Instead of the first sentence reading Terry Wallace has taken a deep dive into some worrying trends at Western Bulldogs over a 15-game stretch. it should have said Terry Wallace has not reviewed data properly, uses the outcomes of his poor data analysis to form a view of the Western Bulldogs whilst ignoring other glaring issues that impact performance.
Unless he's talking about preseason, in the last fifteen games we've played in two games that have been decided by less than 25 points, actually, two within the last fourteen. In the eight weeks prior to the first of the two in that fourteen, we played in three games decided by less than four goals and won all of them, having won another by 25 points.
Who does this shit and puts it to print? Now I went for 22 games because that's the length of a home and away season. I wonder what the norm in a home and away season for winning games decided under four goals is. Is five a lot?
Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.
Whilst I appreciate some of the areas in the opening post are around structure and longer term work towards area's I can still pick a few that I think can be fixed during and at the end of the season:
1) Be prepared to employ a run with player. It doesn't need to be every week but Martin posed a huge challenge for us before the game and we didn't do a lot to curb that.
2) Be consistent with team selections. If Schache is made to earn his spot and is dropped after one poor game in conditions he was never suited for why is Bruce picked each with just one good game behind him.
3) Be prepared to more honest and ruthless at the end of the season with the players that are retained
4) Be prepared to bypass the sports scientists instructions and get players to do extra work on their set shot goal kicking. I'm over seeing tricky goals packaged up on the highlight reels and would prefer to see a more efficient conversion performance by our forwards
Efficient goal kicking is a boring aspect that I enjoy and as Mofra often points out, if a player like Casboult can improve everyone can improve
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I’m not aware of Josh Bruce’s weight comparison year on year but can think of very few modern day player’s going around with his body shape. Hawkins would be the closest but at face value Jack looks leaner and seems more mobile than Josh. Josh could do worse than to model himself on Hawkins who are both in the twilight years.
I agree. I would liken him to Port’s Todd Marshall. In fact all of Marshall’s average stats this year line up almost exactly to Schache’s career averages.
Marshall gives Port’s forward-line a different look, is often a handful for the second or third best tall defender, and importantly keeps his opponent accountable when the high ball comes in (stopping them from being a second or third up against Dixon). He is also very accurate with his limited shots on goal.
Marshall out is a big win for us, guaranteed he would have kicked a bag on us while everyone is busy worrying about Dixon. I’d say likewise Port would view us not playing Schache as a win for them.
Hawkins is a star who has rarely (if ever) played as the lone tall in the F50.
He's also part of a F50 system that went out in two draft/trade periods and prioritised ground-ball pressure to surround their talls with (Dahlhaus, Atkins, Miers, Rohan, Narkle, etc).
I don't think Bruce's body shape is the issue, it's our system of bringing the ball in when the defence has made position. We do generate scoring chains from the back half and move the ball quickly, meaning we can score when the defence is out of position. Once they're set we seem clueless, with Wallis being smart enough to sneak into a good position our only avenue to goal.
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Anyone think Tom McDonald could be a handy addition to our backline?
He has been pushed out of defence when the dees were struggling to score in 2018(kicked 50 odd) and since they have recruited Lever and May. He is lost forward and would continue to be lost forward in our forward line but I reckon he would add value down back.
I cant see why we cant play Cordy/Keath/McDonald in defence with either Keath/McDonald playing as an intercepter.
Not sure of his contract status.
Sorry I was talking about his field kicking. It was always heart in mouth stuff out of defence. He is a decent set shot.
Talking to Dees friends they say hes lost his athleticism which was a strength since his knee injury last year.
I watched last week's game he was terrible, had no lateral movement.
I actually quizzed someone he was that bad as to what's wrong with him.