Western Bulldogs V Essendon - 1st Elimination Final 2021

[Ozza]

Tom Morris now claiming Dogs and Dons fly to tassie on Thursday.

So much for the fly in fly out advantage.

Well its quite the opposite. The club didn't want to fly in/fly out same day - as that was a disaster last time.

No Melbourne club will be back in Melbourne after Thursday until their finals campaign is finished.

[MrMahatma]

Well its quite the opposite. The club didn't want to fly in/fly out same day - as that was a disaster last time.

No Melbourne club will be back in Melbourne after Thursday until their finals campaign is finished.

Chris Scott made it sound like all finals will be in Perth from week 2. That’d be amazing… if Lions and Port didn’t get home ground advantages. I mean, in theory, given not all teams can get an advantage, why should any? A Perth hub would be a win (depending on the freedoms the players got).

[comrade]

Chris Scott made it sound like all finals will be in Perth from week 2. That’d be amazing… if Lions and Port didn’t get home ground advantages. I mean, in theory, given not all teams can get an advantage, why should any? A Perth hub would be a win (depending on the freedoms the players got).

That sort of fair minded approach is surely beyond the AFL at this point?

[Grantysghost]

Makes this week super important. We get through - no home ground disadvantage and I can guarantee that no one will want to play us at a neutral venue.

[azabob]

How do you guys think we can win?

Great post jee.

Its Tuesday and you are right time for some positivity.

Pretty simple for me.

We can't allow Essendon to get their tails up and free wheel as they will be very tough to stop.

As a team we need to bring our pressure game and also our physical game and not be bullied in the ruck and midfield.

If we do this I believe we will give our forwards enough opportunity to kick a winning score and our defense enough support to stop Essendon kicking a winning score.

[MrMahatma]

We need to show them appropriate respect, cause they have some good players.

But, we have better players. And more of them.

So, as long as we show respect, and everyone just does their job, we should win and win well.

[Grantysghost]

Great post jee.

Its Tuesday and you are right time for some positivity.

Pretty simple for me.

We can't allow Essendon to get their tails up and free wheel as they will be very tough to stop.

As a team we need to bring our pressure game and also our physical game and not be bullied in the ruck and midfield.

If we do this I believe we will give our forwards enough opportunity to kick a winning score and our defense enough support to stop Essendon kicking a winning score.

Yep spot on - they can't be allowed to run on the outside we need to be pressing up into their faces and forcing them into rushed possessions at all times. No excuse for them having any easy disposals.

On the contrary we need to work hard on the other side to utilise our +1 and overlap out and protect / shepherd the ball carrier.

If I see Jake Stringer running out the front of a centre square stoppage I will literally spew up !

[bornadog]

Great post jee.

Its Tuesday and you are right time for some positivity.

Pretty simple for me.

We can't allow Essendon to get their tails up and free wheel as they will be very tough to stop.

As a team we need to bring our pressure game and also our physical game and not be bullied in the ruck and midfield.

If we do this I believe we will give our forwards enough opportunity to kick a winning score and our defense enough support to stop Essendon kicking a winning score.

Listening to Leptich this morning, he said Essendon rely on turnovers and then run the ball quickly from back half to forward line. WE need to make sure we don't just turn the ball over. We must hit targets.

[comrade]

Keep Baz away from every single centre bounce. Hide him on a flank and don’t even roll him up to stoppages as an extra. Keep him wide and in space, he has no place being inside the stoppage at the moment.

[dog town]

Keep Baz away from every single centre bounce. Hide him on a flank and don’t even roll him up to stoppages as an extra. Keep him wide and in space, he has no place being inside the stoppage at the moment.

It has been a quick turnaround for him because he was really giving us something different in there only a month ago. With Libba down at the moment I feel our balance is out because we don’t have a low to the ground player with good agility getting it done. I have always found that those guys have troubled us so we need Treloar, Smith and Libba who has different attributes but is that size and shape to come good.

[1eyedog]

I've put the last few weeks behind me and I'm now ready to embrace our challenge, I really hope the lads have and are ready to go as well.

I'd be interested in hearing how we can beat the Bummers now, as I've definitely read enough content on why we're in a rut, why the AFL's against us, why Tassie is a bad venue for us and to be honest, I want to try to enjoy the lead up as much as I can. Life's bleak enough........!

For me it's effort across the board, but particularly from our midfield brigade. The effort from these guys needs to be matched with ruthlessness and composure. They need to have a desire to deny their opposition counterparts the slightest of opportunities and they need to be focused on keeping their heads with slick handling skills in tight and deft touches to give team mates an advantage. In the past few weeks we've not seen enough of this, in fact against Port, the blunt instrument approach to ball handling in close was a major game changer and cost us dearly.

I'm on record as saying I don't think peripheral selections make too much of a difference to us, it's our one wood midfield that determines whether we win or lose. We have to roll the dice with Martin to allow our midfield to enter the game with a little more confidence, and while I don't quite know what to do with JJ and VDM, I think a bit more of a contribution from these guys will be enough to help our forward line get moving. On paper we look to have too much quality for them, and if our front half can make it difficult for them in transition and our midfield runs both ways we should be in a good position to take the game.

How do you guys think we can win?

I'd like us to show some composure moving the ball inside F50 rather than long bomb entries. Naughts and Flea (and Marra as well) are dynamite on the lead I'd like us to move the ball across the arc until we get lower risk lead-up options. Essendon were highly effective breaking up high balls last time we played them and super efficient moving the ball out of defence. We need to keep the ball away from them down there and maximise our F50 entries. We need smarter entries.

Composure moving the ball in general play will be critical as well. We had so many opportunities against Port when we had momentum but were let down by second grabbing at the ball, bad skill errors by hand and not taking first option in high pressure passages of play. We've effectively turned into panic merchants the past few weeks and this needs to change. It's a big worry.

The midfield needs to work harder defensively and more specifically Dunkley really needs to step up. He's a bull but has been largely ineffective since returning from injury and that needs to change, especially if Libba is tagged again. We need him strong at stoppages.

The ruck has been spoken about enough so I'll just mention that if we choose to go in with Cordy and Wood again Keath needs to have a big impact.

Lastly, we simply must make the most of our opportunities in front of goal.

Do we need a Hannan-type (or someone, Cordy?) to play defensively on Ridley and would something like a Dunks run-with role be useful on a player like Merrett who they go through at every opportunity because he's so good by foot?

[jeemak]

So if it's only members who got tickets that would mean the crowd is going to be a fifty fifty split, outside of corporate packages?

Reckon there's probably a lot of after market activity in the wings.

Apparently there is a huge after/re-sale market play happening due to a lack of scalping legislation (how quaint):

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/...24-p58ldt.html

Still no word on allocations!!!!!

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Dunkley is a massive problem at the moment. Treloar hasn't se the world on fire either, but he's had some moments and looks like he is slowly getting better each week. Both need to step up, but Dunkley looks like an absolute shell of his former self.

Giving Dunkley a specific role might be a good idea, but who? Most opposition mids would burn him on the spread. Maybe Parish?

[Grantysghost]

Listening to Leptich this morning, he said Essendon rely on turnovers and then run the ball quickly from back half to forward line. WE need to make sure we don't just turn the ball over. We must hit targets.

Sounds like a disease variant from medieval times.

[mjp]

Maybe Parish?

Yes. He needs a role and yes, it should be Parish.