The problem is simple...

[Maximus76]

The Cats can put all our problems down to two players..

Matty Scarlett and Cam Mooney..

After a full preseason...good form and the rest - both got themselves suspended for stupid things...

MS had two weeks off and his preseason was wasted and he hasnt looked the same since...

CM gets a week and needs time to get going again..

Forget blaming bomber and all the rest --- our season is in tatters cause these two senior players made stupid mistakes so early in the season..

Forget the top four - we need to make the eight!!

 

[jess_555]

No offence dude but I think you are absolutly COMPLETELY wrong.

Why should Matty and Cam's stupid "incidents" make our entire forward like totally suck for several weeks in a row? They both played on the weekend so are you still blaming that 100 point loss on those 2 players? Totally ridiculous IMO!

I'm not even going to start on what is going wrong with the club coz it appears to be about 100 million mental and physical problems!

 

[tusk]

Mate if the problem was as simple as that we'd be fine.....it goes much, much deeper then that my friend.

Coach, culture, slow midfield, attitude of 75% of the players, impotent forward line, injury problems, poor kicking skills across the board = the key issues.

I'm not sure what they are putting in the water in Perth but I suggest you need to start drinking bottled water.

 

[thehoff]

I think it is brutally unfair to pinpoint this form slump on 2 players.

Fact is, with or without Scarlett we would not have beaten Hawthorn with the effort of the remaining 21 players on the field.

We beat St Kilda without Mooney. What does that tell us? Maybe we have been playing to tall, maybe we need some leg speed or maybe we are just not good enough and we have an outdated game plan.

Either way, the answer is not simple and i highly doubt we will win more than 9-10 games this season.

 

[Maximus76]

I am not pinpointing their form - the fact that they were missing and having to get going again...

Four weeks ago we were still fielding the youngest team in the comp..

Those two are key if we have any chance this year....all this chat about infighting is crap -any time someone is losing it always starts up...

Senior player need to play - simple as that - Hamill out for Saints they go crap - just look at collingwood - they are up and moving because everyone is playing..

I dont want to hear someones sisters friends dogs brother heard his mothers father say mooney said ling was a jerk - it a load of crap....where was it when we won the first two games of the season?

 

[CatFanatic]

I am not pinpointing their form - the fact that they were missing and having to get going again...

Four weeks ago we were still fielding the youngest team in the comp..

Those two are key if we have any chance this year....all this chat about infighting is crap -any time someone is losing it always starts up...

Senior player need to play - simple as that - Hamill out for Saints they go crap - just look at collingwood - they are up and moving because everyone is playing..

I dont want to hear someones sisters friends dogs brother heard his mothers father say mooney said ling was a jerk - it a load of crap....where was it when we won the first two games of the season?

Sorry Max but I gotta agree with others that blaming two players just doesnt make sense.
It could just be that Bombers game plan is just too complicated and he has our players so confused that they have forgotten how to play footy.

 

[jess_555]

Catfanatic your right, Geelong needs to go back to basics like how to kick the ball straight to each other and how to kick a goal perhaps even how to take a mark let alone a contested mark.

 

[SJ]

Right I've been browsing this forum for a while now but I've joined up to VENT MY SPLEEN. (I wanted to start a new thread but it doesn't let me yet.)

OK so let's set the scene. On Saturday night, Bomber Thompson moved into 2nd all-time on the most games coached for the Geelong Football Club, a club that has been in existence since 1859. Coming off an "ugly" win, it again was a must-win game for the club to send a message to the competition and set us up for the rest of the season. Bookies couldn't split us, and it was a chance to show our wares on the biggest stage, against the biggest club. For the first time in 3 or 4 years, we had our "best 34 players available" - thus technically it should have been our best side on the park for maybe 8 or 9 years.

We didn't even give a yelp.

After the match against St. Kilda, Thompson said we wouldn't play like that again. Yet I think we applied the flood for the full four quarters on Saturday night. WHY CAN'T WE LEARN? When we are 5 goals down at quarter time playing a rubbish style of defensive footy, wouldn't you think that you would change your game style - possibly to that of an attacking plan? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE WHEN WE ARE 10 GOALS DOWN AT HALF TIME? SURELY IT MEANS THAT WE MIGHT AS WELL PUT A FEW GOALS ON THE BOARD? YES? DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE BUT ME? But we stuck with the flood and look what happened.

Now I have a couple of issues:

1. PATHETIC DELIVERY TO FORWARD LINE - The GFC forward line has been much-maligned for around 10 years since the retirement of the greatest ever player to grace the earth. However, during this time, we have been able to put together winning scores. A month and a half ago, Geelong kicked 22.6 - put that down to brilliant delivery to the forward line. Kingsley dominated that day, along with the whole side. Now heres the issue. Kent and co. has copped a fair bit of criticism over the past 6 weeks, but let's just get this straight. We ALL KNOW that Geelong has a workmanlike forward line, nothing more. Kingsley's strength is on the lead - similar to Hawthorn's Mark Williams in that respect. When Hawthorn wins, quite often Williams kicks a bag of 8 or so. Their game plan relies on hitting him on the lead. There is no point kicking to Kingsley one out in the square - by the time the ball gets there, its usually 3 on 1 against him. Kingsley and the others lead, except (and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong) I don't think we would have taken more than possibly 1 or 2 uncontested marks on the lead ahead of the defender on Saturday night. WAY WAY WAY too often, it is above their heads, or they have to stop and prop and get crunched by the pursuing backman. It is not hard to kick to a lead, most clubs do it well. Where we are falling down is where we kick TO a player on a lead (ie. where he was originally), instead of putting it IN FRONT of the player (ie. where he can run to). It is almost impossible for defenders to stop this passage of play - Collingwood did it all night, and even 10 Matty Scarletts in All-Australian form couldn't have stopped them. That's where the problem lies - WE ARE ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE AT PUTTING IT OUT IN FRONT OF A PLAYER ON THE LEAD.

2. RIDICULOUS USE OF THE FOOTY ONCE A MARK HAS BEEN TAKEN - This has been a habit that I believe has been creeping into our game for a few years, but on Saturday night was at its most brilliant best (worst). SO MANY TIMES, a Geelong player takes a mark, say, at half-back. Now playing on can be a brilliant strategy if you're 10 goals up and have all the momentum, but the stuff shown on Saturday was ridiculous. After a mark is taken, either:

• A HANDPASS IS GIVEN OFF TO THE CLOSEST PLAYER - quite often, flat-footed, less than 2 metres away, and behind the original player. When someone takes a mark, they earn the right to go back, take their kick and not be tackled. But by handpassing immediately to a flat-footed teammate in the same position as the player who took the mark, nothing is gained, but pressure is put on the handball receiver, often leading to a link of poor handpasses, and mostly, a turnover, or a long-bomb to a contest where we lose the footy.
• THE PLAYER PLAYS ON TO NOTHING UP THE FIELD - slightly less common, but again, this occurred frequently against the Pies. A player would take a mark, and in the earnest of moving the ball quickly, would play on, look up, have nothing to kick to, and turn the ball over. I mean, kicking long to a contest is the way to go, but you must have someone to kick to (POSSIBLY BY NOT IMPLEMENTING THE FLOOD AS I ARGUED ABOVE).

I have thought about this, and does anyone agree with this statement?:

I THINK SATURDAY NIGHT'S EFFORT WAS THE WORST PERFORMANCE BY AN AFL SIDE POSSIBLY OF ALL TIME, CONSIDERING:

• WHAT WAS AT STAKE
• THE FULL SQUAD (6 WEEKS AGO PREMIERSHIP FAVOURITES) AVAILABLE
• THE NATURE OF THE GAME (MUST WIN)
• WHAT WAS SAID THE WEEK BEFORE (WE WILL NOT FLOOD AGAIN)

There you go, I've said it. I've debuted. What does everyone reckon? I used to defend Thompson, but I've had enough.

Also, with the new IR Laws, is it possible to sack Ottens?

Go Cats

 

[SJ]

What does everyone think?

 

[ablettjnr]

What does everyone think?

Yep, agree with most of what you said. We were disgraceful, no two ways about it. Hard to comment on all that really, I'd have to say it's what most of us are thinking. The worst part about it all is that the 22 out there were supposedly our BEST 22, something we haven't had for a long, long time, and they got smashed, no excuses, just pure shyte.

My biggest gripe is our footskills in general, goal kicking and field kicking. The pies were precise, we were abysmal.

 

[geelong_boy]

Point 1: Kicking the ball in front of leading players. Spot on there, it's so simple and yet we aren't doing it. Collingwood did it really well. Given that our two main forwards at the moment in Kingsley and Playfair can't seem to take a contested mark then delivery becomes crucial.

Point 2: What to do after a mark has been taken. Whenever a Collingwood player marked in our forward line ALL their teammates ran unbelievably hard into space to give them an option. Even if they ran out wide they still gave them an option, even if to the boundary on the wing. Our players are simply not running that hard to create an option for their teammates.

Point 3: Worst performance ever? Don't know, hadn't thought about it in those terms. But it's up there with the 1998 loss to Sydney by 100 points as the worst loss I've ever experienced as a Geelong supporter. Insipid. Pathetic. Shattering. INEXCUSABLE.

Point 4: Brad Ottens. I completely disagree. Had been amongst our best players in the weeks leading up last week, but did have a shocker against the Pies. If we are to do anything this year then Ottens will have to play a key part.

 

[chapmanmagic35]

Yep, agree with most of what you said. We were disgraceful, no two ways about it. Hard to comment on all that really, I'd have to say it's what most of us are thinking. The worst part about it all is that the 22 out there were supposedly our BEST 22, something we haven't had for a long, long time, and they got smashed, no excuses, just pure shyte.

My biggest gripe is our footskills in general, goal kicking and field kicking. The pies were precise, we were abysmal.

Even when we made a PF in 2004, a goal kicking was by no means a strong point. I can remember a number of games that year where we kicked very inaccurately. Seems like it has always been a bit of a problem.

In addition to what you said ablettjnr, I reckon our decison making skills have been very poor at times throughout this year.

 

[ablettjnr]

In addition to what you said ablettjnr, I reckon our decison making skills have been very poor at times throughout this year.

I guess the two go hand-in-hand.

If the decision is crap, the kick will never look good, and if the kick is crap, the decision seems crap.

 

[TheTimeCometh]

junior, g-boy, daicosdog and champnam35 - spot on. the 'record' gave an interesting stat bout the saints winning 48% of our inside50s "immediately after the entry". saw it happen, maybe not so often (cause we didnt have it), against the pies. saw it happen v lions in '04 PF. nuthin' ironed out since then.

 

[SJ]

Point 3: Worst performance ever? Don't know, hadn't thought about it in those terms. But it's up there with the 1998 loss to Sydney by 100 points as the worst loss I've ever experienced as a Geelong supporter. Insipid. Pathetic. Shattering. INEXCUSABLE.

That year, we finished 12th and Sydney 6th that year. We weren't premiership favourites. I bet it wasnt a 'must-win' game. I bet we didnt have our "best 34 players available". I bet we didn't do EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what the coach said the week before. Terrible.

 

[SJ]

Even when we made a PF in 2004, a goal kicking was by no means a strong point. I can remember a number of games that year where we kicked very inaccurately. Seems like it has always been a bit of a problem.

• In 2002: 22 Games - 8 times more behinds than goals
• In 2003: 22 Games - 7 times more behinds than goals, 4 times equal amounts of each
• In 2004: 25 Games - 11 times more behinds than goals, 2 times equal amounts of each (from Rd 13 - PF that year, we only scored more goals than behinds twice out of 13, ultimately cost us the PF)
• In 2005: 24 Games - 8 times more behinds than goals, 2 times equal amounts of each (poor kicking possibly cost us the SF)
• In 2006: 8 Games - 3 times more behinds than goals already

Are these stats abnormal? That means that of 101 games we have played in the last four and a bit seasons, we have only scored more goals than behinds 56 times. Doesn't sound great does it?

 

[Go_Ramjet!]

You'd think that senior management would have identified this problem earlier on (circa 2004) and addressed it by means of trade/recruitment - if anyone is to blame its them

trade kk for someone useful

 

[bulletproof]

What does everyone think?

Spot on. Enjoyed the user name also, wait till SJ starts watching the World Cup he will think he is the wearing the number 10 for Brazil when he takes the park.

 

[Copernicus]

What does everyone think?

Pretty much spot on, and I haven't even watched the game. Sounds a lot like previous rounds, though. I don't know what the coaches are doing to rectify these problems, but by the looks of it, not much. Bloody frustrating.

 

[SJ]

Spot on. Enjoyed the user name also, wait till SJ starts watching the World Cup he will think he is the wearing the number 10 for Brazil when he takes the park.

Johnno's my boy - he's a champ, but I think this year he's struggled with indecision at times.

In 2004 and 2005, he took the first option, without thinking. SJ Instinct.

If he gets back to that, he'll be right.

Look out for 'The Steve Johnson Pocket' sign, so to be arriving on the Western Side of the Ablett Terrace.