WB Game Day V GWS Giants R22 2019

[comrade]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

[GVGjr]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

Possibly a combination of both but lets enjoy the moment against 2 teams we really don't like

[jeemak]

Late season 2015 was the best H&A form under Bevo. Until this past fortnight.

We played some ripping footy in the first ten rounds of 2016, where we only really put in one crappy performance in against Norf and were unlucky to lose to Hawthorn with the last kick of the day when we should have been paid a free kick for a block (but they never get paid).

[jeemak]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

It's an interesting question, probably a bit of both. The teams we beat had many of their preferred 22 or players in the mix to be in their preferred 22 at the start of the season, but we were without six ourselves...........(Picken, Boyd, Daniel, Libba, Wallis and Morris).

You can only play who you play, and we've absolutely belted who we've played as convincingly as I've seen for a while.

GWS had to play exceedingly well to keep up with us in the first half. Looking back I'm not surprised they dropped away after we upped the pressure and run.

[azabob]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

Players can’t win.
They put teams to the sword and we question how good the opposition was.
They just scrape over the line against “poor teams” they get slammed for not winning by more.

[GVGjr]

Players can’t win.
They put teams to the sword and we question how good the opposition was.
They just scrape over the line against “poor teams” they get slammed for not winning by more.

Win by 5 goals and we are playing great football, win by 10 goals and we question the quality of our opposition.

You're on to something

[Sedat]

We played some ripping footy in the first ten rounds of 2016, where we only really put in one crappy performance in against Norf and were unlucky to lose to Hawthorn with the last kick of the day when we should have been paid a free kick for a block (but they never get paid).

That's true, and only injuries started to bite into that red hot form. But in late 2015 we were routinely smashing teams by 10-15 goals. I reckon we could well have replicated 4 finals wins in a row in 2015 had we not been so profligate (and more than a little naive) against Adelaide.

[westdog54]

Gerald Brosnan says hello!

Is there something wrong with me that I knew off the top of my head that he coached University in 1911?

Weren't you AT university in 1911?


Bloody good win btw.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Win by 5 goals and we are playing great football, win by 10 goals and we question the quality of our opposition.

You're on to something

I'd much rather focus on the fact when it looked like we'd lost control of the game, we found a way to not only wrest control back and then torch them
We can only play who is put on the park, and when challenged we adjusted and found a will that has been lacking in similar moments. That to me suggests a growth in this group.

[merantau]

I was very impressed with Trengove's game in the 1st quarter and the 2nd half. He really put in and did a lot of heavy clearance work. Easily his best game for us. Apart from being badly out bodied once Lewis Young was really solid. He used the ball well - no turnovers - and kept it simple. Easton Wood had his best game for a while and Duryea was also very safe.
Bailey Dale added some tackling pressure up forward which was very pleasing.
This was easily our best win for the year. To wrestle back control after a very poor 20 minutes at the start of the second quarter was a credit to the group.
Macrae was epic along with Dunkley and the Bont. This was a complete team performance. There were no passengers out there today. Well done team. Go Dogs!

[merantau]

I was very impressed with Trengove's game in the 1st quarter and the 2nd half. He really put in and did a lot of heavy clearance work. Easily his best game for us. Apart from being badly out bodied once Lewis Young was really solid. He used the ball well - no turnovers - and kept it simple. Easton Wood had his best game for a while and Duryea was also very safe.
Bailey Dale added some tackling pressure up forward which was very pleasing.
This was easily our best win for the year. To wrestle back control after a very poor 20 minutes at the start of the second quarter was a credit to the group.
Macrae was epic along with Dunkley and the Bont. This was a complete team performance. There were no passengers out there today. Well done team. Go Dogs!

[bornadog]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

I posted this in another thread:

In the first 11 rounds we kicked 888 points, but conceded 1001. Since then we have kicked 801 points (10 games), but conceded only 657 points. This is really telling on how our defense all over the ground (including tackling) has improved

Bevo mentioned we had made adjustments to the way we defend, and it has come to fruition.

MJP pointed out early in the year, it wasn't the goals we weren't kicking, but the goals we were leaking.

[jeemak]

That's true, and only injuries started to bite into that red hot form. But in late 2015 we were routinely smashing teams by 10-15 goals. I reckon we could well have replicated 4 finals wins in a row in 2015 had we not been so profligate (and more than a little naive) against Adelaide.

I remember being really furious with our attitude in the last game of the season against the Lions because we refused to defend the ground properly and got beaten, when it should have been a dress rehearsal for the following week (where funnily enough, we didn't defend the ground properly!). And you're right, we were completely wasteful, oh so wasteful right to the very end.

Looking back on the results we handed massing thumpings to Melbourne, Essendon and Port Adelaide, but were given one ourselves by WCE where we allowed them to kick 162 points!

[jeemak]

I actually suggested to a friend yesterday that right now we're about the fourth best in it, and I left both of Geelong and Brisbane out of that top four!

Sure, I may have had a few libations at the time...........but I wonder how good we actually are. Would we get found out structurally and defencively when the whips are cracking? Possibly. I'd be confident of our midfield matching it with anything anyone could throw at us, but remain concerned around our immature forward half and the lack of a higher quality tall in defence.

[The bulldog tragician]

Have we been ultra good or have our opponents just been terrible? Hard to say.

We were not favourites against either team and I don’t think the most fervent Bulldogs optimist (is there actually such a thing?) expected we would win both matches and if we did, would have only daydreamed a gritty 3-4 goals win. We are doing something few Bulldogs teams (even the 2016 boys) have done, piled on the misery to the end.

After we barely defeated Carlton I wondered where our club was heading, now we are in the 8 and playing footy that’s great to watch. There’s spirit and passion that had disappeared. I think we reduced our oppositions to that standard, remember both had plenty to play for, so let’s enjoy the ride.