Our perceived 'poor form'

[And_ROOS]

Re: Worried About Form

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

Me thinks the latter!

Worried about what? Last time we won 7 straight we won the flag. Last time your mob did you finished 4th and didnt even make the Grand Final.

 

[geelong_boy]

Re: Worried About Form

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.

A fairly balanced post but there is no way the team is playing at its best at the moment.

 

[someday-somehow]

Re: Worried About Form

A fairly balanced post but there is no way the team is playing at its best at the moment.

A few players appear rusty at times yeah but I guess we will see how they go for the rest of the year

 

[geelong_boy]

Re: Worried About Form

A few players appear rusty at times yeah but I guess we will see how they go for the rest of the year

I think the mindset of the team/club has changed from last year.

Going into '07 the group knew that it was their last chance, either improve significantly on '06 or most of them would be gone. They were able to have great years - as you wrote in your post most had break-out years - and the club was able to end its premiership drought.

Going back to back is never easy, teams will be 'up' against us, plus the slower preparation, so they were never going to come out at full tilt this year like they did last year. We are only a third of the way through the year so this isn't the time to be playing at your best (captain obvious statement there!)

Anyway, if someone had of told me that after R7 we'd be 7-0 and not playing at our best I'd have taken it straight away.

Happy yes, but still plenty of room for improvement.

 

[Motormouse]

Re: Worried About Form

Do you think the tribute match next week will be a good or a bad thing for us seeing as we'll have 12 players that don't get a week off?

Does this mean that they'll still be match fit and stronger against the Tigers having not gone cold during the off week? or will the players that don't play rep benefit more from a week off?

I've seen club teams suffer badly in the NRL after the State of Origin matches and just hope we don't befall the same fate.

 

[someday-somehow]

Re: Worried About Form

Do you think the tribute match next week will be a good or a bad thing for us seeing as we'll have 12 players that don't get a week off?

Does this mean that they'll still be match fit and stronger against the Tigers having not gone cold during the off week? or will the players that don't play rep benefit more from a week off?

I've seen club teams suffer badly in the NRL after the State of Origin matches and just hope we don't befall the same fate.

Gaz wrote an article in the sunday HUN that basically said along the lines of as long as they still have the mid season break it really shouldn't affect them too much....but then again if there are injuries....

 

[TheYid]

Re: Worried About Form

Because the Hawks have a "gift" draw, and the Doggies look sharp, it's quite likely that if we don't lift on form we will finish 2nd or 3rd. Just compare- when we have tough games the Hawks have easy ones and the Doggies are also looking good. Finishing 3rd would be tougher for the finals, obviously.

We need to lift, and start putting more pressure on the other teams to catch up.

 

[TheYid]

Re: Worried About Form

Do you think the tribute match next week will be a good or a bad thing for us seeing as we'll have 12 players that don't get a week off?

Very bad. Will be a good help to Richmond though. They'll have more fresh legs than us and we run the risk of injury and match fatigue.

Does this mean that they'll still be match fit and stronger against the Tigers having not gone cold during the off week? or will the players that don't play rep benefit more from a week off?

I've seen club teams suffer badly in the NRL after the State of Origin matches and just hope we don't befall the same fate.

One of the reasons State of Origin was dumped in AFL is because the clubs suffered through player injury and fatigue - this is just more of the same. F*** the AFL's latest cash cow.

 

[The King!]

Re: Worried About Form

The cats havent had to play well yet, they are doing just enough to win at times it seems. Even the dockers game was won with bursts of good footy.

From what i get to see of them they are coping pretty well for a team missing ottens and egan for starters.

I think its natural for supporters of a club to look for problems and worries, but i think they are going along nicely

you shouldnt be too worried yet

 

[Vegas.]

So Geelong are winning despite playing badly, and if we played the Hawks tomorrow they would smash us. Right?

I'm not sure. The two clubs haven't played yet, so percentage would be the next best indicator of how the clubs are faring. Yet the dominant Hawks, who are supposedly playing their best footy, are behind us by 0.2%, minimal yes - but say we were level, it still doesn't indicate 'dominance' from them, or poor form from us.

The Dogs too, they have had a draw, but that evens out with our 1 point win - and we are still 8% ahead of them. Again, they are playing 'awesome footy', and we are struggling.

Thoughts?

 

[Vegas.]

Also, I am aware that statistics do not tell the full story, but scoring points yourself while not letting the opponent score any is the entire sport, be it over a season, a quarter, or a passage of play.

We have won 21 quarters, same as the Hawks, the Dogs on 19, Swans 17 and not much after that.

 

[Big Nasty]

Agree mate, I was thinking that today.
If they have been better than us then they should be on top, simple.

 

[krisholio14]

Re: Worried About Form

I think the mindset of the team/club has changed from last year.

Going into '07 the group knew that it was their last chance, either improve significantly on '06 or most of them would be gone. They were able to have great years - as you wrote in your post most had break-out years - and the club was able to end its premiership drought.

Going back to back is never easy, teams will be 'up' against us, plus the slower preparation, so they were never going to come out at full tilt this year like they did last year. We are only a third of the way through the year so this isn't the time to be playing at your best (captain obvious statement there!)

Anyway, if someone had of told me that after R7 we'd be 7-0 and not playing at our best I'd have taken it straight away.

Happy yes, but still plenty of room for improvement.

Agree with this. To be playing the way we are, and still be undefeated, tells me we are going to be hard to beat again this year. If we are still playing like this in round 22, then perhaps i'd be a little concerned, but even then, will the early 'contenders' still be maintaining their current level of play at that stage?

As far as i'm concerned, I expect us to come out after the mid year break and really start applying the blowtorch.

 

[winty]

I think that's the funny thing. It seems Hawthorn and the Dogs are playing flat out while we look like we're toying with our opponents at times, yet we are still on top of the ladder.

Heaven help the rest of the league when we start hitting our straps. Hopefully that'll be in a fortnight.

 

[Vegas.]

I think that's the funny thing. It seems Hawthorn and the Dogs are playing flat out while we look like we're toying with our opponents at times, yet we are still on top of the ladder.

Heaven help the rest of the league when we start hitting our straps. Hopefully that'll be in a fortnight.

While I agree with what you are saying here, I still won't be worried if we don't. The inclusion of Ottens (match-fit or otherwise) is worth 5 goals to us. You only have to look at what happens when we get first use of the ball from the middle - our opponents look second rate, and cannot do anything to stop it. Ottens gives us that more often than not.

 

[TGTOA]

A few points

First, probably the most worrying aspect is our starts. We've been down 3-4 goals early in games several times now. In a few cases, but for our opponent's inaccuracy, we could have been further behind. We've been a bit lucky that our opponent's haven't translated their dominance of periods of the game to the scoreboard. If we do that against better teams, they will make us pay.

Second, our percentage has been inflated by a couple of last quarter blowouts in what had been tight games. The scoreboard hasn't been a true reflection of how much we were challenged in quite a few cases.

There's upside and downside to all of this. The upside is that despite being outplayed for large portions of games, we've been able to win (and usually win well). That's a testament to our strong defence and our ability to score quickly when we get on a roll. That gives the team a lot of confidence that they can get themselves out of tight situations. The downside is that it can lead to complacency. If you can play ordinary football for long periods of time and still win, why lift your game? But if that's the type of attitude that develops, you'll eventually get yourself into a tight spot you can't get out of. If that's going to happen, better that it happen sooner rather than later.

On the whole I'm not too concerned. Yes other teams have been able to get the better of us for large parts of games, but we've still found a way to win. We'll probably see a bit of this through the year, since we're now the hunted and every team will come out hard against us. But few if any will be able to go the distance, and even if we seem to be struggling at times, there will be very few teams out there who will be able to maintain the level of intensity required for a full match. IMO, that's why we've seen a few final quarter blowouts in tight matches.

 

[Vegas.]

I know what you're saying re: inflated percentage, but the Hawks have been SO 'dominant' and us SO flat that it is beyond belief that we are indeed above them.

All the articles coming out of the club are in relation to 'playing four quarters' etc. and while it's easy to say that, I'm pretty sure the boys believe it. The thing about having the core playing group together for so long is that they have been up and down together, and they were sick of mediocrity. I don't think complacency has set in, I don't see it.

 

[dmc82]

2007 PF to 2007 GF, shows how quickly we can turn it around... and if our down side is a close win, then all is fine

 

[year of the cat]

I think you will find that the hawks will be equally as "hunted" in the second half of the season as us. Much time will be put into analysing the "Clarkson cluster" and how to best break it down.

I'm not at all worried. Infact its great that there is a legitimate contender.

 

[krisholio14]

A few points

First, probably the most worrying aspect is our starts. We've been down 3-4 goals early in games several times now. In a few cases, but for our opponent's inaccuracy, we could have been further behind. We've been a bit lucky that our opponent's haven't translated their dominance of periods of the game to the scoreboard. If we do that against better teams, they will make us pay.

Second, our percentage has been inflated by a couple of last quarter blowouts in what had been tight games. The scoreboard hasn't been a true reflection of how much we were challenged in quite a few cases.

There's upside and downside to all of this. The upside is that despite being outplayed for large portions of games, we've been able to win (and usually win well). That's a testament to our strong defence and our ability to score quickly when we get on a roll. That gives the team a lot of confidence that they can get themselves out of tight situations. The downside is that it can lead to complacency. If you can play ordinary football for long periods of time and still win, why lift your game? But if that's the type of attitude that develops, you'll eventually get yourself into a tight spot you can't get out of. If that's going to happen, better that it happen sooner rather than later.

On the whole I'm not too concerned. Yes other teams have been able to get the better of us for large parts of games, but we've still found a way to win. We'll probably see a bit of this through the year, since we're now the hunted and every team will come out hard against us. But few if any will be able to go the distance, and even if we seem to be struggling at times, there will be very few teams out there who will be able to maintain the level of intensity required for a full match. IMO, that's why we've seen a few final quarter blowouts in tight matches.

Exactly. Last year our MO was to come out and bury sides in that first quarter. The opposition has had 6 months to try to counteract that, and are coming out early and applying intense physical pressure and what they are finding is that while it may keep the scores a bit closer over the course of the match, come the last stanza, there is nothing left in the tank.

 

[CATS CLAWS]

Its astonishing were playing average and still winning. Be aware all opposition supporters when we click in to top gear all I can say is GOOD LUCK. We should be happy that our boys are winning and never give up under pressure.

Dont worry im sure they will hit top gear soon. They just getting reved up

 

[burto]

teams realise the only way to come close to us is by a massive amount of defense pressure in our back line to stop guys like mackie and scarlett running straight down the middle.

hopefully we keep learning new ways to counter it. but the fact is we are that far ahead of the rest of the comp it isn't funny

 

[Rosso]

Add to that the fact that we started training a fair while after the Doggies and a few weeks after the Hawks. The fitness staff at the club said don't expect miracles early cause the players would be worked hard through the start of the season so that they would be fresh come the business end of the year.

Otto and Ego are yet to play, both played big parts in our success last year and when they are ready we will improve as a team. Plus in the 7 rounds played to date we have played 3 debutants and had another 1 game veteran get some more AFL matches under his belt as well.

To be 7 zip at the moment is a massive achievement and if it wasn't for the performance of the doggies & the hawks it would be talked about a lot more. You don't usually have 3 sides undefeated after 7 rounds.

 

[Rubberducky]

It's not poor form by AFL standards at the present, just by the standards that we set for ourselves late last year... If we've got the preseason right then by all reports we'll be hitting our straps late in the year...

As mentioned Otto and Ego are out, we've blooded young players, found a settled Harry who isn't Egan but is doing enough to not cost us games to have him play full games on important players.

Our midfield rotations have seen more of Stokes and Chappy in the middle and less of Jimmy and Corey... Kelly, Stokes and Sellwood would all be top 5 in the B&F right now in my opinion...

The signs are good, I actually think our 14th-24th best players have gotten better in 2008 (I guess that includes harry and gamble who had to improve), whilst I think last years top players are below what we saw at their best last year... I think we'll see players like Prismall, Davenport, Varcoe etc get chances when players need that week or 2 extra late in the year to be ready for the finals, 22 regular rounds and then finals...

I'd rather read about the Hawks and Dogs being better than us this year and be able to smile that we really do have a lot left to prove and on top of that we really do have a lot of improvement to come this year...

 

[Copernicus]

We're 7-0 and I'm still not worried. Bugger the worrywarts who think we're not travelling well. This break could well be the tonic, even though we'll have a few blokes playing. Give the others in the team a week off to get a bit of rest into their legs and we've got our bitches on the other side of the game.

Nah, we're set.