Autopsy Geelong defeated by Port by 16 points.

[catters_28]

Well one thing is for sure we are nowhere near the level of Brisbane or Richmond

 

[geelong_crazy26]

I didn't watch much last night was working.

Stanley kicks a goal in the last Q.
I think we were 2 goals down.
Centre square crew of Stanley Duncan Dollhouse...Adkins....WTF.....
That was the next crew after port kicked the next 2.

FFS pull rank Selwood, Danger Guthrie...

Why are Atkins and dolly in there any ways...
Dumbdumbdumb ....

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Well one thing is for sure we are nowhere near the level of Brisbane or Richmond

I reckon you could watch all of the other 3 finals and come to that conclusion. We just don't play or look like a finals winning team.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

My thoughts after ports 3rd quarter.
Is put your best players in the guts best chance of winning .IMO.

 

[frggr]

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

Out of curiosity, what was the outcome of those centre bounces? My hunch is Port clearances, but I'm not sure

 

[frggr]

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

Out of curiosity, what was the outcome of those centre bounces? My hunch is Port clearances, but I'm not sure

 

[BotsMaster]

Out of curiosity, what was the outcome of those centre bounces? My hunch is Port clearances, but I'm not sure

9 to 7 Ports way

 

[frggr]

9 to 7 Ports way

Ah and when it was Dahlhaus, Atkins etc in the middle?

 

[OddYears]

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

It’s not stupid at all. You just can’t bring yourself to admit Scott got something wrong.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

For the record I am not sold on replacing Scott, to be honest I am not sure what the best move here is, was just putting together a list of info that was discussed by K Rock and thoughts of myself.

I think the reality after last night we have to face is there is enough results now to say we out perform in home and away and under perform come finals. How do we fix that? I honeslt y dont know.

I think Scott is a good coach, but how many years years to you end up with the same result before you realise things have to change:

Is it time to go to the draft.
Is it time to bring in more 20 to 25 year old players currently on our list.
Do we need new Senior assitants.
Do we need a new coach.
Do we need to move on older players.
Do we need more free agents.

I am not sure which one or two of these we apply, but we need to do something.

Scott is contracted to 2022 and has more than erned the right to coach until then, but that doesn't change the fact something needs to change to work towards to fixing whatever goes wrong come finals.

I am onboard with Scott and want him coaching, but the lazy comment in last night wasn't well placed, but I think he was highly emotional about the result which shows he cares.

I actually think our finals record tracks pretty well with the home and away season.

We are 50/50 against the top teams the week after a match but horrendous after a bye. If we had a bye every 3rd match or so during the season we'd never make finals

 

[Spazz Cat]

Plenty of things to criticize about last night but the criticism about Duncan, Dollhouse and Atkins in the midfield is stupid.

All club's in the year 2020 heavily rotate players through their midfield and that group was only in there for a very brief period of time.

No point saying it's a final because that just means more of a reason to rotate players through the midfield so they can play at the required intensity.

Your right. Obviously they do. But at that time that particular clearance was extremely important.
It's possible it may not of mattered anyway though cause even our best mids were getting murdered.
Especially by Powell Pepper.

 

[Grimoz]

I feel a little better about last night knowing Richmond lost!!

 

[Mr Meow]

Usually the Im the one going off my head.
But I think this is one of the better first round finals performances we've had in years.
Game wasn't over in 10 minutes and no stupid selections.
This is the best I can hope for now. Funny how expectations drop.

Yeah if we kicked even just adequately (not super well, just average) at goal we would have beaten the top team at their home deck in a week 1 final. Of course it's very disappointing and the third quarter wasn't great but the boys accounted for themselves reasonably well otherwise. Not perfect, but neither were Port. They just kicked at goal better in the big moments. A loss was expected and probably a worse manner of loss to be honest.

 

[r32godzilla]

It's all mental for Geelong, we have shown we can smash Port, Brisbane and other teams when when we're playing well. It's not like we don't have the ability. We just need to have the right mindset and stop panicking. When our backs to the wall that's when we play our best so let's see what happens next week.

 

[Mr Meow]

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.

I agree with the top 2 finishing years. This time though, the team finishing 4th on average should lose the QF, win the SF and lose the PF, so 1-2. Hopefully giving the top 2 teams a good match in the losses. Minus goal kicking Geelong did that in match 1. Straight sets would be unacceptable but this year alone pushing Brisbane pretty close would be about par. Nowhere near as disappointing as 2013, 2016, 2017 or 2019.

 

[r32godzilla]

I feel a little better about last night knowing Richmond lost!!

Loved it. Go Lions.

 

[Munich]

Hawkins given a reprimand again from the MRP.

Good grief.

 

[bellpark]

For Gods sake _ our coaches and players know we are bad off a bye. Had years to fix it. Have they not noticed that the best chance to win a premiership is to win after a bye twice? If they have been working on it they have been a disgrace - not lazy in the criticism, rather facial in the reality. Total fail.

 

[Play it Sam]

UH OH....I think friend frggr might have been Tugged.

 

[AM]

There’s a fair bit of truth to this, but if it is true I think Scott and the club are somewhat delusional. They stated that we weren’t far off it last season and with a few tweaks we could go close this season. Why else would they be happy for Harry and Gaz (who, from their comments, believed the same) to play on?

As I suggested we did come within a bees you-know-what on a very good teams dunghill, with a partisan crowd, and a heap of players under performing. Point being CS is getting the best out of a so-so list. If he snags a flag it would be some achievement.

 

[Vdubs]

I actually think our finals record tracks pretty well with the home and away season.

We are 50/50 against the top teams the week after a match but horrendous after a bye. If we had a bye every 3rd match or so during the season we'd never make finals

the bye was totally irrelevant yesterday

 

[AM]

I wouldn't call the Richmond list overly talented from top to bottom. Their elite players are elite, their bottom 6 are very suspect. They are certainly not much more talented than us by any stretch. What they have is a coach who understands how to get the best out of what he has and can exploit that while minimising the weaknesses. We had Henry, with no awareness, caught in the middle of the field with 2 players free either side and he did nothing and get tackled, that directly led to a goal. You wouldn't see an inexperienced player like Balta do that for them. He knows his role and plays to it.

And you’re entitled to that opinion. One with which I disagree. And it runs counter to almost everyone I’ve heard/read who has been in the heat of AFL battle.

Funny how the run off the HBF wasn't an issue earlier in the season until the coach changed the personnel and changed tactics 6 weeks ago to a slower build up play...

Nor sure which games you’ve been watching but from my seat, it’s not only been a problem this year but for several years. It’s why O’Connor is back there and they tried Jordan Clarke there until injured this year. It’s just the match committee is not blessed with options.

Only one of our back 6 would make it into the Tigers back 6. It's been the rolling back of the wings and the high press that has been a major contributor to our reasonable record there.

Stewart and Blicavs would be instant admissions in my opinion. And Henderson and Bews are maybes.

Have you not noticed Blitz has been spending very little time in the back half. Hendo and Bews wouldn’t be on their list.

And yet we have a coach determined to shoehorn every defender we have into the team. And once again it failed. No one has the cattle to make Scotts ultra conservative and precise gameplan. Its why I was happy earlier in the season we were a long kicking, play on at all times midfield and half back line.

Forward pressure is the name of the game. The Tiges have set that standard. No side plays on at all times and bombs the ball. And we didn’t early in the season either. You pick your times. Which are less nowadays because of the enormous pressure and well-applied press.

Long, quick direct ball movement. It won flags in the 90s, 2000s, and for the last 4 years...

And wouldn’t sides like the Tiges and Eagles just love us bombing the ball in long? No sides do it all the time these days in any event. And we don’t have the talent or leg speed we had in the halcyon days. Which is why I mentioned a number of players who would allow the coach more system flexibility.

Scott clearly either has his favourites, or doesn't trust the kids. But we have looked slow for weeks. Absolutely staggering we didn't take Clark, Narkle and Close into this match. Instead we go with Atkins (woeful) and a top heavy defense. And who did the damage? A small, quick player.

If you think CS is the lone ranger in the way we go about things you don’t know Boris and certainly not Scarlo. CS has the final say when there are differing opinions but team selection is a collaborative exercise.

Football is about balance. In the last 4 weeks we haven't had it.

Football is about sound off-field and on-field management. Sound recruiting and player development. Sound and well-understood systems. And coaches who man-manage well and who get the best out of the cattle at their disposal.

 

[Ray Donovan]

Just appeared, 40 pages OMG. Why is it that there is always more interest in our losses than our wins, and the greater the win the fewer posts? I started to peruse, Scott this, Scott that...same old, same old. I don't know if Scott is good enough to coach our team to another premiership, but watching that game, we were too slow and lacked strength, they broke tackles or always got a handpass away. Losing by 16 points when Hawkins should have kicked at least 3 and perhaps another 2 from other shots at goal should have been enough for a win...although from what I observed they looked a 6 goal better team than us.

At our best we are almost good enough, we did not play at our best. Where was Rohan? Ablett did little...is this Scott's fault? I'm torn between two views, one; we are simply not good enough, our players do not have the collective ability, skills, speed and strength to win a premiership, or, we are good enough but the players do not have the mental toughness to win a premiership. In the first quarter Hawkins missed two difficult shots, no big deal, or at least it should not have been. He then missed everything after...why? Was that Scott's fault? Perhaps it is, or perhaps it isn't. At any rate, I don't think we can win a premiership this year, but it is possible, so I'll be barracking hard. If we don't get there, GO Port!

I believe that's where the modern supporter sits with Chris Scott just pure confusion between the regular season and finals cats.

It's just got to meme level status, losing after a bye, getting belted in first quarters. 25% strike rate since 2011 with ( top 2 ) ( top 4 ) finishes and to never get back to even a GF once from however many Prelims and top 4 finishes.

It just is what it is !

And that's why in his press conference he snapped when asked about it. Because it's a remarkable level of choking and I don't mean purely on this very game or particular season. Is it this playing group or the 2016 squad is not my point.

The point is it keeps happening and even in 2020 we maybe didnt have the talent I fail to believe that every recent Geelong side hasn't had the talent to make the GF when finishing in the top 2. It's literally two wins.

And at the end of the day you can pass blame or kick rocks at Selwood, Hawkins, taylor, dangerfield, Carter, Wells, Cook.

But with the time Chris Scott has left on his contract I think he needs to look at himself as also being the main constant across recent history. When history continually repeats itself over and over in similar fashion sometimes you only have one place to look.

 

[mcwilrob]

Well if you are simplistic that should satisfy you.

Unlike many, I don't look through rose colored glasses at our squad. In my view not only do the 3 teams that finished above us have more talented squads but so do 2 teams below us. A well-credentialed coach who has a terrific record at a lower level and who spent time as an assistant at AFL in conversation with me today went further today suggesting our list doesn't have the talent or depth of any of the other top 8 sides.

I'm sure CS would love Wojo breaking the lines from the back half. Michael Turner's pace on the wing. Gaz at his mercurial best with his pace and weaving. SJ running riot in the front half et al. But he doesn't.

Only one of our back 6 would make it into the Tigers back 6. It's been the rolling back of the wings and the high press that has been a major contributor to our reasonable record there.

3, maybe 4, of those in the 25 named yesterday would struggle to be picked up by any other club - the Crows included. Such is our depth.

We've been carried over the line or come back after the poor starts by the cream. No better example than Danger in the last game against the Swans. Without his effort on that day, we'd have finished outside the top 4.

Despite our deficiencies and having so many players as spectators with a little luck and some straight kicking we could have pinched a game against a more talented side, playing on their dunghill, in front of a hugely partisan crowd.

Coaching isn't an exact science. Your job is to make the best of what you're given. There isn't a worthwhile coach who won't tell you it's principally about the cattle at your disposal.

All that said, there are things that I question. Why Narkle, who is good in heavy traffic, has clean hands, and makes good decisions hasn't got more game time. The same applies to Jordan Clark when we are crying out for leg speed and who was performing well until the shoulder injury. I don't see in Zac Guthrie what the match committee does etc.

I also know that those on the inside have much more info than me or you, know better how to analyse it, and are way more qualified to make calls than us.

End of rant.

btw. Much more relaxed about watching tonight's game as I don't give a stuff about the result.

I appreciate the considered response here and all of this might be considered a reasonable argument *except* that we continue to make top 4 at the end of H & A with some very good victories over other highly rated teams (e.g. PA during the season). And, I might add, top 2 at end of H & A in some years. No amount of spin or other reasoning can hide the fact that this team *underperforms* significantly in finals and has done so in every campaign they've been in since the 2011 flag. Finals require a higher level of mental toughness and ability to handle greater pressure as well as a game plan that works in this higher pressure environment. As head coach, Scott has been profoundly *unable* to prepare the team on either of these fronts. The buck stops at him on these issues. The finals record (which just got worse after Thursday night) speaks for itself. Suggesting otherwise seems to be a form of denial of this (harsh) reality...

 

[mcwilrob]

I believe that's where the modern supporter sits with Chris Scott just pure confusion between the regular season and finals cats.

It's just got to meme level status, losing after a bye, getting belted in first quarters. 25% strike rate since 2011 with ( top 2 ) ( top 4 ) finishes and to never get back to even a GF once from however many Prelims and top 4 finishes.

It just is what it is !

And that's why in his press conference he snapped when asked about it. Because it's a remarkable level of choking and I don't mean purely on this very game or particular season. Is it this playing group or the 2016 squad is not my point.

The point is it keeps happening and even in 2020 we maybe didnt have the talent I fail to believe that every recent Geelong side hasn't had the talent to make the GF when finishing in the top 2. It's literally two wins.

And at the end of the day you can pass blame or kick rocks at Selwood, Hawkins, taylor, dangerfield, Carter, Wells, Cook.

But with the time Chris Scott has left on his contract I think he needs to look at himself as also being the main constant across recent history. When history continually repeats itself over and over in similar fashion sometimes you only have one place to look.

Nailed it - Scott's unwillingess to accept *any* kind of responsibility is a key reason why nothing is changing year after year. He needs to go - he has had so many opportunities and failed every time other than his first year when the team was primed by the previous regime...