Autopsy - Bulldogs Vs Suns Round 2 @ Mars Stadium

[DexterT]

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

The Dogs first win of 2024 was set up with a 9.1 opening quarter, with The Flea making Suns defenders itchy with a career equaling 6 goals and what was pleasing was he kicked those goals in different ways, though set shots and crumbing and a nice speccy for his second goal.

Special mention to the intercept marking of Liam Jones and Buku Khamis that kept at bay the tall forwards of the Suns. Buku got himself a birthday goal as well.

JJ and Ed Richards provided plenty of run and link up play, allowing for quick ball movement and giving the forwards plenty of space.

The talls were great. JUH and Sam Darcy competed, bringing the ball to ground and allowing the crumbers to get to work.

The battle between Libba and Rowell was a great spectacle and was a pleasure to watch, with Libba having a goal to his name.

Naughton showed why he should be playing CHF with some great efforts along the wings.

Tim English was back to his best but it has to be noted his ruck opponent had only played 3 games (and had me quoting lines from Seinfeld), so he should have dominated. According to the AFL?s Fantasy Points, he did and was BOG.

The Bont goal from the boundary line had me saying ?Aw c?mon Bont, now you?re just showing off.?


The Bad

Stopping a run of goals is still an issue, with today?s game all about momentum swings, the ability of stopping a run of goals could be the difference between a win or a loss.

A couple of inaccurate set shots in the fourth quarter could have cost the dogs the game.


The Ugly

The Nick Coffield injury and Ed Richards concussion soured what was a great win but leads to some necessary changes for the game against the Eagles.

Changes could be Macrae and Keith for Richards and Coffield. Garcia put in a strong performance in the VFL, could he come in for VDM or Poulter? VDM had a better game than last week, while Poulter was fairly quiet. Does Harmes even get a look in or will he be playing his first VFL game for the Dogs?

[merantau]

Seriously? AFL Fantasy points had English BOG? That's some fantasy. Excellent summing up of the game.

[hujsh]

Seriously? AFL Fantasy points had English BOG? That's some fantasy. Excellent summing up of the game.

It's not always the best but sometimes these metrics are useful for helping us overcome our bias'. If you look into why he has so many fantasy points (and keep in mind he didn't have more hit outs or disposals than Moyle) you might see in what ways he was considered effective. Score involvements, intercept marks, pressure acts (2nd in our team after Libba), centre clearances, even a couple of tackles inside 50.

I've accused English of being a 'supercoach ruckman' before for racking up not very useful disposals that inflate his stat sheet and reputation but don't help the team. Yesterday was the antithesis of that for me. Deceptively influential.

[bornadog]

It's not always the best but sometimes these metrics are useful for helping us overcome our bias'. If you look into why he has so many fantasy points (and keep in mind he didn't have more hit outs or disposals than Moyle) you might see in what ways he was considered effective. Score involvements, intercept marks, pressure acts (2nd in our team after Libba), centre clearances, even a couple of tackles inside 50.

I've accused English of being a 'supercoach ruckman' before for racking up not very useful disposals that inflate his stat sheet and reputation but don't help the team. Yesterday was the antithesis of that for me. Deceptively influential.

His hitouts were 41% to advantage compared to Moyle's 24%. He also had 8 tackles - not bad for a big bloke.

Amazingly, Reilly O'Brien from Adelaide had 46 hitouts but only 14 to advantage - English 10

[AshMac]

Good post - agree w all your points. Couple of thoughts:

Really liked Naughton high in the first quarter. He catered space inside the arc and was a good marking player 80-90m out from goal. He seemed to play much deeper after quarter time.

Caleb Daniel would have been close to best on ground for periods there. His decision making and ability to execute were elite as usual. Made anybody that would play him behind a VFL player look like an absolute fool

Dale, Richards and JJ?s run and carry was great. Thought the 3 of them worked brilliantly with Buku and Jones

Gold Cost are a good team - particularly their midfield - but we need to do that to a top 4 side before I?m a believer

[bornadog]

The intercept marking was a real feature of the afternoon with Jones 9, Dale, 9, Williams 7, Buku 6 and on top of that Baker on a wing with 9 marks.

This is the sort of Bulldog team we need to see. I also loved JJ actually taking a run a few times - he was a statute against the Dees.

The big ugly for me was once more just banging the ball into the F50 and expecting Naughton, JUH and Darcy to take the big mark. Lucky for us Weightman pounced on the ground balls.

Need JUH and Naughton to create more leads, rather than standing next to their opponents.

[Danjul]

The intercept marking was a real feature of the afternoon with Jones 9, Dale, 9, Williams 7, Buku 6 and on top of that Baker on a wing with 9 marks.

This is the sort of Bulldog team we need to see. I also loved JJ actually taking a run a few times - he was a statute against the Dees.

The big ugly for me was once more just banging the ball into the F50 and expecting Naughton, JUH and Darcy to take the big mark. Lucky for us Weightman pounced on the ground balls.

Need JUH and Naughton to create more leads, rather than standing next to their opponents.

Fully agree and there is no evidence that it will change soon.

When the small forwards make space they are usually ignored. When Gallagher honoured Baker?s move leading to his second goal I was surprised. Let?s see more of it.

[lemmon]

Fully agree and there is no evidence that it will change soon.

When the small forwards make space they are usually ignored. When Gallagher honoured Baker?s move leading to his second goal I was surprised. Let?s see more of it.

I think it's part of our game style. We seem to keen to get it in quick and long, have those big forwards create a contest, our small forwards tackle and harrass and we create repeat forward 50 stoppages. It looked a lot more like a 'Bulldogs game' than in round 1.

[Grantysghost]

Coffield in tears on the boundary was a heart breaking sight.

[Mofra]

Coffield in tears on the boundary was a heart breaking sight.

The poor guy has just worked so hard. Seemed a pretty minor incident to knock his shoulder out, but once it's popped out once it tends to pop out easily again.

[bornadog]

The poor guy has just worked so hard. Seemed a pretty minor incident to knock his shoulder out, but once it's popped out once it tends to pop out easily again.

Hopefully he isn't out too long

[ledge]

Hopefully he isn't out too long

Just read somewhere it’s the same injury he did in 2019.

[angelopetraglia]

Just read somewhere it’s the same injury he did in 2019.

The concern to me was it was innocuous. It looked like nothing. He went to spoil, hit his arm and his shoulder went.

[Grantysghost]

Just read somewhere it’s the same injury he did in 2019.

Yes - I think there was a look of realisation on his face that a reco might be in his future. Very sad considering his history.

[Critter]

One thing that struck me was the time given to Matt Rowell to dispose of the ball when tackled. I know he's a bull whose shtick is to barge his was through packs and tackles, but my understanding of the game is that, when you're tackled, you must attempt to legally dispose of the ball. Not go harder and longer until you can find a way out.