Preview Rd 16 Geelong V the Mirror - Bye week + what we see going forward....

[cats_09]

Don't get it, aren't the players meant to clear there lockers *so to speak for the week

Post match Friday night, Krock said the players would have 5 days off before returning to the club to get back into things

The training photos from yesterday seemed to primarily be the 1st -> 4th year players, the Irish lads and a couple of more experienced guys in Bowes, Miers & SDK - like with returning for pre-season training, maybe it was a shorter break for the younger guys

Sam may have opted to stay close due to his surgery last week and wanting to focus on his recovery; I know Miers has spoken before about how training helps him focus & I can imagine he wouldn't have been totally happy with his game Friday night. While for Bowes he's just returned from injury and may well be wanting to keep on the right path with his return

Today we saw Dangerfield & Blicavs return; it's not the first time we've seen those veterans return early with the youngsters


Some players have definitely taken time away, but not sure they can stop others from returning early if they wish to

 

[TEDDY24INC]

Buckley on SEN was talking about the contending team's profiles:

• Collingwood's offense get better when they play the top 9 (scores from turn over)
• Brisbane's defense gets better when they play the top 9
• Geelong's defense gets worse, we struggle to defend a turn over
• Crows can't score when they play the better teams.

It'll be interesting what adjustments Scott and co will make between now and finals. We'd really like Kolo and SDK back before then as well.

I would suggest all teams defence gets worse against the top 9.. what’s he comparing this to, every other team in the top 9, are we worse? We must be a lot better in attack then as our record against the top 9 is one of if not the best in the comp so far..

 

[Mr Meow]

I would suggest all teams defence gets worse against the top 9.. what’s he comparing this to, every other team in the top 9, are we worse? We must be a lot better in attack then as our record against the top 9 is one of if not the best in the comp so far..

I could we wrong but I believe Buckley's focus was on scores from turnovers: for and against.

So Brisbane concede less goals from turnovers against the top 9, compared to against the bottom 9.

Collingwood score more from turnovers when they play better teams.

Geelong leak a lot more goals from turnovers against the top 9 teams.

Adelaide struggle to score from turnovers against the top 9 teams.

But you're right, Geelong likely score very well from turnovers and do well in other areas like scores from and defending stoppages, or forward half goals.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

I would suggest all teams defence gets worse against the top 9.. what’s he comparing this to, every other team in the top 9, are we worse? We must be a lot better in attack then as our record against the top 9 is one of if not the best in the comp so far..

I think it's comparing us to the other contenders in the top 4. So our defence is the worst out of the top 4 when we turn it over against teams in the top 9.

I could be wrong though it's been a while since I watched it so going from memory.

 

[Sykes_]

10-5 you’d have definitely taken start of the year.
Biggest danger game the rest of the year is North at Marvel - we are a pretty ordinary side at that ground.

 

[Baudolino]

The games against Richmond (x2), St Kilda, Port Adelaide and Essendon should all be wins.

Dangers are the GWS away game (they match up very well against us), the Sydney away game (we'll be catching them at a bad time when they're back to full strength after being undermanned all year), and the North game at Marvel (we play that ground terribly and their strengths map on to our weaknesses).

We need to somehow win 2 of the 3 games above. If we do so we'll definitely finish top four and possibly top two if Brisbane lose to Collingwood and maybe the Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

 

[gogeelongcats]

What we may see is Lock Ness (Toby Conway)??

 

[Zouz Kitty]

3rd this time of the year is a solid effort, I can see us dropping another couple games to see the minor round out. GWS and the Swans game I’ve penciled in as losses.

Hope not?

Why do you think we’ll lose Jeff?

Play it Sam + I are having a naughty weekend in Sydney. At least that’s a win

Geelong ‘usually’ plays well at the beautiful SCG.

“Recent history has been in favour of Geelong, only losing two of their past nine clashes with the Swans which includes two finals wins, and that well-known victory on the last day in September in 2022.”

It is “a relatively happy hunting ground for the Cats, winning 21 of their 38 games (57%) at the venue. Geelong holds the third-highest winning percentage of any visiting team at the venue, while also playing the most total games (38) of any visiting team at the SCG.”

Still, I suppose, records are to be broken, but another time, please.

2024
https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news...t=Venue Record – SCG,visiting team at the SCG.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Shaun "hungry hungry hippo" Mannagh adds "our best kick inside 50" to his portfolio, that already includes being one of our best clearance, goal and score involvement players.

@Play it Sam’s boy

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

The Cats are the fastest team in the comp with ball movement

 

[Mr Meow]

The Cats are the fastest team in the comp with ball movement

It's our main KPI. The teams that have slowed down our ball movement and forced long kicks down the line have beaten us.

 

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

It's our main KPI. The teams that have slowed down our ball movement and forced long kicks down the line have beaten us.

They gave a run down on what happened vs Brisbane and in that first qtr we couldn't move the ball at speed due to their defence.

I hope we work out what we can do to counter that, might bite us come finals time if we don't.

 

[allrighty]

This Pie is AFL's best in this key area … and it's not even close

Check out your club's best kick inside 50 so far this season

www.afl.com.au

Miers not being on the list of players who are elite for kick inside 50 to mark % this year is notable imo.

Mebbe cos he's been playing up the ground more.

 

[Mr Meow]

Mebbe cos he's been playing up the ground more.

To my recollection Miers was just as up the ground in 2023, when he broke the record for goal assists and was around top 10 in the league for score involvements.

After a slow start to the 2025 season he had been in good form post-concussion return (forgetting the Lions game).

By his lofty standards I reckon he'd be a little bit disappointed with his season. All that really matters from here is that he brings his best in finals.

 

[CatsDoItBetter]

Well in my career mode of AFL23 last weekend we smashed the Hawks in the grand final and Jezza won the norm smith medal. Neale also finished the season as Coleman medal winner.
And we picked up Reid, Daicos, Jamarra and Worpel in the off season.
So plenty to look forward too

 

[allrighty]

To my recollection Miers was just as up the ground in 2023, when he broke the record for goal assists and was around top 10 in the league for score involvements.

After a slow start to the 2025 season he had been in good form post-concussion return (forgetting the Lions game).

By his lofty standards I reckon he'd be a little bit disappointed with his season. All that really matters from here is that he brings his best in finals.

eyup

 

[cats_09]

Players have now gone on their mid-season break

They had a pretty normal week through to yesterday, with that being their last session before a few days off

Back to it next week ahead of our Saturday Twilight clash with Richmond

 

[dudusmaximus]

Could extra training load have something to do with this? Geelong seems to always have had this midseason "dip". Understandable that they'd keep process and methods under wraps.

 

[you pick one]

A cuppla days and I hope to be over the Brisbane game and start to tune back in for the run home.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

The Cats are the fastest team in the comp with ball movement

I wouldn’t be reading too much into it. Collingwood are down pretty low and Melbourne are second….

 

[Mr Meow]

I wouldn’t be reading too much into it. Collingwood are down pretty low and Melbourne are second….

They're not saying faster = better. They're saying it's to Geelong's advantage to have fast paced games and the MO is to make them that way. When we fail to do that, we lose.

 

[cats_09]

 

[frggr]

They gave a run down on what happened vs Brisbane and in that first qtr we couldn't move the ball at speed due to their defence.

I hope we work out what we can do to counter that, might bite us come finals time if we don't.

Easy - play on wider grounds

 

[sexyhunk]

Lions seem to have us covered, I would be guessing a home qualifying final against them but doubt we can beat them, really need Kolo back to free stewart and Guthrie up, let’s see what Scott can come up with

i agree with you but wasn't that the same feeling last year when we went to adelaide oval to play port. pretty sure they were warm favorites.

 

[Del216647]

The two obvious losses would obviously be the two inter-state games against the Giants and Swans.

I think we will win at least one of those, if not both. Swans are playing much better, but it's now nearly impossible for them to make finals. They're three games outside the 8. I'm writing off their season. We should do away with them.

As for the Giants game, these guys have beaten us four times in a row on our own deck. We should be going up there with a serious point to prove. Time to extract some revenge on these guys. We are very capable of beating them up there. They have fallen over the line several times there. If we bring the heat and our elite, quick ball movement, I think we can get that done.

I'm actually more worried about North at Marvel then these two games. I think we only lose one more game for the rest of the year at most.

If we draw the Lions at the G in a QF, I think that works to our advantage. They won't be able to as easily stop our ball movement on the wider ground as they did on the narrow ground in Geelong.

MCG suits our ball movement. Remember we were a Max Holmes injury away from beating them there last year.

I'm feeling good about our position and prospects.