It depends on the innovation of the Handbagger MC.
It's a fatal mistake to assume a team is crippled by the absence of a single player, many of our own fans said as much about us in the early season absence of Weiters.
A forced change like Stewart going out can cause an MC to become inventive, inventive potentially means a new tactic that opponents have not seen before, and that can be deadly for the opponent if they go into a game unprepared to adapt.
Always respect opponents, and be prepared to adapt.
That was my point LP; Stewart's absence will force Geelong's MC to make changes and/or play a different game style. They will try to use Tuohy in the loose man role but he normally relies on Stewart to create his opportunities. Zac Guthrie will also be trying to cover Stewart's absence but Stewart is more difficult to cover than any of their other defenders, or ours too for that matter.
Geelong turnover game is off the scale this season and they average just over 9 goals per game from turnovers, largely due to Stewart's work. Their turnover game was still effective against the Lions after Stewart went off but today's game won't be in torrential rain and against a flakey opponent. Look for them to set up differently behind the ball and that may very well play into our hands with Charlie, Harry and Tom looking to spread their defence and isolate Charlie as much as possible.
They are billing it as the biggest Geelong- Carlton game since the 1995 grand final. And the conclusion; "If you need a prediction, it’s this: Carlton will be too strong around the ball in the end." I think that's pretty well spot on.
For good measure there's most of another page devoted to an interview with Brian Cook in an article titled, "Billionaires and business deals: The money machine delivering big benefits to the Blues."
Cook starts with, “The true uniqueness I found, in comparison [with Geelong], was just the passion of its supporter base at Carlton – its width, its depth, its tentacles where they spread.”
The Cats win games by field position - they're the best in the AFL at it. Myers, Stewart and Cameron are the link/set up men. Control them and we beat this mob. Stewart is absent but we don't have a tall defender to go with Cameron.
Stewart is Geelong’s most important player and they can’t cover his loss. That has repercussions for them all over the ground.
We didn’t have a tall defender to go with Cameron last season and he kicked 6.1 … but we still won. Vossy and his mates will have cooked up something for Cameron. In fact, I reckon Scott has a lot more to worry about than Vossy.
We need to keep a close eye on Myers. I'd run Cottrell on him and make him accountable. Maybe put Acres on Cameron and make Cameron gut run up and down all day.
Cameron would take Acres forward and exploit his height advantage. You have to play a key defender on Cameron or tag team him.
How do we feel about S Durdin, Lewis and Kemp being in charge of looking after Cameron and Hawkins?? Simple answer, cut off their supply!! Easier said than done. If Weitering is out, our 'next man up' mantra will be tested to the max!!!
We did OK with Weitering missing at the start of the season.
As good as Hawkins is, he does rely on players up the ground and, if we can get on top, he can be starved of opportunities.
Cameron is a different kettle of fish with his ability to win the ball and create opportunities up the ground. While it's not an ideal match up, Young is probably best able to go with him. Alternatively, Kemp runs with Cameron when he plays up the ground and Weitering or Young pick him up inside 50.
Vossy seems very confident that both Williams and Weitering will play.
I mentioned my brother because peacekeepers are the theme of this ANZAC Day. He also served in the Army and Air Force but was very proud of his UN service and very pleased when it was officially recognised.
Seen a video doing the rounds on socials about Jim Park. Didn't realise he was killed in action during world war 2, after having played128 games. Served with a team mate Jim askew.
If I remember correctly, Jim Park was one of 99 Australian troops killed in the battle of Wau. I think that’s where Albo attended the dawn service today.
I was involved in an exercise fighting over very similar terrain in 1972. The “enemy”, members of the then Pacific Islands Regiment, were occupying Japanese bunkers that were still intact 30 years after they were last used.
The terrain is challenging but even more so when some bastards are shooting at you.
Much respect to Jim Park and the other Aussies who fought by his side at Wau, and at other battlefields in the South Pacific, the Middle East, Türkiye, Greece, Crete, France and the Low Countries, Vietnam, Malaysia and the more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Iraq, East Timor and Afghanistan.
And a special shout out to the peacekeepers, including my late brother, Ron, who served with the UNCIVPOL in Cyprus in 1978.
As a supporter, I no longer fear any opposition. Our best (even with injuries) is good enough to beat anyone, especially at the G. The Cats will need to be at their best to knock us off, as will we to do the same to them.
I started to feel that way midway through the 2022 season and the second half of last season confirmed it for me.
Regardless of what the scoreboard says and how we are playing, we’re now always capable of maintaining our lead or making up a deficit.
At the back of my mind is the proviso that, if we’re not switched on, we could lose to Manangatang 2nds.
Playing devils advocate, when i posted similar stats, people didn't like them because a pressure act was deemed to be the ability of created pressure without actually doing anything. Like chasing rather than catching.
I did a comparison of tackles, and Fantasia is well behind the other small forwards.
Pressure acts are weighted; physical pressure acts (bumping, pushing, tackling) are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. Chasing and corralling (Zac Fisher's forte) are worth less because they don't have much impact on the ball carrier's ability to dispose of the ball. Fantasia isn't tackling as much as Durdin and Owies so he must be doing a hell of a lot more corralling, chasing and closing to be 17 to 8 and 5.
The same applies to Charlie. Apparently he doesn't chase and his tackle numbers are relatively low so, to be so far ahead of Harry, Durdin and Owies in pressure acts, he must be dynamite on closing acts and corralling.
Harry has incredible acceleration for a big man and his ability to put pressure on defenders by closing and tackling is a bonus for our forwards. Charlie has greater endurance but not the same acceleration. He puts his endurance to good use by applying pressure, closing and corralling, but his main priority is to create separation with his defenders. That's not quite so critical for Harry as he usually enjoys a size and strength advantage.
One or two games of stats won't make a big difference to overall stats, but after a couple of games the umpiring effectively forced TDK into changing his technique when there wasn't anything actually wrong with it. All because of Scott whinging.
We had plenty of debate about this at the time, and the influence of our ruck coaches, surely you remember.
Think back to the Geelong game last season. De Koning hurt Stanley with a fairly crude knee to the ribs. De Koning was slapped with a $3,000 fine and Scott did complain about Stanley's injury in his post game presser. We appealed and Tom was exonerated. In the games following, De Koning's free kicks against were 1, 0, 1, 3, 5, 3, 0 ... The five frees came in the Essendon game where the umpires favoured Essendon with 32 frees to 18. The frees paid against De Koning were all in general play; two for in the back and one for chopping the arms in marking contests, one for high contact and one for holding the man. In fact, it is very clear that the umpires did not adjudicate De Koning's ruck contests any differently than they did before the Geelong game
De Koning's technique may have changed marginally in that he is not so blatant when he targets the opposition rucks. However, it's still the same technique, just more effective than it was.
Chris Scott has nowhere near the influence that you credit him with. On the other hand, I suspect the AFL listens carefully to comments and suggestions from Princes Park.
Don't mind replacing Fantasia, but Moir is still a fair way off. He will be given plenty of time to develop before being paraded out a la Binns. With one or two exceptions, we are right into development and ensuring young players have served a comprehensive apprenticeship.
Yes, there's plenty of time for Moir, Binns, Monahan, O'Keeffe, Lemmey, etc. We're not in the position where we have to expose our "green shoots" to the harshness of AFL footy before they have toughened up.
