Ah yes, the magic of hindsight. After every loss particularly in the case of the grand final, the team and commentators assess what went wrong for the losing side. In this case I think a mistake Geelong made was not to play David Wojinski.
No I am not saying that his inclusion would have changed the result. Hawthorn thoroughly deserved to win. But Wojo’s inclusion may have changed the margin.
From a neutral observer (Swans fan) Wojinski appears to be an X factor player. It is often difficult to define exactly what makes an “X factor” player but for me it is a player who is not necessarily a star player, but one who can provide a brief burst of brilliance and really lift their side.
I believe Wojinski is an X factor due to his electrifying pace. Geelong could have definitely used some to lift them.
Hawthorn had two X factor players who stood up for their side. Cyril Rioli and Stewart Dew. Rioli performed some fantastic individual feats throughout the match, that really lifted the Hawks throughout the match. Dew or “the keg” as I like to refer to him as, kicked 2 goals and assisted in a third with his booming left foot.
So if Wojo should have played, who should have missed out? Well the decision to put Chapman back in I think was the right one. He is a gun player and was far from the Cats’ worst.
Mathew Stokes was flagged by the commentators as the person who should have gone, but he was an important player to the Cats forward line, and was a star in last year’s GF.
No for me the man who should have been dropped was James Kelly. Kelly is a good player but was equally underdone as Wojinski was. It may have simply been the toss of the coin. But while Kelly is a solid midfielder, he lacks the X factor that Wojo has. He also only amassed 10 disposals.
The X Factor player has been crucial in winning teams a grand final over the years (Dew, Rioli, Pickett (2004)) and Geelong couldn’t find one when it mattered. Pure speculation I know, but hey sometimes it is fun to talk about some of them.
Steve
Guest
Wojinski's record in past games against Hawthorn is poor. If I remember correctly there was an article written that showed that Wojinski's worst averages/stats against any side was indeed, against the Hawks. While I personally like him as a footballer and believe he'd be a bonus to my (Hawthorn obviously) side, he's not the type of player that has ever given consistent performance and Varcoe was coming off a very good game the week prior. I personally wanted Tom Murphy in as Johnson worried me after his performance against us last time. Also I wanted an additional tall down back in case, as proved correct, something happened to Croad. Well, I didn't get Murphy, Croad went off early and Hodge stood up and played a quasi CHB, attacking hbf role, Johnson got pushed up the ground and didn't hurt on the scoreboard and hindsight? That makes for a great round the bar discussion over a beer or three as we'll never know just what his inclusion may or may not have given the Cats.
Redb
Guest
your right hindsight makes this call easy, there is no doubt wojo's speed and courage would have helped in the midfield whilst Varcoe's game feel part under the pressure of a GF. Redb