Faithless Fear
There was something terribly humanizing about
the first quarter of the Geelong v Sydney match on Friday night. I found myself
wondering how the players felt; if Matty Scarlett was watching goals sail over
his head, thinking, “Well, that’s it”, or if Joel Corey, struggling to impact
the centre, suddenly wondered, “What’s happening here?” For the first time in a
long time they were just ordinary blokes.
I had to remember back, to that feeling of
struggle, of not expecting to win, of being just another average, unpredictable
team in a league full of them. Geelong had lost their sheen, their sense of
invincibility. The Cats had come back to the pack. I was having 2006
flashbacks.
And so I was only half-watching the start of
the third quarter from the kitchen – fetching beers and whipping up a late feed
– when my good friend Steve said something that perked my ears up: “They’ve
turned it around. It’s on.” From that point on Geelong slowly arm-wrestled a
six goal deficit into a one goal lead, keeping the Swans almost scoreless, only
to lose in the last minute: A heart-breaker.
Once again the weekend’s result has left us
with more questions about the 2012 Cats than answers, most pertinently, what is
the real Geelong? The slow, ineffective team that leaked seven first quarter
goals, or the ruggedly determined one that almost ground out an improbable win?
Is it simply the case that last season Geelong won a few close games early in
the season and this year they’ve lost them? Is that a symptom of a greater
disease? Are the same men no longer the same players?
Chris Scott is playing it cool. He has
repeatedly said that they aim to be at their best in September, not June, that they
are about where they expected to be, that their tough run home has its advantages
too and that they’re looking at 2015 as much as 2012. (It is worth noting here
that Geelong has had more debutants this year than all other teams except GWS.)
Football, and sport in general, exists in the
space between science and religion, between faith and proof, between the stats
and the soul. This team has earned our trust. And there is plenty
of improvement left in them. But it must start now or it won’t start at all.
posted by the captain at 10:29 pm
5 Comments:
"Are the same men no longer the same players?"
Pretty much - we have lost some key players - especially Otto and Ling, and some other key players are definitely on the inevitable down slope (e.g. Smithy, Chappy, Wojo) where their form will fluctuate between great, good and ordinary.
Some of the younger blokes are looking great (e.g. Motlop, Bundy) but being all over the shop is going to be the new normal for some time I think.
I don't think any team would relish the idea of playing us week 1 of the finals, but nor do I think we are going to give it a real shake this year.
I am pretty fine with that though - it is impossible to indefinitely maintain the standards this team has set - even meeting that standard is impossible for a lot of teams (Hi Richmond!). I am content to fall back to the pack for a bit, win the grudge matches in the meantime (i.e. keeping the Hoax our bitches), then win the whole thing again soonish.
I hear you Attila but they can still give it a shake this year before dropping off next year.
Those players are still awesome when at their best. We're easy to play against & leak goals when we're being loose. We're impossible to beat when we're playing hard & with our senior blokes in the side.
Keep an eye on the newbies in the side in the coming weeks & let's see how they go. We'll be 9-5 after this week & the unrequired newbies should be getting phased out between rounds 20 to 22.
Previously mentioned senior blokes will be nursed into the finals fit & hungry. Then we truly will be able to win it from any position as we'll have the best quality of all the teams without actually being in the top 4.
The B Man.
Don't get me wrong - I would love to be proved incorrect - but I just don't think its possible to win the flag with such patchy form. We basically haven't put in a performance where we a) controlled a game throughout and strangled an opponent and/or b) beat three shades of shit out of a lesser team. Those kind of games were the hallmarks of our flag years, and of the Pies recently as well.
I don't doubt that a fit and on form Geelong would be an unwelcome prospect to any other finalist, but I just don't believe our current form of scraping by on the sheer talent/grit of a few guys (e.g. Bartel, Selwood, Hawkins on occasion)is going to be enough.
I would be utterly gutted if we fall off completely and miss the finals though - being able to remind Hoax fans of their 2009 flag "defence" is one of life's great joys.
Never fear Attila, it all depends on our top end players all being fit & ready at the pointy end. Provided they are we'll be right.
Firstly, they've been just holding teams at arms length during home & away for years now. They're probably sailing a bit closer to the wind at the moment but they have all the experience that the others don't.
Secondly, we have by far more inexperience in our team right now than we've had at any point in the past 6 seasons. These blokes need exposure so that we're not absolutely mega shit when our good players continue to retire all at once. Hopefully we'll get away with only being moderately shit.
Other teams don't have the luxury of piss farting around during the year & it's never occurred to them to try.
Right now we still have the best collection of top end talent & having them fit at the end is all that concerns me. Just remember the way we finished the 2009 home & away. Then think about how we started the qualifying final.
The B Man.
Am I imagining things or is the lid being firmly (and unduly) lifted?
http://www.geelongcats.com.au/geelongnews/newsarticle/tabid/3933/newsid/140817/default.aspx
Chris Scott is "supremely confident" of beating the Pies?
I thought pride was supposed to cometh before the fall, not during...
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