5 weeks in - How are we really going?

[GVGjr]

Prior to the first game I think most of us would have readily accepted a 4 win and 1 (close) loss from the first 5 games but do many of us still have some doubts about how we might perform during the season?

Some food for thought:

- Injuries have mounted up and we might need to alter our tentative plans at the start of the year to rest the older guys like Morris and M.Boyd

- We caught Freo at a good time and we might also be the benefactor of a reasonably good draw.

- Our best football is very good.

- Adams has been great

So where do you see us after 5 weeks? Genuine contenders or will we need to ride some luck?

[Rocco Jones]

I see the top line as Hawks, Crows and Swans. Believe they can play good footy anywhere, against anyone.

I see us in the next line with the Eagles and North. We are going to win a lot but a few more doubts. We have injuries and are unproven away from Eithad. 14 games at Etihad means we are going to win enough games to be thereabouts for top 4. Then anything can happen. The Eagles are a bit similar to us with Subi/away. I guess for us we will learn a lot once we start playing away. North are going to win a lot of games due to being at least passable in so many areas but doubts over if they can beat the best.

I see all 6 as the real contenders at the moment. In short....
- Hawks my favorites
- Crows awesome at home, proved a bit last night against the Hawks
- Swans have all their home games at the SCG now and like the Crows seem like they will be competitive against the best away
- Dogs injuries and unproven away. Really hurts that Etihad doesn't seem to exist in finals.
- Eagles really would need things to fall their way (i.e. must finish top 2, avoid Hawks in a GF)
- North just seem like a home and away wins accumulation side. That side they have batted above last two finals series.

[SonofScray]

I think we're right in the thick of it but will require plenty of luck as the season wears on given the injuries we've copped early. For a flag to wags in a few months time a lot of things have to go our way and we haven't seen what sort of influence we can have on a lot of those fronts just yet. Away wins in WA, Geelong and SA will go some ways to cementing our belief.

Or best is glorious. Our past two games have been far from our best, far from glorious but have been relatively authoritative, decisive victories regardless. We're dealing with the teams we are supposed to, matching the teams we need to. Norf present a good test, they come into the match up as favourites and in better shape than us, it'd be terrific to bank another 4 points against them.

We need Roughie, Campbell and Boyd to maintain some level of form and add value in their ruck / fwd roles. Someone like Dale, Jong or Hamling to really hit their straps and Adams + Glove to stay fit.

[Ghost Dog]

Forming ( McCartney )
Storming ( Bevo comes in )
Norming ( another year or two and we will be the next Hawthorn )

Might nab a sneaky flag before we peak with this group, but will really cause more damage in September once our spine gets more experience.

[comrade]

We're not going as well as the media and general public thinks or as bad as WOOF thinks :D

[ratsmac]

I am very happy to be 4 and 1 with a percentage of 173. We have conceded the least points of any team so far and some still haven't played 5 games yet. I can't remember us ever being so miserly.

Yeah we have had a cruisy run fixture wise, but we have done what we had to do. But in saying that, not only have we been winning, we have been punishing sides. We are dealing with teams who are older, younger or the same age bracket, and beating them comfortably. This is a testament to them and their talent.

Our biggest concerns are injuries. We are getting injuries to key players to our style of play which should hurt us, but so far it hasn't. Our depth has stood up (poor old Footscray are feeling it though).

Our season starts now. We have a harder fixture coming up now and it's going to show where we currently sit in the pecking order. If we can maintain a top 4 position through this period of harder fixture and injury concerns, we will be right in it up to our eyeballs come finals.

[Ghost Dog]

Great post Ratsmac
The effect of injuries has not really begun to show yet. When the fixture hits us with back to back games with tough opponents it will. We will need as much percentage as we can get - shop early.

[chef]

Happy with where we're are at. Friday night will be another great test and show us where we are really at.

Im not as fussed as others about our goal kicking, poor kicking is a comp wide thing so i guess we're not immune. We did score 13-2 at one stage last night though.

Injuries are our only major worry.

[ledge]

I will let you know where we are after the next two rounds, this is where we meet the contenders.

[lemmon]

I think we've gone a long way to answering some key positional questions. Adams has locked up full back, Rough and now Campbell have ensured we haven't been beaten in the ruck yet and Liberatore has stepped in without missing a beat but with far less responsibility than in 2014.

If not for those injuries I'd say there was a flag to be snatched this year, far from doom and gloom though

[1eyedog]

We look good. If we can snatch top 4, get JJ back into good form and remain relatively injury free we can play a Grand Final this year.

[Testekill]

* We have beaten who we are expected to beat (something we struggled with last year) and we haven't really struggled with any of the lower teams.

* Our inaccuracy hasn't been too huge a problem because our defense and pressure has been great.

* We're not playing anywhere near as well as the media think we are but we are still beating teams easily.

* North is going to be our first real test after the Hawks (who look vulnerable and I think we paid them too much respect last time) but we played really well against them last year.

* Injuries have been horrible but we luckily have enough HBF to replace them, if we end up losing Morris then there is reason to be scared.

[boydogs]

We've seen enough to know we will be there in September, how our game plan holds up under finals pressure and at other grounds is the question mark

[ledge]

Will get JJ and Clay Smith back approximately 6 games before finals, Both could be finals weapons.
Also if Suckling can be in full flight we are looking real good.

I think Lukes main worry is trying to manager players for finals, so be nice to get a finals spot as early in the season as we can.

[comrade]

Thing I'm happiest about is the application has been top notch, which is reflected in the general statistical domination we've had in each game. We've only really had 1 bad quarter (1st vs Hawks) which is hopefully a sign of increased maturity across the group.

I have the feeling Libba & Bont will start to ramp up over the next month which is scary for the rest of the comp.

[Bullies]

Bont is slowly getting better each game. I think people forget or dont know he had limited pre season after an op.

[azabob]

Will get JJ and Clay Smith back approximately 6 games before finals, Both could be finals weapons.
Also if Suckling can be in full flight we are looking real good.

I think Lukes main worry is trying to manager players for finals, so be nice to get a finals spot as early in the season as we can.

Unfortunetly I can't see Clay Smith playing any role in 2016.

[F'scary]

At this stage, I am in the we are a sneaky peak for the premiership camp. However, there are obvious concerns. The main one being we don't capitalise enough on our dominance.

[Eastdog]

Not getting carried away just yet but like other woofers are saying so far we are doing really well. Having the highest percentage so far is fantastic and it's important we maintain our high percentage.

The next 2 weeks will be tough but I was speaking to a mate today who's a Bulldogs supporter as well and he said if we can get 1 win of the 2 over the next two that would be a good result would love to win both.

Injuries are the concern and might affect us but in saying that we had some quality in last night and more quality still to come back. Definitely can finish top 4 but need things to go our way and also we need to win outside of Etihad as well.

[Eastdog]

At this stage, I am in the we are a sneaky peak for the premiership camp. However, there are obvious concerns. The main one being we don't capitalise enough on our dominance.

Yes agree really need to take advantage as much as we can.

[Eastdog]

Looking forward to Daniel returning soon as he'll frighten opposition teams.

[Torpedo]

From where we were in 2014, this team has come on so quickly. Most are still learning their craft and mids are playing a mixture of awesome, almost fanatical attack on the ball interspersed with some L plate mistakes. To be expected with such an inexperienced group. I don't worry so much about winning away from home as us not getting the experience of playing in front of really large crowds. 50K in the elim final was probably the largest crowd ever for most of them. It would be great to get that big game exposure in a game like tomorrow's and bank it away for September.

[Remi Moses]

Pleasing that we don't get multiple goals kicked against us .Its also pleasing how hard we work both ways, and our midfield bats as deep as anyone . The injuries hurt, but players play multiple roles in this era. We need JJ back and firing , and need to convert our midfield dominance . I thought we'd be 3 2 or 4 1 before the season started . You couldn't pencil the Freo game in pre-season, and the Hawthorn game was going to be tough .

[1eyedog]

Unfortunetly I can't see Clay Smith playing any role in 2016.

Why?

[LostDoggy]

Reality is our wins have been against 4 of the bottom 5 sides.

We are getting the job done convincingly against these sides but it's still hard to gauge how good we actually are.

Next 2 weeks obviously will give us a much better idea.

2 teams (North and Adelaide) with the best attacking games in the competition. Our stingy team defense will finally get a massive test.

[Eastdog]

Unfortunetly I can't see Clay Smith playing any role in 2016.

I reckon he'll feature somewhere.

[Eastdog]

Reality is our wins have been against 4 of the bottom 5 sides.

We are getting the job done convincingly against these sides but it's still hard to gauge how good we actually are.

Next 2 weeks obviously will give us a much better idea.

2 teams (North and Adelaide) with the best attacking games in the competition. Our stingy team defense will finally get a massive test.

Pretty much my thoughts as well Jaytee in what I said in my post.

[Bulldog4life]

Reality is our wins have been against 4 of the bottom 5 sides.

We are getting the job done convincingly against these sides but it's still hard to gauge how good we actually are.

Next 2 weeks obviously will give us a much better idea.

2 teams (North and Adelaide) with the best attacking games in the competition. Our stingy team defense will finally get a massive test.

I feel confident we will beat North. We are better at contested ball and their backline leaks goals. Not so much against Adelaide.

[Bulldog Joe]

Reality is our wins have been against 4 of the bottom 5 sides.

We are getting the job done convincingly against these sides but it's still hard to gauge how good we actually are.

Next 2 weeks obviously will give us a much better idea.

2 teams (North and Adelaide) with the best attacking games in the competition. Our stingy team defense will finally get a massive test.

The next 2 weeks will test how our team defence stands up. If we can restrict both North and Adelaide to modest scores, we will really show we are capable of a major challenge for the flag.

[Go_Dogs]

Haven't had a chance to watch the Lions game yet, but like others I feel we're tracking OK and will learn more over the coming weeks.

I don't think we've been at our best, and due to our run of injuries we probably won't get back to our best until the latter part of the season, so being able to win 4 and win them so convincingly (scoreboard wise) has been impressive.

Looking forward to seeing how we sit at the bye round, with North, Crows, GWS away, WCE and Geelong all looking like tough games but ones we can win. Knowing our luck Port will get themselves out of their rut before we play them in Adelaide in round 12, too.

I'm giving us an 8/10 to date.

[LostDoggy]

Clearly and consistently dominating all sides in clearances and possessions.

Thought we were unreasonably wary of the hawks early.

Wasted opportunities in every game.

We should go into the North game confident of smashing them in the middle, win that and our confidence goes up while our flag odds go down.

[LostDoggy]

Then destroy Adelaide. For me.

[westbulldog]

No game is easy but Adelaide is the acid test IMO. North are just April premiers. Rounds 8 and 10 at the G will be good experience for the young blokes.
Anyone know exactly what Clay Smith's injury status is ?

[ledge]

From what in hearing we will get him back at about round 15

[bulldogtragic]

Our attack is about 10th in the comp. our defence is 50 points or 15% better than anyone else. So defence is outstanding, but our attack is below par I'd guess with shite inside 50's and poor conversion. So we're going well, if we can fix the issues with attack then we will be going better. Dickson's inclusion will help. When/if Boyd can play as a stay at forward hopefully that will help too. Crameri next year will be a massive in. In all, we were 57 seconds from being undefeated right now in top spot with huge percentage. This Friday night will give us a good idea of where we are at as North are very high scoring and undefeated.

[hujsh]

Our attack is about 10th in the comp. our defence is 50 points or 15% better than anyone else. So defence is outstanding,Mobutu attack is below par I'd guess with shite inside 50's and poor conversion. So we're going well, if we can fix the issues with attack then we will be going better. Dickson's inclusion will help. When/if Boyd can play as a stay at forward hopefully that will help too. Crameri next year will be a massive in. In all, we were 57 seconds from being undefeated right now in top spot with huge percentage. This Friday night will give us a good idea of where we are at as North are very high scoring and undefeated.

8th.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

I'm definitely in the lets wait and see how we go when we play more games against the top sides. We have clearly improved, as shown by how close we got against the Hawks, and how we have dealt fairly easily with poor teams.
I just hope the injury toll to our half back line doesn't start to impact our performances in the next two weeks and thus not allow an effective gauge of where we are at. If However, we were to beat both North and Adelaide with the outs we currently have, then this would would be a massive statement of how well we are travelling.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Its difficult to guage at this point in the season with an easy fixture

I think the next 4 weeks will be a good guage - North, Adelaide, Melbourne and GWS. The first 2 are contenders, the latter 2 up and comers. Adelaide concerns me much more than north do, mostly because they score on the rebound so quickly which is a big problem for us.(See below)

For mine, we have not played anywhere near a complete game of football. The good thing is we have still won our games comfortably (albeit against weak oppositions but thats not our fault)

The Good:
- Cannot question our effort and intensity in any game - something i don't think i could have said about any bulldog team recently.
- We have dominated games where we should have
- We have created plenty of scoring opportunities
- Our defense has been superb - can't remember the last time our defense was so miserly.

The Bad:
- Injuries - if they keep mounting it will hurst us from the bye round onwards. Lets hope our run with injuries is over
- Wasting chances - Our skills going inside 50 are pretty poor and it leads to us wasting opportunities. We've gotten away with it against weak opposition so far. The next few weeks we won't be so fortunate against good sides. If we want to win finals we have to address this
- Scoring inaccuracy - We are missing far too many set shots and as above this will hurt us in finals
- The over the top ball - This still concerns me from the EF last year. I've seen it quite a few times already this year where the opposition have just had a 2 or 3 on 1 in their half of the ground after the ball is turned over in our forward 50. Cheap, easy goals. I'm not sure why this occurs - i'm putting it down to lapses in concentration. Again, in finals these cheap goals will cost us, particularly if, as above, we are not capitalising on our own opportunities
-Not putting the foot down - Partly due to the bad points above we have not destroyed teams when we could have. In all seriousness, all our wins could have been close to 100 points if we played complete games. This is not so much of a negative as a positive i suppose. Perhaps we are conserving our energies.

All in all i'm happy with how we are playing. The next few weeks will be the best indicator of where we sit. I don't believe, on current form, we are top 2 or even top 4. But the good news is the problems we have are fixable in the short term. I would be a lot more concerned if, like Port or Richmond, our issues were with effort, intensity or confidence. These are all top notch.

Stop the cheap goals, convert our opportunities and pray to the footy gods and we are premeriship material

[Ozza]

Think we are going really really well.

Obviously a tough loss to Hawthorn. But have never been in any doubt in the 4 other games.

I have a theory about the "poor conversion" or "sloppy inside 50s".
- Putting the set shots to one side (which have not been great I'll admit) -

Most teams in the competition are getting the majority of their scores from turnovers. Obviously when turnovers occur, there are naturally huge gaps that will occur in the defensive structure of the team that has turned it over, because they have to transition from attack to defence. This is where teams get tend to get their easy, open goals where you either get simple shots straight in front, or run into open goals.

Currently, we are dominating sides in centre clearances and stoppages, so we are getting a lot of inside 50s where teams have their defenders in position. Which means it is harder to get marks inside 50 and often it will mean your shots are in wider positions. Dominating the clearances/stoppages and getting those inside 50s is also meaning that we are getting the opportunity setting up the ground how we want to, which means repeat entries. Repeat entries means more chances to score, but that is when a mass of players are inside 50.

If you think back to the Collingwood side of 2010 - they had a similar type team defence/press, and were a team strong on repeat entries. They would often have huge inside 50s numbers, and didn't have high accuracy for the year (they actually kicked more behinds than goals for the year), but overwhelmed and exhausted opponents with the repeat entries and control of the ground.

This clearances dominance is a huge help to our defenders and I think is going a long way to helping us be the statistically best defensive side in the competition.

It might not always look so silky, but having control of the set up of the ground for far longer than the opposition gives you the best chance to overwhelm the opposition. Our aggressive defensive positioning may mean that we occasionally get scored on out the back - but as we have shown in the first 5 games, we are better at it this year. The players are further advanced in team defence, and I firmly believe we will continue to improve as the season goes on.

I think there is more in-season improvement in our group than any of the other contenders. Even from the weekend, Woody will be better for the run. Dickson will be better for the run. And we will get Suckling back soon, and JJ later on - to strengthen us.

Over the next few weeks - the unknown is how we hold up with the injuries. But the opposition we are facing haven't had to deal with the pressure that we bring, this year. Good luck to them trying to move the ball against us like they have in other games this year.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Think we are going really really well.

Obviously a tough loss to Hawthorn. But have never been in any doubt in the 4 other games.

I have a theory about the "poor conversion" or "sloppy inside 50s".
- Putting the set shots to one side (which have not been great I'll admit) -

Most teams in the competition are getting the majority of their scores from turnovers. Obviously when turnovers occur, there are naturally huge gaps that will occur in the defensive structure of the team that has turned it over, because they have to transition from attack to defence. This is where teams get tend to get their easy, open goals where you either get simple shots straight in front, or run into open goals.

Currently, we are dominating sides in centre clearances and stoppages, so we are getting a lot of inside 50s where teams have their defenders in position. Which means it is harder to get marks inside 50 and often it will mean your shots are in wider positions. Dominating the clearances/stoppages and getting those inside 50s is also meaning that we are getting the opportunity setting up the ground how we want to, which means repeat entries. Repeat entries means more chances to score, but that is when a mass of players are inside 50.

If you think back to the Collingwood side of 2010 - they had a similar type team defence/press, and were a team strong on repeat entries. They would often have huge inside 50s numbers, and didn't have high accuracy for the year (they actually kicked more behinds than goals for the year), but overwhelmed and exhausted opponents with the repeat entries and control of the ground.

This clearances dominance is a huge help to our defenders and I think is going a long way to helping us be the statistically best defensive side in the competition.

It might not always look so silky, but having control of the set up of the ground for far longer than the opposition gives you the best chance to overwhelm the opposition. Our aggressive defensive positioning may mean that we occasionally get scored on out the back - but as we have shown in the first 5 games, we are better at it this year. The players are further advanced in team defence, and I firmly believe we will continue to improve as the season goes on.

I think there is more in-season improvement in our group than any of the other contenders. Even from the weekend, Woody will be better for the run. Dickson will be better for the run. And we will get Suckling back soon, and JJ later on - to strengthen us.

Over the next few weeks - the unknown is how we hold up with the injuries. But the opposition we are facing haven't had to deal with the pressure that we bring, this year. Good luck to them trying to move the ball against us like they have in other games this year.

Agree with your theory Ozza. I still think we can be a lot cleaner with the ball but agree with the substance of your theory.

Its not at all the worst problem to have. In some ways, its the final touch to becoming elite

[dukedog]

The boys are going really well. If it were not for key injuries in our backline i believe we would be looking alot better on paper. Hopefully we can cover for suckling as well. I'll tell you one thing, Tory Dickson is an A grader. Seamless transition back into the side.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

We are going as well as we could have hoped, particularly given the substantial injuries to key players and the fact that Crameri is out all year. The latter is such a huge loss, and so too was Dickson missing for the first month.

These next few weeks will be interesting. I'm concerned - adding Daniel and now Suckling to the growing list of injuries means we really can't cover them all. Our depth is great, but it's being stretched a little too much.

We'll be competitive but I think it's hard to see us beating in-form and full listed Norf/Crows sides.

My hope is that by mid year we have 90% of our list back. With a full list I'd have us as Premiership favourites, with no Crameri/Murph it makes it tough but still possible.

[stefoid]

Our foundations are good - contested ball and team defence. We are as good around the stoppages as anyone. Maybe better.

Our F50 entries and kicking for goal is where we need to improve.

I think Caleb becomes pretty important to us as the guy who can kick the ball inside 50 the way it should be kicked - maybe McLean too. Its both encouraging and discouraging that we have to rely on two youngsters so much.

[Cyberdoggie]

The next 2 weeks will test how our team defence stands up. If we can restrict both North and Adelaide to modest scores, we will really show we are capable of a major challenge for the flag.

I agree, and both have a few good tall forwards and a high quality small.
This will test our team defence and two key tall back lineup in Adams and Morris.
Can we man up on these sides with only those two key defenders?

I think it will be won out of the middle but if we restrict their scoring then it will be a real litmus test for the season ahead and if we can go to the end.

[Greystache]

Our defence is good. Our contested ball and midfield pressure is elite. Our delivery inside forward 50m is bottom 8, and our conversion is bottom 4.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Our defence is good. Our contested ball and midfield pressure is elite. Our delivery inside forward 50m is bottom 8, and our conversion is bottom 4.

Pretty much sums it up perfectly.

No Crameri, Boyd, Murphy, JJ, Suckling and Daniel robs us of pace and skill. We are left with a hard working side who simply cannot out run or punish teams on the scoreboard.

[azabob]

Pretty much sums it up perfectly.

No Crameri, Boyd, Murphy, JJ, Suckling and Daniel robs us of pace and skill. We are left with a hard working side who simply cannot out run or punish teams on the scoreboard.

It is looking increasingly like that the above bar Daniel will miss a few rounds yet.

Games V the Crows, Demons and GWS.

The stark reality is we could well lose all of those games.

Adelaide have a very strong midfield and forward set up.

Last years loss to Melbourne at the same venue is enough to wonder what we will dish up. We need to win this game for two main reasons - the first is if we are serious about playing finals football we need to beat Melbourne (who are a good team when they get things their own way) and the second reason we need to win at the MCG so the rest of the football world and more importantly our own players know we can play, defend and kick a winning score at the MCG.

GWS is shaping as the toughest of the lot and they are beginning to have a real home ground advantage at spotless.

By the end of round 9 we could well be 4 wins and 5 loses.

I think we will be 5-4 and 6-3 at best.