Preview Rd 23 Geelong V West Coast Sat Aug 20 435 Pm 2022 @ KP

[Drunkcat]

In terms of experience. There’s no way they’ll play Neale with 1 1/2 games experience in the finals. I’m talking purely as depth in a big game if they need a replacement for Cameron they will with Sav.

If we need to play Sav we are stuffed anyway

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

No, I was comparing Sav to a bunch of nothing-burger players. My comparison had nothing to do with finals. I think maybe you just misunderstood me. I'm gonna move on.

Yes and arguing that it was a worry that he was being selected in the side in the last round because it could mean that they were going to shoehorn him in for finals. My point to you is that often a depth player will play in the last few rounds so they’re not thrown into the fire in finals. He hasn’t played since round 3 and needs a game this week in case the worst happens because Neale isn’t ready yet. As they say, you need a squad of 28 to win a premiership.
Happy to move on

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

If we need to play Sav we are stuffed anyway

It’s not ideal, my read is that he only plays if Stanley and Hawkins or Cameron are unavailable, because he can ruck and play forward and has finals experience.
I imagine Ceglar would be a straight replacement for Stanley… but to be honest wtf do I know

 

[Drunkcat]

It’s not ideal, my read is that he only plays if Stanley and Hawkins or Cameron are unavailable, because he can ruck and play forward and has finals experience.
I imagine Ceglar would be a straight replacement for Stanley… but to be honest wtf do I know

Mate i am just going by his VFL form and he has been useless except for last week, i don't care that he plays this week but if we need him we are in trouble

 

[bulletproof]

I don’t like all the Esava bashing on here. His career has been side swiped by Cameron arriving. He is a full forward. It was the right decision for the club but not for Esava. And he has taken it all in good grace.

He is a 30-40 goal forward in most sides I reckon. There is just no room for him at Geelong with Cameron and Hawkins.

 

[Cataholic]

I hope the boys keep a close on Culley's elbows.........

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

Dekoning a late out, Ceglar in and Esava to play back?

 

[standupand]

I hope the boys keep a close on Culley's elbows.........

As long as it's not Brad Close...

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I don’t like all the Esava bashing on here. His career has been side swiped by Cameron arriving. He is a full forward. It was the right decision for the club but not for Esava. And he has taken it all in good grace.

He is a 30-40 goal forward in most sides I reckon. There is just no room for him at Geelong with Cameron and Hawkins.

With respect , with his poor kicking he would need well over 100 shots on goal to kick 30 or so ....

 

[Cataholic]

With respect , with his poor kicking he would need well over 100 shots on goal to kick 30 or so ....

And probably about the same ratio of attempts at marking it.

 

[goyoucatters]

Thoroughly bemused by the selections for this game. So here's my take on what I hope is actually behind it all...

Ceglar is definitely coming in, should he clear concussion protocols. He is the only sensible alternative to Stanley as a #1 ruck for the finals, given the quality of the other rucks we will face. Putting Blitz in there in a final would be a waste; putting Rata in there in a final would be a joke.

So Esava is playing down back, in place of SDK. This clears the place for Ceglar in the ruck. I wouldn't have bothered giving Sam the week off. But it looks like the M.C. wants to go with the least risk possible, given we have absolutely no one (unless you're counting our VFL 'find' of the last fortnight) to come in and play on the key opposition tall if 'The King' goes down. Moving Blitz down there now would essentially decapitate Peter to throw some scraps to Paul. So the #17 is clearly being looked at as the 'break glass' option for KPD duties if Sam misses at any point.

Mitch missing does give me some anxiety as well. So I'm just hoping it's ultra-conservatism, with no setbacks in the mix with him. And Atkins having a rest is fine; he's had a massive season and may well still be the sub here, anyway.

So I figure we'll end up with:

IN: Ceglar, Rata, Smith
OUT: Stanley, SDK, Cameron, Atkins
SUB: Atkins (Dahl also a chance, if they want to properly rest the #30)

And I can live with that approach, without actually seeing the need to rest SDK for this game. But if Esava is being brought in at this point to be considered as either a viable ruck or forward option for finals, I see that as a significant blow to our premiership chances. Simply will not add value, and is likely to cost us crucially in terms of the current cohesion across the team.

Seriously, if we are to lose one of the key talls in this team for finals (Stanley, Toma, Jez or SDK), I would far prefer to mix and match from the group that's played all year (plus Ceglar, if absolutely necessary) than to throw in Esava after the underwhelming season he's had. So if we see the 'too clever by half' nonsense of past finals series reemerge this time around, I will undoubtedly be lamenting the accident waiting to happen long before we see it unfolding in stupefying slow motion out on the ground.



Hold the line, Cats. What we've done so far this year has worked for a reason.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Eagles rucks are Bailey Williams and Rotham - if Sav rucks he’ll be fine against either of those 2.

Probably but what does that prove? Nothing really. Hes nowhere near our best 22.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

It’s not ideal, my read is that he only plays if Stanley and Hawkins or Cameron are unavailable, because he can ruck and play forward and has finals experience.
I imagine Ceglar would be a straight replacement for Stanley… but to be honest wtf do I know

If you lost hawk or cameron you either play ceglar in the ruck and stanley as a fwd or you swinge henry fwd. You dont play sav.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Dekoning a late out, Ceglar in and Esava to play back?

Structurally that makes the most sense assuming ceglar clears protocols today.

 

[cats_09]

In terms of experience. There’s no way they’ll play Neale with 1 1/2 games experience in the finals. I’m talking purely as depth in a big game if they need a replacement for Cameron they will with Sav.

I don't care if it's a pre-season, H&A match or a final - we should be picking the best player for the required role, and that should be based on form, not a focus on the games played

If that role is for a tall forward, Neale has been comfortable out performing Ratugolea across the season in the VFL:

• Across 8 VFL matches this season, Ratugolea has kicked 4 goals & 8 behinds
• Across 14 VFL matches this season, Neale has kicked 30 goals & 17 behinds, with his only goalless match being when he was concussed

Any discussion about who should be the back up tall forward shouldn't even be a close discussion - one guy has shown he's a capable option up the forward, the other has looked lost until the last couple of weeks when he was thrown into defence

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

Probably but what does that prove? Nothing really. Hes nowhere near our best 22.

I'm assuming Ceglar isn't quite right else he'd be in the side so I see Sav ( if he rucks) as purely a stop gap measure- no more , no less - just get through the dead rubber game.
As Goyoucatters has hypothesised Ceglar could be a late in and Sav give SDK a rest - that's possible also I guess.

 

[cats_09]

It’s not ideal, my read is that he only plays if Stanley and Hawkins or Cameron are unavailable, because he can ruck and play forward and has finals experience.
I imagine Ceglar would be a straight replacement for Stanley… but to be honest wtf do I know

Yes to Ratugolea having finals experience

Not sure I can agree on the other parts of the bold - if anything, he's been shown to be wanting in those areas, and selecting him just because he has experience when we have other players in better form, doesn't really make sense

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

Apologies if this has been answered already my fellow Catters but does anyone know what's up with Dunks?

 

[cats_09]

I don’t like all the Esava bashing on here. His career has been side swiped by Cameron arriving. He is a full forward. It was the right decision for the club but not for Esava. And he has taken it all in good grace.

He is a 30-40 goal forward in most sides I reckon. There is just no room for him at Geelong with Cameron and Hawkins.

Out of curiosity - how many games in a season & shots on goal for Ratugolea to become a 30->40 goal per season forward?

He's never averaged a goal a game, so surely that's something of an ask for him to start averaging 1.5/2 goals, which really doesn't look likely

From his 6 VFL games played as a forward this year, he kicked 4 goals - all in his first two games, before going goalless in his next 4 games and then finding a home in defence

Can't fault his endeavour, but not sure he's necessarily got a long term future as a forward - especially if he can't turn around his inaccuracy in front of goal

 

[cats_09]

Apologies if this has been answered already my fellow Catters but does anyone know what's up with Dunks?

Family Holiday in Bali

 

[Mr Meow]

Out of curiosity - how many games in a season & shots on goal for Ratugolea to become a 30->40 goal per season forward?

He's never averaged a goal a game, so surely that's something of an ask for him to start averaging 1.5/2 goals, which really doesn't look likely

From his 6 VFL games played as a forward this year, he kicked 4 goals - all in his first two games, before going goalless in his next 4 games and then finding a home in defence

Can't fault his endeavour, but not sure he's necessarily got a long term future as a forward - especially if he can't turn around his inaccuracy in front of goal

Number of words you've dedicated to Sav in preview threads this year (for a non active player) would have to be extremely high too.

 

[cats_09]

Number of words you've dedicated to Sav in preview threads this year (for a non active player) would have to be extremely high too.

Just averaging it out based on his games needed for him to kick 30 goals

 

[moond0g]

I don't care if it's a pre-season, H&A match or a final - we should be picking the best player for the required role, and that should be based on form, not a focus on the games played

If that role is for a tall forward, Neale has been comfortable out performing Ratugolea across the season in the VFL:

• Across 8 VFL matches this season, Ratugolea has kicked 4 goals & 8 behinds
• Across 14 VFL matches this season, Neale has kicked 30 goals & 17 behinds, with his only goalless match being when he was concussed

Any discussion about who should be the back up tall forward shouldn't even be a close discussion - one guy has shown he's a capable option up the forward, the other has looked lost until the last couple of weeks when he was thrown into defence

TBF it's a moot point. Neither of them will play forward in a final.

They'll swing Henry forward ahead of both of them. The same way they played Hendo forward when Hawkins got suspended for the '19 PF despite not having played forward all year

 

[bulletproof]

Out of curiosity - how many games in a season & shots on goal for Ratugolea to become a 30->40 goal per season forward?

He's never averaged a goal a game, so surely that's something of an ask for him to start averaging 1.5/2 goals, which really doesn't look likely

From his 6 VFL games played as a forward this year, he kicked 4 goals - all in his first two games, before going goalless in his next 4 games and then finding a home in defence

Can't fault his endeavour, but not sure he's necessarily got a long term future as a forward - especially if he can't turn around his inaccuracy in front of goal

He has been starved of opportunity in his best position and has lost all confidence.

I would not use this year’s form as a guide. He has shown he can perform in AFL finals and against the best sides, that is a better guide than what he does playing alongside a bunch of kids in the VFL.

He is not nearly as bad as people make out. The kicking at goal is a definite problem for him, agree with that.

 

[Mr Meow]

TBF it's a moot point. Neither of them will play forward in a final.

They'll swing Henry forward ahead of both of them. The same way they played Hendo forward when Hawkins got suspended for the '19 PF despite not having played forward all year

I didn't need that flashback today.

Hendo as a forward in the 2016 prelim was even funnier.