Is Geelong a contender or a tease, asks Matthew Lloyd, ahead of season-defining clash

MATTHEW Lloyd looks at how the Cats have gone from premiership contenders to inconsistent and untrustworthy ahead of a season-defining clash against Melbourne.

Joel Selwood leads Geelong off after losing to Adelaide.

IS Geelong a contender or just a tease?

The last fortnight of football sums up the Geelong Football club in 2018. The Cats are a highly talented group, capable of beating anyone on their day. But their players are also highly inconsistent and untrustworthy.

It is why they sit eighth on the ladder and are in a fight just to make the finals.

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The Cats have won two of their past five matches with the victories being commanding performances over quality sides in North Melbourne and Sydney. Yet in that period they dropped games they should have won to the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide.

Beating Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval is never easy, but it was the way Geelong lost that’s a worry.

Geelong was brilliant early in the game when Tom Hawkins had the chance to put it four-goals-to-one up with a shot from the top of the goal square.

Tom Hawkins marks over Kyle Hartigan. Picture: Sarah Reed

Hawkins missed, the Crows regained the momentum and in the space of 15 minutes the Crows kicked three goals to take a one-goal lead into quarter-time.

To me, it summed up Geelong in the space of 30 minutes. The Cats are just so hot and cold with not much in between.

Coach Chris Scott has important decisions to make.

Does Mark Blicavs move into the midfield, with the return of Lachie Henderson, despite the fact Blicavs has been one of the game’s best key defenders in 2018?

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Is Harry Taylor still in Geelong’s best 22 and if so where does he play?

Does Daniel Menzel’s ability to kick a goal keep him in the side or does his lack of pressure in the forward line cost him given the emergence of youngsters Jamaine Jones, Lachie Fogarty and Quinton Narkle?

Just what is Geelong’s best midfield mix to find the right balance between attack and defence? There are so many questions, yet so little time left to find the answers.

Now is the time Scott needs to settle his side down with six home-and-away rounds left and a season-defining game against Melbourne. But which players he settles on is anyone’s guess.

Daniel Menzel in action for Geelong’s VFL team. Picture: Josie Hayden

Geelong is a side that has strong structure behind the ball which has held up extremely well for it this season. The Cats have conceded fewer than 60 points in a game eight times this year which ranks them as the third best defence in the AFL.

In their losses though, teams that move the ball at pace such as Essendon (Round 9) and the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide in the last three weeks have turned Geelong’s defence inside out and made them defend one-on-one, which they have struggled with.

Melbourne is the league’s highest scoring team and moves the ball at a rapid rate, which will make for fascinating viewing with the contrast in the styles.

With Henderson returning, Blicavs’ running capacity may be used by Scott all over the ground to maximise his transition running rather than just being left on the last line of defence to stop the opposition’s best key forward.

If Scott doesn’t want to mess with Blicavs, Henderson could be used as a secondary forward to assist Hawkins.

What is Menzel’s role in this side? Menzel was poor last week but that can happen after such a long lay-off and the pressure cooker environment of Adelaide Oval.

The issue for Menzel is that while he can kick goals like few can, Geelong is not great at locking the ball in its forward half or creating forward-half intercepts, which puts extreme pressure on its midfielders and defenders.

Too often, Geelong starts its attacks from the likes of Tom Stewart and Blicavs off half-back which is not sustainable and will not win any team a premiership.

Harry Taylor could be Geelong’s swingman.

Lachie Henderson returns to the AFL this week. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

Menzel has laid four tackles in his six games this year but has kicked 16 goals. There’s the dilemma.

For what it is worth I would play him, but he must show more fight when the ball is leaving his area otherwise Scott will have no choice other than to leave him out.

I would only play Taylor in defence where he looks most comfortable, but there isn’t a position for him there at the moment.

Scott last played him forward in the Cats’ win over the Swans, however he doesn’t do enough to justify his position in Geelong’s forward line despite the fact that it would allow Hawkins to play deeper.

Taylor misses again with a foot injury but is likely to be available next week but to me there is no obvious role in the side for him other than in defence where others have gone past him.

Geelong has too much top-end talent not to make the finals, but it lacks the depth and consistency to be the premier.

Unfortunately for Geelong, this has been a familiar tale in recent years.

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