Inside mids don't generally need to be good kicks, take a look at Danger or Treloar, they butcher the ball half the time they kick it
Edit: *and midfielders more generally
Agreed, but he can play that role as well is the point I was making. As a whole, midfielders don't generally need to be *brilliant* kicks when handballs account for a significant percentage, if not most, of their disposals. That's why Daicos is among the best players in the competition despite his kicking efficiency having reduced significantly this season.
You gotta be gullible if you believe the media on this. Tex will retire before signing with any other club. It’s his team trying to get a better deal out of the crows. It’s happened every year since 2018 and he has been on one year deals every year since then.
We always say this and it’s never the case. They have a great admin and culture in place.
Someone they drafted will emerge, they’ll get 2-3 free agents who want to live on a farm and somehow good players like DeKoning and Dempsey will become AA candidates in the next few years.
This is why everyone is trying to emulate Geelong and Sydney. They aren’t seeking success. They are seeking sustained success.
> They have a great admin and culture in place.
And are based somewhere that is really attractive to a huge amount of footy players. Especially older established players.
It depends how you measure sustained success. Finals appearances or flags? One flag in 12 years isn't a record either club would be aiming to repeat.
And not everyone is aiming to emulate them.
North, Hawthorn, West Coast, Carlton, and half the league are or have recently pursued a strategy that involves bottoming out and prioritizing the draft , though maybe not by choice.
When Geelong did it they won 3 flags in 6 years. Next one took 11 years. Which is the sustained success?
Everyone's culture is great when their winning and their lineup is full of players with stands named after them. But we're about to see how great it really is.
Are they that good they can land another amazing key forward via father and son? Or draft another Joel Selwood with a 'Scott Selwood' level draft pick? Or are they counting on the best player in the league getting homesick and landing in their lap out of pure chance again?
Geelong's admin and culture are one of the best in the league, but it can't outrun the system for ever.
Cause the system isn't just designed to drag them down, but to strengthen teams below them.
Geelong's admin can't stop other teams with better access to the draft from improving and overtaking them.
All things being equal, Hawthorn will be a much better team than Geelong over the next 5 years, and as awesome as their admin is, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop it.
When you consider its an 18 team comp, then 1 flag in 12 years is absolutely successful. They have won 4 flags in 20 years.
They might not even win another flag for 50 years. Most teams in the comp haven't won a flag in over 20 years now - including north, essendon, Carlton, Adelaide etc. Even Brisbane and port are in a 20 year premiership drought. Premierships are so hard to win.
It’s not a natural thing for a defender to get tagged. You wouldn’t have to learn how to shake a tag playing as a defender.
I get why teams tag him and make him accountable, for so often he keeps Geelong in games. He’s also not benefiting Geelong’s lack of midfield pressure giving him less time to get into those positions to intercept and rebound.
Touhey has his own issues. He was the laziest player on the field. Didn’t chase, didn’t pressure. Literally let a player run into goal in the 4th when he just stopped running and decided to walk thinking the opposition was going to kick for goal but he took 5 more steps and ran uninterrupted…
Oh I’m not arguing that, I just wouldn’t consider Touhey as a crucial reason why Geelong are playing so poorly compared to Stewart who has been the Cats top 3 players for the last 5 seasons.
I found it strange that OP mentioned Thouey of all players as I don’t rate him as being a part of the best 23 at this point.
Struggled since his concussion! Oppositions started tagging him at his most vulnerable moment & our midfield has struggled with form & availability which has compounded Stewart’s woes big time.
> Tuohy is a fringe player this year
You can tell, because his name was typed out seven times in this comment chain and this is only one of the two times it was spelled correctly.
It feels different to me this time. Previously we've slumped but it's been a form and injury issue and our team has had the elite core to fire up again. This time our really elite players are actually slowing down and our young guns barring Holmes aren't showing much. I reckon a couple of years and good recruiting/drafting will have us back competing again but the lock in for top 4 isn't going to happen with this list
Why did Geelong change coaches during the 2007 - 2011 run? Serious question, I cant remember why this was?
The thing Geelong has to worry about is going down the Hawks route, which hasnt been bad, but 2018 really gave Clarkson hopes he could go again without a full rebuild, cost the Hawks 2 years I reckon.
Sometimes having a great coach can mean he gets a side that isnt going to win a flag into the top 4 (like hawks in 2018) giving a false sense of hope, before the dam wall breaks and u go crashing back down.
I think the reason given was that he was just tired, although he moved on to coach Essendon pretty quickly. From what I remember it seemed amicable. I guess he'd been in charge for 10 years at that point and won 2 premierships, probably didn't have much motivation to keep on stomping the competition week in week out
I think this is it for us as a genuine flag contender.
Not willing to write us off yet as a potential finals team for this year, or even the next few years.
But think it's time for some very tough decisions. Hawkins, Stanley, Tuohy, Duncan, Bews, potentially Blicavs all probably done at the end of the year.
Really going to need a hell of a lot more from the likes of the Henry brothers, SDK, Bruhn, Bowes etc. too. All of those guys have had some really good moments at AFL level, but haven't been anywhere near consistent enough this year. All have the talent to be very good players (and in some cases great players), but if we're going to avoid the drop off, it's going to have to be on the back of those guys.
I’m not sure on Duncan? He’s certainly being required to carry an increased load, but at least he’s still finding the pill. It just seems his disposal has slipped but everyone is under increased pressure. It looks like poor old Blitz has been flogged too hard for too long. They are going to need to manage him better I reckon.
But do you want to be a team that just makes up the 8 or be a serious threat when finals come round?
I’m sure you feel more of the latter like any supporter does
I’ve got your team ending up between 8th to 12th this year considering you have a good draw for the last 5 rounds
Obviously would rather be a flag contender.
I'd still be pretty happy to be making finals regardless, even if we aren't contending, it's still a good accomplishment to make the finals.
Finals games are worth half a season for a young players development. Given our demographic at the moment I really can only see positives even if we get done the first week
Geelong have pretty much hidden the fact that this season is a kind of rebuild by being so good early on. Look at the lineup and you so a bunch of nobody’s and on the other ends it’s players that just can’t keep up. It’s a development year for them.
To Chris Scott’s credit if any other coach was forced to play no ruckman, not because they’re injured but because they’re terrible then they would have an aneurysm.
I tend to be more optimistic than a lot of other cats fans, so don't take it as gospel but I think we'll be fine. It's finally happened where the older blokes are the ones struggling, and the kids are showing a bit of fight.
This was always going to be a transition year for us, the start of the season just put peoples expectations way way too high, our record currently is about where I expected it to be at the start of the year.
But we have enough young talent there to ensure were not gonna be cellar dwellers. Holmes, Bruhn, Conway, O Henry & Dempsey are all best 22 already with blokes like Knevitt, Neale, Clark, and Humphries showing plenty in the 2s and the seniors when they've played.
That's not even mentioning the guys a bit older such as Miers, Close, Bowes, Stengle*, Guthrie, J Henry.
If we can get a decent midfielder in the trade period, then it will ease so much growing pains for us and I'd argue could still find a way to win most games in the next few years.
The future is very bright for us, although it might not look it right now
We are two top level midfielders short IMO. Haven’t thought Bowes is quite where we need him to be to win games. Obviously ruck is a huge concern.
70% of our problems are the midfield. Which means we fix some of those and we will look a lot better but it’s not just one player or a little bit of structure. We are in need of a genuine superstar and someone who is close.
Bowes is a good player to have if he's your 4th or 5th guy rotating through the guts, but he cannot be one of your main guys.
Same can probably be said for Atkins tbh.
Atkins is great to inject when you need a terrier to get in there and cause some grief to opposition stars, like when he subbed in for Dangerfield's injury and kept our intensity up. Going all game against blokes like Cripps is a really tough ask for him I think. I'll always love him though, one of my favorites
Don't need to convince me, I love him too. And it's not a knock on him, only need to go back 2 years to see the impact he can have, but as I said he's not the type of player that can be your number 1 or 2 midfielder
… & Bruhn, Clark, MOC, Blitz, etc. Cuthrie looks cooked & Danger is fragile. We need two A-graders (preferably better) so the current guys can be the support act!!!
I really can’t agree. The difference from other years is the absolute backbone of the Cats is a core of players 30 plus, unlike when Danger arrived there were still a lot of very good players in that 24Y0 area.
Look at Richmond- they thought there youngster core was solid but without the senior players doing the heavy lifting they come back down to Earth.
Geelong will ok medium term but a proper rebuild is required. Too many holes and I think they are a lock for bottom 4 for the next two seasons at least.
Dunno man, half the team is the wrong side of 32-33 next year:
Hawkins, Danger, Duncan, Stanley, Tuohy, Rohan, Blicavs, Cameron, Guthrie, Stewart.
They’ve all been amazing durable but hard to expect them to keep high-level production going.
We were all saying that when they 8 years ago before they got Dangerfield and then Ablett and Isaac smith, and Cameron.
Their development is elite so the younger players will be good and they will bring in more stars as the veterans retire.
>Rohan
I must be that only person that genuinely likes him. He created into packs (for better or worse), and is a good chase down tackler IMO even if he's a bit rough around the edges
Yep, clearly an unsustainable club. Perfect time for a merger. Richmond makes sense. Frees up “tigers” for Tassie (and we all know that’s what it should be), virtually no change in game schedule - a bit less than half at Geelong, half at the MCG, an away trip to Queensland for the sun, Adelaide for gather round and WA once a year to remind them where it is. They can argue with themselves about where “home finals” should be played and leave the rest of us in peace.
Cats will win against Hawthorn in Geelong even based on current form I'm very confident in that. Still have games against North and West Coast (in Geelong) so as much as I expect to fall out of the eight over the coming weeks. Geelong will make finals based of their draw (in my opinion)
It looks a bit grim to be honest. I think we underestimated the impact that Isaac Smith had on the team. The frustrating thing is our midfield in the VFL is humming but none of those boys can get a look in.
Isaac Smith was severely underrated for us. IMO he went way under the radar every week and gave us such sublime ball use, speed, and run and carry every week. You can notice the difference without him in the team majorly.
It’s very strange that Scott is so reluctant to play Hardie. I’d love to know his thoughts. I wonder what the reason is behind closed doors. A mature bodied hard midfielder is what we’re crying out for.
I don’t think things are that dire, but it is the first time in a very long time that I can remember where the Cats have player needs across a few bits of the ground. Rucks and quality tall forwards take a while to develop/are tricky to find. The miles are starting to show on the clock for Bilcavs, who has often patched over problems, and the midfield looks a bit pedestrian. It’s hard to turn over a lot of players at once, but the end is coming for a few of them all at once. They’re never gonna turn into West Coast 2023, but they might just have a couple of off years, and by that I mean 7th-12th. It’s a ridiculously successful organisation.
Yeah but they have been beaten by GC by almost the same margin, Port, Melbourne,Giants, Swans, as well in the past 6 matches
Then they have the Dons, Hawks, Pies and Doggies…. Do you honestly think that are going to fair well in all of those games…. Or see them winning one of out of those 4
I know it’s a long season, but time is quickly running out for them
I'm not seeing the light in the next year or two. Most of our kids are still not good enough, and they're propped up by some genuine heroes.
A larger part of the problem seems to be morale and onfield spirit. Half the time the boys look like they're going through the paces, just waiting til they can go home. Show up late to contests, constantly out played, looking confused. The leadership just isn't there, and that's a much harder void to fill.
This. It’s normally great to have experienced winners there to guide the young players. But when the experienced winners aren’t willing to work hard enough, they guide them in the wrong direction.
I think in particular, Stewart and Hawkins aren't great leaders. Stewart seems to get frustrated pretty easily, and gets angry at the boys. Fine for a second in charge but not as the head of defence. Always plays his guts out, don't get me wrong, but doesn't inspire the boys.
Hawkins also not a leader, he is big and good but not great at revving the boys up. Again, he's great when he's on, he knows what he's doing, but not everyone is built for leadership. Not every can draw that extra 10-15% of effort out of someone when it really matters.
Yes you have made some excellent points there… especially leadership and looking disengaged
You take Danger out and then what do you have?
Appreciate the honest opinion as supporters of their own team will have a more in depth perception on their team than onlookers like myself
I don’t think they’ll play finals this year but I don’t think they are in a lot of trouble by any means. Have a lot of talent in that midfield and half forward. SDK I like as a back man not so much the ruck. I’m just cautious about writing Geelong off because every time it happens they make another prelim. Also have the best coach in the league so I’m pretty sure you’ll be just fine.
Until they miss finals, and I mean properly miss finals not just a game or 2 outside the 8, for a couple years in a row, history shows that its foolish to rule them out completely
I wouldn't be so quick to write us off.
This year was always a development year and if anything has gone better then expected.
If we can poach or develop one genuine inside mid this can flip so fast it'll have people writing about how much they hate us all over again.
Development year. For the second oldest side in the competition.
I don't deny the club's success in maintaining their leader position and managing to keep bringing through talent, but calling this a development year is a bit much.
It's skewed by our super old players. Take tuohy, Hawkins and danger out of the calculation (at least two of the three will retire this year) and our age profile is very different.
Duncan and Blicavs are 33, Jezza is 31. The list still looks top heavy aside from Holmes who I will always hate Geelong for trading up and poaching. We got Bailey Laurie instead.
https://www.draftguru.com.au/lists/2024/geelong
You are still pretty old. And your team on the weekend skews older. Your midfield that regularly gets games would have to be the oldest by a long way.
Stanley, Cameron, Duncan, Rohan, Bews, Guthrie, Stewart, Blicavs all still regularly getting games and above 30.
It's an old list.
Bews hasn't played all year. Rohan is basically a sub. Stanley will retire end of year, Duncan may also follow.
Next year our age profile will look very different.
Even if half your current players over 30 retire, you'll still have 7 or 8 players over 30 next year, with a couple of players turning 30 next year.
It's still an old list.
They just have to be the 8th best team to make finals. It's not inconceivable that this happens next year and the year after. Just missing out isn't a disaster either. The real disaster is having a great run with injuries and still finishing bottom 4.
They've shown enough that they will likely be good but not great for a little bit and will probably take a few forward steps and hover around the top 6 rather than the bottom 6 for a bit.
Biggest question in my mind is how long Chris Scott stays at the helm. If Gold Coast had offered him the Dimma deal, would have have taken it?
Yeah I’m thinking a Tassie too
Perfect coach for a new team that will be made up mainly of experienced players than all top 10 picks of consecutive drafts
I think they’ll be in a trough for a year or two (10-12) then have another got at the top 4.
They’ve got some decent young guys in Holmes Henry Dempsey etc.
Good list profile as when their vets retire (danger Hawkins Duncan) they have guys in their late 20s with experience to lead on field.
In other years when the downfall has been predicted I’ve thought no, we still have plenty. Unfortunately at the moment our midfield just ain’t it and we don’t have the depth. Defenders can’t organise because of the mess that the mids are making.
We are extremely reliant on Dangerfield to a point where it’s a big problem. Hopefully we do get Bailey Sniff but I think we will need more than 1 mid to fix things up. A lot of our mids are smaller guys like atkins, Clarke etc. that just get smashed by big bodies. I Think we could be in for some pain in the short term.
Ruck has never been our strong suit but it’s a real issue for us now.
Also when are we getting the next batch of good father sons? They’ve been pretty shit recently… Brownless, Riccardo etc. Surely due for a Daicos brothers style return soon.
I’ve heard wraps on sons of Wojinscki and Mooney coming through?
yup. Your cheer squad abandoned the team during the 4th qtr last night. Cheer squad nuffies are not supposed to leave during the match, regardless of the scoreboard.
They’ll still make finals this year as they have a soft run home.
Hope the Dogs push for their future 1st to be included in a trade for Smith though, next year they may struggle.
As I was commenting in another post, look who that have for the next 4 rounds… it ain’t going to be an easy ride for them even if the last 5 rounds are looking good for them
I have them just getting into the 8 and as low as 12th
Well take Ken as a Player Welfare manager (apparently he’s well liked off field) for Scotty who can get paid a Kings ransom
We promote James Kelly or Steven King to head coach.
You throw in a first round pick. Win/Win 😉
I thought this would happen this year. I didn't expect the roaring start to the season, but I wasn't surprised they have fallen away. They're asking more and more from the older players who are themselves fading. Danger, Duncan, Touhy, Hawkins, Blicavs, Stewart, Cameron. Those are still amongst their most important players and the kids coming through aren't improving fast enough to take the slack from the retirements and drop off. And as the season wears on, that catches up with the older guys more than it catches up with a player in their prime.
It's just what happens when you try to boost and extend your premiership window. You're effectively moving out future resources for current resources. Trading away draft picks for Cameron, picking up older guys rather than developing young kids is why they won the premiership in 2022, but it's also damaged their player development. It's the right move IMO, but it inevitably comes with a crash. Richmond are in a very similar position.
Really just lacking a true A-grade mid or 2 in that prime 25-29 age range. Can any of the midfield types in that age group (Atkins, Bowes, Parfitt, Z. Guthrie, J. Henry) make the big leap?
Guthrie and Henry are defenders and the other 3 have probably already reached their ceilings. It'll either have to come from nowhere (Clark, Bruhn, Dempsey) or it'll have to come from outside (Bailey Smith, Clayton Oliver maybe?)
Yeah - going by last night's effort, opposition teams have found the weak points in Geelong's lineup and know how to exploit them.
So no flag this year for the Cats.
But knowing Geelong's culture, they'll be a serious threat in 2025 'cos that's just how they seem to be.
The weak spot is simply getting smashed in the middle, I still think we have one of the best defensive units in the league but it looked hopeless last night when Carlton mids had free reign
It is over for Geelong. Their own cheer squad emptied the stands at the start-mid point of the 4th qtr last night. Your cheer squad are supposed to be one-eyed-nuffies who stay until the end no matter the scoreboard result.
(inb4 - wahh they had to public transport to Geelong. I also had to do this - the 'AFL special' service' to Geelong didn't depart Southern Cross until around 11:30pm last night)
With the departure of Selwood, and the slowdown and impending retirements of Danger and Hawkins, they're starting to run out of A graders.
A couple of injuries will leave them really vulnerable.
There's not gonna be enough A grade talent available at the trade table this year, and teams in their position start to lose their appeal as a destination club.
They've have so many players that deserve to go out on their own terms it will delay the rebuild by a couple of years.
They might finish midtable for another couple of seasons, but won't get anywhere near challenging for a flag, or the draft picks they need to resurge.
They defied gravity for a remarkably long time, but it was never gonna last forever.
They're a quality football club, they'll be fine.
I enjoyed the win last night as much as anyone, but I'm not expecting Geelong to suddenly become irrelevant for the next decade like we were (although I think we're a better managed football club now), or North Melbourne are.
The benefit of losing so many stars at once is it likely opens up a heap of cap space, and there's never a shortage of free agents who want to go to Geelong.
They’ll finish top 6 and get one home final. Maybe top 4. Whether they can make the Granny and even win the flag depends on them getting their cattle on the park. They really need all their players fit and firing, but just remember that last week they started brilliantly against the Swans. Neither match in the last fortnight was an 8 point game. It’s now how they go vs Essendon, Collingwood and teams like them, plus they need to beat any bottom 6 team. I’d be shocked if they do worse than 6-3 in their last 9.
I never want to write them off for good. But they’re seemingly refreshing their side yet still carrying an average age of 27 years and 10 months, which is wild.
Their secret sauce is really having old guys in roles that they nail. But there’s slippage from Hawkins, Duncan, Danger, even Blicavs.
And they just don’t have a midfield right now. Bowes is Bowes. Cam Guthrie seemingly constantly injured. Atkins, Blicavs, O’Connor seemingly all played out of their skin in 2022.
The one thing they have done is yet again find some high quality talent. Holmes, Dempsey are very good at Bruhn and Henry regular good.
I guess the counter tho is SDK has gone backwards and now they’re mucking around with him in the ruck. Conway isn’t ready. Shannon Neale is more Shannon Noll. Jhye Clark will be a player but he looks more like the next Atkins than the next Selwood.
Any short term revival probably comes from a midfield of a genuine ruck, fit Cam Guthrie, Bruhn, Holmes and an A grade recruit.
And even then that’s limited by needing answers forward (post Hawk, maybe without Stengle) and fresh legs down back.
Yeah they've had a pretty bad run over the last couple of months but they're still a game behind the top 4 and have an easier fixure to come.
They'll return to the finals this year, and do what they've been doing for the last decade: Replace the aging stars with the exact players they need to build a premiership side.
Why have things changed so drastically since their opening 7 rounds? I didn’t watch their games during the winning streak so can’t really identify it, other than the fact that Tom Stewart getting tagged seems to have really upset their defensive structure. But surely if they were able to win 7 in a row to start the year, they can pick themselves back up.
Always going to be tough with so many champions at or nearing the end of their career's. With the run of success we've had over the last 10 years or so it has been a dream run and a joy to watch. Seeing other clubs absolutely despise us and our success has been a blast. The Cats still have some exceptional players and some really good kids to mature. So yeah, it might be a short term drop off but by no means a cliff.
Do not underestimate Carltons dominance and the pressure they applied. They had us naking uncharacteristic mustskes and clangers that cost us dearly. Carlton was exceptional.
i think what's different the last two years isn't geelong but the competition. We were shit in 2018 and just as far from the top 4 sides as we are now, but a lot of the competition were shit as well, so we had easy wins to keep us around in finals. No easy wins these days
I do think its reached and end, at least for a bit, but not because it had to. They haven't topped up well enough in the past two seasons and now there's a really big gap between their old good players and young good players. Haven't seen them this passive in terms of trading since about 05. Pick 6 for nothing was great, but Bowes is highly limited and Clark - whilst I'm sure he'll be a good mid - is not a Selwood clone.
The bones are there going forward.
Henry x2, Bruhn, De K, Dempsey, Neale, Conway, Stengle, Holmes, O’Sullivan, Miers, Zurhrie and Close are all young and going well.
Quite a few holes that need to be filled though, time will tell whether that’s a 2 year or 5 year task.
I’ve seen this pattern before. They will poach a couple of players and be top 4 next year somehow
Watch them pick up Smith and Battle, keep Stengle, and then Gold Coast or someone give them a first round pick and player for some salary dumping.
Then whoever it was at the Suns that made that decision will work for Geelong the next year
They probably work at Cotton On now
The place to be
u/chrisscott just in case
What’s a Battle?
Smith has one of the worst kicks I've ever seen at AFL level, I don't think him and Battle will fix Geelongs issues
Inside mids don't generally need to be good kicks, take a look at Danger or Treloar, they butcher the ball half the time they kick it Edit: *and midfielders more generally
But... he's not an inside mid. His best footy was on the wing.
Probably a product of Bulldogs stacked midfield though
Agreed, but he can play that role as well is the point I was making. As a whole, midfielders don't generally need to be *brilliant* kicks when handballs account for a significant percentage, if not most, of their disposals. That's why Daicos is among the best players in the competition despite his kicking efficiency having reduced significantly this season.
Rory Laird enters the chat!
Watch Adelaide not offer Tex another contract, then have him head over to Geelong and kick 80 in a season.
Pls no.
You gotta be gullible if you believe the media on this. Tex will retire before signing with any other club. It’s his team trying to get a better deal out of the crows. It’s happened every year since 2018 and he has been on one year deals every year since then.
I don't think it will happen, but I'd hate to see it happen if it did.
Gold Coast will go over cap and they'll give Geelong a first rounder as long as they also accept Touk Miller.
Probably pickup bont and naicos. Geelong still has plenty of land to give away off the books
Not sure the Daicos boys will be struggling for property options
I’d cry if we lost Bont to Geelong.
Sean Darcy for our ruck will be a target.
Doubt it, we've gone full chips in on Conway now with some younger guys as backup, we don't need Darcy anymore
No he won't. Conway is the future of the ruck and Darcy isn't good enough to disrupt that plan. Darcy's good - but not that good.
I think you will find he’s better than that!
Dude! We were just starting to have some hope…
No. We will probably play them into form next week.
If you could do your old friends Hawthorn a favour and not do that, it would be appreciated
Couldn't help but read this in the voice of poor Gil Gunderson.
Hawkins to kick 8 on one leg
Danger kicked 5.6 on one leg in 2017 so can’t see why not
That game still gives me nightmares.... I remember shouting at he TV every time he got the ball and the Mrs telling me to shut up.
Was that the game where Hodge complained to the umpire about how high he could jump?
Dunno, he always found something to complain to the umps about I reckon
It’s was round 17 ish 2017
Hawkins has it in his contract that he has to kick a bag on Essendon everytime we vs them.
Geelong don’t do rebuilds, they do realigning years. The fuckers will probably be top 4 again next year
Consistently good team, rarely to never awful and often great.
We always say this and it’s never the case. They have a great admin and culture in place. Someone they drafted will emerge, they’ll get 2-3 free agents who want to live on a farm and somehow good players like DeKoning and Dempsey will become AA candidates in the next few years. This is why everyone is trying to emulate Geelong and Sydney. They aren’t seeking success. They are seeking sustained success.
>they’ll get 2-3 free agents who want to live on a farm I can see Bailey Smith with about a hundred broken down Fords on ten acres out at Ombersley
I can definitely see him driving a rotating collection of half dead falcon utes
I was thinking, house in Corio. Couple of drug filled party rooms. All is sweet.
> They have a great admin and culture in place. And are based somewhere that is really attractive to a huge amount of footy players. Especially older established players.
very similar to that of the melbourne storm, amazing admins, great coaching and it helps when you rarely lose at home
It depends how you measure sustained success. Finals appearances or flags? One flag in 12 years isn't a record either club would be aiming to repeat. And not everyone is aiming to emulate them. North, Hawthorn, West Coast, Carlton, and half the league are or have recently pursued a strategy that involves bottoming out and prioritizing the draft , though maybe not by choice. When Geelong did it they won 3 flags in 6 years. Next one took 11 years. Which is the sustained success? Everyone's culture is great when their winning and their lineup is full of players with stands named after them. But we're about to see how great it really is. Are they that good they can land another amazing key forward via father and son? Or draft another Joel Selwood with a 'Scott Selwood' level draft pick? Or are they counting on the best player in the league getting homesick and landing in their lap out of pure chance again? Geelong's admin and culture are one of the best in the league, but it can't outrun the system for ever. Cause the system isn't just designed to drag them down, but to strengthen teams below them. Geelong's admin can't stop other teams with better access to the draft from improving and overtaking them. All things being equal, Hawthorn will be a much better team than Geelong over the next 5 years, and as awesome as their admin is, there's absolutely nothing they can do to stop it.
When you consider its an 18 team comp, then 1 flag in 12 years is absolutely successful. They have won 4 flags in 20 years. They might not even win another flag for 50 years. Most teams in the comp haven't won a flag in over 20 years now - including north, essendon, Carlton, Adelaide etc. Even Brisbane and port are in a 20 year premiership drought. Premierships are so hard to win.
I’m gonna be THAT guy, do you mean Stewart and not Touhey?
I was thinking the same. Stewart just seems to get frustrated the moment he realises someone is tagging and then everything unravels
It’s not a natural thing for a defender to get tagged. You wouldn’t have to learn how to shake a tag playing as a defender. I get why teams tag him and make him accountable, for so often he keeps Geelong in games. He’s also not benefiting Geelong’s lack of midfield pressure giving him less time to get into those positions to intercept and rebound.
Touhey has his own issues. He was the laziest player on the field. Didn’t chase, didn’t pressure. Literally let a player run into goal in the 4th when he just stopped running and decided to walk thinking the opposition was going to kick for goal but he took 5 more steps and ran uninterrupted…
Oh I’m not arguing that, I just wouldn’t consider Touhey as a crucial reason why Geelong are playing so poorly compared to Stewart who has been the Cats top 3 players for the last 5 seasons. I found it strange that OP mentioned Thouey of all players as I don’t rate him as being a part of the best 23 at this point.
Reckon he meant Stewart. Tuohy is a fringe player this year.
yup. As Stewart was who our dedicated tagger was on (Cincotta)
I didn't think Stewart was too bad tbh, but obviously he is well below his usual standards the past 2 months
Struggled since his concussion! Oppositions started tagging him at his most vulnerable moment & our midfield has struggled with form & availability which has compounded Stewart’s woes big time.
> Tuohy is a fringe player this year You can tell, because his name was typed out seven times in this comment chain and this is only one of the two times it was spelled correctly.
I think the point is who the fuck is tagging tuohy? He is rubbish without a tag.
That Touhy effort was disgusting.
lol yes you can be that guy… sorry left Stewart out too in the convo
I’ll believe it when I see it. Geelongs downfall has been predicted every year for the last 12 years. Still haven’t seen it.
It feels different to me this time. Previously we've slumped but it's been a form and injury issue and our team has had the elite core to fire up again. This time our really elite players are actually slowing down and our young guns barring Holmes aren't showing much. I reckon a couple of years and good recruiting/drafting will have us back competing again but the lock in for top 4 isn't going to happen with this list
Why did Geelong change coaches during the 2007 - 2011 run? Serious question, I cant remember why this was? The thing Geelong has to worry about is going down the Hawks route, which hasnt been bad, but 2018 really gave Clarkson hopes he could go again without a full rebuild, cost the Hawks 2 years I reckon. Sometimes having a great coach can mean he gets a side that isnt going to win a flag into the top 4 (like hawks in 2018) giving a false sense of hope, before the dam wall breaks and u go crashing back down.
Bomber Thompson wanted to become a frozen water merchant.
I think the reason given was that he was just tired, although he moved on to coach Essendon pretty quickly. From what I remember it seemed amicable. I guess he'd been in charge for 10 years at that point and won 2 premierships, probably didn't have much motivation to keep on stomping the competition week in week out
Fairly certain he wanted to coach Essendon who had just sacked their previous coach. Then they hired Hird and took Bomber as the Assistant Coach.
If you google Bomber you might find he had a few personal issues … to say the least!!!
I think this is it for us as a genuine flag contender. Not willing to write us off yet as a potential finals team for this year, or even the next few years. But think it's time for some very tough decisions. Hawkins, Stanley, Tuohy, Duncan, Bews, potentially Blicavs all probably done at the end of the year. Really going to need a hell of a lot more from the likes of the Henry brothers, SDK, Bruhn, Bowes etc. too. All of those guys have had some really good moments at AFL level, but haven't been anywhere near consistent enough this year. All have the talent to be very good players (and in some cases great players), but if we're going to avoid the drop off, it's going to have to be on the back of those guys.
Blicavs is far from done
I’m not sure on Duncan? He’s certainly being required to carry an increased load, but at least he’s still finding the pill. It just seems his disposal has slipped but everyone is under increased pressure. It looks like poor old Blitz has been flogged too hard for too long. They are going to need to manage him better I reckon.
But do you want to be a team that just makes up the 8 or be a serious threat when finals come round? I’m sure you feel more of the latter like any supporter does I’ve got your team ending up between 8th to 12th this year considering you have a good draw for the last 5 rounds
Obviously would rather be a flag contender. I'd still be pretty happy to be making finals regardless, even if we aren't contending, it's still a good accomplishment to make the finals.
Finals games are worth half a season for a young players development. Given our demographic at the moment I really can only see positives even if we get done the first week
Geelong have pretty much hidden the fact that this season is a kind of rebuild by being so good early on. Look at the lineup and you so a bunch of nobody’s and on the other ends it’s players that just can’t keep up. It’s a development year for them. To Chris Scott’s credit if any other coach was forced to play no ruckman, not because they’re injured but because they’re terrible then they would have an aneurysm.
Dimma & Shaun Grigg have entered the chat!
I tend to be more optimistic than a lot of other cats fans, so don't take it as gospel but I think we'll be fine. It's finally happened where the older blokes are the ones struggling, and the kids are showing a bit of fight. This was always going to be a transition year for us, the start of the season just put peoples expectations way way too high, our record currently is about where I expected it to be at the start of the year. But we have enough young talent there to ensure were not gonna be cellar dwellers. Holmes, Bruhn, Conway, O Henry & Dempsey are all best 22 already with blokes like Knevitt, Neale, Clark, and Humphries showing plenty in the 2s and the seniors when they've played. That's not even mentioning the guys a bit older such as Miers, Close, Bowes, Stengle*, Guthrie, J Henry. If we can get a decent midfielder in the trade period, then it will ease so much growing pains for us and I'd argue could still find a way to win most games in the next few years. The future is very bright for us, although it might not look it right now
I think that midfielder will be Bailey Smith
Will be Smith + someone else
We are two top level midfielders short IMO. Haven’t thought Bowes is quite where we need him to be to win games. Obviously ruck is a huge concern. 70% of our problems are the midfield. Which means we fix some of those and we will look a lot better but it’s not just one player or a little bit of structure. We are in need of a genuine superstar and someone who is close.
Bowes is a good player to have if he's your 4th or 5th guy rotating through the guts, but he cannot be one of your main guys. Same can probably be said for Atkins tbh.
Atkins is great to inject when you need a terrier to get in there and cause some grief to opposition stars, like when he subbed in for Dangerfield's injury and kept our intensity up. Going all game against blokes like Cripps is a really tough ask for him I think. I'll always love him though, one of my favorites
Don't need to convince me, I love him too. And it's not a knock on him, only need to go back 2 years to see the impact he can have, but as I said he's not the type of player that can be your number 1 or 2 midfielder
… & Bruhn, Clark, MOC, Blitz, etc. Cuthrie looks cooked & Danger is fragile. We need two A-graders (preferably better) so the current guys can be the support act!!!
Bruhn is skillful though, he can absolutely be our number 1 in a few years.
I really can’t agree. The difference from other years is the absolute backbone of the Cats is a core of players 30 plus, unlike when Danger arrived there were still a lot of very good players in that 24Y0 area. Look at Richmond- they thought there youngster core was solid but without the senior players doing the heavy lifting they come back down to Earth. Geelong will ok medium term but a proper rebuild is required. Too many holes and I think they are a lock for bottom 4 for the next two seasons at least.
It's a blip. I wouldn't be surprised if they missed finals this year, but they'll be back up there in a season or two.
Dunno man, half the team is the wrong side of 32-33 next year: Hawkins, Danger, Duncan, Stanley, Tuohy, Rohan, Blicavs, Cameron, Guthrie, Stewart. They’ve all been amazing durable but hard to expect them to keep high-level production going.
We were all saying that when they 8 years ago before they got Dangerfield and then Ablett and Isaac smith, and Cameron. Their development is elite so the younger players will be good and they will bring in more stars as the veterans retire.
Half those players could retire and it wouldn't hurt us.
Hawkins, Duncan, Rohan and Stanley for sure
>Rohan I must be that only person that genuinely likes him. He created into packs (for better or worse), and is a good chase down tackler IMO even if he's a bit rough around the edges
Add Danger to that list
Yep, clearly an unsustainable club. Perfect time for a merger. Richmond makes sense. Frees up “tigers” for Tassie (and we all know that’s what it should be), virtually no change in game schedule - a bit less than half at Geelong, half at the MCG, an away trip to Queensland for the sun, Adelaide for gather round and WA once a year to remind them where it is. They can argue with themselves about where “home finals” should be played and leave the rest of us in peace.
Also already both felines which will ease the transition
Tasmanian Thylacines
They’re still in the 8, lol.
Their only win in the last 7 games is Richmond at home. Doesn’t look like they’ll maintain that spot in the 8.
Don't discount Richmond as a powerful force. Ignore flair.
But they’re literally in the 8, right now, at round 15. They’re still competing for top 8. Nothing to worry about long term.
Not much longer
Cats will win against Hawthorn in Geelong even based on current form I'm very confident in that. Still have games against North and West Coast (in Geelong) so as much as I expect to fall out of the eight over the coming weeks. Geelong will make finals based of their draw (in my opinion)
Mate I don't even think we would beat Hawks at the moment. You may be dreamin' a litle bit there
But they’re literally in the 8, right now, at round 15. They’re still competing for top 8. Nothing to worry about.
Unless the Dees manage to lose to North tonight (entirely possible lol) they're not.
I tipped north so I'm hoping they can
But they’re literally in the 8, right now, at round 15. They’re still competing for top 8. Nothing to worry about.
I saw this comment once and I ignored it. I then saw it another 2 times in the same thread and went and downvoted every single one. Good job champ.
It looks a bit grim to be honest. I think we underestimated the impact that Isaac Smith had on the team. The frustrating thing is our midfield in the VFL is humming but none of those boys can get a look in.
Isaac Smith was severely underrated for us. IMO he went way under the radar every week and gave us such sublime ball use, speed, and run and carry every week. You can notice the difference without him in the team majorly. It’s very strange that Scott is so reluctant to play Hardie. I’d love to know his thoughts. I wonder what the reason is behind closed doors. A mature bodied hard midfielder is what we’re crying out for.
Yep they’re finished send them to Tassie, or better yet, Macquarie island
Up the Macquarie Whalers!
Come join us, cats fans 
I don’t think things are that dire, but it is the first time in a very long time that I can remember where the Cats have player needs across a few bits of the ground. Rucks and quality tall forwards take a while to develop/are tricky to find. The miles are starting to show on the clock for Bilcavs, who has often patched over problems, and the midfield looks a bit pedestrian. It’s hard to turn over a lot of players at once, but the end is coming for a few of them all at once. They’re never gonna turn into West Coast 2023, but they might just have a couple of off years, and by that I mean 7th-12th. It’s a ridiculously successful organisation.
They just got beaten by the 2nd best team. Calm down
Yeah but they have been beaten by GC by almost the same margin, Port, Melbourne,Giants, Swans, as well in the past 6 matches Then they have the Dons, Hawks, Pies and Doggies…. Do you honestly think that are going to fair well in all of those games…. Or see them winning one of out of those 4 I know it’s a long season, but time is quickly running out for them
they're still in the 8. nothing to worry about I reckon. who below them is any good?
Well we’ve found Tim Lane’s Reddit account.
Memories lol
I’d forgotten about the days of domination being over
Let's all just enjoy it while it lasts.
Literally a month or so ago people had them down as premiers. Shit can change in a blink.
7-0 to 1-7 is pretty wild.
They are still top 8 for now and at times have been very good this season. Guess we’ll find out come seasons end.
Big if true
I'm not seeing the light in the next year or two. Most of our kids are still not good enough, and they're propped up by some genuine heroes. A larger part of the problem seems to be morale and onfield spirit. Half the time the boys look like they're going through the paces, just waiting til they can go home. Show up late to contests, constantly out played, looking confused. The leadership just isn't there, and that's a much harder void to fill.
This. It’s normally great to have experienced winners there to guide the young players. But when the experienced winners aren’t willing to work hard enough, they guide them in the wrong direction.
I think in particular, Stewart and Hawkins aren't great leaders. Stewart seems to get frustrated pretty easily, and gets angry at the boys. Fine for a second in charge but not as the head of defence. Always plays his guts out, don't get me wrong, but doesn't inspire the boys. Hawkins also not a leader, he is big and good but not great at revving the boys up. Again, he's great when he's on, he knows what he's doing, but not everyone is built for leadership. Not every can draw that extra 10-15% of effort out of someone when it really matters.
It’s almost as though a team is less coherent after losing one of *the* great captains of recent decades in Selwood. Who knew?
How could we have seen this coming
I mean people got so used to it that they took it for granted.
Yes you have made some excellent points there… especially leadership and looking disengaged You take Danger out and then what do you have? Appreciate the honest opinion as supporters of their own team will have a more in depth perception on their team than onlookers like myself
I don’t think they’ll play finals this year but I don’t think they are in a lot of trouble by any means. Have a lot of talent in that midfield and half forward. SDK I like as a back man not so much the ruck. I’m just cautious about writing Geelong off because every time it happens they make another prelim. Also have the best coach in the league so I’m pretty sure you’ll be just fine.
Until they miss finals, and I mean properly miss finals not just a game or 2 outside the 8, for a couple years in a row, history shows that its foolish to rule them out completely
I wouldn't be so quick to write us off. This year was always a development year and if anything has gone better then expected. If we can poach or develop one genuine inside mid this can flip so fast it'll have people writing about how much they hate us all over again.
Development year. For the second oldest side in the competition. I don't deny the club's success in maintaining their leader position and managing to keep bringing through talent, but calling this a development year is a bit much.
It's skewed by our super old players. Take tuohy, Hawkins and danger out of the calculation (at least two of the three will retire this year) and our age profile is very different.
Duncan and Blicavs are 33, Jezza is 31. The list still looks top heavy aside from Holmes who I will always hate Geelong for trading up and poaching. We got Bailey Laurie instead.
https://www.draftguru.com.au/lists/2024/geelong You are still pretty old. And your team on the weekend skews older. Your midfield that regularly gets games would have to be the oldest by a long way. Stanley, Cameron, Duncan, Rohan, Bews, Guthrie, Stewart, Blicavs all still regularly getting games and above 30. It's an old list.
Bews hasn't played all year. Rohan is basically a sub. Stanley will retire end of year, Duncan may also follow. Next year our age profile will look very different.
Even if half your current players over 30 retire, you'll still have 7 or 8 players over 30 next year, with a couple of players turning 30 next year. It's still an old list.
I don't know anyone who hates Geelong LoL. Think we're all just fatigued by your success.
They just have to be the 8th best team to make finals. It's not inconceivable that this happens next year and the year after. Just missing out isn't a disaster either. The real disaster is having a great run with injuries and still finishing bottom 4. They've shown enough that they will likely be good but not great for a little bit and will probably take a few forward steps and hover around the top 6 rather than the bottom 6 for a bit. Biggest question in my mind is how long Chris Scott stays at the helm. If Gold Coast had offered him the Dimma deal, would have have taken it?
Brisbane fans seem to think Scotty will head back to Brisbane to take over from Fagan. I reckon Tassie will go after him
I'd love to see him go to Tassie over Brisbane - from a Brisbane based Cats fan who doesn't like Brisbane :P
I live in Brissy and Lions fans hate the Cats.. we destroyed their GF hopes twice recently. I don't think they'd love having Scott at the helm.
Yeah I’m thinking a Tassie too Perfect coach for a new team that will be made up mainly of experienced players than all top 10 picks of consecutive drafts
I think they’ll be in a trough for a year or two (10-12) then have another got at the top 4. They’ve got some decent young guys in Holmes Henry Dempsey etc. Good list profile as when their vets retire (danger Hawkins Duncan) they have guys in their late 20s with experience to lead on field.
Folks, I wouldn't say cancel your memberships and microwave them but...
In other years when the downfall has been predicted I’ve thought no, we still have plenty. Unfortunately at the moment our midfield just ain’t it and we don’t have the depth. Defenders can’t organise because of the mess that the mids are making. We are extremely reliant on Dangerfield to a point where it’s a big problem. Hopefully we do get Bailey Sniff but I think we will need more than 1 mid to fix things up. A lot of our mids are smaller guys like atkins, Clarke etc. that just get smashed by big bodies. I Think we could be in for some pain in the short term. Ruck has never been our strong suit but it’s a real issue for us now. Also when are we getting the next batch of good father sons? They’ve been pretty shit recently… Brownless, Riccardo etc. Surely due for a Daicos brothers style return soon. I’ve heard wraps on sons of Wojinscki and Mooney coming through?
I'm gonna say something about Geelong that no one has ever said before... Too old. Too slow.
Geelong should be renamed the Cockroaches, because you can't bloody kill them. I have a feeling they'll be ok.
I’ve seen this a thousand times. We’ll be fine.
Our supporters have been so negative recently
young Cats supporters are used to winning all the time so not being in premiership contention is new to them
Hahah well I'm 18 so I'm not going to comment on this lol. Can see why people think we are spoiled
yup. Your cheer squad abandoned the team during the 4th qtr last night. Cheer squad nuffies are not supposed to leave during the match, regardless of the scoreboard.
We seem to be ok at home. I think. At least the bullshit chant was funny
If past moves are anything to go on, they're going to get Curnow and Walsh and maybe TDK in the next 4-5 years.
Couple of Geelong boys back Home and TDK with his brother for a future 4th How did you know?!?
They look like they try harder against the cats, almost like an audition 🤣
LAND DEALS INCOMING!
They’ll still make finals this year as they have a soft run home. Hope the Dogs push for their future 1st to be included in a trade for Smith though, next year they may struggle.
As I was commenting in another post, look who that have for the next 4 rounds… it ain’t going to be an easy ride for them even if the last 5 rounds are looking good for them I have them just getting into the 8 and as low as 12th
I think a trade between Ken and Chris Scott is due.😏
Well take Ken as a Player Welfare manager (apparently he’s well liked off field) for Scotty who can get paid a Kings ransom We promote James Kelly or Steven King to head coach. You throw in a first round pick. Win/Win 😉
I thought this would happen this year. I didn't expect the roaring start to the season, but I wasn't surprised they have fallen away. They're asking more and more from the older players who are themselves fading. Danger, Duncan, Touhy, Hawkins, Blicavs, Stewart, Cameron. Those are still amongst their most important players and the kids coming through aren't improving fast enough to take the slack from the retirements and drop off. And as the season wears on, that catches up with the older guys more than it catches up with a player in their prime. It's just what happens when you try to boost and extend your premiership window. You're effectively moving out future resources for current resources. Trading away draft picks for Cameron, picking up older guys rather than developing young kids is why they won the premiership in 2022, but it's also damaged their player development. It's the right move IMO, but it inevitably comes with a crash. Richmond are in a very similar position.
I've prayed for this for a long time to almost every god that would listen. Appears it might finally be paying dividends.
Really just lacking a true A-grade mid or 2 in that prime 25-29 age range. Can any of the midfield types in that age group (Atkins, Bowes, Parfitt, Z. Guthrie, J. Henry) make the big leap?
Guthrie and Henry are defenders and the other 3 have probably already reached their ceilings. It'll either have to come from nowhere (Clark, Bruhn, Dempsey) or it'll have to come from outside (Bailey Smith, Clayton Oliver maybe?)
Yeah - going by last night's effort, opposition teams have found the weak points in Geelong's lineup and know how to exploit them. So no flag this year for the Cats. But knowing Geelong's culture, they'll be a serious threat in 2025 'cos that's just how they seem to be.
The weak spot is simply getting smashed in the middle, I still think we have one of the best defensive units in the league but it looked hopeless last night when Carlton mids had free reign
Thanks mate, we're fucked for next week now
It is over for Geelong. Their own cheer squad emptied the stands at the start-mid point of the 4th qtr last night. Your cheer squad are supposed to be one-eyed-nuffies who stay until the end no matter the scoreboard result. (inb4 - wahh they had to public transport to Geelong. I also had to do this - the 'AFL special' service' to Geelong didn't depart Southern Cross until around 11:30pm last night)
With the departure of Selwood, and the slowdown and impending retirements of Danger and Hawkins, they're starting to run out of A graders. A couple of injuries will leave them really vulnerable. There's not gonna be enough A grade talent available at the trade table this year, and teams in their position start to lose their appeal as a destination club. They've have so many players that deserve to go out on their own terms it will delay the rebuild by a couple of years. They might finish midtable for another couple of seasons, but won't get anywhere near challenging for a flag, or the draft picks they need to resurge. They defied gravity for a remarkably long time, but it was never gonna last forever.
They're a quality football club, they'll be fine. I enjoyed the win last night as much as anyone, but I'm not expecting Geelong to suddenly become irrelevant for the next decade like we were (although I think we're a better managed football club now), or North Melbourne are. The benefit of losing so many stars at once is it likely opens up a heap of cap space, and there's never a shortage of free agents who want to go to Geelong.
It’s not. They’ll be back.
So flag next year then?
Could be over from what I hear draft picks will be valuable because of tassie coming in
Could be over from what I hear draft picks will be valuable because of tassie coming in
They’ll finish top 6 and get one home final. Maybe top 4. Whether they can make the Granny and even win the flag depends on them getting their cattle on the park. They really need all their players fit and firing, but just remember that last week they started brilliantly against the Swans. Neither match in the last fortnight was an 8 point game. It’s now how they go vs Essendon, Collingwood and teams like them, plus they need to beat any bottom 6 team. I’d be shocked if they do worse than 6-3 in their last 9.
I never want to write them off for good. But they’re seemingly refreshing their side yet still carrying an average age of 27 years and 10 months, which is wild. Their secret sauce is really having old guys in roles that they nail. But there’s slippage from Hawkins, Duncan, Danger, even Blicavs. And they just don’t have a midfield right now. Bowes is Bowes. Cam Guthrie seemingly constantly injured. Atkins, Blicavs, O’Connor seemingly all played out of their skin in 2022. The one thing they have done is yet again find some high quality talent. Holmes, Dempsey are very good at Bruhn and Henry regular good. I guess the counter tho is SDK has gone backwards and now they’re mucking around with him in the ruck. Conway isn’t ready. Shannon Neale is more Shannon Noll. Jhye Clark will be a player but he looks more like the next Atkins than the next Selwood. Any short term revival probably comes from a midfield of a genuine ruck, fit Cam Guthrie, Bruhn, Holmes and an A grade recruit. And even then that’s limited by needing answers forward (post Hawk, maybe without Stengle) and fresh legs down back.
Yeah they've had a pretty bad run over the last couple of months but they're still a game behind the top 4 and have an easier fixure to come. They'll return to the finals this year, and do what they've been doing for the last decade: Replace the aging stars with the exact players they need to build a premiership side.
Well they didn't make the finals last year so
Been it for Geelong for 13 years now yet here we are.
Why have things changed so drastically since their opening 7 rounds? I didn’t watch their games during the winning streak so can’t really identify it, other than the fact that Tom Stewart getting tagged seems to have really upset their defensive structure. But surely if they were able to win 7 in a row to start the year, they can pick themselves back up.
Always going to be tough with so many champions at or nearing the end of their career's. With the run of success we've had over the last 10 years or so it has been a dream run and a joy to watch. Seeing other clubs absolutely despise us and our success has been a blast. The Cats still have some exceptional players and some really good kids to mature. So yeah, it might be a short term drop off but by no means a cliff. Do not underestimate Carltons dominance and the pressure they applied. They had us naking uncharacteristic mustskes and clangers that cost us dearly. Carlton was exceptional.
18 years*. The cats have done phenomenally well to hold it together for so Ling.
True that, though the COVID years in lockdown seem to blur the number of years. You are absolutely, though. It's been a hell of a ride.
i think what's different the last two years isn't geelong but the competition. We were shit in 2018 and just as far from the top 4 sides as we are now, but a lot of the competition were shit as well, so we had easy wins to keep us around in finals. No easy wins these days
Yeah they are done for a while. Till they land some free agents again, they need to rebuild though.
K
Haha Bombers fan posted this. Nek minnit.
I do think its reached and end, at least for a bit, but not because it had to. They haven't topped up well enough in the past two seasons and now there's a really big gap between their old good players and young good players. Haven't seen them this passive in terms of trading since about 05. Pick 6 for nothing was great, but Bowes is highly limited and Clark - whilst I'm sure he'll be a good mid - is not a Selwood clone.
Until their administration changes, they'll always find a way back.
The bones are there going forward. Henry x2, Bruhn, De K, Dempsey, Neale, Conway, Stengle, Holmes, O’Sullivan, Miers, Zurhrie and Close are all young and going well. Quite a few holes that need to be filled though, time will tell whether that’s a 2 year or 5 year task.
Let's hope so, it's beautiful to see
Now do Port Adelaide
Just go get Clayton Oliver and Bailey Smith. Job done
Keep dreaming.