No Oppo Supporters Geelong defeated by Richmond in PF by 19 points

[Footy Smarts]

O'Connor was excellent defended well one goal saving tackle 18 touches

I can't believe he's being criticised by some here. His opponent never got a sniff and he had our equal most score involvements including a couple of beautiful bits of play early. Then when our defence is being overrun he lays a critical goal saving tackle. If Corey Enright had played that game he would've been (rightly) lauded. I reckon in 3 years our fans will suddenly wake up and realise he's a genuine gun small defender.

 

[cats_09]

I can't believe he's being criticised by some here. His opponent never got a sniff and he had our equal most score involvements including a couple of beautiful bits of play early. Then when our defence is being overrun he lays a critical goal saving tackle. If Corey Enright had played that game he would've been (rightly) lauded. I reckon in 3 years our fans will suddenly wake up and realise he's a genuine gun small defender.

I love this stat about O'Connor - it's from after the semi final & before the preliminary final, so not sure of any changes to goals conceded:

O’Connor has conceded 12 goals from his 22 matches this year, the fewest of any permanent defender to play 20 games this year.

Is it over-rating his value or naive to suggest that maybe he could have been a smokey for the AA squad? Is there a push for players to be able to do it all these days, you can be a defender but you also have to be able to run off your opponent & be an attacking threat. Because from a purely defensive point of view, isn't the above what you want first & foremost from your defenders.

He didn't necessarily get a lot of votes from us fans in the MVP threads, but I can see the coaches really appreciating his season and finishing top 15 if not pushing top 10 in the b&f, based purely on the consistency of doing his job each week.

 

[Footy Smarts]

I love this stat about O'Connor - it's from after the semi final & before the preliminary final, so not sure of any changes to goals conceded:

O’Connor has conceded 12 goals from his 22 matches this year, the fewest of any permanent defender to play 20 games this year.

Is it over-rating his value or naive to suggest that maybe he could have been a smokey for the AA squad? Is there a push for players to be able to do it all these days, you can be a defender but you also have to be able to run off your opponent & be an attacking threat. Because from a purely defensive point of view, isn't the above what you want first & foremost from your defenders.

He didn't necessarily get a lot of votes from us fans in the MVP threads, but I can see the coaches really appreciating his season and finishing top 15 if not pushing top 10 in the b&f, based purely on the consistency of doing his job each week.

The thing is his attacking side has improved significantly too. 6 score involvements in the prelim final was equal most in our team and twice as many as Danger for example. I won't be at all surprised to see him sneak into the top 10 in the B&F.

 

[Ray Donovan]

I can't believe he's being criticised by some here. His opponent never got a sniff and he had our equal most score involvements including a couple of beautiful bits of play early. Then when our defence is being overrun he lays a critical goal saving tackle. If Corey Enright had played that game he would've been (rightly) lauded. I reckon in 3 years our fans will suddenly wake up and realise he's a genuine gun small defender.

Fans get greedy I will put my hand up as well early in the season I wasn't sure he was up to it.

Literally 3rd season code hopping albeit a track with many trail blazers before but to play 20 games in his 3rd year and be best 22 is a real accomplishment. And play well I thought personally never got beaten gave some run of half back and made some big plays in crucial moments.

Another guy under 30 games everything goes under the spotlight in the finals. And of course MOC isn't a perfect product but 70 games is the metric for a young player well it used to be.

So I really liked his development and honestly it's a credit to the coaching department. They got all these guys older mature kelly, Stewart and then the younger miers, Clark, Henry, Parfitt, Narkle, Sav going so well so early and im sure i have missed a few but if you said this was a 3rd best list in comp I would of slapped the beer out of your hand and put you on the waters.

It's a tough scenario at Geelong because I also acknowledge I felt some of the on field decisions regarding the team left a bit to be desired from a fans perspective and probably weren't logical. But injuries also played a part Hawkins & Duncan are two of Geelongs most important 5 guys I feel and we missed the polish vs Richmond it can't be replaced by anyone on the list premiership pedigree

 

[Ray Donovan]

I love this stat about O'Connor - it's from after the semi final & before the preliminary final, so not sure of any changes to goals conceded:

O’Connor has conceded 12 goals from his 22 matches this year, the fewest of any permanent defender to play 20 games this year.

Is it over-rating his value or naive to suggest that maybe he could have been a smokey for the AA squad? Is there a push for players to be able to do it all these days, you can be a defender but you also have to be able to run off your opponent & be an attacking threat. Because from a purely defensive point of view, isn't the above what you want first & foremost from your defenders.

He didn't necessarily get a lot of votes from us fans in the MVP threads, but I can see the coaches really appreciating his season and finishing top 15 if not pushing top 10 in the b&f, based purely on the consistency of doing his job each week.

Fantastic stat for all his fumbling and poor skill execution at times kolos job on Jack riewoldt should get a big tick as well a seriously good player shutdown.

And it's not all about kicking and flashy plays big marks fat stat sheet. It's about the production across the 22.

You look at the stat line vs Richmond you would think Geelong won with the up top dominance but Richmond put in an even team performance