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February 27, 2007

More important than ever to keep our eye on the ball.

As our season is about to commence another code has just finished theirs and for the followers of the roundball game they have probably never had as much optimism about their games future. Soccer, although loved and dominant world wide, not so long ago the local version of the game was nothing more than a punchline to a joke. Not anymore, the game that has interest and the financial pull of nearly every serious nation on earth has gained ground and is capable of gaining more.

I suppose it was predictable in a way, we pride ourselves in our sporting performance, it allows us to show the world who we are. We as a sports loving people love to play and get recognition for our ability to slog it out with other much bigger countries. We see success on the sports field as a way we as a small country can show all that we are just as good as anyone. Beating the Pom’s at cricket has driven us to the top in that game but even in sports where there is minimal interest, our pride can drive us to strive to be the best. There was huge interest in Americas Cup when we gave it to the Yanks, we take pride in our efforts at the Winter Olympics when we are basically a summer country. Our pride was dented when we reached a low level at the 76 Olympic games and demanded a change and the Government created the Institute of sport to ensure we again performed to level we expect. Basketball, Hockey the list go’s on and on in which play above our weight.

The one real obvious missing link was “Soccer”. Yes, I call it soccer, If they call our National team the “Socceroos” then why not. The world football game has long been seen to have so much potential and an infinite amount of ways to step on the banana skin. Everytime they looked to have a new chance to get ahead of the game, a bad news story would smother the sport, ensuring that any progress would stall and that the game would fall back to being a pack runner with so many other lesser light sports. Violence, Ethnic rivalries, poor facilities and poor standard of play and players ensured it was considered mediocre and thus stayed that way. Then two things happed. Powerful players created a fresh comp called the A-League. It would have fresh teams, no more teams that referred back to cultural allegiance. Then on top of this finally the “Socceroos” qualified for probably the most important Global competiton of the all, “The World Cup”. Just like at the Olympics suddenly, people starting taking an interest in a sport that they would not give the time day before. The Yellow Cards, the Refs, the Offside, the shootouts and a plethora of other questions were being asked of friends and workmates that were more familiar with game. We followed the rise of Australia and all cheered as we pressed the best and surprised quite a few in the soccer community. So just like other sports, we got recognition and the game got credibilty in the process. What others think is unrealistic, is only fair and reasonable to Australians Sports lovers. No sooner had the WC finished that we were talking about what we have to do to win the thing and what we have to do to have the cup staged here.

On the back of the World Cup and its new credibity, the new local comp has grown . Good media stories abound, coloured pictures of supporters with Victory scarfs were even better than 1000’s of words. Its success seemed to just explode. In a cricket season that had the Ashes to demand interest and money, even the most ardent Soccerheads would have thought that they were in midst of a mass delusion to be sitting in a crowd of 50,000 at the Telstra Dome. That is just a scary number at a local soccer game. No longer is the main story about flares but rather the fireworks that some imported Brazilians can bring to the pitch. The Dome attendance numbers has now made a fantastic propossal of a new rectangle stadium of 20,000 questionable purely because it would not be big enough. The game has reached a new level and its still has got the ability to grow even more.

OK, so it’s a summer game. Nothing to be too concerned over, right? Not quite. When the Soccer starts to recruit AFL administrators, when the games starts draw the type of crowds that would entice bigger and bigger names to come back and play in the A-League, when more and more young kids get drawn to the game, it signals its time to sit up and pay attention. We in the AFL have done it for years , picking the cream of the crop, kids that can play cricket, basketball and footy, more often than not they would get swayed over to our game but will it always be that way? The advantage we have over cricket is unavailable to us against a game which has as much reach as soccer. I have no doubt, we will lose potential AFL players to soccer eventually, and therefore its more important than ever to put time and effort into our game at its base level.

We must take heed. Now is the time to keep our eye on the ball, now more than ever we must be focused on our games future. Just like Kieren Jack who doesn’t play the game his father played, who’s to say what game we will see the next Riccardi starring at. Who’s to say what shape ball a "Geelong Football Club" will be kicking around in the distant future.

Nothing is a lock. Dilegence is required by those in power or else.

Posted by Turbocat at 07:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dear Peter "Crackers" Keenan

Please stop stealing my material now matter how great you view it to be. I mean, you get paid to do this!

Regards,
Sammy D

Posted by Sammy D at 05:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cats run over Tigers in first round of NAB Cup

Brad Ottens was too much for Richmond's backline
Photo: Eddie Jim

There was much anticipation as I walked over to Skilled Stadium with my mates around quarter to 1 on Sunday. It had been a long time since I slid on the hoops, grand final day 2006 infact (don't ask). However, this vibrant mood quickly dissipated as we came across several lengthy queue's to get into the ground.

At the time I thought it was the club who had made a major mistake, however it turned out to be two of my least favourite organisations (The AFL & The Geelong City Council) had once against conspired against me and many others managing to turn a simple procedure into a monumental cock-up. Lines remained outside the ground all day. Despite getting at the ground at 10 to 1, we didn't get in until just before 2 causing us to miss virtually the entire first half of the reserves.

Once inside the ground the reserves did little to improve my mood as many of the players were wearing numbers they are not normally accustomed too. For instance Varcoe was wearing #3, Djerrkura #16 & Reynolds #32. This made it extremely hard to tell who was who unless you knew what they looked like. The positives were Djerrkura looked good, Reynolds took some nice grabs and I finally got to see Stephen Owen get a decent hitout.

Onto the main course. Geelong put on a very impressive performance for a first up hitout. There was plenty of run from the backline, plenty of defensive forward pressure while Ottens & Mooney were having a field day kicking 4 each.

You can't afford to get carried away with these types of performances during pre-season so I'll basically just look at the new guys. After a limited first half Selwood looked extremely good in the 2nd half gathering 10 possessions in the 3rd quarter and looks a very good pick up. Prismall looked absolute class, expect more from him this season. Sam Hunt did't do too badly but definitely isn't in our starting 22 after that performance while on another day Nathan would have kicked 4 like Otto & Moons. Gazza played a lot more time in the middle and looked like he'd spent his entire career there, great hands & agility as usual. Overall it was a dominant performance against a side missing a few key players. The major downpoint being Darren Milburn getting kicked in the head accidentally by Andrew Krakouer, Dasher will no doubt miss the trip to Darwin.

GEELONG: 1.6.2, 2.11.3, 3.16.8, 3.17.10 (139)
RICHMOND: 0.2.0, 0.6.0, 0.10.0, 1.14.3 (96)

NINE POINT GOALS: Geelong: Prismall, Enright, Bartel
Richmond: Tivendale
SIX POINT GOALS: Geelong: Ottens 4, Mooney 4, G Ablett 2, Gardiner 2, Byrnes, Stokes, Prismall, Milburn, N Ablett
Richmond: Brown 3, Deledio 3, Richardson 2, Tuck 2, Pettifer, Hyde, Foley, Meyer
BEST: Geelong: G Ablett, Ottens, Mooney, Kelly, Stokes, Byrnes, Enright, Wojcinski, Ling
Richmond: Foley, Brown, Howat, J Bowden, Deledio
INJURIES: Geelong: Milburn (cut head)
Richmond: Richardson (hamstring), Krakouer (knee)
REPORTS: Krakouer (Richmond) reported for kicking Milburn (Geelong) by umpire Nicholls in the second quarter
UMPIRES: Allen, Nicholls, Ryan, Lee-Archer
CROWD: Est 15,000 at Skilled Stadium, Geelong

As stated above next week we're off to Darwin to play the Power on Saturday night. Bomber has voiced that he will probably leave some experienced players behind for the trip which I believe is a very good idea and give a few more younger players a shot.

Posted by Sammy D at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 25, 2007

Its about winning not about The NAB Cup.

People seem to be almost scared of winning this thing after last year. Sammy makes a good case for not getting over excited , he calls it Fools Gold and if one is overly focused on the Cup aspect of this comp then he is right and after all its only 4 game's in a row and the opposition strength is usually questionable. For mine I’m not even sure it should be called a Grand Final. How grand can it be , after only beating 4 sides?

Having said that I’m all for winning it because in a club that has had little success it gives us a chance to add to the overall experience at the club. Just like the VFL GF’s , the final’s match does give one a taste of what we hope to feel later in the year. Yes its not home and away but its not inter club either and what’s important is it allows us to try shape mindset.

The mindset of winning or losing is habitual. Its not something that should be randomly played with. A clear message should be sent to every player that GFC exists for one thing. To win. That we play to win , every quarter , every match , everytime we play. We prepare to win. We plan to win. We practice all summer to win and if winning creates extra imputs to their mental state, then good. We don’t seek to avoid “pressure”, we seek experience “success”. Our mindset must be that we enjoy competition, and the bigger , the harder the competition , the better. So while its only very low on our ultimate goal list , it gives all players, especially the new kids a chance to experience the upside and downside of exposure. It allows them to show their stuff with a known level of club expectation against better players than they would have previously played against. It allows us a chance to build list confidence and prepare the full group for the season proper with carefully managed rotations because of the bigger team sizes. It gives all players a gradual build up in game pressure that should ensure us being cherry ripe for R1.

I know Sydney and others take a different view. They prefer to avoid early games and come to form at a later time say around R6. Its worked for them the last two years but I’m not sure we should try to copy this approach. We won the comp last year basically being fresh and under trained but we still got injuries and we still looked under prepared later in the year. Adelaide didn’t dive out of the comp yet they had a very good year and with a little more luck could have been in the GF. I’d much prefer to be winning the those early rounds and controlling the work load with wins on the board. Imagine if everyone took the slow approach we could have 5 or 6 before the other were at 100%.

If our prep has been as good as the blurb then there is no reason why wouldn’t should continue to play to win.

Posted by Turbocat at 08:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

NAB Cup: Fools gold?

Geelong: 2006 NAB Cup Premiers

It's that time of the year again. With another cricket season slowly coming to an end the anticipation of another exciting AFL season just around the corner is high. Players have swapped clubs, young draftees have settled into their new clubs, while the veterans are coming back after their off-season surgery hoping to prolong their careers another couple of seasons. There is only one thing standing in the way of the fight for the 2007 AFL Premiership Cup...the NAB Cup.

The NAB Cup certainly serves its purpose. New rules are trialled while it provides some vital match practice to those who need it. Coach's get to see their new players in action & try new tactics, but is the NAB Cup worth winning for anyside wanting to challenge in September? Here's a table from the last 10 years on how the pre-season tournament winners have faired in the actual season.

From 2000-2004 the correlation is very promising with the great Essendon side of 2000 the only side being able to do the double, but in the last couple of years with the strategies of list management and the way the game is played changing the regular season sucess hasn't been there. However it should be noted the losers in those NAB Grand Finals have gone deep into the AFL Finals that season.

With only 1 side in the past 10 seasons being able to do the double, why would clubs be chasing success in the NAB Cup so hard if they have their eyes on the ultimate prize? The answer is simply, they don't. Sydney have made it to the past two Grand Finals with mixed success, reason partly for this success is their pre-season. Sydney rarely play any star players in the NAB Cup or any pre-season game for that matter. It is all about the kids. No doubt this has effects on their short-term & long-term fortunes. Sydney generally start off with a slow start to the season, often a losing record in their first 5-6 games, but as their valuable players start to get match fitness & form back they start picking up games and come home with a tail wind. They also seem to suffer very few injuries, this partly has to be put down to luck but is it not possible that it is because their senior players start the season fresh & rested?

"We're taking it very seriously as defending champions of the competition." - Jimmy Bartel

“We didn’t start out last year to definitely win the NAB Cup but after we won a couple of games we realised that we had a massive chance. It’s the same this year, we will aim to win a few games and from there who knows.” - Corey Enright

I am worried about the above comments. I'm really hoping they're just saying what they've been told to say by the public relations manager but with a strong squad against Richmond named it seems otherwise.

I won't lie. I was extremely drunk & overjoyed when we won last seasons NAB Cup. I felt it was a monkey off our back, we could finally feel confident of our side being able to perform on a big stage, although not the biggest of stages. I felt it was good forward progression for the club. Having now accomplished that I simply don't see the point in trying to 'defend our title' if we are aiming to win the premiership. The fact NAB will fork out $1m to the winner would seem a big enough reason for one, but should money be the issue? The club has made a profit the last 7 seasons & we have the 3rd largest membership in Victoria at the moment despite a very disappointing 2006.

Mark Thompson tried to model our gameplan on the great Brisbane Lion sides 2001 to 2004 with some early success. Please Mark, I emplore you to take a leaf out of your own book and get on the latest blueprint of success. The Paul Roos blueprint. Rest Steven King, Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn & Tom Harley from today's match and have them primed for the real stuff.

“It was such a good feeling to win last year’s NAB Cup that to win the regular season would be such a special thing and we are doing everything we can to make it happen.” - Corey Enright

I certainly hope we are Corey, I certainly hope we are...

Posted by Sammy D at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 24, 2007

NAB Cup Round 1: Geelong vs. Richmond

Geelong will wear its new clash guernsey on Sunday

Geelong vs. Richmond
NAB Cup Round 1
When: Sunday 25 February 3:40PM
Where: Skilled Stadium
TV: Network Ten
Radio: K Rock, 3AW
Squads:

Geelong
1. Steven King, 2. Tom Harley, 3. Jimmy Bartel, 4. Andrew Mackie, 6. Brad Ottens, 7. Tim Callan, 8. Josh Hunt, 9. James Kelly, 11. Joel Corey, 14. Joel Selwood, 16. Charlie Gardiner, 17. Shannon Byrnes, 18. Nathan Djerrkura, 19. Matthew Egan, 21. Cameron Mooney, 23. Nathan Ablett, 24. Mark Blake, 27. Mathew Stokes, 29. Gary Ablett, 30. Matthew Scarlett, 32. Brent Prismall, 36. Todd Grima, 37. Joel Reynolds, 38. Sam Hunt, 39. Darren Milburn, 40. David Wojcinski, 44. Corey Enright, 45. Cameron Ling.

Richmond
1. Chris Newman, 2. Darren Gaspar, 3. Brett Deledio, 4. Andrew Raines, 6. Graham Polak, 7. Nathan Brown, 10. Shane Edwards, 11. Joel Bowden, 12. Matthew Richardson, 13. Trent Knobel, 14. Dean Polo, 15. Kayne Pettifer, 16. Patrick Bowden, 21. Shane Tuck, 22. Danny Meyer, 23. Daniel Jackson, 26. Adam Pattison, 27. Andrew Krakouer, 30. Richard Tambling, 31. Chris Hyde, 32. Greg Tivendale, 33. Brent Hartigan, 34. Cleve Hughes, 35. Matthew White, 40. Kelvin Moore, 41. Nathan Foley, 43. Cam Howat, 44. Angus Graham.

Squad size is 28 with the sides cutting them to a team of 24 on gameday. Kane Johnson has been replaced by Daniel Jackson in the Richmond squad.

Will be interesting to note the performances of Selwood, Djerrkura, Grima, Reynolds & Hunt if they all make the squad cut. Fans are encouraged to get down early to see the rest of the Cats players in action in VFL practice match against Coburg which starts at 1pm.

The club will be wearing the new clash strip which was the the heavy fan favourite of the options that were printed in the Geelong Advertiser last year.

Posted by Sammy D at 09:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 21, 2007

Dancing with the Devil

Catch phrases. I’d have to say I like those clever little lines so often muttered in films. Those clever one liners that can sometimes linger, long after the film is finished. You know , “I’ll be Back” ,”Are you talkin to me?”, “Do you feel lucky , punk” , “Go ahead make my day” , these and others sometimes become as well known as the film that they have come from. Admittedly most are hardly the type of material that’s likely to be considered thought provoking but sometimes , every now and then , one sees a parallel between a saying and something in ones life , and I suppose on this board ones football interest.

Obviously , come contract time everyone instantly remembers “Show me the money” or maybe if a player is hanging out for that bit extra the club may “make him an offer he can’t refuse” or maybe if you’re a Star Trek fan “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” The one that made me think a bit the other day was “Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?” . A quote from the Joker in the 1st Batman , played by one of the best at the one line scene stealers , Jack ”you cant handle the truth” Nicholson , but really just what the hell does dancing with the Devil mean.?

To me at least , if you relate the Devil with danger then the act of dancing with the devil is probably a bit cavalier , its probably borderline between reckless and bravado and as a consequence it probably enhances the satisfaction of the act once one has managed to complete it. In terms of us at Catland , I just wonder how many of our players would be willing to dance with the Devil. How many actually play like they are Dancing with the Devil. In our age of ever increasing scrutiny when humdrum players seem to have become the norm , I wonder how many on our list could we really be called high end risk takers. To be frank why would anyone want to stray from the safe path? How easy is it to pass short or to pass to another when on a poor angle , how easy is to hang back and not jump for the speecky , to wait for the higher percentage play. Go for it and miss and you are exposed , you are embarrassed with negative attention , you are an idiot and if you are a borderline player , one little woops may just mean your position in the side. Look at Tom Lonergan , he has shown how risk can sometime cost you.

The thing is , the importance of the Risk taker is not to be underestimated. If we wish to be better than average , we will not do it by filling our side with players willing to follow the path marched by the mediocre majority. Highly skilled risk takers are Game Breakers and when I look at our list we look light in this area. Why would we have put up with the antics of Steve Johnson for so long if he wasn’t one of these highly valuable game breakers players.

What Id like to see this year , along with our new elevated level of fitness is a bit of risk enhanced play. I know , I’m talking icing , not the cake but I’m sure that fitness alone will not take us to were want to be as club. To quote TS Elliot sometimes “You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go.”. and say what you want about Steve Johnson , he is not unwilling to roll the dice and see what’s the result. He is at our club , he is on our list and he will not be available for several rounds this year but is it in our interest that he is not training with the main group? I don’t know but I sure hope he has learnt his lesson because I reckon Steve is a match winning risk taker but you don’t win matches watching the game from the grandstand.

*TurboCat is a regular on the BigFooty Geelong board and is our newest blogger with The Kolonel ending his association with the blog. Rumors are he topped himself with Kent's move to the Tigers, who can blame him?

We thank The Kolonel for his time & effort over the past seasons and thank TurboCat for joining us.*

Posted by Turbocat at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 19, 2007

Tenace goes down in intra-club hitout

I don't really rate intra-club hit-outs. They are basically glorified match fitness workouts. Players of different calibre's often find themselves playing on each other in unrealistic match ups that simply wouldn't occur if we were playing against a real opposition in a regular season match. For instance somebody like Matty Spencer would never get a gig manning up Brad Ottens, hence when Ottens destroys him and kicks 6 it creates needless hype. However they do serve their purpose with some much needed teamwork and the aforementioned fitness. The above are reasons why you aren't receiving a massive post detailing every bit of information that happened on Saturday morning...oh and also because I wasn't there.

From all reports the only casualty to come out of the clash was Kane Tenace who is expected to miss 2-3 weeks with an ankle injury. This could very well be a damaging early season blow with Thompson and Co. very much focussing on pace this season. Nathan Ablett missed with a quad complaint but should be back next week for the NAB Cup opener.

Max Rooke, David Johnson & Paul Chapman all missed and will play VFL football in coming weeks as they are a few weeks behind the rest of the playing group.

Posted by Sammy D at 09:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 13, 2007

Cats to split games between Foxtel & commercial TV

The AFL along with Channels Seven, Ten and Foxtel have agreed on the break up of coverage for the 2007 season.

Under the AFL fixture, Geelong is guaranteed 10 free to air games and nine on Foxtel, with three to be determined.

Posted by Sammy D at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

The Review: Week 13 (January 18th - January 24th)

Geelong suffered a set back this week when it was revealed new father son recruit Tom Hawkins had incurred an injury in pre-season training and has been forced on to a modified program:

First year Geelong forward Tom Hawkins will be on a modified training program after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right fibula.

“We have picked up the issue early and that has minimized the level of the injury,” Geelong’s general manager of football operations Neil Balme said.

“He felt some soreness and alerted our medical staff, and the scans today showed the stress reaction. We’re pleased that this was picked up early by both Tom and the medical team.

“Tom will wear a protective boot for the next week and his training will be modified to a non weight bearing program.”

Hawkins is expected to be on a modified training program for four to eight weeks.

Hawkins is expected to be on a modified program for four to eight weeks. He was selected by Geelong under the father-son rule in last year’s draft. He earned All Australian under 18 honours and the Larke medal as the best player at the national under 18 championship in 2006.

The 18 year old Hawkins is the son of former Cats’ defender Jack Hawkins who played 182 games with the club.

Posted by Sammy D at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

The Review: Week 12 (January 11th - January 17th)

The quietest week in the history of the Geelong Football Club?

*Tumbleweeds roll over Kardinia Park*

Posted by Sammy D at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

The Review: Week 11 (January 4th - January 10th)

The dominating news of the week was of course still the troublesome Steve 'Dog' Johnson. On Monday the 8th of January the playing group took a step in the right direction, suspending him from the senior playing group indefinitely. He will train with the VFL side.

“The club has not taken this decision lightly,” Geelong’s general manager of football operations Neil Balme said.

“Steve has been given numerous chances and it is fair to say that he is now down to his last opportunity to prove that he wants to stay with the club.

“We understand that young people make mistakes in all walks of life. This includes AFL players. We do believe in allowing people to grow, learn from their mistakes and mature.

“We have provided ample opportunity for Steve to display the behaviour that we expect from all of our players. The ball is now firmly in his court to prove that he is worthy of a return to the senior group.”

Meanwhile Tom Harley revealed that Johnson was shocked at the severity of the punishment;

"He's a remorseful guy and he spoke to the group really well on Monday when he explained his actions and accepted the sanctions," Harley said at Skilled Stadium on Wednesday.

"As far as a character-building exercise for him, I think it may be a good thing. I thought it (the decision) was handled really well. We actually had a leadership meeting on the Friday and bounced around a few ideas and we're really happy with the result."

"It's been dealt with and there has obviously been some speculation as to whether it was too hard or too soft, but we're really happy with it and Steve's accepted it and it's time to move on from it now."

"The best thing about it is that it gives Steve another chance and if he's fair dinkum about his footy he'll come back and get himself right and get himself in good nick and then we'll assess it from there."

Posted by Sammy D at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2007

The Review: Week 10 (December 28th - January 3rd)

Steve Johnson: In trouble...again

Cats disappointed in Johnson: Balme

The Geelong Football Club advises that forward Steve Johnson was arrested on 24 December in Wangaratta for being drunk in a public place.

Johnson was on leave from the club over the Christmas break when the alleged incident occurred and only advised the club of the situation today.

“We are bitterly disappointed that this situation has occurred and that there has been a delay in telling us about it,” Geelong general manager of football operations Neil Balme said.

“We expect that all of our players behave well and we are particularly disappointed in Steve as he has been rehabilitating his knee following post-season surgery.

“A number of key decision makers will not return to the club until next week, and as such no punishment will be determined until then. We expect to be in a position to announce any sanction on Tuesday 9 January. Until such time the club will not speculate as to any potential penalty.”

Pathetic from Johnson, not only is he in trouble with the law again, but he delayed telling the club about it for days upon days. His career is going down the toilet and he only has himself to blame.

Posted by Sammy D at 06:14 PM | Comments (0)

The Review: Week 9 (December 21st - December 27th)

Captain Tom Harley wants the club to regain respect

While everybody was sleep off their Christmas hangovers Tom Harley was preaching that Geelong needed to regain the respect that it lost last season;

Cats look to regain respect

Geelong skipper Tom Harley has signaled a determination to regain the respect the club lost during its difficult 2006 campaign.

Harley believes that the strong summer training regime will stand the club in good stead in the 2007 season.

“We made a lot of inroads during the ‘04-’05 seasons, and we gained a lot of respect for the way we went about our footy,” Harley said.

“We pretty much lost every shred of that last year. I think it is going to be a really exciting and impressive year. We've had this massive review, and made some internal changes, and I think it's great - we'll bounce back to where we belong.”

Harley also believes the club’s members that have supported the Cats over the years will see a return to the style of play the team has become known for.

“Obviously we think we're doing everything right, and it'd be a shame for our supporters to miss out on that,” he said.

The Cats have almost the entire list on the training track and Harley believes that augurs well for the season.

“The guys are training amazingly well so far. Everyone bar two or three are on the track at the moment, and everyone’s on track to be there after Christmas.”

Meanwhile the club denied rumors that Gary Ablett's arm was broken or that he was taken to hospital early Christmas morning.

Neil Balme stated;

‘‘I have heard those rumours and I’m almost certain, without having seen him, that it’s not true,’’ Balme said.

‘‘I spoke to (chief executive) Brian Cook and (media manager) Kevin Diggerson and all the mail is it’s absolutely not true.’’

Posted by Sammy D at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)

The Review: Week 8 (December 14th - December 20th)

With it getting close to Christmas nothing much was going on down at Skilled Stadium, except for this article about Mark Thompson and the upcoming season's importance on his position;

Timing is everything

Geelong coach Mark Thompson concedes his time is running out to deliver Cats supporters that elusive premiership.

As he prepares for his eighth season at the helm of the Cats, Thompson said he was aware he was close to the end of his tenure as coach.

"No, I don't think I've got a fair bit of time, it's getting pretty close," he said.

"We've got to have a better year than last year."

Thompson said he wouldn't set an expectation for a result that, if not met in 2007, would see him walk away from Skilled Stadium at season's end.

He said he didn't know whether it would be his decision, or the club's, that would see him continue on after next season.

"I've got no idea. All we've got to do is win some games. (We'll) see what happens after that," he said.

As the Cats prepare for their final training week before the Christmas break, the coach said he had been impressed by the performance of Brent Prismall, Mark Blake, Travis Varcoe and Brad Ottens on the training track so far this pre-season.

"I like the amount of time (they're training), how often they're training, how much better they look this year than they did last year," he said.

"That's the plan - that they put enormous pressure on everybody that's in the team at the moment so that everyone works hard together.

"We're going to promote the guys who really deserve a game. Hopefully there's a lot of young boys that do make their way into the team."

Thompson said he had not set any team expectations for next season, but was looking forward to seeing some of his younger players flourish in 2007.

"I'd like to see (Travis) Varcoe play a lot of football. I'd like to see Tom Hawkins play, in his first year, at least five to 10 games. Nathan Ablett and (Andrew) Mackie you'd like to see play 15-20 games," he said.

Geelong's chances next season will again hinge on the success of its forward line, which Thompson says has more options than ever.

"You've got Ottens, Nathan Ablett, (Paul) Chapman, Gary Ablett, (Charlie) Gardiner (and) Cam Mooney at centre- half forward -there's six there," he said.

"There's probably up to eight or 10 guys that we would be really happy to play in the forward line."

One of those options is father-son recruit Tom Hawkins, who Thompson says is certainly being factored into the Cats' 2007 forward line structure, despite having to battle the weight of expectation that is coming the 18-year-old's way.

"We always worry about it - that we don't put too much pressure on young men -but in saying that, if he's ready to play we're going to play him," Thompson said.

"We're going to play our best 22 that we think's right to Win games and if he's part of that we won't be holding him back be- cause we want to look after him and nurse him along.

"If he's good enough to play, he'll play. He's been trained up as a forward -that's where he's going to play."

Thompson said he was very pleased with the club's recruits, saying they all fulfilled the club's desire to take kids "who can run, and run pretty quickly, and who are footy smart and can kick the ball".

"I think all the boys that we've got at the club are pretty strong in those areas we're looking for," he said.

"Hawkins, (Joel) Selwood, (Nathan) Djerrkura, (Simon) Hogan - good runners, good decision makers, can kick the ball well."

Yes Mark, we do need to win some games.

Posted by Sammy D at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2007

The Review: Week 7 (December 7th - December 13th)

Geelongblog.com got data back from the GFC saying it was the 49th favourite source information for fans narrowly trailing some butcher in East Geelong and just ahead of the Asian guy in my local milkbar. #1 source of information was of course gfc.com.au.

Pre-season was in full swing with fitness coach Paul Haines excited by the early progress;

"It's a real bonus to see guys like Brad Ottens and Steven King out on the track and King (who has not played a full season since 2002) is training unbelievably well," Haines said.

Haines has also seen massive improvement in some of the Cats' young players as well.

"Brent Prismall is working really well, he is in great nick, and young guys like Ryan Gamble have bulked up as well."

Rookie Draft

Joel Reymolds - #37
Height: 188cm
Weight: 84kg
Clubs: St. Josephs, Geelong U/18s, Essendon
DOB: 5/6/1984

Reynolds played 38 games in five seasons at Windy Hill. The 22 year old Reynolds played 11 games last season before being delisted by the Bombers. He was originally a second round selection and made his debut in round three, 2002 against Brisbane. Reynolds is the grandson of all time AFL great Dick Reynolds. He played his under 18 football with the Geelong Falcons.

Liam Bedford - #42
Height: 180cm
Weight: 68kg
Clubs: Claremont
DOB: 12/7/1988

Bedford hails from Western Australia and played with Claremont. He is an 18-year old wingman/ half back. He stands at 180cm and has exceptional pace. He was taken with the 23rd pick. Bedford played WAFL Colts and reserves with Claremont, and he helped the Tigers reach the Colts grand final where they went down by a goal to East Perth.

Jason Davenport - #41
Height: 185cm
Weight: 82kg
Clubs: Geelong VFL
DOB: 4/9/1985
Achievements: Fothergill-Round Medal (2006)

Davenport is something of a late comer to football after concentrating on basketball in his teens. He was one of the VFL's leading players as a dynamic midfield and earned a call up through a rookie draft.

Tom Lonergan - #13
Height: 197cm
Weight: 97kg
Clubs: Yarrawonga, Calder U/18s
DOB: 17/5/1984

Suffered one the most serious injuries of 2006 when he courageously backed into a pack in round 21 and a few days later had a kidney removed as a result of the collision. It was a major operation and it will be a slow process before he takes the field again. The young big man was playing his third senior game of the season after being part of the Cats’ NAB Cup premiership side. The Cats have moved Lonergan on to their rookie list after he decided last November that he would play on. The football world will be watching and no doubt applauding his comeback.

Posted by Sammy D at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)