Season 2021 - Geelong

Football Discussion Non Essendon Stuff
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Geelong

Coach – Chris Scott

2020 –

Points For – 1st
Points Against – 4th

Top 5 Best and Fairest

  1. Cam Guthrie
  2. Tom Hawkins
  3. Mark Blicavs
  4. Patrick Dangerfield
  5. Mitch Duncan

2020 Rising Star Noms

Nil

Ins – Jeremy Cameron, Shaun Higgins, Isaac Smith, Paul Tsapatolis, Max Holmes, Shannon Neale, Nicholas Stevens

Outs – Gary Ablett, Nakia Cockatoo, Lachie Fogarty, Jacob Kennerly, James Parsons, Blake Schlensog, Jack Steven, Harry Taylor, Jake Tarca.

My Prediction

Expectations for Geelong are high this year. They looked like they were right in the grand final until Martin decided they weren’t. They missed a few too many opportunities in the first half and lost the running in the second. They then went out and recruited a whole bunch of talent to give Dangerfield his best chance of winning a ring and Selwood another chance before the head wounds leave him spending his twilight years eating his meals through a straw.

The backline is arguably weaker than last year. They have lost Taylor who has been a very important player over the past decade, that being said, there were times last year when he looked like the game had left him behind. They still have Henderson, Kolidjashnij, Stewart and Blicavs. You could argue that they aren’t attacking enough or need more run but the reality is that most weeks they get the job done.

The midfield will be interesting next season and on paper it looks stronger than last year. Selwood though is another season older and beaten up as well as Dangerfield who isn’t getting younger and will be needed for stints up forward. They have Menegola, Duncan and Guthrie running through and added Smith and Higgins who if he can stay fit will be a very good pick up for them. They have class and good footskills. It is hard to see them getting beaten to regularly through here.

The forward line was already the best performed last year and Hawkins looked more mobile than he has in a while. They have added Jeremy Cameron to what was already working and barring some sort of chemistry disaster they should be even better. I know there is a lot of love for Miers but not sure I agree yet and think he may need to show himself when things get hard.

Stanley finally showed a bit last year in the ruck but it is still the one glaring deficiency that could cost them. Any team with a quality ruck would fancy themselves a chance. As far as the coach, Scott needs this premiership as much as any of the players. This would cement his reputation as a coach by winning a premiership with a list of his own and a game plan he has in place.

Geelong have thrown everything at this season and anything less than a premiership is going to be a failure. It will be interesting to see how they carry this pressure and what they look like when the finals start. They have quality all over the park and I cant see them losing too many in the regular season. I think they will be comfortably top two and expect them to probably win the minor premiership.

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They’ll be rubbish and miss the 8

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Yuck.

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Will make the GF

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Just need to work out how to beat the tigers and the flag is theirs I reckon. Super talented, if old, list.

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old, but any side with Hawkins, dangerfield and Cameron up forward is gonna be really, really good. they will completely obliterate a few teams

smith and higgins are excellent additions on the outside too

should win it, they would be disappointed if they didn’t

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Their results were inflated last year by the fact that the games were shorter and so there was less wear and tear on their old list.

The list has probably got older now. The way they faded at the end of the GF will be more regular this year with 20% more game time week in and week out.

They are all in this year to win the flag but they won’t get it.

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They’ll make the 8 but won’t win a flag with Dad’s army

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Typically the inverse is true - (really) young teams without many pre-seasons tend to fade badly in the back half of the year.

Eye ball test says the Cats aren’t any older than the Hawks 2015 side that won the flag.
Clarko and co did a really good job that year managing player workloads while still managing to win enough games to put them in a strong position come September. I always got the feeling the Hawks older guys would do just enough to win and then put the cue in the rack a bit once they got far enough ahead (or behind) in a game.
If Scott can manage his best players workloads well I think they can win it, but if they put all their eggs in the top 2 basket and limp into the end of the year kinda like Freo in 2014(?) with your Dangerfield’s logging big minutes they have no chance.
One other thing that hasn’t worked in Geelong’s favour (compared to Hawks) is that they’ve had Richmond to contend with the past 4 years.

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Boring club who won’t win the flag.

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Finish top 4. bundled out in STRAIGHT SETS, hopefully to some hopeless team at Kardinia Park

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YES PLEASE

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They’ve had our measure for 15 years even though we played them at etihad or the G.
We’ll probably go past them next year but will have to play them at the stinking cattery and still lose by 10 goals each time.

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Eyeing the flag, they will finish in the top 2. They will be right there at the pointy end of the season and are one of the flag favourites, with good reason. They play an attractive brand f football.

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Has any team not had our measure the last 15 years outside of Gold Coast?

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Essington during pre-season match simulation

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They are having an injury riddled pre-season and will be beatable early. Last year they played some of the best brand of football but just weren’t good enough on the day. They really let a premiership cup slip through their claws.

They will smash a few teams during the year and win enough games to finish 5th or 6th but will need everything going right for them to win it. Player management will be the key but I’m not convinced they will be a real threat for the flag.

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no team has beaten us as often as cats I would guess

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In the past, a team of Geelong’s age demographic that’s been a nearly but not quite team, you’d stick a fork in them and start the rebuild. But, they are trying to squeeze every last drop out of the orange. Reloading with Cameron, Higgins and Smith is a bold play. GWS matching the offer and forcing a trade has cost them 3 first round picks, pretty much their entire draft collateral from the Tim Kelly deal at the end of 2019. If they’d got him via Free Agency, they’d have got one of the best forwards in the AFL and also had the ability to draft in some young talent, or perhaps be able to pull off some other deals. As it is, they have the best 1-2 forward punch in the comp, recruited one of the classist ball users forward of centre in Higgins, who probably is an upgrade (only just) on Ablett’s output from 2020. Smith adds run and dash off a wing.

There’s still some question marks. Harry Taylor won’t be easily replaced, and their rucks are still not convincing. But they should be there and thereabouts again in 2021. I think they’ll go one step further.

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they’ll make finals but won’t impact finals.

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