Review Geelong defeats Ninthmond by 38 points at their home ground... twice.

[CatsDoItBetter]

ESAVA!!!!!!!
Plenty of soul searching tonight for the Esava doubters.

 

[Ricketz]

Re Kolo discussion I'm not sure defenders have "direct opponents" in the hold sense any more - maybe when the ball is bounced. The mantra now is team defence, zoning off and helping out.

Blicavs was great today barring one error and so was Stanley and Esava. Selection is not going to be easy as we move toward finals.

No, I agree with many others - Kolo was good today.

 

[Johanpetro]

I’ve had this argument with countless people on the main board re. The age profile of our team. If they’re in their 40s and can still cut it at the job they’re given who the hell cares.

I subscribe to the same theory with height.

why pick a player to play a position just because he has grown more than someone else?

hawthorn won a flag with Franklin, Roughead and hale in their forward line. Why? Because Franklin May be massive but he is quick enough and has skills at ground level. Tell me what is stopping us from playing Hawkins, Cameron and Ratugolea in a forward line? Cameron and Ratugolea are reasonably quick, Cameron is agile and Ratugolea’s stupidly grippy hands at ground level seem to make the impossible look easy at times. Hawkins today crumbed a goal from ground level from memory and ironically set one of his own up the same way when he got a loose ball and found close, who then hit him on the chest. What makes a 1.8m forward any more valuable for team balance than a 1.9m forward if the second guy can pretty much do the same things as the first guy?

will all respect to you and Sav… The reason why that Hawks forward line worked is because Buddy is a once in a generation player and Roughead is 10 times the player of Sav. Silly to even make that comparison tbh

 

[JohnZ]

To whomever it may concern that wields the power over the thread title... we are now Tenthmond.

Ninthmond isn't a position on the ladder, it's a philosophy of mind.

Like how norf convinces themselves they're completive because of their shinboner spirit, which is just an excuse for not winning enough to be relevant.

 

[cats_09]

I’ve had this argument with countless people on the main board re. The age profile of our team. If they’re in their 40s and can still cut it at the job they’re given who the hell cares.

I subscribe to the same theory with height.

why pick a player to play a position just because he has grown more than someone else?

hawthorn won a flag with Franklin, Roughead and hale in their forward line. Why? Because Franklin May be massive but he is quick enough and has skills at ground level. Tell me what is stopping us from playing Hawkins, Cameron and Ratugolea in a forward line? Cameron and Ratugolea are reasonably quick, Cameron is agile and Ratugolea’s stupidly grippy hands at ground level seem to make the impossible look easy at times. Hawkins today crumbed a goal from ground level from memory and ironically set one of his own up the same way when he got a loose ball and found close, who then hit him on the chest. What makes a 1.8m forward any more valuable for team balance than a 1.9m forward if the second guy can pretty much do the same things as the first guy?

I wouldn't be surprised to see us play the 3 tall forwards & Rohan and think that it could work at the right ground

Could be good at the MCG or Optus where there's clearly more space would be ideal to trial it - unfortunately our remaining games are set to be played at Blundstone and KP, and just not sure KP is necessarily the best size for 3 tall forwards

 

[allrighty]

I’ve had this argument with countless people on the main board re. The age profile of our team. If they’re in their 40s and can still cut it at the job they’re given who the hell cares.

I subscribe to the same theory with height.

why pick a player to play a position just because he has grown more than someone else?

hawthorn won a flag with Franklin, Roughead and hale in their forward line. Why? Because Franklin May be massive but he is quick enough and has skills at ground level. Tell me what is stopping us from playing Hawkins, Cameron and Ratugolea in a forward line? Cameron and Ratugolea are reasonably quick, Cameron is agile and Ratugolea’s stupidly grippy hands at ground level seem to make the impossible look easy at times. Hawkins today crumbed a goal from ground level from memory and ironically set one of his own up the same way when he got a loose ball and found close, who then hit him on the chest. What makes a 1.8m forward any more valuable for team balance than a 1.9m forward if the second guy can pretty much do the same things as the first guy?

Agree. Andrew Hoy is saddling up for his 7th Olympics right now for Oz at 62 years old ffs.

 

[PhatBoy]

will all respect to you and Sav… The reason why that Hawks forward line worked is because Buddy is a once in a generation player and Roughead is 10 times the player of Sav. Silly to even make that comparison tbh

That’s the exact point I’m making.
The quality of their football outstripped their dimensions.

we don’t need our blokes to be as good as Franklin or Roughead. At any rate if you were to rank the players overall as forwards behind Buddy I think Hawkins and Cameron are both better than Roughead and Hale was a handy ruck forward but not a worldbeater as a forward alone - but I digress. The ability of that forward line to do a job was what made it work, not their size. We just need our front 6 to be good enough to win against whatever we come up against in the finals. We don’t need them to be Franklin and roughhead

Perhaps a better example would be the Pies of 2011. Forgetting for a moment that they lost the grand final- and it wasn’t the height of their forward line that lost it - they played Cloke, Dawes and Leigh Brown for most of the season. Except when they played Geelong it didn’t seem to hurt them

 

[PhatBoy]

I wouldn't be surprised to see us play the 3 tall forwards & Rohan and think that it could work at the right ground

Could be good at the MCG or Optus where there's clearly more space would be ideal to trial it - unfortunately our remaining games are set to be played at Blundstone and KP, and just not sure KP is necessarily the best size for 3 tall forwards

Very fair assessment

 

[Ricketz]

I’ve had this argument with countless people on the main board re. The age profile of our team. If they’re in their 40s and can still cut it at the job they’re given who the hell cares.

I subscribe to the same theory with height.

why pick a player to play a position just because he has grown more than someone else?

hawthorn won a flag with Franklin, Roughead and hale in their forward line. Why? Because Franklin May be massive but he is quick enough and has skills at ground level. Tell me what is stopping us from playing Hawkins, Cameron and Ratugolea in a forward line? Cameron and Ratugolea are reasonably quick, Cameron is agile and Ratugolea’s stupidly grippy hands at ground level seem to make the impossible look easy at times. Hawkins today crumbed a goal from ground level from memory and ironically set one of his own up the same way when he got a loose ball and found close, who then hit him on the chest. What makes a 1.8m forward any more valuable for team balance than a 1.9m forward if the second guy can pretty much do the same things as the first guy?

Probably the first ten metres.

 

[catempire]

Has had a pretty good role model in Hawk there. Strong jedi padawan vibes

He is already a better high ball player than Hawkins. For what that’s worth.

 

[GeelongFTW]

I am 100% certain they will play them all.

You mean Jez, Hawk, Stanley, savrat?

 

[Baggins15]

I’m tipping the Tuggers make 8th, they have a fairly easy run home, and the Bombers have a though one.

They've lost 5 of their past 6 games, including several against ordinary sides. Pretty much need a perfect record from here and I don't see where they're going to pull four wins from.

 

[Feline]

 

[allrighty]

They've lost 5 of their past 6 games, including several against ordinary sides. Pretty much need a perfect record from here and I don't see where they're going to pull four wins from.

with GWS beating essedon today I can't see them missing out

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I’m tipping the Tuggers make 8th, they have a fairly easy run home, and the Bombers have a though one.

How about gws?

 

[Chinacats]

Last year, how did you like our finals series?
Sure we were beaten by Dusty, and our injuries, but structurally we worried them a lot. For a good half, we were the better team.

This year, Bulldogs seem to be the team to beat, but it could be any team- Demons, Swans, Port, Lions ...

This year, if we can beat the Demons MF, and get through their defence, we will have beaten most teams that count. Can't do much ,more than that with the list we have. And that list is pretty deep and good. But is it the best? Time will tell.

Unfortunately there are no better teams than the cats in it. No more finals experience either. It’s very unfortunate. Let’s be positive and try to live with it.

 

[Chinacats]

I am 100% certain they will play them all.

You mean all of Sav, Cameron, Hawkins and Rohan? Doubt it. Miers close and Dahl will be in and then Higgins is about.
Who is on the MC? Scott and assistants? Anyone else? They have big but nice dilemmas to have.

 

[Chinacats]

If Sav stays when Cameron comes back then who are you leaving out? Talk of Blicavs is silly even when he has the occasional brain fart. Is it one of the small forwards? Or one of the backs?

Not one of the small forwards. Their pressure has heightened our attacking potency. Let’s see if Sav backs up. Maybe he is Hawkins aka 2011 ? Finding form in the lead up to finals , plays well in finals and then dazzles in GF! Haha let’s see…

 

[Chinacats]

We are virtually equal favourites with Dogs and Demons. Plenty are worried about us.

We are favourites! Most are tipping us to win it including Ross Lyon, Nick Riewoldt, Alastair Lynch , Damian Barrett , David King seeded us at No.1 . There’s no hiding! Haha love it! Let’s be positive! I say cats win it too! 2021 cats win the flag! That’s positivity!

 

[Chinacats]

I wouldn't mind seeing Mitch purely in the forward line getting match fit

How many can fit in forward line if you want Mitch in there?

 

[Chinacats]

Thank you. Like I’ve said in a couple of threads now of the contenders, we are the ones who know what we are doing and how we are doing it better than the others. But I’ll happily concede that what they do, when it works, it’s a bit better than our football IMO

Too negative. Cats will win it! Demons are 4-1-4 from last 9. Dogs are brittle under pressure ( forward line with kids), swans youth & not top 4, lions never play at MCG (might be irrelevant) port won’t get it done. Cats should nail this!

 

[Chinacats]

Every team would be worried about us! Here are just some reason why but in no particular order:

1. We've managed 10 wins from the last 11 games.
2. We've kept the past 3 teams to 1 goal by half time.
3. Jezza is waiting in the wings to return.
4. Maybe Duncan.
5. Sav is coming of age before our very eyes.
6. Scott is the best game day coach in the league.
7. We have insane weapons on every line, from Stewart to Guthrie to Hawkins.
8. Statistically, we are elite at shutting down the opposition. For example, we are ranked 1st in Least Opponent Inside 50s, 1st in Least Opponent Marks, 1st in Least Opponent Handballs and the list literally goes on.

I mean it scares me how good we are, and I'm a Geelong supporter.

Yes should win it. No excuses this year!

 

[Chinacats]

I’ve had this argument with countless people on the main board re. The age profile of our team. If they’re in their 40s and can still cut it at the job they’re given who the hell cares.

I subscribe to the same theory with height.

why pick a player to play a position just because he has grown more than someone else?

hawthorn won a flag with Franklin, Roughead and hale in their forward line. Why? Because Franklin May be massive but he is quick enough and has skills at ground level. Tell me what is stopping us from playing Hawkins, Cameron and Ratugolea in a forward line? Cameron and Ratugolea are reasonably quick, Cameron is agile and Ratugolea’s stupidly grippy hands at ground level seem to make the impossible look easy at times. Hawkins today crumbed a goal from ground level from memory and ironically set one of his own up the same way when he got a loose ball and found close, who then hit him on the chest. What makes a 1.8m forward any more valuable for team balance than a 1.9m forward if the second guy can pretty much do the same things as the first guy?

Have you seen the km’s that close, Miers and Dahl crank up? You gonna drop one of them for Sav, Cameron Rohan and Hawkins f50?

 

[standupand]

Just going by the highlights for now as I'm waiting for the replay of the full game, but just gotta say how pleased I am to see Esava have such a dominant performance. He and Hawkins seemed to have a good thing going. The goal that Hawkins got roving off Esava in the 2nd was exquisite! Tom came in thinking initially of going for the mark, then at the very last moment stayed down working back off his man. Esava flying like a bird brought the ball down to him against 3 tiger defenders and Tom finished off with the snap. It was a perfect example of the old adage that I remember learning as a kid - "only one up". Riewoldt would have probably tried to take a "reverse speccy" stealing it off his teammates hands in such a position. But Tomahawk's footy smarts is off the charts, and Sav's aerial ability is such a weapon. It's also why I think our forwardline as a whole is so dangerous last year and this year. Teams get so good at zoning off and double triple teaming your F50 marking targets with ball in the air. But where you have multiple marking targets and a few who (like Hawkins and Cameron, even Rohan) who are equally good at roving and snapping goals as they are at marking, defenders don't know who to go to. Sides used to typically have tall marking targets and then small forwards who roved packs. We have talls who either mark or rove, and smalls who pressure up the ground. Can't wait to watch the full game.

 

[PhatBoy]

Have you seen the km’s that close, Miers and Dahl crank up? You gonna drop one of them for Sav, Cameron Rohan and Hawkins f50?

kms don’t get counted on the scoreboard. I don’t really know what the best combination is but I wouldn’t be eliminating someone just because of their height