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- Geelong
So after another good season followed by a hugely disappointing finals series the opinions around here seem to be that we're not much of a chance for the flag in 2018. Some people have suggested that we're now going into a rebuild and not really targeting a flag next year. In my opinion that couldn't be further from the truth. You don't pick up so many mature aged players just to start again after a couple of years. So where could the improvement come from?
I think there are 5 big areas of improvement we can look at.
1. Gary Ablett
Yeah it's not exactly rocket science to suggest that bringing in arguably the best player of all time could be a source of improvement. Yes he turns 34 next year but he won the GC B&F as well as polling 14 brownlow votes in just 14 games. Can anyone really imagine a situation where he's fit for most of the year but isn't in our best 5 players next year? Just need to get the trade finalised...
2. Players having breakout years.
This year it was Duncan who went from top 10 player showing promise of more to being elite. Ridiculous that he was overlooked for even the AA squad. The question is who can we get to do the same next year? The one I'm looking at is Cam Guthrie. Looked ready to break out majorly last year but then struggled with form and changing roles in the second half of 2016 and much of 2017. Looked to have rediscovered his groove late this year and his form somewhat follows Duncan's prior to this year. Other players possibly in this category are Blicavs and Menegola.
3. Young players having an impact.
Mainly because of injury we got practically nothing out of McCarthy, Cockatoo, Lang, Gregson and Thurlow in 2017 despite all of them showing previously that they have talent to be at least good AFL players. Thinking they can all have much improved years is optimistic and we don't need them to be brilliant but if 3 of these 5 can perform consistently and be locks in our best 22 then we'll be much improved. This year we were carrying a couple of kids giving us little impact most weeks. These guys would make our bottom 6 much stronger.
4. Forward structure and Taylor back in defence
Taylor threatened to become a genuine key forward at times in 2017 but he ended up being thrown all over the place and couldn't get any consistency. With Lonergan out Taylor will go back to defence and that should hopefully lead to him having a much more consistent year. We found a great forward structure with Dangerfield playing out of the goal square in the last 2 finals but the question marks were over our midfield without him. Would anyone really doubt a starting midfield with J. Selwood, Ablett and Duncan? I'd be playing Dangerfield forward for a lot of the year with Ablett also resting forward at times.
5. Composure in finals
For mine this is the big one. We were good enough to win the flag this year but in the first final we shat the bed in an epic way. The fact that we looked like over-running Richmond half way through the 3rd quarter despite being truly woeful shows it wasn't our overall ability that was lacking. We just didn't turn up on the day. The Sydney final was a huge step in the right direction. I even thought the Adelaide game wasn't so much about being overcome by the moment (dropping basic marks and continually fumbling like against Richmond) but having an off night with our skills which played into Adelaide's strengths and being punished by one of the most efficient rebounding performances you'll ever see. Basically whatever happens in the H&A season will be irrelevant. We could go 22-0 and have proved absolutely nothing. Will the increased maturity and finals experience of the group lead to a better performance come seasons end? For mine that is by far the biggest question that Geelong needs to answer to be a flag chance next year.
So are these likely to happen? If so what are our chances of going all the way?
I think there are 5 big areas of improvement we can look at.
1. Gary Ablett
Yeah it's not exactly rocket science to suggest that bringing in arguably the best player of all time could be a source of improvement. Yes he turns 34 next year but he won the GC B&F as well as polling 14 brownlow votes in just 14 games. Can anyone really imagine a situation where he's fit for most of the year but isn't in our best 5 players next year? Just need to get the trade finalised...
2. Players having breakout years.
This year it was Duncan who went from top 10 player showing promise of more to being elite. Ridiculous that he was overlooked for even the AA squad. The question is who can we get to do the same next year? The one I'm looking at is Cam Guthrie. Looked ready to break out majorly last year but then struggled with form and changing roles in the second half of 2016 and much of 2017. Looked to have rediscovered his groove late this year and his form somewhat follows Duncan's prior to this year. Other players possibly in this category are Blicavs and Menegola.
3. Young players having an impact.
Mainly because of injury we got practically nothing out of McCarthy, Cockatoo, Lang, Gregson and Thurlow in 2017 despite all of them showing previously that they have talent to be at least good AFL players. Thinking they can all have much improved years is optimistic and we don't need them to be brilliant but if 3 of these 5 can perform consistently and be locks in our best 22 then we'll be much improved. This year we were carrying a couple of kids giving us little impact most weeks. These guys would make our bottom 6 much stronger.
4. Forward structure and Taylor back in defence
Taylor threatened to become a genuine key forward at times in 2017 but he ended up being thrown all over the place and couldn't get any consistency. With Lonergan out Taylor will go back to defence and that should hopefully lead to him having a much more consistent year. We found a great forward structure with Dangerfield playing out of the goal square in the last 2 finals but the question marks were over our midfield without him. Would anyone really doubt a starting midfield with J. Selwood, Ablett and Duncan? I'd be playing Dangerfield forward for a lot of the year with Ablett also resting forward at times.
5. Composure in finals
For mine this is the big one. We were good enough to win the flag this year but in the first final we shat the bed in an epic way. The fact that we looked like over-running Richmond half way through the 3rd quarter despite being truly woeful shows it wasn't our overall ability that was lacking. We just didn't turn up on the day. The Sydney final was a huge step in the right direction. I even thought the Adelaide game wasn't so much about being overcome by the moment (dropping basic marks and continually fumbling like against Richmond) but having an off night with our skills which played into Adelaide's strengths and being punished by one of the most efficient rebounding performances you'll ever see. Basically whatever happens in the H&A season will be irrelevant. We could go 22-0 and have proved absolutely nothing. Will the increased maturity and finals experience of the group lead to a better performance come seasons end? For mine that is by far the biggest question that Geelong needs to answer to be a flag chance next year.
So are these likely to happen? If so what are our chances of going all the way?
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