Three-pronged forward line-up

[Poetic Justice]

Good point! Keeping in mind that when we smashed Carlton and Melbourne in early 2007, that was before we'd had our catalyst. That was just the strength of our three tall forwards (two of whom were underdeveloped).

Imagine what it will be this year with a confident Mooney, a "delicious" Hawkins - I'm sorry, but I don't think any other word does his magic of the finals series justice - and Pods, who I can't help but feel still has a chance to become the second greatest forward of all time. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I was praying for Geelonng to pick him up in the draft after just a handful of games in the VFL.

I don't know what Collingwood and Essendon were thinking, letting him go.

To people who haven't seen Pods play yet: be excited. Be very, VERY excited.

He's fit, he's fast, he's STRONG, he commands a forward line, one of the strongest marks I've ever seen, accurate, and more than capable of kicking 5+ goals a game. And yes - I mean at AFL level.

GAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I want to scream I'm so excited to see our forwards today! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

We have such good supply from the midfield, with the level Tomahawk, Pods, Chappy and Stevie J will be at this year, I don't see why all four of them can't be in the top 15 goal scorers in the AFL.

My bet is Pods will get the most for Geelong, closely followed by Stevie J, with a team-oriented Hawkins coming third, and Chappy coming in fourth (though he may be bumped up if he can avoid injury and fatigue).

Not to be such a blight on your enthusiasm, but if he's this good, why is he 28 and only a rookie? Hmmm...

 

[Susie1727]

He's a late developed ;-) Just trust me on this one.

The other clubs - and even Geelong, apparently - are a bit reluctant to draft a 28-year-old, hence he is a rookie. But he improves in leaps and bounds every year. If all goes according to plan, he could well be the revelation that Mooney, Stevie J and the coaching staff have been talking up the past month or so.

 

[noclashjumpers]

oh great! now we have to sacrifice a live chicken to ward of the Kent Kingsley Curse falling on pods....a moderators work is never done....off to KFC

They sell chicken?

 

[Gogeelong]

Against North Melbourne Mooney seemed to play further up the ground

Pods had some poor delivery
The GFC should persist with him in the forward zone.
He WILL be a valuable this year
Can kick straight and is quicker than he appears.

Duncan appears to have potential also
More of a half forward flanker as he does not have the height

How do you fit them all in?

 

[krisholio14]

I thought the three pronged set up worked well when we moved the ball quickly and kicked long to the forward hot spots.

Pods is a master at getting the ball down into dangerous positions on the deck if he is unable to take the mark (something Nate Ablett was also good at), and we saw a couple examples of the above in the third quarter today.

I hope I see more of it tested in the pre season, because I reckon it's got a fair bit of merit.

 

[Partridge]

Against North Melbourne Mooney seemed to play further up the ground

Pods had some poor delivery
The GFC should persist with him in the forward zone.
He WILL be a valuable this year
Can kick straight and is quicker than he appears.

One goal from 3 attempts - one of which landed in row Z, indicates to me he's no better than Hawkins or Mooney when it comes to conversion. (Actually Hawkins looked much better than Mooney kicking for goal)

Based on yesterday's effort there's no way we can play 3 tall forwards. None of them had great games and only Hawkins (at times) looked dangerous. The big problem with 3 key forwards was seen - when it hits the ground they're too slow.

 

[winty]

Based on yesterday's effort there's no way we can play 3 tall forwards. None of them had great games and only Hawkins (at times) looked dangerous. The big problem with 3 key forwards was seen - when it hits the ground they're too slow.

Pop someone like Chappy at their feet, and then we'll see how it goes. The tall forward line will only look good when we have good crumbers at their feet to mop up the spoils.

 

[saha]

One goal from 3 attempts - one of which landed in row Z, indicates to me he's no better than Hawkins or Mooney when it comes to conversion. (Actually Hawkins looked much better than Mooney kicking for goal)

Based on yesterday's effort there's no way we can play 3 tall forwards. None of them had great games and only Hawkins (at times) looked dangerous. The big problem with 3 key forwards was seen - when it hits the ground they're too slow.

Although not a Cats fan, I have monitored this discussion over the pre-season with interest and looked closely to see how it functioned yesterday.

I don't believe that the three shoud play on the ground at one time. But what I did notice is that you seemed to be trying a three-way rotation, in which two of the three would be on the ground at any one time. I think this option is full of merit, because you are constantly rotating your key forwards.

What I don't agree with is people being critical of the forwards' games. The fact none of the reached double figures in the possessions count shows to me that what they had delivered to them was sub-par. And what I saw with my own eyes also showed me that. By Geelong's standards, delivery would have to have been considered disgraceful. It had absolutely nothing to do with them being too slow when the ball hit the ground. The ball was lucky to be delivered to them off the ground!

As for Pods, I love everyone here being critical. He has had one real hitout in a new forward structure and suddenly everyone is saying 'VFL player', 'too slow', 'adds nothing' and 'can't kick'. Typical football fans who will be praising him when he plays well.

 

[Claude Balls]

It might work once in a blue moon, but in general the game is too fast for 3 talls who aren't uncommonly fast and agile to play in the same forward line at the same time, IMHO.

 

[madcat001]

I didn't think the forward setup was as disgraceful as everyone is making out. Overall the cats performance was a bit rusty and sub par, I wouldn't write off pods and three prong attack just yet. Apart from the lace out pass that hawkins spilled in the last quarter, there wasn't anything worth whinging about from the forwards really. Pods kicked one out on the full and didn't really do anything to disgrace himself. Thought he presented pretty well and took a couple of decent grabs when his opportunities were there.

Most of the time there was only two of the big three up in the forward line anyway which is no different to what we did last year. I'm certain they'll give the three big guys another crack next week and I'll be interested to see how it goes.

 

[Ninty]

Pods couldn't do any more than what he did. The delivery was shithouse. I'd like to see this trailed more when we actually care about the ****ing game. I think it will work.

 

[Partridge]

As for Pods, I love everyone here being critical. He has had one real hitout in a new forward structure and suddenly everyone is saying 'VFL player', 'too slow', 'adds nothing' and 'can't kick'. Typical football fans who will be praising him when he plays well.

Actually I was doubtful about him before he was promoted onto our list. Nothing against him, but I am very, very wary of a 28-year-old who's never played at the top level being able to make it. Quite happy to be proven wrong on that, but I'll reserve judgement.

And it's not just the number of possessions either - that doesn't impact Mooney trying a dumb handpass when he was only 30 metres out when he could (and should) have kicked it himself. Or his total lack of composure when he plays on Scott Thompson (newsflash Cam - full backs aren't intimidated, try going for the ball instead). That's what annoys us far more than just his statistics.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

One goal from 3 attempts - one of which landed in row Z, indicates to me he's no better than Hawkins or Mooney when it comes to conversion. (Actually Hawkins looked much better than Mooney kicking for goal)

Based on yesterday's effort there's no way we can play 3 tall forwards. None of them had great games and only Hawkins (at times) looked dangerous. The big problem with 3 key forwards was seen - when it hits the ground they're too slow.

Honestly, I've been watching Pods for years, and technically speaking his goalkicking is better than Mooney or even Tomahawk. He simply missed a shot, which everyone does every now and agaim. If that was the criteria on which we dump someone then Mooney would have ceased playing for us a long time ago

In regards to the forwards, while when the ball hits the deck I want to see them still dive in hard, and chase hard, as Hawk and Pods did at times, once it hits the deck it's essentially the responsibility of the smaller guys. So get Varcoe and Byrnes and Chappy in there roving properly, and it might not look bad.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I thought the three pronged set up worked well when we moved the ball quickly and kicked long to the forward hot spots.

Pods is a master at getting the ball down into dangerous positions on the deck if he is unable to take the mark (something Nate Ablett was also good at), and we saw a couple examples of the above in the third quarter today.

I hope I see more of it tested in the pre season, because I reckon it's got a fair bit of merit.

Agree. He just about never gets outmarked, which is what you want from your forwards-to bring it to ground whenever they can't mark it, at a spot where the others can be dangerous.

Thankyou for your good sense sir.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

On a lighter note, I noted this gem from Mooney (about Pods)
(full article here for anyone who's interested http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2010/02/17/146631_gfc.html)

"you can see when he takes his shirt off, he is a huge unit"

Now I know Moons is getting Pods ready to replace him when he runs off to the Gold Coast, but even so this is taking the man love a tad too far
Maybe now we know why he keeps getting in trouble with the leadership group (only kidding)

 

[The rabbi]

Pods couldn't do any more than what he did. The delivery was shithouse. I'd like to see this trailed more when we actually care about the ****ing game. I think it will work.

The delivery was certainly substandard.

I thought that much of the poor delivery came from the regular senior crew. Of course, the Cats have only recently started training together again, and we should expect to see a huge improvement in ball handling in the coming weeks.

No need to press the panic button.

 

[Rosso]

Although not a Cats fan, I have monitored this discussion over the pre-season with interest and looked closely to see how it functioned yesterday.

I don't believe that the three shoud play on the ground at one time. But what I did notice is that you seemed to be trying a three-way rotation, in which two of the three would be on the ground at any one time. I think this option is full of merit, because you are constantly rotating your key forwards.

What I don't agree with is people being critical of the forwards' games. The fact none of the reached double figures in the possessions count shows to me that what they had delivered to them was sub-par. And what I saw with my own eyes also showed me that. By Geelong's standards, delivery would have to have been considered disgraceful. It had absolutely nothing to do with them being too slow when the ball hit the ground. The ball was lucky to be delivered to them off the ground!

As for Pods, I love everyone here being critical. He has had one real hitout in a new forward structure and suddenly everyone is saying 'VFL player', 'too slow', 'adds nothing' and 'can't kick'. Typical football fans who will be praising him when he plays well.

Jumping at shodows and writing people off at the drop of a hat is what makes Big Footy work. Surely being a passionate Tiges supporter you would know and expect this to be the case. Just coz we win more often than not doesn't mean that common sense is used more often than not.

The hordes are right, Pods has just fluked his goal kicking exploits over the past decade. He is really the second comming of Matt McCarthy!! Why did we rookie him? Why, why why???????


P.S If he kicks a bag at Yea all is forgiven and he will go down as the greatest ever bargain basement recruit.

 

[Partridge]

The hordes are right, Pods has just fluked his goal kicking exploits over the past decade. He is really the second comming of Matt McCarthy!! Why did we rookie him? Why, why why???????

P.S If he kicks a bag at Yea all is forgiven and he will go down as the greatest ever bargain basement recruit.

No one has said he fluked them. But some people don't want to accept the fact that kicking bags in the reserves is not the same as doing it at senior level. Blindly assuming he's going to carve it up is more than a little optimistic.

If he manages to make it, sensational, and I will happily admit to be wrong. But the jury is still very much out.