Game Day - Eagles vs Bulldogs

[GVGjr]

This is the discussion thread for todays game.

Who's you tip to kick the first goal for us? I'll go with Darcy

By the way, Griffen mentioned the other day that he has experienced some pain in the hips. Not sure what sort of injury that might be.
A few of the players, the ones that don't travel well, flew out of Melbourne on Thursday evening giving them an additional day to get over the travel before the big game.

[Dry Rot]

IMO, we need a massive improvement in clearances to be competitive today.

[bornadog]

First Goal Higgins

[LostDoggy]

Darcy to kick the first of many.

[Bulldog Revolution]

IMO, we need a massive improvement in clearances to be competitive today.

definitely, we cant have any of this half hearted centre square rubbish we've been serving up

[LostDoggy]

Don't like losing however thought the team didn't give up and fought it out till the final siren. Shame about Murphy - bloody injuries.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Don't like losing however thought the team didn't give up and fought it out till the final siren. Shame about Murphy - bloody injuries.

Yep. work rate was much better.
Our clearance rate is still very ordinary and until we improve markedly in this area we have no chance of consistently trouble the top teams.

[Dry Rot]

Just got home from casualty - missed the game.

What happened to Murphy?

[Twodogs]

Just got home from casualty - missed the game.

What happened to Murphy?



Pulled a hammy chasing a ball to the boundary.



What were you doing in casualty?

[Dry Rot]

Thanks.

Have a really nasty ear infection.

[Twodogs]

Thanks.

Have a really nasty ear infection.


Yuck! Sorry to hear it.

[LostDoggy]

Thought our defenders were good to day but they didn't get the ball moving forward quickly and too often just chipped the ball around and allowed West Coast to drop back some players. Given our small forward line we really cannot have static defenders.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Thought our defenders were good to day but they didn't get the ball moving forward quickly and too often just chipped the ball around and allowed West Coast to drop back some players. Given our small forward line we really cannot have static defenders.

I think that was a case that for the most of the 2nd half all of our forwards were pushing up the ground so that often there wasn't anyone to kick to, so had to kick sideways to wait for our guys to get forward.

[southerncross]

Subiaco loss “a step forward”, says Eade (http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=42648)


The scoreboard might show a 15-point loss, but Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade says Saturday’s outing at Subiaco represents a major advance for his club. His opposite number agreed. John Worsfold admitted the Bulldogs made it tough for his forwards with their constant pressure and their ability to close down space in the forward line. “We rate them as a very good side, and a side we expect to be up around the mark this year,” Worsfold said. Eade said his charges would be the better for the experience. “I don’t think you accept defeat, but the way we’ve performed the last few weeks, I think it was a major step forward for us,” he said. “We probably had 10 average-to-poor players today as far as output, but I was really pleased with their effort. “To a man, against the best team in the competition, who have been playing extremely well, on their home ground … I was pleased with our effort. “It was a much improved effort from last week. Certainly our pressure, or our intent to put pressure on the opposition was good. I thought we ran hard, I thought our defence held together pretty well. “Our execution, at times, was down, but I think that was due a bit to the pressure from the opposition.” While Daniel Giansiracusa starred up forward with three goals, it was Matthew Boyd’s effort in keeping Brownlow favourite Daniel Kerr to just 14 touches which attracted the main plaudits from the coach. “He was fantastic. He’s got a pretty good record on Daniel Kerr, who’s probably the second-best, if not the best midfielder in the competition. Boydy’s just stuck to his task extremely well, and I would think Daniel Kerr would probably have a lot of respect for him, the way he goes about creating a lot of time and space. “I thought he was our best player against Richmond the other week as well. He’s been in good form.”

[southerncross]

What did everyone think of Boyd's effort as a shut down player?
I hope that we can find another player capable of doing what Boyd.

[southerncross]

Bulldog spirit not quite enough (http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/bulldog-spirit-not-quite-enough/2007/05/05/1177788462825.html)


WEST COAST 3.5 6.7 9.12 10.17 (77)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.1 6.4 8.6 9.8 (62)
Goals: West Coast: M Priddis 3 Q Lynch 2 M LeCras 2 C Judd A Hunter S Armstrong. Western Bulldogs: D Giansiracusa 3 B Johnson 2 R Murphy F Ray J Akermanis J McMahon. Best: West Coast: M Priddis C Judd D Glass Q Lynch M LeCras. Western Bulldogs: D Giansiracusa M Boyd B Johnson D Cross B Harris.
Umpires: C Donlon M Vozzo D Margetts.
Official crowd: 40,668 at Subiaco Oval.

West Coast's unbeaten start to 2007 has continued but not without a serious examination, with the reigning premiers eventually overcoming the Western Bulldogs 10.17 (77) to 9.8 (62).
In a contest that never had more than three goals in it, respective skippers Brad Johnson and Chris Judd both had great games, at times on each other, in the absorbing battle.
More surprising was the performance of Matt Priddis, whose three goals, 25 possessions and massive workrate made a huge statement the day after the man he replaced, Ben Cousins, made his.
While Daniel Giansiracusa comprehensively beat David Wirrpanda to match Priddis' goal tally, he did not have quite as many able allies to repeat last year's shock win in Perth.
As so often at Subiaco Oval this year, the Eagles blasted from the blocks, with frontline pressure securing three set shots from kickable positions within seven minutes of the first bounce.
However all three resulted in behinds and Johnson was all too willing to show the Eagles the error of their ways, soccering through his first to get their scoring underway.
Priddis, Quinten Lynch and Judd then kicked goals to give the Eagles the early lead, before Robert Murphy and Farren Ray pegged them back to within four points before the Eagles took a three-point lead into half-time.
After a notable first half, Priddis' second started spectacularly, claiming two goals in quick succession as the Eagles put their foot down.
But with Wirrpanda's miserable day continuing when Giansiracusa kicked his third, the last change margin of 12 looked good, but not quite good enough.
With extreme pressure exerted by both teams in the last quarter, space was at a premium until Jordan McMahon made his own with three bounces before kicking truly to again set up a possible shock.
But with Darren Glass' outstanding season continuing, the Bulldogs could not find another goal as the Eagles held on.

[Bulldog Revolution]

What did everyone think of Boyd's effort as a shut down player?
I hope that we can find another player capable of doing what Boyd.

Sounds like he did a terrific job,

We definitely need a few of our players to further develop the defensive side of their game. If Cooney, Griffen, Ray, Higgins etc could be used in similar roles when needed it would really give us a lot of more midfield grunt

[bornadog]

What did everyone think of Boyd's effort as a shut down player?
I hope that we can find another player capable of doing what Boyd.

Yesterday, my daughter was participating in an eistoddfod and they were running 2 hours late so I had to sit through 24 drama performances while the game was on. Lucky I had my radio( with headphones) and listened to the whole game. It is really difficult listening to the game as you don't get a prospective on what is going on. Any way I have manged to watch the first half on replay and will watch the rest later.

Sorry for the dribble, On Boyd, I thought he did a fantastic job in not only stopping Kerr but he also racked up posessions. He has been in pretty good form since the Richmond match. I also thought Gia did well and probably his best game this year. He has started off pretty slowly this year, but is coming into form.

I think one of the biggest problems for the club isnot just the clearances, we need more out of the big men such as Minson and Darcy. Darcy had a shocker compared to his last two games and on watching the first half, I am not sure what the tactics were and where he was playing. It didn't look like he played full forward.

It seems, Eade tried to copy the same game plan from last years win against the Eagles ie to keep the forward line open, players behind the ball and run the ball from the backline right through on the break. Worstfold, counteracted by putting a lot of pressure on our players. The thing is with Eagles games they are never high scoring and we just didn't kick enough in the second half to win. They have a very good backline and our forwards weren't good enough to capitalise on the opportunities.

Overall dissapointing but probably not unexpected either, we are not far off being a top side and must go on with it.

[LostDoggy]

It was a poor result as far as I was concerned. 15 points sounds OK but we only kicked 3 goals after half time and our forward like has been largely dysfunctional aside from Johnson and this will hurt us throughout the season.