Bulldogs can go all the way: Cross

[Sockeye Salmon]

Picken is no great shakes with his foot skills but he took the responsibility to slot one home on an acute angle from 40 metres.

Barassi would have dragged him for taking such a low % shot.

[Mantis]

26 touches at 96% efficency.

Yes, he executed a skill poorly but the decision itself wasn't particularily poor. Cross would have been kicking from nearly the 50 line which would have been right on his limits and Hahn would have been 20m closer to goal.

Certainly he should have hit the target. All of his other possessions on the weekend did.

If I could be bothered (and obviously I can't) I could sit down with the video and highlight a skill error from every player on the list for you. I would be very surprised if there was a single player who didn't butcher it at some stage.

According to the HUN he had 21 touches (95% efficiency). Of these he had just 4 kicks, 4 f***ing kicks from a guy who finds more open space than Burke & Wills... It's not good enough.

Of these 17 handballs how many were attacking? Now I haven't watched the game as yet (doing so tonight), but I will make a note of every handball that goes backwards and get back to you.

[1eyedog]

Sockeye, I was at the other end of the stadium but he looked closer to goal than that. Irrespective, Crossy was well in the clear, and could have steadied himself and slotted an uncontested shot for goal on the run from 30 metres - he's a smart footballer and should have known that Carlton's defenders would not have gone to him, thereby giving him the chance to head straight to goal. I thought the pass option to Hahn, who was less in the clear than Crossy himself, was low percentage even in the hands of Gilbee and a really poor option to consider. Was critical in the context of the game as well, as we had kicked 4 goals on the trot and looked in good shape halfway through the 2nd qtr.

Picken is no great shakes with his foot skills but he took the responsibility to slot one home on an acute angle from 40 metres.

He was only 40 out and steadied. He should have slotted it.

[Desipura]

He was only 40 out and steadied. He should have slotted it.

And with no one in the square, he could have kicked it 35 and rely on the bounce to roll thorugh the goals.
SS, beg to differ on the decision not being particularly poor.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Cross is struggling at the moment.

He's still finding the ball and open space as others have alluded to, but his impact is almost next to nothing at the moment. FAR too often he decides to go to ground, putting his body over the ball rather than just bending down and picking it up. Clubs are starting to work it out - let him slide in, then stand off him because he's not going to be able to handball far on his backside. One player makes the tackle and the other covers the space in which Cross is going to handball it to.

His kicking is going backwards but I think the biggest concern is the amount of times he's fumbling the ball in congestion. His use of handball and decision making has been ordinary lately too.

He's been super consistent to date in his career but he really needs to turn it around soon. Boyd has surpassed him by a long, long way.

[hujsh]

Picken is no great shakes with his foot skills but he took the responsibility to slot one home on an acute angle from 40 metres.

I think he tried to centre it but it swung the wrong way off his boot. I was in line from him to the goal and it looked like he was about to pop it up in the square

[Mantis]

Of these 17 handballs how many were attacking? Now I haven't watched the game as yet (doing so tonight), but I will make a note of every handball that goes backwards and get back to you.

1st rule of forum life: Don't quote your own posts... oh well.

Cross:

1st qtr - 6 handballs for the qtr, 3 within 10 sec's , only one of these is creative. All travel backwards or sideways. Two more during the qtr release running player's.

2nd qtr - All handballs sideways or backwards. Two release players. Stuff's up goal opportunity.

2nd half - Two handballs put players under more pressure than he was. One results in a Carlton goal.

Although his handballs were effective (hit a target) I would say less than half of these released running players. His game was better than I was led to believe, but played too wide of his opponent.