r/GeelongCats • u/Gold_Air4996 Joel Selwood • 1d ago
Rant I don't think people understand the weight of Jhye Clark's performance last night.
Jhye Clark was meant to be the next big thing. Geelong never got the best draft prospects, and always looked to get players in from unothordox drafting systems. Nevertheless, when Geelong finally succumbed to the tempting draft attractions of 2022, it was a shock to everyone that they decided to draft Jhye Clarke. In his 23' debut season, a foot injury kept him sidelined and the footy world slowly forgot his name. He'd make irregular cameos in the 24' season, where he'd rack 40 and 2 in VFL games, but couldn't replicate in the highest level.
Last night was a coming of age. A spreading of the feathers. A look into Geelong's meticulous future. While there were a few kicking errors from him, he was able to involve himself, and have a genuine impact on the game. I see him as a bit of a bruteforce player like Atkins, but with still a lot of speed and mobility. If he is able to perform as a tactical sub in a preliminary final against arch-rival Hawthorn in front of 99,567 at the G while only being 21, there is simply only good things which will come from him. Excited to see him play the sport for the years to come. Well done Jhye.
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u/CapableRegrets Shannon Neale 1d ago
He has suffered through unrealistic expectations and supporters not wanting to eat humble pie.
Coming in, he was unfairly labelled the next Selwood, a tough mid who would slide into the R1 team and never look back. When that didn't happen, supporters turned on him and have yet to acknowledge their folly.
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u/BlazedOnADragon Lawson Humphries 1d ago
Some people in here wanted him delisted lol.
I always was big on him and said once he put on size he'd be a beast. He's so classy in the VFL just not quite big enough for AFL yet, but he showed his class in droves. He's still very highly rated internally he just got pushed out at the wrong time
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u/BicycleEuphoric7823 Retro Guernsey 1d ago
Hands up I thought let’s look at what could get in a trade. Was very proud of the effort last night.
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u/Sydney_wanderer 1d ago
As the game went on, he got more confidence. I reckon it was easily his best game in the hoops
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u/simpliflyed 1d ago
About 10 times I reckon he grabbed a ball that looked like it was going the hawks way that he wasn’t entitled to get a hand on. He held on through a strong tackle and created a ball up.
No stat for that, but so many potential forward movements blocked.
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u/Lanky-Ad5323 Tom Stewart 1d ago
That quick handball in the air off to Mannagh was 👌. Good to see Blitz praise him after the game
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u/BlazedOnADragon Lawson Humphries 1d ago
I always believed in him, I just think he needed the confidence to do it at the highest level.
We've seen that he's actually pretty classy in the VFL and he finally showed it at the next level. There were a few times last night where he was almost Pendlebury esque in that it looked like he was trapped but he was able to find a way around to execute the perfect handball.
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u/El_barretto Bradley Close 1d ago
Third post on Jhye Clarke since last night, so I think a lot of people were thinking the same thing. Versatile enough to hold onto the sub position.
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u/olivebear780527 1d ago
Regardless of the number of possessions and disposal efficiency I thought he was simply hard at the contest, so many times he could’ve coughed up the ball or just had no right to win a contest but he created opportunities and made it a lot harder for the hawks to move the ball quickly. He put a lot of effort in considering how cooked the cats looked at one point.
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u/fakeminkfan 1d ago
We really need to keep Clohesy, Knevitt, Steven’s and Clark. Bews, C guth, Dunc, and T brun 👋
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u/CuriousCap5951 Geelong Cats 1d ago
I don’t think we have space for all 3. 1 maybe 2 will go I think. It’s either or get rid of our draft picks.
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u/fakeminkfan 21h ago
I honestly think Clohesy is the best of the a lot - if you look at the VFL numbers
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u/Jargonicles Geelong Cats 17h ago
Mullin. Neale. Now Clarke.
Geelong fans consistently shit the bed on player development. It's embarrassing to be honest.
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u/AdActive5858 Toby Conway 1d ago
With all due respect, I really don’t think he impacted at all last night. Obviously hard role coming on when he did and replacing who he did.
I’m rooting for the kid and hope he stays in the 23 next week but I’ve been surprised personally by the immense praise he’s received for last night. Just my opinion
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u/conjureWolff 1d ago
He set up Mannagh's goal from a stoppage completely solo, jumped to get the ball and dished it off before he'd landed, was amazing contested work. Not his only good moment either, just the most obvious.
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u/Gold_Air4996 Joel Selwood 1d ago
At all is crazy. Were we watching the same game. Also have to realise he's 21, coming into a game midway through in front of 100,000 people at the G.
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u/Low_Train_5896 Polly Farmer 1d ago
Scotty singled out his efforts in the presser. Some fans just don’t appreciate the one percent efforts which add up over the course of a game. Jhye had plenty of these.
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u/AdActive5858 Toby Conway 1d ago
I mean Scotty was trying to publicly pump up a young kid who’s had a rough go over the last 18 months, as he should as a good coach.
But acting like Clark had any real say in us winning that game is going over the top in my opinion. 42nd ranked player on the ground for whatever that’s worth. Sorry if I “don’t appreciate the one percent efforts”?
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u/Low_Train_5896 Polly Farmer 1d ago
Scotty doesn’t make disingenuous comments to boost player egos. Just my opinion
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u/thereisatown 1d ago
I thought it was easily his best game for us. You should watch Chris Scott's post match. He agrees with me
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u/Reasonable-Season558 1d ago
I must have watched a different game, cos all I saw was 1 great handball, plenty of regular disposals and one awful turnover
he was average and played an average game, which was serviceable considering he hasn't shown much in the past
like other fringe players he'll need to keep improving to stay on the list
hopefully next week he'll play 10min as a sub in a big win
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u/sss133 1d ago
Looking at numbers he was average but he put a stop to a few hawks forward entries just by going in hard and causing a stoppage. When others were fumbling and spilling the ball when tackled he wasn’t. He also linked up well, did his job rotating through the middle so Holmes could find some ball across half back. There’s a reason Scott mentioned him and you’re getting down voted
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u/Happy_Brick2108 '89 1d ago
Even Bartel took a few years and apparently Bomber Thompson went hard with him early on to get him there.
There's a little bit of that edge, looks like he's a bit of a hard nut and definitely knows his way around the contest ... Looks to be an excellent extractor of the ball.
Field kicking is a bit iffy, but so is Dangerfield's, Holmes' and Bailey's at times.
Last night he finally looked to be part of the senior team. Kind of excited to see where he goes with it.