Preview Round 20 - Geelong V Hawthorn - Sat Aug 15 MCG 7:20pm

[PremierCatAttack]

What can be said? Simply an enormous match coming up. Will be no easy task, they torched us in round one - where will the match be won and lost? Are the Cats capable of putting on enough pressure to break Hawthorns kicking skills? Can our key forwards break free of Lake / Gibson / Spangher / Frawley to intimidate like we have in the past? Fascinating contest coming up.

Stand up and Fight

 

[catempire]

We should be realistic - we are underdogs and a loss is likely.

But the form we bring in as good as we could hope for. A win would just about make this season an overall positive for me.

 

[Lana]

There is no better time to be playing them, we've hit season best form and they're coming off a hard slog in WA.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Out: Cocky, Gregson
In: SJ, Gore(rest of year)

GHS starts
Stokes sub

 

[GFrost]

If we somehow managed to knock them off, we would have beaten the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th on the ladder. Not bad for a team with a wildly inappropriate age profile

Stevie J pointed out that since the North match where we let them kick a massive score, we have changed the way we defend and haven't let a team kick over 60 points since. We're also top 3 team in tackling the past 6 weeks. Will be interesting to see how we go against the high scoring Hawks.

I wish we were still in their heads. Miss that

 

[Bobby_]

Johnson straight back in? After such a strong showing last night, he may be a little nervous about his chances (although unlikely).
After so many suspensions, there's going to come a time in which his form doesn't necessarily warrant immediate selection as we have a couple of younger guys beginning to hold their own.

 

[RightorKhan]

Yep we're in contention now. We can be excited about this match. We're going to win. Our forward line, ruck and mids are the best they've been in the last 10 years.

 

[PremierCatAttack]

Yep we're in contention now. We can be excited about this match. We're going to win. Our forward line, ruck and mids are the best they've been in the last 10 years.

??? Wild call.

 

[costanza23]

IN: Rivers, Johnson and Bews
OUT: Cockatoo (omit), Stokes (omit) and Horlin-Smith (omit)

B: Enright, Lonergan, Kolodjashnij
HB: Mackie, Taylor, Bartel
C: Kelly, Caddy, Murdoch
HF: Motlop, Rivers, Duncan
F: Johnson, Hawkins, Gregson
R: Blicavs, Selwood, Guthrie

Int: Thurlow, Bews, Walker
Sub: Lang

Emg: Simpson, Stokes and Horlin-Smith

 

[PremierCatAttack]

Anyone know what Lewis's form is like? Didn't he have 40 odd touches in round one and absolutely murder us?

 

[Seeds]

Johnson straight back in? After such a strong showing last night, he may be a little nervous about his chances (although unlikely).
After so many suspensions, there's going to come a time in which his form doesn't necessarily warrant immediate selection as we have a couple of younger guys beginning to hold their own.

He kicked 3 in his last game. Even our mc arent that dumb not to play him especially after we struggled to find ways to finish off our great play in the second half. stokes, Ghs or cocky will give way for SJ.

 

[Overhang]

I don't think we'll win but if we can beat them then the time is now. They'll be coming off a hard fought slog from Perth, we have Steve js 250th, we're playing our best footy of the season. It must be so tempting for us to pull the trigger on Menzel with Clarke still injured. I do worry that they'll put the second man back on Hawkins and walker is too inexperienced to exploit that. I really rate the swans midfield as one of the best and we carved them up last night so our boys are capable of beating their dominant mids. A sub 20'point loss would be a tick in the right direction for me.

 

[Seeds]

People have to remember that Richmond beat them two weeks ago. We are a shot but Hawks will be very tough.

In sj and kersten
out Stokes and Ghs.

 

[Seeds]

IN: Rivers, Johnson and Bews
OUT: Cockatoo (omit), Stokes (omit) and Horlin-Smith (omit)

B: Enright, Lonergan, Kolodjashnij
HB: Mackie, Taylor, Bartel
C: Kelly, Caddy, Murdoch
HF: Motlop, Rivers, Duncan
F: Johnson, Hawkins, Gregson
R: Blicavs, Selwood, Guthrie

Int: Thurlow, Bews, Walker
Sub: Lang

Emg: Simpson, Stokes and Horlin-Smith

Rivers chf??? Are you crazy?

 

[Goggin Our Best]

What can be said? Simply an enormous match coming up. Will be no easy task, they torched us in round one - where will the match be won and lost? Are the Cats capable of putting on enough pressure to break Hawthorns kicking skills? Can our key forwards break free of Lake / Gibson / Spangher / Frawley to intimidate like we have in the past? Fascinating contest coming up.

Stand up and Fight

Thats the key

You look at the 1st 2 rounds of this year - the 1st round after qtr time - Geelong put zero pressure on them and got flogged - for the next 7 days Hawthorn were talked up as the best side since World War 1 ( they are a very good team )- they then played Essendon ( and were expected and thought they would win easily) Essendon put enormous pressure on them all over the ground and beat them - Richmond did the same thing - and Collingwood ( had alot more scoring shots) had a great chance to beat them as well - all games at the MCG

Hawthorn will be the short price favourites to win ( and you would think would win comfortably) but Geelong are some chance to cause an upset - especially if it rains

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I just hope that we go into this game with the same desperation as we probably would have if we'd lost last night. I get the feeling that our supporters are probably looking at one out of two from last night and next Saturday as a good result (with some justification) and hopefully our players aren't thinking the same way. How sweet would it be to take another huge step towards finals action, while at the same time going very close to booking our most hated opponent's plane tickets for week one of the finals?

Bews, Johnson, Rivers and Smedts in particular should come under serious consideration to come in.

 

[Jon Douglas]

I think we underrate how our leg speed help us beat Sydney last night. In the second half they were run down a fair bit or had to play slow which helped us keep their score down.

Fine to add SJ as he can still add something to the team next week but do not throw away our leg speed. Keep Gregson in.

I think that GHS deserved his recall but he is slow - but as long as he is a ball magnet - fine.

I would be looking at Gore to replace either Stokes or Cocky - just to see how he looks. Maybe the following week would be better for his inclusion.

What we really need is Clark in the ruck and if he could come back and get some form in the VFL soon he may help us win a final.

Might also be the time to give Lang the sub vest so he freshens up before the finals.

What has happened to Bews ? Good that he got a rest but I see him as part of the team going forward.

If we could uncover a inside mid before the end of the season - GHS or Gore and get back a ruckman in Clark - we could be a hard team to beat.

I think Cocky will be a player next season and it is good to see him get a run here and there but in a big game like this we will probably be better served by others.

So it may well be SJ in and Cocky out for the Hawks game.

 

[PremierCatAttack]

Cant see Lang getting rested myself. He seems to be playing very well for mine.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

I think the problem for us (apart from Hawthorn being possibly the best team in the comp) is that we've played the last four games on smaller grounds which helps the defensive game style Scott has been playing. This game will be at the MCG so the wider flanks will test our fitness for sure. Stopping Hawthorn's outside run is one of the keys to beating them, but easier said than done. I think we can go into this game feeling a bit more optimistic than we might have a month ago, but on paper you'd think the Hawks have us covered at this stage. It'll be interesting to see if they play them like Richmond did a few weeks ago. Tough game ahead.

 

[PremierCatAttack]

I was just considering the fact that Murdoch Motlop and Duncan would be able to use that extra space to really execute their running game.

 

[Partridge]

People have to remember that Richmond beat them two weeks ago. We are a shot but Hawks will be very tough.

In sj and kersten
out Stokes and Ghs.

Serious question, why does Kersten come straight back in?

 

[Bobby_]

I just hope that we go into this game with the same desperation as we probably would have if we'd lost last night. I get the feeling that our supporters are probably looking at one out of two from last night and next Saturday as a good result (with some justification) and hopefully our players aren't thinking the same way. How sweet would it be to take another huge step towards finals action, while at the same time going very close to booking our most hated opponent's plane tickets for week one of the finals?

Bews, Johnson, Rivers and Smedts in particular should come under serious consideration to come in.

Difference right now with our team is guys like Blicavs, Caddy and Motlop are playing career best footy. Particularly Caddy. This was not the case when Geelong started off the year.
Caddy has been sensational for a good 2 months. Flying well and truly under the radar. 10 contested possessions last night, along with 9 tackles and another 5 clearances. Also booted 16 goals from 17 games.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Serious question, why does Kersten come straight back in?

I'd give GHS another game. Harsh to bring him in for one quarter roughly and then get dropped whilst Kersten walks straight back despite lacklustre form.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I'd give GHS another game. Harsh to bring him in for one quarter roughly and then get dropped whilst Kersten walks straight back despite lacklustre form.

I would suggest that a precedent has been set with Smedts and Cockatoo doing practically nothing as the sub in a winning side, then starting the following week.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Cant see Lang getting rested myself. He seems to be playing very well for mine.

I think he's been a bit up and down recently. But he strikes me as a big game/big moment player. Doubt he'd be overawed by playing in front of 65,000-odd, like some other players of his vintage might be susceptible to.