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August 16, 2006
Finals Myth Finally Put To Rest
Well it's finally over and lets be honest it deserves to be. We haven't been upto standard this season and the reasons for this were evident on Sunday against St. Kilda.
Firstly we lack leadership. Where was Steven King when the game was to be won? On the bench. Sure that is partly Thompsons fault that he is on the bench because it's his gameplan & decision, but when King was on the ground he was slow, soft and may have well been invisible. King cannot be captain of the GFC next season. King is not the only one at fault, Scarlett going psycho at Blake when the blame should placed souly at him was another example. Cook said only a few weeks ago we wouldn't be going after Akermanis due to the lack of leadership at the club, well why hasn't this problem been addressed? It has been evident for several seasons now!
Where was the intensity? We've been told week after week that every game is like a final. Then why is it in 2 of the 3 last games have we been totally outplayed and been shown up in the intensity stakes? St. Kilda upped the tempo in midway through the 2nd quarter and we could not match them and of course they duly went on to win the game despite missing Hayes, Hamill & Maguire.
Crucial small mistakes cost us in the backline. Like the occasional poor Hunt kick coming out of defense, or Tom Harley unable to bend over to pick up the ball only to slip over and handball straight to Brett Voss. Then there was Scarlett who couldn't be bothered running back to Gehrig in the pocket after he had turned the ball over up the ground. Instead of running to his man he simply jogged back to him. Geelong fans who think Scarlett should be All-Australian this season are kidding themselves.
Our long bomb to Ottens gameplan is predictable and doesn't work but there doesn't seem to be any changes coming from the coaches box who where willing to allow loose defenders for both sides despite the fact it left Ottens with a 1 on 2/3 most of the time.
Other areas which St. Kilda showed us up include run out of the backline, kicking for goal and players who can kick goals from outside 50m on the run. Basically it was a very sorry day, I knew it would be when I found out I was sitting 2 bays away from the cheersquad and had a bloke yelling "MAN UP" all game behind me. Only for a 6 year old girl to tell him to shut up. Yes, he should shut up because he didn't have much idea what was going on, but the people around me seemed to think he should have been being positive. What is positive about Henry Playfair not attacking the football, hence Sam Fisher spoils his marking attempt, runs off him, receives a handball and then kicks a 55m goal on the run? How the f*ck can you be positive about that?
Geelongblog.com Player of the Year
5. Andrew Mackie (best game I've seen him play)
4. David Wojcinski (he ran, he took risks)
3. Shannon Byrnes (he ran, he took risks, he's still rubbish)
2. Cameron Ling (Kicked a couple of goals, as said on BF needs to learn how to sheppard)
1. Joel Corey (Because he had an awesome beard pre-season)
Leaderboard
34 - Paul Chapman
32 - Gary Ablett
28 - Jimmy Bartel
25 - Joel Corey
24 - Darren Milburn
19 - Brad Ottens
18 - Cameron Mooney
15 - Cameron Ling
15 - Jarad Rooke
13 - Corey Enright
9 - Josh Hunt
6 - David Wojcinski
5 - Andrew Mackie
5 - Kent Kingsley
5 - Matthew Scarlett
4 - Matthew Stokes
4 - Shannon Byrnes
4 - Steven King
3 - Steve Johnson
1 - Brent Prismall
1 - Tom Harley
Posted by Sammy D at August 16, 2006 06:58 PM