cats will have a point to prove in 22 after that prelim belting. so  i do expect them to be a very good side again …..but not trouble us. Another prelim final loss would be delightful and is easily possible. They’ve dug a list management hole and will  bury themselves in it before hope arrives. 

I don’t doubt Scott is a very good coach. To finish top 4 with that list is no easy feat. He is very stubborn however and if he doesn’t change things up they could go down hill quickly. 

Selwood and Danger’s beaten up bodies will have to drop off very soon. And the Hawk can’t go on forever. Higgins and Dahlhaus etc are now starting to look like busts and they have very little youth coming through. 

if it wasn’t for Stewart at the back I’d say they wouldn’t make finals next year 

4 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

The dilemma for the Cats is whether to keep their chip-and-possession game, rack up the wins at Kardinia, and get walloped in finals again.

Or change to a more bruising finals-ready style and have their senior citizens beaten up every week, then get walloped in the finals.

The finals results give you the answer. It certainly confirms that there game plan is not suitable for finals. And exacerbated by the fact that they are too slow. 

Just now, hemingway said:

The finals results give you the answer. It certainly confirms that their game plan is not suitable for finals. And exacerbated by the fact that they are too slow. 

 

They have such a strong home ground advantage that it’s almost certain that will make the finals 

If they had to play all their home games at say MCG or Docklands I very much doubt they would be in contention 

The teams sharing the MCG and Docklands have less of an advantage for home games IMO 

I hope next year it will be our 1 in 30 year break from having to travel to the litter box 

4 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Marvellous News

Dead right! Not good news at all for the Geelong supporters but extremely positive for all of the footy fans of the other clubs in the AFL competition. 

Board must have bought the story that they had 6 players crook leading into the prelim hook line and sinker. Well played Chris. 

Still trying to work out how they got so close to us in round 23. 

while they keep honing their game plan based on their skinny home ground, they'll keep falling short on the bigger finals grounds

They have a massive home ground advantage that almost guarantees them a top half finish.

Scott's best option is now to work on his bro at AFL HQ to get quarters reduced to 15 minutes and H&Q season to 20 rounds.  Byes before each final.  Oxygen cylinders permitted on the bench and at every break.

6 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Very apt. The Cat's season was like a souffle gone wrong.

Still delicious but just not quite good enough. 

3 hours ago, Nasher said:

I was thinking the same thing. Mitchell might have made himself look like a naive, incompetent newbie and that will hurt them, but he at least has the right idea.

Signing Chris Scott for another three years is an endorsement of his top-up with senior players strategy. They’ve developed very, very little young talent as per rpfc’s post a month or so back. Once the team loses its competitiveness, it won’t be an attractive destination for those senior players. The fall will be accelerated as a result.

The cliff is coming. Scott doesn’t see out his three years, and Geelong are set back further by not having recognised the need for a strategy change earlier. It is going to be magnificent.

The cliff was the prelim and we kicked them over the edge.

Wins the next two years are just branches that they hit on the way down.

Their home ground advantage will mean they never replenish with the best talent.

Scott will not see out this deal.

This is a great day for footy fans and lovers of harmony and righteousness.

 

I think it's fair to question the Cats age demographic and game plan but the most impressive thing they do to me is that they keep producing a top team out of a lot of players who get results without actually being that talented.

Therefore they should be able to keep producing results as they get younger without having the best young talent either.

Obviously we have some super talented young players and nailed some draft picks with high end potential guys like Jackson and Pickett, but we also saw this year what Goody and a bunch of fresh assistants did with guys like JJ, Spargo, ANB, Sparrow and not overly high picks like Rivers and Bowey. 

It's been nearly a decade since the 2011 flag side started retiring and they've kept winning for a decade. If they can replace all those absolute superstars then they can replace Tuohy and Henderson as well.

They might just keep rolling with Tom Stewart and Jezza Cameron for the next 5 years too. Although they desperately need the next Dangerfield. They'll be searching through AFL lists looking for anyone who's ever set foot in Geelong to try to get them home.

With Henderson retiring I thought the Cats would be harder to beat but on hearing this news I am not so sure.....

7 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

cats will have a point to prove in 22 after that prelim belting. so  i do expect them to be a very good side again …..but not trouble us. Another prelim final loss would be delightful and is easily possible. They’ve dug a list management hole and will  bury themselves in it before hope arrives. 

They had a point to prove after all of the other prelim beltings also, but all they resulted in was more points to prove. 

Their window is over. 

38 minutes ago, Jontee said:

With Henderson retiring I thought the Cats would be harder to beat but on hearing this news I am not so sure.....

He was so bad his last few games, he should have retired half way through the Prelim. 

In the preliminary final Geelong's 2nd youngest player was Gryan Miers, who was 22 years old. We had 8 players in that game younger than Miers, whilst Geelong had 1 (Max Holmes). 

Our second oldest player in that game was Max Gawn, who was 29 years old. Geelong had 11 players older than Gawn, whilst we had 1 (Hibberd).

They're probably right to try to keep wringing whatever performance they can out of this group because, really, what's the alternative? They have 11 players under 22 on their list and they have combined for 42 games in total .... of which 29 have been played by Jordan Clark who is leaving. It's pretty dire.

One of my good friends is a Cats supporter and he cannot stand Scott. 

He's wanted him sacked since the 2019 preliminary final.

Really surprised they re-signed him.

11 hours ago, The Great Pretender said:

 

He’s a good coach

 

Is he?

He inherited an amazing list that has constantly been able to top-up (some shrewd drafting has helped too) with good players and his team has one fo the best home ground advantages in the league.

27 minutes ago, Axis of Bob said:

In the preliminary final Geelong's 2nd youngest player was Gryan Miers, who was 22 years old. We had 8 players in that game younger than Miers, whilst Geelong had 1 (Max Holmes). 

Our second oldest player in that game was Max Gawn, who was 29 years old. Geelong had 11 players older than Gawn, whilst we had 1 (Hibberd).

They're probably right to try to keep wringing whatever performance they can out of this group because, really, what's the alternative? They have 11 players under 22 on their list and they have combined for 42 games in total .... of which 29 have been played by Jordan Clark who is leaving. It's pretty dire.

It’s conceivable that by the end of Scott’s 3 years, Geelong will have no:

Hawkins

Selwood

Danger

Stanley

Smith

Thouy

Blicsavs (will be 34)

Rohan (will be 33)

Duncan (will be 33)

Menegola (will be 33)

Besides Stanley and Rohan (allergic to finals)… these are superstars or just out and out guns.

Even Tom Stewart and Cameron will be 32 by the 2025 season. 
 

I don’t see how they’re not going to fall off a cliff.

3 more years of this then.

I always thought he had what Buckley had with Malthouse. A ready made team waiting for him. A lot of the team are still there from their 2007 effort. With that team any coach could win a premiership. I actually wanted Thompson as a coach until, well, you know… 

I hear he wants to recruit the Admiral from Get Smart to play in the midfield 

22 hours ago, DEE fence said:

72% Wiinning record in H+A, 69% with Finals included, totally happy to take the mickey out of him when he’s losing it in the box, but they are extraordinary numbers. I am impressed he is sticking fat, as those numbers are going to take a hit. He does seem cursed like Tom Haley though with finals and they should have had at least 1 if not 2 more GF in the last 10 years. However Geelong is making a logical decision and not throwing baby out with the bath water. Just too bad for him his tenure is extended right when they became our female Labradors.

I also thought he was a dog of a player, Toby Greene standard, good but dirty, more so than Mitchell and Hodge, but I still respect his coaching, just don’t like the man, much like Hardwick.

 

The above stats are often quoted but an unrealstic guide to the Cats ability .

Each season they are 'guaranteed 8 or even 9 wins at home due to the draw not scheduling games against big teams in Geelong. Think Suns, Freo, sydney  .... Threats such as Bombers, Tiges, Dogs, Pies rarely ever or never play there over the past decade. Their problem will be in 2022 if the Dees are to play down there. That's one loss coming up.

Understandable given crowd size limts.

But this skews the outcomes and almost locks in at least a top 8 finish each year, only needing to win 4 or 5 games away from home.

Then when the heat is on at the end of the year , it shows.

Scott is still a very good coach but its a whole-of-club problem they need to address.

The ground dimensions don't help them away either.

Their record is an outlier is all I'm saying and not a predictor of finals sucess at the prelim/GF level when they play serious opposition at the G -(or Optus in WA).

16 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

I think it's fair to question the Cats age demographic and game plan but the most impressive thing they do to me is that they keep producing a top team out of a lot of players who get results without actually being that talented.

Therefore they should be able to keep producing results as they get younger without having the best young talent either.

Obviously we have some super talented young players and nailed some draft picks with high end potential guys like Jackson and Pickett, but we also saw this year what Goody and a bunch of fresh assistants did with guys like JJ, Spargo, ANB, Sparrow and not overly high picks like Rivers and Bowey. 

It's been nearly a decade since the 2011 flag side started retiring and they've kept winning for a decade. If they can replace all those absolute superstars then they can replace Tuohy and Henderson as well.

They might just keep rolling with Tom Stewart and Jezza Cameron for the next 5 years too. Although they desperately need the next Dangerfield. They'll be searching through AFL lists looking for anyone who's ever set foot in Geelong to try to get them home.

The 'next Dangerfiedl' doesn't grow on trees. They and him had their turn/window and its over.

We have the next Dangerfiel (arguably better IMO) - Trac, Oliver, Jackson, Sparow.....

Other teams also are better placed in this regard

5 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

Pies rarely ever or never play there over the past decade.

https://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/news/380365/by-the-numbers-pies-and-cats
 

1999. The last time they had to play down there. Really? Why do they get this preferential treatment from the AFL? They’re the only team that doesn’t have to wear an alternative strip (changing the position of logos is not alternate.) I can’t remember the last time we didn’t play Geelong in Geelong. So even during their post premiership years they didn’t have to give Geelong a home game. Totally unfair