Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Just One Week

Port Adelaide was the better team last week. It was as simple as that. The skills of The Cats were sloppy, the pressure wasn’t as fierce as it’s been and they were a step slow and second to the ball all day. When they finally woke up in the last 10 minutes, courtesy of a moment of genius, of greatness confirmed, Gary Junior and Geelong somehow hit the front. I screamed as loud as I could. I hugged a stranger. And then it was gone again. And then I realised its just one week. Just one week with a loss. Just one week left in the season. Just one week.

Despite the empty post-game feeling, there was the sense that we had done well to almost steal a game we had no business winning. Geelong seemed so far off the pace, and Port so switched on, yet only a single kick had been the difference. There was also a sense of achievement about the season that, being the last home game, needed to be recognised. It was if the game was merely a farewell before we send the boys off to the finals. And like family waving soldiers off to war, we had a heightened sense of perspective. It’s about the big picture. It’s about September. Has been all season. Mark Williams can take all the cheap publicity he can get. We knew it was just one week.

The Brisbane game now becomes a fully-fledged ‘just don’t get any fucking injuries’ affair. After playing without Ling, Bartel and Selwood, and being smashed at the stoppages, it has become abundantly clear that it is not necessarily about having the deepest list but rather about having the top end of that depth chart available. (West Coast being the amazing exception, performing admirably without Cousins, Embley, Kerr, as well as carrying Chris Judd who has a bigger limp than ‘House’ at the moment.)

Yes, the Cats have a very even team and pretty deep playing list, but I tell you what, I’d rather have a corpse playing centre half back than Henry Playfair. And as for Shannon Byrnes, how he continues to draw an AFL paycheque has me baffled. Yes, I know it's harsh language, but I said it, baffled.

Mrs. Watson raised an interesting point regarding The Cats questionable form of the past two weeks; maybe they’re just tired, he said. And although I can’t see how they’d be any more tired than other teams, it has certainly looked that way at times during recent weeks. Therefore, it was probably good management to get some rest into the youngster Selwood and the hardest working man in football, Cameron Ling. Even if it was just one week.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Bradley Ottens didn’t make the trip to Brisbane, leaving King and Blake to battle it out for their finals spots while also giving Ottens’ groin a week off (please, insert your own joke here). In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing a few other players, especially those with niggling injuries, spared the trip to Brisbane. But on the flip side of that coin, it would prove wise to select Jared/Max, even if he is a little underdone, and give him at least one week in the seniors before finals.

Now, to blatantly disregard the ‘one week at a time’ slogan that has taken over this football club and indeed city, the most important game of The Cats season is the first week of the finals. No doubt about it. At this stage it looks like it will be against either Hawthorn or the Kangaroos, neither of which we should especially fear. It will be the most important week for the GFC for a lot of reasons, most of which I shouldn’t have to, and won’t, list here. But also, notably, a first up victory gives The Cats a week off. And after 2 finals, 22 home & away matches, 4 pre-season games and probably 6 months of pre-season, that one week makes a big difference. All premiership teams that I can remember (except, I think, one of Blighty’s Crows teams) have had that week off.

Yep, just one week.

Monday, August 20, 2007

How to Get Ahead, or, What Lid?

By now we’ve all heard, and indeed adopted as our mantra as Cats supporters, the phrase ‘keep a lid on it’. We’ve had it drilled into us by fellow supporters, the club itself and on these here pages. We’ve been beaten to death with it. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this sick of hearing a catch phrase since Uncle Joey from Full House started pulling the ‘cut it out’ routine, complete with ridiculous hand gestures. But, Tanner family hi-jinx aside, what exactly are we ‘keeping a lid’ on?

Last year Geelong’s disappointing season was largely chalked up to the players and club ‘taking the lid off’ and, after a pre-season cup premiership and two impressive opening victories in the season proper, ‘getting ahead of themselves’ But, again, what is ‘getting ahead of oneself?’

This season the club is committed, across the board, to a full-on ‘one week at a time’ routine. They review each game and the group’s performance in the same manner on Monday, be it win, lose or draw. Then, leaving that week behind, they focus on the upcoming match, not looking back or daring to look any further ahead. It is a conceited effort to maintain this program across all facets of the club that is now being credited for Geelong’s success. But is it that simple?

Perhaps. Although I have ended every paragraph so far with a question, this piece does have a point: The Geelong players now understand what they need to do every week in order to win. Early in the season the Cats, for whatever reason, committed to that burning intensity required to get to, and stay at, the top. It is a Zen-like focus that requires 100% attention, intention and energy into every effort made on the field. This has resulted in an incredible 15 game win streak and an understanding that they don’t need to ‘keep a lid on it’ at all, because the truth is, there is no lid.

The gap between top and bottom is miniscule in today’s AFL: Other than West Coast, the current top 5 teams on this season’s ladder did not play finals last year. Read that sentence again. None of those teams, Geelong included, have had a massive overhaul in terms of list, nor have any of them installed a new coach since last season. Conversely, the other teams in the competition have not had a ridiculous loss of talented players or coach either. Regardless, the label of good and bad is assigned to teams at some point or another throughout the season, and good teams are expected to win and keep winning.

At some point, as a ‘good’ team, you have to accept that you’re not underdogs anymore, that you’re not just trying to win back some sort of lost respect, but that you know how to win and you’re going to go out there and do just that. Winning demands more winning and we shouldn’t shy away from that.

We, as supporters, cannot, as opposed to should not, take the lid off either. It is not ours to take. There is certainly some joy in the team’s performance thus far, pre-game at the pub each week expecting another victory being one of my favourites, but we have also awoken. We no longer need to be told. We can see the resolve in the team. We can sense the unity amongst the players. We can feel their concentrated focus.

As an overall view, every team’s goal is to win the premiership. For some, being realistic, it may not be this season, or next. For them it is about obtaining and then developing younger players. If they’re lucky, those young players will develop into a team. If they’re extremely lucky that team will one day learn what it takes to win, what it takes to become a ‘good’ team. And good teams that know how to win also know that you’re only as good as your last game. Especially if the last game happens to fall on the last Saturday in September.

Fear the lid no more, brothers and sisters, for it doesn’t really exist. Just as The Buddha taught us that his religion is merely a raft to be discarded once one reaches the other side of the river, so to has Bomber taught us that the lid must stay on only long enough to prove that it isn’t needed.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

News, Notes & Quotes? Not Bloody Likely

*Just a brief entry this week as it's been a busy time in The Captain's household. But fear not, Big League Little League is gearing up for an all out assault on the finals. Remember folks, keep that lid on, no matter what Mrs. “19-3” Watson tells ya.

Paul Chapman and Max Rooke will make their returns this week, Chappy straight into the seniors and, although Rooke will come back through the VFL, Lips has already stated that Jared/Max will be back in the seniors as soon as he’s ready.

Add to this the ‘3-headed ruck monster’ dilemma, the continued excellent VFL form of Josh Hunt, Tim Callan and others, and the Cats have what you’d call ‘good selection problems’. So, what is Geelong’s best team? Let’s have a look, shall we, starting with the 22 as named prior to last week’s game:

B: Darren Milburn – Matthew Scarlett – Tom Harley
HB: Andrew Mackie – Matthew Egan – David Wojcinski
C: James Kelly – Jimmy Bartel – Joel Corey
HF: Steve Johnson – Cameron Mooney – Joel Selwood
F: Shannon Byrnes – Nathan Ablett – Mathew Stokes
Foll: Steven King – Gary Ablett – Cameron Ling
Int: David Johnson, Mark Blake, Brad Ottens, Corey Enright

Although Varcoe took the place of Silkworm Blake, that’s a pretty strong line-up. I’d make the following adjustments, however, assuming that everybody is fit to play:

B: Darren Milburn – Matthew Scarlett – Tom Harley
HB: Andrew Mackie – Matthew Egan – David Wojcinski
C: James Kelly – Jimmy Bartel – Joel Corey
HF: Steve Johnson – Cameron Mooney – Joel Selwood
F: Paul Chapman – Nathan Ablett – Mathew Stokes
Foll: Brad Ottens – Gary Ablett – Cameron Ling
Int: Max Rooke, Mark Blake, Travis Varcoe, Corey Enright.

That looks about as good as it will get. Anyone think differently?

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Sheeds and The Sanitarium

Not one week after I said Essendon didn’t have the prunes to fire Kevin Sheedy he got the boot. I figured, having been in the job for as long as I’ve been alive, he’d be allowed to retire when he was good and ready. But he’s gone now and he’s not coming back. And it’s probably for the best.

Sheedy has been a big figure in the game for a long time, but as a coach, he’s probably gotten more credit than he’s deserved, especially over the last 5 years in which Essendon have gone from finishing 5th in 2002 to 15th last season. Essendon are shit and have been shit for a long time, and the fact that Sheedy is making so much noise about his future and ‘rattling a few cages’ on his way out only confirms that he’s done: The most senile pensioner in the nursing home thinks they’re perfectly normal, and right now Sheeds is busy telling everyone how sane he is. Stick a fork in him.

Melbourne looms as the only club that would consider him but I tend to think they’re making enquiries more out of respect, and to be seen that they’re ‘pursuing all avenues’, than out of any genuine interest. Besides, The Demons seem to have their eye fairly and squarely on Chris Connolly, the only of the four coaches that have been booted that seems likely to find new employment.

Mark Harvey always seemed a good thing to take over at Freo. He has been groomed to be a head coach for a fair time now and was touted as a potential Connolly replacement as soon as he joined as an assistant. In three games he has pulled two seemingly impossible results out of the over-rated Dockers list and now must be a certainty to sign on.

At Carlton, Brett Ratten seems to be getting something out of that putrid stink pool of players, which is now in full on tank mode with Pagan out of the way. (And good on ‘em too: If I were the Blues, I’d be tanking my little heart out.) Curiously though, Barry Mitchell has been brought back in to the fold, and for those who don’t remember, Mitchell was the man the Carlton board wanted to take over when they tried to axe Pagan the first time. So despite Ratten’s efforts, the Blues next coach will again be decided in the boardroom rather than on the playing field. That leaves Essendon as the sole club without an obvious replacement. That seems to bring everyone to Lips Thompson.

Bomber is out of contract at season’s end, which, despite what Caroline Wilson thinks, doesn’t really mean all that much in terms of coaches coming or going. (In Terry Wallace’s case, she continues to spout, like an obsessed fan, instead of the ‘head football writer’ that she is supposed to be, that he still has two years to run on his contract and therefore is not considered in danger of losing his job. Let me just say this; a coach being ‘under contract’ has never affected him losing his job. Just ask Malcolm Blight, fired 9 weeks into an alleged million dollar contract at St.Kilda. So instead of giving voice to the ridiculously dismal performance of ‘Terry Terrific’ at Richmond, Caro continues to plant Red Herrings around the Richmond Football club. First it was injuries. Then it was Danny Frawley’s fault. An instability problem. Greg Miller. A recruiting problem. Now, it’s that Terry needs time to run his famed ‘5-year’ plan. Well, Caro, I’ll take a leaf out of Terry’s book and give you a glimpse into the future; in two more years, at the end of the grand, five year vision, you’ll still be shit. Only not only will you be shit, but you’ll also be lugging around the bloated contracts of Nathan Brown, Troy Simmonds and a 160kg Richo, all of whom by then will be moving about as well as Kirstey Alley stumbling her way to the all-you-can-eat buffet cart. Brett Deledio will have bolted for another club, the Nathan Foley mirage would have faded, Kane Johnson will have become so invisible that they will simply forget to play him, Richard Tambling will be asking if I’d ‘like fries with that’ and Graham Polak will be on trial for the double homicide of both Bowden brothers [which will end in a mistrial.]) Sure, being without a contract may make it easier for Bomber to just simply sign elsewhere, but despite that, and despite my distracting rant about Caroline Wilson and Terry Wallace, I don’t believe Thompson’s insistence on not discussing his contract situation until seasons end is any indication he’s leaving.

Everyone at Geelong has committed to being dedicated to this year – to the old one week at a time approach – so to begin talks now would be contradictory. It would be disrespectful. It would be saying that different rules apply to him than do to the players. And that’s not the message he wants to send. In fact, it’s just the opposite.

Geelong’s performance so far this season has come from the players’ belief in themselves and that their team-mates will do their jobs. Nothing more, nothing less. Just do what you’re supposed to. The fact that they have bought into this simple, reasonable assumption, and don’t want to let each other down, is a credit to the coach. It’s also the reason Lips doesn’t have to talk about next year: He knows he’s one of the only sane coaches left.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

The $13 King?

Steven King has finally been named in the Geelong senior side to take on the Tigers at KP this Saturday. Now, I like the thinking of bringing him back against Richmond, you know, ease him into it and all, but the fact is, there isn’t room for three ruckmen in any one team. And I’m starting to get suspicious.

Bradley ‘Sex Fingers’ Ottens and Mark ‘Silkworm’ Blake have not only carried the ruck duties with aplomb this season, they have provided us with two of the more ridiculous nicknames and also the unlikely scenario of Mrs. Watson buying a shitty badge to pin to his 15 year old Cats scarf and me using the word ‘aplomb’. Some might say Ottens could be played as a permanent forward, leaving King and Blake to share the ruck duties, but I think this and last season has definitively answered the question of Ottens as a permanent forward, with that answer being, freakin’ no. That’s not to say that he doesn’t do some good things down there, but rather that he’s best used as a ruckman who rests or drifts down to the forward line occasionally. As for Steven King as a forward, well, at this stage I’d probably rather see the big Silkworm winding his way out of the goal square than King. And that’s saying something.

The other problem is that it leaves the Cats top heavy and lacking the extra running player to rotate through the midfield or pick up a Tiger small forward. (Corey Enright is the player who has made way for King, missing due to what GFC.com describes as ‘shoulder soreness’.)

So, why my suspicions, I hear you ask? This is the deal: The whole King factor has been the one cloud hanging around the club like a hangover fart that just won’t go away. Being a former captain of the club it needs to be seen that he’s being paid his regard, thus, Lips Thompson has been saying ‘Steven King is important… he’s still a big part of the team… blah, blah, blah’ to anyone who will listen this season. The reality of it is that they’re very pleased with the current ruck combo and would like it if the King situation just went away; I mean, the last time the guy played a good game George Costanza was telling us, for the first time, how he’d drape himself in velvet if he could. This is why he has played so many VFL games; they were hoping he’d break down again and take the decision out of the club’s hands. Now that he hasn’t broken down, they’ve got to play him at some stage, as they’ve said they would, and it couldn’t be too late in the season or he’d never get in. So he plays against Richmond.

Upsetting the team balance, playing a guy who has been out all year and dropping one of your best players with a questionable injury is all starting to add up: The Cats have taken the $13 the Tiges are currently paying.

It all makes sense when you think of it like that. The Cats get to have ‘the loss they needed to have’, all while lining the GFC coffers with enough moolah to build another freakin grandstand, and change to send Max Rooke back to Germany, plus they get a convenient scapegoat in Steven King who then promptly pulls a Luke Darcy and announces his retirement. That’s gotta be it, right?

I mean, the only other option that makes sense is that Geelong think Richmond are so shit, and are that confident of winning, that they can throw almost anyone in there, three ruckmen if you don’t mind, and still win handsomely...

Actually, forget everything I said.

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