Game Day Cats v Doggies Sat April 6th 810 pm @ AO - Gather Round

[dazbroncos]

So we move thru Border town the great town of Adelaide for Gather Round

We are tracking very nicely at 3-0 with the biggest test of the season so far tonight V the dish lickers.

The Doggies have won 2 of 3.. which is better than the combined win total of 1 from 9 that our opponent thus far have won.

With all that said, we were 12th last year. No finals and the fixture reflects that and we can only beat who we are lined up to play.

And now its the Doggies.

We have Stanely and Touhy back in for Conway and Mullin.

The rest stays the same.

Like to see Bowes get a full game and maybe have Shark as the sub but we will see -might need him all game to run with Bont or similar.

Blitz 250th - incredible achievement and Wellsy is just smirking in the corner with Brittany Spears " Ooops I did it again" playing over and over in his head.

Big test this week but not unachievable.

Win this and the league's eyes will be rolling again.

Have to control their Mid and a real test for ours missing Guth and PFD.

Stanley will be fresh and ready to go with English in theory and after Conway's effort last week will have seen all he needs to see to be motivated.

Hope to see more green shoots this week from the new crop coming thru.... Dempsey, Clark, Henry, Holmes and looking for another good game from Parfitt.

GO Catters

 

[calder_daddy]

Last time we played the dogs we only just lost the midfield battle with Danger, Parfitt, Bowes, Atkins and Holmes as our mids with Conway the ruck.
Clearances on that night were 43-39

The previous time it was Ceglar, Blicavs, Bruhn, Atkins and again only just lost the midfield battle against a full strength dogs outfit 37-35 in clearances.

This is the deepest our midfield has been against them for years.
Stanley, Blicavs, Holmes, Bruhn, Atkins, Bowes or Clark “one of them IMO will be sub”

We will win

 

[ShaunWDT]

We play well at AO and match up very well on them, should be winning this really.

Get the ball in quick and expose their pretty average defence.

 

[Lana]

Last time we played the dogs we only just lost the midfield battle with Danger, Parfitt, Bowes, Atkins and Holmes as our mids with Conway the ruck.
Clearances on that night were 43-39

The previous time it was Ceglar, Blicavs, Bruhn, Atkins and again only just lost the midfield battle against a full strength dogs outfit 37-35 in clearances.

This is the deepest our midfield has been against them for years.
Stanley, Blicavs, Holmes, Bruhn, Atkins, Bowes or Clark “one of them IMO will be sub”

We will win

I wish Champion data would publish a measure of clearance quality both around the ground and at centre bounces. Too often the differential alone can be meaningless.

I think the game will be decided on pressure and ball use. At some point we'll have to win the ball. In our round 12 win they had the ball around 75 times then us. in our round 24 loss it was a lot closer, but English was dominant, against Ceglar it was like they had an extra player on the ground.

Even if we lose the raw stoppage numbers as long a they aren't effective with them we'll be better in other aspects of the game. I haven't watched them play this year but I hope they follow the competition trend of trying the rush the ball forwards quickly at all costs. We'll win any turnover game as we have very few poor users of the ball by foot.

 

[allrighty]

We need to gather round the TV for this one. Will be good to see where we are at but I think we will win. Too many options on our side and expect Blitz to do just that.

 

[Mr Meow]

I wish Champion data would publish a measure of clearance quality both around the ground and at centre bounces. Too often the differential alone can be meaningless.

I think the game will be decided on pressure and ball use. At some point we'll have to win the ball. In our round 12 win they had the ball around 75 times then us. in our round 24 loss it was a lot closer, but English was dominant, against Ceglar it was like they had an extra player on the ground.

Even if we lose the raw stoppage numbers as long a they aren't effective with them we'll be better in other aspects of the game. I haven't watched them play this year but I hope they follow the competition trend of trying the rush the ball forwards quickly at all costs. We'll win any turnover game as we have very few poor users of the ball by foot.

I know it still doesn't account for strength of teams defences and attacks, but scoring differential off clearance surely tells a little more about the midfield battle than raw clearances. But we can't freely access these numbers unless they decide to show them on TV.

A lot of strong sides over the past decade have been happy losing or squaring the stoppage battle so long as enough pressure is applied to make opposition clearances scrappy. Defenders, wingmen and high half forwards can then mop up and punish after turnovers.

 

[Lana]

I know it still doesn't account for strength of teams defences and attacks, but scoring differential off clearance surely tells a little more about the midfield battle than raw clearances. But we can't freely access these numbers unless they decide to show them on TV.

A lot of strong sides over the past decade have been happy losing or squaring the stoppage battle so long as enough pressure is applied to make opposition clearances scrappy. Defenders, wingmen and high half forwards can then mop up and punish after turnovers.

That is something I look at but clearance quality has importance for more then just goals. It decides where the next fight will be and with what level of congestion

What annoy is that many raw accumulators gets valued as stars/A graders cause they pick up the ball 25-30 times and hack the ball "clear" 5 to 7 times a game. When that adds very little value, compared to a midfielder who gets it 20% less but manages to get distance on the kick that isn't a high ball to a contest on the wing but rather a flatter kick I50 to a teammates advantage.

Perfect football is still Hitout clearance mark on the lead I50 goal. There is no quicker way to score (the 6-6-6 rule was put in to facilitate this as well + ads) which is why it is valued even as a majority of scores come from turnovers and not clearances.

Like we have the expected score measure I'd like a similar thing for clearances based off possession retention and direction

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I wish Champion data would publish a measure of clearance quality both around the ground and at centre bounces. Too often the differential alone can be meaningless.

I think the game will be decided on pressure and ball use. At some point we'll have to win the ball. In our round 12 win they had the ball around 75 times then us. in our round 24 loss it was a lot closer, but English was dominant, against Ceglar it was like they had an extra player on the ground.

Even if we lose the raw stoppage numbers as long a they aren't effective with them we'll be better in other aspects of the game. I haven't watched them play this year but I hope they follow the competition trend of trying the rush the ball forwards quickly at all costs. We'll win any turnover game as we have very few poor users of the ball by foot.

It was conway and stanley that played r24 not ceglar.

 

[Gyno79]

Our win percentage at Adelaide oval is quite a bit better than the dogs but what Intel will Matty Egan give them?

 

[catsfootyfan89]

I always find games against the Dogs difficult to predict, but it feels like we've had their number for quite a while now. Hopefully the fact we were in Adelaide only a few weeks back helps the boys acclimatize today. 4-0 is a very enticing prospect if we can get the job done. Should be perfect weather for footy too.

 

[No Quarter]

If we can continue to show those flashes of brilliance that we have so far this season, we'll be alright

 

[calder_daddy]

Our win percentage at Adelaide oval is quite a bit better than the dogs but what Intel will Matty Egan give them?

No more than King will give us from his time at the dogs

 

[cats_09]

Who else to promote tonight's games

 

[Heckler]

Got the milestone boy to say a few words


View attachment Blitz 250 Games.mp4

 

[CatToTheFuture]

We need to gather round the TV for this one. Will be good to see where we are at but I think we will win. Too many options on our side and expect Blitz to do just that.

I'll be gathering round a pop up bar on the torrens and lining up for a return entry ticket after the Blues vs Freo match.

People who haven't been to a gather round here are missing out on the second best event in the footy calendar

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Our win percentage at Adelaide oval is quite a bit better than the dogs but what Intel will Matty Egan give them?

Damn I forgot about Egan and all the IP he'd be giving them

 

[Turkey Tom]

Got the milestone boy to say a few words


View attachment 1951387

Hate to tell you Blitz, but it is going to be hard for Bailey Smith to kick it to you tonight.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

No more than King will give us from his time at the dogs

To be honest I don't know if there's much of a game plan at the Dogs for King to fill us in on. Seems like a very talent driven game style.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

To give people a feel of what is happening, I drove past the city at about 9:30am this morning. There were cats and dogs fans walking over to the ground 10 hours before the game.

Excitement palpable

 

[iameviljez]

We play well at AO and match up very well on them, should be winning this really.

They have a couple of aces up their sleeve that we don't, though - Tim English, and Marcus Bontempelli (probably, along with Daicos, the best player in the league at the moment).

If we can break even in the middle, we're a chance - but that's a big if.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

I know it still doesn't account for strength of teams defences and attacks, but scoring differential off clearance surely tells a little more about the midfield battle than raw clearances. But we can't freely access these numbers unless they decide to show them on TV.

A lot of strong sides over the past decade have been happy losing or squaring the stoppage battle so long as enough pressure is applied to make opposition clearances scrappy. Defenders, wingmen and high half forwards can then mop up and punish after turnovers.

Becoming increasingly popular amongst those in AFL circles that clearences are overrated.

Probably won't last forever, but the game is won and lost through what you do in transition these days.

 

[Lana]

Becoming increasingly popular amongst those in AFL circles that clearences are overrated.

Probably won't last forever, but the game is won and lost through what you do in transition these days.

Last night was a good example on how clearances especially centre clearances can dictate the outcome of a game.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

To be honest I don't know if there's much of a game plan at the Dogs for King to fill us in on. Seems like a very talent driven game style.

Scott: "Hey Kingy, we're putting together a gameplan for the Dogs this week, have you got any inside word on how they want to play?"

King: "Nah, sorry Scotty...Bevo just goes on rants about how football is like napoli sauce and his plans to murder Tom Morris in the team meetings. He's been heavily inspired by that Dahmer Netflix drama. We don't really have a gameplan"

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Last night was a good example on how clearances especially centre clearances can dictate the outcome of a game.

When one side is quite literally walking it out of the middle, then yes. That will never change.

When the midfield battle is within reason though, like it is in 7/9 games for the weekend, it's a game won and lost in transition.

Hawks, Tigers, Cats, and now the Pies as recent premiers didn't rely on clearences in the slightest.

They either dominated in uncontested ball, or focused on pressure and providing an outnumber in transition to win the game.

What the Dees did, and what Port are trying to do, is the outlier rather than the norm these days.

 

[iameviljez]

Becoming increasingly popular amongst those in AFL circles that clearences are overrated.

I think what is clear is that there are many ways to win a game of footy. Clearance domination is one, but only one.