Geelong Cats: How a change in game style saved the side from losing in another finals campaign
Premiership assistant coach Shaun Grigg believes the change of game style the Cats made ahead of the 2022 season saved the side from another year of failed finals football.
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GEELONG assistant coach Shaun Grigg has uttered the mantra “our best footy is ahead of us” throughout the course of the season, and his statement rung true on grand final day.
The Cats belted the Swans to the tune of 81 points to claim the club’s first flag since 2011, with Grigg declaring it was the perfect performance.
“I don’t even think you can dream it like that, the boys played so well right from the start,” he said.
“We said all year we thought our best footy was in front of us and that rang true, that was our best performance of the year.”
The Cats had a clear tactical shift in 2022, playing a more daring and fast-paced style of football rather than possession and retention that got the side into the 2020 grand final and 2021 preliminary final.
Grigg said there was a few teething issues in the early part of the season, but once the group started clicking with the strategy the wins started coming easily.
“We had moments throughout a lot of games where we hadn’t clicked for four quarters, we had lost a couple of games throughout the year,” he said.
“There were a couple of times earlier in the year where we were up and down … the last game that we lost to St Kilda, we were poor for 20 minutes and other games we were good enough to win but they weren’t four-quarter performances.
“It’s very hard to make changes and for things to click straight away, credit to the players for sticking at it and training that.
“For the players to stick fat and for us to produce that type of footy in the back end of the year was pretty special.”
Geelong won 16 consecutive games to end the season, with its last loss coming at the hands of St Kilda in round 9.
The Cats led by as many as 22 points halfway through the third quarter, but the Saints kicked eight goals from the 14-minute mark of the term to run out 10 point victors.
Grigg said the playing group deserved the victory as the best team all year.
“This group has a phenomenal will to win,” he said.
“The work ethic is strong, it has strong leadership, it’s led by the players, they’ve earned a few quiet drinks.
“They’re so bloody hard to win, so for a week or so we’ll put our computers away and enjoy it.”
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Originally published as Geelong Cats: How a change in game style saved the side from losing in another finals campaign
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