Autopsy Geelong lose to WC by 9 points at Optus

[Pure_Ownage]

He's undroppable which is part of an underlying problem.

He is drop able but I doubt we will.

 

[Partridge]

Blicavs was fine considering he is playing out of position. In his best position he is bankable.

Rohan I agree with you though.

Since when? I thought he was amazingly versatile?

He got manhandled effortlessly by Natanui and then got outmarked far too easily by Kennedy. That's a fail in both spots.

He panics under pressure. That goal to Darling was a direct result of his horrible panicked kick off the left foot (it's somewhat of a trademark).

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Boys had a fair crack, but the most frustrating thing, is the usual suspects sh*t the bed when finals like intensity goes up, it’s why if we make finals again we already know what’s going to happen, the same culprits, not upto it.

The best part in the 4th was Blicavs’ ballerina twirl and then a putrid hack kick on his left, that’s us in a nutshell under pressure.

Worse was before his twirl he had some space and time to go down the line on his preferred, the same situation he ended up going for, and failing, after his dizzy twirl and left foot grounder.
It's like he has trained to take a tackle on, get hands free and dish off, so when in space he waits for pressure and he thinks to himself "take player on, gets hands free, dish off, you can do it Mark!".
No, you cannot. JUST DO THE FIRST OPTION. No cute shit.

 

[Seeds]

Im not going of at Esava ruck work, but just his simple match day skills,
The number 1 is his basic kicking.....
We all admit his got potential but, he will have to be dropped if Stanley is fit, and let's give Kreuger a game if Stanley can play and just play Blitz as the 2nd ruck...
Lets see what Kreuger has got and drop Esava.

esava is huge at the contested marking contest. He got his couple of big marks and he is bringing the ball to ground for our smalls.

it would be insane to drop him. it would send us back to the days of being smashed across the half forward line. he had a mare with a few of his disposals In key moments. If he did that week in week out then it would be a problem. But he doesnt. Blicavs disposal is far more worrying cos he does do it week in week out. Blicavs needs to go back to defence so he doesnt have to get the ball much and can just focus on keeping it off his opponent.

 

[Partridge]

Does anybody seriously consider Blicavs a ruckman?

Go back one week.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Who else would you play in his place tonight?

Exactly all other options were injured. Hopefully Jenkins is fit next week.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

The good news is we've slid down a bit ... much better draft pick.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

He is drop able but I doubt we will.

Which means he's undroppable.

 

[Reppie]

He’ll play

Hope so coz he's exactly the sort of player we lack and so badly need.

 

[cats_09]

Do we have anyone that we can replace Kolo with?

Stanley returns to ruck, Selwood returns to the midfield, Cockatoo makes his long awaited return and we see the debut of Kreuger

In terms of outs, Kolo & Rat can have a run in the scratch matches for a while, while one of Taylor/Henderson has a rest, and Constable may be out/managed after that bump

With that we then return Blicavs & Tuohy to defence

 

[Frappe]

Hard slog against eagles, flight to Brisbane and only 4 day break. At least you have your excuse if we lose against North!

Eagles have a bye next week. How does that work?

 

[Gogeelong]

The good news is we've slid down a bit ... much better draft pick.

We get the Eagles first round pick. They won so we slide back a bit there

 

[romeohwho]

Simpson and Fogarty a bit slow
Selwood and Cockatoo in for them
Maybe manage Rohan for Jenkins too

Yep although thought Simpson did a bit in last quarter when things got tight- got involved and kept his head.

 

[foxdog50]

esava is huge at the contested marking contest. He got his couple of big marks and he is bringing the ball to ground for our smalls.

it would be insane to drop him. it would send us back to the days of being smashed across the half forward line.

I can't see why Kreuger could do the same thing, in making contest marks...
If my job was just to make a contest mark, than we should go after Mason Cox....
Ill say it again, his got potential, but there is a time when its nothing wrong with been dropped which he needs to be .

 

[Yoey]

Best game for a few weeks, will be good to see you guys at full strength in a clutch final like last in another finals run.

 

[Cursed Cat]

With not many of their own fans backing Geelong in to give more than a tokenistic yelp against the white-hot Weagles, we of little faith were promptly treated to a quality first half of football.

Chris Scott and the coaching staff appeared to have total buy-in from players who were clear-headed and decisive.

Defensive discipline from all 22 Cats was crucial in establishing a foothold on the match, with the Eagles - a team stacked with classy, clever players - forced to second-guess and kick to contests, unable to exploit us laterally or through the middle on the break.

Esava Ratugolea and Mark Blicavs had the task of nullifying Nic Natanui to the best of their modest rucking abilities, and early on they were effective enough.

However Natanui dispelled claims that he is unfit with a huge 2nd half, palming it decisively in a manner that Geelong fans (and midfielders) can only dream of and effectively turning the tide for his team.

With a slim lead at three quarter time and momentum with the home side, the Cats needed some special individual efforts to bring it home; an Ablett or a Selwood historically offer so much in these moments, and tonight it was a chance for others to put their mark on the team and stand up under pressure.
Alas the no one really stepped up to the plate as the game slowly slipped away.

Only the most churlish of Geelong supporters would fail to concede the sheer class of Tim Kelly, and the emancipated eagle was predictably damaging.

Liam Ryan's 3rd quarter was explosive and Josh Kennedy slowly worked his way on top of first Harry and then Henderson.

The defensive structure and shape sagged significantly as the game wore on and we were lucky we were fairly efficient going forward or else things could have gotten ugly.

No time to lick our wounds or pout; the group put in a half-decent performance tonight but all focus needs to shift to recovery and getting the best possible group together to tackle a North group who have suddenly remembered how to play footy.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

esava is huge at the contested marking contest. He got his couple of big marks and he is bringing the ball to ground for our smalls.

it would be insane to drop him. it would send us back to the days of being smashed across the half forward line.

His endevour is fantastic, will never knock that.
But for a bloke whose never going to win big number of possessions, he must make the ones he gets matter.
Tonight he didn't. By my count his last 7 touches of the ball (not necessarily disposals) all resulted in a turnover, and most pretty blatant like missing 4m handballs by 3 metres..
His goal kicking is a worry, and his decision making while flawed is hampered by a general lack of polished skills.
He has a future, but he needs quality coaching and I don't think we have them.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

We get the Eagles first round pick. They won so we slide back a bit there

That doesn't matter, they have the rest of the season listening to the word boooooooooooooo.

 

[Seeds]

Since when? I thought he was amazingly versatile?

He got manhandled effortlessly by Natanui and then got outmarked far too easily by Kennedy. That's a fail in both spots.

He panics under pressure. That goal to Darling was a direct result of his horrible panicked kick off the left foot (it's somewhat of a trademark).

Suddenly mr versatile is being played out of position. lol. Hes played like 6 finals in that position.

 

[year of the cat]

Since when? I thought he was amazingly versatile?

He got manhandled effortlessly by Natanui and then got outmarked far too easily by Kennedy. That's a fail in both spots.

He panics under pressure. That goal to Darling was a direct result of his horrible panicked kick off the left foot (it's somewhat of a trademark).

Not to mention the hard hands in that missed mark...

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Best game for a few weeks, will be good to see you guys at full strength in a clutch final like last in another finals run.

You'll be waiting a while.

 

[Chinacats]

Not wanting to hit a guy when he's down (and may be doubtful for our match against North), but should it be a concern that Constable played only 51% TOG?

I know he went off towards the end of the game having been on the receiving end of that bump; but that was what maybe 5 minutes of game time, so that still means a lot of time on the bench earlier in the match

The game had 24 centre bounces (if my maths is correct), and if clearance & contested work is meant to be a strength, then surely this match was a good opportunity for him to show that?

Wonder if there's a reason behind his low game time tonight or it's just how things played out? He had 16 disposals at 68% (vast improvement from the sh*t conditions of Mondays match), so clearly no issues finding the ball - but surely we want to start seeing less time on the bench and more time on the ground

Has a few visionary handballs, but offers no run or spread. No overlap or link run play. Tank issues I think.

 

[Partridge]

Yes Scott coached well until eagles cranked it up. Then the jittery stuff came. Normal.

Not unlike last year's Prelim to be honest.

 

[Chinacats]

He won't develop if the MC won't play him where he belongs.
Sitting in a forward pocket will only see him fail.

Yeah I wanted to see him moved to the ball when we were getting nothing there in the 2nd half.

 

[Baudolino]

I come in peace.

I find it a bit weird that a few of you are down on Rategolea (sp?). From an opposition point of view I felt he was in everything. Won a lot of contests and halved a few where I thought we were on. Wasnt horrible in the ruck either. The bad miss was the only thing I thought you could ping him for.

Smashed in the ruck, missed a sitter at a time when we needed a settling goal, directly contibuted to multiple Eagles goals with insipid skills errors that most suburban footy players wouldn't make, missed the opportunity to put a teammate through on goal and then moments later failed to execute a basic chip kick inside 50 to another teammate, etc etc.

He was abysmal. The reason you don't see this is because as an opposition supporter it's just a series of "that would have been bad for us if Ratugolea had executed there" moments. For us, it's a series of "Ratugolea can't execute because he lacks the skill and/or footy IQ" moments.