Round 22: Box and One, or, Save Us, Brad Ottens

First of all, thanks for all the well wishes (and language advice) for my upcoming trip. I have found a bar that, while being at cringe inducing “Aussie” levels, should be showing the Grand Final. Hopefully there’ll be a reason for me to watch it.

As for the status of Big League, my last blog will probably be after the first final, but from there on out, Mrs Watson will be taking over as caretaker coach! Great news! Let’s get behind Mrs W and hope his scathing, completely baseless and slanderous opinions of Brett Burton and Dale Thomas are enough to get us over the line.

As for the Cats, well, despite a reasonably good 3rd quarter fight back it was, unfortunately, more of the same; they looked slow, tired, sloppy and the defence looked about as solid as Shane Watson’s batting technique. (Even though his opening the batting did surpass my meagre expectations, surely Phil Hughes was worth persevering with. But I digress; no cricket talk until September is behind us, I promise.)

As Mrs Watson and I watched the game from my pad (and sampled a selection of his growing beer collection) it became glaring clear that there was one major issue with Geelong’s game-plan or structure or zone or set-up or whatever; the Cats gave up waaaaaaaaay too many easy goals on the turn over.

Granted, due to the way The Cats style of play (or are the style they are to remember how to play), they will occasionally cough up an easy one going the other way. This happened even at the height of their powers in ’07 and ’08. However, against the Dogs it was out of control. It seemed like every Bulldogs goal was the same; Geelong turnover at half-forward, run and carry, long kick over stranded ‘zoning’ defenders, easy shot on goal. Rinse and repeat.

And it must be terribly deflating for the team. Working so far through the middle and then one little mistake (or a large one, thank you Mark Blake) and you’re watching the ball sail back over your head like you’re Nathan Hauritz. It was classic Pagan’s paddock stuff, and it was allowed to work because Geelong’s defenders were getting sucked up the ground.

This happens for two reasons; the first, which I don’t believe was the case, is that defenders, in one-on-one mode, simply follow their opponents out of the forward line as teams try to clear out some space. The second reason is defenders pressing up to the centre, attempting a full, 18-man Hawthorn style zone.

The “cluster” works thusly: When the ball is deep in the forward line all the defenders push up the ground and set up a zone, each guarding space, not a specific man, in one half of the ground only: 18 men in 75-odd metres of oval. The mass numbers that are available to any particular contest means intense defensive pressure can be applied, resulting in, best case scenario, a turnover, and if not, restricting quick ball movement and allowing defenders time to push back if necessary. Following me so far?

It’s a gamble. The downside is (and Geelong exposed this somewhat in ‘08) that if you move quickly and decisively enough through the zone it can be easy to score against. The upside is that you should force enough turnovers in dangerous positions and apply enough scoreboard pressure that you can withstand the odd cheapie.

Here lies Geelong’s problem (at least against the Bulldogs): They’re getting all the downside of the 18-man rolling zone and none of the upside.

At the moment our backs are finding themselves very quickly out of position because our forward line does not have the physical capabilities to put enough pressure on rebounding defenders. The answer? Geelong’s defence needs to return to a more traditional positional structure.

Geelong’s defenders need to hold their ground a little more, like they did in 2007. A zone can still be employed further up the ground, but leave at least one man out, if not two or three, guarding the most dangerous part of the ground, 20-45m out, directly in front of goal; roughly the spot Luke Hodge parked his Colac mullet for the entire 2008 Grand Final.

As well as that, here are six more things we need to be successful, not only this week, but for the finals series:

1) Geelong needs to find another small defender to fill Josh Hunt’s spot. James Kelly was doing beautifully, and is back this week, but has missed seven weeks (a seven week hammy!!) of football. DJ was given a shot and has now, correctly, been given the ass. Can Wojack find some form in his 150th? Will Simon Hogan be given a chance down there? Either way, someone needs to step up to allow the following three things to happen.

2) Joel Corey needs to spend more time in at centre bounces. He’s our clearance specialist and, while he’s done admirably, I don’t really trust him at full-back, do you?

3) Andrew Mackie needs to push forward as much as possible, even if it means playing him on the wing. As we’ve seen in the past few weeks, Muscles gives the best delivery to our forwards on this team bar maybe a fit Steve Johnson. He has good vision, makes good choices and no-one else is capable of that low, hard accurate kick over 50+ metres.

4) Darren Milburn should spend some time forward. He reads the play extremely well, has great hands, is an accurate kick and would provide a contest and a bit more malice up there. Probably more of a pinch hitter still, but, if match-ups allow, I’d be interested to see how he went if he was given a full game there. He certainly couldn’t be any worse than Ryan Gamble.

5) Matthew Stokes to play that true small forward role. The defensive assignments Bomber has been giving him may have been punishment more than anything. Chapman will come back in for someone, so Stokes needs to get back to basics; crumb for the big guys, chase and tackle, sneak into dangerous spots when appropriate and make us all remember a time when Shannon Byrnes was the most despised 5’6” forward pocket on the team.

6) Brad Ottens (and everybody else for that matter) to get through an entire AFL match unscathed just in time to save us. Do it, sex-fingers. Give us a Clark Keating-type September and we’ll gladly sacrifice another 50 teenage Geelong groupies to you.

Over to you, Lips.


Captain: WC, Geel, Ess, Adel, Bris, PA, StK, WB.
Season Tally: 120-48

Mrs Watson: Will be here soon enough.

Round 21: A (de)parting shot

Alright Big Leaguers, it’s time for full disclosure: I, the Captain, have bravely volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Geelong Football Club and for you, the faithful, for the good of the 2009 finals series. I’m putting myself in the breach, taking one for the team and putting my hand up as the ultimate team player to all but guarantee a successful September for the Cats.

That’s right, I’m leaving the country.

Following the lead of Mrs Watson, (who navigated a successful 2007 campaign from the many dive bars and steakhouses of Northern America) I will be knee deep in croissant and fine (cheap) champagne by the time Grand Final 2009 rolls around. Prelim too, for that matter.

So as I learn how to ask, “Is this beer full-strength?” in French, it seems everyone is lining up to ask questions of the Cats: Are they too nicked up? Can they mix it with Collingwood and St Kilda? Can the forward line function in the finals? Is Brad Ottens merely a figment of the Bellarine Peninsula’s imagination?

These questions are not new. Indeed, we’ve been asking, and attempting to answer, them for the best part of two months. So let me indulge you just a little longer.

Cast your mind back to that Round 16 St Kilda epic against St Kilda. Both teams were pretty much at full-strength (Steve Johnson aside) and the game was played at a rabid, finals-level intensity for the entire 100+ minutes. It’s almost the only game that counts, so far.

Both teams got a good look at one another, to “measure up”, if you will. Both sides would have come away encouraged.

The Saints have barely made a change from that day’s line-up and have (almost) bested all challengers since. The Cats form since that game, however, has been pretty patchy, leading me to two possibilities.

1) Seeing that they were good enough to be close enough, The Cats, learning from last year (as we’ve covered), have since been in a complete management phase, aimed purely at September. (I remind you that Hawthorn lost to Richmond in the last month of last season.) It explains the positional changes, the player trials and the resting. It might also explain how, more than a few times now, Geelong have been able to almost “turn it on” in the 4th quarter when required. Ideally this scenario ends with Ottens, Johnson, Kelly, Harley etc all coming back in round 22 and an unchanged side sweeping through September with the intensity turned back up to 11. Or…

2) The Cats, as we’ve known them, are done.

In a sport where we are constantly reminded that ‘a week’s a long time’ three years is an eternity.

But as a man counting the days until his departure, let me tell you that it all still unfolds one moment at a time.

Don’t worry, I’m (we’re) not gone yet.


Captain: Geel, Carl, Adel, Bris, Haw, StK, Col, Ess.
Season Tally: 115-45

Mrs Watson: Unavailable (I forgot to txt him)
Season Tally: 104-56

Round 20: Realism

"What's going to happen here? Are our boys going to find something and win two premierships and win the respect we've deserved and searched for? Or are we just going to fade out?" – Mark Thompson, August 9 2009.

There it is; the $64 million question, voiced as succinctly and as meaningfully as possible, by the one bloke who’s in a position to answer it. And while his answer seemingly puts all the responsibility squarely back on the players, it all depends on how you take it: To paraphrase Sidney Dean, “you can listen to Lips but you can’t hear him.”

Thompson was speaking at the GFC 150 year anniversary celebrations, which, depending on your perspective, makes it either a flippant, preaching-to-the-choir type crowd pleaser or a most public of call-outs by a coach to his players. Robert Walls, for example, took it as uncertainty; as a sign of weakness. Stephen Quartermain, on the other hand, saw it as an uplifting call to arms spoken from the heart. Andrew Bews compared Thompson to Sir Winston Churchill. All valid opinions when considered from each biased perspective.

As for my bias, the cynic in me suggests that on such an occasion it seems likely, almost expected, that the coach would speak in glowing hyperbole only, wanting to keep the spirit high amongst a crowd primed and ready to receive the good word.

The pessimistic side of my psyche thought it’s possible that Lips, maybe after a couple of chardonnays, let some honest doubts slip. It is worth noting that the language he used (“… find something”) suggests that the remedy to the current form slump will take a pretty big effort. Also, the choice of the term “fade-out” is interesting, as it implies a continuing, inevitable decline and not merely a dip in form or the result of a few injuries.

But I'm also part romantic, and that part was transfixed as Bomber spoke, heart-rate rising, neck hairs standing to attention and my non-existent hay-fever suddenly on the verge of playing up (if you know what I mean). I imagined the players in that room, surrounded by 150 years of small town pride, regret, expectation and most of all hope. I reckoned they could build the banner out of bricks this week.

In the following days, Lips admitted that his speech was premeditated. Does that make it any less believable or any more valid? Was it a heartfelt, last-chance plea or a choreographed piece of theatre?

Geelong could not have gone through their 2008 experience without learning something about premiership football. Was the lesson better injury management; about not carrying sore bodies into finals, about getting players right for September, even if it costs games in July and August? Or was it that sometimes you do need a plan B and that it pays to keep something up your sleeve?

I reckon there's a few things about to become clear down at Geelong, starting with the players responding in the only form they can.

But then again, I’m an optimist.


Captain: Adel, Coll, Kan, WB, Geel, Fre, PA, StK.
Season Tally: 110-42 (Miles in front Sheahan)

Mrs Watson: Haw, Coll, WC, WB, Syd, Mel, PA, StK.
Season Tally: 100-52 (Also miles in front of Sheahan)

Round 19: Time Enough

There was interesting article in The Age a couple of weeks ago about Geelong (when I say ‘interesting article’, I actually mean it raised one interesting point, but anyway) and how they are handling their preparations for finals this year. There was a quote from Ken Hinkley that went something like; “We had the best season (in 2008) but Hawthorn had the best September.” As well as providing the perfect summary of what happened last season, Hinkley went on to say that this year they’re preparing a little differently, viewing the finals as a separate season and hoping to hit their peak come September, and this little insight gives me confidence that the Cats know what they’re doing.

Even with the saturated AFL media coverage we experience thee days, two of the main factors that influence on-field performance is something that we still don’t know much about; one, the physical condition of the players, and two, the coaches instructions.

Over the past month we’ve seen players rested, players with minor niggles given extra time to recuperate, a number of second tier players trialled (hello Kane Tenace) as well an usual amount of player positional experimentation. The big question is; is it working? Is Geelong better placed this year than last on the run into September?

Since that can not be answered comprehensively until the premiership has been decided, let’s look at a few of things we do know. Firstly, the Cats record is 16-2, and they’re set for a top 2 finish which is as well placed as possible for a Grand Final birth.

Secondly, there has been progress made in player development; Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel and James Kelly have spent a lot of time at half-back, Tom Hawkins is finding some confidence in the ruck, the Blake/Mumford question has been (definitively) answered, the defence is getting big-game experience and responsibility without some of it’s leaders and 3 rookies have been tried out.

And thirdly, (thirdly doesn’t sound right, does it?) the player management model of ‘no-risks, save them for September’ is in full-effect. Yes, we seem to have a long injury list at the moment but on closer inspection they are all 1-2 week type of deals. This tells me that a lot of these players are being handled extremely cautiously.

Chapman, Scarlett, Taylor, Kelly et all are getting vital rest and rehab as September approaches. Already we have seen Ablett, Steve Johnson and Tom Harley given breaks during the year, and Brad Ottens is getting ready to pull his best Clark Keating impression. Plus, it has been reported (albeit quietly) that Geelong has just come off an extremely heavy training load period, which may explain some of the low level soft tissue complaints and the lack lustre periods during games. It also means that September should see them in peak physical condition.

All very well, you say, but isn’t it flirting with form? We can’t just throw the players together and expect immediate success can we? Well, yes we can. Continuity is important in team play, yes, but it is established over 4-5 years, not 4-5 weeks. Plus, we may have already seen Geelong prove this during the fourth quarters of the past two weeks.

Against Hawthorn and Adelaide, when the game has been up for grabs, Lips has gone back to his tried and true line-up. Joel Corey, who has filled in at half-back most the year, went back to the middle. Ablett, who had been playing as a forward, was back in the middle. Jimmy Bartel, being played a kick behind the ball, was allowed to push forward. And Joel Selwod was, well, Joel Selwood.

The end of the season is rapidly approaching. The Cats have 2-3 weeks to get their shit (and their best 22) together. Plenty of time.


Captain: Gee, WB, StK, Bris, Adel, NM, Syd, PA.
Season Tally: 106-38

Mrs Watson: Gee, WB, Haw, Bris, Coll, Mel, Rich, PA.
Season Tally: 98-46 (approx. There’s that mystery week missing)