Geelong Season Review

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My next club reviewed is the Cats, who had quite an interesting season. Get onto inside50.wordpress.com to check out the rest of the reviews and to give my articles a rating. Thanks for reading everyone  ;)

Geelong Season Review

Season in a Snapshot

Ladder Position: 6th â€" 15 wins, 7 losses (117.13%) â€" Knocked out in the Elimination Finals
Most Disposals: Joel Selwood (511)
Most Goals: Tom Hawkins (62)
Played Every Game: Andrew Mackie
Debutants: Lincoln McCarthy (1 game), Jordan Schroder (1 game), George Horlin-Smith (3 games), Jonathon Simpkin (4 games), Jackson Sheringham (5 games), Josh Walker (7 games), Jordan Murdoch (8 games), Orren Stephenson (8 games), Jesse Stringer (8 games), Billie Smedts (14 games)

Stat Leaders:

Kicks: Steve Johnson (299)
Handballs: Joel Selwood (231)
Tackles: James Kelly (121)
Hit Outs: Trent West (497)
Clearances: Joel Selwood (141)
Marks: Tom Hawkins (141)
Contested Possessions: Joel Selwood (272)
Uncontested Possessions: Steve Johnson (286)
Inside 50s: Joel Selwood (102)
Rebound 50s: Corey Enright (75)

Best & Fairest:

1. Tom Hawkins (1394)
2. Joel Selwood (1388)
3. Corey Enright (1380)
4. Harry Taylor (1355)
5. James Kelly (1294)
6. Jimmy Bartel (1282)
7. Steve Johnson (1252)
8. Andrew Mackie (1250)
9. Mitch Duncan (1219)
10. Tom Lonergan (1213)

NAB Rising Star Nominations:

Steven Motlop â€" Nominated for his round 6 performance against the Melbourne Demons. He played a sweeping role in the forward half, where he picked up 28 touches. Motlop overcame his bad shoulder injuries this year to break into the side and pop up as an exciting small forward who could kick goals. He managed to hold his place over veteran Shannon Byrnes and had a very good year.

How did the Season go:

Geelong came into this season the reigning premiers and were looking to build even more on a dynasty that will already go down in time as one of the greatest. Recent history showed us that this would not be a good year for the Cats, with all their premierships coming in odd years in recent times. It started with a thriller against Fremantle, with the Cats going down by just 4 points at Patersons. They came back to the MCG and had another classic against Hawthorn, where they won by only 2 points to keep the Kennett Curse alive. This included three final quarter goals to James Podisadly in an amazing come from behind win.  Their form continued to be up and down, as they lose to North Melbourne, and their run and carry was outplayed by the Kangaroos adopting a similar game plan. They came back with 3 strong wins over the Tigers, Lions and Demons though, to keep themselves around the top 8. They went over to Adelaide, and were beaten by the Crows as well as the Magpies the following week. As before though, they rallied and won their next three matches over the Bulldogs, Giants and Blues. Some of those games were a bit too close though, and the Cats had the danger of losing some of them. For a side that seemed to be in the top 8 for granted, they were struggling at times. Still, going into the bye they were at 7 wins and 4 losses, and looking good to consolidate on that in the second half of the year. They came out after the bye and had a very close loss to Sydney, by only a goal at the SCG, then had a good win over Port. To say they struggled against the Suns is an understatement, as they were blown out of the water early on in the match, and were losing at half time. Luckily, they were able to come back in the second half, as the younger Gold Coast players began to tire, but they showed real cracks in this game. After this they again lost to Collingwood, showing their shaky form. Again, they came back after playing bad for a couple of games, with wins over the Bombers, Crows and another thriller over the Hawks. The Cats again beat them by two points after a miracle shot after the siren by Tom Hawkins from outside 50 to win the game. A close loss to the Eagles was followed by another three wins in a row against the Saints, Bulldogs and Swans. They probably could have made the top 4 if they had won their close matches, but instead they only did well enough to make 6th and host Fremantle in the Elimination Final. No one expected much of Fremantle at all and the Cats were just about a given to make it through to the Semis, but no one could see what came next. Much like in the Gold Coast match, the Dockers came out absolutely firing against the Cats and stunned them in the first quarter. At quarter time the score was 5.7(37) to 0.1(1). The Cats got better after the quarter time break, but just couldn’t come back from the large deficit. It appeared that they were just too old and slow at the start and that they couldn’t cope with the pressure. It was not a good end to what, overall, hadn’t been so bad a year.
This was definitely a very different Geelong team to the one that won the premiership last year. This is clear from the 10 debutantes they used this year as they start to find replacements from the club legends who are all starting to retire. We saw some good development come from the forward line, where Tom Hawkins has become one of the best key forwards in the league. He has really improved their goal power this year and is surrounded by capable smalls like Allen Christensen and Steven Motlop. The midfield was very good this year, with players like Duncan and Hunt fitting in well with the likes of Kelly, Corey and new skipper Selwood. The backline is still looking quite old though, and the Cats will be wanting some more good players to come through there soon.

Excitement of the Season:

The excitement of the Cats this season has to be Tom Hawkins. After being dropped several times in 2011, and used mainly as a backup ruckman, we all know the story of him exploding in last year’s final series and being the 2011 Grand Final hero, where he just about single-handedly won the game for the Cats. Big things were expected of him this year after the retirement of Cameron Mooney, and he did not disappoint. He kicked 62 goals this year, which tied second for the Coleman Medal, won the Cats Best and Fairest, polled 20 votes in this year’s Brownlow and finished second in the league for contested marks (behind only Travis Cloke). The presence he had around every contest was amazing and he was very consistent, also winning his first All Australian jumper as the full forward over Matthew Pavlich. He only missed one game for the year, which came as a result of a concussion. His best game for the year came in the round 19 2 point win over Hawthorn. He dominated on Ryan Schoenamkers all day, kicking 6 goals 2, but his best moment came after the final siren. He marked the ball with only seconds left on the 50 and went back to take the shot. The kick that came was a monster and deadly accurate and the scenes after the win were quite amazing. Check them out in the video below. Hawkins had a great season, and Geelong have found themselves an amazing key forward for the next half a dozen years.

Disappointment of the Season:

There weren’t many disappointments at the Cats this season, but one player who failed to get a game at the club was Shannon Byrnes. A popular player and clubman, Byrnes was instrumental in the 2009 premiership win and had played a big role at the club for many years. He spent almost all of 2011 injured, and 2012 was quite a disappointing year for him. As an energetic small forward, he was expected to keep his place in the team as a player who kept on the pressure and popped up to kick a few goals now and then in the forward line. His first game came in round 2, but he was dropped after round 3, with only 9 touches in each of the games and 1 goal from them both. He also played in rounds 6 and 7, but again failed to impress and was dropped to the VFL for the rest of the year. Other smalls Allen Christensen and Steven Motlop held their places over Byrnes. Byrnes ended the year by going to Melbourne as a Free Agent, and hopefully he can enjoy a better year next year at Demons, seeing as he has so much to offer a club that desperately needs help.

Where is the club heading next year:

Next year could really go either way for the Cats. On the one hand they have an aging core group of players, have just lost legend of the game Matthew Scarlett and not many people are rating them as genuine chances next year. On the other hand it will be an odd year, which should mean success and they have recently acquired Jared Rivers, Hamish McIntosh and Josh Caddy in the Free Agency and Trade periods. All three are good players. Rivers will fill some of the hole left in the backline by the retirement of Scarlett (but he can’t be expected to do as good a job as him). Caddy will help provide more youth to the midfield and be a good, young hard body that will complement the older players well. McIntosh is the big scalp for the Cats though, as this year, after the retirement of Brad Ottens, they have really struggled in the ruck. They have used mature aged recruit Orren Stephenson in tandem with Trent West in a combination that just hasn’t really worked at all. McIntosh is a first class ruckman and will be able to do good things at the Cats. There should be some more development from the Cats’ youth next year, but they have a long list of aging stars that will all retire within the next three years. Kelly, Corey, Enright, Johnson, Hunt, Podsiadly, Chapman and Bartel are all in the twilights of their careers, and you feel that the club will struggle once they are all gone. Still, they are aiming for success one more time before all of these players retire and next year will probably be the last roll of the dice to get up onto the big stage for these legends of the club. They will be pushing for a finals spot next year, and high up, but I think around 14 wins and a placing around 5th-7th would be a realistic pass mark for the team next year.

Final Say:

It was a solid year for the Cats, who had their bad games, but always managed to come back in the following weeks and remind everyone who the reigning premiers were. The season ended badly with the Elimination Final loss to Fremantle, and for the aging list, I see next year as the last roll of the dice to win another premiership. Overall I give Geelong a C+ for season 2012.