WB Game Day V St. Kilda R2 2020

[Eastdog]

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/n...pled-by-saints

Match Report | Dogs toppled by Saints
The Western Bulldogs have fallen to St Kilda by 39 points at Marvel Stadium on Sunday night.


The season has not resumed the way the Western Bulldogs wanted, as they crashed to a 39-point defeat to St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday night.

Almost three months had passed between round one and round two due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Bulldogs started strongly.

But they were unable to sustain their early momentum, with the Saints latching onto the lead late in the first term before running out 14.4 (88) to 7.7 (49) victors.

St Kilda’s Max King kicked the opening goal of the game, before Mitch Wallis and Jack Macrae replied to give the Bulldogs an advantage.

But a number of chances went begging for the Bulldogs, and the Saints then capitalized with five of the next six goals to lead by 23 points at the major break.

A bright spark of the second term for the Bulldogs was a goal to debutant Laitham Vandermeer, but the Saints had all the answers.

They increased their lead to 40 points at the final change, before both sides exchanged a pair of goals in the final period.

It was the Saints on top in most of the key statistical areas – including contested (128-115) and uncontested (209-205) possessions, clearances (39-34), marks (91-55) and tackles (56-50).

Midfielder Josh Dunkley was a clear standout for the Bulldogs around the contest, finishing with 28 disposals, eight tackles and a goal, while second-year player Bailey Smith stood tall with 29 disposals and six clearances.

Lin Jong impressed in his first AFL game since 2018, finishing with 17 touches.

The result leaves the Bulldogs at the bottom of the AFL ladder after two rounds, ahead of a pivotal clash against the GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

MATCH DETAILS

ST KILDA 3.1 7.3 12.4 14.4 (88)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.4 3.4 5.6 7.7 (49)

GOALS
St Kilda: Billings 3, Butler 2, King 2, Hannebery, Hind, Jones, Lonie, Marshall, Steele, Membrey
Western Bulldogs: Macrae, Richards, Vandermeer, Wallis, Williams, Naughton, Dunkley

BEST
St Kilda: Billings, Butler, Jones, Ross, Steele, Hannebery
Western Bulldogs: Dunkley, Smith, Lipinski, Macrae

INJURIES
St Kilda: Nil
Western Bulldogs: Nil

NEXT WEEK
Round 3, Western Bulldogs v GWS Giants, Friday June 19, Marvel Stadium, 7.50pm AEST

[The bulldog tragician]

If we were pushing games into Gardner because he’s our future and/or we had no other options, I’d be patient. When Lewis Young can’t get a game and nor can Trengove then I’m at a loss.

Regarding Gardner: I have to say too that I always fear a pack mentality and feel very much for how hard it is for a young guy like him to be treated with derision. This is not personal against him, we’d all love him to be a feel-good story, I’d have leapt around the lounge room with joy if he’d played a blinder. He’s not the scapegoat for why we lost, but his selection does highlight something we’re all seeing - Bevo’s doggedness and stubbornness have become a liability. I have wanted for a while to see him more challenges for him around selection and tactics, and I fear that without different voices, he is becoming more insular, which isn’t a good thing.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Interested to hear your thoughts on how we become more competitive at ruck stoppages. We've given 12 months to English playing 80% game time in ruck with precious little support - it absolutely cost us 4-5 close games last year and his stoppage work has not looked like it has improved at all so far in 2020 (from an already unacceptable level in 2019). I feel like we are destroying him as a viable ruck project as he consistently gets mauled and is not competitive. He was smashed again tonight by a very good ruck combination, and his confidence is so shot he is struggling to contribute around the ground either linking up with the mids a-la Dean Cox or as a key forward target.

I think English has been horribly mis-treated by Bevo and the MC.

Reminds me of Josh Fraser and feeding him to the wolves.

What do we do from here? We've invested so much time into English for very little advancement. We have no other rucks on our list besides Sweet, an untried raw kid. We've loaded up on forwards (Bruce, Naughton, Schache and soon JUH), how are we supposed to fit English into the equation let alone another ruck!?

Rucking Bruce and Schache is bloody painful to watch - I'd actually prefer to see Dunkley or Jong ruck. Our key defenders might even be worse than our ruck stocks.

Above all else, Bevo is so incredibly stubborn that he refuses to change. I like Naughton as a forward but he almost needs to go back for the balance of our list whilst I have no idea what we do with Schache.

[comrade]

How many times was Crozier, Williams and Daniel caught deep and without any coverage from a teammate?

Our defensive group is diabolical at the moment. No connection, no confidence, no idea.

[Hotdog60]

It was interesting that in the presser that a question was asked about our ruck/ centre clearance and it's not often a player gets singled out but the question was asked about Gardner.
Bevo response was to recognize we didn't do well with the ruck centre clearance and he defended Gardner's selection going on training and simulation work he had done.
Bevo admitted he didn't have the best of games.
On Naughton in my opinion we could have at least swapped him with Gardner at half time to get Naughton into the game and to take Gardner out of the spotlight.

[comrade]

If Gardner is standing out in training, I think it says less about his ability and more about our forward line.

[GVGjr]

SEN

Saints win big as Dogs falter under Sunday night spotlight



Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge will be searching for answers after St Kilda comprehensively outplayed them to the tune of 39 points at Marvel Stadium.

In the season’s first primetime Sunday night clash, the Saints lead by 23 points at half-time and didn’t stop from that point on.

More worryingly for the Dogs, St Kilda appeared to pick apart their defensive structure far too easily on multiple occasions throughout the contest.

“It was extremely disappointing from the Western Bulldogs besides the first 10 minutes,” Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney told AFL Nation.

Here's everything you need to know!

The talking point

Where are the Western Bulldogs at right now? That’s the main question emanating out of their second consecutive heavy defeat this season.

After their 52-point hammering at the hands of Collingwood in Round 1, the Dogs have had months to stew over that defeat and respond but their response on Sunday was meek at best.

Friday night against their fierce rivals GWS Giants suddenly looms as an early-season crunch clash.

The stars

Much has been made of St Kilda’s new recruits such as Zak Jones, Paddy Ryder and Brad Hill but the added firepower in the middle stands to benefit a number of other Saints midfielders.

One of those is Jack Billings, who was superb. If kicking three goals while rotating through the middle wasn’t impressive enough, he had the ball on 24 occasions.

He’ll be one to watch this year.

The debutant:

It was a dirty night for the Dogs but one positive they can take out of it was the debut of Laitham Vandermeer, who didn’t look out of place at senior level.

A solid night was highlighted by a goal in the second term.

[GVGjr]

The biggest concern about the bottom of the ladder Bulldogs

It’s only Round 2, but is it time to start getting concerned about the Western Bulldogs?

The Dogs were comfortably beaten by St Kilda on Sunday night and sit on the bottom of the ladder.

The Saints ran them off their feet at Marvel Stadium in the 39-point win.

Garry Lyon says his biggest worry is that they haven’t backed up their talk following last year’s Elimination Final belting at the hands of GWS.

“The thing that concerns me most is the talk doesn’t match the effort,” he told SEN Breakfast.

“They spoke all summer about how embarrassed they were by the Giants and how they were bullied and how that was never going to happen again.

“And they came out and didn’t give a yelp against Collingwood and I was really critical of that and then you thought they’ve got 12 weeks, they don’t necessarily have to win, but they were favourites yesterday and St Kilda took them to the cleaners.

“That’s not taking anything away from the Saints who I think are one of the great stories out of this weekend.”

Tim Watson agreed, saying their last three performances have certainly been cause for concern.

“Do you want to add last year’s finals performance in there as well. That’s three games we’ve seen them in a row, they were beaten by GWS by 58, beaten by Collingwood by 52 and were manhandled again yesterday by St Kilda to the tune of 39 and it could have been a lot more as well,” he said.

“I am concerned about them. They went in on the weekend with the second youngest side at the weekend, only the Suns had a less experienced side than what they played at the weekend.

“We expect and we were expecting a lot more from them this season and they’re just not that cohesive.

“I know Luke Beveridge said at the end of the game, I don’t if we broke our hearts with some of our ball use – contest wise, intensity wise we weren’t consistent enough, all that sort of stuff.

“There was a lack of basics and fundamentals associated with the way they played yesterday. That kick that came in to Rowan Marshall, there was a whole heap of Bulldogs players inside 50, but not one of them occupied the space in front of the kicking lane.”

Things come full circle in Round 3 when the Bulldogs take on GWS at Marvel Stadium.

The Giants are coming off an upset loss of their own to North Melbourne.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

We are severely lacking in leadership. I don’t think Bont is ready, at least in terms of on the field. I don’t think he is ready to hold players accountable on field. Then when you consider who is playing in our forward and back lines, who is there to provide leadership? Point players in the right direction? Hold them accountable? Let them know where they should be? I can’t think of anyone...we’ve lost Moz down back, Matty Boyd in the middle. Picko’s gone. Wood is out injured. Where’s the leadership coming from? Trengove would be the guy and I thought we recruited him for that, but we refuse to play him for some reason. Effort is a concerning issue no question but I get the feel every player out there is just lost and the burden is falling on the likes of Bont and Macrae and the other premiership players who are our “experienced” heads. But frankly they just aren’t ready.

[bornadog]

If Gardner is standing out in training, I think it says less about his ability and more about our forward line.

The bigger concern Comrade is if Gardner is playing well at training, what does it say about the players he is beating

[The Bulldogs Bite]

We are severely lacking in leadership. I don’t think Bont is ready, at least in terms of on the field. I don’t think he is ready to hold players accountable on field. Then when you consider who is playing in our forward and back lines, who is there to provide leadership? Point players in the right direction? Hold them accountable? Let them know where they should be? I can’t think of anyone...we’ve lost Moz down back, Matty Boyd in the middle. Picko’s gone. Wood is out injured. Where’s the leadership coming from? Trengove would be the guy and I thought we recruited him for that, but we refuse to play him for some reason. Effort is a concerning issue no question but I get the feel every player out there is just lost and the burden is falling on the likes of Bont and Macrae and the other premiership players who are our “experienced” heads. But frankly they just aren’t ready.

If Bont isn't ready now, he'll never be ready. No excuse. Every confidence he finds a way to turn this around, ditto Macrae, but those two have been awful for 3 big games in a row and deserve to be in the spotlight. They aren't kids anymore - this is their club.

[GVGjr]

Just listening to Ratten talk about last nights game. What is this prick playing at? Coherent, reasoned, honest and explaining where the Saints are it. It was shame the interview finished Surely this isn't the normal coach speak?

[comrade]

The bigger concern Comrade is if Gardner is playing well at training, what does it say about the players he is beating

That was my point, mate

[Mofra]

How many times was Crozier, Williams and Daniel caught deep and without any coverage from a teammate?

Our defensive group is diabolical at the moment. No connection, no confidence, no idea.

At one point St Kilda had 14 scoring shots from 17 entries. That's damning.

Taking our Hunter and Wood from the side, some players had no idea where to structure themselves.

[GVGjr]

That was my point, mate

Yeah, BAD's comment seemed to confirm exactly what you originally said