YOU REALLY BLEW IT, CATS
SCHWARZ DOESN’T HOLD BACK
GEELONG can’t keep using No More Gaps.
This club needs long-term solutions to fast-approaching issues on the field.
So much went right for the club this year.
You’ve got to say it was a successful home-and-away season when you finish top of the table. But the pattern of a win then a loss every week following the bye round needs thorough analysis.
This was the club’s best opportunity to win a flag since 2011 and they stuffed it.
Watching Patrick Dangerfield on Monday night, he looked shattered. Not so much that the Brownlow Medal went to Nat Fyfe, but that his team just lost the preliminary final and it was his real chance to hold up the cup.
His fourth loss in the second last match of the season.
This was his one last chance.
He looked so disappointed. He’s playing alongside guys who have won multiple flags, and some who are just starting out.
The current Cats list can’t get them to the top again.
Tim Kelly is going, going … wait for it. Gone.
Strike a line through his name.
The list-management team need to get tough.
No emotion. Simply the future on the plan.
They’ve done it before — players like Jimmy Bartel were encouraged to retire.
They should do the same for Gary Ablett.
Or, Ablett should make the call before he gets a tap on the shoulder.
He’s one of the greatest players ever, but he’s not going to take this team through to another premiership. An ageing body can sometimes be hidden by a stint in the forward pocket, but the determination within Ablett would want him to still be in the midfield.
But he can’t be. Call time, and be celebrated accordingly.
Same for Harry Taylor. He played a tremendous first half against Richmond, but when the momentum swung and the Tigers got on top, Taylor was destroyed.
He might make it around for one more year, but if the Cats genuinely want to develop a side for the future, Taylor would only be there to train the next defender.
There’s scuttlebutt around that Geelong will make a massive play for Jeremy Cameron next year to fill the void Tom Hawkins will leave.
But Hawkins left a void last week and he will have to look himself in the mirror and know that his swinging arm may have cost him more than a one-week suspension.
But are the Cats putting all their eggs in the Cameron basket?
The bloke is about to play in a grand final for GWS and from all reports the culture and emotion within that footy club is so good that getting him out of there will take a lot of money.
Season 2019 will go down as a missed opportunity.
Mistakes by players and coaches will be analysed, but they can’t be dismissed.
Dropping a ruckman for a final, Ablett hitting opposition players mid-year, Hawkins at the end.
They blew it, but now they must focus on the long-term future, not just next year.
Because winning a flag just for Dangerfield isn’t going to motivate the group.
To 2020 and beyond.