Welcome to the Bulldogs: Laitham Vandermeer

[Axe Man]

Yeah VDM would have had a lot of shots where no score was recorded, he doesn't have much penetration on his kicks and when he does try to kick the cover of it he'll spray it.

Only 6 out of 45 shots in his whole career haven't scored. It's not as bad as your perception.

[F'scary]

Only 6 out of 45 shots in his whole career haven't scored. It's not as bad as your perception.

6 out of 45 is perceived by me to be pretty bad. That's over 10% haven't made the distance or were OOBOTF.

[Axe Man]

6 out of 45 is perceived by me to be pretty bad. That's over 10% haven't made the distance or were OOBOTF.

I would say it's probably fairly average across the league though. Tom Hawkins has also had more than 10% of his shots not score since 2013 when they started recording shot on goal stats.

[F'scary]

I would say it's probably fairly average across the league though. Tom Hawkins has also had more than 10% of his shots not score since 2013 when they started recording shot on goal stats.

ok, but I also have never been that impressed with Hawkin's kicking for goals. Everyone loves to pile in Naughton but whenever I watch the Cats, there's Hawkins fluffing plenty but he seems to get some kind of free pass from the McAveny media.

[Testekill]

ok, but I also have never been that impressed with Hawkin's kicking for goals. Everyone loves to pile in Naughton but whenever I watch the Cats, there's Hawkins fluffing plenty but he seems to get some kind of free pass from the McAveny media.

It's because he's allowed to shove opponents out of the contest all the time so he's never really getting set shots from difficult positions.

[F'scary]

It's because he's allowed to shove opponents out of the contest all the time so he's never really getting set shots from difficult positions.

but you lay one finger on him...

[Mofra]

ok, but I also have never been that impressed with Hawkin's kicking for goals. Everyone loves to pile in Naughton but whenever I watch the Cats, there's Hawkins fluffing plenty but he seems to get some kind of free pass from the McAveny media.

He's 19th on the all time VFL/AFL goalkicking list (and will climb it next year), and no 1 on Geelong's all-time list.
He's a legit superstar

[Rocco Jones]

He's 19th on the all time VFL/AFL goalkicking list (and will climb it next year), and no 1 on Geelong's all-time list.
He's a legit superstar

100%. He also those stuff that's best for his team and signs on for unders.

[macca]

its the pushing and shoving Hawkins, he gets away with and the ridcolous free kicks he is awarded when any opponent lays a finger on him.

The frees he got in the last H&A game against Brisbane completely killed the Lions momentum.
its not an even game playing against the cats.

[Grantysghost]

its the pushing and shoving Hawkins, he gets away with and the ridcolous free kicks he is awarded when any opponent lays a finger on him.

The frees he got in the last H&A game against Brisbane completely killed the Lions momentum.
its not an even game playing against the cats.

He seems to get a lot of latitude, especially in those forward ruck contests.
He's a very good player too.

[Testekill]

He seems to get a lot of latitude, especially in those forward ruck contests.
He's a very good player too.

It can be two things. He's a very good tall forward and he gets to play a style where the rules do not apply to him.

[WBFC4FFC]

It can be two things. He's a very good tall forward and he gets to play a style where the rules do not apply to him.

I found leading into the end of the season and into the Elimination Final against the Shockers that you could just start to push in the back at the contests.

Interesting the hands-in-the-back rule was reinstated the following week against the Shockers at the MCG but sure as hell came back in the GF!

Crofty used to use his body beautifully and the Umps would always ping him for in the back despite never using his hands/arms!!!!

[bulldogtragic]

I’m sorry. I know we are meant to love all our players and it’s sacrilegious to say otherwise. But…

I can’t stand him playing and never want to see him again.

I know you’re not meant to say that out loud, but it’s how I feel.

[jeemak]

He was going OK until the pressure got dialed up a bit and then lost his mind at a couple of critical points. The fumble and the stupid high tackle were really costly.

I get we had issues all over the ground today in the second half, but you have to call those things out - particularly the high tackle (as a skill error is a skill error), because it's undisciplined and unthinking and it happens too much with him.

[EasternWest]

I'm just gonna say that I've been open about not being a fan of Vandermeer, but I am casting my mind back to "that" kick from Billy Gowers and the almighty pummeling he was given for it - and how much he said that affected his mental health.

So really all I have to say is he made two pretty critical errors late in the game, but let's remember it wasn't his fault we were in that position to start with.