Sharp Axes

[Hotdog60]

Can I ask why do we always concede the first kick out? Wouldn't it better to stay man on man and make them kick to a contest around 50 or 60 meters out rather than letting it get the half way point.
There always seems to be an easy kick to the pocket.

[hujsh]

Can I ask why do we always concede the first kick out? Wouldn't it better to stay man on man and make them kick to a contest around 50 or 60 meters out rather than letting it get the half way point.
There always seems to be an easy kick to the pocket.

I daresay tactically most coaches like the easy kick to the pocket because you can then compress the zone tighter and theoretically make it harder to kick through.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I daresay tactically most coaches like the easy kick to the pocket because you can then compress the zone tighter and theoretically make it harder to kick through.

The way we've defended the kick in / allowed them to move the ball to multiple areas of the ground in the last 3 weeks has been abysmal. Up until that, we were doing a better job on condensing / controlling where we want the opposition to move the ball. It's fell away badly when we've been tested, particularly by better opposition.

[meenies]

Opposition clubs love it when we do this. They bottle us up and we constantly turn these ones over.

[GVGjr]

I daresay tactically most coaches like the easy kick to the pocket because you can then compress the zone tighter and theoretically make it harder to kick through.

In the last couple of games Dale has often targeted Daniel with shorter passes and I guess the hope has been that he will get the ball through the traffic. Not sure how successful it's been.

[FrediKanoute]

If you look at every premiership team in the last 20 years (probably longer), there is always a sprinkling of role-players and fringe types who share the dais with the superstars - save for the worst 8 minute patch in our club history, the likes of Hannan, Roarke Smith, Schache, and one-legged pensioner Stef Martin would have premiership medals.

Like any team, we need our superstars in peak form in order to be a high quality finals team - when Naughts and English don't fire, or if Bont or Libba is quelled and kept quiet, we lose more often than not, same as any club really.

The more interesting question is if our game plan in 2023 is amenable to future success. This game changes quickly, and I hope Bevo is nimble enough to understand and adjust accordingly. I thought we made adjustments in our defensive profile from R3-10 to make sure we contend at the business end this year, but the ease with which we are being scored against in the last 3 weeks is a concern. We ae being sliced open, which has been a consistent theme of this team since 2019 when we notionally started contending again after our mini-rebuild post GF. The last 3 weeks aren't a surprise - my worry is that rounds 3-10 are the outlier and we still don't have that consistent defensive capability to defend the entire ground off turnover nailed down.

Is it a surprise that those losses have coincided with first JJ and then Richards being sidelined? Has it coincided with no real like for like replacement being picked? Has is coincided with Daniel being moved back behind the ball and not being part of the link between forward and cnetre?

[Bulldog Joe]

In the last couple of games Dale has often targeted Daniel with shorter passes and I guess the hope has been that he will get the ball through the traffic. Not sure how successful it's been.

I actually think we have done better this year when we have kick-ins.

We just don't defend the opposition kick-ins despite it being something we cause more than most teams.

[SonofScray]

Is it a surprise that those losses have coincided with first JJ and then Richards being sidelined? Has it coincided with no real like for like replacement being picked? Has is coincided with Daniel being moved back behind the ball and not being part of the link between forward and cnetre?

JJ’s return to form was a real lynch pin.

As soon as he went down, the system broke down too.

[jeemak]

JJ’s return to form was a real lynch pin.

As soon as he went down, the system broke down too.

And it's been exacerbated by Richards's's's injury.

These guys deliver the double whammy of pace and territory when exiting defence, even if accuracy is an issue for both from time to time. When the ball gets handed over it's much deeper and essentially by surprise, opposition forward set ups aren't set up/ ready for the rebound.

Without their run and penetration the movement forward is slower, turnovers are shallower, our defence has less time to adapt. It hasn't helped that our defenders are all of a sudden out of form and are running under the ball and not impacting a contest positively on the third man up in the contest. I've not seen as many ineffectual "spoiling attempts" as I've seen these past couple of weeks for a long time.

And all this comes down to personnel and system being intimately linked. In the old days you could just hit the boundary when the defence was under pressure. You can't do that these days, so you take out a couple of guns who generate run off half back and get penetration with their use, and a lot has to go right for you not to be exposed by that.

Not sure how much coaching can counter it.

[Bullies]

Opposition clubs love it when we do this. They bottle us up and we constantly turn these ones over.

The opposition also like us switching/kicking across goal to Gardner/O'Brien, Crozier and Keath as they know there is a good change it will be butchered and result in a turnover.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

So that sharp an axe, meaning Bevo.
Was thinking the Mc's...Niel n Coomb.
I am faithfull with the club in Bevo.
Not to say Lyon may've been worth sounding out.
Then again I thought the same about Clarkson!
Dodged a bullet there.

[bulldogtragic]

WAs mentioned in this thread if we miss finals Bevo will resign. I wonder at some point when he can’t sleep tonight if this scares the shit out of him. A few weeks ago, it was unthinkable. Now it’s a live possibility. I wonder if the club accepts it if that happens. There’s already two senior jobs vacant.

[1eyedog]

WAs mentioned in this thread if we miss finals Bevo will resign. I wonder at some point when he can’t sleep tonight if this scares the shit out of him. A few weeks ago, it was unthinkable. Now it’s a live possibility. I wonder if the club accepts it if that happens. There’s already two senior jobs vacant.

No idea but there is no way we are going to beat Essendon next week. We are in big trouble.

[Mantis]

No idea but there is no way we are going to beat Essendon next week. We are in big trouble.

An 8 day break for us compared to their 6 day break gives us a fighting chance.

[SonofScray]

All perceived hyperbole aside, it is time for plans to start being made. If C Grant doesn’t have a document mapping out what the scenarios are and the preferred options moving forward are, he’s not the man for the job either.

Top 4 is gone.

We’ll be in a fight for Top 8 now.

Just as likely to fall away a la 2007 as we are to sneak a 6-8th finish with no real shot at going deep.