Preview Geelong V West Coast Sat Aug 1 @ Optus Stadium 810 pm

[Moggy]

I would love to see the Sulphur Crested One but it seems pointless to try to predict when that will happen.

LOL’d at “the sulphur crested one”
Genius!

 

[Seeds]

He's playing in the scratch matches against the reserves with less contact and less game time. Playing a game of AFL takes a far greater toll on the body in general and is far more degenerative, than non-contact training and running.

It's quite clear his capacity to run is not to AFL standard, and neither is his disposal currently, based off form

He aint injured. He doesnt need protection.

less game time means less opportunities to improve fitness.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Fck it, giving my prediction, Cats by 26pts, Danger to have 30, kick 2, Rohan to snag 3 himself, Tomahawk to get a game high 5 goal assists.

Bring it on west coke.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Quarter of the best 22 out injured
Playing the premiership favourites in their home deck
A side that just smashed a side that had just smashed us

Isn't this the kind of game we usually win?

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Quarter of the best 22 out injured
Playing the premiership favourites in their home deck
A side that just smashed a side that had just smashed us

Isn't this the kind of game we usually win?

If we get within 4 goals I'll be mighty surprised. Anything is possible but I just can't see it.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

If we get within 4 goals I'll be mighty surprised. Anything is possible but I just can't see it.

Trying to muster some optimism in a game that could go south real quick

 

[Drunkcat]

Anything can happen in 2020 so will not be surprised at what ever happens

 

[FreeTK]

Hey Catters,

I came across a cool article today about Josh Kennedy and Harry Taylor, who grew up playing footy together. I thought I'd share it with you to have a read.

It's nice to see two great players who are still friends talk so highly of each other.

How Northampton juniors Josh Kennedy, Harry Taylor ended up as superstars at West Coast and Geelong

The attention will be on Tim Kelly opening a new chapter in the centre of the ground, but if you cast your eyes down to the goal square there will be another story more than two decades in the making.
In-form West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy and Geelong defender Harry Taylor have fought plenty of battles as two of the premier key-position talents of their generation.
But their football friendship began as teammates in the under-10s and under-12s at Northampton Junior Football Club.

“There were times when I’d be in the ruck, I’d tap it down to him and he’d be able to kick it close to 40 or 50m when he was in grade three or four,” Taylor said of a young Kennedy.
“We were both pretty big kids for our age. If he was in the ruck he’d tap it to me and I’d handball it back to him and then bang — he’d kick it from 40m out straight through the middle. He was a star from a very young age.”
If the Northampton Rams were a one-man team, Kennedy reckons it wasn’t about him.
“I don’t know about that. But I do know that Harry used to be able to tap it down to himself, run the whole length of the field and kick a goal,” he said.
A keen basketballer who followed his new school mates into playing footy after moving to Northampton, Kennedy credited his junior coach, Taylor’s father Harry Sr, for teaching him to play footy the right way.
“The Taylor family are a well-respected family in Northampton and they’re great people,” he said.
“You learn a lot about respect and also just playing as a team, which is why Harry Jr is a great team man.”
Their friendship has been built on a shared past and mutual respect for each other’s accomplishments from afar, but also more practical reasons.
In recent years they have trained together on their Christmas breaks in the Mid West as well as sharing information on foot injuries, with both of their careers interrupted by plantar fascia issues. At his worst point two years ago, Taylor used to crawl on mattresses to get to the toilet during the night.

Proud ambassadors and favourite sons of their home town, the tiny but extraordinary football factory that is Northampton, Kennedy was quick to rope Taylor in last summer when he heard of a local family in financial strife due to an overseas medical emergency.
The footballers headlined a sold-out sportsman’s night to raise funds.
“He did all that himself off his own bat. It was a fantastic effort to raise some money for them,” Taylor said.
“If you’re looking for a good bloke, someone to have a beer with, someone to jump in the trench with you – I reckon Josh Kennedy would be one of the first people I’d pick for sure.”
Kennedy acknowledged Taylor is one of the AFL’s quirkier characters, but said his commitment to family and friends was his signature.
“He is a good friend and he’d do anything for you. For advice, he’s always got something and he’s always willing to help out,” he said.
“He’s a very humble man. He’s a man that has a lot of respect from a lot of people that know him.
“He’s a great family man and he’d do anything for his family and his kids. And I think that’s just the way he’s been brought up from his family.”
FROM THE COUNTRY TO EAST FREO
The pair went to different primary and high schools, playing against each other as teenagers before footy again brought them together when they crossed paths at East Fremantle.

They made their only WAFL league appearance together in round 23, 2005, in a loss to Peel at Rushton Park.
The Sharks’ team sheet that day contained a remarkable intersection of past and future, with names like former Fremantle forward Kingsley Hunter and future North Melbourne captain Andrew Swallow featuring alongside Kennedy and Taylor.
They took contrasting paths to the AFL, with Kennedy a highly-touted teenage star who was taken by Carlton with pick 4 in the 2005 national draft.
Late-blooming Taylor was forced to be patient, playing 49 league games for the Sharks across three seasons before being taken as a 21-year-old by the Cats in the wake of their 2007 flag triumph.
“I kind of always knew that Harry was going to be something special in the AFL. Just because of his work ethic and his discipline to do what he needs to do to get the best out of himself,” Kennedy said.
“It was a great pick-up by Geelong, because I don’t think many people were looking at him.
“I can remember my step dad saying one day ‘that young Harry can play. He’s the only kid that listens to what you have to say’.

“He’d get advice from senior people and he’d go out there and do it. Whereas most kids don’t really listen.
“At Geelong he had the best backline in the competition that he was able to learn off and I assume he latched onto Matthew Scarlett and those guys and he learnt. And that’s why he’s become one of the best backmen in the league and he’s had the success that he’s had. Because of his determination to be the best he can be.”
While Kennedy cemented his reputation as a modern goal kicking great when he topped the 60-goal mark for five consecutive seasons from 2013-17, Taylor believes his greatest strengths are still under-appreciated.
“I always rate him as one of the hardest players that I’ve had to play on, purely because of his selflessness and his work ethic to help his teammates,” he said.
“It’s one thing which I’m not sure he gets as much credit for. The amount of work he does, if you watch from behind the goals, for (Jack) Darling, for (Oscar) Allen, for Liam Ryan. It’s such a humbling thing to see when a player of his calibre is willing to do all these things to help other players come into the game.”
Kennedy says Taylor is particularly hard to play on because he has also spent time as a forward.

“He kind of knows the ins and outs and he’s got a fair few tricks. He can take a mark, he’s terrific at his body work, he’s hard to get a hit up on and the way he reads the ball is why he is the player he is today,” he said.
“We’ve had a few battles over the years. I don’t think I’ve won many. I’ve won one. I kicked six one day at Subi. But it’s probably the only day out I’ve had when Harry’s in the area.”
Taylor says in hindsight, the selfless player Kennedy became was already inside the big kid that used to dominate.
“If I look back and think back, just the caring nature and that selflessness with which he plays now,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have understood what the word meant at the time. But in retrospect I can see how he already had those traits in his character.

“It was just amazing how caring and helpful he was for his teammates, even way back then at that level. Clearly that’s one of his strongest attributes.”
The pair, who both married childhood sweethearts from Geraldton, have five children between them.
COULD THIS BE THE LAST BATTLE?
With Taylor having turned 34 in June and Kennedy turning 33 this month, both are in their twilight and tonight might be the last time they meet as opponents on the AFL stage.
“It could be. We’re not entirely sure. Every chance I get to do it I really cherish it,” Taylor said.
“I doubt you’ll see a jumper swap. It might be a fist bump. We’re probably two guys that respect the handshake a lot, but at this time in society maybe we’ll just do the fist bump.”
Regardless of how their respective retirement timelines play out, Kennedy is adamant it won’t be the last time they share a footy field after promising Taylor a few years ago he would pull on the boots for their hometown club.
“It is a bit special, but it won’t be the last time we play together. I made a promise to Harry a few years back,” Kennedy said.
“If you’re from Northampton and you make a deal, you don’t go back on it. Whether it’s one day or a year, I’m not too sure. The rules in the deal haven’t been laid out yet.
“We’ll definitely be back in Northampton one day having a kick and having a bit of fun.”

 

[gaz love x]

What is AFL standard in 2020?

Someone who can cover ground and doesn't look lost at stoppages? More to the point, offers anything at all and isn't living off of winning BnFs on a bad team years ago

 

[frggr]

Turning out to be a disastrous acquisition along with Jenkins.

Weird call given Jenkins hasn't played yet.

Obviously not ideal that he's injured, but give him a chance on the field before calling him disastrous

 

[frggr]

Hey Catters,

I came across a cool article today about Josh Kennedy and Harry Taylor, who grew up playing footy together. I thought I'd share it with you to have a read.

It's nice to see two great players who are still friends talk so highly of each other.

Ripper read - thanks FreeTK.

Hopefully TKs not left to be free tonight. Good luck with the game

 

[frggr]

LOL’d at “the sulphur crested one”
Genius!

If he gets on the field with ant regularity, I'm gonna make some sulphur crest head gear to wear at games

 

[you pick one]

No change is even bigger trolling than Parsons and Zuthrie.

I got it ha ha.

 

[Cataholic]

The weather is looking dry for tonight?

 

[dazbroncos]

Game day peeps

Game Day - Geelong V West Coast Sat Aug 1 @ Optus Stadium 810 pm

Im busy at work right now so this will be brief. We are unchanged. They have changes. We are underdogs. They are not. Its at their home. We are not allowed to play at our home. We have injuries and some look remarkedly like hard surface at Optus type injuries. They do not. Hope...

www.bigfooty.com

GO there

GO Catters