WB Game Day V Richmond R7 2021

[The bulldog tragician]

We all thought this would tell us where we are at, we have a partial answer. I think our match next week will tell us more. It’s not a disgrace though deeply disappointing to lose to a backs-against-the wall Richmond. To lose to Carlton would have me questioning whether we have the right stuff.

If I had one of the injured players to have been out there tonight I think it would have been Bailey Williams. He had developed into such a good one on one defender and gets so much penetration in his kicking. I thought we faffed around too much on the backline. The game was still alive half way through the last qtr and we looked completely out of ideas.

While Cordy has copped a lot of deserved flak Duryea had a really terrible night.

And Bont!?! This goal kicking malaise can only be in his head. But for a guy who used to deliver the ball so elegantly to the forwards to deliver like he did tonight...well, it was soul destroying.

I’m not so devastated that they beat us but it worries me that a team that’s won 3 of the last 4 flags looked hungrier than us. We have a way to go. Let’s hope the loss stings and reminds us of where we need to get to.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Interesting presser from Bevo. Seemed very irritated. I think he expected a much, much better performance and that what they did to us last year was mentioned during the week yet basically happened again in the second half.

Few hours removed from the game and I think that was a deflating loss. Outscored by 40+ in the second half with only 14 I50s is bordering on humiliation.

Already some talk about us being overrated / holes in key areas and unfortunately after last night it's hard to argue. Richmond were hungrier and worked harder - why? Why did we constantly allow them overlap handball and space through the middle of the ground moving forward? Why were our mids again embarrassed in that third quarter particularly?

I think it's a sobering loss in that I'm not sure we can contend for the flag. We are missing key players who will return soon and help (English and Williams, maybe VDM based on early season form) but our midfield has come back to the pack with Dunkley going down.

Not often is Bevo THAT narky post a loss, so my reading of it is that he is disappointed in so many of our non contributors. Whilst it's easy to lay blame on Cordy (shouldn't be playing), Schache (probably his last game) and West (Really disappointed in him), our leaders failed the big test which probably hurts more.

[Grantysghost]

It was a battle of two systems, key personnel out of both (Tigers Martin, Prestia, Lambert, Vlaustin) and one, proven to stand up to finals like pressure, did so again in such an overwhelmingly workman like way it was very deflating.

They ground us down and controlled the game from half way through the second, it was a matter of time until it translated on the scoreboard. Longer it goes the bigger the win.
We just didnt seem to have any answers. We just amped up the hot potato handball more which played into their hands.

You can pick out individuals but high level in the battle of the systems ours failed the big pressure test again (thinking previous two finals).
Bright side winning 7 in a row is rarified air, and whilst you can say only one of those sides we played prior is in the 8 (Lions) we looked to have found another gear in some of those matches from previous seasons.
Not the end of the world, they are the bench mark but I hope the things I saw that have bothered me for a few seasons were the exception last night and not the rule.

Plus we have Jamarra :cool

[Go_Dogs]

It’s disappointing when you’re out worked and out hustled, dominated in the air, not as fast covering the ground, lacking the same system to create space, get burnt out the middle by a young group, and have plenty of players below their best / back for the first time and way below the level.

The good news is, for how badly we played and how dominant they were, we didn’t lose by THAT much.

With players back I’m confident we can beat the Tiges.

Big month ahead which will show where we are.

Smith - panic kicks and double/triple grabbing ground balls. Down on confidence.
Cordy - can’t play on big talk forwards. Proven.
Schache - looked overwhelmed. Made some odd decisions - that 5m kick on our forward wing? Bizarre.
West - gave away silly free kicks to further sour a poor and undisciplined performance. Disappointing.
JJ - get him to half back, or get him out of the side.

Match committee - had an opportunity to give Sweet another run. On reflection, an agile Ruck would’ve been the preferred option in tandem with Martin.

Positives - not many, Macrae, Dale, at a pinch Daniel...

Tough day. Let’s bounce back.

[merantau]

I'm pretty ok with that result. It's disappointing sure, but on a number of fronts we were good, and in other respects i think we can come out of it positively.

Firstly as MJP has said winning 7 in a row is hard. Being "on" for that long is tough, and seeing as we haven't really had much competition in most of those wins we were a lacking a little match fitness in dealing with good opposition when it matters. Only the West Coast game has required us to fight back at any point this season, and while last week was a grind it was more like we eventually just pulled away than had to fight to clinch the win. So thats a good change for us in terms of experience and mindset.

Richmond are a good side (duh), and if they lost would be 3-4. They made good adjustments after halftime and their good players (Shai Bolton wow) really stepped up. We were playing a team that has had more big moments and quality team performances than anyone in the last 5 years, there's no shame in them turning it on and us not being able to go with them.

Having said that it did expose our weaknesses. If our midfield isn't on top our defence is horribly exposed. As we are all aware we are extremely susceptible to getting killed in the air and Lynch played that out tonight. We badly need to get someone to assist Keath and just be able to hold the fort in the air and give our excellent smaller brigade a chance when their talls get ontop. But ultimately if our midfield finds a way to not get slaughtered out of the middle every chance they get then that third quarter is much better for us and gives us a much better chance in a game we very much still could have won with 5 minutes to go.

I'm still pretty optimistic, i think it's a good wake up call for a lot of players and at the very least it gives us something to keep in the back of our minds when we beat up Norf by 24 goals next time. You learn a lot from your losses and this was no where near as bad as virtually any of our losses last year. I just wish Naughton nailed that last shot instead of whatever you call the kick we got.

Thanks for the clarity Soupaman. It has always been your default position and I appreciate it because it lifts my spirit after a loss.

[comrade]

When the ball was locked inside our defensive 50 for 20 minutes, it just highlighted we have too many poor ball users in that half of the ground. Wood and Cordy are the obvious ones, but Keath and Crozier are primarily ‘safe’ option kicks. We really lacked the ability and courage to find our way out with precision and it played into the Tigers hands.

[Go_Dogs]

When the ball was locked inside our defensive 50 for 20 minutes, it just highlighted we have too many poor ball users in that half of the ground. Wood and Cordy are the obvious ones, but Keath and Crozier are primarily ‘safe’ option kicks. We really lacked the ability and courage to find our way out with precision and it played into the Tigers hands.

Agree with that. Also system too. And their pressure was very good. It’s where having Tim helps, he’s the most likely to clunk the long kick and hope out of the backline

[GVGjr]

When the ball was locked inside our defensive 50 for 20 minutes, it just highlighted we have too many poor ball users in that half of the ground. Wood and Cordy are the obvious ones, but Keath and Crozier are primarily ‘safe’ option kicks. We really lacked the ability and courage to find our way out with precision and it played into the Tigers hands.

Our skill level was down and I think a lot of that is due to the pressure Richmond applied. This is one of their great strengths.
We had almost identical scoring shots as Richmond so stats wise we looked competitive but they pressured our players more and had Lynch kicked a bit straighter the result could have been closer to a 35 point loss.
Nearly all of their better players on the night were their back man who were organised, efficient and attacking.

If Bevo can get the learning's out of this we will be vastly better prepared for the bigger ground/crowds and the pressure quality oppositions clubs bring.

Next week we've got an opponent that's traditionally been hard for us to beat and a few critical selection decisions to make.
How we bounce back next week will be critical for the season and challenges ahead.

[DOG GOD]

That 3rd quarter was just a complete onslaught of pressure from the Tigers. They looked intense, hungrier, and their tackling pressure was off the charts. We went into our shell, and panicked with the ball. Got killed around the clearances, putting our weak defence under pressure we probably haven’t seen all year.

The hardest win we had this year was against WC and their 3 pronged talls. Unless we get a bonafide KPD “A” grader, we will not be able to combat these teams with the Gorilla forwards in a finals scenario. We can talk up our mids not being defensive enough etc etc, but the reality is, if we falter under pressure then the Richmonds, Ports and Geelongs in particular won’t be scared in playing us in a final.

I predicted Tigers to win by 29 points and Lynch to kick 5. I said he would be the difference, and when you look at what he did to Cordy/Keath he probably should’ve kicked 7.1. Richmond were always going to try to get him one out. They played on quick once the got to 70 out and put their trust in him to outmark his opponent.

Richmond played well structured team football for 2.5 quarters and that was more than enough to dismantle our game plan. Make no mistake, Dunks is a MASSIVE loss, and so was English around the ground.

Media talking us up as Premiership favourite was massively premature. When our mids aren’t on top, we struggle to contain the surge the opposition gets, putting pressure on our Humpty Dumpty backline.

I didn’t expect to beat Richmond, even with their outs. They are well drilled and their players play their roles well. However, lose to Carlton and questions have to asked of our mental strength, and our belief in ourselves.

Let’s see what the MC comes up with. I’ll watch with eager eyes.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

The ones who need to stand up are our mids. They drive this team. Yeah Cordy wasn’t great but he wasn’t terrible and unfortunately what he showed last night is basically what he is. Slow and undersized. I don’t really see how he can get much better. He’s a limited player and the problem is list management rather than individual performances down back.

[Stefcep]

Our mids were not slaughtered. In the third quarter, Tigers won most of the Centre clearances, but overall for the game CC were even, we won stoppages, overall clearances but they ended up getting on top of the CP. Martin won the Hitouts, but Nankervis was good around the ground. This is where we missed English.

5 min to go there was 5 points in it, but they were more dangerous up forward. Houli with 31 disposals from the backline, drove most of their forward run and set up their forwards.

Spot on.


We created enough scoring opportunities to win this game. But we as per usual didn't take them. That might not matter when you have 60 Inside 50's with a 15-20% conversion rate, but it does matter when playing the best who won't let us have that many inside 50's.

Off the top of my head :

1. Bonts miss
2. West turning his back on 2 free forwards in the goal square and then not even kicking the distance
3. Naughton's shank
4. Bruce's soccer volley inside the goal square and from almost directly in front.
5. Bruce's around the corner snap from inside 30m
6. Lipiniski's poster.

You can talk about the tackles/kicks/pressure, but they're all just a means to creating goal scoring opportunity, and mean nothing if you don't take them.

[MrMahatma]

Spot on.


We created enough scoring opportunities to win this game. But we as per usual didn't take them. That might not matter when you have 60 Inside 50's with a 15-20% conversion rate, but it does matter when playing the best who won't let us have that many inside 50's.

Off the top of my head :

1. Bonts miss
2. West turning his back on 2 free forwards in the goal square and then not even kicking the distance
3. Naughton's shank
4. Bruce's soccer volley inside the goal square and from almost directly in front.
5. Bruce's around the corner snap from inside 30m
6. Lipiniski's poster.

You can talk about the tackles/kicks/pressure, but they're all just a means to creating goal scoring opportunity, and mean nothing if you don't take them.

Hannan missed a sitter too.

[G-Mo77]

All these small things are brought up when you get beaten as a pretty flimsy excuse on why we lost. Signs were there in the 2nd and the 3rd the floodgates opened up. Our back 6 actually held up well because our mids just let the ball walk out of there.

[Grantysghost]

9.3 to 2.4 after half time and 16-0 inside 50s in the 3rd at one point. It was pretty comprehensive when the game was there to be won.
One thing that stood out was the pace of the Tigers mids. Bolton was easily pulling away from our guys.

[Stefcep]

9.3 to 2.4 after half time and 16-0 inside 50s in the 3rd at one point. It was pretty comprehensive when the game was there to be won.
One thing that stood out was the pace of the Tigers mids. Bolton was easily pulling away from our guys.

The game was still there to be won when Lipinksy hit the post.