Strategy Half time in the season - how do we look?

[Isaac Norm Smith]

Fair enough. It didn't at all feel that way to me. They were coming from behind, with the wind in their sails and couldn't crack our defence. Contrast that with our first quarter where we kicked 2.3 and one out on the full. What's the difference?

We controlled the game for 90 minutes, and ran out of legs in the end.

I'm not worried about GWS. I am confident we can beat them.

There are a lot of people jumping on the GWS bandwagon all of a sudden. I'm not one of them. Until I see them beat a decent VIC team on the MCG, I don't consider them a major threat. Their MCG record is nothing short of appalling.

 

[Mr X]

We need to aim for, and then maintain top 2 to give ourselves best chance.

We then need the same 2009 and 2011 build to have ourselves ready to go at the right time.

Tomorrow night is a huge test and preview - odds tell you Richmond and Collingwood will give us most trouble on the G in September - this is the last look we get at the opposition on the ground before the do or die games hopefully happen

 

[cats_09]

Robbo's All Australian team at the half-way point

 

[steady2]

Check out the scores and the clock for each of these misses - we could/should have been well in front halfway through the third quarter. Then Dew came along and the rest is history.

Sheesh, that Ottens one gets worse every time you see it.

I'm not gonna watch it Never seen the replay, never will.

 

[Turkey Tom]

I'm not gonna watch it Never seen the replay, never will.

Yep likewise.

Remember that night I had trouble sleeping going over all the missed goals.

I imagine the players were feeling a hell of a lot worse than I was. It is well documented how traumatised Mooney was.

 

[steady2]

Yep likewise.

Remember that night I had trouble sleeping going over all the missed goals.

I imagine the players were feeling a hell of a lot worse than I was. It is well documented how traumatised Mooney was.

I saw an interview with Mooney a few years ago and he said something like, 'if we had won in 2008 we would never have won in 2009'. I thought about that and the sheer determination to win in '09, even though our players were hammered all season with injuries. There was an article by Leigh Mathews late in the '09 season which said something like, 'at their best Geelong are the best, but they have not been at their best all season, to win the premiership they will have to find something else to get them over the line'. How prescient that was!!

The absolute desperation, especially in that last quarter to win that game against St Kilda was extraordinary. I wondered if that will to win a flag returned in 2011. Perhaps it might be true that because of the '08 shock loss we went on and won two flags which we may not have done otherwise.

 

[Ratcat]

Three games clear now is pretty amazing at 11 and 1.
Who would've thought!

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

It's been one of the best starts of the seasons we've had and the club should be proud. What the coaches have come up with in terms of the game plan this season is fantastic, and it shows that having the personnel on the field able to carry out a plan is super important, something we just haven't had in the last 5 years. We're pretty much guaranteed finals as we only have to win two more games to have 13 wins, and we will.

There seems to be a real team unity at the moment that I haven't seen for ages. The guys are real mates and love playing together, and that makes a difference.

Let's just hope the guys can bring this form into the finals and more importantly, bring it against the best teams under finals pressure. I agree with David King that this new game plan that's winning us games even when it looks as if we might lose probably only has a year before the other clubs are fully all over it and next season others will be copying it. So anything less than a premiership this year is a waste.