AFL Game Day Round 21, 2017 - Western Bulldogs V GWS Giants

[Topdog]

Barry Hall was looking downfield and never took his eyes off the play when he ironed out Brent Staker.

Greene knew exactly what he was doing, and I'm frankly amazed anyone is talking it down.

I'm not given to hyperbole, it's a tough game and shit happens, but that was as malicious in intent as just about anything I've seen on the footy field.

Yep the leg extension was very obvious.

[jeemak]

There are clearly two movements once Greene's leg is lifted to head level - the second was to cause pain and damage to his opponents face, and he succeeded. The entire act was designed with malicious intent, he didn't need to raise his foot studs out to the height he did to protect himself, and as I've said before players of his talent know exactly what they are doing when they complete these acts of bastardy.

Those saying he had eyes for the ball are correct, but having eyes for the ball doesn't mean you all of a sudden lose your peripheral vision and can't broadly target the head area of an opponent running towards you.

Unfortunately for the competition he won't be punished to the extent he should be. But, they will change the rules on studs out contact now which they should have done a long time ago.

As for the rest of the game I knew we were in trouble after getting so little reward for our effort in the first half. Our inaccuracy is partially because of our poor kicking from set shots, but more so a result of how poorly and slowly we tend to move the ball in transition and where we end up taking our set shots from.

Like others I was frustrated we didn't play a territory based game down the line more regularly, we exposed some inexperienced defenders more often than we needed to and the results were there for all to see.

Players like Macrae and Hunter reverted to old habits of pissing around with the football rather than taking responsibility to score or carry it forward with bravery and intent. Once leaders like these two get that funk about them, it's not hard for the rest of the team to follow suit.

Our engine room lacks grunt and polish. Liberatore needs to take a bloody good look at himself and question whether AFL football is for him, as he's phoning it in at the moment. Sure he gets his pressure acts most weeks, but we won't win games with midfielders who bring that alone to games. Wallis was disappointing, I wasn't expecting much from him this season and perhaps our form and injury toll has meant we've not been able to freshen him up as often as we'd like. Unfortunately with these two not providing enough, and Picken not being consistent across the game Bont was left with too much to do. Dunkley probably wasn't ready but will be better for the run.

Fixing the above issues above would make things much easier for our forwards. Stringer needs some good football in the coming weeks for me to keep the faith in him. Cloke and Redpath are limited and need the ball to move quickly to them to get into good scoring positions and look effective. We didn't do this often enough last night, and even in the second quarter the Giants rolled back really well and soaked up the space to make the big guys relatively tame.

Finally, to the players we were missing. Morris, Adams, JJ, Wood and Tom Boyd make a huge difference to how we look. The key is finding the grunt and polish to bring in with them.

We need a big off season, and a preparedness to let some established personnel go.

[Grantysghost]

Wow John Patton has become an unlikeable player. He's a devastating forward when they get clean fast entry but his outrageous mocking of Cordy and Young after kicking goals had me apoplectic. Especially when he was smiling and trying to high five Lewis Young in the third . Fair play I'm all for the mind games but he's just so good at it 😜😡! Damn those plastic mongrels. Hard to see past a Crows v GWS GF .

[Flamethrower]

Not too fussed about Patton - he is just another full of himself footballer who doesn't realise how irrelevant they are to society. We have players who do the same thing, so it's all swings and roundabouts.

As for that little dirty piece of excretement, I have been going to the football since 1977 and that is one of the lowest, dirtiest acts I have ever seen - it was a deliberate action - 1st he raised his leg and then he thrust his foot straight at the head of Dahlhaus. I have seen players do this is marking contests and winced (and been surprised at the lack of repercussion), but this was in play where Luke had every right to tackle. It was the equivalent of a player illegally using an elbow to ward off a tackler, only many times worse.

To hear neanderthals and bogans in the media defending this vile germ has made me sick to the point of giving this game away for good.

[Twodogs]

I was intrigued by our use of Daniel on the night and having him play a lot as a HBF. I don't think that worked for us
.

They caught onto that one quickly in the opposition coaches box and exposed him one on one a couple of times didn't they?

[Twodogs]

Whats the ruling on lifetime deregistration for cumalitive weeks of suspension? I thought that Ali Fahour had his player registration taken away because his number of suspended weeks went past 16 with the 14 week suspension earlier in the year? If it 16 weeks then Greene is in trouble. He's up to 12 already.

[bornadog]

Whats the ruling on lifetime deregistration for cumalitive weeks of suspension? I thought that Ali Fahour had his player registration taken away because his number of suspended weeks went past 16 with the 14 week suspension earlier in the year? If it 16 weeks then Greene is in trouble. He's up to 12 already.

My bet is he gets a fine.

It was one of the dirtiest acts on the field I have seen, it was very dangerous and I am surprised Dahl didn't get more than a staple in his face. If the MRP let's this go, then that is the green light to stick your foot into someone, anytime you feel like it.

[azabob]

Whats the ruling on lifetime deregistration for cumalitive weeks of suspension? I thought that Ali Fahour had his player registration taken away because his number of suspended weeks went past 16 with the 14 week suspension earlier in the year? If it 16 weeks then Greene is in trouble. He's up to 12 already.

Is that rule applicable to AFL players?

[Bullies]

Yep. Only Biggs from last years Grand Final defensive 7 players.

I might be on my own - but I don't agree with the suggestions that we gave up - GWS played exceptionally well, absorbed our forward pressure and then picked through us on the way out. Sometimes you just have to admit it when a talented side outclasses you.

And I'll almost certainly be on my own - but I don't think Toby Greene should be rubbed out for his incident. Players raise their legs and feet to protect the space all of the time, he had his eyes on the footy the whole time. Grundy did the same in the Grand Final, and JJ caught his leg - this time Dahlhaus was coming in lower and got caught in the face. And he got the free kick - as he should.

Anyways, back to the game. I'm not anywhere near as disappointed in our efforts - as I am with our inability to put on scoreboard pressure due to our poor goal kicking.

100% agree with the Greene call. Well summed up as he had eyes for the ball.

[bornadog]

100% agree with the Greene call. Well summed up as he had eyes for the ball.

Who cares if he has eyes on the ball, he can see Dahl was coming in quickly and was about to tackle him. This wasn't a mark Greene was going for, he was receiving a handpass. It was a gutless act to stick your foot out to stop someone tackling you. The MRP needs to give it to him, otherwise it becomes a standard thing you can do.

Watch his leg almost horizontal, he could have just bent his knee to protect himself - this was malicious, I have no doubt in my mind.

[Twodogs]

Is that rule applicable to AFL players?

Good question. I couldn't see why it wouldn't be? No fact, if anything, it ought to be less because we should hold professional footballer's to higher standards than park footballers because they are role models. Kids don't see park footballers whack someone and decide that's what they are going to do the next time they play. But they do see AFL players do it.

But to answer your original question, my own thought is probably not for some reason.

[Twodogs]

My bet is he gets a fine.

It was one of the dirtiest acts on the field I have seen, it was very dangerous and I am surprised Dahl didn't get more than a staple in his face. If the MRP let's this go, then that is the green light to stick your foot into someone, anytime you feel like it.

That would be very disappointing. I usually don't care about players getting reported for incidents against our guys because there us no advantage in it for us. But this one is different.

[SonofScray]

Can't believe the defence of that scum bag. Fair dinkum, you can't kick people! It's that simple.

[G-Mo77]

Can't believe the defence of that scum bag. Fair dinkum, you can't kick people! It's that simple.

Eyes for the ball is thrown around without putting thought into it. I'd imagine any pro AFL footballer not named Justin Kositzke would have pretty good peripheral vision. He meant it and extended his leg out further to make sure he got him.

Also post game didn't even say a word to Dahl. No remorse for his actions at all. Absolute scum.

[azabob]

No suprise he doesnt show remorse. He never really has on or off the field...