It was certainly very difficult viewing last night, particularly given we went into the game with little chance of being competitive, let alone winning. Probably the most injury riddled, weak team we've ever fielded. Factor in the greasy, slippery conditions on top of our already low-skill base and it was a very disheartening night and one we'd quickly wish to forget.

Sadly, we'll be sitting in the bottom six with the expansion sides this season unlikely to win more than a few games. The decimation of our already struggling list during the most recent off-season, followed by the onset of what seems to be a club-wide injury curse, has essentially resigned us to being another expansion team requiring a rebuild from close to scratch. I'm no expert, but we just seem to have too many slow and/or lumbering players in our list make-up which must have been by design/choice, surely it can't all just be bad luck. Perhaps before the next draft comes around it'll be time for those in charge of shaping and developing our list to hand back the keys and give someone else a go.

IN 2021, Geelong hit a low point, losing all but its final game against the winless Gold Coast and ultimately saying goodbye to head coach Paul Hood.

Last season there were clear signs of improvement, but that didn't quite translate to the win-loss ledger, only able to register two wins from 10 starts. This time around, the Cats are a genuine force to be reckoned with, and that all comes down to the improved connection between lines that has been building this year.

Typically, as teams work themselves back from disappointing seasons like the Cats had in 2021, they do so in layers. Work on the fundamentals, stem the flow of opposition scoring and then the last key piece of the puzzle is their own ability to score. This is exactly how Geelong has come back from the brink to now challenge for its second finals series.

https://twitter.com/theage/status/1577788487356583937

What's the bet this doesn't get the same level of outrage as other similar events...

It was a significantly improved performance last night compared against the previous fortnight. The defensive side to our game, that has been largely non-existent this season, was top notch. The tackling and pressure, not giving saints much time or space, was the best I've seen this season. Moody was in beast-mode and dominated, Vescio (at half-back) was fantastic, Hill, McKay and Peterson were all very good. McEvoy played probably the best game I've seen her play and there were nice cameos from Vickers and Skepper. However, it does beg the question, where the hell has that sort of performance been for the previous six weeks? Perhaps there was an old fashioned "crisis" meeting in the House-of-Mirrors during the week? Whichever way you look at it there was a marked change in attitude last night, long may it continue.

Didn’t we extend Hartford for another 2 years, about 3 months ago.