Second chances

[beckhamsam69]

I'm not going to sugercoat what was a horrific night for us. A lot of things didnt go our way like fixture issues but it was mostly a lack of effort under pressure that lead to this massive defeat.

Chris Scott seemed very cool during the game, eerily so. Was he just resigned to the fact that we had no hope, and didn't try to improve the situation? Perhaps, but I think that he just didn't have an answer at all tonight. Coach Carter couldn't have turned that one into a win in my opinion.

To be honest CS and the MC have made a few blues with team selection this season, Smedts being the big one tonight. Varcoes repeated inclusion throughout his bad games and Stringer and Sheringham wont be long term players also. Still don't know why we have 1 tall forward in round 11 with HM floating up for an ocassional stint at CHF

I haven't had much ill to say about our boys in recent years. But 2 of the last 3 games we have come out 2nd to the ball, applied little pressure, not playing infront and leaving ourselves extremely susceptable to a counter-attack. We just don't seem as interested coming up against a real top 4 finals contender, which is a worry.

All in all, I'm not expecting a flag but what I do want to see is a sound team selection at the MC, a CHF, and some grunt from the players to get first to the ball and to apply some pressure or our own. I hope tonight has served a purpose to not just be a forgotton meaningless shelacking, but a strong indicator to CS and the boys to pull their f***ing fingers out.

These boys deserve a second and a third chance for these last few years we have had, but as a supporter of this club I want this to be a push in the right direction at the very least.

Boys, your second chances start....now.

 

[CatAttack84]

I made kind of a similar post in the autopsy thread:

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threa...g-by-110-points.1064809/page-12#post-33283610

 

[Cursed Cat]

Personally I think we're going to see more of the same from here on in as far as 2014 is concerned - mostly wins at home, struggling interstate, 50-50 on neutral territory ...
Sydney, Freo and Port away, with those teams in-form, represent a challenge to any team in the comp - and we've struck out all three times (do we have the Eagles away this year?), with a consolation win against Brisbane - not a very convincing one.

Re : team selection, I totally concede the OP's point relating to Smedts, but more generally, I think the output of a lot our list is pretty much interchangeable at this stage; e.g. Brown/Walker/Kersten/Vardy - none of these players are proven entities and there's a possibility that none of them may be the answer ultimately - through a combination of injury and form (and sheer inexperience), none have really stuck their hand up so far - some would argue lack of opportunity is the real problem, but with the MC seemingly committed to Blicavs and Simpson, perhaps they feel that a surplus of young, erratic talls might deny the supporters some of the wins that they so expect.

The MC have cleary shown a reluctance to persist with Mitch Brown and Josh Walker, rightly or wrongly.
From an irrelevant, personal view, I rate Walker's potential slightly ahead of Brown's, and suspect a fit Shane Kersten might ultimately be the best option.
But Tom Hawkins, who has had a solid season (and I for one thought he battled well under duress last year, too), needs that in-form Pods-like support for our forward line to threaten, especially come September.

The MC are clearly still assessing what to do with the ruck situation, too.
And are we too tall down back with Lonergan (when fit), Taylor, Rivers? If not those proven players, then who? Should a 'transitioning' side be investing games in Jackson Thurlow? Or are we doing him a favour by not throwing him to the wolves too early?

And to be fair on the club, their hands have been tied to an extent with long-term injuries to Daniel Menzel, Nathan Vardy, Josh Cowan and mid-term injuries to Motlop, Christensen and Caddy.
Some of those players are very much unproven, but 6-ish unavailable players literally erodes at the list's depth, given further week-to-week losses.
The very top, best coached teams have the depth to cover those kind of losses, but we're not there right now.

This is not the Golden-Years team we remember - the post-2011 Cats have been gutsy, played in bursts, shown an ability to squeeze the opposition on occasion - but they're an increasingly inconsistent lot, either because there are too many miles on the clock or not enough.

 

[dazbroncos]

Good thread and that was not fun watching. Losses on about an hours sleep are miserable. Deadest dackings like that are catastrophic..

I think the MC and CS either proved a point with smedts or lost the bet big time as his inclusion after 3/4 of vfl footy all year pretty much lost me completely. Mots is barely getting to match fitness levels and he had 2 vfl and this is week 3 afl for him.

I had accepted the Freo and Port losses but this was poor at best. I wan to see the response before passing judgement. I feel that while the speech was the same about reviews and moving on, I need to see substance and effort. We had a shit night everywhere and , once again, we were the hunted and they were flying. More power to them.. But it's up to the GFC to review, revive and respond I the hardest way possible.

I posted in the gd thread that Carlton either saw that egg last night and we "awesome " or "Ohhhh shit"..
It had better be ohhhh shit for 2 reasons. One, I'm flying home for 3 weeks and I'm going to the game and more importantly, I need to see effort and desire.
GFC, your time starts now ....
Go Catters

 

[The rabbi]

Personally I think we're going to see more of the same from here on in as far as 2014 is concerned - mostly wins at home, struggling interstate, 50-50 on neutral territory ...

The above is not what we would like to see but it is quite probable that it will work out that way.
We may not suffer another 100+ point drubbing but I expect that we will experience a few comfortable losses at around the 30 to 50 point range.