Autopsy Geelong defeated by Port by 16 points.

[TheWoodenSlug]

I come in peace, so apologies if this seems like I'm shitting on him, but was that a standard Rohan performance in a big game for you, or has he stood up a bit more in the past?

When he was at the Swans, it never seemed to matter what form he was in, he'd sh*t the bed and be unsighted in big games. To the point where if he was still playing for us and we were playing finals, I'd be tempted to drop him. I love the guy, but I struggle to remember anyone else more prone to providing next to nothing in big games. He did have a career best game in a PF off half-back for us, but we also belted North right from the bounce that night.

Standard big game Rohan, unfortunately.

 

[feelinfeline]

Didn’t say we were the successful version

but I’d rather not make the GF, rather than make the GF and get beaten tbh

I’d prefer an occasional GF to none at all, but not a great choice.

 

[Finknottle]

It wasn't the press conference you expect from the coach of a team that just let a golden opportunity go by. All he had to say was it wasn't good enough and accept some collective responsibility. He looked like he was in denial.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Just seems mean spirited to me. Do you think he/they deliberately makes mistakes and you think he wants to be below his best? Everything I see of him suggests he works very hard on the training track, and he certainly works hard on the field. In anycase, he’s not nearly as bad as your description. Nor are the other two.

Give me a $800k+ contract for Geelong and I'll work my ass off on the track and being doing everything I can to impact the game come finals. I sure as hell won't deliberately be making mistakes. Would it be mean spirited to criticise me when I play like crap? Honestly this wasn't Danger's worst final not by a long shot. But we accept his defensive weaknesses because he normally gives us a handful of moments when he breaks the game open. But in finals he's consistently failed to do that (apart from the Sydney Semi Final when he played FF). In finals he's a weak defensive player who doesn't give us any real impetus going forward because he fumbles or turns it over way, way, way too often.

 

[xtatik222k]

It wasn't the press conference you expect from the coach of a team that just let a golden opportunity go by. All he had to say was it wasn't good enough and accept some collective responsibility. He looked like he was in denial.

I think he just genuinely doesn't know what to do. He's tried and tried, but there's just something about this group and his coaching that isn't conducive to winning finals, and he's failed to identify what it is. He's out of ideas and at this point, he's just hoping for the best.

 

[kicksome]

He looked like he was in denial.

Like Quote

He always does, he's a stubborn ignorant w***er

 

[romeohwho]

Give me a $800k+ contract for Geelong and I'll work my ass off on the track and being doing everything I can to impact the game come finals. I sure as hell won't deliberately be making mistakes. Would it be mean spirited to criticise me when I play like crap? Honestly this wasn't Danger's worst final not by a long shot. But we accept his defensive weaknesses because he normally gives us a handful of moments when he breaks the game open. But in finals he's consistently failed to do that (apart from the Sydney Semi Final when he played FF). In finals he's a weak defensive player who doesn't give us any real impetus going forward because he fumbles or turns it over way, way, way too often.

Well we will have to disagree on this.
Geelong supporters are turning into top, self-entitled sooks as far as I can see. ( not referring to you here)
You have always been measured, thoughtful and sensible and haven’t brought into the hysteria. Not sure why losing to the top team on their home turf, in a game we actually could have won with a couple of breaks, is sending you off on someone whose not really warranting your ire.
Anyhow, happy to leave it as a disagreement.

 

[someday-somehow]

I think he just genuinely doesn't know what to do. He's tried and tried, but there's just something about this group and his coaching that isn't conducive to winning finals, and he's failed to identify what it is. He's out of ideas and at this point, he's just hoping for the best.

I actually think he's a good game day coach. In fact I think all the coaching staff are pretty good but they need to put some serious coin in recruiting and developing top line talented youth and they should start with a good ruck. Trade up your picks to get one if you need to and then build your team around them.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Why was Kolo frequently on him in contests.

We shoehorned extra defenders in, then not only couldn't hold them to a low score but couldn't kick one ourselves.

I am getting shredded on one of the Geelong FB pages, but we lost this match in selection, again.

Assuming Hawkins kicks a bag, or doesn't get injured was a fools game. Once Hawkins had the yips Port left an average defender on him. Who stepped up? No one. Jenkins or even ******* Fort would have been a better option.

Scotts weird fetish with Blicavs out of defense has to stop. As does his weird love of having Miers and Dahlhaus up the ground.

Team balance is a mess, in match strategies are a mess. Have been for 4 weeks now.

If I were coaching (facebook flogs remind me I am not, but then again my finals record isn't a mess) I would line up next week with;

Defense;
FB: Bews, Kolo, O'Connor (Henderson on bench to swap)
HB: Stewart, Blicavs, Tuohy (Clark on bench to swap)

Cap the defense

Why was Kolo frequently on him in contests.

We shoehorned extra defenders in, then not only couldn't hold them to a low score but couldn't kick one ourselves.

I am getting shredded on one of the Geelong FB pages, but we lost this match in selection, again.

Assuming Hawkins kicks a bag, or doesn't get injured was a fools game. Once Hawkins had the yips Port left an average defender on him. Who stepped up? No one. Jenkins or even ******* Fort would have been a better option.

Scotts weird fetish with Blicavs out of defense has to stop. As does his weird love of having Miers and Dahlhaus up the ground.

Team balance is a mess, in match strategies are a mess. Have been for 4 weeks now.

If I were coaching (facebook flogs remind me I am not, but then again my finals record isn't a mess) I would line up next week with;

Defense;
FB: Bews, Kolo, O'Connor (Henderson on bench to swap)
HB: Stewart, Blicavs, Tuohy (Clark on bench to swap)

Cap the defense at 8. Rotate Blicavs, Henderson and Kolo on either Darling/Kennedy or Cox/Mihocek. You are then letting Stewart and Tuohy with longer, more direct kicking bring the ball out of defense, or having Clark and Bews break the lines because those two seem to be the only two who like to go for a run.

Midfield
C: Duncan, Selwood, Menegola
R: Stanley (swap with Jenkins), Dangerfield, Guthrie

Not even sure why you would have Dahlhaus and Atkins at a centre bounce, not once but twice.

HF: Close, Jenkins, Ablett
FF: Miers, Hawkins, Rohan

IC: Parfitt, Clark, Henderson, Narkle/Steven

That line up gives us a second scoring forward in Jenkins, a pressure forward in Close (asking a lot of a rookie with 8 games but he tries and pressures, Atkins was a ******* bust and Dahlhaus has been ordinary), Miers has great goal sense so why the fu** is he always on the HBF, Wing or HFF when he should be much deeper.

Parfitt, Narkle/Steven are midfield depth. Id prefer Narkle because he offers more, but we brought in Steven because he attacks and tackles. What did we lack last night? And we dropped him for Atkins?

People online who railed Steven last week very quiet when I point out his "sh*t" game last week was better than Atkins this week. Funny that.

You are giving port zero credit. They have a good list and finished minor premiers and they were on their home deck.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Unlike us, Collingwood made grand finals.

It would be interesting Coll win/loss record in finals ( excluding GFs ) - i think it would be pretty good

 

[Pollywaffle]

I think he just genuinely doesn't know what to do. He's tried and tried, but there's just something about this group and his coaching that isn't conducive to winning finals, and he's failed to identify what it is. He's out of ideas and at this point, he's just hoping for the best.

Certainly seems that way...Lonely at the top.

 

[Footy Smarts]

I come in peace, so apologies if this seems like I'm shitting on him, but was that a standard Rohan performance in a big game for you, or has he stood up a bit more in the past?

When he was at the Swans, it never seemed to matter what form he was in, he'd sh*t the bed and be unsighted in big games. To the point where if he was still playing for us and we were playing finals, I'd be tempted to drop him. I love the guy, but I struggle to remember anyone else more prone to providing next to nothing in big games. He did have a career best game in a PF off half-back for us, but we also belted North right from the bounce that night.

This won't be a popular opinion but I thought he was in our top 5 players. He plays as a 3rd tall deep forward and he has a few main jobs.

1. Keep your opponent occupied so they can't get free and double team Hawkins. He was on Jonas for a lot of the night who is normally very good at that but Hawkins and Stanley both had plenty of free 1 on 1 chances.
2. Compete down the line as a target for long slow kicks down the line and don't get outmarked against 2 or 3 opponents. Overall he did this well (the couple of times we got outmarked in slow up the line contests it was Hawkins as the target).
3. When we get the ball on fast transition be an option and beat your man in space. This only happened a few times all night hence his low disposals but he consistently beat them. I remember in the 2nd quarter he had his opponent on toast and got an awful bounce.
4. Use the ball well when you get it. His ball use last night was exceptional. Got the ball 5 times and 4 times that led to scores with 1 goal assist and would've been more if his teammates could finish.
5. Pressure like crazy. He always does this but is normally outnumbered hence it's hard to lay tackles.

Overall he did those well. The game was played in a way that he's unlikely to really get many possies in that game since Hawkins had the mismatch and was marking a lot. But he did his job really well. Ok he could've taken a couple of big contested marks or whatever but overall it was probably an 8/10 game.

 

[Chinacats]

Problem??? Getting beaten by a better teams?? Happens all the time. Even to other teams... true story.
That's football.
Beaten by a better side on their own deck. PORT
Beaten by better teams in previous years. Take your pick.
Our best team i've ever seen is the 2008 team that ran around like champs until their final game. It happens.
That DYNASTY that people still live in the shadow of has left us and we have never come close to it since.
We are a better than average side and have been for a few years.
We win more than we lose but not great enough to win the whole enchilada.
That is it in a nutshell.

Can someone start a group called...
The PISS & MOANERS.
Coz there are plenty on here when we lose... and even a few when we win.
FFS.
We lost. Beaten by a better side on the night. By 16pts... 16pts in Adelaide.
Blame, Blame, Blame... He did, she did, they did...
Shouldda. Couldda. Wouldda. DIDN'T.
We LOST, get over yourselves.
Fair dinkum some blokes on here sound like 9 year old kids.
It's footy. A game.
One week you're sh*te & the next you're The KINGS of The WORLD.
Move on. There is a game next week.
But going by some comments here they wont be watching or have given up already.
Cheers boys!
However...
Cats finished top 2 in 13, 16, 17, 19 and our finals record in those years is 4-7.
If you finish top 2 then you should be winning more finals than you’re losing. You say we lost to the 1st placed team, but last year we were the 1st placed team and lost.
I get your point in isolation yes we were beaten by the better team, but if you look at it over a period of time.
Then it’s just unacceptable. It’s quite clear.

 

[Chinacats]

Problem??? Getting beaten by a better teams?? Happens all the time. Even to other teams... true story.
That's football.
Beaten by a better side on their own deck. PORT
Beaten by better teams in previous years. Take your pick.
Our best team i've ever seen is the 2008 team that ran around like champs until their final game. It happens.
That DYNASTY that people still live in the shadow of has left us and we have never come close to it since.
We are a better than average side and have been for a few years.
We win more than we lose but not great enough to win the whole enchilada.
That is it in a nutshell.

However...
Cats finished top 2 in 13, 16, 17, 19 and our finals record in those years is 4-7.
If you finish top 2 then you should be winning more finals than you’re losing. You say we lost to the 1st placed team, but last year we were the 1st placed team and lost.
I get your point in isolation yes we were beaten by the better team, but if you look at it over a period of time.
Then it’s just unacceptable. It’s quite clear.

 

[someday-somehow]

Problem??? Getting beaten by a better teams?? Happens all the time. Even to other teams... true story.
That's football.
Beaten by a better side on their own deck. PORT
Beaten by better teams in previous years. Take your pick.
Our best team i've ever seen is the 2008 team that ran around like champs until their final game. It happens.
That DYNASTY that people still live in the shadow of has left us and we have never come close to it since.
We are a better than average side and have been for a few years.
We win more than we lose but not great enough to win the whole enchilada.
That is it in a nutshell.

And yet we are also the oldest team - time for a change-up to that wouldn't you agree?

 

[cats_09]

This won't be a popular opinion but I thought he was in our top 5 players. He plays as a 3rd tall deep forward and he has a few main jobs.

1. Keep your opponent occupied so they can't get free and double team Hawkins. He was on Jonas for a lot of the night who is normally very good at that but Hawkins and Stanley both had plenty of free 1 on 1 chances.
2. Compete down the line as a target for long slow kicks down the line and don't get outmarked against 2 or 3 opponents. Overall he did this well (the couple of times we got outmarked in slow up the line contests it was Hawkins as the target).
3. When we get the ball on fast transition be an option and beat your man in space. This only happened a few times all night hence his low disposals but he consistently beat them. I remember in the 2nd quarter he had his opponent on toast and got an awful bounce.
4. Use the ball well when you get it. His ball use last night was exceptional. Got the ball 5 times and 4 times that led to scores with 1 goal assist and would've been more if his teammates could finish.
5. Pressure like crazy. He always does this but is normally outnumbered hence it's hard to lay tackles.

Overall he did those well. The game was played in a way that he's unlikely to really get many possies in that game since Hawkins had the mismatch and was marking a lot. But he did his job really well. Ok he could've taken a couple of big contested marks or whatever but overall it was probably an 8/10 game.

One thing I'd like to see from Rohan is him making better decision for when to fly for the mark & when to stay down and be ready to compete for the ground ball

A couple of his attempts last night weren't the right option - good intent shown, but he needs to pick when he goes in those situations

 

[Whit3y]

Is it true that we had the oldest ever team last night?

This is disturbing if true.

 

[Cosmic Energy]

We are the new Collingwood of the finals

At least Collingwood made grand finals.

 

[son of meto]

The guy's just spouting BS

You are right...it is BS. But the point is clear! Why would Esava stay at a club where he never gets a consistent run as a key forward?

The coach is constantly dropping him and then bringing him in to play a pinch hit ruckman. It's sad watching his potential get flushed away.

Scott dropped him for a vitally important Final...says it all to the kid unfortunately.

If I was Esava (which I clearly am NOT), I would be seriously looking for options elsewhere.

 

[Seeds]

Sav can't kick goals either. He is a freaking horrid kick, and would have sprayed them hawkins style last night. He sure as fk isn't the answer to anything until he can learn to kick properly. And not make stupid fk ups all the time, like the 2 turnovers that resulted in goals against west coast.



You know they won't do sh*t. Scott thinks if we keep doing the same thing over and over it will magically work one year. Bloke is delusional. The club lets him get away with it because we make the finals. Doesn't matter how many times we get our pants pulled down in them though.

We are nothing but a finals laughing stock. Teams would prey they get to play us in finals. It's an embarrassment.

He isnt going to fix it if they keep playing him in the ruck. He hasnt played predominantly foward since the gold coast game.

 

[feelinfeline]

Well we will have to disagree on this.
Geelong supporters are turning into top, self-entitled sooks as far as I can see. ( not referring to you here)
You have always been measured, thoughtful and sensible and haven’t brought into the hysteria. Not sure why losing to the top team on their home turf, in a game we actually could have won with a couple of breaks, is sending you off on someone whose not really warranting your ire.
Anyhow, happy to leave it as a disagreement.

Couple of breaks? Name them. Do you mean kicking straight - which isn't a 'break', it's a skill?

Most of us can take losing but we'd like the team to play somewhere near their best; that is, somewhere near how they played in some of their better performances in the home and away rounds. This rarely happens in finals.

Some on here were convinced that this year would be different, and said as much, after our wins over Port and St Kilda and the big win over Essendon. I did my best to avoid optimism, but the team did seem to be playing so well. It was another false dawn. I think that's the hardest thing to do deal with - they build you up and then knock you down.

I know that's the nature of footy, but it's happened a lot with our team.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Well we will have to disagree on this.
Geelong supporters are turning into top, self-entitled sooks as far as I can see. ( not referring to you here)
You have always been measured, thoughtful and sensible and haven’t brought into the hysteria. Not sure why losing to the top team on their home turf, in a game we actually could have won with a couple of breaks, is sending you off on someone whose not really warranting your ire.
Anyhow, happy to leave it as a disagreement.

I'm most frustrated at where our fan anger is directed. We played 8 out of 10 footy in the first half and should've been 3 or 4 goals up. What we needed was a few guys to step up with a few moments that took us from controlling the game to dominating on the scoreboard. Hawkins was the obvious one who we pay well to do that and failed. Stanley stood up with a couple of big marks and kicked one. Selwood had a great moment to kick his goal and same with Tuohy for his. Rohan did a couple of great things delivering to his teammates on a platter and created great space for Hawkins and Stanley. Parfitt and Guthrie set the tone around the contest with huge pressure.

My frustration is that these are among the guys being criticised most. Meanwhile we pay Hawkins to kick goals and we pay Dangerfield to give us forward momentum and break the game open. People are complaining most about our bottom 6, our structure and our gameplan. All those things were absolutely fine in the first half. The problem was we didn't take advantage in attack and it's a bit steep to blame guys who have really important structural defensive roles (Guthrie, Parfitt, Atkins, etc) for not also dominating the attacking side of the game when we have our supposed superstar who gets a leave pass for defensive work not delivering for us yet again.

 

[winty]

Why when your 7 points down, at the centre bounce, play Atkins Dahlhaus in the centre bounce...

If we kicked straight prior to that period of the game, we'd have been 4-5 goals up instead of 7 points down...

 

[Seeds]

I'm most frustrated at where our fan anger is directed. We played 8 out of 10 footy in the first half and should've been 3 or 4 goals up. What we needed was a few guys to step up with a few moments that took us from controlling the game to dominating on the scoreboard. Hawkins was the obvious one who we pay well to do that and failed. Stanley stood up with a couple of big marks and kicked one. Selwood had a great moment to kick his goal and same with Tuohy for his. Rohan did a couple of great things delivering to his teammates on a platter and created great space for Hawkins and Stanley. Parfitt and Guthrie set the tone around the contest with huge pressure.

My frustration is that these are among the guys being criticised most. Meanwhile we pay Hawkins to kick goals and we pay Dangerfield to give us forward momentum and break the game open. People are complaining most about our bottom 6, our structure and our gameplan. All those things were absolutely fine in the first half. The problem was we didn't take advantage in attack and it's a bit steep to blame guys who have really important structural defensive roles (Guthrie, Parfitt, Atkins, etc) for not also dominating the attacking side of the game when we have our supposed superstar who gets a leave pass for defensive work not delivering for us yet again.

The structure was not fine. A crippled steve motlop was running rimgs around us cos a tall defender was playinv on him due to structural reasons. Meanwhile our foward line entries were cactus cos of a lack of tall targets. Stanley helped a bit in q1 but he was needed in the ruck. Plus in the third we couldnt run/move the ball out of defence resulting in the pressure to blow up on our defenders cos our game plan is wrong. Too slow. No risk.

The defensive chip kicking comes undone with foward finals pressure. We saw it in the tigers game. We didnt learn.

 

[ATSAM]

There should be serious consideration about Henry and Kolo's spot in the side, not just for next week, but into the future now as well. Henry has played 60-odd games, Kolo over 100 now, and both have a worrying trend of becoming stunned mullets when the stakes are raised. Plus the fact they offer literally zero offensively. I know they're two of 'Scarlo's Boys', but there'd be a lot of blokes in the squad wishing they got the charmed run at selection week-in week-out these two get.

And part of that is the lack of on field leadership. There never seems to be anyone waving players around, shouting out, showing them where to stand. Selwood isn't it, Dangerfield never was it. No Scarlett judging what was happening and sending messages down the ground for example. Perhaps that is the training that is needed.