Practice Match Dates and Times

[The Hulkster]

Thought people might be interested these are the dates and times of our pre NAB Cup praccy matches, i assume they are intra club.

GEELONG: Feb 11, 9.30am, and Feb 17, 9.30am, both at Skilled Stadium.

Not long now.

 

[Renegade]

Anyone going to go watch on sat morning?

 

[BlueNWhite]

With bells on.
Strong hands magee and I will be in attendance- cats tragics.

 

[Strong hands Magee]

Just try and stop BlueNWhite and me!
Will be there with bells on, a beer and a bbq snag in bread. What better way to spend an early Saturday morning?

 

[catempire]

Eye-witness reports post-match will be greatly appreciated by us interstate dwellers.

Cheers!

 

[The Hulkster]

Would love to but playing golf.

 

[Rosso]

Eye-witness reports post-match will be greatly appreciated by us interstate dwellers.

Cheers!

Will be logging on after cricket (and the obligatory post match beverages) on Saturday so please ensure that match reports are submitted prior to 9pm Sat night for my viewing pleasure.

Thank you and regards,

Rosso

 

[Renegade]

Considering going provided i find someone to drag along with me, my brother has run off to Japan for a year so i'm looking for another footy partner. If i go i'll help out with a report on the match as well.

 

[ezbian]

Have a big dilema. It is the missus bday and she wants to go to Portsea pub for the day. So do I

(a) go to the pub and miss the intraclub (I also can't go to any of the Wizard Cup until the GF)

(b) go to the game and catch a later ferry over to Portsea and be in the doghouse for a month.

Given that i am going overseas for 3 weeks in a fortnight the doghouse is looking like a good option!

 

[Renegade]

Have a big dilema. It is the missus bday and she wants to go to Portsea pub for the day. So do I

(a) go to the pub and miss the intraclub (I also can't go to any of the Wizard Cup until the GF)

(b) go to the game and catch a later ferry over to Portsea and be in the doghouse for a month.

Given that i am going overseas for 3 weeks in a fortnight the doghouse is looking like a good option!

Go to the game pal.

 

[BlueNWhite]

You'll always have the missus mate. But there's only one (two) preseason practice intra club matches!!!!

 

[Strong hands Magee]

What he said ^^^^^^^

 

[thehoff]

Have a big dilema. It is the missus bday and she wants to go to Portsea pub for the day. So do I

(a) go to the pub and miss the intraclub (I also can't go to any of the Wizard Cup until the GF)

(b) go to the game and catch a later ferry over to Portsea and be in the doghouse for a month.

Given that i am going overseas for 3 weeks in a fortnight the doghouse is looking like a good option!

Take her to the practice match for her birthday. What more could a girl want? Maybe to make the day special you could but her a snag and a solo.

It would be a day to remember.

 

[scottydeewah]

if she is lucky you can even allow her to give you a blowey in the card on the way to the game

 

[BlueNWhite]

now now, we don't want her getting spoilt too much...she'll expect it every birthday!

 

[finrod]

any wrap-ups yet anybody?

 

[tomthabuddah]

any wrap-ups yet anybody?

Amen

 

[finrod]

from afl.com.au....


Abletts shine; lesser lights, too
12:46:57 PM Sat 11 February, 2006
Damian Glass
Sportal for afl.com.au

It's hard not to talk about any Geelong match these days without mentioning the 'A' word, and while the famous Ablett brothers did make a meaningful contribution, the return to full fitness of Corey Enright and the form shown by some of the Cats' next generation of players gave Geelong supporters something else to be enthused about following the Cats' first intra-club match of the year at Skilled Stadium on Saturday morning.

After a season wrecked by injury, Enright sparkled across the half-back flank, showing no signs of the knee and arm injuries that restricted his influence in 2005. Before the first of two extended stays on the sidelines last year (nine games in total), Enright was one of the Cats' best players and on Saturday he showed that he is set to recapture some of his best form.

Enright ran hard through the lines and delivered the ball cleanly in an encouraging first-up display.

Also pleasing was the form of some of the Cats' lesser lights, who showed there will be plenty of competition for spots in the senior team this season. Names like Nick Batchelor, Tim Sheringham and Brent Prismall are yet to grace the senior team sheet but their performances on Saturday would suggest that's about to change this season.


Prismall held his own in a battle with Darren Milburn in the centre while Batchelor and Sheringham showed plenty of poise and skills on the wing and half-back-flank.

"Batchelor and Sheringham both played well for us," Geelong assistant coach Ken Hinkley said. "Brent Prismall was very good as a midfielder on quality opponents, and we were pleased with Ryan Gamble and Todd Grima. Even young Matthew Stokes as well, the blokes we brought in showed a fair bit for the club."

About 1000 fans ventured to Skilled Stadium to see a spirited and competitive game that was played over four 20-minute quarters. Cam Mooney set the tone in the game's first passage of play when he rather unforgivingly buried Grima into the ground with a strong tackle and then followed it up almost immediately with a heavy shepherd on Gary Ablett Jr.

Eventually, play settled down and with midfield guns such as Cameron Ling and Joel Corey unusually opposed to James Kelly and Jimmy Bartel, space opened up and both sides ran the ball with swift movement that would have pleased the Geelong coaching staff.

"I thought it was pretty good. Especially the first half I though both sides moved the ball well when they had some space," said Hinkley. "They made good decisions and we were satisfied with the way they played the game, considering how little match play we have done."

In particular, Corey - minus the 'Grizzly Adams' beard that he had cultivated during the pre season - was impressive out of the middle in the first half. He, along with Ling - who also spent a fair amount of time deep forward later in the game - probably just shaded Kelly and Bartel.

Around the ground, the Cats also took the opportunity to monitor the form of some of their younger players against some of their more experienced team mates. As a result, Grima matched up against Mooney at centre-half forward, Nathan Ablett drew All-Australian full back Matthew Scarlett and second-year defender Matthew Egan played on Kent Kingsley (two goals) at full forward.

The youngest of the Ablett siblings, Nathan, finished the day with two goals and had it not been for some errant kicking, he probably should have kicked three or four. It wasn't an eye-catching performance from Nathan, but he led well and took the majority of his five marks further up the ground outside the 50-metre arc.

Older brother Gary Jr was in sparkling form as he effortlessly booted three goals in three quarters before being rested in the last. Gary's second goal of the match - a boundary line conversion from 40 metres after marking and playing on in the second quarter - was the highlight of the morning.

The Cats' injured list still includes Steven King, Tom Harley, Brad Ottens, Steve Johnson, Tim Callan, Andrew Mackie, Matthew McCarthy, Henry Playfair and David Wojcinski, while last year's top draft pick, Travis Varcoe, also watched from the sidelines. Nearly all are expected to return in the coming weeks.

"We are comfortable with where we are at with our playing list at the moment, and there are a lot of talented players still in that group," Hinkley said.

"If we were rushing towards playing next weekend, that group would be a lot smaller. There will be quite a few of them that will come into consideration from that game but we won't take any risks with any."

Geelong will play another intra-club match next Friday at Skilled Stadium.​

 

[Prodigal Sons]

Many key players missing - alot of skill errors and sloppy movement in the first 3 qtr's I watched. Some observations;

1] Mooney took all the kick ins after points were scored.
2] Kingsley still can't kick and I reckon he ignored good leads from Nathan at least 6-8 times.
3] Nathan impressive at full fwd but looked lost out at CHF
4] Lingy has trimmed down and looks like he'll play a bit lighter this year.
5] Hard to guage our new look fwd line - no ottens / playfair / johnson
6] Trent West looks great - more mobile and stronger mark than blake.
7] Chapman is a gun - so creative and damaging inside 50m.
8] Someone talk to gaz jnr - the new hairdo looks very thorpey !
9] Varcoe watched on from the boundary but has the confidence and swagger you'd expect from a kid with wraps he's had.
10] Batchelor looked really good - what is it about geelong and red heads ?
11] The sausages were great at half time.

 

[GeeCat]

Shall just regurgitate the bits and pieces of what I've heard thus far, best to leave the more comprehensive reports to those who went:

- Moons, Ling, Smithy, Enright, and GAJ among the better performers of the day for their respective sides
- Nathan played well on Scarlett, booted 2 goals
- For the youngsters, Grima showed abit on Moons, Blake likewise against West, continuing his rate of improvement, Prismall looking bigger, stronger, and making a solid impression in the midfield
- King, Ottens, Harley, S.Hunt, Callan, Lonergan, H, Mackie, Dog Johnson and Dopey Owen among the absentees

 

[carn_the_cattas]

Team Lists

Blue
G.Ablett
N.Batchelor (R)
N.Braddock (VFL)
A.Broom (VFL)
P.Chapman
J.Cheep (VFL)
R.Condy (VFL)
J.Corey
M.Egan
C.Enright
R.Gamble
C.Gardiner
T.Grima (R)
J.Hunt
D.Johnson
C.Ling
D.Milburn
G.Marshall (VFL)
M.Scarlett
T.Sheringham (R)
S.Toulmin (VFL)
M.Torney (VFL)
A.Tuck (VFL)
T.West

Grey
N.Ablett
J.Bartel
M.Blake
R.Butler (VFL)
S.Byrnes
A.Cook (VFL)
J.Davenport (VFL)
B.Johnson (VFL)
J.Kelly
K.Kingsley
P.Koulouriotis
D.Lovick (VFL)
C.Mooney
B.Prismall
P.Riccardi
K.Robertson (VFL)
J.Rooke
W.Slade (R)
M.Spencer
M.Stokes
K.Tenace
S.Thompson (VFL)
R.Whiteford (VFL)

 

[cats2rise]

Sounds good so far, most important thing is no injuries throughout the game!

 

[thehoff]

Sounds good so far, most important thing is no injuries throughout the game!

I was there.

There was an injury late in the game, however, i was sitting at the opposite of the oval and could not pick up who the player was.

For me, the Ablett's brothers played sensation. Enright worked effortlessly and Prismall looks the good.

Not sure if anyone else saw, Tom Hawkins was there watching on. He is a massive boy and appears as if he could pull on a jumper tomorrow and slot right into the senior lineup. Bye bye Kent.

However, the highlight of the day for me was the return of Gary Ablett Senior to the club. He was signing signatures after the game, chatting to people and even posing for photographs.

I scored a photo of my, nephew and the great man. I also managed to get both senior and junior to sign the one jumper. Could not find Nathan as he was nowhere to be seen. Will attempt at a later date to score the final signature. How much that jumper be worth? Priceless!

Fantastic for the club. It appears the Gary Snr is having a some form of around the club. It's great to see. It creates a real buzz around the stadium.

 

[Rosso]

Good to hear that sort of stuff. When Gary Snr rocked up to the last couple of games there was just an added buzz around the ground. I hope he does do some work around the club cause I'm sure he would have a heap to offer, especially in the skills department. There's a couple of blokes that could do with some goal kicking practice, say 24 hours a day 7 days a week! But then again, could you imagine if he took Dog for a few goalkicking sessions, the bloke would never miss!!!

 

[ablettallica]

I checked it out. Missed Gaz snr. though - good to hear he was there to check out his boys on a low key day.

I reckon we looked pretty good. Obviously the intensity wasn't there. Moondog nailed someone early, but overall the guys weren't going in too hard.

Enright was the standout for me. Great to see him back on deck and firing.

Nathan Ablett kept presenting and seems to be developing well. IMO still needs another half season in the VFL to find his senior legs, but is looking good.

Overall slick ballwork and fast kickins. We moved the ball across the ground very quickly and most guys got thier hands on it.

Linga seemed to get plenty of touches and covered a lot of ground as usual.

Anyone catch who the injury was at the end of game?

Fingers crossed for no injuries in the next intra, then bring on the NAB cup.