You act like Sanderson is the first bloke ever to be sacked a year after making the finals. Go do your research and you’ll find countless other examples, its been like this for generations, maybe you were never paying enough attention to notice or you’ve only recently discovered the sport (many of your other articles have given me this impression) but this is the way things have always been.

Sanderson just got handed a million bucks in cash and will walk straight into another high-paying job as an assistant at another club if he wants it. Yeah, maybe he didn’t deserve to get sacked but I won’t spill any tears for the bloke when there’s millions of Aussies living in poverty right now who are *really* doing it tough.

Exactly.

Imagine if The Roar existed back in the 60? The place would’ve be wall-to-wall with bleeding hearts crying about how stiff Norm Smith was to get axed from the Dees.

The delusion is strong with this one.

Mate, Zac Clarke is a gangly dinosaur spud. Useless when the ball hits the deck, fumbles marks, rarely kicks goals, and looks like he belongs in the 70s. If you think your mob can replace Sandilands with this lumbering oaf and not be the worse for it then you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

Am I right in reading that you actually rate Clarke higher than Ryder? If so then I’ve finally found the empirical proof I needed that you’re mad as a hatter. Truly your bias knows no bounds, you’re about as fair & balanced as Fox News.

Sorry chum but your team is cooked. No premiership for you. Next!

Brilliant story, thanks for sharing it with us Sean.

Nice try Michael but its as plain as the nose on your face that Geelong are cooked. Yeah, there’s every chance they’ll linger around like a bad smell in the top eight for some time yet but their flag-winning days are long gone.

Why? Because most of their young players lack grunt. Caddy’s shown a willingness to go in for the hard ball with some success but guys like Christensen, Smedts, Hunt, Murdoch, Duncan, Burbury, Motlop, Thurlow, Varcoe, Horlin-Smith & Thurlow are most outside receivers who prefer not to get their hands dirty and often end up coughing it up under physical pressure. Way too much is left to Selwood and if he goes down with any kind of significant injury they are up the creek without a paddle.

Same can be said for their forwadline where Hawkins carries the load single handed and the kids have shown next to nothing thus far. Down back, well they have the oldest backline in the competition by far, Enright, Mackie, River, Lonergan & Kelly are all close to the end.

Geelong never deserved to finish in the top four this year and would not have but for a series of VERY contentious umpiring decisions late in close games which always seemed to advantage them. Without bringing conspiracy theories into it they were extraordinarily lucky and never deserved the double chance, and their straight sets finals exits proved it.

Hawthorn, Sydney, Port & Freo are already better teams than Geelong. Norf will probably go past them next year, so could Richmond, Essendon and Gold Coast if the Cats lose Selwood or Hawkins for an extended period, it could even happen regardless.
Geelong are no longer feared. They’ve lost their aura. They’re now a side where too much is left to too few, and their bottom 6 players are pretty ordinary.

Their time at the top is over. No ifs, no buts, this year was the last hurrah. Cats supporters like Gene the missing man have three flags to contend themselves with in the upcoming return to mediocrity.

It’s tough to muster any serious loathing toward such an exciting young side Axle.

Give it a couple of years though, once Chad Wingard’s established himself as the most arrogant player in the competition (he’s already well on the way) and Hamish Harlett has become widely recognized as one of the AFL’s biggest snipers (he has plenty of form) I’ll be inclined to see things differently but right now they’re the flavor of the month so I may as well jump on the Port bandwagon with everyone else. Besides, this week will be my last chance to do so for months! 🙂

On current form you’d have to say Port has the brighter future, although I’m a little concerned with how dependent they are on their speed, fitness and run & carry.
Their gameplan will attract a huge amount of scrutiny from opposition analysts over the offseason and I’m not sure there’ll be too many clubs taken by surprise by Port as they were in the first half of 2014. Teams will also be much better prepared for playing at Adelaide Oval.

I do regard Norf as being a better balanced side. Their midfield is very good, their key position players are better than Port’s, and they have a better ruckman. Norf also have much better depth – something that became painfully evident when Port lost a couple of KPP’s and promptly dropped games to some extremely ordinary teams.

I think Port will need to add another dimension to their gameplan, at least one more quality KPP, and more finals experience before they can walk away with the flag. They have a very solid base to work from but the onus is on Hinkley to develop the team into one that is less one dimensional.

Taking the game on, taking risks, moving the ball as fast as possible, these are valuable qualities for any team but there are times in games when a more cautious & conservative approach is necessary. The greatest teams know WHEN to take risks and when to minimize errors and absorb the opposition’s pressure.
Last week showed us how great Port is at the former and how woeful at the latter. It will take them several more years before they develop a better balance.

Quite amazing the way Port have gone from being a fairly pedestrian outfit to the fittest and fastest in the league in such a short space of time. The physical development of their young players like Wines is also extremely interesting.

I’m also tipping the Swans to win comfortably, they’re more than a match for Norf and with the week off and home ground advantage not to mention huge edge in finals experience it’ll likely be a bridge too far for Boomer & co.

That should please the legions of Sydney ‘supporters’ on this site and the AFL immensely.

Agreed.

You forgot to mention another similarity between Brisbane & Geelong-

The Lions not only lost playing talent but also one of the greatest coaches in AFL history, the incomparable Leigh Matthews, who they replaced with a couple of blokes who are clearly not up to the same standard.
Geelong have done the same by replacing the excellent Bomber Thompson with Chris “I fell ass-backwards into a premiership” Scott. They also lost Ken Hinkley as an assistant, he was another huge driving force behind their success.

Any feelings of sadness I have that Matthew Pavlich will finish his career without a premiership are well and truly counterbalanced by my sheer delight that that Ross Lyon, Hayden Ballantyne and Ryan Crowley will end up without one either.

If the AFL gifts Gold Coast with another draw next year (a near certainty) then they’ll be my pick to replace Geelong in the top 4. GC’s potential for rapid improvement across almost its entire list is terrifying.

Agreed Axle, next year the competition for top 4 spots could be the fiercest for many years.

The Cats could still be in the hunt themselves if they land Frawley and can escape injuries to Selwood, Hawkins, Johnson & Taylor. If any of those four go down for a significant period they’ll be in huge trouble, their depth in many areas is extremely thin.

The bigger issue is weather or not they still have enough poised, experienced and talented players to keep playing their attacking game through the corridor.
It still works a treat against poor teams who are easily rattled but this year we’ve seen it come undone against the better teams. They used to pride themselves on being the most difficult team to score against but taking risks through the middle of the ground does their defense no favors and I’m not sure that their ball use is still good enough to get away with it, many of their youngsters readily butcher it when put under pressure.
The other problem is that improved AFL fitness standards allow teams to flood back to cover the fast break better than ever. Counterattcking is still a great way to score but by being so hideously reliant on Hawkins who is basically a one-trick pony (he’s useless when the ball hits the deck) they rely far too much on counterattacking to isolate him one-on-one to score, and its hugely draining as we’ve seen from their horrible second-half performances all year.

Ages of key Freo players next season

Bradley 29
Crowley 31
Dawson 29
Duffield 30
Johnson 30
McPharlin 33
Mundy 30
Mzungu 29
Pavlich 33
Pearce 29
Sandilands 32

11 of their best 22 will be 29 or older.

It’s a moot point since all these players are going to cop 2 year ASADA bans anyway.

Most predictable thing in the world. The AFL has done everything else to ensure their beloved Swans walk away with this year’s flag so of course they jump at the chance of rubbing out one of Norf’s best players.

Cushy draw, fewest 6 day breaks, favorable umpiring, immunity to suspension… Sydney has been given every conceivable advantage this year. If they don’t win the flag it’ll be a choke of biblical proportions!

Had it been Adam Goodes instead… “insufficient force”.

Cats have a fair amount of pace in the midfield, but yeah their defense is slow and too many of their mids prefer not to get their hands dirty at the coalface.

If Tummy Porkins has an extended recurrence of that back issue next year I don’t see how they’ll make the finals. I can even see them missing regardless.

Glad I’m not the only one who’s noticed how often he get the yips in front of goal in big moments Axle.

Great player who’s done a brilliant job of impersonating a natural key forward rather than a midfielder where he played his best football, but his set shot action is not reliable under pressure. I don’t think its psychological, seems mechanical. Far too late in his career to do anything about it though.

As for Sticks’ goalkicking, better not mention that time he shanked his kick OOTF after the siren when the Tankers needed just a score!

Did you actually watch the game Peter or are you basing all of this off the stats sheet?

Maybe if you had you’d have noticed how dominant Sandilands was. Time and again he’d give Fyfe silver service, took some huge marks and kicked at least one goal that I remember.

As for the behinds Freo kicked a metric ton of them in the second quarter when they were absolutely dominant. They should have iced the game before half time. Port was always going to get back into the contest because Freo’s defensive gameplan and trademark “manic pressure” is so freaking tiring its impossible for them to keep it up for four quarters – surely you must recall last year’s prelim against your beloved Swans when their pressure largely dried up after half time? (admittedly the result was already decided by then, so should it have been this week had they not choked)

Kudos for showing up unlike a certain Geelong fan. Best of luck for next year.

Funnily enough it sounds like Dick Realsick is even more disappointed right now than you are…

Rick that could have something to do with the ceaseless blathering I’ve had to endure from rabid Handbaggers like Gene over the years about how wonderful their “dynasty” was despite the fact they were never good enough to go back-to-back, something I consider essential for a period of dominance to qualify.

And yeah pal, if you happen to be a Geelong flog then I’m afraid I have some bad news – the Cats’ time at the top is now over, no ifs, no buts, they are a shadow of their former selves and even most Geelong fans with more than one eye open will be happy to admit it.

Sydney, Hawthorn, Port & Freo have already gone past Geelong. Norf probably will next season. I can’t see them pinching another flag anytime soon, Mackie, Enright, Kelly, Lonergan & Rivers are all 30+ so it won’t be long till they’re forced to stuff their backline with kids and we all saw how well that worked for Collingwood this year.

Yep amazing effort to stay up for so long. Those three flags will make the impending slide much easier for Cats fans to handle, its the Freo supporters I feel for.

Pro tip: Practice keeping your arrogance in check, it’s still showing through pretty clearly.

No offense Rick, but you’re about a million miles away from the truth there.

Port’s first half was rubbish because Freo smothered the snot out of their run & carry. Not only did Port wilt under the pressure but they couldn’t find any space to penetrate Freo’s zone and the Dockers refused to allow them any overlap run.

The game should’ve been over by half time but Freo’s forwardline being the steaming pile of doggy doo that it is meant they left the door the ajar. Come the second half they were so buggered that Port were able to get a sniff, they started taking risks because they had nothing to lose, and presto you have a Freo choke the size of a small country.

Port will get found out next week. Their ball use under pressure is not up to snuff and their defense is mediocre.

Care to comment on the game Don Freo? You’ve bee pumping up your team’s tyres all year almost as much as Gene has, now its time to front up and take your medicine chum.