Good Analysis from Throbby

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Credit where credit is due, normally his analysis is mean spirited and reactionary, this effort is a bulls eye. He is spot on all points, I would venture. The point about Ling, the Big Heads, Ablett, Kelly and Johnson and showing some dare are exactly what need to get through to the match committee. It’s a shame they are too pig headed and arrogant to take anything on board. I am a Bomber Thompson fan but he can be just be too stubborn for all our good sometimes.

Cats need to show some dare
By Robert Walls
May 27, 2006




The Cats may have got swollen heads after their victory in the NAB Cup.
Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

IF THE Cats don't come out snarling today against Richmond, you can write them off. And that would be a shame, because just over two months ago they won the NAB Cup and were among the favourites to do special things come September.

Their current form line is woeful, having lost five of their past six games, the last loss being a 102-point thumping to the Pies. Just what has gone wrong with a team that was poised to be a flag contender?

BIG HEADS

Winning the NAB Cup was the first time the Cats had won anything for 43 years. Did some of the lads fall victim to being hometown heroes? Smashing the Lions and the Kangaroos at home in the first two rounds, in front of adoring fans, pumped up some egos. How do we know? Because the next week, at home, the Cats pranced out against the lowly Hawks and showed them no respect. End result: the Hawks win by 52 points and the Cats kick six goals.
Come round six, after three successive losses, the Cats have a handy three-goal lead against the Demons. Joshua Hunt pushes forward to mark 30 metres out, dead in front. Does he settle down to kick truly and close the game? No. He mocks his opponent in an arrogant and totally unnecessary manner for all to see. Does he kick the goal? No. He misses.

From that point on there has been little sympathy for Cats. This team needs to get a hard edge, be professional, treat the game and those who play it with respect. A little humility goes a long way. Look at the way Sydney goes about its business.

TALL GOALKICKING FORWARDS

The Cats have an unhealthy reliance on small and medium-sized forwards to kick the bulk of the goals. Gary Ablett and Paul Chapman have kicked 14 each. The contribution from the two best tall forwards, Kent Kingsley and Cameron Mooney, is a miserable 16. Compare that with Collingwood's Chris Tarrant and Anthony Rocca (42), St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig (43) and Sydney's Barry Hall and Michael O'Loughlin (43).
Because Kingsley leads up the ground, it is vital the Cats have a marking option in the goal square. Mooney and Brad Ottens should share the ruck and goal-square duties today.

THE USE OF LING

Cameron Ling is a gutsy midfielder who can close down the opposition's best. That has to be his role. He should not be a mass accumulator of ball, which he has become, because he hasn't got the pace to break the lines when he receives his average of nine handballs a game, and he hasn't a penetrating kick that can set up forwards.
Repeatedly we see Ling handball or short-pass backwards or sideways. It stops the fluent forward movement of his team.

So far this season he leads his team in disposals and runs second to Darren Milburn in marks. They are stats that don't particularly help his team.

RUN AND DARE

The top four teams for run, bounce and carry are the Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Collingwood and West Coast. Geelong is ranked 14th, averaging just 12 bounces a game. Time to bring Shannon Byrnes, David Wojcinski and Andrew Mackie back into the team. Time also for Steve Johnson and James Kelly to bust their arses in the hard-running department. Johnson averages two handball receives a game. Kelly averages five.
These figures are embarrassingly low. They have to work much harder because their team needs the ball in their hands, not Lings'.

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

It's time for the coach to pull some surprises with his player placements. The Cats have become very predictable with their line-ups.
Changes would wrong-foot the opposition and present new challenges to the players given fresh roles.

Gary Ablett should be given more runs in the midfield. With his ability to win hard ball and with genuine quickness, he would lift a one-paced midfield.

Why not try Matthew Egan in the forward line? He is one of the team's best overhead marks, and those types of marks are as scarce as hen's teeth inside the Geelong forward 50.

Darren Milburn, too, would also add marking strength.

LEADERSHIP

This is a team crying out for strong on-field leadership, and has for some time. Who in the Geelong outfit has a consistently powerful presence about them? Paul Chapman is a stand-out. After that, it trails off.
Last year the Cats beat Richmond by a point at Skilled Stadium. The Age tipsters overwhelmingly suggest they will do it by a lot more this afternoon.

What shouldn't be discounted is that the Tigers have won four of their past five games.

They are in good form and confidence is up. If the Cats don't play with dare they will get beaten.

If they play crab-like and go slowly sideways and backwards it will play into Terry Wallace's hands, as he will load his defence.

If the Cats lose this one, their season is over.

 

[CF]

>>>>>>If the Cats lose this one, their season is over.


true, this is a must win game. But I am not confident they can do it.

 

[sarbbo]

>>>>>>If the Cats lose this one, their season is over.


true, this is a must win game. But I am not confident they can do it.

Come on if we can't win today then how are we going to ever win again? have a feeling its going to be a 100 point + massacre today.

 

[CF]

Come on if we can't win today then how are we going to ever win again? have a feeling its going to be a 100 point + massacre today.

I hope you are right mate..I really hope you are right

 

[Shell]

Come on if we can't win today then how are we going to ever win again? have a feeling its going to be a 100 point + massacre today.

Who will be doing the massacring exactly??

Anyway, what im concerned about, Geelong just gotta bring their A game and put this one AWAY!! Get some confidence (and fast) back for the West Coast game next week, cause bloody hell we need it!!

Im worried that itll be a scrap of a game (a la, last weeks game Rich v Adel, as ive heard). Oh well, we'll find out soon enough i suppose.