Welcome to a very belated first edition of The Cattery Newsletter for season 2005. This season I'm once again pleased to have the services of up and coming sports journalist Mark Heenan, who gets along to Geelong press conferences when he can.

What really prompted this latest newsletter was the news that, barring some kind of political backflip, Gary Ablett Senior is finally being admitted into the AFL Hall of Fame.

Famous not only for being Gary Ablett Junior's dad but playing nearly 250 AFL games and kicking over 1000 goals, will be inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame next Monday.

Considered but ruled out of contention for the past five years because of an incident in 2000 in which a young woman died from a drug overdose, Ablett has polarised fans. Twelve months ago Ablett's manager, Michael Baker, formally requested the Geelong Football Club no longer nominate Ablett; Ablett no longer wanted a debate re-igniting the horror for the family each year.

But this year, the Hall of Fame selection committee has decided the time's right, despite the GFC no longer officially nominating him. Indeed, almost all callers to talk back radio program Sports Today and Pay TV's Whiteline Fever backed Ablett's inclusion into the AFL Hall of Fame.

It is believed that Ablett will not attend Monday night's official event.

Ablett was a regular fixture in the Geelong clubrooms during the early stage of 2002 when son Gary Junior made the first steps in his already impressive AFL career. But Ablett has seldom been seen at the football since, reportedly enjoying the privacy of a retreat near the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

Youngest son Nathan was drafted under the father-son rule in 2004, and is currently playing in the VFL side. But Nathan is expected to feature in the AFL side before long, but most likely not until next season.

Both boys played their junior football at Modewarre, a small township west of Grovedale in Geelong. Gary was drafted the conventional way, via the Geelong Falcons TAC Cup side while Nathan preferred to stay at 'Moda'; playing mainly under 18 but some senior matches in 2004.

HALF WAY - SECOND BEST

The Cats find themselves in second position on the ladder behind the West Coast Eagles after seven wins and three losses. On face value this is a good effort, although it comes on the back of a disappointing loss at home to the Fremantle Dockers. Perhaps this was 'the loss we had to have'? Time will tell. One thing's for certain the club will not take the loss to heart - it lost the match because of a fighting display by the Dockers, which combined with awful kicking and perhaps a couple injuries lead to the nine point loss.

This Friday night the Cats taken on Collingwood at Telstra Dome, our fourth Friday night fixture this season. The wobblers, while only having three wins to date, have won two on the trot after good wins over the West Coast Eagles and Hawthorn in rounds nine and ten respectively.

In the final twelve rounds, Geelong look forward to another six home matches, including five at Skilled Stadium. The Cats play the last seven matches of the season in Victoria, either at the Phone Dome or Skilled, with only two more interstate trips ahead. Geelong travels to the GABBA to take on the once-feared Lions in Round 13, and again two rounds later to the SCG to take on the very entertaining Sydney Swans in Round 15. A slight disadvantage yet again is the absence of any games at the MCG, where the preliminary and grand finals will be played.

Geelong should be and is aiming for top spot. This will give the team a double chance and more importantly remove the need to play that first, critical final 'interstate'. This could be the year of the cat - the competition's very even this season with our team one of the frontrunners. If we don't take the chance this season we may not get another.

NEW STAND - LOOKS GREAT BUT SUN TOO BRIGHT

The as yet to be named 'Eastern Stand' was officially opened by a plethora of dignitaries before the first bounce of the Round 6 clash with the Western Bulldogs including the man who tolls 'free' ways Steve Bracks, former Fremantle coach Damien Drum, Francois Costa, Rob Hulls and Daryl Somers. The stand is fantastic, that it was completed (for the most part) on time is a credit to all at the City of Greater Geelong (COGG), the GFC, the contractor Kane Constructions and the project manager Davis Langdon. Only one problem; the new coaching box (and presumably the corporate boxes which various public and private companies as well as government agencies fund) cops the sunlight as the sun fades from its high point in the sky to the west.

Likely solutions are either waiting until round 14, by which time the sun will be blocked out by heavy clouds each game, or placing a giant balloon on top of one or more stands on the western side of the ground.

The 'smart money' (if you could call gambling smart) is on the new stand being named after club legend and sole surviving premiership coach Bobby Davis. The COGG and the GFC have postponed the process until later this year; the party line being that the GFC is in the process of naming various other parts of the ground (gates, rooms, toilets etc) after other club figures and doesn't want to double up. Notwithstanding the common sense that having a gate named after a club legend shouldn't preclude the new stand being named after them and the gate name changed, the real real is the COGG insisting that under some obscure bye-law pieces of infrastructure shouldn't be named after the living. The decision stems from former mayor of Geelong, Barwon Water chairman and crook Frank De Stefano's fall from grace and an unfortunate situation where a street was named after the man. But surely this shouldn't stop a football club from having a living legend honoured in such a way?

As I read in the Australian Financial Review recently, "you can't legislate against stupidity, but if you consider Courtney Love, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Greg Combet you can make an argument."

VFL SIDE HAS LIMITED SUCCESS

After defeating Tasmania by two points in it's first match of the season, the Geelong VFL side, known as the 'Bendigo Bank Cats', has since lost every game. While this is obviously a downer, it's important to note that the charter isn't to win every game but develop players. But obviously a player's development would be knocked around if he never plays in a winning side, so hopefully the team, which to date has only played one home game out of seven matches, gets its second win soon.

Part of the problem is that the side has too many key position players, who currently have no where else to go but the VFL side. It is believed the club is looking seriously into bringing in a VFL Reserves side or at the very least convincing some of the lower-ranked players to play the odd game in the Geelong Football League (GFL). Football Geelong tried the former approach during 2001 with no success [link - Football Geelong position paper]; the majority of GFL and Bellarine Football Club (BFL) clubs who make up Football Geelong voted against the idea, arguing that their clubs would be drained of talent.

The Cattery expects the opposite of a talent drain to occur - instead of talented former Geelong Falcons leaving Geelong for the SANFL or Westar Rules comps for a gig in a state league side, they could join the Geelong VFL club, Bendigo Bank Cats if you like - and try to get their career back on track. It may even result in players from regions signing on with GFL or BFL clubs in the hope of getting a game in the ressies and taking off from there.

CHECK RESULTS/TEAM IN THE CATTERY'S VFL SECTION

TIPPING COMP - 'CALLIBON' THE LEADER BY TWO

OUR LEADER, almost at the halfway mark, is 'callibon' on 53 - an average of 5.3 per round.

REST OF SEASON

Enjoy the rest of the season and this newsletter. If you have any feedback, or want to unsubscribe, please pass them on to me at thecattery@keldar.net. We also welcome your contributions to The Cattery.

And remember, as Lance from Lara says: CARRRRN THE MIGHTTYYY CAAAATS!

GEELONG 2004 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS DVD/VIDEO! YOURS FOR ONLY $29.95

Sports Delivered/AFL Video are the official distributor of AFL videos (including DVDs).

Titles such as Ablett - One Special Season, Buddha: The Garry Hocking Tribute and The Cats. 50 Years of Geelong Football Club are all reduced to just $9.95. Follow the links above.

MOONEY FEELS PRESSURE FROM UMPIRES AND BOMBER
Mark Heenan of AAP 25 May 2005

THE recent on field indiscretions on Geelong’s Cameron Mooney, has forced coach Mark Thompson to be critical of the AFL umpires. Thompson went into bat for his embattled defender, suspended for one week after striking Corey Jones, in the Cats’ 85-point mauling of the Kangaroos at Skilled Stadium last Sunday.

FULL STORY

OTHER SELECTED ARTICLES

4 May 2005 CLUBS SHOULD DEVISE THEIR OWN FINES - BOMBER

4 May 2005 CATS CELEBRATE NEW STAND WITH A WIN

22 April 2005 CARN THE MIGHTY CATS! GEELONG BEAT PORT ADELAIDE IN THRILLER AT FOOTBALL PARK

21 April 2005 CATS OUT TO EXTINGUISH INTERSTATE HOODOO ON BIG STAGE

16 April 2005 GEELONG'S SEASON REVIVED WITH BIG WIN OVER ESSENDON

14 April 2005 BARTEL SEEMINGLY BACK FROM DEAD; CLEARED TO PLAY BOMBERS

24 January 2005 BENNY SECURES CONTRACT WITH JETS

5 December 2004 GFC RECORDS HEALTHY OPERATING PROFIT, TAKES ON FURTHER BORROWINGS FOR NEW STAND; COSTA TICKET UNCHALLENGED

19 November 2004 NEW LOOK SKILLED STADIUM TAKES SHAPE

25 October 2004 NATHAN ABLETT JOINS THE CATS

Free Plugs:

http://www.geocities.com/euro_people/ - O.D.E. - Read about five young lads from Gee-Long embarking on a journey of cultural discovery and other miscellaneous adventures across continental Europe and the ubiquitous 'You Kay'. Still under heavy construction, it'll be worth a look later on in the year.

http://geelongfooty.com - A good new combined footy forum with a news spider providing links to the latest articles on the mighty cats. Hasn't really hit critical mass yet but give it a go.

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