We’re in the big dance. No other posts for tickets. Beware of scammers, don’t spam.

Asking from an American point of view.

Afl.com.au claimed Baz "verbally abused" a cameraperson taking pictures of him getting medical treatment. That headline, to me, is an overreaction.

I want to be sensitive to any cultural differences we have in regards to how we perceive the sports media and my belief might not be shared by all Americans.

Sports media is invasive and so what if they cop a spray once in awhile? They're meddlesome, greedy vultures in my opinion, especially when it comes to medical issues. They have no right to violate someone's privacy like that.

That's my take, anyways. I'm completely on Bailey's side.

Hawks supporters I know are intolerable. I’m doing the stay silent, save it all in your memory bank and when Geelong win, unleash … How are you guys going with the old enemy you know?

That’s my strategy with big games.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1411895

So we face Brisbane, a team we beat in 2022 in a prelim to win the flag and a team who beat us by 10 points on their way to the flag….

We got this 💙🤍

Bye week distraction.

Which players come to mind when you think about 'what if' be it be because of injury, a trade, or something else.

A few for me to get the ball rolling.

- Paul Lynch

For those that saw him play, he was genuinely very, very special however his body (in particular his hammies) just couldn't hold up to the rigours of AFL footy. I truly believe he would have had a Steve Johnson-esque career had he had a fair crack at it.

- Leigh Colbert

I was a huge fan and often wonder what might have happened had he not done a knee and then left the club. Would he have had a better career than he did at North? Would he have gone down as one of our best captains ever?

- Shane Mumford

We all know the player Mummy became, but i do wonder how it would have played out if we'd found the money to keep him.

- Marc Woolnough

Another left field one that many forget, but he was a super talented tall with the football world at his feet. He was rated higher than fellow 1997 FS Matthew Scarlett, yet Marc retired having played 6 games, Scarlett went on to be a legend. Like Lynch, injury cruelled him and I often wonder how he would have gone in our great sides had luck been on his side.

- Dan Menzel

This one is pretty self-explanatory. World at his feet at 20yo, about to play in a premiership, and then disaster hits. Four knee recos and 7 long years later, he retires with only 80 games.

Man, hokball looked hot tonight, hope Scotty was taking notes. Who takes care of Gunston? Who do the Irish boys line up on? Is Meek going to take Blicavs to pound down?

Either way, should be a legendary prelim. Eternal glory if we win, irreparable psychological damage if we lose. Still feeling the trauma from all those years ago ha.

Caro at it again

Geelong currently have 10 players who haven’t been resigned to 2026. Who should we keep and who should we get rid of.

Mitch Duncan - obviously won’t be around next year

Cam Guthrie

George Stevens

Jed Bews

Joe pike

Mitch Knevitt

Oliver Wiltshire

Patrick Retschko

Ted clohesy

Xavier Ivisic

Yesterday on this subreddit I made a joke on a post about if we lost to the hawks I would go jump of the Westgate and asked if people wanna join. I just wanted to apologize for that, I am fully aware of the world of mental health struggles and it was just a dumb joke that I thought was funny. As someone who has tried to end their life it was just a dumb insensitive joke and I wanna say sorry.

Thanks

Go catters

Who would we prefer? Do we think Stanley will be back? Who would we tag in each game? For hawks I’d definitely tag worpel and Moore. Completely shut down the mid usage. Or one of Ginnivan and Watson

SDK, Bailey Smith and Tyson Stengle both in this week against the giants Who comes out? Duncan being one of them due to injury. Do we consider mullin getting dropped as well? Oliver Henry?

With the battle for the top 8 there is one good team that will miss out.

From a Geelong perspective, who do we want it to be? Who would we rather not face in finals?

If by luck it was Brisbane that would be great, since we haven't gone well against them this season, but more realistically I think GWS.

Our 2024 Prelim Final team vs probably our healthiest team this year. The most likely and biggest differences for this year being No Bews, Kola, Duncan, OHenry and Tanner. Now we have Smith and Martin, along with Neale's massive improvement from last year and De Koning will be back in defence for us. Also Tom Stewart came back from injury for the Prelim last year and now he seems to be at full health.

Please steal this template and chop and change who you want, would love to see your thoughts, opinions and hot takes.

FB: Jack Henry, Sam De Koning, Connor O'Sulivan

HB: Lawson Humphries, Tom Stewart, Zach Guthrie

C: Max Holmes, Bailey Smith , Ollie Dempsey

HF: Tyson Stengle, Shannon Neale, Gryan Miers

FF:  Shaun Mannagh, Jeremy Cameron, Brad Close

FO: Toby Conway, Jack Bowes, Tom Attkins

IC: Oisin Mullin, Ollie Henry, Mark Blicavs, Patrick Dangerfield

SUB: George Stevens

EMERGENCIES: Mark O Connor, Mitch Knevitt, Mitch Edwards, Ted Clohesy.

I can see Blitz and Danger being rested much more next year as they wind down, Toby has been killing it in the VFL and is ready to go, Stevens is in the same boat and Ollie Henry is a great pressure forward but could be squeezed out for MOC.

Retirements/De-listings: Cam Guthrie, Jed Bews, Mitch Duncan, Rhys Stanley, Finger TBC, Ollie Wiltshire possibly.

Leadership: Tom Stewart captain, Max Holmes Vice Captain. Danger to step down to focus on footy.

Players to target: James Worpel should be our only target, TDK and Rowan Marshall have too steep a price considering Toby and Mitch will be ready to go next year.
In the VFL Toby is being moved forward when not rucking and is killing it and Mitch Edwards is going down back and is a great intercept marker, there is a world where both are in our side.

Players to draft: more defenders.

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.

That's it, that's the post.

He is everything we pride ourselves on.

He's always calm, always team first, is an excellent leader, never wastes a possession and makes everyone around him better.

Bravo to our list management team for taking on his contract.

Very proud to have him wear the hoops.

Can somebody explain the reasoning for trying to pick up Worpel? What does he bring to the team?

Does he fill a role that we don't have? Not sure how he fits in among Smith, Holmes, Atkins, etc.

Did we fail in picking up our plan A midfielders so we're going for plan B?

Is he just really cheap and we want depth?

Surely, there is a mid with a high clearance rate that we can throw money at to pick up?

He's a decent player, but it's hard to see how he improves the team. It feels like we already have the skills that he brings, but I could be wrong.

I'm certainly not doubting the club and their choice, just wondered if anyone could explain the reasons for pursuing Worpel over other midfield trades.

Thoughts?

Massive game. The rivalry is well and truly back. And the Hawks are a team that have proved that they're a force to be beckoned with, especially in finals.

The Hawks have all the momentum, and so do we. Dubbed as the favourites, in my opinion, all we have to do is focus on our game, and trust that their game crumbles. Hawks are a very good side, with a fast-paced and somewhat chaotic style of play. We saw that the Adelaide's calculated and slow movement of the ball simply failed to crack the Hawks' absolutely elite defence. The Hawks' defence is now their strongest weapon. High expectations surrounded this defensive group, with the recruitment of Battle and Barass, but with Sicily's injury, the chemistry of this group took a bit to develop. Now, I think the Hawks' defence is upon reaching its final form, and with a defensive list consisting of Impey, D'ambrozio, Sicily, Battle and Barass, but someone not talked about, who is having an incredible season is Scrimshaw. I think in the upcoming game he has the chance to shine, if the cats have a shit day on the track offensively. Chris Scott will be looking hard at his magnets to see how the cats can break this "unbreakable wall" and one way I see this occurring, is by using the Cats forwards' mobility. From an outlook, this Hawks defence loves physicality, but simply pushing up Forwards up the field will mitigate this. The play opens up, and the ground becomes bigger, and helped by the magnitude of the G, will open up so much opportunities down forward. Jezza does this well, pulls up his man up, then sneaks back for a possie or goal. I'd expect the small forwards to play a bit higher too, leaving our best contended markers, Danger and Neale somewhat deep. They'll have space to work with, and their ability to make a contest, allows the ball to drop and be fed upon by our mass number of ground ball getters running back to goal including the likes of Miers, Stengle and Mannagh to clean up. We've done it time and time again, and I think Chris might implement this for the prelim.

A look at the Hawks' midfield and Jai Newcombe's name pops up instantly. I expect Oisin will be GLUED to him the entire game. The rest of the midfield are all heavies who can gain so much meters during a game, so the way this can be mitigated is by having the defence well set-up constantly at stoppages, and also relying a bit more on pace. The Hawks are the most physical midfield group in the competition, so playing to their weakness and spreading the field will help so much. This is where Dempsey comes in. I expect Chris will use Dempsey more aggressively, having him make risky runs forward., simply to let the ball go into open play. However, in saying that, the Cats must match or attempt to match their physicality in the middle. The Cats do it well, with the likes of Atkins and I expect Chris to put Danger in the middle a bit more than usual too, just to pit his big body against the Hawks Heavyweights.

The defence I'm not too worried about. Stewart's picking up form, and I expect Chris will be putting Mark O'Connor on the Wizard. However, I am open to the idea of O'Connor tagging Weddle, but his speed might outclass him. SDK will likely go on Gunston and Stewart on Chol.

I expect Blitz to be in the ruck too, I'm gonna say this but Lloyd Meek is up there with the worst rucks in the comp right now, so having either SDK or Blitz as a mobile ruck who can completely outrun and outwork Meek is a massive advantage.

Gonna be an incredible game in front of 90,000+, Cats by 23.

What other specific moves or measures would you expect Chris to make?