Autopsy Cats lose to Lions by 9 points.

[Mr Meow]

Not sure how far Kolo is away.

I assume he’d need a run in the VFL for touch and match fitness?

Kolo basically always returns at AFL level straight away, from memory. I get that he hasn't featured yet, but I'm not sure he is one they'd run through the VFL first.

 

[Interdimensional Bigfoot]

Anyone else who may find this interesting… just to compare our 22 premiership starting midfield with our current starting midfield.

22 premiership grand final team-
Selwood(34)
Dangerfield(32)
Guthrie(29)
Stanley(29)

Rotating thru:
Blicavs(31)
Atkins(27)
Duncan(31)
Isaac smith (33)



2025 weekend side:
dangerfield(35)
Holmes(22)
Smith(24)
Dekoning(24)

Rotating:
Dempsey(21)
Clark(20)
Knevitt(21)
Clohesy(19)



Very big difference in midfield experience and body maturity…

I haven’t even looked at brisbanes from the weekend, but I imagine it’s a very different age demographic of senior bodies

Too much youth, disgusting, what are we running a day care? Bring back hawk and 2E!

 

[Mr Meow]

Anyone in the VFL to give a run or will we reshuffle the big players around to fill in his spot?

Give COS a shot maybe.

 

[And_ROOS]

Wonder if we see Stevens get a run in the AFL after he has been our best VFL mid for 2 weeks now, and give Clark a week off.

 

[geelong_crazy26]

Too much youth, disgusting, what are we running a day care? Bring back hawk and 2E!

I would imagine we currently have one of the least experienced midfields in the AFL as it stands. Which explains a lot of the occurrences we are seeing

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

1 goal in the second half… What a waste when we were 32 up. We choked again.

Put a line through Clark and Bowes. I’m talking about their careers. Both dumb players. I’m certain they’ll never make it. What a disgrace using pick 8 on Clark.

Neale better hope that it’s his ankle that explained his career worst game.

SDK - I’d trade him. Soft dumb footballer who is irreparable from his mental demons since ‘22. He’s scared to mark with any contact and it’s cringe watching him.

O. Henry. An icing player that will never drag us over the line. I’m sick of his zero impact games in close matches.

Persist with Mullin.

Only ones that can hold their head high are Zuth, Humphries, Miers, COS, blitz and danger tried.

So he didn't keep us in the Prelim Final last year against the same opposition? He wasn't alone on Saturday. Very rare game for him to only have one goal and not 2-3.

 

[And_ROOS]

1 goal in the second half… What a waste when we were 32 up. We choked again.

Put a line through Clark and Bowes. I’m talking about their careers. Both dumb players. I’m certain they’ll never make it. What a disgrace using pick 8 on Clark.

Neale better hope that it’s his ankle that explained his career worst game.

SDK - I’d trade him. Soft dumb footballer who is irreparable from his mental demons since ‘22. He’s scared to mark with any contact and it’s cringe watching him.

O. Henry. An icing player that will never drag us over the line. I’m sick of his zero impact games in close matches.

Persist with Mullin.

Only ones that can hold their head high are Zuth, Humphries, Miers, COS, blitz and danger tried.

Anyone got the centre bounce stats for this game?

Bowes looked great in preseason in his natural position of midfield, and lately he has been put behind the ball which doesn't suit him. Against the Saints where we needed a midfielder who can hit a target and we had him in the back half. Would love to see his heat map or CBAs against the Lions.

We have a talented midfielder on our list, and using him to plug non midfield gaps...

 

[STPer18]

Anyone got the centre bounce stats for this game?

 

[cats_09]

So he didn't keep us in the Prelim Final last year against the same opposition? He wasn't alone on Saturday. Very rare game for him to only have one goal and not 2-3.

Unfortunately, that's become something of the norm for him since last year

In Henry's 3 games this season, he's kicked 3 goals against Freo, 0 against St Kilda & 1 against Brisbane

In 23 games last season, he had 9 single goal games to go with 4 goalless games - in those goalless games he was subbed off once & starting sub once

He also played in 8 losses last year, kicking multiple goals in 3 of those games - what fans seem to be looking for from Henry is for him to be getting more involved when he's not kicking goals and finding other ways to impact games other than purely on the scoreboard

 

[Heckler]

Cats always struggle against teams with:-
1: Dominant mid-fielder group
2: Two tall marking defenders
3: Speed through the corridor

Team structure and strategy matters
Scott failed to make necessary changes
Both Neale and SDK getting beaten
Could have tried a brief swap around
Faith in the team lifting is not enough
Rehearsed Plan-B-C-D on standby
Youngsters need on-field leadership

Team rebuilding is a waiting game
Remember the pains are temporary

 

[Tony Barber]

Our selected team this week was 1 month older on average than North Melbourne's.

I was texting a north supporting mate yesterday.
They were missing 8 first round draft picks. So that will skew your stats.

 

[STPer18]

I was texting a north supporting mate yesterday.
They were missing 8 first round draft picks. So that will skew your stats.

Text him back that he's lying.

 

[Lana]

I was texting a north supporting mate yesterday.
They were missing 8 first round draft picks. So that will skew your stats.

I believe we have 4 on our list which we've drafted

 

[Lana]

Text him back that he's lying.

View attachment 2267659

And I for one support fact checking in casual conversation

 

[Tony Barber]

Text him back that he's lying.

View attachment 2267659

Nah, he's not that type of guy.
He never expected to win yesterday. He's no sook.

 

[Tony Barber]

Text him back that he's lying.

View attachment 2267659

I've sent him a text. He's a CEO so it might take a while.
Will probably come back and name JHF

 

[STPer18]

I've sent him a text. He's a CEO so it might take a while.
Will probably come back and name JHF

I was only kidding about the text!

 

[Tony Barber]

I was only kidding about the text!

I got a reply

Wardlaw (gun if he stays on park)

Logue (ditto)

Whitlock (18yo 200cm CHB/CHF lock him in)

Dawson (ditto 19yo 203cm CHB)

Duursma (will make it)

Goad (208cm, 19yo freak. Quickest at the club)

Hardemann (hbf should be in)

Goater (coming back from injury)

In our hypothetical next premiership team 5 of the above defenders will be in.
Also Zac Fisher returning from injury and Archer suspension. Fisher is a short term fix

 

[Tony Barber]

Ha ha. he just came back with "I'm in a cab from Candidasa to Sanur, hence the detail"

 

[thegerman]

I think it's a bit more simple. Teams have worked out they can put a tall on him and he struggles. Needs to learn how to be the lead-up / connector marking forward when things are not working for him deep.

Things could go either way for his best mate. Hopefully it works out similar to Josh Giddey

Quite a difference with Giddey. I fear the worst to be honest.

 

[Warhorse]

Quite a difference with Giddey. I fear the worst to be honest.

Similar but different. Just listing best case scenario

 

[Spearman]

He still lacks a couple of major weapons in his arsenal - like consistency, the ability to find the football, reading the play.

He's played a good game tagging Cameron. Why not just let him build on that and keep playing on similar players for the rest of the year, then re-assess?

I found it interesting that his teammates used him a bit more this game. That confidence thing goes both ways.

And for the record, like ZGuth, I bought season passes on Mullin on Day 1.
He also seemed a little less tight, chatting with Charlie before a bounce. Can only be a good thing.

 

[iameviljez]

I found it interesting that his teammates used him a bit more this game. That confidence thing goes both ways.

And for the record, like ZGuth, I bought season passes on Mullin on Day 1.
He also seemed a little less tight, chatting with Charlie before a bounce. Can only be a good thing.

He just seemed so much more confident in his 1v1s with Charlie.

It doesn't hurt that Cameron isn't what he was back in 2017/18, but all the same, it's a great experience for Oisin.

Seriously, it's like Neale at CHF - at some point, you back in the talent, and cop the fact that they will have some bad games throughout the year.

 

[cats_09]

He just seemed so much more confident in his 1v1s with Charlie.

It doesn't hurt that Cameron isn't what he was back in 2017/18, but all the same, it's a great experience for Oisin.

Seriously, it's like Neale at CHF - at some point, you back in the talent, and cop the fact that they will have some bad games throughout the year.

I was told yesterday that Neale needs to go back to the VFL until he learns to mark the ball

I totally get the frustration with a couple of his dropped marks against St Kilda, but not sure what they expect he's suddenly going to learn in the VFL that he doesn't already know - if anything, the main thing at the moment is just waiting for it all to click and him have that breakout game in the seniors and that's not going to happen in the VFL

Besides, he played 5 VFL games last year where he had a high of 10 marks & averaged 6.2 marks across those 5 games - just for fun, you've got to go back to 2018 for an AFL season in which Hawkins averaged over that, and across his career he only had 3 seasons where he ave more than 6.2 marks per game

So, if he goes back, takes 10 marks in his first game is the then allowed back to the seniors, and if he takes less than say 6 marks is he sent back to the VFL?

It's like folk forget that he's 22 with 23 senior games under his belt and had a couple of lower leg injuries interrupting his early development - I know we all want these kids to have an instant impact, but a bit of patience does have its place. Watching him you can see he knows what he wants to do, it's just waiting for it all to click

 

[STPer18]

Brisbane v Geelong​

9 Hugh McCluggage (BL)
7 Will Ashcroft (BL)
5 Harris Andrews (BL)
5 Jack Payne (BL)
3 Max Holmes (GEEL)
1 Dayne Zorko (BL)