What we learnt today

[year of the cat]

1. If Geelong play strong, committed footy working with one another we aren't a bad footy team. With some tinkering at the end of the season we can be right back in contention next year

2. We were far too top heavy last week. Adding pace to the team with Tenace helped, particularly with his fresh legs in the second half. He should be persisted with despite the odd skill error. Adding Wojcinski to the team should provide even more drive out of defence.

3. Rooke has stepped up even from last year to be our number one run-with player. Absolute hard-nut who sets a perfect example of the attitude required to succeed at this level.

4. King is close to being finished. Needs a strong injury-free pre-season to convince us that he still has a future.

5. Harley is capable of getting back to the form that we know he is capable of. Lets hope that his injury plagued last couple of years are behind him now.

6. One of the positive to come out of the year is the emergence of Prismall as part of our midfield rotation and Egan as our third tall defender. Prismall can find the footy, delivers it well and most importantly makes good decisions. Egan will eventually take over as our CHB.

Thats about it for now. Feel free to add to this list. With a good pre-season, some astute recruiting we may be back nect year. Really depends on attitude, whether this playing group either want it enough and/or if Thompson is able to extract the most out of them. Looking forward to the review...

 

[Inferno]

That we can easily be a top 4 team when we are on our game and our players can still play properly.

 

[Seb]

Some valid points, mate.

1. If Geelong play strong, committed footy working with one another we aren't a bad footy team. With some tinkering at the end of the season we can be right back in contention next year

Potentially yes. However we still lack leadership qualities on the field and some creative coaching. I mean, Thompson's moves consist of plugging Mr Fix-it, aka. Darren Milburn up forward when Ottens, Playfair et al don't perform.

Every once in a while, i'd like to see him try new things. Like Gazza on the back flank, Josh Hunt as a leading forward (to play to his kicking strengths) etc. It's not all that hard to think of certain options which could be implemented.

2. We were far too top heavy last week. Adding pace to the team with Tenace helped, particularly with his fresh legs in the second half. He should be persisted with despite the odd skill error. Adding Wojcinski to the team should provide even more drive out of defence.

I love Archie, i'll always love him. But he just isn't living up to the expectations and hype. He doesn't keep his feet, he is timid, refuses to use his run and like you said, makes the odd skill error. And trust me, that's unusual, because he's actually a beautiful kick of the footy. I think under a new coach, who gave him a license to burn the turf, he'd really find himself at home. Needs to work on contested possessions in a major way though.

3. Rooke has stepped up even from last year to be our number one run-with player. Absolute hard-nut who sets a perfect example of the attitude required to succeed at this level.

Absolutely agree. This bloke typifies what we were about in 2004.

4. King is close to being finished. Needs a strong injury-free pre-season to convince us that he still has a future.

He's not close to finished.... He is finished.

5. Harley is capable of getting back to the form that we know he is capable of. Lets hope that his injury plagued last couple of years are behind him now.

Harley's injury woes will never go away. He has a debilitating hip injury and will struggle to play 15 games a season. It's been good to see him in the ones in the second half of the year and maybe you're right, with a good pre-season, he could find his feet again. But from what i've been told, I doubt it.

6. One of the positive to come out of the year is the emergence of Prismall as part of our midfield rotation and Egan as our third tall defender. Prismall can find the footy, delivers it well and most importantly makes good decisions. Egan will eventually take over as our CHB.

Yeah, Prismall has been OK. I harbour high hopes for him. Just looks like a classy player. Egan... Look, i know people love him and all, but for mine, he just makes so many bloody mistakes that seem to go unnoticed. I reckon he drops 4-5 crucial marks a game and gets caught out of position 6-7 times every week. Really not sold.

Decent post though.

 

[cats2rise]

Egan... Look, i know people love him and all, but for mine, he just makes so many bloody mistakes that seem to go unnoticed. I reckon he drops 4-5 crucial marks a game and gets caught out of position 6-7 times every week.

Agree. The amount of times in a 2-on-2 contest he will get in a good position but then drop the mark while going to ground. have seen it happen a few times. But still, this has been a great year for him and I look forward to seeing him develop over the next 12 months.

 

[chapmanmagic35]

Good post, year of the cat.

Agree on pretty much everything you've said.

The point someone made on Egan not holding his feet enough is valid, but he's had a great year in my book.

 

[CF]

I agree that our side isn't out of contention for playing finals next year. I think we shouldn't get carried away with the win, it was good, but it doesn't mean we are back or any such thing. The club has a lot of issues it needs to explore in the playing department and one win shouldn't take the heat of that. This is kinda typical of Cats supporter. One win and we are happy to sit back on our butts.

There are serious things wrong in that team. The biggest thing is that the Leadership Group is substandard with only about 4 players who you could call AA standard (Scarlett, Chapman, Ablett, & Corey). That's why it is important for the side to play as a team (which they haven't been doing) because the list is too even overall. We will not be a top 4 IMHO until we have maybe 2-3 more AA class players. I am hopeful Hawkins, Varcoe, Bartel and Mooney can step up into that group eventually.

Let's not forget the pain of this year and let them off the hook.

 

[finrod]

I didn't realise King was that bad... he had 20 hitouts according to the stats. Maybe he shouldn't be captain, but at least he can ruck for a few more years.

 

[year of the cat]

I agree that our side isn't out of contention for playing finals next year. I think we shouldn't get carried away with the win, it was good, but it doesn't mean we are back or any such thing. The club has a lot of issues it needs to explore in the playing department and one win shouldn't take the heat of that.

I am certainly not getting carried away with the win - just merely illustrating that by defeating last years premier and a candidate this year quite comfortably that we have the basis for a good footy team. I still think that the coaching department needs to be completely restructured, including replacing Thompson. His press conference today confirmed that in my mind.

There are serious things wrong in that team. The biggest thing is that the Leadership Group is substandard with only about 4 players who you could call AA standard (Scarlett, Chapman, Ablett, & Corey). That's why it is important for the side to play as a team (which they haven't been doing) because the list is too even overall. We will not be a top 4 IMHO until we have maybe 2-3 more AA class players. I am hopeful Hawkins, Varcoe, Bartel and Mooney can step up into that group eventually.

Leadership is certainly the major problem and not one that is easily solved. Listening to Cam Mooney in a post-match interview you couldn't help be impressed by his passion and how articulate he was (relative to the average footballer). If only he could get his head right he would be a great captain. Would need more support though.

Let's not forget the pain of this year and let them off the hook.

Agree

 

[Rosella]

Agree. The amount of times in a 2-on-2 contest he will get in a good position but then drop the mark while going to ground. have seen it happen a few times. But still, this has been a great year for him and I look forward to seeing him develop over the next 12 months.

But he's second in the club for contested marks and, whatwas that stat mentioned in the record last week, second in the league for marks from opposition players. That's a fair effort for a second year kpp with less than 40 games.