I saw the Cats play last year 06 and frankly they were not much better than the Dees in 07. So lying awake last night, I thought what our Grand Final Team of 07 could have been, barring injuries.

B. Whelan (5) Carroll (21) Holland (10)

HB. Bell (17) Rivers (3) Wheatley (14)

C. Johnstone (15) Jones (21) Bruce (16)

HF. Green (18) Newton (10) Bate (19)

F. Davey (18) Neitz (15) Roberston (15)

R. White (22) Mclean (14) McDonald (21)

Int. Sylvia (16) Pickett (9) Moloney (10) P.Johnson (16)

Emerg Bartram (1) Dunn (12) Petterd (9) Frawley (9)

How would this team, if they were all fit have gone against Port Adelaide in the GF, I reckon we might have won, however there is no way we would have beaten the Cats.

The team above has glaring weaknesses.

1. Full Back We will not win a GF with Carroll as FB. He is not tall enough and gets easily out manouevered by stronger Full Forwards. Holland is there to handle resting ruckmen and monster FF's.

2. CHF Newton, I see him more as a Full Forward replacement for Neitz not as a CHF. Bate is not strong enough for CHF.

3. Rucks White is on the way down and Johnson and Jamar are not No 1 ruckmen.

4. Fragile list, the number in the brackets is the number of games played in 07. This indicates a massive problem with our list, we need to become physically stronger and more resilient. I also fear that a lot of players played injured for most of the year. I have not checked Geelong's team for games played in 07 but I would expect most to be in the 20-22 range except for King, Rooke and Nathan Ablett.

Note the players that did not make this team.

Miller, Ward, Yze, Bizzell, Godfrey, N. Brown, Jamar

What does all this mean

1. Target a No 1 ruckman in the draft

2. Target a FB and CHF in the draft or by trading

3. Get a fitness coach who can turnaround this fragile playing list.

4. Chris Judd is not the answer

scarlett is the same height as carroll.. so in saying that we wont win a premiership with carroll is rubbish imo.. well geelong did with scarlett. yes i know scarlett is better but carroll like everyone else this year went downhill. in 2006 carroll was close to all australian full back. if u wanna get rid of carroll then good luck waiting another 3-4 years waiting for frawley to mature properly. Carroll is important

Geelong's forward line was nothing special. They had a solid-good forward, able to do a job, in Mooney, and a mercurial half-forward in Johnson, with a couple of fringe forward pockets in Stokes and Byrnes. Ottens pinch-hits from time to time (although he doesn't kick anywhere near as well as he used to), but they don't really have a powerful CHF (Mooney leads out of 50 sometimes, but thats as close as they get).

Their game is built on their midfield running, and their midfielders' ability to kick a swag of goals. Chapman, Ablett, Bartel, Corey, Ding-a-Ling... they all kick goals, and kick plenty. This is as crucial an ingredient in our success as any, for mine; A pacey midfielder who can kick goals, or alternatively set plenty up. Centre Half Forwards are negligible if, as Geelong can, you are able to bypass the position with midfield running and clever handball (as distinct from stupid handball, to blokes under pressure, which is Melbourne's speciality).

No arguing that Geelong's defence is mighty. Even though it is a clear deficiency for us, I think we should avoid drafting a tall player, like a Rance, with our first pick, unless he warrants it. I would rather take a midfielder who is 80% certain to be a good player, than a tall who is 50% certain to succeed, just because we need talls. If we can snare a tall from another list (haven't heard anything on this front), I'd be delighted, but quality talls simply do not get traded. Carroll is not as good as Scarlett, but full-back is an interesting conundrum. There is not a single full-back who will not get his pants pulled down when his midfield is being thrashed. Not one. The ability of your midfield to put pressure on the opposition contributes about 90% to how well a full-back plays.

Id rather Bartram, Dunn or Yze than Wheatley or C Johnstone (alot should get a game ahead of him, Miller included)

Id rather Bartram, Dunn or Yze than Wheatley or C Johnstone (alot should get a game ahead of him, Miller included)

C. Stands for Centreline Travis Johnstone. C Johnson (Note the spelling) is not in the side Wheatley is a great kick and if in form can be deadly with his disposal. Yze has had his day I am afraid. Bartram and Dunn will be in the side in 08.

scarlett is the same height as carroll.. so in saying that we wont win a premiership with carroll is rubbish imo.. well geelong did with scarlett. yes i know scarlett is better but carroll like everyone else this year went downhill. in 2006 carroll was close to all australian full back. if u wanna get rid of carroll then good luck waiting another 3-4 years waiting for frawley to mature properly. Carroll is important

Carroll is at about 20% of Scarlett's skill, grit & determination.

There is no way we can win a flag with Carroll as the last man in defense.

We are not a cat's [censored]!

Forget the injuries and requiring a key position backman etc, our new coach needs to instill a bit of mongrel into most of our players and make every player accountable for 4 qtrs or it's off to Sandi.

I'm about sick of seeing pretty boys with pampered hair & shaved legs prancing around in white or red boots.

It's time to get back to basics if we are to be anywhere near the cats in 2008.

Yze to be a fixture of 2008.

You heard it hear first!

Bookmark it!

Carroll is at about 20% of Scarlett's skill, grit & determination.

There is no way we can win a flag with Carroll as the last man in defense.

i dont think there is a problem with carolls grit or determination!

Like it has been said unlucky not to be all australian in a side that finished 5th, then copped it when the side finished 14th. even scarlet would have struggled at melbourne this year, put rivers and bell in that side and caroll will be good even though i heard he has been put on the trade table. i think he is a much required player!

I stress that our centre clearances were low yet no-one points the finger at how soft and bad white has been! instead trying to shift the blame onto the guys that ruck for about 5 minutes a qtr!

to many players are seen with rose coloured glasses, even j.mcdonald who won the best and fairest, his kicking is horrible he kicks it 30 metres forward and 50 metres high!

Yze to be a fixture of 2008.

You heard it hear first!

Bookmark it!

Seconded. Ive been saying for AGES.

Yze to be a fixture of 2008.

You heard it hear first!

Bookmark it!

Already did, but it was here:

Adem Yze in 2008

Already did, but it was here:

Adem Yze in 2008

Apologies to Mr Yze_Magic

I saw the Cats play last year 06 and frankly they were not much better than the Dees in 07.

lol...

come on!

carrol didnt ahve much hope the way the ball was coming in. midfield pressure has a lot to do with how good your back line is. in the GF geelongs pressure was outstanding, port came in off the wings , they were forced to go out wide. all year we let teams run up the guts. 2 years ago we owned that corridor. what happened?

Quite simply, we are a better team than the Cats

I rate them as the worst premiers I have seen in my lifetime

A true one-season wonder

If we have theur luck with injury in 2008, we will win the Flag

Quite simply, we are a better team than the Cats

I rate them as the worst premiers I have seen in my lifetime

A true one-season wonder

If we have theur luck with injury in 2008, we will win the Flag

You're in rare form today YM.

You're in rare form today YM.

Actually, Cats were the 2nd worst

The Swans of 2005 take the cake

Geelong's forward line was nothing special. They had a solid-good forward, able to do a job, in Mooney, and a mercurial half-forward in Johnson, with a couple of fringe forward pockets in Stokes and Byrnes. Ottens pinch-hits from time to time (although he doesn't kick anywhere near as well as he used to), but they don't really have a powerful CHF (Mooney leads out of 50 sometimes, but thats as close as they get).

Their game is built on their midfield running, and their midfielders' ability to kick a swag of goals. Chapman, Ablett, Bartel, Corey, Ding-a-Ling... they all kick goals, and kick plenty. This is as crucial an ingredient in our success as any, for mine; A pacey midfielder who can kick goals, or alternatively set plenty up. Centre Half Forwards are negligible if, as Geelong can, you are able to bypass the position with midfield running and clever handball (as distinct from stupid handball, to blokes under pressure, which is Melbourne's speciality).

No arguing that Geelong's defence is mighty. Even though it is a clear deficiency for us, I think we should avoid drafting a tall player, like a Rance, with our first pick, unless he warrants it. I would rather take a midfielder who is 80% certain to be a good player, than a tall who is 50% certain to succeed, just because we need talls. If we can snare a tall from another list (haven't heard anything on this front), I'd be delighted, but quality talls simply do not get traded. Carroll is not as good as Scarlett, but full-back is an interesting conundrum. There is not a single full-back who will not get his pants pulled down when his midfield is being thrashed. Not one. The ability of your midfield to put pressure on the opposition contributes about 90% to how well a full-back plays.

what about tom hawkins aswell coming through however. he is gonna be an ABSOLUTE superstar of geelong. i would get him here over roughead and Amon Buchanan. imagine him and the juice working togethor in 2 years time. wow!

Actually, Cats were the 2nd worst

The Swans of 2005 take the cake

Unbelievably, I totally agree. Sydney were shocking premiers.

Unbelievably, I totally agree. Sydney were shocking premiers.

very harsh, one hting we should learn from sydney and geelong, while they might not have a range of stars but they play as a team. Are coached very well and play for each other!

They also have a mix of youth and experience and some brownlow medalist so i dont think they are poor sides!

very harsh, one hting we should learn from sydney and geelong, while they might not have a range of stars but they play as a team. Are coached very well and play for each other!

They also have a mix of youth and experience and some brownlow medalist so i dont think they are poor sides!

I certainly agree that Sydney were a decent team, but you should need SOME individual brilliance. Geelong certainly have it. Ablett, Bartel, etc. Sydney had Goodes, who I've never really liked, but accept is a fine player, and Kirk, who tries his heart out, but doesn't have great skills. Barry Hall is an excellent CHF, however.

On top of everything, Sydney played a disgraceful brand of football. Demetriou got it right; they play ugly football. For people to act as if 'it couldnt be ugly; it won them a flag,' is foolish. It was ugly, slow, and horrible to watch. As soon as Sydney were challenged, they'd shut the game down. They had a gameplan and they executed it, but they really butchered the game in the process.

Paul Roos should take all the credit for their flag in '05. You need only look at their midfield to see that.

Have a look at their years in '04 and '05, and compare them to our years in '05 and '06 - we're a long way off.

Btw, not nearly our best 22 in your fictional 2007 grand final team IMO!

we would have been shocking premiers too if we won in 2000.

You're in rare form today YM.

crows 98 worst

we smashed them in finals only to lose to the roos who couldnt win a chook raffle in the gf

Let's all bag teams for being "shocking" premiers while we sit here without having won one in 40+ years...