Our club was born in blood and boots...

[Hotdog60]

I think Bevo is a good coach and he may be stubborn and too friendly with some of the players.
Macca did install a hard defensive end to our game but I've said this before and the loss of Monty could be the telling factor.
could Bevo work with Monty or vise versa who knows but Monty was the sort of person that would tell it like it is and not worry about upsetting the status quo.
It didn't take us long to fall of the perch once Monty left and I don't know if players would work under Monty as the head man as he may upset their feelings and this generation seems a bit to me,me,me.
But as a hard nose assistant I think both coaches complimented each other and the question would be could they work together.
If they were both up for it I would welcome both men at the helm and see how far it would take us.

[comrade]

The Melbourne game should tell us more about our prep for 2021 and I hope we treat it like a full dress rehearsal.

I’m getting flashbacks to last year when Port put us away and there were plenty dismissing it as ‘just a pre-season game’ and then we came out and played 2 of the worst games of footy in rounds 1 & 2 you’d ever see.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

The Melbourne game should tell us more about our prep for 2021 and I hope we treat it like a full dress rehearsal.

I’m getting flashbacks to last year when Port put us away and there were plenty dismissing it as ‘just a pre-season game’ and then we came out and played 2 of the worst games of footy in rounds 1 & 2 you’d ever see.

If we're serving this up in Round 1 or 2, I'll personally be driving the bandwagon for wholesale change.

[bornadog]

The Melbourne game should tell us more about our prep for 2021 and I hope we treat it like a full dress rehearsal.

I’m getting flashbacks to last year when Port put us away and there were plenty dismissing it as ‘just a pre-season game’ and then we came out and played 2 of the worst games of footy in rounds 1 & 2 you’d ever see.

They hardly put us away - 10 point to the team who were hot favourites for the flag and only lost 3 H&A matches. The next two were the worst games, especially the Pies one when were were never in it at all.

[bornadog]

Need to get McCartney back and teach them to crack in.

No thanks.

It is a myth that we learnt to "crack in" under Macca. Under Rocket we were one of the top 3 contested sides in the AFL.

[comrade]

They hardly put us away - 10 point to the team who were hot favourites for the flag and only lost 3 H&A matches. The next two were the worst games, especially the Pies one when were were never in it at all.

Yeah, we were just unlucky those first 2 rounds.

[Happy Days]

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who remembers the McCartney years.

[bornadog]

Yeah, we were just unlucky those first 2 rounds.

Oh Please...........

[Mofra]

This thread is the reason I love Wally.
He has completely sacrificed his game and preferred position for the good of the team.
I hope JJ is thinking along the same lines... he says the right things but has yet to put it out on the paddock.

The real question is "who do you trust" from our line up?

Libba
Wally
Naughton
Crozier
Ummm.... McNeil and Vendermeer?
For all his limitations, Cordy gives 100%

Hunter and Bont are close but Bont can't nail a set shot and Hunter works really hard to block space in transition but he hardly a defensive threat.
English is almost there.
Macrae - I love him but can he play elsewhere at 100%? Dunkley wanted out so that's a no from me.

[Mofra]

I think Bevo is a good coach and he may be stubborn and too friendly with some of the players.
Macca did install a hard defensive end to our game but I've said this before and the loss of Monty could be the telling factor.
could Bevo work with Monty or vise versa who knows but Monty was the sort of person that would tell it like it is and not worry about upsetting the status quo.
It didn't take us long to fall of the perch once Monty left and I don't know if players would work under Monty as the head man as he may upset their feelings and this generation seems a bit to me,me,me.
But as a hard nose assistant I think both coaches complimented each other and the question would be could they work together.
If they were both up for it I would welcome both men at the helm and see how far it would take us.

I agree with this - in his playing days if a rookie got a bit "yappy" at training it was Monty who would sit him on his arse during a drill.

There's a reason quite a few of us want Matthew Boyd back as a coach at the club.

[ratsmac]

Great topic. Yeah Yeah it's only a practice match, but the same ol same ol Bulldogs showed up and it irks me too. I remember last year (or the year before) being filthy when GC beat us in a praccy and it was divided here on woof. There were plenty here saying its only a practice match and others as filthy as me. But for me it was the way we played the way we lost and the way we treated the game, the way we couldn't stop them scoring, etc. You train like play, you play like you train.

MVP nailed it naming Picken, Boyd, Morris and C Smith types that we lack. We need our next gen mongrels. Griffen was one of my all time fave bulldog players especially when he was captain. He would leave nothing on the field. He would throw himself into every contest like it was his last, he didn't necessarily have mongrel but he had grit. Its a shame his career ended where it did, but we all know how that panned out. Like others have me Libba has it, West has it, VDM maybe. I think Bailey Williams has potential mongrel/grit, Wallis has grit with no mongrel. Is it coachable, can you coach mongrel into a player or is it instinctive?

I totally agree with the OP and this something is off or just isn't quite right with our team. Anyway hopefully we a jumping at shadows and we click into gear in our next scratch against Melbourne but I'm not hold my breath.

[GVGjr]

The Melbourne game should tell us more about our prep for 2021 and I hope we treat it like a full dress rehearsal.

I’m getting flashbacks to last year when Port put us away and there were plenty dismissing it as ‘just a pre-season game’ and then we came out and played 2 of the worst games of footy in rounds 1 & 2 you’d ever see.

Good point. Practice and preseason games are typically a good indicator of where we are at and I don't understand why anyone would dismiss them as a way of gauging how we are performing unless we have intentionally held back 8 out of our better players for other reasons. Still if you have depth in the playing list like we have it's still not a good excuse. We've been saying this for years but the effort we bring is a direct indicator of how we perform

The likes of Macrae, Treloar and Naughton will make a significant difference for us but we've still got a lot of work to do

[GVGjr]

I think Bevo is a good coach and he may be stubborn and too friendly with some of the players.
Macca did install a hard defensive end to our game but I've said this before and the loss of Monty could be the telling factor.
could Bevo work with Monty or vise versa who knows but Monty was the sort of person that would tell it like it is and not worry about upsetting the status quo.
It didn't take us long to fall of the perch once Monty left and I don't know if players would work under Monty as the head man as he may upset their feelings and this generation seems a bit to me,me,me.
But as a hard nose assistant I think both coaches complimented each other and the question would be could they work together.
If they were both up for it I would welcome both men at the helm and see how far it would take us.

I agree that B-Mac played his role in getting a harder edge with players which is what we needed but we should also never forget the role that Monty played in keeping the players focused. He was very good at motivating players because they knew he was watching them closely and would call them out if he thought they were distracted

[Axe Man]

You can take what you like out of pre season games. In 2016 we beat GWS, yet lost to Melbourne and Collingwood (who both missed the 8 that season). I imagine supporters were unimpressed back then as well.

Practice games don't mean nothing, but they don't mean everything either.

[GVGjr]

I agree with this - in his playing days if a rookie got a bit "yappy" at training it was Monty who would sit him on his arse during a drill.

There's a reason quite a few of us want Matthew Boyd back as a coach at the club.

I suspect we really do miss that Monty and Boyd type intensity around the club. They helped make everyone be more accountable