lower percentage), but I'd expect anywhere from 7th to 11th (hopefully 7th, I like the Cats). I don't see that many forward options for them, and their defence and midfield have only weakened with the departure of legends Bartel and Enright.
I reckon they'll have some good victories, some shock losses (like last year), and ultimately fall out of finals or only play one or two of them.

 

[The 747]

Surprisingly for Bigfooty, we seem to have a consensus. Now looking forward to the OP threads about all the other clubs

 

[StillAtLarge]

Don't bat deep enough in midfield, the backline will be weakened with the absence of Taylor (I reckon that switcheroo experiment will be disastrous) and the forward line is still too reliant on a guy who's had 4 knee reco's. I don't think they'll recover from being beaten by poor old freo in round 1 and I'll be surprised if they feature in september.

 

[Sttew]

Higher than Hawthorn

'Tis all that matters in the scheme of things

 

[Sttew]

Don't bat deep enough in midfield, the backline will be weakened with the absence of Taylor (I reckon that switcheroo experiment will be disastrous) and the forward line is still too reliant on a guy who's had 4 knee reco's. I don't think they'll recover from being beaten by poor old freo in round 1 and I'll be surprised if they feature in september.

what? Hawkins hasn't had any knee recos. You are the first person to identify Menzel as the forward we are too reliant on.

 

[Gunstall555]

Backline will add Touhy and get Jackson Thurlow back from injury

Add those two to Kolodjashni, Lonergan, Henderson and Mackie and its the right spread of youth, experience, size, speed and versatility.

Way off on that call

On the last call "a fight to make the 8"

Losing Enright and Bartel wont be the difference between finishing 2nd and making a prelim one year, to missing the 8 the next.

Good troll attempt by a hawks guy though i guess

And the year before you finished 10th, but added Dangerfield. Now if he goes down (fingers crossed he stays healthy) you guys won't get close to making the 8. I think Geelong have a very decent and strong top 16 players on their list, almost as good as anyones, but their bottom 25 players are going to drag them down. There is not one star youth player coming through. The guys you are about to mention (Kolo, McCarthy, Cockatoo) none of them average even 12 possessions a game.

Tuohy looks to be a solid pick up, but he's no Enright and teams with elite small forwards will take advantage of him defensively. And Thurlow, well he's 1st year back from a knee reco, he has work to do to try and even get to AFL standard this year, let along improve Geelong. I wouldn't expect any decent sort of output out of him until 2018 at the earliest.

I stand by my prediction that Geelong will have to fight and be relatively injury free to their stars to make the 8.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Likely.

Starting next weekend at Richmond Oval.

 

[mike123]

They'll be up there again, last time they got flogged in the Prelim and lost a very important player they won the GF so I wouldn't be surprised if they did it again.

 

[lousampi]

Geelong will fall until they get a new coach, we are prepared to offer a swap for Hardwick.

 

[The Unforgiven]

And the year before you finished 10th, but added Dangerfield. Now if he goes down (fingers crossed he stays healthy) you guys won't get close to making the 8. I think Geelong have a very decent and strong top 16 players on their list, almost as good as anyones, but their bottom 25 players are going to drag them down. There is not one star youth player coming through. The guys you are about to mention (Kolo, McCarthy, Cockatoo) none of them average even 12 possessions a game.

Tuohy looks to be a solid pick up, but he's no Enright and teams with elite small forwards will take advantage of him defensively. And Thurlow, well he's 1st year back from a knee reco, he has work to do to try and even get to AFL standard this year, let along improve Geelong. I wouldn't expect any decent sort of output out of him until 2018 at the earliest.

I stand by my prediction that Geelong will have to fight and be relatively injury free to their stars to make the 8.

2015 was a bad year in general. We had no rucks, a banged up Selwood, Duncan's knee injury which came about at a time when he was really starting to blossom.

We had no midfield depth and injuries pretty much ruined our season. It's far too simplistic to just say that adding Danger to our side was the difference between tenth and second on the ladder.

As of 2015, we added Smith, who was huge in the ruck for us compared to having no ruck, Menegola who's been a revelation in the middle, Henderson who was probably our best defender as well as getting back Menzel after a four-year absence.

2017 should see us weaker in some areas of defence, but stronger in other areas. Aerial supremacy, especially if Taylor plays forward, will be significantly weaker in Enright's absence. However, Thouy and Thurlow's inclusion will add run and carry, along with both being elite users by foot.

Both Selwood's are also going to have a full pre-season under their belt; something neither have enjoyed for a couple of years. Midfield strength, and even depth - if Cockatoo step up and Motlop pull his finger out - will be a hallmark of Geelong circa 2017.

You've definitely made some valid points regarding our list. I just think that you've looked at our list from the glass-half-empty perspective. That's fine; you're not obligated to look at it any other way. As a supporter, I'm going to see the positive side. As a realist, I try to be objective as well, though.

My prediction is somewhere between fourth and sixth for Geelong in 2017. I'd like to think that we can at least make another Preliminary final again. I believe the list is there to achieve that, at the very least.

 

[mike123]

They have lost Enright and Bartel. They had the oldest slowest backline in the AFL. Their recruitment of young players over the last 5-6 seasons has been underwhelming to say the least.
I think they'll have a fight on their hands just to make the 8.

Losing Enright and Bartel will be a blessing in disguise. Their lack of pace really hurt Geelong. Enright being turned inside out is the reason Smith got the shot in the first place.

 

[MotleyLemon]

No depth with the losses of Padraig Lucey and Jock Cornell.

Spoon.