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Time to bite the bullet
Robert Walls
August 15, 2006
Cat midfielder James Kelly.
Photo: Sean Garnsworthy
GEELONG doesn't hurt enough. Nor do the Cats demand enough of themselves. This is a team that pre-season was poised to be a genuine premiership contender. Now it is out of the eight and unlikely to play in the finals.
You sense that there is a lack of discipline surrounding this team. We hear that they blue among themselves on the field. We know they aren't fit, and on Sunday against St Kilda, in a game that was vital to their season, there was a lack of urgency that has to worry chief executive Brian Cook, president Frank Costa and thousands of diehard fans.
For example, why did the forward line again break down? The Cats are ranked 14th in the competition for scoring once the ball goes inside their 50-metre arc. Gary Ablett is their leading goalkicker with only 32 goals. His opponent on Sunday was Justin Peckett. Now old "Frankie" Peckett soon turns 34, but he dictated terms to his young opponent. Ablett needed to run. He didn't. He cruised. He needed a rocket from the coach. I doubt he got one.
And why was the ball continually bombed on top of Brad Ottens? It became so predictable, the Saints often would have two and three opponents on the lumbering Cat. Time and again, the ball came to ground, as did Ottens, and the ball would be swept away. All season, Ottens had been the prime forward target. In 19 games, he has kicked only 22 goals. It's a play that hasn't worked, so why persist?
When Cam Mooney was moved to half-forward a few weeks back, the team lifted. He can mark, is good at ground level and can kick long and accurately. On Sunday, he started the game as a loose man in defence. Why? You have to dare to win. And when will the big, hairy Cat grow up as a footballer? I thought he was on track, but three one-week suspensions this year for stupid stuff didn't stop him from almost going the headbutt early in the game against the Saints.
Henry Playfair was the other tall forward for the Cats on Sunday. It was Playfair's eighth game for the season. He got three kicks. Other tall forwards used this year have been Charlie Gardiner, Mathew McCarthy, Nathan Ablett and Kent Kingsley. None of them has played more than eight games. For goodness sake, the Geelong match committee has to have the courage to pick one and give him every opportunity rather than having a bet each way and going nowhere.
At half-time, Geelong trailed by only four points. The Cats opted for Mark Blake, in game 11, to start the third quarter in the ruck. Captain Steven King sat on the bench. Why? Immediately, the Saints surged forward. Justin Koschitzke, Blake's opponent, marked and goaled. A minute later, Blake couldn't mark an errant pass in the centre of the ground. The Saints went forward again to the goal. The runner dragged Blake off. King went into the ruck. But the Saints pinched a 16-point break that set up their win.
Why didn't King start in the ruck? You have to sense the occasion, this was a must-win game. If the Cats were worried about King breaking down, then don't. Let him break down and give the team a chance to win.
These Cats have been mollycoddled too long. You knew the game was shot late in the third quarter when Cat defender Josh Hunt failed the courage test. Most do at some time in their careers. A minute later, Saints stalwart Andrew Thompson backed into dangerous territory to mark and set up a goal. One team was committed, the other wasn't.
It defied logic to see Blake start the fourth quarter in the ruck, and King again on the pine. That Steve Johnson chose not to dive for a desperate mark, and instead waited for a comfortable bounce, reinforced that the Cat culture isn't strong.
Then Mooney marked 30 metres out. Instead of taking responsibility for the shot at goal, he opted for a low percentage unsuccessful short pass to young Shannon Byrnes near the behind post. By now, a mentally fragile team had disintegrated.
The final proof came in the game's last few minutes. Needing four goals to win, you would have thought that the Cats would have thrown caution to the wind, and gone for all-out attack. No. The Cats chipped the ball slowly sideways and backwards, showing they had no idea of the state of the game.
I'm reluctant to comment on the coach because he is going through hell. But his after-match press conference was too accepting of the situation. Supporters need hope, need to see a direction, a plan.
The Cats need to be driven hard over summer. If blokes break down, good, get rid of them. Pace needs to be injected into a slow midfield. Byrnes and Kane Tenace must be played, and David Wojcinski needs to be used around the stoppages. Cameron Ling can't be the player that receives the second most handballs because he stops the forward flow when he gets possession.
Mooney has to be told that if he gets suspended, it means he spends four weeks extra in the reserves. Steve Johnson and James Kelly should be traded if they are not prepared to commit to physical excellence over summer and King shoved to relinquish the captaincy.
Overall, the Cats need a hell of a shake-up. Perhaps it won't be a wasted season if they get one.
Aside from the dip on Ablett i agree with most of this. Time for a new Coach, sack some players, look for trades. I like the idea of Woji in the midfield.
