Just imagine...

[Nico]

I think in such an even competition, teams like Geelong, Essendon and most others are going to come back if they start a game poorly. Most of the teams are pretty evenly matched and there aren't many blowouts against these sorts of teams, but more see-sawing battles. In these sorts of cases the teams with a superior mental edge, a fighting spirit and a winning mentality often come through with the 4 points. I dont mind if we don't play 4 quarters, or even 3 or 2, if we end up ahead when it counts. These close games do wonders for building self-belief and mental toughness too, which can come in handy in September.

Oh, and by the way, supporters of all teams moan about the umpiring. Cats fans certainly were too after Friday night. The best ones were those on Facebook saying that the SCG is not up to AFL standard as its too small, and therefore an unfair advantage to the Swans!

Others sides could complain about the odd shape of the Geelong ground. It is not an oval, more like Flemington racecourse. Round at the ends with 2 long straights. It doesn't have wings as we know them which makes it a very narrow oval.

[ScottH]

It could be we have lost a midfielder in Parker that makes us a player rotation down.

This makes more sense. This was pointed out to me today also.

He's missed the last 2 critical games.
And it is in the middle we have lost the momentum.

[wolftone57]

Others sides could complain about the odd shape of the Geelong ground. It is not an oval, more like Flemington racecourse. Round at the ends with 2 long straights. It doesn't have wings as we know them which makes it a very narrow oval.

Worse than that you have to know what pocket you can kick a goal in and which you can't and remember not to go there. The wind also causes problems as the day wears on. You notice Geelong will always kick against the wind if they win the toss because the wind comes up about half way through the third quarter and is pretty strong normally by the end of the last. If you are kicking with it you are in with a rush. We snookered them last time as we won the toss and kicked the way they would have, Ta Gary!

[Ratna]

Our problems are mental not physical (which is good)....when Geelong were pressing we just kept panicking...not overlapping with run....not taking the more adventurous option. And it seemed to me that it was our fault, not theirs. We sort of stopped playing the way we were.

BTW don't forget the horrendous fade-outs against Freo and Port when we were up by 6 goals....nearly lost both of those games. It's just mental. When Geelong and Collingwood were at their best over the last five years they never got run over after getting a 6 goal break....just kept playing their game and not letting one, two or three goals bother them. They just KNEW that if they stuck at playing their game they would get the settler they needed and kick on. Our mindset really seems to change as soon as the opposition start to play well (St. Kilda anyone? ). So, in theory, we can fix this and become very, very tough to beat.

I think this is the case also. While the players may have run out of legs a bit, when Geelong started playing well our style went more defensive.
Plus Jimmy Bartel is a very good player and to leave him not manned up is trouble.
Our lack of ability to mark or crumb in the forward line will lead to trouble if teams leave players back and don't allow the running goals from mid field we have been relying on.
When teams put spare men in defence against us, which I think we will see more of, we need forward options that are effective. Not just reliance on the midfield. I don't know the answer but at the moment the glass is way over half full and I think we have the options to work it out. We are a seriously dangerous side, get a more functional forward line and we are flag material.