Preview Semi Final - Geelong vs GWS, Fri 3 Sept @ 1950 (AEST), Optus Oval

[Inferno]

Wonder if thats the logic in bringing in Sav. If you have Esava in the goal square, Hawkins out to a pocket that favors his kick, and Cameron in the opposite pocket, you have Close and Rohan as your pressure forwards due to their speed and tackling abilities, and you stretch teams that way. 3 talls who can mark overhead means if you see someone dropping off Esava to Hawkins, you go to Esava.

Last time we played GWS we didn't have issues getting the ball i50. We had issues kicking it and GWS taking intercept marks. You stop this by having a guy like Esava and telling him to smash into Taylor and Haynes at EVERY single contest they are in. Knee in the back, go for MOTY every ******* contest. Give away a few free kicks and make them think twice.
Port did that to us last week. So many free kicks. Late bumps. Late pushes in the back. Holding tackles. And by the third we were jumping at shadows when under no pressure.

There will be a lot of i50s, and we took a lot of marks too. We need to convert and we need to make sure they don't smash us on rebound 50s which means no shallow entries and no easy intercept marks.

This also requires us to move the ball quickly to get those 1v1's and force a spread of the GWS defence. Our ball movement has often been far quicker in the Semi's in years past after a disastrous Qualifying Final performance and it's critical in isolating our talls when we're going this tall, so I'm hoping for a repeat of our performances against Collingwood, WCE and Sydney the last few years.

Very much agree that we need Sav to crash the pack at every opportunity.

 

[xtatik222k]

Anyone else feeling like Danger is a huge liability in the middle with his busted hand? Dropping marks and not sticking tackles because the strength in his fingers are shot. Would like to see him playing more time up forward, but that's hard to imagine given the current lineup.

Also really feel for Simpson being omitted. Standard fare for us, though. Dalhaus just about needs to kill an assistant coach to get dropped.

 

[year of the cat]

Hogan can be terrible but he’s in good form at the moment and clunking them with arms fully extended straight up - that spells huge trouble for Henderson, feel we will need all of Blitz height or Henry’s fabulous leap to spoil him.

I just thought that physically Hogan was a good matchup for Henderson. He’s not overly tall or quick which suits him. I suppose at least we have a couple of options. Just hope that the version of Henderson we saw last week was binned.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Anyone else feeling like Danger is a huge liability in the middle with his busted hand? Dropping marks and not sticking tackles because the strength in his fingers are shot. Would like to see him playing more time up forward, but that's hard to imagine given the current lineup.

Also really feel for Simpson being omitted. Standard fare for us, though. Dalhaus just about needs to kill an assistant coach to get dropped.

You want him playing up forward but admit he has an issue with his marking ... The one area of the ground he needs good hands for.

 

[xtatik222k]

You want him playing up forward but admit he has an issue with his marking ... The one area of the ground he needs good hands for.

Moreso the fact that if he's going to drop marks, I'd rather he drop them up forward than 70m from the opposition goal.

 

[Strange Cat]

Moreso the fact that if he's going to drop marks, I'd rather he drop them up forward than 70m from the opposition goal.

Fair point actually

 

[BigCat1]

Anyone else feeling like Danger is a huge liability in the middle with his busted hand? Dropping marks and not sticking tackles because the strength in his fingers are shot. Would like to see him playing more time up forward, but that's hard to imagine given the current lineup.

Also really feel for Simpson being omitted. Standard fare for us, though. Dalhaus just about needs to kill an assistant coach to get dropped.

Yeah a real liability. He plays poorly yet still was our highest rated pressure player. Over 600 metres gained, 8 clearances, 9 inside 50s, 4 centre bounce clearances, 2nd most tackles, 16 contested possies. Our leading player in almost all those categories.

I find it ridiculous that a bloke with a broken hand that churns out that gets so much disrespect from the outside world and the word liability thrown in from his own supporters

 

[BigCat1]

Good to see riewoldt and king talk about the responsibilities of Jez and Scott during the week.
Riewoldt said Cameron was brought in for this very reason to take the cats to the top of the mountain. Agree
And King suggests cats have been worked out. Intercept players like lever and Allir play on non dangerous forwards. Forwards that don’t score goals like close, Dahl, Higgins. Why would a defender respect those guys? They don’t score goals. Agree
Over to you Scott

David King must have been devastated that he didn’t come up with this master coaching move and can’t claim it.

Did they flash up some numbers with the Asterisks * from round 21 they have been xyz worst in the league at this. Every week it’s a cherry pick of the most smallest sample size to make some sort of relevant point to make him seem like the smartest in the room.

if only I had a dollar for every team that “can’t win it” or is “there’s to lose”. Remember last week when the Bulldogs had the worst midfield in the final 8.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Moreso the fact that if he's going to drop marks, I'd rather he drop them up forward than 70m from the opposition goal.

I think we're going to see a Danger special tonight.

 

[standupand]

Good to see riewoldt and king talk about the responsibilities of Jez and Scott during the week.
Riewoldt said Cameron was brought in for this very reason to take the cats to the top of the mountain. Agree
And King suggests cats have been worked out. Intercept players like lever and Allir play on non dangerous forwards. Forwards that don’t score goals like close, Dahl, Higgins. Why would a defender respect those guys? They don’t score goals. Agree
Over to you Scott

Hardly rocket science if that's supposed to be "working us out". Every team tries their hardest to free up their intercept defenders. And when a team plays into their hands like we did last Friday by kicking it high and long under pressure (or in our case laser passes straight to them), the media fawns over them and ignores what the rest of the team is doing. If Scott thinks that he can make a difference in terms of strategy and gameplan at this time of year, he's kidding himself. I heard him talk in his presser about constantly making 'tweaks' to the system week to week. When we talk about our flops in finals - imo there's your reason to a T. A coach can't develop a winning gameplan in September. Tweaks to gameplan take years to properly implement. In finals, just do the basics very very well and trust in the system you already have and that you've practised all through the season. It's not complicated. It's just the basics we did so poorly in wk1.

 

[xtatik222k]

Yeah a real liability. He plays poorly yet still was our highest rated pressure player. Over 600 metres gained, 8 clearances, 9 inside 50s, 4 centre bounce clearances, 2nd most tackles, 16 contested possies. Our leading player in almost all those categories.

I find it ridiculous that a bloke with a broken hand that churns out that gets so much disrespect from the outside world and the word liability thrown in from his own supporters

I'm just trying to approach the issue from a damage-control perspective. The forwardline is a good spot for someone like Danger - remember the special he put on against the Hawks when he basically sunk them single-handedly with a busted leg?
You're right that he lead all those metrics in the game. He also had more clangers than any other player. I want him out there - he's got the x-factor and he works bloody hard. I would just rather his mistakes not cost us severely, since we have enough players in the back half making mistakes at the moment.
'Liability' is not a term of disrespect. I'm just trying to think about all the ways we can minimise the cost of having injured players in the team. As you say, his pressure was great. Would be handy to have that pressure up forward. And if he burns the ball or drops marks, no harm done. Turnovers in the back half are much more costly.

I think we're going to see a Danger special tonight.

Yeah he usually responds well when the blowtorch goes on the team through the week. I'd be expecting a solid game from him. At least when Dangerfield plays a bad game, it's usually his execution - not his effort - that's poor.

 

[Cataholic]

I'm just trying to approach the issue from a damage-control perspective. The forwardline is a good spot for someone like Danger - remember the special he put on against the Hawks when he basically sunk them single-handedly with a busted leg?
You're right that he lead all those metrics in the game. He also had more clangers than any other player. I want him out there - he's got the x-factor and he works bloody hard. I would just rather his mistakes not cost us severely, since we have enough players in the back half making mistakes at the moment.
'Liability' is not a term of disrespect. I'm just trying to think about all the ways we can minimise the cost of having injured players in the team. As you say, his pressure was great. Would be handy to have that pressure up forward. And if he burns the ball or drops marks, no harm done. Turnovers in the back half are much more costly.


Yeah he usually responds well when the blowtorch goes on the team through the week. I'd be expecting a solid game from him. At least when Dangerfield plays a bad game, it's usually his execution - not his effort - that's poor.

You never see he or Selwood go half-heartedly. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a lot of their team-mates.

Scott said they were 'steeled and galvanised'. They came out as steeled as a cooked noodle.

Now Selwood has said that they're 'angry'.

Well, it's time Ladies & Gentlemen......Let's see if the talk matches the walk, or if it betrays them once more.

 

[BORIS332]

Hardly rocket science if that's supposed to be "working us out". Every team tries their hardest to free up their intercept defenders. And when a team plays into their hands like we did last Friday by kicking it high and long under pressure (or in our case laser passes straight to them), the media fawns over them and ignores what the rest of the team is doing. If Scott thinks that he can make a difference in terms of strategy and gameplan at this time of year, he's kidding himself. I heard him talk in his presser about constantly making 'tweaks' to the system week to week. When we talk about our flops in finals - imo there's your reason to a T. A coach can't develop a winning gameplan in September. Tweaks to gameplan take years to properly implement. In finals, just do the basics very very well and trust in the system you already have and that you've practised all through the season. It's not complicated. It's just the basics we did so poorly in wk1.

Exactly. It's not our game plan that let us down, it was our execution. I very much doubt it's in our game plan to launch it long and high to the hot spot every F50 entry, it's just dumb football. We need to be a lot smarter. It was baffling the amount of times we practically kicked to Aliir's lead last week, even Selwood was guilty of it. Just need to be a lot smarter.

 

[Sttew]

Now Selwood has said that they're 'angry'.

As long as it’s tempered anger. No point winning but losing players to suspension

 

[Catman]

Let's be honest, if we get a response this week, which we should and I expect we will, the proof in the pudding will ultimately be next week.

Getting a response for the next week should be a non-negotiable, it's doing it the following week that will show us just how badly they want it.

 

[Cataholic]

Exactly. It's not our game plan that let us down, it was our execution. I very much doubt it's in our game plan to launch it long and high to the hot spot every F50 entry, it's just dumb football. We need to be a lot smarter. It was baffling the amount of times we practically kicked to Aliir's lead last week, even Selwood was guilty of it. Just need to be a lot smarter.

Bombing it high and long into our F50 has been a trait for a long, long time.

It suggests we have been, and remain, dumb under pressure. Our composure hasn't improved over the journey.

 

[moond0g]

If they are omitted they can't be the sub.
Smarten up.

Yes they can.

 

[Cataholic]

As long as it’s tempered anger. No point winning but losing players to suspension

His words and tone, to me, suggested it was an anger directed at themselves.

 

[Baudolino]

From the official AFL website, in relation to our horror QF record:

Champion Data's Pressure Factor, combined to calculate corralling, chasing, closing, smothering and tackling pressure, shows that Cats have won that count over their opposition just once in seven qualifying finals.

While they've been able to breakeven in the contested possession overall (thanks largely to a major swing in the 2016 win), their disposal differential has been well down. In other words, the ability to control the ball on the outside and own the tempo of the match has evaporated in finals compared to what the Cats like to do in the regular season.

Geel Qual. Finals	2013 (L)	2014 (L)	2016 (W)	2017 (L)	2019 (L)	2020 (L)	2021 (L)	T
Disposal Diff.	+31	-56	-38	0	-54	+8	-64	-24.7
Clearance Diff.	-21	+6	+1	+3	+1	-8	+8	-1.4
Cont. Poss. Diff.	-11	-8	+52	-19	+21	+4	-8	+4.4
Inside 50 Diff.	+4	-4	-9	-19	+7	0	-15	-5.1
Tackle Diff.	-2	-22	-2	+2	-22	-18	-15	-11.3
F50 Tackle Diff.	+3	-8	+4	-17	-8	+1	-9	-4.9
Pressure Factor Diff.	+0.14	-0.34	-0.17	-0.10	-0.32	-0.12	-0.27	-0.17
Score	-15	-36	+2	-51	-10	-16	-43	-28.2

Interesting breakdown of the pattern of our failures.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Hardly rocket science if that's supposed to be "working us out". Every team tries their hardest to free up their intercept defenders. And when a team plays into their hands like we did last Friday by kicking it high and long under pressure (or in our case laser passes straight to them), the media fawns over them and ignores what the rest of the team is doing. If Scott thinks that he can make a difference in terms of strategy and gameplan at this time of year, he's kidding himself. I heard him talk in his presser about constantly making 'tweaks' to the system week to week. When we talk about our flops in finals - imo there's your reason to a T. A coach can't develop a winning gameplan in September. Tweaks to gameplan take years to properly implement. In finals, just do the basics very very well and trust in the system you already have and that you've practised all through the season. It's not complicated. It's just the basics we did so poorly in wk1.

Most of it was basic skill errors and failing to execute correctly. As bad as we were in that area the pleasing thing Is Port only kicked 12 goals for the game.

 

[BORIS332]

If they are omitted they can't be the sub.
Smarten up.

Might want to check your facts.

 

[Cataholic]

From the official AFL website, in relation to our horror QF record:



Interesting breakdown of the pattern of our failures.

Is that right - we don't corrall, chase, smother, tackle etc as hard come finals??

 

[Down at K Park]

Anyone else feeling like Danger is a huge liability in the middle with his busted hand? Dropping marks and not sticking tackles because the strength in his fingers are shot. Would like to see him playing more time up forward, but that's hard to imagine given the current lineup.

Also really feel for Simpson being omitted. Standard fare for us, though. Dalhaus just about needs to kill an assistant coach to get dropped.

Simpson hasn’t had much impact really. He’s had a pretty interrupted season, and barely had a pre-season either. So it’s understandable.

 

[darren forssman]

His instruction should be very clear:

Immediately find a short target forward of the man on the mark; or

Belt the sh*t out of it 55m down the line.

NEVER EVER KICK WITH YOUR WEIGHT BACK* OR TRY TO SWITCH THE DIRECTION OF PLAY




*Kolo should also get this direction

Or, and I know hard to do or plan for, but whenever they (Blitz & Kolo) get the ball there should be a Smith, Duncan, Tuohy and the like look to get a handball off them.

 

[Vdubs]

Let's be honest, if we get a response this week, which we should and I expect we will, the proof in the pudding will ultimately be next week.

Getting a response for the next week should be a non-negotiable, it's doing it the following week that will show us just how badly they want it.

Just have to concede that we may get a response tonight, but at what physical cost?
We have already looked spent late this year, and what do we have left in the tank?
And if we win, we face a refreshed, 100% fit Demons outfit.
No excuses. Just reality.