Three things you've learnt round 17 2022 v Sydney

[Twodogs]

OK tell us three things you've learnt tonight.

[GVGjr]

Bump

[Happy Days]

Yo we suck

[Scraggers]

Yo we suck

That’s only one

[Boots]

1) We are a devastatingly bog average side, and it's like I learn it anew each week.
2) Two weeks in a row we've been just opened up; we offer zero resistance to opponent ball movement. That's new!
3) I keep reminding myself: Bruce, Smith, McLean, Daniel, Durea. It doesn't work.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. We need to make some moves. Dunkley and Hunter for starters. I'd consider moving contracted players if the deal was juicy enough. Besides Naughton, Smith and Bont, the rest are on the table.

2. West will be even better when we are better. He's been a find.

3. I kinda wish the season was already over.

[Grantysghost]

1. We need to make some moves. Dunkley and Hunter for starters. I'd consider moving contracted players if the deal was juicy enough. Besides Naughton, Smith and Bont, the rest are on the table.

2. West will be even better when we are better. He's been a find.

3. I kinda wish the season was already over.

I didn't think Hunter had shown enough in the twos to get a recall.
Yeah he racked them up but didn't seem to be himself.
I'd give him another spell.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1. I know our "elite" midfield unit collectively shat the bed in the first 1qtr when it was hot, but those younger, inexperienced players really failed to stay switched on off the ball for long enough. Jamarra, Bedendo, Garcia, McComb and even West (who was an overall positive for the night), all at times looked to drop their awareness at times off the ball. And I suspect when the club analyses the footage they'll likely find those guys were consistently blowing their positioning. Let's hope we use the rest of the season to determine which of them are capable of stepping up in that area.
Is our gameplan too complicated for inexperienced players to get?? Is that even a thing?

2. I don't think Bevo should go. But I do think we need to actually, as a club commit to a very thorough internal evaluation and review that tries to resolve our seeming inability to get the most out of this group. This is by a long mile the most talented group of Bulldog players on paper I've seen in my life, and yet they're really hard to like right now. It's clear we don't have things aligned quite right. We need our club executive and footy department to really work even harder, together right now to not only ensure this doesn't turn into a dumpster fire in the immediate term, but that they put in place a plan to rectify our issues going forward.

3. I learned that I believe Rhylee West can become a clearance best inside mid. He doesn't have Libba's speed, but he's already showing signs he could match Libba's relentlessness when tussling for control of the ball in a contest, and has great hands too.

[Scraggers]

1. I know our "elite" midfield unit collectively shat the bed in the first 1qtr when it was hot, but those younger, inexperienced players really failed to stay switched on off the ball for long enough. Jamarra, Bedendo, Garcia, McComb and even West (who was an overall positive for the night), all at times looked to drop their awareness at times off the ball. And I suspect when the club analyses the footage they'll likely find those guys were consistently blowing their positioning. Let's hope we use the rest of the season to determine which of them are capable of stepping up in that area.
Is our gameplan too complicated for inexperienced players to get?? Is that even a thing?

[B]2. I don't think Bevo should go. But I do think we need to actually, as a club commit to a very thorough internal evaluation and review that tries to resolve our seeming inability to get the most out of this group. This is by a long mile the most talented group of Bulldog players on paper I've seen in my life, and yet they're really hard to like right now. It's clear we don't have things aligned quite right. We need our club executive and footy department to really work even harder, together right now to not only ensure this doesn't turn into a dumpster fire in the immediate term, but that they put in place a plan to rectify our issues going forward.[\B]

3. I learned that I believe Rhylee West can become a clearance best inside mid. He doesn't have Libba's speed, but he's already showing signs he could match Libba's relentlessness when tussling for control of the ball in a contest, and has great hands too.

This bolded bit is exactly what I’ve been thinking but not able to express eloquently. Bevo is our way forward, but he needs support onfield and off. We don’t look like a united team.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

The last two big defeats against Brisbane and Sydney proved that we are at least 6 players short with 4 of those being injured or suspended in Duryea Daniel Bruce and Bailey Smith.
Sweet didn’t deserve to be dropped and with Tim O’Brien being dropped Cordy a Premiership player deserved to be recalled.
The fact that we have had two wins and six losses against the top 8 teams highlights where we stand.

[westbulldog]

1. The season is gone, it was gone weeks ago but we have been living in hope. The new assistant coaches have obviously done a "wonderful" (sic) job.
2. West and Naughton were both tenacious all game, credit to them.
3. A third of our team are barely reasonable VFL standard.

[FrediKanoute]

1) When we don't bring a constested mindset to the game we a putrid;
2) We have too many downhill skiers - only LIbba, West & Garcia bring anything like the level of pressure required
3) Sweet, Crosier and O'Brien were not the problem last week

[comrade]

Starting to think that our unlikely finals run last year has really been a poisoned chalice.

If we’d lost against Brisbane, more questions would have been asked, and more heat applied to the group after sitting on top late in the season and being one of the legitimate big dog teams, to crashing out of the top 4 and losing a semi.

Instead, we made it to the big dance and despite providing us with the most depressing 30 minutes of footy I’ve encountered, we were able to avoid scrutiny and backed this group and game plan without addressing the terminal structural and personnel issues we have.

Now it is clear we are miles off the pace and once again, I’m just left with the recurring thought: thank *!*!*!*! for 2016.

[GVGjr]

Starting to think that our unlikely finals run last year has really been a poisoned chalice.

If we’d lost against Brisbane, more questions would have been asked, and more heat applied to the group after sitting on top late in the season and being one of the legitimate big dog teams, to crashing out of the top 4 and losing a semi.

Instead, we made it to the big dance and despite providing us with the most depressing 30 minutes of footy I’ve encountered, we were able to avoid scrutiny and backed this group and game plan without addressing the terminal structural and personnel issues we have.

Now it is clear we are miles off the pace and once again, I’m just left with the recurring thought: thank *!*!*!*! for 2016.

Not so sure Comrade, had we lost a close one to Brisbane rather than winning it I believe as a club we would have been satisfied with the result. We didn't really improve the list at the end of the season to load up for another genuine crack at it and Bevo even touched on it last night highlighting that some other teams improved. On a side note I thought he answered the questions asked last night perfectly.

Whether we didn't have the cap space to improve the list given we had so many unsigned players and perhaps we didn't even have the room to look for a short term fix to cover Bruce but we clearly didn't strengthen the list. Perhaps we thought there would be significant growth in the younger playing group with the likes of Ugle-Hagan etc but there has only been a modest level of improvement in the younger group. Richards return to the back line has been encouraging, West has taken a couple of steps forward and Weightman has almost won a few games himself but outside of that the younger group hasn't quite come though like we might have expected. There has been some cameo's though.
As the season has rolled on Gardner isn't as effective as he was earlier in the season, Keath is not the dominate force he was last year, Martin and Wallis have struggled with injuries, Williams good form early in the season has turned sharply, Hunter isn't the player we hoped for and Naughton looks like he is struggling to move as freely as we would like and English has missed a lot of football.
There are plenty of others as well including having to play McComb more frequently that he probably deserves.

The club might even have some distractions within the playing group that have been difficult to manage but we have once again had the spotlight on us through what we achieved last year and haven't been able to follow through.

The short term challenge is an assessment on the playing list to see that if a returning Bruce, perhaps Lobb and a key defender puts us back into the mix or if we have to chop into the list a bit deeper and use 2023 as more of a rebuild.
After landing 50K in members I wouldn't bet on a quick rebuild.

Apologies for taking the thread off track.

[AshMac]

1) We are a devastatingly bog average side, and it's like I learn it anew each week.

This is so devestatingly accurate

[Mofra]

1. This is not on talent. This is on application

2. Bevo's "magic touch" has disappeared. It's not about tactics either

3. I'd rather get rid of a bunch of mid-pricers and keep Dunkley than keep a bunch of 'ok' best 22 players and lose Dunkley. We've got about 5 blokes on the list that tackle and stick it, and Dunkley is one of them.

[azabob]

1. Application and desire have us on 8 wins not injuries during the season.

2. Only a handful of players have pride in their performance week in week out

3. It is time to play our emerging key defender… oh wait.

[bornadog]

1. Swans contested poss was the difference, they won all the ground balls.

2. Caleb Daniel is a big loss as is Doc Duryea - the backline is a rabble and there is no direction. Stupid mistakes like Ed's field kicking, turning it over, and Gardner not stepping over the line to gift a goal. Defenders not in the right spots like blocking a hole.

3. The bottom six are giving us nothing, mids can't do it all.

[Bullies]

1. Swans contested poss was the difference, they won all the ground balls.

2. Caleb Daniel is a big loss as is Doc Duryea - the backline is a rabble and there is no direction. Stupid mistakes like Ed's field kicking, turning it over, and Gardner not stepping over the line to gift a goal. Defenders not in the right spots like blocking a hole.

3. The bottom six are giving us nothing, mids can't do it all. Don't under estimate the loss of Doc. He is the General down back. Caleb as well sets them up from half back.

Agree bottom 6 are putrid compared to our bottom 6 of 2016 who played a massive role in winning the flag. We need to move them on and make some hard decisions. A guy like Roarke Smith we just can't keep his type on the list.

Get a Leon Cameron in to help Bevo or a David Noble to manage the Football Department.

[Happy Days]

Your whole shit shouldn't fall apart because you're missing a small defender.

[azabob]

1. Swans contested poss was the difference, they won all the ground balls.

2. Caleb Daniel is a big loss as is Doc Duryea - the backline is a rabble and there is no direction. Stupid mistakes like Ed's field kicking, turning it over, and Gardner not stepping over the line to gift a goal. Defenders not in the right spots like blocking a hole.

3. The bottom six are giving us nothing, mids can't do it all.

Do you think our mids are doing their job? They set the tone with a lack of contested footy.

[bornadog]

Don't under estimate the loss of Doc. He is the General down back. Caleb as well sets them up from half back.

Agree bottom 6 are putrid compared to our bottom 6 of 2016 who played a massive role in winning the flag. We need to move them on and make some hard decisions. A guy like Roarke Smith we just can't keep his type on the list.

Get a Leon Cameron in to help Bevo or a David Noble to manage the Football Department.

Agree on all that



Your whole shit shouldn't fall apart because you're missing a small defender.

Yes. The talls are not positioning themselves in the right spot. Why the hell do they play from behind. You can't let Buddy play in front, he will beat you. If he is behind, he won't out mark you as he is not a cont. marker.


Do you think our mids are doing their job? They set the tone with a lack of contested footy.

In general they are, but they can't do it all.

[Bulldog4life]

1. Our backline needs a complete revamp before season 2023.

2. Our game plan has to be rejigged before season 2023.

3. Garcia is a keeper.

[Bullies]

Your whole shit shouldn't fall apart because you're missing a small defender. Doc calls the shots. Watch next time he plays. He gives the direction as to who goes and when. This is why he is in the leadership group. A lot of guys don't have the football brain to do this. Dale Morris and Murph used to do it. At present we have no one to stand up and take the role with Doc injured. A very under rated role.

[Happy Days]

Doc calls the shots. Watch next time he plays. He gives the direction as to who goes and when. This is why he is in the leadership group. A lot of guys don't have the football brain to do this. Dale Morris and Murph used to do it. At present we have no one to stand up and take the role with Doc injured. A very under rated role.

Gonna ignore how condescending the bolded part is and ask if you really think the play of the backline has been acceptable for the past fortnight all because one non key position player is missing?

[AshMac]

1. Bailey Williams is in the worst form I think I’ve seen him. He isn’t alone

2. Our off ball movement in the forward line is N absolute shambles. Lots of pressure on the middle for their entries but I don’t see a lot of good targets

3. For a team that has it all on the line we play with less intensity than the highett U9s