Three things you have learned R16 V Geelong

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1. Saturday night games start at 7:25, not 7:40 - sounds like I only missed the rubbish parts though.

2. Schache has gained some mental toughness over the course of the year. A quiet start against Collingwood saw him drop his bundle; tonight he kept at it and won some crucial clearances in the last quarter. A pretty dirty day but he can be proud of himself regardless.

3. Bont's gonna win the Brownlow. Dogs are gonna win the flag. How good is footy.

I was very dirty on Schache for most of the game. He earned his stripes tonight in persistence, and adhering to the mantra of 'if you can't own the game, own the moment. His 4th Qtr was not huge stats wise, but he got involved.

[bornadog]

1. We have a top midfield that is under rated by so called experts
2. Bevo is still a genius
3. We can Match it with the best

[Doc26]

1. Geelong would be better served staying focussed and learning how to win games away from their nest rather than continually being distracted by pushing so many self serving off-field agendas.

2. One can’t tire of beating the Cats.

3. Toby cares a lot.

[anfo27]

1. Schache keeps surprising me. Wasn't a great night for him but he still gave a contest. in the past he was like a witches hat on a night like this but tonight he kept fighting so i'm proud of his game.

2. Pat Lipinski is a special talent. I thought the kid was good but gee he impressed me again last night. His inside work against Selwood & Danger in the last in particular was special. We nailed this pick!

3. Bailey Smith is a ripper. I love this kid! i really enjoyed him giving it to Selwood after that goal. I hate Geelong!

[The Doctor]

1. Have known it for years but FIGJAM Dangerfield always goes awol when the heat is on
2. Must keep the Naughton/Schache combo together. It will be hard for opposition defences to stop both.
3. Suddenly we have some depth with Libba, Daniel, Wallis, Morris, Gowers currently out of the team

[Twodogs]

1. Have known it for years but FIGJAM Dangerfield always goes awol when the heat is on
2. Must keep the Naughton/Schache combo together. It will be hard for opposition defences to stop both.
3. Suddenly we have some depth with Libba, Daniel, Wallis, Morris, Gowers currently out of the team

Ive always thought that Dangerfield picks and chooses his effort. He runs when he thinks he will be rewarded for it otherwise he will just stand and watch, he might yell out to a teammate to do the hard yards or point out an opponent he thinks should be covered but he certainly won't run defensively to cover that player himself.

[Ozza]

1. We could still play finals....and its very frustrating that we wasted a chunk of the season with some questionable selection, strategy and goal kicking that has cost us the chance to have a real crack this season.

2. Playing Naughton and Schache together....it doesn't matter who kicks them - but playing both means there is a good chance one of them will hit the scoreboard (Schache last two weeks, Naught last night). They are developing a partnership and not getting in each others way too much.

3. We have traded really well. Crozier, Lloyd, Schache all great pick ups without a huge cost. And Suckling and Duryea being brought in have been pretty solid additions.

[Mofra]

1. Naughton can do it all. In the air, one on one and on the deck. Freak

2. Bailey Smith is one of the physically strongest 18 year olds I can remember. He's incredible

3. Sam Lloyd shows the value in identifying the right opposition fringe player. What an astute pick up.

[Ghost Dog]

What do people think about our side without Daniel?
I felt his precision could have helped in the first 3, when we just could not get it in their half.
On the other hand, he would have been monstered by Geelong's forward line.
Tough call but feels like were are better with him out V Geelong, Eagles, Collingwood type outfits.

[Ghost Dog]

Lloyd is a steadying influence in an otherwise very young forward line.

[Bulldog4life]

1. We are on a roll. Bring on the Deeeees.

2. You have still got it Bevo

3. The future looks very bright.

[Happy Days]

What do people think about our side without Daniel?
I felt his precision could have helped in the first 3, when we just could not get it in their half.
On the other hand, he would have been monstered by Geelong's forward line.
Tough call but feels like were are better with him out V Geelong, Eagles, Collingwood type outfits.

Hard disagree - there’s no evidence short of two one-on-one contests from round 2 that Caleb is a liability in the air, and in fact his ability to time spoils makes him quite the opposite. That’s before you even consider everything he gives us by foot. He’s easily best 22 and this season has been no worse than top 5.

[jeemak]

Hard disagree - there’s no evidence short of two one-on-one contests from round 2 that Caleb is a liability in the air, and in fact his ability to time spoils makes him quite the opposite. That’s before you even consider everything he gives us by foot. He’s easily best 22 and this season has been no worse than top 5.

Happy Days speaks for jeemak on this issue.

[Mofra]

Hard disagree - there’s no evidence short of two one-on-one contests from round 2 that Caleb is a liability in the air, and in fact his ability to time spoils makes him quite the opposite. That’s before you even consider everything he gives us by foot. He’s easily best 22 and this season has been no worse than top 5.

We really struggled to get the ball out of their forward press for the first three quarters, we took a while to adjust to life without him.

[Ozza]

Hard disagree - there’s no evidence short of two one-on-one contests from round 2 that Caleb is a liability in the air, and in fact his ability to time spoils makes him quite the opposite. That’s before you even consider everything he gives us by foot. He’s easily best 22 and this season has been no worse than top 5.

Too add to this...the times where people are saying Caleb is getting "caught out" or "exposed" against taller opponents - is really just that he has been the one able to get back to the goal square because of his great aerobic capacity. If Caleb wasn't out there on those occasions - the opposition player would be on their own in the square rather than having Caleb trying to spoil.

On a different, but related, note. Its been good to see in the last couple of weeks, our defenders being a fraction more conservative in their positioning in recent weeks. We have defended poorly this season, and perhaps these adjustments were a case of the coaches and players acknowledging we needed to address this.