Prediction Geelong's fortunes for season 2019

Where will Geelong finish on the ladder in season 2019?


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  • Poll closed .
Nick Dal Santo cannot see Geelong making any improvement in season 2019.

Australian Dal Santo feels the club may regress slightly in 2019 largely due to the already impressive output of their elite operators.

“I’ve got them going backwards,” he said on SEN Breakfast.

“I just can’t see them improving.

“I don’t think Joel Selwood can play much better football, Paddy Dangerfield can’t play better football.

“Gary Ablett, Tom Hawkins, you go through their top-end, Mitch Duncan, I can’t see those guys playing any better because they have been so good over the last few years.”

Do you agree or disagree with Dal Santo and why?
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/12/03/the-reasons-why-the-cats-won't-improve-next-year/
 

cynical

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Slightly backwards or a fair bit backwards.

Old guys will get worse, kids are too young to make significant improvement.
 
Mar 7, 2009
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I agree that our top end talent cannot play much better than they are now, so (like I have said many times here) if the the Cats are to improve and push for a flag then it has to come from the likes of Cockatoo, Narkle, Parfitt, Big Sav, Kelly, Buzza, Fogarty, Cunico, Jones, Miers, etc. Sure, not all of these will make it in the end, but if we can get a core group of young guys here being able to hold their spots on the ground when the pressure comes, and not just folding like they have many times in the past, then that is where the improvement will come from.

Dal Santo is just stating the obvious about our top end, we all know that they won't win us a flag while it just comes down to them. The evidence has been there for the last 3 seasons. Big Whoop. But saying he doesn't know where the improvement will come from just shows Dal Santo really has no idea about what young guys we have at the club and how they're progressing. It's just saying that Dal Santo knows nothing about Geelong other than the obvious everyone knows.

I thought I saw some positive signs here and there in 2018, sure they were still inconsistent, but there were times when the young blokes showed us something to look forward too. I hope we see it develop further in 2019 and our top guns will finally get the support they need from the team under them, which has been lacking too often in the recent past. That's where the improvement will come from.
 
If we play the same way we have in previous seasons I agree with Dal Santo.

For us to improve, we need to change the way we play. If we do, we can challenge again I believe.

I recall the last 1/4 of the game against the Swans @ K'Park when they tore us apart in 20 minutes of footy to win the game. What I noticed was that when Sydney marked the footy, they just played on without worrying if someone was leading up the ground. When the player ran off the mark and played on players further up the ground were encouraged to be on the move creating space. This seemed to create more options up the ground than the stagnant player looking for someone to lead before he decided to kick the ball. So I think they need to take the game on more and get the ball to forwards much quicker than last season.
 
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Landgraft

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I'm surprised you guys are that happy with how the top end played this year... outside of Hawk and Gaz I thought both Paddy and Joel were noticeably below their best, and could definitely be better next year than they were in this one.

The other question is of course one of youth, where probably our improvement through Parfitt, Narkle, Chook, Henry won't be as big as some teams. But at the same time, if we get big years out of Cockatoo, Guthrie and Sav then who knows... and I'm hopeful that Fogarty and Kelly will be better able to play out the season this time around.

The real question is why people listen to Nick Dal Santo's on-air brain farts. He's not going to say anything worth hearing.
 

BORIS332

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Dec 22, 2016
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I'm surprised you guys are that happy with how the top end played this year... outside of Hawk and Gaz I thought both Paddy and Joel were noticeably below their best, and could definitely be better next year than they were in this one.

The other question is of course one of youth, where probably our improvement through Parfitt, Narkle, Chook, Henry won't be as big as some teams. But at the same time, if we get big years out of Cockatoo, Guthrie and Sav then who knows... and I'm hopeful that Fogarty and Kelly will be better able to play out the season this time around.

The real question is why people listen to Nick Dal Santo's on-air brain farts. He's not going to say anything worth hearing.

I felt Joel had one of his better years in 2018.

Edit - just had a look at his numbers too and they back my perception up.
 

molo80

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Mar 13, 2018
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No reason we can't improve and surprise a few people. Standard of the comp is relatively weak still so it would only take +2 wins or so to finish top 4, essentially reversing a few of the close results this year. Finals are a different beast though and could be more of the same old if we feature again unless a significant rethink of our structures and mindset happens. Gonna say we'll finish 4th-6th but get rolled in straight sets or similar.
 

Max Milburn

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We do have improvement in us.
Joel and Danger played some great football during the year.
However, both can improve their disposal, and also they way they set up in the midfield.
But the real improvement in the middle will come from Parfitt, Kelly(yes, he can get better), Duncan.
Savrat's presence will help Hawkins. So will Gaz.
Fit ruck stocks will also help.
A consistent game plan, executed properly.
And finally, a bit of self belief if/when we make the finals.
Not saying any of this will happen, but it's not impossible.
 

Sticksman

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PD can improve his delivery into F50, GAJ can be better employed near goal for extended periods, TH will benefit from tall support (Big Sav, Stanley), Duncan could get back to his best form and we will have greater depth in our ruck division.

I think it's more likely that we will improve rather than slip.
 

JumpyHolden

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There has been no improvement for the past 4 or 5 years so now all of a sudden this year there's going to be improvement.

Did i miss something? did we get a new coach and assistants or is this improvement going to happen by magic.
 

Two Planks

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I'm surprised you guys are that happy with how the top end played this year... outside of Hawk and Gaz I thought both Paddy and Joel were noticeably below their best, and could definitely be better next year than they were in this one.

Reckon Paddy played injured most of the year. Would love to know the truth. There were rumours all pre season about a back problem then he had the hammy strain in the last practice match.

He will bounce back big time this year and win a 2nd Brownlow.
 

Nickoo

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I'm surprised you guys are that happy with how the top end played this year... outside of Hawk and Gaz I thought both Paddy and Joel were noticeably below their best, and could definitely be better next year than they were in this one.

The other question is of course one of youth, where probably our improvement through Parfitt, Narkle, Chook, Henry won't be as big as some teams. But at the same time, if we get big years out of Cockatoo, Guthrie and Sav then who knows... and I'm hopeful that Fogarty and Kelly will be better able to play out the season this time around.

The real question is why people listen to Nick Dal Santo's on-air brain farts. He's not going to say anything worth hearing.

Agreed.
I thought Paddy was restricted most of the season and Joel looked out of sorts at times. Mitch Duncan’s disposal was woeful at critical times. Sav back will make a decent impact as will a settled effective ruck division.

I reckon there is a quite a bit of improvement in those three. With Parfitt and sparkle coming of age who knows. Seriously.


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Feb 9, 2015
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There's alot of potential improvement in this group. It won't come from individuals so much as it could come from coaching, system, teamwork, consistency. All that bullshit that's way less fun to talk about.

At various times within games, we made every single one of our opponents (except Essendon) look second rate at various times within games, and all top 8 teams (except GWS) made us look second rate. So I still find it hard to get a gauge on how good Geelong actually are/will be.

I am confident that whatever our worst performance for the season is, that's the form we'll replicate in Finals (if we make it).
 
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Landgraft

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I felt Joel had one of his better years in 2018.

Edit - just had a look at his numbers too and they back my perception up.
Interesting. I definitely remember thinking he had started out the season in very fine form, but through the back end I wasn't as certain and he may have played his worst ever final against Melbourne... even if we accept him as having performed well, I still think its not out of the realm of possibility that he could play a more impactful season, to say nothing of the other top-end guys.
 
May 18, 2016
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Paddy wasn’t in best form. Broken ribs or whatever his issue was. And being played as a forward.

Hopefully he goes back into the midfield for the majority of time.

Wether we improve or not depends if we can get our forwardline to work properly.
 
We'll finish top 4 and I'll tell you why. Our weakness was our forward line and we've fixed it. Rohan and Dahlhaus add the forward pressure and they are both suited to the role and not makeshift like the Parsons, Fogarty's and co who were trialled there last season. We'll also get Ratugloea returning from injury and our forward half functioned better with him in the side as that second marking target. We'll hopefully also see the return of Cockatoo. With him and Rohan we have two players with genuine speed who are both good in the air and at ground level and hard to match up on.

Our backline is top notch when they go into games with the right structure and our midfield is second to none but was lacking that genuine first hands to the ball ruckman. Fort, Abbott and Stanley provide something different depending on which way they decide to go but we recruited Fort for a reason and he's the best tap ruckman of the 3 so he should provide our mids with first use. Selwood, Ablett and Danger struggled a little last year and the main reason was the lack of continuity from our big men. Once Stanley had a consistent string of games it's no coincidence our clearance numbers improved.

I genuinely think we can win the flag next year.
 

cynical

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There has been no improvement for the past 4 or 5 years so now all of a sudden this year there's going to be improvement.

Did i miss something? did we get a new coach and assistants or is this improvement going to happen by magic.

Brian Cook hired a wizard

This wizard will cast spells that makes our 30yo+ players play like they did when they were 27 and our 21yo players play like they are 24.

Other spells include making the other teams not get better (despite having more young players and better recruits).

Chris Scott's game plan suddenly being effective.

And injury prone players being available all year.

Should make finals now and maybe even top 4.
 
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We'll finish top 4 and I'll tell you why. Our weakness was our forward line and we've fixed it. Rohan and Dahlhaus add the forward pressure and they are both suited to the role and not makeshift like the Parsons, Fogarty's and co who were trialled there last season. We'll also get Ratugloea returning from injury and our forward half functioned better with him in the side as that second marking target. We'll hopefully also see the return of Cockatoo. With him and Rohan we have two players with genuine speed who are both good in the air and at ground level and hard to match up on.

Our backline is top notch when they go into games with the right structure and our midfield is second to none but was lacking that genuine first hands to the ball ruckman. Fort, Abbott and Stanley provide something different depending on which way they decide to go but we recruited Fort for a reason and he's the best tap ruckman of the 3 so he should provide our mids with first use. Selwood, Ablett and Danger struggled a little last year and the main reason was the lack of continuity from our big men. Once Stanley had a consistent string of games it's no coincidence our clearance numbers improved.

I genuinely think we can win the flag next year.
You have more faith in the selectors than me,they need to up their game and put balanced sides on the park capable of kicking 100 points most weeks and defending well,player mindset will be key,who looks after that area.
 

Two Planks

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Brian Cook hired a wizard

This wizard will cast spells that makes our 30yo+ players play like they did when they were 27 and our 21yo players play like they are 24.

Having said that, Ive always wondered why our guys like Bartel, Stevie J and Chapman slowed down when they got to 30 but Hodge and Mitchell got better.
 
Brian Cook hired a wizard

This wizard will cast spells that makes our 30yo+ players play like they did when they were 27 and our 21yo players play like they are 24.

Other spells include making the other teams not get better (despite having more young players and better recruits).

Chris Scott's game plan suddenly being effective.

And injury prone players being available all year.

Should make finals now and maybe even top 4.

I have never understood why your username is Cynical.
 
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