Preview Rd 1 Geelong v Essendon Sat March 19 2:10 pm MCG

[dazbroncos]

The sun is still warm
The grass is freshly cut and manicured and green
Daylight saving is upon us.

The world is a mess right now... but life must go on.

And that means its time for footy to be back.

We come off yet another PF appearance and another PF loss.... well belting actually.

We have moved on some older players and still the age needle has not really dropped. We have some good youth available that needs to be seen - but you cant play them all at once so which ones will get a run?

The Dons will come and come hard. They will have seen how the Suns MF got on top and im sure will try the same.

Can we feed Tomma, Jezza and Stengle with enough quality ball to win? Will the coaching staff changes and tweaks to the game plan be enough to make a difference?
Will there be any consistent Ruck work thru the year? Can our back 6 get it out of D50 fast enough to pressure the oppo MF?


It certainly will be an interesting season and it starts now.

GO Catters

 

[catempire]

Give me

B: Bews Blicavs Henry
HB: Stewart De Koning Tuohy
C: Duncan Guthrie Smith
HF: Close Cameron Holmes
F: Stengle Hawkins Selwood
R: Stanley Dangerfield Parfitt
Int: Stephens Zuthrie Ratugolea Atkins

I have Kolo, Higgins and Dalhaus missing which is probably the opposite of what will happen, particularly if Henry, Duncan and Bews don’t come up.

I can’t see the big structural change that would see Ratugolea out. It would require being willing to have Blicavs 2nd ruck.

I’m assuming Ceglar, Menegola, Miers, O’Connor, Rohan and Simpson are unavailable.

 

[STPer18]

Isn't this the kind of game we usually lose?

 

[Vdubs]

Speed kills. A warm G surface and a speedy team will win.
Will it be us?
Time will tell, but Bombers look to be a decent pick.

 

[Vdubs]

Give me

B: Bews Blicavs Henry
HB: Stewart De Koning Tuohy
C: Duncan Guthrie Smith
HF: Close Cameron Holmes
F: Stengle Hawkins Selwood
R: Stanley Dangerfield Parfitt
Int: Stephens Zuthrie Ratugolea Atkins

I have Kolo, Higgins and Dalhaus missing which is probably the opposite of what will happen, particularly if Henry, Duncan and Bews don’t come up.

I can’t see the big structural change that would see Ratugolea out. It would require being willing to have Blicavs 2nd ruck.

I’m assuming Ceglar, Menegola, Miers, O’Connor, Rohan and Simpson are unavailable.

That's already a key bunch out.

 

[Down at K Park]

Speed kills. A warm G surface and a speedy team will win.
Will it be us?
Time will tell, but Bombers look to be a decent pick.

Compared to the bombers we are snails.

 

[Sire of Claude]

Josh Gabelich suggests Higgins and possibly even Dal could play! Shallow lazy 'analysis' in my humble.

Perish the thought that things could be that bad.

 

[calder_daddy]

Josh Gabelich suggests Higgins and possibly even Dal could play! Shallow lazy 'analysis' in my humble.

Perish the thought that things could be that bad.

Who’s Josh Gabelich and why would he have more of an idea than supporters of the club

 

[CapitolCat]

Every week each team will have its plethora of injuries. My queries are - how would Geelong's best team look (IMO)? Which players are vastly over-rated? Which players constitute a 'depth list'? Would this list win us a premiership???

Bews – looks a little more composed than last year. Getting a little better with each vintage.
Blicavs – not the greatest but not the worst and no other fullback better
Henry – I hope he can save the lack of height in this backline
O’Connor – not sure why so many people think he’s not up to it???? Out of sight out of mind, I guess. Stop tinkering with needing a tagger and let him play at half back where he belongs
Stewart
Tuohy – still has the nouse and experience. No other player stands out



Duncan – class player but injury prone in later life
Holmes – has speed and finds the ball – still not strong enough and distribution is suspect but better than other options
Smith – plays both ends of the field and doesn’t make clangers



Stengle – poor Suns game but first game impressive.
Cameron
Close – still inconsistent but has speed, plays defence and runs the full pitch
Rohan – can make impact plays which is a lot more than other forward options can do.
Hawkins
Narkle – Scott doesn’t like him but he does crumb goals and better than Scott thinks. Can also rotate into midfield



Ceglar – you can’t play Stanley
Danger
Cam Guthrie



Interchange

Selwood
De Koning – for lack of another tall backline player
Menegola – has the experience to plug a few holes. Covers the field.
Parfitt – great defence. Inconsistent but better than others



Unlucky (depth?)

Miers – could interchange with Close/Narkle/Rohan/Stengle
Stephens – shows some quality but a way off yet
Nick Stevens – see above
Simpson – Seems to have dropped off other pundit's radar? Has some ability.



Just way too young to consider yet

Knevitt
Dempsey
Whyte
Conway
Tsapatolis
Mullin
Neale
Evans
Kroeger
Willis
Fiore – looks interesting



The rest – this is the “you can’t be serious” or "time to let them go" group??!!

Stanley – turns up once every three months. IMO should try to get what we can out of him by trying him as a key position defender. We need one.
Ratagolea – can’t hold a mark, can’t kick, can’t get double figure touches – a specimen but just ‘can’t’.
Higgins – too old – too slow – hands have gone in his old age
Jake Kolidjasnij – can never stay with a leading attacker – fumbles too much – kicks too poorly – too slow when the ball hits the ground – his nickname should be “2” When did he play his last good game?????
Atkins – the king of turnover – makes poor decisions – poor ball handler - “gutsy” just isn’t enough
Zuthrie – If he wasn’t Cam’s brother he would have been dumped 5 years ago. Not physical enough – makes too many errors – distribution deteriorates during games (and under pressure) - direct opponents become match winners. You need to seriously count two sides of the ledger with this bloke – count up how many faux pas he makes and how many good things he does in a game. 50/50 is not enough for a professional AFL player.
Luke Dalhaus – honest plodder – defensive forward – but just lacks the real qualities these days to be an AFL level forward.

I would try to trade all of the above and get whatever you can for them - or retire them. None of them are AFL players (anymore) and we might pick up a lucky one or two from a few 3rd or 4th round picks.

To me, this looks like a team that will win plenty of games (especially at home) but falls short of the spread of quality at Melbourne, Brisbane and Bulldogs (albeit with a slightly suspect defence).

 

[CharacterFirst]

I don't see us winning first up.

Hope I'm wrong.

 

[calder_daddy]

Every week each team will have its plethora of injuries. My queries are - how would Geelong's best team look (IMO)? Which players are vastly over-rated? Which players constitute a 'depth list'? Would this list win us a premiership???

Bews – looks a little more composed than last year. Getting a little better with each vintage.
Blicavs – not the greatest but not the worst and no other fullback better
Henry – I hope he can save the lack of height in this backline
O’Connor – not sure why so many people think he’s not up to it???? Out of sight out of mind, I guess. Stop tinkering with needing a tagger and let him play at half back where he belongs
Stewart
Tuohy – still has the nouse and experience. No other player stands out



Duncan – class player but injury prone in later life
Holmes – has speed and finds the ball – still not strong enough and distribution is suspect but better than other options
Smith – plays both ends of the field and doesn’t make clangers



Stengle – poor Suns game but first game impressive.
Cameron
Close – still inconsistent but has speed, plays defence and runs the full pitch
Rohan – can make impact plays which is a lot more than other forward options can do.
Hawkins
Narkle – Scott doesn’t like him but he does crumb goals and better than Scott thinks. Can also rotate into midfield



Ceglar – you can’t play Stanley
Danger
Cam Guthrie



Interchange

Selwood
De Koning – for lack of another tall backline player
Menegola – has the experience to plug a few holes. Covers the field.
Parfitt – great defence. Inconsistent but better than others



Unlucky (depth?)

Miers – could interchange with Close/Narkle/Rohan/Stengle
Stephens – shows some quality but a way off yet
Nick Stevens – see above
Simpson – Seems to have dropped off other pundit's radar? Has some ability.



Just way too young to consider yet

Knevitt
Dempsey
Whyte
Conway
Tsapatolis
Mullin
Neale
Evans
Kroeger
Willis
Fiore – looks interesting



The rest – this is the “you can’t be serious” or "time to let them go" group??!!

Stanley – turns up once every three months. IMO should try to get what we can out of him by trying him as a key position defender. We need one.
Ratagolea – can’t hold a mark, can’t kick, can’t get double figure touches – a specimen but just ‘can’t’.
Higgins – too old – too slow – hands have gone in his old age
Jake Kolidjasnij – can never stay with a leading attacker – fumbles too much – kicks too poorly – too slow when the ball hits the ground – his nickname should be “2” When did he play his last good game?????
Atkins – the king of turnover – makes poor decisions – poor ball handler - “gutsy” just isn’t enough
Zuthrie – If he wasn’t Cam’s brother he would have been dumped 5 years ago. Not physical enough – makes too many errors – distribution deteriorates during games (and under pressure) - direct opponents become match winners. You need to seriously count two sides of the ledger with this bloke – count up how many faux pas he makes and how many good things he does in a game. 50/50 is not enough for a professional AFL player.
Luke Dalhaus – honest plodder – defensive forward – but just lacks the real qualities these days to be an AFL level forward.

I would try to trade all of the above and get whatever you can for them - or retire them. None of them are AFL players (anymore) and we might pick up a lucky one or two from a few 3rd or 4th round picks.

To me, this looks like a team that will win plenty of games (especially at home) but falls short of the spread of quality at Melbourne, Brisbane and Bulldogs (albeit with a slightly suspect defence).

In red I have highlighted things is disagree with.

In Blue I have highlighted things I strongly disagree with, it’s almost like you haven’t watched this guys last 5 afl games.

In Purple I have highlighted players who aren’t even on Geelongs list.

I mostly agree with your write up of most players, would love to hear your thoughts on JSel?

 

[CapitolCat]

In red I have highlighted things is disagree with.

In Blue I have highlighted things I strongly disagree with, it’s almost like you haven’t watched this guys last 5 afl games.

In Purple I have highlighted players who aren’t even on Geelongs list.

I mostly agree with your write up of most players, would love to hear your thoughts on JSel?

I think Narkle has quality and needs to be in the midfield rotation, so a place needs to be found for him.
Agree on Miers - hard to leave out but just think Rohan/Close/Stengle a touch bigger and stronger
Would still like to know which game was Koli's last good one - I'd have to go back a few years
Not a Zuthrie fan - just my opinion that he's vastly over-rated. He's in his mid-twenties and we still talk about like a 19 year old draftee. A couple of pre-season slightly improved (if very inconsistent) performances only exacerbate's the rating some people have of him. Still interested to see a genuine count of positives/negatives on this guy. I vaguely remember one good game he had last year but 1 in 23/26 is hardly a flattering stat.
Love Selwood! Injury and the wear and tear have worn him down in recent years but he looks healthier this year (like Cripps). If he could stay healthy and be 'managed' through games he's still an integral part (soul) of our team.

 

[calder_daddy]

I think Narkle has quality and needs to be in the midfield rotation, so a place needs to be found for him.
Agree on Miers - hard to leave out but just think Rohan/Close/Stengle a touch bigger and stronger
Would still like to know which game was Koli's last good one - I'd have to go back a few years
Not a Zuthrie fan - just my opinion that he's vastly over-rated. He's in his mid-twenties and we still talk about like a 19 year old draftee. A couple of pre-season slightly improved (if very inconsistent) performances only exacerbate's the rating some people have of him. Still interested to see a genuine count of positives/negatives on this guy. I vaguely remember one good game he had last year but 1 in 23/26 is hardly a flattering stat.
Love Selwood! Injury and the wear and tear have worn him down in recent years but he looks healthier this year (like Cripps). If he could stay healthy and be 'managed' through games he's still an integral part (soul) of our team.

Zuthrie should be compared to Bews and what he’s done.
His first 50 games were average and only just started to look like a lock in best 22
Very similar careers in my opinion.
Narkle is someone to me who is overrated.
Has a beautiful looking kick but lacks the skill to hit basic targets. Is a extremely lazy player and gets shown up for his lack of intent when the opposition has the footy.
As for Kolo, he doesn’t need to have a “good game” he just needs to do his job
Which is what he does 90% of the time, you say you want to know Zuthries positives vs Negatives, I highly suggest you do that on Kolo and you will surprise yourself.

 

[patience]

The sun is still warm
The grass is freshly cut and manicured and green
Daylight saving is upon us.

The world is a mess right now... but life must go on.

And that means its time for footy to be back.

We come off yet another PF appearance and another PF loss.... well belting actually.

We have moved on some older players and still the age needle has not really dropped. We have some good youth available that needs to be seen - but you cant play them all at once so which ones will get a run?

The Dons will come and come hard. They will have seen how the Suns MF got on top and im sure will try the same.

Can we feed Tomma, Jezza and Stengle with enough quality ball to win? Will the coaching staff changes and tweaks to the game plan be enough to make a difference?
Will there be any consistent Ruck work thru the year? Can our back 6 get it out of D50 fast enough to pressure the oppo MF?


It certainly will be an interesting season and it starts now.

GO Catters

The blue x 2. Winning it out of the middle. Quickly. That will be the key. Bugger trying to sling short the ball from the half back line. If I spend the season watching the ball being moved slowly, down the boundary, from the back, on the La Trobe Terrace side, I will lose my mind.

 

[Chinacats]

Shorter pre season? Can’t use that rubbish excuse!
Big MCG against a speedy team. A challenge.
Sav and Dahl should be non selections!

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I don't see us winning first up.

Hope I'm wrong.

Based on what ?

Dons were a great club once - but havent done anything for over 20 years

Last years game - they kicked the 1st 4 goals - then when Geel got level - they caved in pretty quickly - i thought there were alot of holes in their team

The year before the game was at the Gabba - they were gonzo 5-6 minutes into the 1st qtr - and were exactly 10 goals down at h/time

Ess and Carlton for that matter - have been continually talked up for years - a bit like Geel in the mid 80s - terribly inconsistent - terribly dissappointing - they could pull a good win out of their arrse every now and again - but nothing much eventuated

Thus if Geel have got most of their good players available for this game - then i think the Cats will be winning

 

[calder_daddy]

Shorter pre season? Can’t use that rubbish excuse!
Big MCG against a speedy team. A challenge.
Sav and Dahl should be non selections!

Richmond we’re allowed to use that excuse after 4 long seasons.
How can we manage to do it for 10+ years

 

[Shadow89]

Only reason we win against a quicker team on a wide deck, is if they don't have the firepower up forward - which looks likely with all of Tippa, Stringer and Harrison Jones looking as possible/likely to miss Round 1. Cameron and Hawk alone should score enough, even if our midfield gets done over

 

[calder_daddy]

Only reason we win against a quicker team on a wide deck, is if they don't have the firepower up forward - which looks likely with all of Tippa, Stringer and Harrison Jones looking as possible/likely to miss Round 1. Cameron and Hawk alone should score enough, even if our midfield gets done over

I’m quite confident we win the midfield clearances this weekend.

 

[Hamingja]

Who’s Josh Gabelich and why would he have more of an idea than supporters of the club

Not a single supporter would have had Higgins and Dahl in their teams from about round 5 last year when it was obvious they were both cooked. They still played out the majority of the season though so can hardly blame the journalist for putting them in this year, over to Scott to see if he has changed or not.

 

[Down at K Park]

Only reason we win against a quicker team on a wide deck, is if they don't have the firepower up forward - which looks likely with all of Tippa, Stringer and Harrison Jones looking as possible/likely to miss Round 1. Cameron and Hawk alone should score enough, even if our midfield gets done over

Stringer will probably get up. The other 2 won’t.

 

[calder_daddy]

Not a single supporter would have had Higgins and Dahl in their teams from about round 5 last year when it was obvious they were both cooked. They still played out the majority of the season though so can hardly blame the journalist for putting them in this year, over to Scott to see if he has changed or not.

And one year on.
Dal won’t get a game, Higgins will
Narkle will be the sub, yet again and Stephen’s will play

 

[BotsMaster]

Last time:

AFL Tables - Geelong v Essendon - Fri, 2-Jul-2021 7:50 PM - Match Stats

afltables.com

 

[Phipppppa]

I don't see us winning first up.

Hope I'm wrong.

I reckon we have more of a chance then you think.

 

[Phipppppa]

Hoping to see Zuthrie and Stengle step up. Both players are going to be handy this year.