The Premiership is not won in July or August.

[Poetic Justice]

Pre bye the amount of people I had saying to me "gee the Cats this year.." my response was always, "Yeah, they're good.. but in the past few years they've always had the ability to s**t the bed when it counts so I'm not really going to get excited to be honest."

Now, the season is not over however the cracks are there.

The jekyll & hyde nature of this team, however, is that we could go on from tonight and smash teams by 6-10 goals and dominate on to a GF appearance. You just cannot predict accurately what will happen. The pessimists can try and will remind all and sundry if it happens because, frankly, winning a premiership is that hard no matter who you are that the chances of not winning one are, well, obvious. It makes the argument easier.

Anyhow.. Go Cats. I do hope you bring it and I hope it begins tonight.

 

[Cataholic]

Be nice to see them start making a statement though

 

[00VicWard001]

I really did just make that percentage up. My point is we are very unlikely to just flick a switch and bring the form we had in the first 12-rounds. I believe we can't do this as we've been worked out from a tactical point of view. Sure there are some players who have looked tired and a bit sore, but imo, it's our system that has been dissected by opposition coaching groups and they've found a way to nullify our strengths.

I guess everyone has different theories about our current form. HTL, lack of motivation, out of form and down on confidence players etc. But the only real hope for us to go deep imo, is if Scott and Co can make some tweaks and adjustments to our game plan. I believe we have the personnel, but we need to make some changes to the way we play otherwise we're unlikely to be going deep into September.

The positive is we at least have an opportunity to do this prior to the finals rather than getting to a final and being exposed. We have three weeks to implement some changes that can make us a dangerous outfit again. That's what Scott and his Assistants are getting paid for.

Very true. But the other side of the coin is that the coaches have had time to dissect their opposition too. Sure Richmond look great against an injury depleted Pies, but they haven’t played us or WC for a while.

I think CS alluded to this after the Freo game when he was talking about the top teams having predictable games styles and not changing things on the fly because it’s got them where they are at this stage.

It allows opposition to work them out. But it’s important to get a good look at what the opposition is going to do and what isn’t working for us.

It’s this complex situation where you want to win, but you don’t want to mask your cracks, you want to see what where you will be tested and where you will fail BEFORE you are surprised by it in the finals.

We now clearly know that winning clearances for the day, is not as good as winning contested possessions. So we know that Smith doesn’t bring enough benefit to the team.

We know that moving slow, which got us our 11 wins, also stifles us if we don’t look to move fast at the right time.

The teams not making finals, or even scraping in, can trial things aiming for a Hail Mary. Which can upset our team and even cause losses. But we sort of want this test at this time. The reality is that those particular teams aren’t going to make an impact in the finals, because they would have spent themselves just trying to get there.

What we don’t want is a fellow contender to take us apart, because that allows game time testing and proof that tactics work which is disastrous for finals matchups.

 

[Isaac Norm Smith]

Very true. But the other side of the coin is that the coaches have had time to dissect their opposition too. Sure Richmond look great against an injury depleted Pies, but they haven’t played us or WC for a while.

I think CS alluded to this after the Freo game when he was talking about the top teams having predictable games styles and not changing things on the fly because it’s got them where they are at this stage.

It allows opposition to work them out. But it’s important to get a good look at what the opposition is going to do and what isn’t working for us.

It’s this complex situation where you want to win, but you don’t want to mask your cracks, you want to see what where you will be tested and where you will fail BEFORE you are surprised by it in the finals.

We now clearly know that winning clearances for the day, is not as good as winning contested possessions. So we know that Smith doesn’t bring enough benefit to the team.

We know that moving slow, which got us our 11 wins, also stifles us if we don’t look to move fast at the right time.

The teams not making finals, or even scraping in, can trial things aiming for a Hail Mary. Which can upset our team and even cause losses. But we sort of want this test at this time. The reality is that those particular teams aren’t going to make an impact in the finals, because they would have spent themselves just trying to get there.

What we don’t want is a fellow contender to take us apart, because that allows game time testing and proof that tactics work which is disastrous for finals matchups.

Great points. Really good post

 

[00VicWard001]

Great points. Really good post

Likewise.

I also think that being thrashed like the Giants were is very bad. It makes coaches and players start questioning themselves.

Last week, we didn’t lose terribly on the scoreboard. We were just outplayed for 3/4 quarters, but still were close enough. The goals piled on when we tried to go all out attack at the end and left ourselves open for counterattack.

If we were a team that needed wins at this stage and therefore a team willing to compromise a season of building, drilling and training a game style that actually shows success - then we would have bottled the game up. We would have flooded etc and tried to make the scoring low and win my 5 points.

If we’re a real contender, we don’t change, we tweak a few thing here and there, but we pretty much expect the opposition (with multimillion dollar football departments) to have worked us out by now. It shouldn’t stop us beating them when we face them and the stakes are high. We’ve worked them out, they’ve worked us out. Then it becomes an arm wrestle and relies on the players being in the zone and executing. This is where the 1%ers count the most. The knock ons, the smothers, the bumps, the random bounces, the slips, the missed tackles, the fingertip tackles, the run downs, the fear, the panic, the aggression and the sheer dumb luck moments are the intangibles that separate teams that are virtually equally capable of winning.

 

[Poetic Justice]

It's fair to say that if you were 11-1 you would want to tinker with things to ensure that you've got the competition sewn up.
This would actually be tactically an exceptionally smart thing to do.
I believe the bigger issue is that nobody trusts Chris Scott to do it, rather than can the team actually do it.

 

[Isaac Norm Smith]

Likewise.

I also think that being thrashed like the Giants were is very bad. It makes coaches and players start questioning themselves.

Last week, we didn’t lose terribly on the scoreboard. We were just outplayed for 3/4 quarters, but still were close enough. The goals piled on when we tried to go all out attack at the end and left ourselves open for counterattack.

If we were a team that needed wins at this stage and therefore a team willing to compromise a season of building, drilling and training a game style that actually shows success - then we would have bottled the game up. We would have flooded etc and tried to make the scoring low and win my 5 points.

If we’re a real contender, we don’t change, we tweak a few thing here and there, but we pretty much expect the opposition (with multimillion dollar football departments) to have worked us out by now. It shouldn’t stop us beating them when we face them and the stakes are high. We’ve worked them out, they’ve worked us out. Then it becomes an arm wrestle and relies on the players being in the zone and executing. This is where the 1%ers count the most. The knock ons, the smothers, the bumps, the random bounces, the slips, the missed tackles, the fingertip tackles, the run downs, the fear, the panic, the aggression and the sheer dumb luck moments are the intangibles that separate teams that are virtually equally capable of winning.

Yep, you're right, we don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We've done a lot right, we just need to make some minor tweaks and adjustments to our system. It sounds like that's exactly what they're going to do according to Ablett. Combine that with a bit more effort and work-rate and hopefully we can turn things around and not only be competitive, but really dangerous in September.

 

[BotsMaster]

Be nice to see them start making a statement though

They can start next Saturday afternoon at the Gabba.