So how do we fix this?

[soupman]

Seeing as our coaches seem incapable of considering a change to their questionable selection, strategy and general coaching what changes do you see us having to make if we want to improve?

I'll start it off with:

Play Dunkley in the midfield, or not at all.

In 2016 Dunkley showed he could be a big bodied target up forward with haphazard goalkicking, decent pressure and an ability to help out with midfield rotations. Since then he has been largely ineffective as a forward, with highlights marred by woeful set shot kicking and plodding ground ball work in the forward 50. He did seem to turn a corner at the end of 2018 though, with a role in the midfield allowing him to win the contested ball, free up Bont and help limit the impact of opposition ball winners. This season however he is back to playing almost exclusively as a forward, with unimpressive results.

We need to either play him as the midfielder he was late last season or drop him. He is a liability as a forward. He is Gowers without the ability to threaten aerially. Today was a perfect opportunity to play him against a strong contested ball midfield and boasted Cripps who is the player Dunkley should be trying to stop and work off of. Instead he was a non-factor.

[1eyedog]

He played midfield in he second half. He was ineffective.

We can start by going back to two key tall targets. One of Gowers, Lloyd and Dicko need to go we have too many back flankers and too many mid forwards. We seem obsessed with the long ball in and struggle to lower our eyes so just play Schache and Naughton forward until Boyd is ready.

Our issues are between the ears and is up to the coaching staff to work out what the blockage is.

[angelopetraglia]

1) Get the best goal kicking coach down at our club (and another sports psychologist)
2) Play a “proper” second ruck option to support English
3) Play two genuine tall forwards, not let a skinny 19 year old carry all the load. Look at Carlton today.
4) Don’t go out of our way to play the youngest team every week. We should have played some more mature bodies today.
5) Play Toby in the middle. He gives us something different.

[bulldogtragic]

Agree on Toby. He was a gun mid last year. Now he's an average HFF occasional pinch hitting mid.

You can say that about Libba, Dunkley & Macrae today.

If we don't have enough good forwards, why didn't we address that more thoroughly at the trade table or draft? Playing players proven of being elite midfielders in the forwardline is doing nothing for the midfield or the forwardline. Bonts can be the only exception, but he's 1.9 plus complete misses this year.

[Hotdog60]

I wonder how far Ben Cavarra is from returning to playing.
I realise he needs some VFL time but he maybe something we lack up forward.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. Every forward to practice goal kicking under fatigue, every day, regardless of any BS advice from the sport scientists. Not 5 shots either. 50 minimum. These are full time footballers, about time they work on their ultimate craft - you know, kicking.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

At some stage today, the break down of stats showed some horrendous skew of Carlton's score coming from turnovers. I can't remember the exact numbers but it was HUUUUGE. And I'm sure this is not dissimilar to our other losses. I think against Gold Coast it was even more pronounced.
I also recall hearing commentary on one of the reasons why scoring across the league was down. The reason was profferred that 'scores from turnovers' was behind this. That is coaches are loathe to take unnecessary risks going forward and would rather over-possess and flip the ball around uncontested by foot until a less risky opportunity presents. Or rather, an option presents that is less likely to give the opposition a clear opportunity to leverage a turnover into a score.

Now, if this is true. We must look like an opposition coaches Xmas's all come at once. Why?
We regularly bomb the ball in blindly, we're very keen to fire it in, and damn the consequences.
Maybe that's why an inordinate amount of the opposition's score comes from turnovers?

I'm not sure this gets solved quickly. There's a lot of blokes who fit the bill.

[SonofScray]

1. Sack some Coaches.
2. Address the long running, chronic issue of poor goal kicking.
3. Pick a team abpnd deploy them in a manner that reflects their strengths.

[angelopetraglia]

Where is the fresh new face on our coaching panel? Where is the IP coming in from other clubs? Why have we been so reluctant to bring in other assistant coaches?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Where is the fresh new fave on our coaching panel? Where is the IP coming in from other clubs? Why have we been so reluctant to bring in other assistant coaches?

Its a valid question. We've had 2 ordinary seasons, with very similar themes, and we've not sought to address that by bringing in any new coaches from outside.

[soupman]

Its a valid question. We've had 2 ordinary seasons, with very similar themes, and we've not sought to address that by bringing in any new coaches from outside.

And surely even if you've nailed the last two seasons it's still a good idea to bring in new ideas and experience fairly regularly.

Sure stability is nice but not at the expense of finding new ways to improve or grow as a coaching group and team.

[GVGjr]

A few minor tweaks can get us back on track. My frustration is around our skills and set shot conversion. We get that right and we are half way there. Bontempelli has just one goal from 10 scoring shots and if we can improve there it will make a difference

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

A few minor tweaks can get us back on track. My frustration is around our skills and set shot conversion. We get that right and we are half way there. Bontempelli has just one goal from 10 scoring shots and if we can improve there it will make a difference

Gary, I've got to hope that as professional football players, the boys are able to compartmentalise much better than we fans.
There are quite a few mental demons from today that could otherwise thwart their ability to pick themselves up.
We didn't just lose, we lost to a side that has been the very definition of a basketcase. A team that had up until today failed to score more than 100 points in a game for over 1050 odd days. A side that had one only 3 games in.....whatever the number.
And we didn't lose, we became a parlour game for them. We had McGovern rocking some Austin Power gags after a goal at one stage.
They broke us.
I really hope that the several hundred thousand dollars these guys get paid, is in part down to their ability to block out and rebound anew next week..
Its a hell of a mountain to climb next week, in Perth.

[Rocket Science]

A few minor tweaks can get us back on track. My frustration is around our skills and set shot conversion. We get that right and we are half way there. Bontempelli has just one goal from 10 scoring shots and if we can improve there it will make a difference

Yeah with mucho respect Gary, skills and set shot conversions aren't minor "tweaks", they're fatal, fundamental flaws that routinely cost us results and have too long proven our achilles heel.

If these coaches can't fix it we need to think about coaches that can. Or just accept our lot.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

We need Peter Gorden to walk down the corridor of Whitten Over grab every coach and staffer out of the office, lock the doors give them an all mighty spray and do t allow the office doors back open until things have turned around.

Would PG accept this at his place of work “Slater & Gorden”. I think not. Well what are you gonna do Peter?