Analysis Perspective

[Catsmaninamerica]

I realise most people at this point are wanting to fire the coach and burn certain players at the stake - so time for some perspective.
Vardy
Menzel
Simpson
Johnson
Bundy
Motlop (played injured)

Add into that Frawley.

Walker showed that he might be a 2nd tall forward tonight. There are positives. Another preseason into Hartman, Thurlow, Mcarthey and co.

We are neck deep in a rebuild. And for all of that we lost by a goal. Put a fit Johnson, Bundy and Dawson into that side and we win. Let's lick our wounds, thank God we dont support StKilda or Fremantle and look forward to next year. And pray that Norf can somehow go all the way - Much sooner see them win than any of the other campaigners left.

 

[JackFlash]

The real perspective is we were fraudulent as a top 4 side this year, in reality we are only marginally better than Richmond. The Cats were very very disappointing tonight.

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

The real perspective is we were fraudulent as a top 4 side this year, in reality we are only marginally better than Richmond. The Cats were very very disappointing tonight.

no.
we made top 4 on merit. and then limped into the finals without a ruckman. without our best outside inside mid in Bundy. Without our best onballer/forward in Johnson. Without our first choice CHF all year. Without Menzel again. Without Kersten who was 2nd choice as tall forward number 2. Seriously. Get a clue man.

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

Very, very, very concerning our match committee continually play injured blokes in finals.
I know we have no other line breaker available to take Motlop's spot but Lang, Hartman or McCarthy could have played all game long and given us more than 1 tackle or 1 pressure act for the night which could have resulted in crucial turnovers.

Hindsight's a bitch but I've always believed in resting blokes who are not 100% and it's severely cost us in the 2014 final series.

hindsight is 20-20

if you dont take a risk, johnson doesnt play in 11 GF. Do we win in that scenario?

 

[JackFlash]

no.
we made top 4 on merit. and then limped into the finals without a ruckman. without our best outside inside mid in Bundy. Without our best onballer/forward in Johnson. Without our first choice CHF all year. Without Menzel again. Without Kersten who was 2nd choice as tall forward number 2. Seriously. Get a clue man.

Frauds....they won't be playing finals for a few years i reckon. Geelong are a poor performing finals team.

 

[supahoops]

Well put. Should've won tonight but wouldn't have troubled Sydney too much I feel. Really need these players to step up next year and a couple to shine if we are to challenge again -

Smedts
Bews
Hartman
Lang
Thurlow
McCarthy
Brown
Schroder

Probably wont happen.

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

if Johnson did not play, we still would have won that game given it was a 6½ goal smack down.
We also had Scarlett, Ottens, Ling, Chappy, Corey and the likes of Bartel, Lonergan, Mackie, Kelly & Stokes all in their absolute prime.

short memory Bobby. Johnson kicked goals and was hot when the game was in the balance. that final margin was not indicative of that game. Be fair dinkum mate. Johnson was a MASSIVE reason we won in 11

 

[JackFlash]

Well put. Should've won tonight but wouldn't have troubled Sydney too much I feel. Really need these players to step up next year and a couple to shine if we are to challenge again -

Smedts
Bews
Hartman
Lang
Thurlow
McCarthy
Brown
Schroder

Probably wont happen.

None of those guys will make it big.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

We've been poor in 5 of our last 6 finals appearances, that is a huge concern. I don't think our gameplan can win us a flag either it doesn't seem to work in finals.

Up until the end of last year, I still thought we had a list that could win the flag but we have played really bad as soon as finals start for 3 years in a row now. And I believe we wasted our opportunities for 2012 and 2013.

Now we have a decent list, but we need some massive improvements out of kids if we're to be serious contender in the next year or two (not the joke that loses to a shitty 6th place North)

 

[MarkCatsFan]

The story of 2014 was injuries, injuries, injuries.

The season began with Selwood missing a good chunk of preseason, Motlop going in for surgery and missing a chunk and Bundy missing half of the H&A. Plus Vardy did his ACL which hit our talls.

We seemed to somehow overcome this towards the backend and were looking promising going into finals, and then the curse hit us again. Was just not our year, we got hit at the worst times and it took its toll.

But despite all that we finished top 4, made week 2 of finals and were 2 kicks from a prelim, an amazing achievement for a developing side. We have a lot to be optimistic about, we just need to not be cursed next year, because we were this year.

 

[Rainfall]

And we resigned Kelly and Enright plays on..... Retire SJ, Lonergan this year, give Kelly 11 games, and get Enright to 300 and both retire in middle of season effective immediately. Serioisly need a hard look we cant seriously be keeping these old guys next year play them all year long and expect to make it further than another semi?

 

[ekel92]

here's my bit of perspective from the game/ year we've had an what we can expect in the future

starting with the major positives

• Josh Walker is our CHF for next year. You hear each preseason how he is second to the line behind Blicavs in the time-trials/bike sessions, the bloke has clearly got a motor. When you couple that with the clean set of dukes he has got (and ability to use them for pack marks) then he is the logical choice for 20 games next year in the one position where he can become accustomed to the firsts environment. If Vardy is going to be our forward messiah and magically becomes fully fit for round one make the bloke earn his spot via the VFL.
• Caddy has future captain material with the way he conducts himself. Hard inside, skillful outside and a down to earth demeanor in his interviews this guy is compensation enough for Gary Ablett (you can never fully get your worth back when losing a once in a generation player).
• With a hard preseason in the gym and extensive work on his skills Blicavs can be our number 2 ruckman for years to come. If you've played 30? odd games of football in your life, let alone AFL, and are already this good then I am keen to see what the future holds for the young man. Seems like a hard worker and doesn't mind laying a tackle or getting on the bottom of the pack.
• Hawkins- Best forward in the game IMO. Often stands up in finals (barring last week). Can you imagine if we had him at this age/form entering Geelongs 2007 season. Frightening.
• Motlop- Now stay with me here. This year was much of a plateau for Motlop after last years standards but you can see, being at the games, that whenever he gets the ball he is always looking for openings or ways of moving the ball fast. He does this especially from the centre forward and this puts extreme pressure on opposition defences. Hopefully, having an injury free preseason and getting back to full fitness will allow him to become a line breaking star for this team.
  
  There are plenty of other positives from the year like Duncans leadership, Guthries first half of the year, Thurlow showing glimpses etc. I'll post some of my negatives later on. Feel free to add on

 

[Cursed Cat]

• Motlop- Now stay with me here.

Don't have to convince me; when fully fit Motlop is undoubtedly a huge weapon.

 

[HoopsAhoy]

If the future is the young fellows then we needed to be getting more games into them over the last 2-3 years. Too many have languished too long in the Magoos.

 

[allrighty]

Yeah I the thing that disappoints me for the last 2+ years is we have got lots of games into some younglings, but others like e.g. Lang, Jansen, Bews, Linc, Walker, Brown get a game here or there while others get locked in or first back in - Smedts anyone? So when we get hit like the last few weeks we have to expose very promising players to depth games where they are seriously exposed.

On tonight I would tap the shoulder of Mackie and Kelly if we get Frawley.

Like I said in the game thread at least 12 of the team tonight were injured / cooked.

 

[speedybundy]

If you finish in the 4 you deserve to be there, but the fact we got there was remarkable. Still be very disappointed with tonight and last week but as I've been saying all year 2014 is not where we are planning to peak with this group. Can you name any other top 8 side that would have Varcoe or Mccarthy starting at the center bounce at times in a do or die final?

 

[Vdubs]

Very, very, very concerning our match committee continually play injured blokes in finals.
I know we have no other line breaker available to take Motlop's spot but Lang, Hartman or McCarthy could have played all game long and given us more than 1 tackle or 1 pressure act for the night which could have resulted in crucial turnovers.

Hindsight's a bitch but I've always believed in resting blokes who are not 100% and it's severely cost us in the 2014 final series.

In that case, you are left with a shell of a team, no player is anywhere near 100% from any team, particularly the ones who have been stricken with injuries in preseason.
We have done exceptionally well to finish top 6 again, which is where we deserve to be, and a great springboard for next year.
I believe CS that we will be hurting, but hell-bent on improving next year, and if we have any luck in preseason, we will be again contesting to make top 6. Expecting us to win tonight against a team with way superior depth in mf, and rucks is one thing, but thinking that we played any more injured players than our opposition is fanciful.
And you did predict a NM win, like many did, you must have thought no matter who turned up, we woud lose?

 

[Vdubs]

The story of 2014 was injuries, injuries, injuries.

The season began with Selwood missing a good chunk of preseason, Motlop going in for surgery and missing a chunk and Bundy missing half of the H&A. Plus Vardy did his ACL which hit our talls.

We seemed to somehow overcome this towards the backend and were looking promising going into finals, and then the curse hit us again. Was just not our year, we got hit at the worst times and it took its toll.

But despite all that we finished top 4, made week 2 of finals and were 2 kicks from a prelim, an amazing achievement for a developing side. We have a lot to be optimistic about, we just need to not be cursed next year, because we were this year.

That is absolutely true.
Those that miss preseason, are handicapped all year, and we just got them all year, and they are not an excuse, they are a fact, and a cause.

 

[Supercats]

Frauds....they won't be playing finals for a few years i reckon. Geelong are a poor performing finals team.

Mate, 3 flags since 07!!!!!!!! Best you find a new team to support.

 

[Supercats]

And we resigned Kelly and Enright plays on..... Retire SJ, Lonergan this year, give Kelly 11 games, and get Enright to 300 and both retire in middle of season effective immediately. Serioisly need a hard look we cant seriously be keeping these old guys next year play them all year long and expect to make it further than another semi?

U can't be serious. Who do you propose will take there spots, better who has shown they can take there spots. Who will the young kids look to and learn off. Yeah just retire them mid season and when the injuries hit what do we do then!!!! NFI

 

[Rainfall]

U can't be serious. Who do you propose will take there spots, better who has shown they can take there spots. Who will the young kids look to and learn off. Yeah just retire them mid season and when the injuries hit what do we do then!!!! NFI

Give KIDS game time, why the hell should we store these champions only to lose a qualifying next year?

 

[Vdubs]

I expected to see Motlop gather 15-20 touches and kick 1 goal while setting up a couple more as he has done this season. I did not expect him to be pulling up when his opponent received the ball. He wasn't even sprinting like we are use to seeing.
He didn't even look to be 50% healthy let alone near 100%.

Yes I predicted a North Melbourne win, their smalls was where it would be won and that was sort of the case with half their goals being scored by the likes of Ziebell, Harvey, Turner and Thomas. Too nimble for Boris, Mackie, Kelly and Rivers.

Really wonder if Boris and Kelly want to do it all again next year.

 

[Vdubs]

they have to as they have signed contract extensions until the end of 2015 haven't they?

Exactly, but they have both looked very jaded late this season, but then again, Harry was of the same appearance.

 

[Rainfall]

ekel92 how do you fit Mcintosh, blicavs, walker, kersten, vardy and hawkins in the same side? Unless Lonergan retires and one goes back

 

[Supercats]

Give KIDS game time, why the hell should we store these champions only to lose a qualifying next year?

Kids need to be up to it and also earn the opportunity, don't think we had many left considering we had 10 under 23 years tonight. So who tell me who takes there spot?