Autopsy Port Downs Cats by 38

[BotsMaster]

Even the missed tackle was overdone. Bowes was just standing there and could have lent a hand. He just stood there. I was more annoyed with him.

Yeah the fact no one helped in that situation was infuriating. Hopefully it's brought up in the Monday review.

 

[Sttew]

Had we drawn that GF, Dipper would not have played the repeat GF.

Or Platten and Steve Hocking

 

[Finknottle]

Yep. Scott getting annoyed at the 3 quarter time huddle should save some annoyance for himself. Season on the line, interstate away game against 2nd on ladder and gos in without a ruck.

At 3 quarter time Scott gave Cameron some encouragement and a pat on the back. It was obvious that Cameron was feeling frustrated about his poor form. It didn't make any difference, Cameron went chasing the ball and hardly touched it. He might be injured or down on confidence. I doubt the latter.

 

[Finknottle]

So how bad is Ceglar's injury? Gawn and Grundy next Thursday night. Might be a job for the Battered Sav.

 

[Vdubs]

At 3 quarter time Scott gave Cameron some encouragement and a pat on the back. It was obvious that Cameron was feeling frustrated about his poor form. It didn't make any difference, Cameron went chasing the ball and hardly touched it. He might be injured or down on confidence. I doubt the latter.

Not sure- he is human after all.
I wonder if our late start to the season, and compromised fitness is catching up on the whole group as we hit mid winter.

 

[Vdubs]

So how bad is Ceglar's injury? Gawn and Grundy next Thursday night. Might be a job for the Battered Sav.

Stanley more likely, after some VFL time this week?

 

[Finknottle]

I thought he used the ball horribly and made some really ugly and costly mistakes. He got a lot of it and the intent was there, but too many * ups.

Yes very rusty. At one stage he was pushing the ball in front of him but couldn't pick it up and Blicavs came in and picked it up instead.

 

[Strange Cat]

So how bad is Ceglar's injury? Gawn and Grundy next Thursday night. Might be a job for the Battered Sav.

Go with Chucky again

 

[And_ROOS]

I've heard of cretins celebrating injuries before, but this is probably a new low for it.

Typical pure blood (aka inbred) cooker behaviour. He would have his vaccines from his childhood.

Seems he is also upset because news.com.au ran a story in Jan that he is looking for an inbred, sorry, "pure blood" partner.

May his balls forever remain full and his life remain childless.

And may this campaigner wake up each morning and step on lego.

 

[Catsace]

Have we ever had a captain play fewer games? He’s played 9 games this year and will be lucky to get to around 14.

Turner, Yeates and Colbert i think may all have missed a season as skipper due to knee, achilles and knee respectively, and i also think Stoneham could have been in that boat in 1995.

 

[catstragic]

Just don't have a competitive midfield right now, we managed to cover it against the dogs but without a dedicated ruck this week we got caught short, especially losing Braun and Danger early.

 

[goyoucatters]

Just don't have a competitive midfield right now, we managed to cover it against the dogs but without a dedicated ruck this week we got caught short, especially losing Braun and Danger early.

 

[gogeelongcats]

No ruck obviously killed us, I rate Blitz highly as a mid and is such a waste as a ruck. Those giving stick to Bowes need to remember we only got him so we could get our hands on Clark, the money he’s on now will be transferred to Clark when Bowes is delisted. Knevitt should’ve been playing and I hope we don’t ruin his confidence after dumping him when he’s just played his best game for the club. And on Narkle the little grub, how good are people at lip reading? It was obvious what he said after he kicked that goal and grabbed his jumper like he’s a Power veteran of 200 games. Just play the kids now, we don’t have the spark to do any damage this year that’s a given.


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he left because we would not play him. For some reason he has lost 11kg and has zip we new he had. Maybe we are to blame to a certain extent.

 

[Mr Meow]

FWIW I should have also mentioned I do also think our defence has been s**t, whilst the lack of pressure up field isn't helping they are zoning off too much and then losing too many 1 on 1s when called on for it... I thought that they started to turn the corner against the Dogs in the 2nd half but a long way off where we were 12 months ago

There were whispers the defence looked much more settled without Sav, despite the Bulldogs having 30 shots on goal (4 OOF). With a few midfielders back a week later we remained easy to score against, albeit Port started with terrible conversion and then tidied it up for the last 2 and a bit quarters. I believe they were 3.8 late in the second and then 12.9 at 3QT. If sides have their kicking boots on we are lambs to the slaughter this season.

 

[Mr Meow]

Season is looking pretty much done. We can hope to squeeze into the 8 and pray we can do something remarkable but that seems very unlikely.

The season though hasnt been a complete waste getting games and seeing improvement with Knevitt, Bruhn and others.

Games into kids while not getting 100 point thrashings is a positive. The remaining games are important for Cameron to return to form, players like Stengle, Close and Holmes to sort out their inconsistencies and maybe a send off for a couple. Bruhn, if available, and O.Henry can keep building. And maybe we give Bowes a block of games to see just what he has going forward.

With 6 at home remaining we can't write the season off completely, fans turning up deserve to see the Cats give it all they have. Winning 4 of the next 6 would give us a 10-9 record, requiring 3 of the last 4. Any team can be beaten on a given day, Geelong at their best last night could have given it a good shake.

 

[STPer18]

There were whispers the defence looked much more settled without Sav, despite the Bulldogs having 30 shots on goal (4 OOF). With a few midfielders back a week later we remained easy to score against, albeit Port started with terrible conversion and then tidied it up for the last 2 and a bit quarters. I believe they were 3.8 late in the second and then 12.9 at 3QT. If sides have their kicking boots on we are lambs to the slaughter this season.

Sav has been our best defender for 2023.

 

[Mr Meow]

You can call it a fact. Or you can acknowledge that it's simply another way to chip away at a premiership player that you don't rate.

Fact is, if Zuth is required to be the best player on any given day, it tells you the ball has been living in our D50 far too much to see the team likely to be successful in that match. So your statement of fact is in reality nothing more than a gratuitous statement of the painfully obvious.

Not specifically true because Stewart is often our best or close to it in wins.

Zuthries game was a real mixed bag. I was somewhat forgiving of the many defensive mistakes (he's just not very good 1v1 or a strong spoiler/tackler) and turnovers (a match leading 9) because he at least collected and catapulted it out of there many times under serious heat.

Stewart has had games like that which we berate him for so I guess expectation comes into it. Stewart last night played like Zuthrie had the previous month, and vice versa (albeit Guth did hand it to Port more than Stewart will outside of 1 or 2 games a year). "Stewart on a rough day" is still a lot better player to emulate than whatever a few of the others tried last night, though.

 

[Mr Meow]

Sav has been our best defender for 2023.

Trust me, they weren't my whispers! I'd never throw myself under the bus publicly like that.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Seriously?
If Zuthrie was deplorable how would you describe Jack Henry's game......both Henries for that matter

Who was Zac playing on? He was very ordinary and has been for a month or so.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Seriously?
If Zuthrie was deplorable how would you describe Jack Henry's game......both Henries for that matter

And Jack was our best in one of the quarters. Struggled when Lycett took over. Zac couldn't even make a proper spoil when in position to do so.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Who was Zac playing on? He was very ordinary and has been for a month or so.

Well - he wasn’t playing on Findlayson…..

 

[goyoucatters]

Not specifically true because Stewart is often our best or close to it in wins.

Absolutely. And he's a four-time All Australian and Carji Greeves Medal winner.

So to compare the projected output of a player like Zuth in any given game to what the premier mid-sized defender in the entire competition is expected to produce just seems like a deliberate denial of realistic expectations. There's simply not another player in our defensive group that would be expected to perform at anything like the level we've come to expect from Stewart in recent years.

 

[Mr Meow]

Absolutely. And he's a four-time All Australian and Carji Greeves Medal winner.

So to compare the projected output of a player like Zuth in any given game to what the premier mid-sized defender in the entire competition is expected to produce just seems like a deliberate denial of realistic expectations. There's simply not another player in our defensive group that would be expected to perform at anything like the level we've come to expect from Stewart in recent years.

True, although for me Zuthrie showed what his level could be (maybe even a smidge higher?) last year. Not Stewart, but a very handy rebounder and a somewhat competent defender. Forgetting the turnovers last night, it was more of a return to that Zuthrie. He had been well, well below that for close to 2 months. The same for Kolo, Bews and SDK. Tuohy has turned a corner, let's hope last night was the same for Zuth and a couple join him.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Well - he wasn’t playing on Findlayson…..

I counted 5 goals he cost us.

 

[Mr Meow]

I counted 5 goals he cost us.

I'm not going to focus on Zuthrie exclusively here but there are a list of basics our defenders are really struggling with this season. A few would involve the situations you recall:

-Body positioning when the ball is around half forward. We are showing players the centre instead of the boundary, getting caught in front for the high balls but 5m behind for the dump kicks that fall short. Letting players take one step and completely out foxing us.

-Spoiling high aerial balls. Not bullet passes. But loopy ones where a good defender simply gets a fist on it.

-When to mark and when to spoil. De Koning got unlucky last night but we've gone through this a lot this season.

-Getting the ball to the boundary (in a disguised way).

-Trapping the ball e.g you get the ground ball and wear a tackle if you have to. Basic clogging it up.

-Tackling. Simply not sticking them.

-Effective zone/man on man mechanics. Usually in transition where there is still ample time to get opponents locked down. The whole "guarding grass" phenomena.

A lot of it just not killing the ball or making it difficult for opposition forwards. When you have 5 defenders all struggling with the above basics, you become incredibly easy to score against.