I know it is only after 5 rounds, but here comes my yearly question. What's wrong with Geelong?

People possibly underestimate the loss of Scarlett in defence and Harley is also missing this year.

You should also consider the constant pressure the team is under on a 'weekly' basis. The Cats have set a standard of play for several years now, and every other team has them listed as the benchmark, and each and every player is under total scrutiny. Carlton watched Geelong play Pt Adelaide, and devised a plan to beat them and it worked perfectly. A team could lose confidence over night, but you don't lose your abillity over night ! That said, in my view the mental pressure of the game can only be "What's wrong with Geelong "with possibly a check up from the neck up, the only requirement to get them purring again. If the Cats had come play St Kilda, Hawthorn, Footscray, or Collingwood, i doubt they would have entered Monday's game with the same mind set they came with for the Blues.

Hey GFC barracker, I'm not going to bore you with some long answer - I'm just gonna cut straight to the point -Everyone can disagree with me, but Geelong aren't winning because they simply aren't trying their best. I've watched every Geelong match this year - I'm a St Kilda supporter but admire Geelong, they aren't dumb, they know they can finish 8th and still win the grandfinal - They are playing a confident (yet arrogant as Lloyd puts it?) type of footy - they are doing handball after handball, playing on, playing an arrogant/confident style of footy and it seems like they never care or get worried when they are losing. Lol seriously it's Geelong, we all know they are going to be up there when it counts. Also, because they are the benchmark team, other teams naturally try harder and apply more pressure because of the challenge of vsing Geelong.

In my opinion Geelong is suffering from the same problem as most of the others - the interchange bench and the way it has sped up play, at the cost of individual player skills & judgement. With each team making up to 40 interchanges / qtr that's 80 match-up changes in 30 minutes and coaches are admitting that to keep fresh legs on the field to carry out the team plan & tactics they have "NO IDEA" who is playing on who most of the time ! So instead of having specialist taggers, centres & rovers, and specialist free-leading forwards the move is toward predominantly utility players, use them anywhere where fresh legs are needed, and sacrifice flair & individuality for the sake of team tactics such as flooding & zoning.

The bottom line is that of the 300 different match-ups around the ground in a game, some will be winners & some will be losers. Too many "no idea" bad match-ups and the game is gone eg a winning match-up at centre half back can be nullified by a losing match-up at CHF or a winner at CHF is useless if at the same time no feed comes in from the centres. The equation is Interchange created speed which led to blanket tactics ahead if skill and now coaches have lost control and luck

seems to be determining outcomes. Top teams can only drop down the ladder & lucky bottom teams move up with unexpected wins - the ladder attests to that.

Geelong are as good as they have ever been, but they havnt improved the have stayed at the same level plying the same style of footy, other teams are starting to overtake them but ,most of all people know there game and they know what they have to do to beat geelong

Well Brian...........I think that ........(my opinion) are going out to confident.........after watching Carlton beating the Cats......they looked too tight, did not look like they were on there game at some points in the game...........by all means, they should of smoked Freemantle hands down......that was an EMBARASMENT to Geelong, but anyway.....all in all they just did not have the steam, game plan down and they did not execute like they should of.......but hey........it's still early in the season..........they can learn from there mistakes...........there only Human. and also some key players were not in the picture as well..........

Not sure.

Whats wrong with St Kilda is easy enough to answer- No Riewoldt.

Maybe its because Geelong have set the bench mark of the competition, and other teams lift to match them when they play.

Firstly can I start by saying you need to take a reality check.

Geelong has been extremely successful with a team built largely from 1998-2004.

If my maths serve me correctly they have reached their peak in regards to footballing prowess, very few still have improvement left. So if your not on the way up, you must be on the way down. Like life, the share market, and the economy, football is parabolic.

Given that the 2 games you mentioned we were without Scarlett. Talk all you like about mids, but we have enjoyed success built from a dominant back half, and when we were building and struggled for many years up forward, with kingsley and the like, it was our defense that made us competitive.

We are the hunted. Teams model their game on us and know our style better than any ones. We are the ultimate target for teams willing to be successful. The week they play us their whole club is being tested. From the coach down.

We are getting older, and what that means in lay mans terms is the knocks and bumps and efforts hurt more. The mind knows what's required but the mind also knows the consequences. For the first time in a long time last monday, I saw us pull out of what was a hot football. We have set the benchmark in contested footy and showed the competition the right way to win rather than merely guarding space. But on Monday we shirked the issue at times.

We are vulnerable champions in that we chance our arm, we are prepared to back our players and throw the ball around. Possession football allows you to control your opposition and force them to work harder in chasing. If the link breaks down and your men are forward of the ball it hurts twice as much to turn your skates and chase, our handball enabled us to move forward whilst being ready to defend. Sides are targeting our movement early, forcing the breakdown and capitalising. We succeeded in the past by being prepared to work harder than the opposition, but right now the competition has had enough and they are prepared to do anything to have our scalp.

It is never embarrassing following the cats. I am more proud of what this club has managed to achieve in the last 10 years than at any other time. That includes those weekly displays of sheer brilliance and excitement given by Gary and the boys in the late 80's and early to mid nineties.

When we played Fremantle we sent across a side with 2 debutantes, and player in his 3rd game. Only to get run over in the dying minutes by a youthful and hungry opposition in 27degree temperatures on their home ground.

Carlton, with a captain who is ranked somewhere in the top 5 of the 700 odd listed AFL players, came out guns a blaze and decided to tackle for once. We controlled a lot of the game and failed to kick important goals when necessary. We kept Ling off Judd until halfway through the second quarter, and it exposed weakness in our ruck, and the lack of defensive run from some of our forwards.

By the way we play, we allow ourselves to be challenged. We demand our opposition to take us on at the contest, and with our extreme level of endeavor and skill, and our unshaken commitment to win, we have dominated our opposition.

The hunger is still there, and the players want to win, but at what cost? Are they seriously prepared to smash themselves about again.

For this is the highest of all mountains.

The one not seen from the foothills of the last three climbed.

The view is nice from where we sit,

comfortably nestled sipping our wine.

But what if not shall we rest?

There is plenty wine for the moro.

But if nightfall comes and no eyes shall see,

then the wine will have gone

and taken by the enemy.

As every win will take it's toll on the players, it is test of the coach to create a bunch of men determined to succeed and willing to do whatever it takes.... AGAIN.

As the saying goes "What goes up, must come down", In Geelong's case this is a current occurance.

From what I have seen, their midfield, as class as it is, seems to be letting them down. This seemed the case in the loss to Carlton.

They are as good as they ever were it's just that the rest of the competition ARE catching up on them; They are getting better... They know what layers to shut down and when.