It's procrastination time (study to do, things due):
What went right:
Mitch Duncan became the player we all dared to hope for, the same goes for Bews. I feel as though we finish the year with better midfield depth than we started it, too.
Parfitt is a class act, and while none of Zuthrie, Simpson, Parsons and Buzza are bona-fide AFL standard yet, they were reasonably impressive for young, raw, late picks. Tom Stewart is a 150-game footballer (and a bit of a cult hero) in the making, and Tuohy was an absolute steal.
Zac Smith is now comfortably the number one ruckman at the club but needs to learn how to beat Jacobs.
Dangerwood.
What went wrong:
No depth - particularly up forward, where losing McCarthy, Gregson and Cockatoo really hurt us. Cam Guthrie and Blicavs both had ordinary seasons by their standards. Blitz in particular seems a bit lost without the third-man-up rule in his favour and enough tall players down back that he can't play a defensive role. He did pull out a few really good games as a tagger, but was inconsistent overall.
Lang and Horlin-Smith should have sealed spots, but didn't - Hyphen was, again, unlucky with timing and injury. Thurlow was inconsistent at the start of the year and never quite hit previous heights, but we can write that one off to the knee injury.
This is the bit where we've mentioned Motlop and Murdoch pretty much every year since 2014 inclusive. Murdoch looked pretty ok on a half-back flank but was terrible up forward. Motlop really pulled his finger out during finals.
We played some really visually unappealing football at times and the Richmond game was one of the worst that I've sat through for a long time. Sometimes a little bit more risk-taking would be welcome down at the Cattery. Who'd be a forward with some of that delivery?
Harry Taylor, CHF?:
Only as a pinch-hitter. I didn't mind throwing him forward occasionally to see if he could get on top of his opponent early, but there were so many games where he had zero impact at CHF. Dangerfield at FF and Hawkins pushing up the ground seemed to work better, for Harry and for Hawkins. With Lonergan and Mackie gone, expect to see Harry back in his usual spot, and the same for Kolodjashnij.
Trading:
Who knows what goes on day-to-day at the club, but Menzel not having his contract renewed yet is a puzzling decision and a worry. Now that Motlop has actually put together a good finals series, losing both he and Menzel in the prime of their careers would be a blow for the Cats - particularly in return for an injury-prone 34yo (even if it is Gary Ablett) and another player with known commitment issues in Stringer.
Obviously, the Cats really need class forward of the ball and some more midfield depth - but in the draft I'd also like to see a young tall defender and a ruckman, to balance out the age profile of the list.
On the Goneskies list are Cowan, Hayball, presumably any of the unsigned trio of Lang, Motlop and Menzel, while Murdoch, Stanley and Black should be nervous.
2018 is a big year for:
Cockatoo and Guthrie are the players who are due to take their football to the next level - Cocky to a level where he's consistently performing, and Guthrie to genuine A-grade like he has sporadically been.
Thurlow, Lang and Horlin-Smith (if the latter two stay) must make themselves first-22 fixtures next year for their own sakes.
Rating out of ten:
I thought we'd finish fifth, so it's a 7/10.
I also didn't think we'd be blooding Parsons, Zuthrie, Simpson, Parfitt, Buzza, Stewart at the same time. Scott was right in his presser when he talked about being a long way off the flag - chalk 2017 up to overachieving, for mine, though the QF loss was awful.
What went right:
Mitch Duncan became the player we all dared to hope for, the same goes for Bews. I feel as though we finish the year with better midfield depth than we started it, too.
Parfitt is a class act, and while none of Zuthrie, Simpson, Parsons and Buzza are bona-fide AFL standard yet, they were reasonably impressive for young, raw, late picks. Tom Stewart is a 150-game footballer (and a bit of a cult hero) in the making, and Tuohy was an absolute steal.
Zac Smith is now comfortably the number one ruckman at the club but needs to learn how to beat Jacobs.
Dangerwood.
What went wrong:
No depth - particularly up forward, where losing McCarthy, Gregson and Cockatoo really hurt us. Cam Guthrie and Blicavs both had ordinary seasons by their standards. Blitz in particular seems a bit lost without the third-man-up rule in his favour and enough tall players down back that he can't play a defensive role. He did pull out a few really good games as a tagger, but was inconsistent overall.
Lang and Horlin-Smith should have sealed spots, but didn't - Hyphen was, again, unlucky with timing and injury. Thurlow was inconsistent at the start of the year and never quite hit previous heights, but we can write that one off to the knee injury.
This is the bit where we've mentioned Motlop and Murdoch pretty much every year since 2014 inclusive. Murdoch looked pretty ok on a half-back flank but was terrible up forward. Motlop really pulled his finger out during finals.
We played some really visually unappealing football at times and the Richmond game was one of the worst that I've sat through for a long time. Sometimes a little bit more risk-taking would be welcome down at the Cattery. Who'd be a forward with some of that delivery?
Harry Taylor, CHF?:
Only as a pinch-hitter. I didn't mind throwing him forward occasionally to see if he could get on top of his opponent early, but there were so many games where he had zero impact at CHF. Dangerfield at FF and Hawkins pushing up the ground seemed to work better, for Harry and for Hawkins. With Lonergan and Mackie gone, expect to see Harry back in his usual spot, and the same for Kolodjashnij.
Trading:
Who knows what goes on day-to-day at the club, but Menzel not having his contract renewed yet is a puzzling decision and a worry. Now that Motlop has actually put together a good finals series, losing both he and Menzel in the prime of their careers would be a blow for the Cats - particularly in return for an injury-prone 34yo (even if it is Gary Ablett) and another player with known commitment issues in Stringer.
Obviously, the Cats really need class forward of the ball and some more midfield depth - but in the draft I'd also like to see a young tall defender and a ruckman, to balance out the age profile of the list.
On the Goneskies list are Cowan, Hayball, presumably any of the unsigned trio of Lang, Motlop and Menzel, while Murdoch, Stanley and Black should be nervous.
2018 is a big year for:
Cockatoo and Guthrie are the players who are due to take their football to the next level - Cocky to a level where he's consistently performing, and Guthrie to genuine A-grade like he has sporadically been.
Thurlow, Lang and Horlin-Smith (if the latter two stay) must make themselves first-22 fixtures next year for their own sakes.
Rating out of ten:
I thought we'd finish fifth, so it's a 7/10.
I also didn't think we'd be blooding Parsons, Zuthrie, Simpson, Parfitt, Buzza, Stewart at the same time. Scott was right in his presser when he talked about being a long way off the flag - chalk 2017 up to overachieving, for mine, though the QF loss was awful.
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