Jonathon Ceglar smokey to play finals this year

[Jumping Jack]

Stanley has looked sore the last few weeks. They’ve eased his training load right back to nurse him through.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Ceglar played as soon as this week. Not sure they’ll both play together too often and in terms of preferred ruck, it will largely depend on who we’re coming up against.

As a few have said, it’s good to have a battle hardened experienced player like Ceglar ready when needed. Footy serves up plenty of surprises, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Ceglar had a premiership medal in a few months.


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[cats_09]

Stanley has looked sore the last few weeks. They’ve eased his training load right back to nurse him through.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Ceglar played as soon as this week. Not sure they’ll both play together too often and in terms of preferred ruck, it will largely depend on who we’re coming up against.

As a few have said, it’s good to have a battle hardened experienced player like Ceglar ready when needed. Footy serves up plenty of surprises, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Ceglar had a premiership medal in a few months.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Ceglar just played his first full match this season - doubt he'd be close to being ready to play senior football off the back of a solitary match, and think he'd need a few more weeks under his belt to build match fitness first

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Given Stanley's erratic track record, I definitely would have liked to have played Ceglar earlier in the season if he'd been available in order to get a sense of whether he was an upgrade in what has been a long-term problem position for us. But I honestly think it's too late in the season to risk our cohesion now given that we're pushing for a flag and Rhys' form is decent enough. Bringing Ceglar would require either tipping Stanley out in favour of someone who hasn't proven he's better, or playing the two of them together, which would be a massive change to our structure. Can't see it happening.

If ceglar had been fit earlier in the year i would have given him 4-5 weeks at afl and i reckon he would have been better than stanley. But its too late now i agree the other issue is stanley is a confidence player so if you drop him for ceglar the last 3 or 4 weeks then you decide to switch back to rhys coming in cold in a final i doubt he plays well in that scenario. So for me beyond giving ceglar a game to rest rhys its too late fot that now. But its good that we have a capable backup for finals if we need it.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Ceglar just played his first full match this season - doubt he'd be close to being ready to play senior football off the back of a solitary match, and think he'd need a few more weeks under his belt to build match fitness first

I dont think ceglar would play this week but it wont surprise me if he plays the port game the week after and stanley doesnt travel..stanley played really well thursday night but i have no doubt he is still carrying that ankle and we dont want to cook him before finals so we should rest him when we think we can.

 

[D BRIDGE]

I do like the idea that we are making player fitness and priority.
If Stanley needs a rest, rest him and play Cegs when they deem needed.
Let's hit the finals with a list ready to smash it.
No point limping to the line, we have failed enough in finals for CS to understand what needs to be done.

 

[thecatattack]

Brad Ottens

Brad Ottens

Age

44

Ht

202cm

Wt

106kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

6.3

4star

CL

2.7

4star

HO

16.9

5star

No current season stats available

D

7.6

2star

K

4.0

2star

HB

3.6

3star

HO

7.4

5star

seemed to imply we'd be seeing him in the side pretty soon, so maybe.

 

[Generalissimo]

He is better than he was, but is still liable to cop a bit of a pasting.

Stanley will lose the hitout count to the likes of Gawn, Goldstein, and Grundy but he's become better at not letting them hit to advantage. Same with Blicavs. Our midfielders' better attack on the footy helps with that, of course. But he and Blicavs are a lot quicker than most ruckmen and have elite endurance; the longer the game goes on the more you see them turning up all over the place to provide another marking option, or close down a zone, while their red-faced puffing opponent lumbers along behind. This was a big part of our last quarter fightbacks against Richmond and Melbourne.

Cameron occasionally wandering into the midfield allows either Rhys or Blitz to run forward, force the oppo ruckman to quickly follow him, and tire him out a bit. Both can take contested marks inside 50, so the threat cannot be ignored.

I'm also liking that Stanley doesn't shirk the physical contests as much these days. In previous seasons he'd have one game where he was a bit timid, then follow it up with a game where he was seemingly on the aggro pills. He's a bit more balanced and consistent this year.

 

[you pick one]

Brad Ottens seemed to imply we'd be seeing him in the side pretty soon, so maybe.

Where did you see or hear that?

 

[thecatattack]

Where did you see or hear that?

He was on the Geelong Cats podcast this week and they discussed our ruck situation.

 

[dazbroncos]

I've just read two articles from our VFL clash, and both list Conway as concussed

So he'll miss next week, the week after is another bye (WTF) and that equates to not seeing him again until August

which makes him a viable AFL debut as cover for a ruck almost impossible IMO.

GO Catters

 

[CatRiot]

Stanley's best is better than Ceglar's.
Both are mid-tier Rucks at AFL level.
Both can be inconsistent.
Just good to have both fit come Finals end of season.

Whoever plays, will share duties with the Blitz. Play Blitz all over the ground, mess up opposition structures. Defence, Mid, Ruck, Wing.

 

[you pick one]

which makes him a viable AFL debut as cover for a ruck almost impossible IMO.

GO Catters

Big collision every chance he'd have missed 2 weeks anyway just hope he's right to resume after that.

 

[catscratchfever]

It’s Geelong’s ruck situation, the most broken part about the team for the whole decade.

He is better than he was, but is still liable to cop a bit of a pasting.

Can’t play Ceglar with his limited preparation, but he’s a reasonable back-up if things go pear-shaped. Rhys has been more than competitive lately but, true, the ruck has been our #1 problem for years. Beats me why the problem hasn’t been totally solved after all this time.

Rhys is very able at his best. Let’s see how he goes for the rest of the H&A.

 

[Lingsface]

Stanley’s weekend effort was good enough to buy him some weeks, Ceglar is a better footballer if he can get fit we have to try him.

 

[you pick one]

I don't get why people think it has to be one or the other.

 

[Lana]

I don't get why people think it has to be one or the other.

Nothing against either of them, but having Blicavs as the 2nd ruckmen gives us a rotation advantage against a team running a traditional setup

 

[iameviljez]

I don't get why people think it has to be one or the other.

Because there is no obvious role for the non-rucking player now that Cameron is in the team.

 

[Lana]

Because there is no obvious role for the non-rucking player now that Cameron is in the team.

Wouldn't bother me letting Cameron play that Lynch (adel) / late career Pods role just causing a general nuisance for the opposition defence between the arcs.

 

[Reppie]

Has he done anything to earn a game?
Haven't seen him at all this year.

 

[calder_daddy]

Ceglar and Stanley to rotate between deep forward and ruck
Stretches defenses straight up. Stops hawk getting double teamed.
I like it

 

[iameviljez]

Wouldn't bother me letting Cameron play that Lynch (adel) / late career Pods role just causing a general nuisance for the opposition defence between the arcs.

Our forward setup is the best in the comp. Last thing I want is to compromise that for two average ruckmen

 

[Warhorse]

Seems to become a better player the less he plays. Ceglar is s**t. There is a reason hawthorn wanted him off there list and were happy to pay part of his salary.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Seems to become a better player the less he plays. Ceglar is s**t. There is a reason hawthorn wanted him off there list and were happy to pay part of his salary.

It was called they are rebuilding and he is 31.
Hes a good player.

 

[Lana]

Our forward setup is the best in the comp. Last thing I want is to compromise that for two average ruckmen

Could be the best, definitely isn't perfect.

There are quite a few trade offs and contingency planning that the MC will have to fight over between now and the finals.

I'd want to try the 2 ruckmen setup if only to protect Stanley between now and finals.

I'd also like to trial a setup that would mirror what we'd face in a final if we were being well beaten in the territory battle.

 

[standupand]

Depending on the weather, we could always try keeping all our rucks on the sidelines for a QF?