Our perceived 'poor form'

[Brasil2007]

Re: Worried About Form

I reckon that's a little unfair on the Dockers. They played out of their skins last night with their two most important players, Pav and Lurch having blinders. I believe that last night's match is the first we've had this year when a side has been primed to have a shot at 'the reigning premier'. I don't think it will be the last either.

btw, How good were the Joels? Sensational my fellow Catters!

regards,

REB

Spot on, the Dockers effort and gameplan was first rate. A few teams have taken to us with that gameplan (notably the Pies) but the execution last night was a mile better than any other team have done it. Most teams don't even seem to have a gameplan let alone be able to execute it.

 

[Rosso]

Re: Worried About Form

Lets just back the truck up a little. Has anyone else watched Freo play this season apart from Friday night?

Their form has been below average at best (not including the Tigers game where they were much worse) but they certainly looked like a different outfit last night playing hard, fast and tough (albeit perhaps beyond the rules). If they played like that for the rest of the year they win most of their games.

Geelong on the other hand kicked in half an hour of polish and went through the motions for the rest of the match, probably for a variety of reasons. A hard slog against the Swans last week combined with playing on the biggest ground in the comp against a side that played some pretty good footy.

We got the points. Same as the match against Port and to a lesser extent the Dees & Swans. If most of you are hoping for a 4 qtr effort similar to the last 8 minutes of the second term then forget it. If that was the case we'd beat every side by 200 points week in week out. The thing that comes out of this game is that we can win from anywhere and that leads to opposition sides being worried no matter how far in front they are. The song was sung loud & proud at the end of the match and the team will take more out of winning like that rather than if they had won by ten goals.

 

[Kent_Kingsley]

Re: Worried About Form

we've been starting poorly...demons, saints and freo all jumped us early. freo quite badly and saints couldve been worse if theyd kicked straighter.

the reason for this? laziness and a lack of mental application id say, maybe even arrogance. but whatever the reason it needs to be rectified because one of these days we arent going to claw our way back.

 

[Mean Muggin]

Re: Worried About Form

Is this thread Worried about form...or is it meant to be Worried About the Hawks?

Me thinks the latter!

 

[The King!]

Re: Worried About Form

u know things are going well when you worry about form when the team is yet to lose a game

 

[Baby Duck]

Re: Worried About Form

Is this thread Worried about form...or is it meant to be Worried About the Hawks?

Me thinks the latter!

*sigh*

Go back to your sandpit you lightweight.

 

[Brasil2007]

Re: Worried About Form

Lets just back the truck up a little. Has anyone else watched Freo play this season apart from Friday night?

Their form has been below average at best (not including the Tigers game where they were much worse) but they certainly looked like a different outfit last night playing hard, fast and tough (albeit perhaps beyond the rules). If they played like that for the rest of the year they win most of their games.

I thought they were good for most of last week against Adelaide. They were OK in the derby too.

 

[Last Line Hero]

Re: Worried About Form

What is the point in flying at Round 6?

We aren't putting 4 quarters together right now, which we need to improve, but we are still winning games.

Let's not start expecting our side to domiante teams every week and win by 10 goals, because it won't work like that.

Not worried in the slightest!

 

[cancat]

Re: Worried About Form

To quote Ian Holloway

"To put it in gentleman's terms if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She weren't the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee"

 

[candiehappy]

Re: Worried About Form

Were we supporters a bit spoilt last year? There was a time we would have been ecstatic that the team didn't just fold, but kept at the game plan and came back to win. It was a great win - Otto (and others) out, a number of players down, Sandilands played his best game ever.
It's just great that we are gathering the 4 points still putting the form together.

 

[Duskfire]

Re: Worried About Form

What is the point in flying at Round 6?

We aren't putting 4 quarters together right now, which we need to improve, but we are still winning games.

Let's not start expecting our side to domiante teams every week and win by 10 goals, because it won't work like that.

Not worried in the slightest!

But its not about dominating or kicking huge bags of goals. Its the fact that pretty much the majority of the team goes missing for entire quarters. In the third quarter against the Dockers, it looked like we weren't there. I am expecting the Cats to at least play reasonable football for the majority of the game, as opposed to horrible one quarter and then blistering the next. Thats a recipe for disaster right there.

 

[cat in sydney]

Re: Worried About Form

Never fear, fellow Cat fans.

We just have to wait until our annual kickstart game.
Last year it came in Rd6, this year it's Rd8.
While the Tigers are playing a lot better this year, it is still a game that will click us into gear nicely.

 

[TEDDY24INC]

Re: Worried About Form

I'm really worried...

we have been playing shit and we are 6-0...

Trembling...

Agreed

 

[Last Line Hero]

Re: Worried About Form

But its not about dominating or kicking huge bags of goals. Its the fact that pretty much the majority of the team goes missing for entire quarters. In the third quarter against the Dockers, it looked like we weren't there. I am expecting the Cats to at least play reasonable football for the majority of the game, as opposed to horrible one quarter and then blistering the next. Thats a recipe for disaster right there.

That's why I said we need to improve our peformance over 4 quarters.

But my point is you'd rather have things to work on now and know where you need to improve early, so that come the importnat stage of the year you will have hopefully worked out those chinks in the armour.

What we don't want is to be dominating now and come the business end we start to hit a few hurdles.

It's the mark of a good side that we can play not to our best and still win. We are beatable no doubt, but the fact is we are going to get better which is scary for the rest of the competition.

 

[Motormouse]

Re: Worried About Form

The thing that stands out for me is that there seems to be a consensus that the way to take us down ATM is to keep the ball away from us by a) Winning the rucks and b) Winning the contested balls. You can't run with it if you don't have it.

So far it hasn't resulted in a win, but v. Swans, Port and Freo they won the wrestling match but couldn't sustain the pressure long enough to contain us for the full game. Is it our fitness levels that are seeing us through when they take the foot off the gas?

The other point to consider is that there's no point flirting with injury by stepping out at 100% for 100 minutes. Whilst this would boost percentages, it does nothing for the later games when we must substitute no.1 players for no.2's.

I'm not worried about form this early, but my adrenaline and heartrate race during the closer games.

There's a plan there....even if we don't see it.

 

[krisholio14]

Re: Worried About Form

Nothing to worry about lads. Why show all of your cards 6 weeks into the season?

It's blatantly obvious to me that we are playing well within ourselves, and I have absolutely no doubt that come July/August/September, we will be cherry ripe.

Isn't it funny how 12 months ago we would all have been pitching a tent over the way we are going right now, however the form in that 12 months has raised our expectations to such a high (unrealisticaly high in a lot of cases) that people are suggesting we are out of form!

It's not like when the Eagles started out 6-0 last year then fell away. You could see the cracks already starting to appear at that stage and they have totally fallen apart since then (in fact they are 10-15 over that period while we are 25-1). I'm even more pleased to say we started the rot in round 7 last year

 

[SriLankanCat]

Re: Worried About Form

A classic example of expectations being a lot higher

My only concern is the guys getting cocky...i dont want them to have a loss this year as i wanna be the first team in history to go undefeated...a long long way to go before that happens though

 

[Matt Murder]

Re: Worried About Form

You guys weren't in the best form at the start of the 07 season either.

 

[FreakShow20]

Re: Worried About Form

Not worried, but l sense a loss or 2 is just around the corner if we play like we have been. You can only play like this for so long, then somebody will get you.

 

[carntheroos4eva]

Re: Worried About Form

Personally I'm enjoying the close matches and the tight contests. With some key players to come back (Ottens & Egan), we will get better. Plus we've blooding some lesser lights. For example playing Harry Taylor on Pavlich might have given Freo a big advantage, but in the long term it will be great for Taylor's development. We've got some credit - let's spend it.

THe only thing is that I can see is that you don't want to have too many close games. You guys could lose next time, causing everyone who has tipped your team to stress out.

 

[forrrestGump]

Re: Worried About Form

they will smash the lions this week
mummy will have a ripper
and the mids will have plus 30+ possies games

this will be the game where they kick heaps in the first quarter

 

[darren forssman]

Re: Worried About Form

they will smash the lions this week
mummy will have a ripper
and the mids will have plus 30+ possies games

this will be the game where they kick heaps in the first quarter

will we be able to get a 1st rounder at the end of the season for him like prismall, what with all the hype he is getting?

 

[HouseCat]

Re: Worried About Form

I know we're undefeated thus far, and its too early to speak of doom and gloom, but is anyone else worried about our form? Except for maybe the Essendon game, the Cats only show up for a quarter or two. Port and Sydney managed to catch up after we had gained a good lead in those games; Dockers, St Kilda and Melbourne all got good leads on us which the players managed to whitle away by playing half a quarter.

I know its strange because we are still winning, but playing this type of football, one has to wonder if we can continue to win?

Don't stress to much mate. I would be Sh*#ing myself if i was a Hawks fan right now. There playing at 100% at the moment and have only one way to go and thats down. (for all you people who didn't know) As the Mighty Cats are playing at 65/80% sure we might lose a game or two by the main thing is that come the Big GFday the Cats are up and at em at 100%. Even 90% i would be happy with. Because as all cat fans know theres no team in the AFL that can beat Geelong even when playing at 90% let alone 100%.... 07/08/09 Years Of The Cat!!!

 

[someday-somehow]

Re: Worried About Form

Don't stress to much mate. I would be Sh*#ing myself if i was a Hawks fan right now. There playing at 100% at the moment and have only one way to go and thats down. (for all you people who didn't know) As the Mighty Cats are playing at 65/80% sure we might lose a game or two by the main thing is that come the Big GFday the Cats are up and at em at 100%. Even 90% i would be happy with. Because as all cat fans know theres no team in the AFL that can beat Geelong even when playing at 90% let alone 100%.... 07/08/09 Years Of The Cat!!!

While it's great to be optimistic I would suggest that everyone on this board needs to take a chill pill. I personally believe that 07 was a freak year and I don't think we are going to see our great team blow the opposition away every week like we saw last year.
We had about 20 players have their best season last year and expecting that to happen this year as well is going over the top. Our game plan has been studied and scrutinised and as Bomber has pointed out the team have to evolve to counter the tactics designed to stop the gameplan that was so successfull for the cats last year.

Hawthorn has a gameplan that uses "clarksons cluster', this is designed to stop opposition teams from creating run and carry play from half back - this is exactly why we were so successfull last year and created so many scoring oppurtunities. I don't think Mooney is all that good a forward but he was gifted so many oppurtunities last year and was good enough to capitalise from that ( as well as having exceptionally talented small forwards).

I guess what I am saying is I think the cats are performing near their peak now, I think they will improve further as the year progresses but I don't think we will see too many games with us smashing the opposition like we did last year. Pencilling in the flag for the next 2 years based on what the cats did last year is just leaving yourself open for dissapointment.

 

[clintboy]

Re: Worried About Form

all we have to worry about is making top 4 then playing at our best in the finals....we'll have gaz back next game, big otto will make a big difference when he's back...big toma is getting better and better...(if you're reading this Tom Hawkins, HAVE A SHOT IF IN RANGE SON....you don't have to be so unselfish all the time....it's actually to the detriment to us at times....have a shot, you can kick them from 60 and you're a forward so have a ping...stokesy, gaz or chappy will be there to crumb if it comes off a pack in the square)....we've got the priz racking up 42 touches in the vfl knocking on the door....it's all good people.....we're far from our best and are undefeated....what's that say about us?? I say let's keep it steady and peak towards the end of the season....these close ones are good for our character too...it's showing we can turn it on when the chips are down.