Autopsy Cats lose 4th straight to GWS by 4 points.

[And_ROOS]

Wonder where the change happens, midfield where we were poor and bombing it in, or forward where we were also poor. I feel like this week we see midfield changes when we really need both to happen.

One thing I want to know, has anyone seen Camerons heatmaps from Rds 1-7 and then from 7 to now? It feels like he is spending more time up field when he is easily our best forward.

 

[Cosmic Energy]

It was funny that Kane Cornes mentioned this on Sunday Footy Show today. I think I just assumed he was left footed at this point haha.

Someone sent me that too - I wonder if Kane lurks on BigFooty

He was right about the other poor entries, so many chances to put it to the advantage of a teammate squandered.

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

Possibly - but he got the big one right - a Geelong Premiership - and considering what happened in the 21 PF - it was an outstanding selection

Even a broken clock is right twice a day

 

[Finknottle]

Wonder where the change happens, midfield where we were poor and bombing it in, or forward where we were also poor. I feel like this week we see midfield changes when we really need both to happen.

One thing I want to know, has anyone seen Camerons heatmaps from Rds 1-7 and then from 7 to now? It feels like he is spending more time up field when he is easily our best forward.

Cameron is using his wheels and spinning his wheels. It is probably accentuated by his recent concussion but his wandering started well before that.

 

[Finknottle]

Missing selwood more than ever now. You just know he would have dragged us over the line last night

It is so true about Selwood. He would often step up in the last quarter. Other players would see what he was doing and be stung into action. His actions made it clear to teammates that there were non-negotiables once you were on the field. E.g. When the ball is there to be won, you had better try to win it. When you tackle you really tackle, none of these half hearted attempts we've been seeing in recent weeks.

 

[SoYouThink90]

We really shouldn't be playing Mullin in defence. Panic kick deflects and goes straight to Greene when there were two easier and safer handball options.

I still think we should be playing him as a full time mid in the ressies to get him upto speed in the position. He did very little tonight, they didn't even have him tagging Tom Green which would have been the best option, in the end he contributed very little.

Why are they persisting with AFL games when we should be giving him 90% game time in the reserves in midfield where he can actually develop.

All tonight did was hinder the senior team, had 37% time on ground for 8 disposals, 2 clangers and one of which was the match winner.

He has potential, but theres no way of telling his ceiling and honestly we could have played anyone else and likely got better output.

Probably time to put this experiment on ice before it costs us even worse.

His best game was as a tagger on Jason Horne Francis a few weeks back. So what do they do? Play him as a defender

 

[juzcat]

True. Brandon trying to midfield is like watching a two hour comedic tragedy at the cinema

priceless Art

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[SoYouThink90]

Mannagh is not going to make any difference. We already have good small forwards. We need midfielders.

Still would have done more than Dempsey

 

[juzcat]

Just saw some highlights from the Port Adelaide vs NM game. Horne-Francis is one hell of a player. He would almost single-handedly fix our midfield woes.

OK. I'll settle for Reid if JHF won't come. Been a while since we had a out and out star excitement draft pick. Miss that "new man crush" feeling. Last was Menzel I reckon. Clark now hurts more at Freo

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[juzcat]

Didn't play

I spotted him later walking with Edwards - both in there dress pants & shoes, somewhere in the stands

got an injury from Krock premature interview with Mack

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[Mr Meow]

People calling for Ollie Henry to get dropped ahead of Duncan. That’s hilarious.

We need to find the spark that’s gets us back to moving the ball quickly and giving our small forwards a chance to “swarm”.

Duncan is not the solution to that problem. In fact he’s part of the problem. Blokes like Ollie Henry, as well as Close Miers and Stengle, are the beneficiaries of fast and precise ball movement. Sides are slowing us down when we try to come out of defence and that’s killing us. By the time we’re looking inside 50, the opposition have got numbers back - our big blokes are double teamed - there’s no space to lead - and our small forwards are working in heavy traffic.

Lots of focus on our midfield - but look down back. That’s causing us major problems.

Duncan himself was saying on radio that his role is a “connector” from defence to attack. Opposition coaches are onto it and they’re shutting him down, as well as sitting a bloke with leg speed off his shoulder to burn him on rebound.


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Teams are shutting Duncan down? Another 22 disposals, in our low disposal team suggests otherwise. In a team that lacks ball winners you can't drop one of the few who still does.

He still had more score involvements (3) than Zuthrie and Stewart combined (2) - but no heat on them despite one being in their physical prime and one still a few years shy of Duncan. Mitch was also equal 3rd for effective disposals on the ground.

Our forwards and forward entries cost us the game on the weekend - so let's look at who kicked it in there the most: Tuohy (6), Holmes (4), Bruhn (4), Blicavs (4), Atkins (4), Stewart (3), Miers (3), O.Henry (3) and Hawkins (3). A lot of the entries by these guys a) weren't good enough or b) our forwards didn't do enough with them or present as well as they needed to in the first place.

 

[Mr Meow]

Cameron is using his wheels and spinning his wheels. It is probably accentuated by his recent concussion but his wandering started well before that.

Same as last season with the concussion/shoulder injury against Melbourne. Yes he was bad after that but his form rut and erratic kicking/decision making actually started way before that in round 9. And boy did it hurt us during that period as well.

I hate to say it as I love Cameron when he is at his best...but I stick by him being our most overrated player because his upside is HUGE, yet too often he hasn't been clutch or damaging on the scoreboard when we have needed him. And it's cost us quite a lot of close games. It's not a heart or desire thing, this is just in simple output terms. Bring round 1-7 version of Cameron and Stewart to the games since and we are 10-1 right now. You can argue we over rely on them but which team doesn't with their stars. The heat on a lot of other players is undue in my opinion, simply because our two superstars doing their thing would've swung these close results.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

True but you need to have some movement from the forwards as well to avoid bombing it. What else are you meant to do when that is all that is on offer.

Send Shannon Byrnes to tell forwards to spread + expect lower balls into I50, so prepare to run on the lead + mark nearer to the ground. Tell players kicking to F50 to target forwards running on the lead. Hawkins took two on Saturday, relishes marking the lower kicks. Also, prepare forwards, or who's ever near the F50 or I50 to take intercept marks.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

I mentioned it during the VFL match that while Parfitt wasn't playing the perfect game & he did have a few turnovers, it felt like the turnovers were more from the lack of connections in the VFL team compared with just poor turnovers - you could tell he knew what he wanted to do & how he wanted to bring teammates into it, so he would kick into the space for the forward to lead into, but the forward was holding back waiting for the kick to come to them instead

In the 3rd quarter there was a turnover at halfback where he was pinned to the boundary line & multiple teammates were loudly yelling at Hardie to block for him so he had space to work into, instead Hardie backs away to present as an option for a handball over the top - so another turnover on Parfitt, but with better teamwork it may not have been a turnover

I can't knock Parfitt's work rate yesterday - he just didn't stop from opening bounce until the final siren, so while it would have been good to see a cleaner game from him, can't knock the effort

All of your posts, in this thread, explaining players' games are helpful + very interesting. Especially individual players, like Parfitt.

Did it appear Hardie ignored team mates, or misunderstood communication to him, despite the yelling?

Perhaps Parfitt's experience at AFL level means superior ability, yet VFL standard players are not there? So getting games into our young guys, to learn + adapt to AFL level pressure is crucial for development.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Yep, I haven't seen a lot, but what I have seen largely involved blind bombs into a disorganised forward line that doesn't have a single player who can take a high mark.

Consequently, we're at the stage of Einstein's definition of insanity: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Am I imagining things or has Scott also previously spoken about how he doesn’t see himself as a career coach?

I know he’s obviously coached the most games for Geelong and some could argue he is venturing into that career coach territory, but I wouldn’t be surprised if when he decides that his time at Geelong is up so is his coaching career, and he then moves into the next phase of his life - whether footy related or not

There’s just something where I don’t exactly see him taking up a gig as a senior coach at a different team

I see him at the AFL heading MRP + as Umpires' Director of Education

 

[Cataholic]

Consequently, we're at the stage of Einstein's definition of insanity: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Nothing truer Kitty.

 

[Zouz Kitty]

Teams are shutting Duncan down? Another 22 disposals, in our low disposal team suggests otherwise. In a team that lacks ball winners you can't drop one of the few who still does.

He still had more score involvements (3) than Zuthrie and Stewart combined (2) - but no heat on them despite one being in their physical prime and one still a few years shy of Duncan. Mitch was also equal 3rd for effective disposals on the ground.

Our forwards and forward entries cost us the game on the weekend - so let's look at who kicked it in there the most: Tuohy (6), Holmes (4), Bruhn (4), Blicavs (4), Atkins (4), Stewart (3), Miers (3), O.Henry (3) and Hawkins (3). A lot of the entries by these guys a) weren't good enough or b) our forwards didn't do enough with them or present as well as they needed to in the first place.

Or c)

 

[The_Koulouriotis_Fan]

OK. I'll settle for Reid if JHF won't come. Been a while since we had a out and out star excitement draft pick. Miss that "new man crush" feeling. Last was Menzel I reckon. Clark now hurts more at Freo

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You don’t have that feeling for Holmes? He’s an out and out star

SDK before his face was caved in was an out and out star too. (Hopefully the last quarter was the first step back to that form)

Clarke and Menzel are cream players and both entered teams where we were perennial contenders and they could play their roles comfortably.

Jhye Clark and Conway look the goods, and Dempsey has pre-knee Menzel vibes. If they were in our 2011 or 2019 teams they’d look even better.

Selwood is probably the only midfielder that we’ve had to be good right away. Bartel, Ablett, Kelly, Corey, Ling all took time.

To draft in a ready made dominant talent like JHF or Harley Reid we’re going to need top 3 picks, and that won’t happen at Geelong.

 

[catempire]

I don't care about reputations. The team has been living on borrowed time for years, it was a great effort in 2022 and they defied the odds, but this time they are gone. The era is over, all good things come to an end and it's been an amazing ride, but we're all in for a number of years of hurt.

I’ll just leave this here…

 

[Pollywaffle]

It is so true about Selwood. He would often step up in the last quarter. Other players would see what he was doing and be stung into action. His actions made it clear to teammates that there were non-negotiables once you were on the field. E.g. When the ball is there to be won, you had better try to win it. When you tackle you really tackle, none of these half hearted attempts we've been seeing in recent weeks.

We are missing a guy who can put the team on his back like Selwood did regularly.
Danger (maybe) on a good day.
Closest we have is Atkins, and he has been relegated to a fringe role these days.

 

[Mr Meow]

Or c)
View attachment 2002009View attachment 2002010View attachment 2002011View attachment 2002012View attachment 2002013View attachment 2002014

I respect your input, but a) and b) covered these types of situations and is often why the opposition interceptors have their best games of the season against Geelong.

 

[Seeds]

2006

Lol forgot about that year. It was awful as well.

 

[cats_09]

All of your posts, in this thread, explaining players' games are helpful + very interesting. Especially individual players, like Parfitt.

Did it appear Hardie ignored team mates, or misunderstood communication to him, despite the yelling?

Perhaps Parfitt's experience at AFL level means superior ability, yet VFL standard players are not there? So getting games into our young guys, to learn + adapt to AFL level pressure is crucial for development.

Not sure on Hardie - there was times early in the match the was open for an easy kick option but teammates looked elsewhere. Then once he did get on the end of a couple of kicks, he then seemed set from an offensive perspective

I'm also curious what happened at quarter time though or if it was just about running different players through the middle in the second quarter. Hardie had about 9/10 disposals (give or take) in the first quarter, but he was "relegated" to deep in the forward line to the point he was starting centre bounces as our FF in the goal square for a good portion of the second quarter. If it was designed to try & add to his game, give him a second position he can play rather than just guts or bench, I'm not sure it worked as he doesn't look a natural forward line player

So not sure what was always going on there


As for Parfitt, his game at times reminded me of a way dazbroncos (?) once described Sammy Simpsons VFL game & how his game would look better at AFL level than VFL level and down to that connection - he'd handball to where he'd want his teammates to run onto which was more likely to happen in the seniors than at VFL level where it's a different pace and connections

I think also for Parfitt, his been in the seniors since round 2 and you do get used to playing at a certain pace, understanding/connections between players etc, and it's not always there at VFL level, especially first game back

 

[bombersboy]

We are missing a guy who can put the team on his back like Selwood did regularly.
Danger (maybe) on a good day.
Closest we have is Atkins, and he has been relegated to a fringe role these days.

If Danger plays we win 3 of the last 4. If Stewart does not get the concussion we probably win 2 of those 4. Even without those things happening the ball bobs our way, a miskick goes to our player rather than the opposition and we win 2 or 3 of them.