Review Cats belt Freo by 78 points.

[Generalissimo]

As others have said, think his eventual position should be different - maybe as a defensive mid with pace, rather than a small defender.

We haven't had a Wojo type for a while. I'm hoping Mullin can develop into that.

 

[Vdubs]

He's a footballer that's underbaked and needs at least half a season in a role in the VFL to master it.
We're doing him no favours picking him to be a passenger most weeks.

He may turn out okay longterm but right now not up to the standard needed.

Keep him in at the top level while we are winning- his confidence and pressure levels will improve- if we lose, and he has a shocker, fine. Who is better at what he offers ? Can you see a bit of Wojo in him potentially? Wojo of couse was a freak player, but he didn't start out that auspiciously

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Keep him in at the top level while we are winning- his confidence and pressure levels will improve- if we lose, and he has a shocker, fine. Who is better at what he offers ? Can you see a bit of Wojo in him potentially? Wojo of couse was a freak player, but he didn't start out that auspiciously

Could not disagree more. We have a strong list with depth.
No passengers. No learning on the go.

VFL footy until he becomes good enough.

 

[Vdubs]

I have missed the facts- why was Kolo out today?

 

[Vdubs]

Could not disagree more. We have a strong list with depth.
No passengers. No learning on the go.

VFL footy until he becomes good enough.

Yes, but you don't know what the MC asks of him, and whether they have said it's a special role he has time to grow into. I used to read every week, early on, that Varcoe should have been dropped and it was explained by CS that they were happy he was doing what they asked- and that turned out well.

 

[BORIS332]

Keep him in at the top level while we are winning- his confidence and pressure levels will improve- if we lose, and he has a shocker, fine. Who is better at what he offers ? Can you see a bit of Wojo in him potentially? Wojo of couse was a freak player, but he didn't start out that auspiciously

Jed Bews

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Pick 20 and 40 for someone who likely just got BOG in his first game 19 months out, and 3 Brownlow votes (B. Smith)
Pick 63 for one of our Top 7 best players on ground (L. Humphries)
Pick 19 for our new starting ruck, runner up Rising Star (SDK)
Pick 20 for a Best and Fairest winner and one of the best at our club (Holmes)
Rookie Pick 33 for our new backline general (Z. Guthrie)
Rookie Pick 16 for our backline aerial general (J. Henry)
Rookie Pick 14 for our long sleeved 'creation' king (Close)
Pick 57 for our 'unorthodox' assist god (Miers)
SSP selection - no pick - for our crumbing specialist (Stengle)
Rookie Pick 15 for our winger Jackie Chan, and Rising Star Winner (Dempsey)
Pick 40 for our backline god (T. Stewart)
Pick 33 for our forwardline Hulk (S. Neale)
Rookie pick 11 for our heart and soul midfield nugget (T. Atkins)
Cat B Rookie pick for our swiss army knife extraordinaire (Blicavs)
Future 3rd pick for our 'Jack of all spades' gun (Bowes)
Pick 25, fringe player and a bunch of nothing picks for our forward line aerial wizard (O. Henry)
Pick 25 for our young tackling beast who took a huge step today - 11 tackles - (Knevitt)
Cat B Rookie pick for our dependable tagger from across the isle (O'Connor)
Cat B Rookie pick for our new Irish boy (Mullin)


***********

And clubs wonder why we haven't had to do a hard rebuild? Not one pick there inside the Top 15. All played a massive part today. 19 players out of 23. Only Danger, Jez, Clark, O'Sullivan, taken/traded for with picks inside 15. Ridiculous.

It MuSt Be SaLaRy CaP cHeAtInG

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Yes, but you don't know what the MC asks of him, and whether they have said it's a special role he has time to grow into. I used to read every week, early on, that Varcoe should have been dropped and it was explained by CS that they were happy he was doing what they asked- and that turned oiut well.

Bit tenuous to link Varcoe to Chris Scott? Scott became his coach after 76 games and premiership under his belt.
And just because they backed a player and it worked then doesn't mean it is the right call now.

Zach Guthrie was in and out of the side for ages, asked numerous times to go back to the level below and continue to work on his craft.

Run of 9 games in 2017. Dropped for the PF.
6 games in 2018 then dropped. 1 game and then dropped again.
4 singular games over 2019-20 and dropped each time.
Cemented place in side late in 2021 and been mainstay ever since. Was still dropped that season too.

I cannot support O.M. Being selected just to gain experience and because it worked with Varcoe.
He can learn in the 2nds.

 

[catscratchfever]

I have missed the facts- why was Kolo out today?

Injury I believe.

 

[Vdubs]

Bit tenuous to link Varcoe to Chris Scott? Scott became his coach after 76 games and premiership under his belt.
And just because they backed a player and it worked then doesn't mean it is the right call now.

Zach Guthrie was in and out of the side for ages, asked numerous times to go back to the level below and continue to work on his craft.

Run of 9 games in 2017. Dropped for the PF.
6 games in 2018 then dropped. 1 game and then dropped again.
4 singular games over 2019-20 and dropped each time.
Cemented place in side late in 2021 and been mainstay ever since. Was still dropped that season too.

I cannot support O.M. Being selected just to gain experience and because it worked with Varcoe.
He can learn in the 2nds.

fair enough

 

[My Tilly]

Yeah, he's going to have to earn it now, he's had enough opportunities to show something and hasn't shown enough. Good attributes but needs to put in the VFL work.

SDK was my favorite of the day, I know many hate him in the ruck, but he looks happier in the middle. Knevitt, Smith looked good too.

If De Koning signs long-term, just imagine he and Conway as our future ruck division.
I mean we could essentially replace Blicavs as De Koning is already proving himself to be a pretty handy utility

 

[Boxhead_31]

I have missed the facts- why was Kolo out today?

Groin issue if I remember correctly

 

[Seeds]

We haven't had a Wojo type for a while. I'm hoping Mullin can develop into that.

How many wojo types have we had other than wojo?

 

[cats_09]

I think people really overreacted to that. Everyone got beaten in the third, not just Mullin. Reid was on Miers for his first goal. Another goal was roving off a massive pack, another was a 2 on 1 where O'Sullivan was closer, and then one of those goals was a 1 on 1 he lost.

His other three quarters though - particularly his first half decision making, pressure and kicking - were very good, I thought. Lot to work on, but by no means a bust in any sense. As others have said, think his eventual position should be different - maybe as a defensive mid with pace, rather than a small defender.

With the lack of midfield pressure in the third quarter and ease with which Fremantle was able to move the ball, peak Enright likely has a couple of goals kicked on him also

I know it's easy to pick on players who are clearly bottom 6 when they don't have the best of games, and while Mullin wouldn't want a repeat of his third quarter, he's not the only player who had his colours lowered during that period - he's just an easy target

 

[Glassjaw]

Was on the piss at the races all day. Can't wait for the replay. Thought it was a real danger game.

Would love Serong in the hoops.

 

[cats_09]

Jed Bews

From those currently available for selection, who would do a better job?

We'll be waiting until at least mid-season to see Jed

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Was on the piss at the races all day. Can't wait for the replay. Thought it was a real danger game.

Would love Serong in the hoops.

Mate take me with you next time

 

[Willo_]

Hard to complain about that, a lull in the 3rd but as long as it's not a pattern it's fine, because the other 3 quarters were absolute quality.. For the first proper game for the year it ticked almost all the boxes.
Very very even spread, we looked fit, the tackle pressure was tremendous.

Few obvious key thoughts

• Baz was as advertised, brilliant debut in the hoops
• SDK I thought was fantastic
• Neale was really competitive against a really good defender, just competes so well which is a great sign and got his rewards late.
• personally I thought Knev built into the game really well and was good, reward for his pre season work and he really started getting hands on the ball in the contest and was great releasing by hand.

 

[My Tilly]

Would love Serong in the hoops.

Clark could be that player.
Looked good when he came on.

Next week, full game in the guts.

 

[Farmer2Goggin]

I like some of what mullin does but he doesn't have the game sense to play deep in defence. Loses his man too much and relies on his pace to make it up. Doesn't have the feel yet to intercept how our other defenders do. Either put him in the midfield and let him use his legs (those are his asset) or put him in the vfl if they are planning to make him the bews replacement (if that's the role he's being trained for do it at vfl level).

100% on the money PO

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Good team game, bit of a changing of the guard. Neale doing things Hawkins wasn't capable of at age 35.
Danger only an emergency option in the middle. We can see that the generation changed, without having to drop down the ladder.

Smith showing the value of a blue chip recruitment, step above our recent inside mid acquisitions. Pick 21 is a joke.

So many role players doing jobs, great planning by Scott and the MC. O'Connor and Atkins, good ambush completely messed up Freo's natural game took away their strength.

Some evidence for the Knevitt Truthers out there, was doing that at VFL level all last year, just constant effort that makes the players around him job much easier.

De Koning, should never not be a ruckman from this point, after 50-100 games of this he'll get the ruck craft, it took Stanley that long. He'll be scary once he is ready.

Neale showing that footy IQ that puts him a step above the 10 or so kids we tried and failed to pair with Hawkins

Usual suspects Z.Guthrie and Holmes were fantastic.

Feels like we're better prepared for the start of this year then last.

Tom was this age when he went from unfulfilled potential to blue chip at within a handful of games.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

I like some of what mullin does but he doesn't have the game sense to play deep in defence. Loses his man too much and relies on his pace to make it up. Doesn't have the feel yet to intercept how our other defenders do. Either put him in the midfield and let him use his legs (those are his asset) or put him in the vfl if they are planning to make him the bews replacement (if that's the role he's being trained for do it at vfl level).

Game sense is spot on, still needs to learn it. Can't remember the quarter but there was a contest in front of me on the wing.
Two 1v1's. One from the front and one the back that you see so often with how sides layer their structures.

The kick goes down the line and he's in the 1v1 at the front and the ball is going in between both sets of players.
A good game sense would be to intercept the mark, and at worst the ball could come to ground in a contest. Instead he turned, looked for his man, and just stood off the contest. The Freo player leading at the ball marked the footy. It wasn't a big guy or a ruck. Sometimes when its your turn you just have to go. Should have tried to affect the contest rather than get body feel on his man.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Clark showed in a quarter much more than Mullin. Agree Mullin shouldn’t be played back but until he learns how to defend he’s not in our best 22.

I only saw a few minutes of the last quarter so only saw Clark here and there but i definitely like what I saw from him.

They're very different roles though and I don't think i really like the idea of Clark as a defender

 

[CatToTheFuture]

It was 12 goals to 3 at half time in both games too.

 

[The rabbi]