Hoping for a miracle tonight.
GO BLUES !!
Please tell me that didn't actually happen.
Don't hope for a miracle, just hope for a 4-quarter effort and the miracle will take care of itself.
....and yes, that did happen. :-[
Great tackle and hardball get early by the captain!
We're all over them but their talls look very dangerous
Confidence boost by Garlett early.
Use him early and often and reap the rewards.
Probably first time i've seen Rowe beaten in a 1-on-1 all year, and its happened twice in the first 5 minutes! Hawkins is a freak!
LMAO. Look at the pressure we're applying. Where was this last week?
Seems we are too quick for them early.... ;)
Again, our disposal is letting us down. Bad kicking at goal will cost us.
Come to think of it whenever we start like this we get smashed.
Some really sloppy checking from I think Walker allowing an uncontested mark at the top of the 50. Cost us that goal and hopefully doesn't deflate the entire side.
Chalk 1 shot on goal up to the umpires.
Terrible decision. Murphy marked that.
Army should be picked every week. He gives us what love from Robbo, but adds skills to the mix.
Cats making the most of their opportunities, even the 1 in 100 shots.
Yazz...with the speed to embarrass geelong immediately after.
Not many people capable of that from Yarran. Incredible goal.
Makes it look easy doesn't he. ;D
McLean should've kicked that. Geelong would've.
Damn missed the Yarran goal watching the second leg of the Melton Harness quad. :))
Tough shot and Geelong missed one straight in front, though should never been a mark.
Yarran and McLean looking dangerous but walker has to come out of defence. Two scrubber kicks which probably should have been punished.
Murphy is a different player altogether.
Come on Cas! Need this.
You've seen him play before, yeah?
This was my post in the pre-match...
So far, so good.
Speed is working, pressure is up.....'all we need to do is convert and we win' seems to be the problem. Can't say i'm surprised, its cost us a few games this year.
Quarter time
4 scoring shots to 8 (plus 1 out on the full!), yet we only lead by 9 points.
Not making most of our chances. Will cost us dearly when Cats get going.
Deserved a 2-3 goal lead at qtr time.
Makes such a difference having a couple of runners like Armfield and Walker back in the side.
Happy with the 1/4 time score, but it's a strange game. Everyone's playing everywhere.
When I see Levi kick for goal, that's when I wish we could graft Judd's head onto Fev's body. Now that would be something.
Outplayed them but their talls are making it easier for them so they are closer than they should be.
Yarran looks like he's ready to explode and McLean is not being paid respect.
We're happy to run and it's working. Let's see if we can keep the pressure up.
grafting - what a great idea
We're definitely kicking shorter.
F*** me! Did Warnock just take a contested grab!
Goals!
OMG. Am I seeing things? Warnock takes a big contested mark inside 50 and goals.
Warnock marked :o it's our night. :))
We're not giving up possession. If that means go short, we are doing it.
Déjà vu?
Even kicked the goal! :o :o :o
You absolute girl Garlett.
Will be a tonic for his confidence. And what a great pass from Meat... ;)
Gunthrie is a big body. We seem to have trouble holding him up.
What is wrong with Hendo?
Great pass from our FF who rather than kick at goal kicked to a guy who hasn't taken a contested overhead grab all year!
Wait...what?! ???
Why does walker take kick ins? There is absolutely no advantage.
6 marks to Hawkins and causing all sorts of havoc, time to make a move.
I know... life is getting weird! :o
Time to put Waite on Hawkins...
That pressure by Daisy created a shot on goal. Too bad we can't kick.
Unlike Geelong.
Hawkins slaughtering us. Rowe just not good enough to play on him. Not sure who is good enough. Hendo certainly doing nothing up forward.
Cats playing rubbish but at the end of the day have too much class.
Umpire not calling a free for a high tackle cost us then. Even when they're for us, they're against us.
At least we're having a crack though.
Geelong misses two gimmies and then kick two freak goals.
So no free kick to Yazz and they get a goal and all Mcavanry can do is grunt and groan.
Why Yarran was allowed to be scragged and held when not in possession there cost us that goal.
Chalk 1.1 up to the umpires.
Surely can't miss
"Surely he can't miss it from here?!"
Bruce tried to jinx him.
The Cas! Contested markers don't grow on trees.
That is some of the worst umpiring I've ever seen.
Why didn't the umpire recall that bounce?
Why did the umpire pay a free kick?
Why did the umpire pay advantage?
3 bad decisions!
2.1 to the umpires.
Casboult is literally in a headlock.
"Holding the ball!"
F*** me, 2 weeks in a row!
Duck these umpires.... The cats get away murder... The umpires have to be under instruction they seriously can't be this bad. Another fixed game!
Gibbs is playing some sort of quarter
We are literally playing against the umpires and the Cats. And our own incompetence.
Who's playing on Stevie J? Has not touched it.
Yes. Keeping us in the game. Simmo having his worst quarter all year.
Daisy been subbed, potentially just for 20 minutes under the sub rule.
Jamo off with doubts of coming back on.
Looks like we are going to run out of legs.
Bloody he'll Hawkins is a monster. Must make the change, Rowe has no idea what to do.
Little awareness too with that clearance.
FMD. Three seconds to go. Terrible umpiring and some non existent skills.
Hawkins is some kind of animal if he can continue to do that to Rowe. Nobody has been able to do that to Rowe all year.
We knew the cats were going to come at us that quarter. We didn't expect the umps to give them that much help.
All is not lost, but we need to put more pressure on the mids in the centre of the ground. Do that, Hawkins wont get the delivery which gives Rowe more of a chance.
...and of course....KICK STRAIGHT!
Hendo needs to be moved on him. Especially if Jamo is injured.
not rowe's fault our mids are getting slaughtered at the stoppages....
Too many passengers - Hendo, Robbo, Waite, even Docherty invisible tonight.
crap qtr.
Can't stop the big boy up forward for the Cats.
He ll end up with 8.
I HOPE WE COME BACK AND BURY THESE MOTHER DUCKING PUSSIES. Yes I'm shouting. What a bunch of FIGJAMS and umpires pets.
Can Warnock please NOT take any boundary line taps within 20 metres of their goals.
You get the feeling that the floodgates are just about to burst open.
Gotta feel sorry for Rowe - I'm sure he now understands how Thornton used to feel. Being left one out with Hawkins - yeesh.
Some of our boys doing well - others are trying but just passengers at the moment.
And I still don't like Walks in the back line.
Why doesn't the 30 sec rule apply to Hawkins.... Oh, he plays for Geelong.... The club immune to HTB, throws, get paid marks others take.....
Exactly.
Rowe is still our best matchup for him. He's better 1-on-1.
Waite and Hendo may outmark him on the odd occasion, but they won't be able to get some of the spoils that Rowe has managed.
Pressue up the ground will stop Hawkins.
I've had a gutful of non umpiring decisions, it makes the game crap to watch.
Murphy gets grabbed around the neck by Selwood right in front of the umpire, Yarran gets grabbed while he tapped the ball in front. Umpire bounces the ball well out of the circle but no call back then the umpire lets advantage run on even though the Geelong player didn't have possesion of the ball. Casboult is grabbed around the neck by Taylor in a tackle and is pinged for holding the ball, Bartles is allowed to lay over the ball for around 5 seconds.... the list goes on and we seem to be on the receiving end of every decision.
BTW the Casboult mark in the square was less held than three marks against Brisbane last week. F.M.
No wonder people are turning off when the umpiring seem to think it's better to do nothing than pay the kicks, then all of a sudden out of the blue they pay one that is similar to every decision let go all day.
Their mids like Horlin Smith and Guthrie have run through packs without tackles being laid. The umpiring has been dreadful and you feel like it's effected the players because they certainly fell away in the last ten minutes.
Rowe not good enough. Daisy may not come back on the ground. Jamo may be stuffed and our skills simply aren't good enough. We can't hit targets and we drop critical marks.
Anyway, interesting to see how they come out. Could be ugly.
Also any time we have a 'bright start' we never maintain it. We always have to work incredibly hard to keep a lead. It's something that MM has failed to fix.
I had hope for this game after the first quarter. That quickly died in the second. We will lose by more than 10 goals.
We don't have anyone strong enough to handle Hawkins body on body, this is why Waite should go to him as his agility will get him to spoils without strength contests (which Hawkins will win).
Havnt read a post yet but would any body else consider putting Casboult on Hawkins???
Yes and try Rowe forward. Why not ?
I wouldn't - not mobile enough and not smart enough.
And yes - it's an eternally recurring topic, but the umpires..........................
Tanking already?
The only luck we'd have with Casboult on Hawkins is creating a similarly sized shadow....because he'd be following Hawkins around without getting near him. Hawkins is too quick.
It makes a difference when your key forwards can kick.
Don't agree. Caz is finding some form, playing on Rowe will destroy him. Hendo for me. I know he doesn't have the strength but he does have the defensive nous.
Once upon a time full forwards kicked big bags because they had good delivery and only had to beat the guy they were on.
Tonight was a return to the 80's
I don't think Rowe is playing that bad, but Hawkins has been given half his goals gift wrapped an delivered by a big titted blonde in bikini.
I think he's plenty smart enough and just as mobile as Hawkins.
He may still be out maneuvered but not to the extent of poor ol Rowe.
The Pussy Cats are not in good form, in fact, most top 6 sides would be well up against them at this stage.
We may be running them back into form.
They're there for the pickin' but whether we can take advantage of that or not is the big question.
We could still get this one.
But I also agree that our mids need to work harder. Hawkins is getting some sweet delivery.
Just texted my mate the same thing. Getting silver service.
If only our mids could deliver to our fws like that.
Although I would favour Waite onto Hawkins, reckon Hendo is the next best bet... it would also get him into the game.
We should only be 2 goals down at halftime, that center bounce should have been recalled don't want the umps to cost us this one
Everitt been really quiet too.
The last mark Hawkins took Rowe wasn't within 5 metres of him, Hawkins is thrashing him.
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Not sure how good your eyesight is but it appears to be delivered by the umpires from what i can tell.
Brave effort from our lads..not too down on Rowe as Hawkins is a baby Plugger and just too strong for any of our players one on one.
The defense has to be help defense....fill the hole in front of Hawkins and the old Scarlett/Milburn double team tactic on Hawkins when the ball gets down to him.
Stokes and Motlop causing plenty of headaches as I thought they would ....
Gibbs...been very good
Carrazzo on StevieJ been great...Stevie seems very disciplined in not getting frustrated but its taken away some devil from his game.
Jamo at FF was a waste of time and I think Henderson needs to go to CHB and try and block some forward entries as he has been ordinary at FF and isnt a strong enough overhead mark to beat Taylor.
Expect Geelong to win but its been a good effort...thye just have a couple of players too many to cover...
After losing Ling they have picked a replacement in Guthrie, tags well and also gets plenty of the ball...Murphy is trying hard but just cant get free..
Menzel has been dissapointing and both Everitt and Docherty cant get into the game...
Garlett has run well but at times hasnt been hard enough...
Warnock ok in the ruck and doing well...
Casboult.....poor mans Hawkins....great marks but cant convert like his Geelong counterpart who cant miss...
Anybody else think Everitt is slow ? Watching him run tonight...........
Yep. Hawkins got separation on that occasion.
We have had some dreadful decisions against us in the past two weeks... and that is right up there. Recalled and bounced again every time - well, should have been.
Jamo bandaged back up and sent out for battle. Limping though.
Daisy still bench-ridden...looks like his day might be done.
Every time the Cats have been beaten this year these two guys haven't had a sniff, particularly Motlop. Same as Varcoe, absolute front runners and but you have to worry when they start getting kicks because you now Geelong are motoring.
How many times has it been said on these boards ? Well, it's worth repeating. Menzel is a beauty.
Geez, Hawkins turns around and his back blocks out 3 of our players.
Need heaps more out of our mids.......
2 attemps at a dribbling ball in the goal square and 2 misses. *facepalm*
Jamo on Hawkins is not good.
First contest and Jamo clutched his arm in a manner we've seen from him many times....shoulder troubles. Hopefully just a stinger.
Hendo need to play loose in defense or on a rubbish player. We need to support Jamo and he's giving us FA anyway
Our delivery inside 50, pathetic.
Geelongs, sublime.
Pressureis one thing, but our disposal is just bad.
Great tackle by Doc!
Dangerous time now......
So why wasn't a free paid?
Putting an injured bloke on their major goal kicker... good thinking!
Oh dear Geelong smell blood
Game Over. Hawkins murdering us. Bruce losing it in the box.
In the back my ass
Is Gunthrie on Murphy?
I give up on this game, how that was not holding the ball, yet paid as in the back i'll never understand.
Could get ugly here.
Keep protecting these cheat umpires macavaney you numptie... Duck me there's two sides out there!
Mal;thouse getting badly out coached.
I know we're not playing well but it's hard to give a crap when the umpires are so rubbish.
Got to give it to Daisy for coming back on the ground.
Nice kick doc
No idea how we got that goal but a spearing kick from Doc to Menzel who marks under lots of pressure warms the heart.
2 tackles, 2 dropped balls, 0 free kicks.
Carlton are seriously playing 25 blokes tonight.
There's a pulse
Feeling a lot of man love for Menzel :))
I know he faded last week but Menzel is the future of this club. He is magnificent. I don't care if he craps his pants on the ground I love him.
Another free kick not paid for Hendos tackle.....almost resulted in a shot on goal at the other end.
Seriously, is holding the ball/incorrect disposal still a rule?
Walker has really got a throwing habit, thankfully they're not paying anything.
Thomas 3 goals :))
COME ON
GREAT shepherd from Yazz.
Great kick by Daisy.
Scores level. Great heart showed by the blue boys when everything is working against you.
Daisy kicks three. Give him the $700,000!!!
Need to take your chances Gibbs!
Really pleased with the attitude so far, playing really competitively, now we are a real chance of winning.
Couple of terrible mistakes by yarran. Play him DEEP in the final and will get the job done
What a quarter even the umps can't stop us come on BLUES WE ARE NAVY!!!!!
Jarrod Waite tackle, no reward and a free aginst us.
Simmo gets one right to the face in a tackl.................nada.
Its screwing corruption.
Yazz seems spent.
He also seems to be putting it on a bit.
Let's see.
We've still got the sub up our sleeve courtesy of Daisy returning after his 20min concussion sub.
I'd keep all our big blokes on as i have a feeling we'll need them at the death. Who gets subbed then? Yarran??
No way must keep him on even if close to spent
Really need to bring hendo into the game as well as Waite. Game would swing massively in our favour if they can fire.
Im still in shock about Warnocks clunk and goal!
Given that we're also playing against the umps, they we're amazing that quarter. Don't blame Yazz - obviously spent and put in a great quarter. Gibbs playing his best game of the year.
Prepare for Bruce to come his pants in the box when Hawkins kicks a brace of goals or Johnson kicks a freaky three.
If Jamo can continue to keep Hawkins relatively quite we should win. Would still like Hendo back there to support.
Agree, but let's face it, Geelong's skills are rubbish tonight.
4 points - I'll take it anytime.
Walker forward ;D
Remove 'Jamo', and replace it with 'Midfield pressure'.
Walks in the fwd line - wonders will never cease.
And misses.
Pressure has been good from the start. Hawkins has looked dangerous right from the start. Jamo has curbed it.
Doc snaps and misses.
We've had chances to put them at arms length.
Hawkins has got 4 goals, all in 1 quarter when our pressure was next to non-existant. Its not a coincidence.
Sub Garlett for dropping a mark inside 50 for dropping his head for the second time tonight!
Ball again!
Hawkins was still getting it or bringing it down every time it went to him.
Jamo out plays him again. 8)
Waite subbed.
Cmon Gibbs.
Missed 2, should kick this.
Does.
Nothing against Jamo, but Rowe was unlucky.
Don't forget, first contest with Jamo resulted in a goal assist to Hawkins.
Three goals up halfway thru the last, same as last week, better not be the same result.
Rowe kicks a goal - must be pretty popular amongst the boys.They certainly celebrated his goal.
We'll leave that in the hands of the umps.
If they stay out of it, we're half a chance!
F*** me Garlett!
Kick it high enough to get over the blokes head!
IN THE F***N' BACK!
Yep, Jeffy just can't buy form at the moment.
Geez, tickle Bartels head and the umpire can't blow the whitle quick enough!
Talk about favourites!
Blaming you Sheik if we loose :P
Whats that IOT? Jamo couldn't stop that one could he?!
Wonder why....no midfield pressure on the kicker = no chance.
Rowe is waiting for an apology.
The play on rattled Geelong :))
Bryce goals - 7 points up.
BANG!
Thank you Gibbs.
LOL cherry picking. I never said Jamo would stop him in every instance. Are you saying the nearly every contest Rowe lost was like that? Wonder why Mick even made the move and stuck to it.
GIIIBBBSSSSSS
SIGN HIM UP :P
Had to find a position for Jamo. Was working out at FF for him. lol
Rowe saved that forward thrust. ;)
Rowe to me feels like a polished Setanta!
Cmon, just 2 minutes to hold on FFS!
Others say he's a polished something else.
Anyway, he's doing a number on Walker this quarter.
Oh man, Doc has been superb but that kick hurt.
F*** me...Selwood is playing? Who knew. :'(
29 seconds!
Please!
Call a friggin ball up FFS
Heart breaking
I don't no why they do that, as if its getting out when your tackled by 3 guys.
12 out of 12 against us at Etihad.
Looks like I'm to bloody blame !! >:D
Menzel polaxed in the square... NOTHING GIVEN!!!
Umps cost us 2.1 from my count from OBVIOUS goals.
Thats the ball game.
Couldn't count how many times we should've been paid holding the ball along the journey.
As i said earlier...i'm over this.
How did Menzel not get a free for high front on tackle/bump? Great umpiring.