Cats drop the ball
A GAME PLAN THAT MADE A LOT OF FALSE MOVES
COULD someone explain how Geelong can expect to win a final with a game plan that apparently demands that the team must …
NOT move the ball quickly into the forward line.
REMAIN static when there is a forward entry.
HAVE key forwards standing with their opponents rather than make a lead into space or even attack an incoming kick from the front.
ENSURE the opposition have ample time to populate our forward line and optimise their opportunity to take uncontested marks.
AVOID the chance of bringing the ball to the ground in the forward line to guarantee the small forwards have minimum room to move. NEVER play on. KICK 40 meters down the boundary line from defence soon after the opposition has assumed position but not prepare for them to get the ball and rebound quickly.
RUN hard forward but not necessarily into the backline.
LET the opposition possess the ball right up to their forward line?
Could someone on the coaching panel ease my anger-infused frustration with explanations?
Without pushing a point, perhaps that ‘expert’ could also tell me why we take two important key position players away from their primary purpose and make them perform makeshift ruckman roles against the best follower in the league?
I’d love to have a spot at the 2019 exit interviews for our coaching panel. Cats fan, Manifold Heights
TRAVEL IS NOT IN MY PLANS, UNLESS …
WELL, one Friday game down and the AFL has given us another home final. I won’t be going. Saturday’s photo in this paper is the reason why — travel difficulties, be it road or rail.
I am calling all Cats fans to boycott Friday, because of … AFL scheduling. COACH Chris Scott names the best side for the year, then changes it at the last minute.
SCOTT keeping harping on our home ground being KP. Getting negative thoughts into the boys’ minds. SCOTT no plan B. I honestly believe the Catters will win. Then I will break my Friday night rule in two weeks and see the Cats beat the Tigers at their home ground to get into the Granny. Terry Bohan, Belmont
HOME-AND-AWAY RECORD IRRELEVANT IN FINALS
WITH Geelong’s recent history of inglorious displays come finals, we have been sold a story from Chris Scott this year — that this is a different team, that previous history has no place because of it.
Many supporters held their collective breaths and watched in anticipation when round one arrived, as we faced the previous year’s runners up in the season opener. We held off a desperate Collingwood with Stanley negating the influence of Grundy, the all-conquering Collingwood ruckman.
Roll on, and the mid-season bye saw us on top of the ladder with an 11-1 record. Many were concerned as to how our team would handle the bye situation, as in seasons past we had a terrible record.
Alas, things started to turn pearshaped for a while but come finals, two things were evident. One was that we were the best home-andaway team in the competition, and secondly, we were facing an upcoming finals campaign with an embarrassing record in recent times of mishaps, slow starts and straightsets exits.
Some questioned whether the coach was to blame. Of course that’s an easy out, but after Friday night’s debacle the onus is clearly on Chris Scott. The decision to drop Stanley, clearly rests with him. The move in itself weakened our defence and forward lines by drawing on Blivacs from defence and Ratugolea from our forward line.
It will be fascinating to see how Geelong respond next week. If they exit in straight sets again, then questions need to be answered.
I like Chris Scott and I hope they prove everyone wrong and cruise through to another grand final but if not, then it will be a case of the coach dropping the ball when it mattered most. And to that end, I find that inexcusable. Robert Lymer, Belmont
NO MUCKING AROUND AT THIS END OF THE SEASON
MY colleagues and l have had enough of poor performances during finals appearances and I wouldn’t be surprised if we speak for the majority of supporters.
There is a clear pattern here that’s obvious in our minds — they don’t turn up to play the hard, tough, relentless football which is required for finals. It’s tougher than normal games; you have no time to muck around with the ball.
Instinct should tell you to push the ball forward at every cost and it doesn’t have to be pretty. From the first bounce you hit the pack hard; you have to hurt the opposition and let them know you’re around. Fancy handballs are NOT the answer — get it on the boot. Forwards must play in front and up the corridor, flankers and pockets keep wide until the ball is in play.
Must get use of the ball first at all costs and this means playing in front of your man at centre bounces. That didn’t appear to be the case on Friday night. Unfortunately there is only one player prepared to sacrifice his body. We know who it is and he needs bloody help, so do it.
Stanley is a good footballer and athlete; he should be in every week. He can run, kick, mark, tackle and jump and follows up his own ball. He will make mistakes but has one bad game and gets dropped throughout the year, which has disrupted the side’s structure since round 12. When you have to use your regular fullback and centrehalf forward for ruck duties, you are in serious trouble. Other notes: Skipper: Kick the football, don’t look to give it off all the time and that goes for all. Finals are different, you don’t have time to think or you get nailed.
Selection: There are a couple of players that shouldn’t be in the side, they are too slow in the back half. Peter Beaumont, Ballarat
10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT THIS WAY OF COACHING
THE genius of Chris Scott.
1. Withdraw a player from the selected side before the game. 2. Start slow. 3. Play slow. 4. Barrack in the coach’s box. 5. Pull faces at umpire decisions. 6. Don’t change existing game plan. 7. Lose after a bye. 8. Lose first final. 9. Let players holiday on interstate trips. 10. Spin doctor on AFL 360. Yep, that is the winning way. Shane Bourke, Werribee
TIME TO PUT A POSITIVE SPIN ON OUR FUTURE
NOW for the thing I hate most about any Cats loss.
The media focuses on negatives. There’s the carping criticism of commentators who couldn’t play the game half as well, and the whining of so-called fans for whom the glass always seems half empty.
When will the media realise the potential impacts of the negativity they pump into the Geelong community and its team? Young players wouldn’t be human if such expectations and inputs didn’t create stress and dent their self-belief, critical to kicking truly under stress.
By contrast, the Pies manage the media far better, defending their players, so that they are not undermined by self-doubt and tighten up at key moments. If winning finals is about moments and chances taken, why do commentators not see the impact of that disruption in the game’s first moments?
I have absolutely no doubt our great team tried their hardest, and are devastated. I have no doubt they would have won the game at our home ground, which feral Collingwood’s banner trumpeted as theirs.
Instead of undermining negativity, I call on real Cats fans to believe, to build their team’s selfbelief, through thick or thin. The Cats are still in a fight that only one team can win. Let’s celebrate that, and also thank the whole club for another great season of winning footy.
Go Cats! A true believer, Newcomb