Aker on Before the Game

[Missing Dog]

Re: Aker on Before the Game

Typical of him to try and talk down our performance... Cats are so arrogant.

He was arrogant, but i think the GF loss has made Geelong aim to play at an even higher level. And lets face it, they are the most skilfull side in the comp. Which brings me to an interesting thing Bomber said: That he was most proud of the WAY they play football, which had taken 5 years to develop, and he didn't really care if they won or lost fridays match. Matthew Knights said a similar thing about the Bombers last night: that he wanted his side to play good rather than dour football, and Mal Blight commended him on that. Both Geelong and Essendon are great to watch when in full flight.

On the other hand. this year we seem to have gone the other way. We really have gone back to our roots as the "scraggers", tackling hard, competing hard, but lots of skill errors, turnovers (worst in the comp), no real forward structure for long periods in the game. Really compared to the likes of Geelong St Kilda, Essendon we play ugly football. Why has this happened, compared to even last year?

[azabob]

Re: Aker on Before the Game

He was arrogant, but i think the GF loss has made Geelong aim to play at an even higher level. And lets face it, they are the most skilfull side in the comp. Which brings me to an interesting thing Bomber said: That he was most proud of the WAY they play football, which had taken 5 years to develop, and he didn't really care if they won or lost fridays match. Matthew Knights said a similar thing about the Bombers last night: that he wanted his side to play good rather than dour football, and Mal Blight commended him on that. Both Geelong and Essendon are great to watch when in full flight.

On the other hand. this year we seem to have gone the other way. We really have gone back to our roots as the "scraggers", tackling hard, competing hard, but lots of skill errors, turnovers (worst in the comp), no real forward structure for long periods in the game. Really compared to the likes of Geelong St Kilda, Essendon we play ugly football. Why has this happened, compared to even last year?

It all comes down to what wins GF. Teams that play like millionaires and can't scrap and play contested footy dont win Grand Finals. If you remember for most of last year and the year before St.Kilda played nothing but defensive footy. I think its all about learning how to play "dour" footy first cause that is what wins big finals.
You say Thomspon said its taken Geelong 5 years to get to where they are, in that time he had to re invent Geelong and shake "the handbag" tag cause they went missing when it got tough.

[AndrewP6]

Re: Aker on Before the Game

He was arrogant, but i think the GF loss has made Geelong aim to play at an even higher level. And lets face it, they are the most skilfull side in the comp. Which brings me to an interesting thing Bomber said: That he was most proud of the WAY they play football, which had taken 5 years to develop, and he didn't really care if they won or lost fridays match. Matthew Knights said a similar thing about the Bombers last night: that he wanted his side to play good rather than dour football, and Mal Blight commended him on that. Both Geelong and Essendon are great to watch when in full flight.

On the other hand. this year we seem to have gone the other way. We really have gone back to our roots as the "scraggers", tackling hard, competing hard, but lots of skill errors, turnovers (worst in the comp), no real forward structure for long periods in the game. Really compared to the likes of Geelong St Kilda, Essendon we play ugly football. Why has this happened, compared to even last year?

If he said he didn't care whether they won or lost on Friday, he's lying. NO WAY would they have walked away from that with a loss, and been satisfied. It's all too easy to make yourself sound big by making those sorts of statements AFTER you've won. If they'd lost, he'd have been p*****. Like we were/are!

Knights saying it is different. He's got a young, up and coming team, who are just trying to make finals. If the Cats played Thompson's preferred style and were losing, he'd be in the firing line. And there's no chance he'd still be so happy (and cocky!)

As for us and our playing style, I reckon we need to adapt, as teams have adapted to our style. A team doesn't completely lose it's skills base one year to the next, so that's not it. I think it's just teams are playing us differently, and we aren't always adapting to that.

[Missing Dog]

Re: Aker on Before the Game

It all comes down to what wins GF. Teams that play like millionaires and can't scrap and play contested footy dont win Grand Finals. If you remember for most of last year and the year before St.Kilda played nothing but defensive footy. I think its all about learning how to play "dour" footy first cause that is what wins big finals.
You say Thomspon said its taken Geelong 5 years to get to where they are, in that time he had to re invent Geelong and shake "the handbag" tag cause they went missing when it got tough.

Makes sense. Come to think of it, we basically got out muscled last year by them at Kardinia Park after half time, when we were highly rated for our skills. this year we aren't as highly ratedskillwise but got within a kick. Personally i don't care if we play rubbish football as long as we play in the last match in September.

[ralphsclimbing]

Re: Aker on Before the Game

I don't give a rats azz what some of the media and the brisbane president say, Aker is what we all need..... some one who will talk without the usual constraints placed on them by football clubs.