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December 14, 2006

The Review: Week 3 (November 9th- November 15th)

Tom Lonergan plans to play on after his horrific accident last season

It was a relatively quite week at the Geelong Football Club after some big changes in recent weeks.

Tom Lonergan decided he will continue on playing AFL football after his life threatening injury last season which involved the removal of a kidney.

In a roundabout move Geelong will delist Tom Lonergan later this week, with the intention of picking him up in the Rookie Draft. Under the circumstances the club are confident no other club will look at picking him.

Lonergan has managed 7 AFL games for the Cats as a tall forward/back.

Apart from Lonergan the news was coming off the field from our President & CEO.

Brian Cook (Geelong CEO) has set the 2007 seasons membership target at 32,291. Exactly 1 more than what the club achieved last season (32,290) with a view to getting to 36,000 members in the next 4 years.

It seems a wishful target at best in my opinion as there is no way I can forsee our membership improving this year after last season unless we start with an incredible 6-0 run or similar.

GFC membership levels 1999-2006
1999: 21,032
2000: 25,595
2001: 25,420
2002: 23,756
2003: 24,017
2004: 25,021
2005: 30,821
2006: 32,290

Lastly Frank Costa put fear into Victorian football fans claiming he thinks 2 Melbourne clubs will be forced to move within 5 years due to rising financial issues. Costa stated,

The real fact about footy is that every year the cost of running this club goes up by $1 million, so in Victoria every year we need to find an extra $10 million. There is no way Victoria in this strong national competition can keep funding 10 teams when other states have got one. That change will happen.

Posted by Sammy D at 12:37 PM | Comments (1)

December 13, 2006

The Review: Week 2 (November 2nd - November 8th)

Favourite son Brenton Sanderson back at The Cattery

The club welcomed back a favourite face in the form of Brenton Sanderson who will return in an assistant coaching role after a successful stint helping Port Power's young stars in the 2006 campaign. He will become the Cats midfield coach replacing Andy Lovell.

Port Adelaide were far from happy with Sanderson coming back and are seeking legal advice.

Training with Geelong - Joel Reynolds & Adam Iacobucci

Geelong have invited former AFL players Joel Reynolds & Adam Iacobucci to train with them over pre-season with the two players looking for permanent spots on the Cats list.

Reynolds, grandson of AFL great Dick Reynolds, managed 38 games in 5 seasons with the Bombers. Iacobucci meanwhile managed 4 games in 2 seasons with the Magpies and finished 3rd in Collingwood's VFL teams best & fairest last season.

Lastly Geelong added to its football department with the appointments of Paul Haines as fitness & conditioning coach, Dean Robinson as rehabilitation & strength coach & Duncan Kellaway as 2nd physiotherapist.

Posted by Sammy D at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

We're Back: The Review Week 1

That's right, we're back after almost a month & a half's absence. Sorry to all the regular readers out there, but after the nightmare that was season 2006 I had to get away from thinking about the club for some time and recharge the batteries.

Moving on, we'll quickly hopefully have a few posts up shortly reviewing everything that has gone on while the site was on an unofficial hiatus. This being the first of which, so let's get into it.

Week 1 (October 25th-November 1st)

Kent Kingsley, one of 3 players delisted by the Geelong Football Club on October 26th

On October 26th the Geelong Football Club started with its plans for the 2007 season delisting Kent Kingsley, Paul Koulouriotis & Matthew McCarthy.

Kingsley was leading goalkicker for 4 seasons with the Cats and managed 227 goals in 110 games, but only managed 10 goals in 9 games this season.

McCarthy whose career was continiously wrecked with injuries finished with 24 goals in 22 games. His best effort was a 5 goal haul against Carlton this season.

Meanwhile Koulouriotis played 18 games for the club after crossing from Port Power.

The club also told Will Slade, Tim Sheringham & Nick Batchelor their rookie contracts would not be renewed. Slade was the only player of the three to manage a senior appearance playing 17 games for the club including the first 6 of the 2006 season.

Gary Davidson: Being replaced by Neil Balme

A few days later the club started to make the changes in administration. Neil Balme, former Melbourne coach and member of the Collingwood football department was annouced General Manager of Football Operations taking over from the devil *cough*...I mean Gary Davidson. Steve Hocking was moved into the role of day-to-day management of football operations.

Sam Hunt's good work in the VFL earnt him a spot on the senior list

The arrival of November saw Sam Hunt elevated to the senior list from his rookie status after Darren Milburn was placed on the veteran's list. It was just reward for some fine VFL form last season.

Posted by Sammy D at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)