Geelong - back to back?

[dumb]

The cliff just never seems to get closer. You think of North Melbourne who went all out with older players to make it to prelims, they moved on and the side collapsed.
But last time around they pensioned off stars (Chapman, SJ, Kelly) and never really fell away too much. They maintain a list profile that gives their kids plenty of time to develop alongside the stars they'll replace as central figures.
I guess the key is staggering the retirements or pensions.

Players like Cam Guthrie and Blicavs have had career renaissances, there's been times both of those players were on the outer amongst fans and probably the selection committee as well.

 

[jc12]

Richmond back to 9th?

Back to being premiers

 

[Cyber_punk]

Sure it might seem unlikely but that group has earned the right to have another go until someone knocks them off their perch imo.

I wondered the same about the 1998-99 Chicago Bulls and 2011-12 Mavericks in the NBA but sadly they blew their teams up straight after winning titles. They never gave them a chance.

 

[Power Play]

Richmond back to 9th?

When's the last time we finished 9th? It was back in the days of MSN Messenger and MySpace if I remember correctly.

 

[WillHayward]

5 of their best 10 players would happily walk off in to the sunset tomorrow I reckon

Smith, Danger, Hawkins, Toohey, Selwood.

 

[WillHayward]

When's the last time we finished 9th? It was back in the days of MSN Messenger and MySpace if I remember correctly.

2008.
MySpace was still dominant.

 

[Whiskers]

All depends on the motivation levels. Plenty will remain motivated but still require a whole team buy in. If a few switch off a bit, than no.
Also injury is always important, we finally had a good run.

 

[jc12]

Two years without a solitary finals win sweetheart.

I'll cry about it whilst holding onto my premiership merch

 

[Sttew]

Depends on their upcoming trade period, they might have some salary cap space and some timely destination injections. Surely Selwood and maybe Rohan both retire. They are very old and their silver foxes were critical yesterday. Another year into the legs of Smith and Danger, Tuohy and Hawkins are into their mid 30s. Even Blicavs/Stanley are in their 30s. Stengle is the only young player who appears a force.

Distance is a tyranny?

SDK? Holmes? Close? Henry?

De Koning is 20 and will figure prominently in the B&F. The Club could not have asked anymore of him

 

[Sttew]

Their fitness and conditioning is underrated never gets brought up.

The impact of Harry Taylor has been colossal. Just ask Dangerfield

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Geelong had a commanding win this weekend, but they had just about everything go right for them this year, and had basically a full list to pick from when finals rolled around while having strong continuity in their best 22 all year.

However, the question must be asked regarding Geelong's premiership chances in 2023, and how likely they are to go back to back. Anyone who's played footy will tell you how hard it is to win a premiership let alone defend one, and Geelong know this better than just about anyone, having last gone back to back 70 years ago despite having some incredibly dominant sides over that time.

Do you think Geelong will go back to back, and how do you like their chances of them being able to successfully defend their premiership?

100% will go back to back, put your house on it (if you have one)

They have SHocking on board, Brad Scott and it's all stirred up by Gerard 'Puppetmaster'Whately who is the head of the Illuminati.

We'll get 15 home games on our cheat ground and only have to travel outside of Victoria to play the really s**t non-Victorian teams. This will be achievable because the new CEO of the AFL will be ex-Geelong CEO, Brian Cook. He and Brad Scott will devise a scheme, whereby the fixture will only be released on a fortnightly basis and any upcoming opponent that shows any sort of form will immediately be scheduled to play at Alphabet Stadium.

The only hope there is of Geelong not going B2B is if the AFL expand the finals to the top 14 teams to pick up 13th placed Richmond and the 13th placed team plays all of their finals at the MCG and and has a triple chance, just in case.

 

[PieLebo87]

Their players looked like they'd aged about 30 years during that Mad Monday celebration, so I'd be surprised if they backed it up.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

We can win the next 5 premierships in a row. Chris Scott is a genius.

Attaboy

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Geelong managed their team fantastically this year and that contributed to the health of their list.

Im gonna say they will drop next year. Simply because their best players are mostly coming into the twilight of their careers and this is when the body starts falling away.
28+ players in the GF team
28 - Bews
29 - C. Guthrie, Stewart, Cameron
30 - Rohan, Duncan
31 - Blicavs, Stanley
32 - Dangerfield, Tuohy
33 - Smith, Hawkins, Selwood

Thats 13/22 grand final players that are highly unlikely (but still possible) to see an improvement in and will be hard pressed to not experience a decline in output.

In saying that, their best was better than the rest of the competition this year so it will largely come down to how many retire and how many can continue to perform at their current level or near enough to it.

They don't need to improve, they need to sustain their level.

During the home and away this year it was the huge improvement in the younger brigade that allowed the club to rest the older players and manage them by given them limited game time so that they hit the finals cherry ripe.

SDK came out of nowhere after only 1 previous snr game.

Stengle kicked 50+ goals.

Atkins went from a battling defender / forward to a gun mid.

Holmes on a wing is a jet, his running power, speed, endurance is off the charts.

Miers and Close both got better.

I think they all have room for more improvement, some a lot, some not as much.

Retirements and trade period will tell us a lot more.

 

[lordbob]

They don't need to improve, they need to sustain their level.

During the home and away this year it was the huge improvement in the younger brigade that allowed the club to rest the older players and manage them by given them limited game time so that they hit the finals cherry ripe.

SDK came out of nowhere after only 1 previous snr game.

Stengle kicked 50+ goals.

Atkins went from a battling defender / forward to a gun mid.

Holmes on a wing is a jet, his running power, speed, endurance is off the charts.

Miers and Close both got better.

I think they all have room for more improvement, some a lot, some not as much.

Retirements and trade period will tell us a lot more.

The competition is so even, probably no more than 5-10% difference between the top and mid teams. If your team doesnt improve and the other teams improve 5% then you wont be doing so well. Any team thinking "if we do the same as last year we'll get the same result" is already on a downward trend.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

The competition is so even, probably no more than 5-10% difference between the top and mid teams. If your team doesnt improve and the other teams improve 5% then you wont be doing so well. Any team thinking "if we do the same as last year we'll get the same result" is already on a downward trend.

As I posted, I expect the improvement to come from the younger players that improved this season, I also left Zac Guthrie out of my original post, huge improver had his break out season and you'd expect him to only get better along with the others I've already mentioned.

If your playing list stays the same, would expect Tom Mitchell, Jarman Impey, Sam Frost, Jaeger O'Meara, Jack Gunston, Chad Wingard or Luke Bruest to get better as footballers? I don't, at the stage of their careers, it's not realistic to think they'll improve but you don't want them losing ground.

 

[iameviljez]

Just watch us draft a retired fatso and beat them on the big day next year.

Hodgey is looking plumped up.

That game changed the whole complexion of how those sides are viewed. If we had won that, Geelong would be considered one of the best sides to ever play, while Hawthorn would be seen as Brisbane 01-04 - great for a few years.

 

[lordbob]

As I posted, I expect the improvement to come from the younger players that improved this season, I also left Zac Guthrie out of my original post, huge improver had his break out season and you'd expect him to only get better along with the others I've already mentioned.

If your playing list stays the same, would expect Tom Mitchell, Jarman Impey, Sam Frost, Jaeger O'Meara, Jack Gunston, Chad Wingard or Luke Bruest to get better as footballers? I don't, at the stage of their careers, it's not realistic to think they'll improve but you don't want them losing ground.

I dont expect improvement from mitchell or gunston cos i dont expect them to be at the club next year.

Impey i expect will improve as he only started hitting his straps at the end of the year after recovering from his knee injury.

Frost, omera, bruest i expect will have lower output

Wingard has a very injury interupted preseason and year. If he gets a good run of it i expect massive upside. if not then he will probably decline.

But even with that, the number of players you listed (7) is almost half as many as geelongs GF team has 29+ years old. granted selwood retired which leave 12 who all had pretty good runs at it this year. I would expect they will become slightly more injury prone next year. Geelong had a pretty healthy list this year, not a lot of season ending injuries, that luck can also change.

 

[lordbob]

That game changed the whole complexion of how those sides are viewed. If we had won that, Geelong would be considered one of the best sides to ever play, while Hawthorn would be seen as Brisbane 01-04 - great for a few years.

if ifs and buts were candy and nuts.

What you are saying is: if geelong were a good enough side to win that game they would have been a better side and would have been rememberd as a better side than the side they are remembered as being?

Hawks played that final series better than geelong, not just the GF. Hawks of 08 would have beaten the cats 6-7/10 times in that game. It wasnt a fluke. They played the more dominant finals series.

Points differentials in the 2 finals preceding the GF
Hawthorn 105 Geelong 87

Finals % (excluding GF)
Hawthorn 175.7% Geelong 174.4%

Both teams were stand out teams for the year but the hawks played a better finals series including and excluding the GF.

So you many think back and wonder "what if" but the reality is, Geelong wasnt as good in the finals as hawthorn that year and deserve to be remembered exactly as they are. They were a fantastic team who just couldnt win back to back GFs.

 

[kranky al]

They don't need to improve, they need to sustain their level.

During the home and away this year it was the huge improvement in the younger brigade that allowed the club to rest the older players and manage them by given them limited game time so that they hit the finals cherry ripe.

SDK came out of nowhere after only 1 previous snr game.

Stengle kicked 50+ goals.

Atkins went from a battling defender / forward to a gun mid.

Holmes on a wing is a jet, his running power, speed, endurance is off the charts.

Miers and Close both got better.

I think they all have room for more improvement, some a lot, some not as much.

Retirements and trade period will tell us a lot more.

Miers should be delisted as punishment for being called Gryan

Nearly as bad as Kreg or Siimon

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Miers should be delisted as punishment for being called Gryan

Nearly as bad as Kreg or Siimon

What about trampoline boy that your lot got off Collingwood, wasn't his christian name an amalgam of his parents first names, Sharon and Rodney or something similar? Sharrod.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I dont expect improvement from mitchell or gunston cos i dont expect them to be at the club next year.

Impey i expect will improve as he only started hitting his straps at the end of the year after recovering from his knee injury.

Frost, omera, bruest i expect will have lower output

Wingard has a very injury interupted preseason and year. If he gets a good run of it i expect massive upside. if not then he will probably decline.

But even with that, the number of players you listed (7) is almost half as many as geelongs GF team has 29+ years old. granted selwood retired which leave 12 who all had pretty good runs at it this year. I would expect they will become slightly more injury prone next year. Geelong had a pretty healthy list this year, not a lot of season ending injuries, that luck can also change.

The older players had a good injury run (except for Danger) because they've finally worked out how to manage them. They've realised that there's more options than just giving them a week off, ie reduced minutes within games, different roles so instead of hitting the finals stuffed, they're just hitting their straps.

We'll see, people have been posting this about Geelong since 2010, in particular Hawthorn supporters, followed more recently by Richmond supporters. All of you might be right someday I guess.

My question about the Hawthorn older players assumed they were all staying next year, I thought I mentioned that.

 

[Ginnieboy]

Will start flag favourites I would think, keep their better players on the park and they’ll be hard to beat again.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Melb the team to beat

 

[kranky al]

What about trampoline boy that your lot got off Collingwood, wasn't his christian name an amalgam of his parents first names, Sharon and Rodney or something similar? Sharrod.

And we delisted him.

Shocking name and as soon as it was bought to our attention we flicked him.