I feel like posting my thoughts...

[ball]

1. A very good win in the end. I thought the cats were the better side and deserve the flag favourites tag. Collingwood scored from Geelong errors, and the Cats made a few but they are pressure related and I think the team needed the competitive hit out.

2. Positives - many.
Bombers coaching was his best for mine. Ling toweled Swan, Harley on Thomas and Mackie on Didak were big wins. Blake starting ruck didn't work out and Fraser was instrumental in the two early C'wood goals, but quickly a change was made ending with Mooney on Wakelin and Geelong scores. Corey played in position as a hard running midfielder, Gaz rested appropriately and the defence is tight and wins most 50-50s.
3. Joel Selwood is a freak. No-one his age can do what he does.
4. Mackie is playing beautifully, love his direct movement of the footy.
5. Enright has answered any Big Footy critics - bad mistake early was followed by some of the most perfect ball handling I have seen.

Negatives.
I don't like criticising players, I think mistakes are over analysed and splli second decisions are not always the right ones, except for Selwood.
But! Josh Hunt doesn't belong in the Geelong side. He doesn't put his body on the line, he worries about who is coming and he plays like a millionaire. Kingsley's departure was a big positive, the Cats are team players but I think Josh is not. Two or three times he chose not to chop off Rocca leads where Milburn, Enright, Egan, Mackie and Harley would not have a moment's hesitation. Nor would DJ or Callan. His lame effort at CHB sticks out too. A liability.
Travis Varcoe needs a spell, despite the quickest handball ever. At least Tenace gets the footy. I think Varcoe has the potential to be a star, but not enough possession at this stage and can't be relied on come finals.
Kelly - ? Puts body in but makes the wrong decision with regularity. Not a candidate for being dropeed but can improve.

Finally Geelong are a better side
with Nablett at CHF. I think good times are ahead.

 

[SJ]

I agree with most/all of that. Very well put. I'd give Hunt a go for the rest of the year, he wasn't terrible, I think there some positive signs. Apart from that, I fully agree.

Nathan Ablett and Hawkins both to play this week hopefully.

 

[finrod]

I agree Varcoe needs a spell at the moment. Not exactly suffering from leather poisoning...

 

[The rabbi]

Nathan Ablett and Hawkins both to play this week hopefully.

O.K. If the two young guns do play. Who is going to make way for Nathan to come into the side without doing diservice to the balance of the side?

 

[SJ]

O.K. If the two young guns do play. Who is going to make way for Nathan to come into the side without doing diservice to the balance of the side?

That's the $64,000 question. Can we afford to lose Varcoe in order to stretch Footscray's defence, under the roof? Grant is out again this week, Nathan got a fair bit of footy in Round 1. I think it might be worth the punt.

 

[Kittenish]

Maybe have a 5 man bench.

 

[BlueOyster]

adding my thoughts to yours, 10 thoughts for 10 straight:

1.our backline was awesome and constantly held up their run with great manning up. couldnt fault a defender today.

2.have to say i thought egan dropped crucial marks last year but this year is holding them.

3. i thought hunts ball use was great except for one delivery to the forward line and his great kicking is a bonus.

4. varcoe and maybe hawkins needs a spell. thoughts hawkins looked tired after running through the banner.

5. lings marking and competitiveness is fantastic.

6. 2 guys today who i thought took short steps or ducked their head were mackie and chapman. was a little disappointed on occasions with the.

7. blake would miss at goal if he was by himself in the goal square or possibly rush a behind just to ensure a positive result for the club

8. joel selwood = gun = boner time

9. i think the pies would look at steve johnson today and say thats how didak should play but he doesnt, his creation of somehting from nothing is just amazing and although one or 2 silly things are done during a game its forgiveable for the 10 - 15 great things he does.

10. although 85000 were there today i thought the game lacked atmosphere. maybe where i was sitting wasnt great im not sure but it seemed like a 15th v 16th battle with hardly any crowd involvment.

11 - 1000 - are joel selwood positives to be discussed in a future post....

 

[Glassjaw]

The more wildly untamed Scarlo's hair is, the better we play.

Fact.

 

[Bryceson]

That's the $64,000 question. Can we afford to lose Varcoe in order to stretch Footscray's defence, under the roof? Grant is out again this week, Nathan got a fair bit of footy in Round 1. I think it might be worth the punt.

I don't think the side will be too unbalanced if we give varcoe a rest.

 

[SJ]

I don't think the side will be too unbalanced if we give varcoe a rest.

I'd do it then, given Nathan was fit. He caused problems in Round 1, creating a target both inside and around the 50m arc. In our free-flowing wins early in the season, playing both allowed each a breather and another option up forward if one goes missing. Also, Footscray hardly has a glut of defenders...

 

[LongBomb]

10. although 85000 were there today i thought the game lacked atmosphere. maybe where i was sitting wasnt great im not sure but it seemed like a 15th v 16th battle with hardly any crowd involvment.

I thought the atmosphere was electric today.
The area I was sitting in (M55) was absolutely humming. A lot of noise and good natured banter.
Loved it.

 

[SJ]

I thought each goal was met with a massive noise. M14 was going off.

 

[Tonycam*]

Sat in the front row of the 4th level of the Ponsford, fantastic seats, really happy with them. We had Joffa just below us and I was amazed watching him, he sat there clapped when they did something good but never seemed to get excited at all. I really thought he would be one that went off. Hell I did

 

[Shell]

I thought each goal was met with a massive noise. M14 was going off.

I was in M10. Awesome, awesome atmosphere. Even though I do like the comfort of TD, nothing comes close to a packed MCG.

Great experience too for the young guys to play in front of that size crowd with a sort of 'finals like' atmosphere.

 

[Shell]

Sat in the front row of the 4th level of the Ponsford, fantastic seats, really happy with them. We had Joffa just below us and I was amazed watching him, he sat there clapped when they did something good but never seemed to get excited at all. I really thought he would be one that went off. Hell I did

Probably knew all along they were gonna lose

(Me on the other hand was having kittens, numerous times until about the 22 minute mark of the last quarter)

 

[SJ]

I was in M10. Awesome, awesome atmosphere. Even though I do like the comfort of TD, nothing comes close to a packed MCG.

Great experience too for the young guys to play in front of that size crowd with a sort of 'finals like' atmosphere.

I reckon. My voice was shot at about the 20 minute mark of the first.

 

[smelly cat]

I agree with most/all of that. Very well put. I'd give Hunt a go for the rest of the year, he wasn't terrible, I think there some positive signs. Apart from that, I fully agree.

Nathan Ablett and Hawkins both to play this week hopefully.

The Bulldogs halfback line will molest us next week if we play both Ablett and Hawkins, Gilbee, McMahon and co will run them off their feet. At the moment, there isn't room for both.

Even though he hardly touched it, we will really need varcoe's offensive pressure next week. Should be kept in the side, we need him and stokes to be chasing the bulldog defenders and keeping them accountable.

 

[SJ]

The Bulldogs halfback line will molest us next week if we play both Ablett and Hawkins, Gilbee, McMahon and co will run them off their feet. At the moment, there isn't room for both.

Even though he hardly touched it, we will really need varcoe's offensive pressure next week. Should be kept in the side, we need him and stokes to be chasing the bulldog defenders and keeping them accountable.

I realise that. At the same time, their strength may be their weakness if they can't cover our talls.

In saying that, I am all for keeping Varcoe in the side - in another thread people want him replaced by Byrnes. Varcoe to stay is fine by me.

 

[smelly cat]

I realise that. At the same time, their strength may be their weakness if they can't cover our talls.

In saying that, I am all for keeping Varcoe in the side - in another thread people want him replaced by Byrnes. Varcoe to stay is fine by me.

I hear you, but I reckon though we have enough tall options if we need them- Ablett, Mooney, Ottens, even Lingy can play tall if required. Hard to decide between Byrnes and Varcoe. On one hand, Byrnes will get more of the ball, but Varoce is the future and he did have the flu apparently this week. He should get another chance

Speaking of speedsters, I can't wait for Djerkurra to one day break into that side.......

 

[GeeCat]

Thought that, as far as individualistic efforts go, our backline today performed as well as ever before.

Scarlett was in vintage form running out and creating. I love the extra freedom he's been given with the presence (and capability) of both Egan and Harley. We know about his superb play reading and running ability, but his decision-making and disposal (which has been erratic at times) was top line stuff today. And yes, he mauled Rocca.

Harley continues to justify his position before many, I feel (in some instances, myself included - although I claim to be already converted). His hands have been vintage-Harley for the past few weeks now, and his ability to get across to contests and just generally have a real say in them (for the better part) has been great to see. He's surprised me with his ability to keep with the nimbler blokes, and his sheer presence has opened a couple more doors in our defense flexibility stakes. His decison-making and disposal are coming along slowly.

Both Mackie and Enright read the play beautifully, and made purposeful runs for most of the game. Pleasing to see Mackie continue to (gradually) commit himself to more contests, and Enright flip out some classy moments within close quarters in packs (his running back with the flight of the ball on the wing at one stage hopefully didn't go past the eyes of some of his critics).

 

[Tonycam*]

Harley continues to justify his position before many, I feel (in some instances, myself included - although I claim to be already converted). His hands have been vintage-Harley for the past few weeks now, and his ability to get across to contests and just generally have a real say in them (for the better part) has been great to see. He's surprised me with his ability to keep with the nimbler blokes, and his sheer presence has opened a couple more doors in our defense flexibility stakes. His decison-making and disposal are coming along slowly.

Full marks to Tom today , thats the best game he has played since his return to the club, He is getting better every week. I said when he first came back that I didnt think he would get back to his best but I was wrong, his game today was all class , and a real captains game. The comeback kid of the year

 

[Prismall]

I watched tommahawk closely today mainly because I had $200 on him at 12-1 to score most goals in the match, I don't think the players have the confidence to go to him, several times I noticed players up field go to another option when kicking it to Tommahawk was a very possible option, I think if Nathan was in the same position they would have the confidence to go to him.

IN- N.Ablett
OUT - T.Hawkins

its going to take time before he kicks the most goals in a match again

 

[catswhiskers]

3. i thought hunts ball use was great except for one delivery to the forward line and his great kicking is a bonus.

I agree with most things but the above. Hunt is a great exhibition kick. Under pressure he is suspect and worse his decision making is slow which reduces his options.

One classic example of his limitation was when moving a ball from defence yesterday he had two choices. One a straight forward 25m pass or a very long kick over two defenders to a geelong player on the wing. He took the safe option. A great kick would have put the ball long to a player with a paddock.

He rarely kicks in quickly because he can't make up his mind. Part of our improvement has been the speed of delivery after a point to a longer option than in the past. Milburn is great at this.

Hunt is in the same boat as Kelly - see the trade Kelly thread

 

[BlueOyster]

forgot my 11th point which was too much handball.

 

[Big Nasty]

I forgot how good Harley can be, I love the strong hands on him.