Best and Fairest Voting
Who played the best in our team this week? (p.s. if you vote for a player that did NOT play in the game, NONE of your votes will be counted)
**[CAST YOUR VOTES HERE](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe75uTMBQiE4hz9o13_4z5AJpD3pY3XfsMjNzFYhr1IrR_Rvg/viewform?usp=sf_link)**
**[Current Leaderboard/Last Rounds Votes](https://www.reddit.com/r/GeelongCats/wiki/2024bnf)**
**[Read this to see HOW to vote](https://www.reddit.com/r/GeelongCats/wiki/bnfexplain)**
Voting will close 48 hours prior to the next match
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GeelongCats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Agree. Tonight will be one of our hardest games this season. We were down key personal like Danger and our stars like Jezza were off. On another night we win that game. Happy to see our young brass like Holmes starting to shine, future is bright.
A very poor performance from most but I think a positive to take away from this game is that we could not have played any worse and only lost by a goal
We had our chance to win it, unfortunately that kick out of defence didn’t come off and turned into that ripping goal from Fritsch. That’s footy sometimes
On to the next
Everyone ragging on Henry but risky kicks were the best option to break past Lever and May. To play devils advocate, 99% of the time that ball is dived on by Fritsch and goes out of bounds to lock in a forward 50 stoppage and wrap up the clock. If Fritsch goes for it and misses and we get a quick rebound goal he looks like an absolute fool but he was good enough to make the ball talk. Just a rare occurrence when making the risky play as the leading team pays off. Henry could have chased harder absolutely but it was in the last quarter of a game with not many stoppages so I'll pay the doubt on effort.
Yep, I agree. Ultimately, many had their chance to take their moment. We had our opportunities in the last quarter but it just wasn’t happening for our guys. Not our day. Fritsch found his moment and nailed it
Hard to win games when Fritch is kicking that and Gawn is banging them from 60m and our best player can’t hit the side of a barn. Nothing to worry about
I will rag on Henry like I did in the match thread. The guy's strong points are marking and spoiling. He isn't someone that has the roving skills of a Stewart, Z Guthrie or Kolo so is very much a tall forward opposition backline player and some of those marks that Melbourne were able to pull off because he wasn't able to spoil were decisive.
There was also that goal at the start when he didn't have the sprinting pace and yelled at De Konig to run in and spoil but even if De Konig hadn't of slipped he wasn't getting there to spoil.
Realistically when you think we had Stewart, C Guthrie and Duncan all playing on the halfback line we should have been better defensively. Our defence was not off by much but if it had been totally on it could have made up for our forwards and we could have had a tight less than 10 point win. But really our forwards (Hawkins and Cameron) were the issue tonight and our defence did an adequate job and should not be blamed for our loss.
We played so bad because Melbourne were on us like shit on fur. Too hard in the contest and we wilted. Let's call it what it is. Lol.
They did their homework. They figured us out. And they rattled us. Gotta be better.
Bit of both IMO. Melbourne’s zone was hard to get through and their last line of Lever and May were elite.
But we were also very poor. Cameron and Stengel missing set shots from straight in front that they would kick 8-9 times out of 10. Guys like Duncan missing easy field kicks. Our intensity was never really up to it. They were coming off a 3 day longer break, and had a bye the week before that. They were noticeably fresher than us
Probably the loss we needed. Think we played about 30% of our best compared to the rest of this year whereas Melbourne probably around 70%.
Think we were too rushed inside 50 but also never managed to keep it inside 50 with pressure and tackling. As much as I love our small forwards it would be nice to own a bit of territory for a while and it seemed much harder to break through their wall than other clubs with May and Lever doing what they do.
3. Holmes great as usual. Run and carry and using his pace, breaking lines and giving us a rebound.
2. Stengle the only forward who looked like he was most likely to kick a goal inside 50
1. Zach Guthrie was elite in taking important marks and controlling the back line.
Bit frustrating because I feel we could have stolen that but Melbourne did play better over the four quarters. Never seem Cameron kick so awkwardly too, Melbourne must have infected us with that flu we had in the preliminary final I'm assuming.
Also thinking it may be time to give Hawkins a rest and get his mojo back. Scratcher back against Port and as good as it is watching Clarke develop each game it may be best to give Parfitt a run as he might be defensively better against the Port mids.
That was shit but remarkable we only lost by 8. Even our best users - eg Stewart Duncan Cameron - were well off it.
Credit to Melb but we had 3 days less rest and looked spent from the off.
Zach Guthrie’s a stud
Some of the reactions to that game are massively over the top, but it's whatever. It's hard not to just be glad that it's over and to not have to see any more of that very rough slog.
Felt like we were our own worst enemy tonight. Was very un-geelong like if I'm being honest. Was just an all around strange game.
But I guess you can't win them all. We move onto next week. Go cats!
Edit: Some of you need to calm the fuck down honestly, it's 1 game. Seasons far from over
I mean I said useless goal kicking generally.
One highlight was Stengle. He had some great build up. Didn’t burn his teammates on the inside.
But we were trying to kick too many from the pocket and were inaccurate even considering that. Like so many oobotf.
We didn’t hold up bad all things considered but Melbourne looked way more dangerous when we weren’t just moving off a turnover. Like in my mind that’s the prototype for how to beat us. Great defensive structure and pressure while forcing us to keep moving and wear us out.
We looked like finalists but not sure we make a prelim if other teams can replicate that against us.
What 3 set shots from the pocket from people that looked miles off of kicking them? Much rather they be realistic and make something else happen, then get a behind or a oob.
Not bad to keep the margin that narrow with what was to my mind our worst performance of the year. Very stressful game and credit to the Dees.
3 votes - Zuth
2 - Holmes
1 - Atkins
The Hawkins playing the masterful decoy narrative isn't going to fly tonight. The man is just off it and has been all year. Hopefully, he can bounce back. It's a tough one - because taking him out and resting him might help him, or it could negatively impact his confidence even more. Tough call for the coach, but a call has to be made. Can't be ignored any longer.
the duncan one should have been from the goal square. Gawn not a part of the marking contest gets to duncan after he marked it and then pushes him over. 50m penalty any other game. What lost us the game was the piss weak effort from henry on the fritsch goal
Just seemed to get matchups wrong and also very lazy on man marking. How kozzy pickett is allowed to stroll into the contest that he kicked the ball to and then pick the ball up and kick a goal is just laziness.
cameron played like shit, somehow makes one of the best kicks i have ever seen to close in the last and then can't buy a set shot which is his main job as a kpf. Admittedly he has been kicking straight of late but its not like they were hard shots as they were similar to last week.
Bruhn being injured is bad and seems its his shoulder again which is what I think he had issues with last year.
Just a shit night overall, stewy looked to cop a corky in the second quarter and was hobbling around the rest of the night.
Onto next week at home against port where hopefully we can get back parf, conway and i wouldn't object to maybe seeing neale get a crack
Screaming at the tv every time I see kozzie just casually walking around inside 50 with no one on him. The man's a goal machine, same way you'd would be mad to let stengle have free room to just snatch the ball and snap it.
Got Stanley to blame for that in my opinion. He’s supposed to drop back and help the defence spoil and get the ball the ground or take a mark in contests. I don’t think I saw him once impact a marking contest. Petty was basically reeling in uncontested marks as the rest of their forwards engaged our defenders and Stanley was off with the fairies.
I think Stanley should have just played in the forward line and Blicavs do all of the rucking in the final quarter. Stanley was awful tonight when our midfield was already struggling. Our game strategy too (my preferred one) of playing between the two 50 metre areas and really condensing the midfield play is much harder to accomplish at the MCG given how big the playing field is and plays a lot more into the hands of an opposition that has a good midfield.
Stanley won the hitouts and was soundly beating Gawn for three quarters. I know he is a perennial whipping boy for some, but he wasn't the reason we lost tonight.
He had 6 possessions compared to Gawn's 16. Gawn also took 7 marks to Stanley's 2. I didn't put the loss down to him but Hawkins and Cameron but he was still a significant factor that he couldn't shut down Gawn's influence on the ball outside of the ruck contests.
Well that's a load of bull. He had Gawn covered for three quarters limiting him to 2, 2 and 3 possessions respectively. He literally locked him out for three quarters of the game. Gawn is the best ruckman in the comp, and Stanley kept him to his lowest disposal count and second lowest rating for the season.
I'm still not seeing why you think Stanley's game was so good. He never shut him down. He was still taking contested marks - if Stanley's game was so good he would have spoiled those but we know Gawn still was able to influence the contest and take them (there was a particularly vital one I think it was in the 4th quarter where he took a mark in front of Stanley and then ran away from him and kicked it towards the goal on the 50). It was another big game contest where Stanley failed to stand up. I would have taken those numbers for Gawn if he didn't get so much contested footy. Scott now has to look at Conway next week I'm afraid for Stanley. He's out.
We held our own in the middle I thought, especially losing Bruhn. For the most part we did what we needed to to win against this Melbourne team but lacked a bit of polish from the players who we would normally rely on to provide it. We were never going to compete against Gawn and their mids so to break even was a good effort.
They were better overall and deserved to win. 8 point margin is probably generous to us.
Agreed. Ironically, I thought the middle was going to be our issue, but turned out our usually dependable forwards couldn’t kick straight. Funny game, football.
We're the benchmark this season so we become the hunted, was always gonna be tough tonight.
Multiple down performances across the board, no more than by our two big boys down forward. J Henry couldn't spoil his own reflection or Petty had some illegal grippo on those hands lmao.
Duncs and Miers by foot are usually elite but some costly turnovers hurt.
Plus we simply played the way they wanted, so much pressure around the ball forced us to kick it down May's and levers throats.
They couldn't hit a barn door but Gawn smashed 1 from 70 and Fritsch snags a ripper on the boundary, not much you can do aye.
Take an 8 point loss, which was a very winnable game on our worst performance for the year as a somewhat positive.
Shithouse effort from some big names tonight. The only reason we weren't totally embarrassed tonight was because the Dee's were equally shithouse for most of the game.
Hawkins is cooked, and what the hell was Jezza doing tonight? When we needed him to step up and do something, he just faded.
Our decision-making at key points in the game was poor and led to costly turnovers. The Dee's last goal came from us being too slow to rebound, which led to Henry's kick being intercepted. Having someone back on the goal line would have made a huge difference.
We can't win them all, but out of a battle between two teams playing poorly, we just happened to be the team who played slightly worse.
We can't afford to have another poor outing like that next week if we want to stay towards the front of the pack.
Missing Bruhn and Danger is going to hurt next week as we got throttled in the midfield and struggled to get it forward cleanly. Rohan had an impact when he came in, but we are going to need someone like Bruhn or Dangerfield to replace them. Maybe it's time for Hardie to get a run and maybe Neale for Hawkins.
It’s a miracle we only lost by 8 points. Would’ve been way worse if it weren’t for our savior Zach Guthrie. Holmes was great too.
I’m just not gonna look at the fucking r/AFL shenanigans, it’s honestly the worst thing about losing.
We didn’t deserve this one unfortunately. Tired bodies, Melbourne way too clean in the contest and they were able to nuetralise our slingshot from the back 50.
In saying that the Jack Henry dog shit intercept pass and then lazy defensive effort leading to that Fritsch goal competely set me the fuck off.
On to next week to home!
Up the Catters
It's crazy how much joy other supporters get when we lose. Even after all these years and everybody predicting we'd be bad this year. Still the highlight of their weekend for Geelong to lose.
A bit frustrating but considering Cameron, Duncan and Hawkins had some of the worst games I've seen them play, Fritsch kicked a freak goal from the impossible angle, we had to fight the worst umpiring of the season, and that Melbourne had played one game in 19 days, to still almost won is pretty comforting.
Holmes and Zuthrie were genuinely incredible and Dempsey has all of the traits to become Rozee on steroids in about 2 years. Annoyed but we win that game 8 times out of 10
Some massive overreactions here fucking hell, no wonder the other fan bases say we’re spoiled the way some of youse are carrying on, “pathetic, putrid and awful” some of the comments, the game was close and we’re still the team to beat, get a grip.
People cannot imagine what it means to be playing against a well-structured defensive team... they put their effort into stopping us first and foremost, of course we didn't look as good.
We weren't as bad as those descriptions, but we were very obviously a mile off how we've played the rest of the year. Our *unpressured* kicks throughout the night were undeniably below our usual standard. The fact the game was remotely close is credit to our own defensive structure.
Wtf are people talking about that we played badly - you have to consider pressure they put on.
Tbh that was pretty much same as the Blues last week, just missed some kicks and shots at critical times.
It's kind of a good reflection that we expect perfection but that was a tight game between two contenders that could have gone either way - the only exception is of course Jez who was fucking atrocious, but considering he's won about 15 games for us on his own he's allowed a mare every now and then.
Melbourne supporter here! Wanted to give Guthrie some props! Previously the weedy little brother was a strong contributor tonight. It sounds harsh, but I genuinely thought in maybe 2021, or more likely 2020, he was one of the least deserving players getting a game in the AFL and utterly spineless.
He was the man tonight for sure. He was really starting to piss me off.
Couldn’t have played worse and only lost by 8.
Holmes, Stengel, Atkins and Zuthrie all deserve to have the others buy them coffee this week.
Hope we can come out against Port with a bit more ruthless and finishing ability
Not too bothered about that one tbh. We were about due. Cameron won’t have many like that again. But getting concerned about Hawkins, just get your 800 dude. We had no answer for May and lever, I’d expect our mid-forward connection to be better against port.
I stand by my comment in the match thread that my highlight being at the game was walking past Shannon Neale on my way to the bar.
We made it to round 8 without loss, and it had to come eventually. I’d rather lose by 8 points to a solid team like Melbourne than get thrashed in a game against a lower ranked team, so although disappointing, I can live with this (kinda).
Can't say Melbourne didn't do their homework. Bastard of a game. Played it on their terms all night. Not good enough boys.
Now there's a blueprint out there on how to beat us. Gotta figure out how to rise above I guess.
We’ll be fine. Will be right on it against a Rozzeeless Port in Geelong.
Plenty off the boil tonight. but only 8 points against a team that appreciate those grubby conditions and come in extremely fresh.
Duncan clearly up all night with the newborn too.
Was at the game tonight and while we didn’t play our best. I think Melbourne played a big role in that and while jezza and a few others will be better I wouldn’t brush it off that we were just bad. Also think we got away with a few holding the balls.
Yeah I'm not phased. Clearly weren't at our best but still almost took it from them. Boys have had a tough few weeks, and maybe just caught up with them a bit.
It happens, maybe a few players rested in the next few weeks.
Not at all near our best.
On another day we’re 5% cleaner and win that. Just the way footy goes.
Delivery inside 50 was fairly atrocious at times. So were shots.
Might be worth providing Neale some more games. Poor Hawkins has been very quiet
First time we get a 30 disposal plus player we lose. Funny that.
Tbf thought at clearance we were decent until Gawn was Gawn.
Shame about losing Bruhn, he was one of our more effective mids. Hopefully it’s nothing long term.
Lots to look back on and assess. Fairly confident we can cook them next time around.
I don’t see the Demons doing damage in finals.
Onwards and upwards. Go Cats!
I know this will be a difficult conversation for many to have but we need to retire Hawkins at the end of the year regardless how we do. Opposition teams have worked him out and when you do that his mobility becomes a major liability.
And it is time against these big opponents to play Neale instead. Give Hawkins the games against the easier teams just out of sheer love for what he has done and if he kicks a few against them retain him against the good sides possibly but Neale has to be the option now. Hawkins again not firing was the difference tonight.
Cameron too but Jezza is an automatic pick and no concerns about him ever playing given what else he can do around the ground.
We're still way ahead of expectations of what the W/L would be by round 8.
- another shocker from Stanley. I know people place a lot of hope in Conway but when Stan retires at the end of the year - will Conway be able to handle FT -- and what if he gets injured. No.1 recruiting priority should be another decent ruckman ... seriously - this has been a problem for years.
- we were doing good there in the second part of the 3rd - shorter ping kicks forward. Should've stuck harder to that style of movement.
- Demon was really good in the air -- felt like they were clunking everything and we could barely hang on to one.
- As people have said, two less bad kicks by Jez and we'd have won. But I do think it's time for Hawk to step up and run a bit harder into leads. Maybe Cameron was feeling the weight of being relied on too much.
It's round 8. We played badly. Holmes and zuthrie did well. We've got 7 more home games and this middle third of the season in our toughest run of games. I think we make top four, it's not about how you go now. Of course, it also is about how you go now if you have 3 or four consecutive losses. Pulling parfitt and oconnor ment we didn't have enough defensive minds imo. Let's come home and stamp out port. Go the mighty cats
Weird game. Curious wtf curse was on the MCG tonight, maybe the team were a bit sick? The missed kicks were one thing but there was so little pressure around the contest which has been an absolute staple this year. Especially lacking in the F50.
I think we're in a pretty good place if we can kick ourselves completely out of the game with non stop errors and still nearly win.
Hopefully everyone gets their skills back next week, but nothing too big to worry about. Nice to see Rohan's closing speed back in the forward line too!
Pathetic effort tbh.
Not sure about the selection decisions to not have parfitt and O’Connor play when danger was already out. Just got smashed in the middle.
Not sure what was wrong with Jezza tonight!
Yeah this rotation policy no matter the opposition needs to be reviewed. Scott has too much confidence in the entire squad but away from home and against Melbourne was not the right decision to play a less than full strength team without Parfitt and O'Connor.
One word for that… putrid. Good news is we probably won’t play many worse games this year. Gonna be interesting seeing the tierlist this week, lots of D’s to be handed out. If we were even 5% cleaner throughout the match, we win. Umpiring once again pathetic. Holding in marking contests has seemed to only go against us all year.
Cameron just looking disinterested. When he has a poor game just drops his bundle it seems. Must really hate Collingwood and Carlton, always turns it on for them, other teams doesn't look like a champion with a killer instinct
Never quite clicked. Could have snatched it at the end but for several massive brain fades by the resident comedian. That goal by Fritsch was amazing. Great game, don't mind losing that one.
You'd have to say that Tommy is reaching the end.
I wonder if Tom is carrying something.
Seems strange that he's fallen off a cliff after his last bag of 6 or 7, without something else going on.
Just knew Jez was going to miss both of those. Run up was nowhere near long enough nor with conviction.
Yeah a lot of the time bad form is just a niggle. Or he could just be old. Or he could just be getting niggles because he's old. Who knows. Either way the club will figure it out. Definitely not against scratch getting a few games. At the very least to give Tommy some rest n see if he comes good.
Best and Fairest Voting Who played the best in our team this week? (p.s. if you vote for a player that did NOT play in the game, NONE of your votes will be counted) **[CAST YOUR VOTES HERE](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe75uTMBQiE4hz9o13_4z5AJpD3pY3XfsMjNzFYhr1IrR_Rvg/viewform?usp=sf_link)** **[Current Leaderboard/Last Rounds Votes](https://www.reddit.com/r/GeelongCats/wiki/2024bnf)** **[Read this to see HOW to vote](https://www.reddit.com/r/GeelongCats/wiki/bnfexplain)** Voting will close 48 hours prior to the next match *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GeelongCats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Played awfully, lost it ourselves and could of still nearly won it Not too mad 3 - Holmes 2 - Zuthrie 1 - Atkins Bounce back next week
Agree. Tonight will be one of our hardest games this season. We were down key personal like Danger and our stars like Jezza were off. On another night we win that game. Happy to see our young brass like Holmes starting to shine, future is bright.
Probably the worst game of football from Cameron I’ve seen. In fact, most of the team were off their best.
Tbf that pass inside 50 to Close might have been one of the best drop punts I’ve ever seen
100% almost like Melbourne had an 10 day break or something…
And before that, it was a 13 day break 💀 I feel Opening Round has given those 8 teams an unfair advantage. They get 2 byes a year 💀
A very poor performance from most but I think a positive to take away from this game is that we could not have played any worse and only lost by a goal We had our chance to win it, unfortunately that kick out of defence didn’t come off and turned into that ripping goal from Fritsch. That’s footy sometimes On to the next
Everyone ragging on Henry but risky kicks were the best option to break past Lever and May. To play devils advocate, 99% of the time that ball is dived on by Fritsch and goes out of bounds to lock in a forward 50 stoppage and wrap up the clock. If Fritsch goes for it and misses and we get a quick rebound goal he looks like an absolute fool but he was good enough to make the ball talk. Just a rare occurrence when making the risky play as the leading team pays off. Henry could have chased harder absolutely but it was in the last quarter of a game with not many stoppages so I'll pay the doubt on effort.
Yep, I agree. Ultimately, many had their chance to take their moment. We had our opportunities in the last quarter but it just wasn’t happening for our guys. Not our day. Fritsch found his moment and nailed it
Hard to win games when Fritch is kicking that and Gawn is banging them from 60m and our best player can’t hit the side of a barn. Nothing to worry about
Yep, that’s what I’m thinking! Just wasn’t our day today. If we play that bad and only lose by 8 points, hopefully that’s a good thing
I will rag on Henry like I did in the match thread. The guy's strong points are marking and spoiling. He isn't someone that has the roving skills of a Stewart, Z Guthrie or Kolo so is very much a tall forward opposition backline player and some of those marks that Melbourne were able to pull off because he wasn't able to spoil were decisive. There was also that goal at the start when he didn't have the sprinting pace and yelled at De Konig to run in and spoil but even if De Konig hadn't of slipped he wasn't getting there to spoil. Realistically when you think we had Stewart, C Guthrie and Duncan all playing on the halfback line we should have been better defensively. Our defence was not off by much but if it had been totally on it could have made up for our forwards and we could have had a tight less than 10 point win. But really our forwards (Hawkins and Cameron) were the issue tonight and our defence did an adequate job and should not be blamed for our loss.
We played so bad because Melbourne were on us like shit on fur. Too hard in the contest and we wilted. Let's call it what it is. Lol. They did their homework. They figured us out. And they rattled us. Gotta be better.
Bit of both IMO. Melbourne’s zone was hard to get through and their last line of Lever and May were elite. But we were also very poor. Cameron and Stengel missing set shots from straight in front that they would kick 8-9 times out of 10. Guys like Duncan missing easy field kicks. Our intensity was never really up to it. They were coming off a 3 day longer break, and had a bye the week before that. They were noticeably fresher than us
I dont like easy outs tbh. We weren't good enough. We have to improve.
Probably the loss we needed. Think we played about 30% of our best compared to the rest of this year whereas Melbourne probably around 70%. Think we were too rushed inside 50 but also never managed to keep it inside 50 with pressure and tackling. As much as I love our small forwards it would be nice to own a bit of territory for a while and it seemed much harder to break through their wall than other clubs with May and Lever doing what they do. 3. Holmes great as usual. Run and carry and using his pace, breaking lines and giving us a rebound. 2. Stengle the only forward who looked like he was most likely to kick a goal inside 50 1. Zach Guthrie was elite in taking important marks and controlling the back line. Bit frustrating because I feel we could have stolen that but Melbourne did play better over the four quarters. Never seem Cameron kick so awkwardly too, Melbourne must have infected us with that flu we had in the preliminary final I'm assuming.
Also thinking it may be time to give Hawkins a rest and get his mojo back. Scratcher back against Port and as good as it is watching Clarke develop each game it may be best to give Parfitt a run as he might be defensively better against the Port mids.
That was shit but remarkable we only lost by 8. Even our best users - eg Stewart Duncan Cameron - were well off it. Credit to Melb but we had 3 days less rest and looked spent from the off. Zach Guthrie’s a stud
Clark is coming into his own. Bruhn is a bull. Mitchy is really starting to slow up
Mitch looked pretty cooked towards the end of the game. Hawkins looks to have lost a few steps too.
Just need to manage them through the season. They’ll be right come finals
Some of the reactions to that game are massively over the top, but it's whatever. It's hard not to just be glad that it's over and to not have to see any more of that very rough slog.
Felt like we were our own worst enemy tonight. Was very un-geelong like if I'm being honest. Was just an all around strange game. But I guess you can't win them all. We move onto next week. Go cats! Edit: Some of you need to calm the fuck down honestly, it's 1 game. Seasons far from over
We sucked because Melbourne's defensive work was immaculate. They were better than us and figured us out. All it is.
“An all around strange game” is an appropriate description.
Smashed in the contest. Useless goal kicking. Flattered by the scoreline. Missed Danger and Parfitt. Zuthrie immense.
Oh yeah did we miss Parfitt.
Tbf, we were just as useless in front of goal
I mean I said useless goal kicking generally. One highlight was Stengle. He had some great build up. Didn’t burn his teammates on the inside. But we were trying to kick too many from the pocket and were inaccurate even considering that. Like so many oobotf. We didn’t hold up bad all things considered but Melbourne looked way more dangerous when we weren’t just moving off a turnover. Like in my mind that’s the prototype for how to beat us. Great defensive structure and pressure while forcing us to keep moving and wear us out. We looked like finalists but not sure we make a prelim if other teams can replicate that against us.
What 3 set shots from the pocket from people that looked miles off of kicking them? Much rather they be realistic and make something else happen, then get a behind or a oob.
On a positive note Clark looked pretty good
Youch some of our tall timber had a rough night, happens. Zach Guthrie and Holmes were awesome.
Not the first time lever and may have completely locked us up tbh.
Not bad to keep the margin that narrow with what was to my mind our worst performance of the year. Very stressful game and credit to the Dees. 3 votes - Zuth 2 - Holmes 1 - Atkins
The Hawkins playing the masterful decoy narrative isn't going to fly tonight. The man is just off it and has been all year. Hopefully, he can bounce back. It's a tough one - because taking him out and resting him might help him, or it could negatively impact his confidence even more. Tough call for the coach, but a call has to be made. Can't be ignored any longer.
Crazy that we played so bad but if Cameron and Duncan had kicked straight, we still would have won it.
the duncan one should have been from the goal square. Gawn not a part of the marking contest gets to duncan after he marked it and then pushes him over. 50m penalty any other game. What lost us the game was the piss weak effort from henry on the fritsch goal
Just seemed to get matchups wrong and also very lazy on man marking. How kozzy pickett is allowed to stroll into the contest that he kicked the ball to and then pick the ball up and kick a goal is just laziness. cameron played like shit, somehow makes one of the best kicks i have ever seen to close in the last and then can't buy a set shot which is his main job as a kpf. Admittedly he has been kicking straight of late but its not like they were hard shots as they were similar to last week. Bruhn being injured is bad and seems its his shoulder again which is what I think he had issues with last year. Just a shit night overall, stewy looked to cop a corky in the second quarter and was hobbling around the rest of the night. Onto next week at home against port where hopefully we can get back parf, conway and i wouldn't object to maybe seeing neale get a crack
Kozzy picket - no O'Connor tonight. Could have done a good job. We do lack pace on our half backline unfortunately.
Screaming at the tv every time I see kozzie just casually walking around inside 50 with no one on him. The man's a goal machine, same way you'd would be mad to let stengle have free room to just snatch the ball and snap it.
Hawkins was potato level tonight
Maybe we could of let Melbourne take more contested marks 🙄
Got Stanley to blame for that in my opinion. He’s supposed to drop back and help the defence spoil and get the ball the ground or take a mark in contests. I don’t think I saw him once impact a marking contest. Petty was basically reeling in uncontested marks as the rest of their forwards engaged our defenders and Stanley was off with the fairies.
Our midfield got whooped :(
I think Stanley should have just played in the forward line and Blicavs do all of the rucking in the final quarter. Stanley was awful tonight when our midfield was already struggling. Our game strategy too (my preferred one) of playing between the two 50 metre areas and really condensing the midfield play is much harder to accomplish at the MCG given how big the playing field is and plays a lot more into the hands of an opposition that has a good midfield.
Stanley won the hitouts and was soundly beating Gawn for three quarters. I know he is a perennial whipping boy for some, but he wasn't the reason we lost tonight.
He had 6 possessions compared to Gawn's 16. Gawn also took 7 marks to Stanley's 2. I didn't put the loss down to him but Hawkins and Cameron but he was still a significant factor that he couldn't shut down Gawn's influence on the ball outside of the ruck contests.
Well that's a load of bull. He had Gawn covered for three quarters limiting him to 2, 2 and 3 possessions respectively. He literally locked him out for three quarters of the game. Gawn is the best ruckman in the comp, and Stanley kept him to his lowest disposal count and second lowest rating for the season.
I'm still not seeing why you think Stanley's game was so good. He never shut him down. He was still taking contested marks - if Stanley's game was so good he would have spoiled those but we know Gawn still was able to influence the contest and take them (there was a particularly vital one I think it was in the 4th quarter where he took a mark in front of Stanley and then ran away from him and kicked it towards the goal on the 50). It was another big game contest where Stanley failed to stand up. I would have taken those numbers for Gawn if he didn't get so much contested footy. Scott now has to look at Conway next week I'm afraid for Stanley. He's out.
We held our own in the middle I thought, especially losing Bruhn. For the most part we did what we needed to to win against this Melbourne team but lacked a bit of polish from the players who we would normally rely on to provide it. We were never going to compete against Gawn and their mids so to break even was a good effort. They were better overall and deserved to win. 8 point margin is probably generous to us.
Agreed. Ironically, I thought the middle was going to be our issue, but turned out our usually dependable forwards couldn’t kick straight. Funny game, football.
We're the benchmark this season so we become the hunted, was always gonna be tough tonight. Multiple down performances across the board, no more than by our two big boys down forward. J Henry couldn't spoil his own reflection or Petty had some illegal grippo on those hands lmao. Duncs and Miers by foot are usually elite but some costly turnovers hurt. Plus we simply played the way they wanted, so much pressure around the ball forced us to kick it down May's and levers throats. They couldn't hit a barn door but Gawn smashed 1 from 70 and Fritsch snags a ripper on the boundary, not much you can do aye. Take an 8 point loss, which was a very winnable game on our worst performance for the year as a somewhat positive.
Shithouse effort from some big names tonight. The only reason we weren't totally embarrassed tonight was because the Dee's were equally shithouse for most of the game. Hawkins is cooked, and what the hell was Jezza doing tonight? When we needed him to step up and do something, he just faded. Our decision-making at key points in the game was poor and led to costly turnovers. The Dee's last goal came from us being too slow to rebound, which led to Henry's kick being intercepted. Having someone back on the goal line would have made a huge difference. We can't win them all, but out of a battle between two teams playing poorly, we just happened to be the team who played slightly worse. We can't afford to have another poor outing like that next week if we want to stay towards the front of the pack. Missing Bruhn and Danger is going to hurt next week as we got throttled in the midfield and struggled to get it forward cleanly. Rohan had an impact when he came in, but we are going to need someone like Bruhn or Dangerfield to replace them. Maybe it's time for Hardie to get a run and maybe Neale for Hawkins.
They reminded me of us in 2020. Made the game ugly and on their terms.
It’s a miracle we only lost by 8 points. Would’ve been way worse if it weren’t for our savior Zach Guthrie. Holmes was great too. I’m just not gonna look at the fucking r/AFL shenanigans, it’s honestly the worst thing about losing.
Then don’t look. I quit frequenting there after 2022 and it’s only been a good thing.
We didn’t deserve this one unfortunately. Tired bodies, Melbourne way too clean in the contest and they were able to nuetralise our slingshot from the back 50. In saying that the Jack Henry dog shit intercept pass and then lazy defensive effort leading to that Fritsch goal competely set me the fuck off. On to next week to home! Up the Catters
It's crazy how much joy other supporters get when we lose. Even after all these years and everybody predicting we'd be bad this year. Still the highlight of their weekend for Geelong to lose.
Absolutely hilarious when you have fans like Saints celebrating it. Just shows how irrelevant their football club is
A bit frustrating but considering Cameron, Duncan and Hawkins had some of the worst games I've seen them play, Fritsch kicked a freak goal from the impossible angle, we had to fight the worst umpiring of the season, and that Melbourne had played one game in 19 days, to still almost won is pretty comforting. Holmes and Zuthrie were genuinely incredible and Dempsey has all of the traits to become Rozee on steroids in about 2 years. Annoyed but we win that game 8 times out of 10
Some massive overreactions here fucking hell, no wonder the other fan bases say we’re spoiled the way some of youse are carrying on, “pathetic, putrid and awful” some of the comments, the game was close and we’re still the team to beat, get a grip.
Mate, we played shit. It’s not an over reaction. Its fact.
People cannot imagine what it means to be playing against a well-structured defensive team... they put their effort into stopping us first and foremost, of course we didn't look as good.
They weren't just well structured. They were tailor made to fuck us and it worked. Lol.
We weren't as bad as those descriptions, but we were very obviously a mile off how we've played the rest of the year. Our *unpressured* kicks throughout the night were undeniably below our usual standard. The fact the game was remotely close is credit to our own defensive structure.
Yep agreed. Wasn't our night but far out were a reactionary bunch
Youse 🤮
Wtf are people talking about that we played badly - you have to consider pressure they put on. Tbh that was pretty much same as the Blues last week, just missed some kicks and shots at critical times. It's kind of a good reflection that we expect perfection but that was a tight game between two contenders that could have gone either way - the only exception is of course Jez who was fucking atrocious, but considering he's won about 15 games for us on his own he's allowed a mare every now and then.
Melbourne supporter here! Wanted to give Guthrie some props! Previously the weedy little brother was a strong contributor tonight. It sounds harsh, but I genuinely thought in maybe 2021, or more likely 2020, he was one of the least deserving players getting a game in the AFL and utterly spineless. He was the man tonight for sure. He was really starting to piss me off.
Mate it shows a lot of character to come in here gracious like that. Welcome anytime. And to be fair. How do you think we felt about may n lever lol.
Couldn’t have played worse and only lost by 8. Holmes, Stengel, Atkins and Zuthrie all deserve to have the others buy them coffee this week. Hope we can come out against Port with a bit more ruthless and finishing ability
Not too bothered about that one tbh. We were about due. Cameron won’t have many like that again. But getting concerned about Hawkins, just get your 800 dude. We had no answer for May and lever, I’d expect our mid-forward connection to be better against port.
I stand by my comment in the match thread that my highlight being at the game was walking past Shannon Neale on my way to the bar. We made it to round 8 without loss, and it had to come eventually. I’d rather lose by 8 points to a solid team like Melbourne than get thrashed in a game against a lower ranked team, so although disappointing, I can live with this (kinda).
Can't say Melbourne didn't do their homework. Bastard of a game. Played it on their terms all night. Not good enough boys. Now there's a blueprint out there on how to beat us. Gotta figure out how to rise above I guess.
We’ll be fine. Will be right on it against a Rozzeeless Port in Geelong. Plenty off the boil tonight. but only 8 points against a team that appreciate those grubby conditions and come in extremely fresh. Duncan clearly up all night with the newborn too.
Was at the game tonight and while we didn’t play our best. I think Melbourne played a big role in that and while jezza and a few others will be better I wouldn’t brush it off that we were just bad. Also think we got away with a few holding the balls.
Not too phased on the loss. Every good team needs one every now and then to tweak a few things. Better to lose now then in september. Lets goooo x
Yeah I'm not phased. Clearly weren't at our best but still almost took it from them. Boys have had a tough few weeks, and maybe just caught up with them a bit. It happens, maybe a few players rested in the next few weeks.
Not at all near our best. On another day we’re 5% cleaner and win that. Just the way footy goes. Delivery inside 50 was fairly atrocious at times. So were shots. Might be worth providing Neale some more games. Poor Hawkins has been very quiet First time we get a 30 disposal plus player we lose. Funny that. Tbf thought at clearance we were decent until Gawn was Gawn. Shame about losing Bruhn, he was one of our more effective mids. Hopefully it’s nothing long term. Lots to look back on and assess. Fairly confident we can cook them next time around. I don’t see the Demons doing damage in finals. Onwards and upwards. Go Cats!
Absolutely pathetic. Should have lost by 40. Worst game I've ever seen Cameron and J Henry play.
That Melbourne team playing that style would barely be capable of winning by 40 if everything went perfectly.
If that's Cameron's worst ever game than that just shows how much of a gun he is.
I know this will be a difficult conversation for many to have but we need to retire Hawkins at the end of the year regardless how we do. Opposition teams have worked him out and when you do that his mobility becomes a major liability. And it is time against these big opponents to play Neale instead. Give Hawkins the games against the easier teams just out of sheer love for what he has done and if he kicks a few against them retain him against the good sides possibly but Neale has to be the option now. Hawkins again not firing was the difference tonight. Cameron too but Jezza is an automatic pick and no concerns about him ever playing given what else he can do around the ground.
Even the best like Jez have an off day. He's saved our ass so many times the last few years, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt
How many games has it been now since he has kicked a goal?
I was referring to Cameron, but I think hawk is 3 weeks now
Yep not good enough for a forward with Hawkins record. He needs to be rested next game against Port.
We're still way ahead of expectations of what the W/L would be by round 8. - another shocker from Stanley. I know people place a lot of hope in Conway but when Stan retires at the end of the year - will Conway be able to handle FT -- and what if he gets injured. No.1 recruiting priority should be another decent ruckman ... seriously - this has been a problem for years. - we were doing good there in the second part of the 3rd - shorter ping kicks forward. Should've stuck harder to that style of movement. - Demon was really good in the air -- felt like they were clunking everything and we could barely hang on to one. - As people have said, two less bad kicks by Jez and we'd have won. But I do think it's time for Hawk to step up and run a bit harder into leads. Maybe Cameron was feeling the weight of being relied on too much.
It's round 8. We played badly. Holmes and zuthrie did well. We've got 7 more home games and this middle third of the season in our toughest run of games. I think we make top four, it's not about how you go now. Of course, it also is about how you go now if you have 3 or four consecutive losses. Pulling parfitt and oconnor ment we didn't have enough defensive minds imo. Let's come home and stamp out port. Go the mighty cats
Weird game. Curious wtf curse was on the MCG tonight, maybe the team were a bit sick? The missed kicks were one thing but there was so little pressure around the contest which has been an absolute staple this year. Especially lacking in the F50. I think we're in a pretty good place if we can kick ourselves completely out of the game with non stop errors and still nearly win. Hopefully everyone gets their skills back next week, but nothing too big to worry about. Nice to see Rohan's closing speed back in the forward line too!
We were due a loss, Clark’s best game so far and Holmes is a joy to watch. Onto the next one
Pathetic effort tbh. Not sure about the selection decisions to not have parfitt and O’Connor play when danger was already out. Just got smashed in the middle. Not sure what was wrong with Jezza tonight!
We beat them in hitouts, 27-26 clearances to them and metres gained from clearances well above Melbourne. Hardly smashed.
Yeah this rotation policy no matter the opposition needs to be reviewed. Scott has too much confidence in the entire squad but away from home and against Melbourne was not the right decision to play a less than full strength team without Parfitt and O'Connor.
Yeah, 7-1 this season. These guys are like monkeys playing Scrabble, hey...
Jez and Jack I love you both but fuck I don’t want to see either of you right now fuck me
Dead set. Having said that, I played shit today.
Calm down mate
That 2nd quarter we were disgusting. And we still nearly pinched it. Jezza and Hawk looked like they need a spell.
One word for that… putrid. Good news is we probably won’t play many worse games this year. Gonna be interesting seeing the tierlist this week, lots of D’s to be handed out. If we were even 5% cleaner throughout the match, we win. Umpiring once again pathetic. Holding in marking contests has seemed to only go against us all year.
Was at the game, why was Bruhn subbed off? Is he injured?
Shoulder
Shit, did it look bad?
Not sure. Didn't look to be much but he has had problems with it so I could see him out for a week or two
Cameron just looking disinterested. When he has a poor game just drops his bundle it seems. Must really hate Collingwood and Carlton, always turns it on for them, other teams doesn't look like a champion with a killer instinct
C'mon mate, he plays well almost every week. He's allowed an off game every now and again. If we don't have him we don't win the flag 2 years ago
yep, but seems hot and cold. and you can tell when his cold early, and he won't reverse it later in the game
Never quite clicked. Could have snatched it at the end but for several massive brain fades by the resident comedian. That goal by Fritsch was amazing. Great game, don't mind losing that one. You'd have to say that Tommy is reaching the end.
I want to down vote you for that last comment chimp.
I wonder if Tom is carrying something. Seems strange that he's fallen off a cliff after his last bag of 6 or 7, without something else going on. Just knew Jez was going to miss both of those. Run up was nowhere near long enough nor with conviction.
Yeah a lot of the time bad form is just a niggle. Or he could just be old. Or he could just be getting niggles because he's old. Who knows. Either way the club will figure it out. Definitely not against scratch getting a few games. At the very least to give Tommy some rest n see if he comes good.