#AFL Round 11 Cats v Swans Sat 1-Jun at Kardinia Park #AFLCatsSwans @sydneyswans

[stevoswan]

I thought the same- I get why the rule was brought in, but if the umpires don't execute their end of the bargain correctly then there should be a bit of common sense applied (even if it's just the field umpire calling "play on" as soon as they recognise a shallow throw in).

It is amazing how many short throw in's there are.....it's not hard to throw a footy strongly over your head backwards.....it's really not! Where do they recruit these boundary umpires from? Off the street? It's deplorable for a 'top level' league.....oh wait.

[stevoswan]

sick of some of red and whiters citisising the people who object to frees against us, it probably not the frees given against us its the frees we should get but don't. Umpiring has gone backwards over the last few years, suggest Hockinh get that right and we wont have so much abuse of them. Also hoping the Cats get their supporters to view th Goodes film might teach them about racicm poor old buddy copped it every time he went near the ball

Yes, being at the game, that was pretty uncomfortable to witness.....I felt like standing up and shouting, a la Buckley, "Anyone who boo's a champion.....shame on you!!"

[baskin]

I was at the game and I’m going in to bat for Melican here.

When Rohan was on the ground Melican was his match up on a number of occasions. He wore him like a glove and succeeded in shutting Rohan out of the game. He may make a few errors but you can’t question his effort. He marks himself harder than anyone on this board could. He castigates himself even when his opponent gets the ball through no fault of his own.

On the Buddy booing. It was very targeted. I’ve checked the replay to make sure I wasn’t being over touchy. When our players lined up for a kick at goal only Buddy copped the booing. It was Geelong’s equivalent of our Marngrook game too. Pity their supporters didn’t embrace their own pre-game ceremony.

[stevoswan]

I was at the game and I’m going in to bat for Melican here.

When Rohan was on the ground Melican was his match up. He wore him like a glove and succeeded in shutting Rohan out of the game. He may make a few errors but you can’t question his effort. He marks himself harder than anyone on this board could. He castigates himself even when his opponent gets the ball through no fault of his own.

+1 .....from another who was there at the game. Melican and Aliir will be our next 'Grundy/Richards' for years to come.

[Blood Fever]

Our main problem is not our defence nor our forwards. It is in our midfield where the opposition runs riot for periods in the game. This would put any defensive player under pressure. Also we don't get enough inside
50s and our delivery is poor when we do. Our young guys will still improve but if the team is to imp more rapidly, I reckon we need to trade in at least one more established mid, preferably a pacy one who can hunt the ball with speed. Our center square clearances are also ordinary. Sinclair busts a gut and hats off to him but a bigger reasonably skilled ruckman is needed. Naismith hopefully but maybe 'grassy "!

[S.S. Bleeder]

Like in the 2016 GF?

It's actually more endemic than that. We've received the worst ratio of frees for/against in the league for at least the last decade. And not by a small amount either, our ratio is about 40% worse than the next team.

There must be a reason for this but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's because we don't have a large or intimidating supporter base like the clubs in AFL states? Maybe it even dates back to when the other clubs complained in the 90s to the AFL about the number of frees we were getting? Maybe it's our colours? Who knows.

[mcs]

Watched the replay this afternoon and thought overall we did pretty well. If we had of kicked straight we would of been a huge chance. Disappointing not to get the win, but there is some good signs in there for the future.

Blakey drops in and out of matches, but by gee when he gets a moment or two, he shows what a superstar he could become. That run down the wing, then the kick to Hayward

[Mel_C]

Yes, being at the game, that was pretty uncomfortable to witness.....I felt like standing up and shouting, a la Buckley, "Anyone who boo's a champion.....shame on you!!"

That's surprising to hear because I go to a few of their games with my brother and their supporters don't tend to boo opposition players. They were respectful during the Goodes "comeback" game. They can't complain anymore if Ablett is booed.

[Ralph Dawg]

I really wish we could work out a way of clearing the ball effeciently out of our defensive 50. If there is a stat that measured this, I'd be surprised if we weren't in the bottom part of the league. It just seems that teams know that once they get the ball forward, that they will eventually score from it, especially last night with the cats scoring relatively easily from stoppages.

[Nico]

Our main problem is not our defence nor our forwards. It is in our midfield where the opposition runs riot for periods in the game. This would put any defensive player under pressure. Also we don't get enough inside
50s and our delivery is poor when we do. Our young guys will still improve but if the team is to imp more rapidly, I reckon we need to trade in at least one more established mid, preferably a pacy one who can hunt the ball with speed. Our center square clearances are also ordinary. Sinclair busts a gut and hats off to him but a bigger reasonably skilled ruckman is needed. Naismith hopefully but maybe 'grassy "!

I ask this question. Why can Dangerfield read the ball regardless of who won the tap or where it went and our blokes are not to be seen. His centre clearance work in their 2 x 5 goal bursts was the difference in the game. Simply, if he didn't play we win.

[Blood Fever]

I ask this question. Why can Dangerfield read the ball regardless of who won the tap or where it went and our blokes are not to be seen. His centre clearance work in their 2 x 5 goal bursts was the difference in the game. Simply, if he didn't play we win.

Watching our centre square work, we look like we are more concerned with locking down opposition than.being proactive. Understand it to degree because of.Sinkers, but puts us on back foot.

[Jimitron5000]

Our centre square work has been poor the last couple of seasons. Last year we were very good at making sure the oppositions clearance wasn't effective, such as a high, wide, loopy kick that our defence could clear easily. The advent of 6-6-6 has made that a lot harder to do and too often this year we have seen the opposition take the ball out of the middle with ease.

[jono2707]

Watching our centre square work, we look like we are more concerned with locking down opposition than.being proactive. Understand it to degree because of.Sinkers, but puts us on back foot.

Hence being on the he wrong end of free kick counts - if you get to the ball first, you're more likely to get a free kick for than a free kick against.

[chalbilto]

I really admire Sinclair, he gives a whole hearted effort every game, but he is not a dominate ruckman and hence our clearances suffer. He is a forward back-up ruckman.

[Rod_]

I really admire Sinclair, he gives a whole hearted effort every game, but he is not a dominate ruckman and hence our clearances suffer. He is a forward back-up ruckman.

Correct.

Hopefully one of the talls will return soon. I suggest we selected Knoll to provide some assurance for Naismith and if his injuries remain ongoing... I thought that Cameron was getting close for a senior selection. Will be interesting to see who gets the first game in the "super-tall stakes" given Knoll's arrival..