- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It has been done regularly over the past couple of years and it would be folly to write Geelong off and say their magnificent era is over, but there were signs in the loss to North Melbourne on the weekend that it might be for real this time.
Geelong won 16 games and a win is a win, but many of them were unimpressive this season, highlighted by their lowly percentage for a team that won that many games.
They were successful in all the close ones against several bottom teams too in Carlton, Greater Western Sydney and the Bulldogs, but the only narrow one they lost was to the Kangaroos in the semi-final.
The margin of six points did flatter them. The Cats hadn’t played as badly as that in a final during this wonderful period of success, although their first half in the 2012 elimination final loss to Fremantle was poor.
They also struggled against the Hawks, who have now won three of their past four against Geelong, which might indicate this grand line-up has seen many better days.
Since the 2011 premiership the Cats have tasted success just once in the past six finals and I know they have been making changes to their side. Last season they mutually moved on champions such as Paul Chapman and Joel Corey along with James Podsiadly to bring the next generation on, but are those youngsters going to be as good as the ones they have replaced?
Mitch Duncan and Steven Motlop, along with Josh Caddy, Allen Christensen and Cam Guthrie are part of the next generation that have taken the next step. But the jury is certainly out on George Horlin-Smith, Jackson Thurlow, Josh Walker and certainly Mitch Brown, who has been on the list for six seasons and played just 15 games.
Their ruckmen in Dawson Simpson and Hamish McIntosh keep getting injured and Mark Blicavs clearly isn’t ready for that role and probably never will be. They will get a fit Nathan Vardy back next year, but they are a quality key forward short and that might be resolved by playing Harry Taylor there, if they achieve their aim of recruiting Demon James Frawley.
The worst kept secret was revealed after they bowed out of the finals when the Cats said they were interested in Frawley to join ageing key defenders, Tom Lonergan, Jared Rivers, Corey Enright and Andrew Mackie down back.
Under recruiting genius Stephen Wells Geelong don’t make many mistakes when it comes to drafting and you would back him in to get it right again over the next couple of years. He will need to, as stars like Enright, James Kelly and Steve Johnson also near the end of stellar careers.
At this stage they are all continuing on in 2015 despite struggling in the finals. They deserve to go on their time, but is that time now?
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.