Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

[southerncross]

I am sure I am going be a target for saying this BUT fortunes can always turn quickly in this game. I believe we can turn this around because our list has enough talent on it - look at what North did in a year and they have far less raw talent IMO than us. We need to get the best kids we can again at the draft, and not . If you get good kids it is surprising how quickly they can make the grade - in two years time Everitt could be amazing if he works at a Scott West like level to improve.

Clearly we lack leadership and there is a huge crew of middle age players (Gilbee, Cross, Murphy, Harris, Hargrave, Gia, McMahon) who need to lift ENORMOUSLY.

We won 9 and half games this year in a year in which we played poorly for most of the year - if the players are seriously committed to conditioning this summer then I have no doubts we could make the finals in 2008.

I agree that things could turn around quick but with one proviso and that being that you need to be competitive like North were the previous season. The way we have been unconvincing with our wins plus the way we have been smashed in our losses does not bode well for a quick fix.

[Mantis]

We also need LEADERSHIP - Johnno is not the man he is too nice - we need a complete bastard!!. We need someone who is hard and mean. Dont know who that is though - dont think its gia or murph. Might be cooney, probably not. Maybe west? He was good in that article - players who dont train hard enough etc need to be told!

He wasn't yesterday and it was good to see. On a number of occassions he showed geniune frustration in the performance of his teammates, about bloody time I say.

When Boyd was streaming into an open goal and missed, he punched the ball into the crowd and went and spoke to Boyd.

When Darcy turned the ball over which cost us a goal, he shook his hand in disgust and went and spoke to him.

Johnson was very strong in his words after the game. He has the bastard in him, he has to unleash it.

[The Underdog]

A few random observations on yesterday.
Had to stay home and watch it on TV unfortunately, hard to pick up some of the matchups so correct me if I'm wrong. (God knows the channel 7 commentary team don't help you. Praise or condemnation isn't analysis, you bunch of two bit hacks)

Appeared as though Eags was given the job on Harvey. Didn't work. Eags played him too loose and was killed the other way, while doing little damage forward himself.
Not sure what lies in the future for Eags, he is too one dimensional and is easily pushed out of the contest (a common theme I know)

McMahon started off promisingly but while also damaging going forward he showed little appetite for a contest and to be honest flat out pulled out when he could of put his body on the line for his team. Also not sure where he's at.
Our small defenders don't seem to be very good at, well, defending. Are good attacking players but struggle to stop an opponent.

Was that Dale Morris' worst game for us?

Scott West continues to lead by example by putting his head over the ball and sacrificing his body, but he doesn't get much help.

I'm sure Johnno is a great leader around the club, but his position up forward means that he has trouble influencing the game when we're getting overrun. Doesn't seem to be able to slot back into the midfield anymore if needed.

Is it wierd that Boyd and Cross started out as defensive mids, but now that they find their own ball more often we don't seem to be able to stop opposition midfields at all?

The backline looked ordinary yesterday but the lack of midfield pressure on the ball coming in killed them. Hard to stop a guy on the lead when the balls put in his hands.
Also can't believe how easy we make it for opposition defenders. Petrie could have stood still at CHB in the second quarter and we still would have kicked it to him. You can kick it to your players advantage to give them a better than 50% chance of getting the ball in a one on one contest, y'know. Some really dumb football at times.

Really not sure where we're at. There is potential there, but there needs to be some reshaping done. There's a few guys at the crossroads, although I'm not sure what any trade value is for guys like Power, McMahon and anyone else you care to name.

Oh yeah, nice goal Doogs, good to see him have a reason to smile, despite the scoreline.

Gonna be a long preseason.

[Templeton31]

FWIW I went to the game yesterday meaning I have seen 3 games live this year - R1 agst Geelong, the Canberra game against the Swans in may and yesterday. Obv I watched most games on TV but its not the same. Comparing R1 to R22 I would say I noticed the follwing differences:

- run and carry out of backline had dissapeared.My memory of R1 involved Griff, Gilbee, Shaggy & McMahon running out of the backline to deliver deep into fwd line. Remember last year we were the team with the most coast-to-coast goals in the league. this run was just not happening yesterday. Nearly all the kick outs seemed to be sideways to back pocket. I can recall McMahon running out through HB a few times and Gilbee maybe once but compared to R1....

- leading and making yourself available. Just not happening yesterday compared to R1. I get frustrated sometiems watching it on tv as to why they kick it to Scott West all the time when he is relatively short and not the best kick going round if he does get it. When you go to the game you can see why - he is one of the few players running into space and making options.

- play on vs stop and hesitate. R1 lots of play on and IIRC Eade was unhappy that they didnt play on more. Not much playing on happening yesterday.

- confidence in general. makes such a difference.

- HF & HB lines just seem to have become hopeless for us. Previously we were running through these lines or kicking over them. Now without run and attack we stagnate and have to kick to CHF or CHB where we have not enough tall players and the ones we do have arent used to that style of game so dont know what to do. I noticed in 2nd quarter yesterday we seemed to do a lot of bombing to round CHF line and the only bloke contesting was Granty. Oh Granty and about 3 tall Kangaroo blokes.

this is getting depressing. i'm stopping and going back to watching Doogs goal from 55m out over and over again in my mind.

[bornadog]

We need someone who is hard and mean. Dont know who that is though .

Minson, seriousley, he is the meanest, sometimes over does it, but I like it. We missed him this year, doing the mean things. Every other player is too nice.

[Twodogs]

Did anyone else see McDougall throw a punch at Petrie before the first bounce? Doogs telegraphed the punch, Pertrie saw it coming and swerved out of the way and Doogs had so much momentum he just fell face first on the ground.



Funniest thing I've seen all year.

[Mantis]

Did anyone else see McDougall throw a punch at Petrie before the first bounce? Doogs telegraphed the punch, Pertrie saw it coming and swerved out of the way and Doogs had so much momentum he just fell face first on the ground.



Funniest thing I've seen all year.

Certainly did.. What a pisser. How bad are we going when you can't even land a punch.

[Twodogs]

Certainly did.. What a pisser. How bad are we going when you can't even land a punch.

Years ago I saw Tony Mundine fight an exhibition bout. He was hooning around and was actually waving at a friend in the crowd when his opponent swung the biggest 'bolo punch I have ever seen at him and connected flush on Mundines jaw.



I havent seen anyone throw a punch like that again until yesterday. Doogs missed though...

[Mantis]

Years ago I saw Tony Mundine fight an exhibition bout. He was hooning around and was actually waving at a friend in the crowd when his opponent swung the biggest 'bolo punch I have ever seen at him and connected flush on Mundines jaw.



I havent seen anyone throw a punch like that again until yesterday. Doogs missed though...

There was a concerted effort to show more aggression yesterday, pity it only lasted for about 10 minutes...

[Dry Rot]

What did everyone think of Mcdougall yesterday? I've read some good comments but the 3AW guys thought he was crap (I haven't seen the game)

[Templeton31]

i thought he was one of the better ones out of a bad lot yesterday.

Pros, he went hard for the ball both on the ground and in the air, his disposal improved as the game went along and his disposal and willingness to help run the ball out of defence improved as the game went on. This improved confidence was typified by when he kicked a cracker goal in the last quarter - 55m out he looked round for a pass, couldnt find anyone available, so just went woof with a beautiful kick. He also at one point backed without fear or favour into a giant pack in the goal square.

Negatives were that a few disposals out of defence, particularly in 1st half, were poor resulting in turnovers. I thought a couple of times he got bussled over in marking contests when I had thought he could have held his own and punched clear. Certainly I'd say also in the first half at times he looked like he didnt know where to run too or what to do in defence. It wasnt through lack of trying/intensity.

In summary I'd say if I barracked for Port or Lions or some team with an abdunance of good talls then I think I wouldn't have noticed him. But, for better or worse, we barrack for a team of wimpy, undersized midgets and from that regard I thought he was very very encouraging. Did more positive things yesterday than I ever saw Morgan, Wiggins, Walsh combined do.

[Sockeye Salmon]

What did everyone think of Mcdougall yesterday? I've read some good comments but the 3AW guys thought he was crap (I haven't seen the game)

Then they have clearly had preconcieved ideas and didn't bother watching the game.

Mcdougall was easily in our best couple of players.

I even think that Mcdougall could easily hold down CHB for the next 2 years and once he's confident enough that he's not going to get dropped he may even go forward again at some stage. He's the 2nd big defender we've been looking for.

[Twodogs]

What did everyone think of Mcdougall yesterday? I've read some good comments but the 3AW guys thought he was crap (I haven't seen the game)

Doogs was OK. That comment says more about how lazy and arrogant 3AW are than anything.

[Bulldog Revolution]

I didn't think he was in our best 5, but he improved as the game went on, and was a reasonable contributor - he certainly showed enough to persist with for another year

His 55 metre goal was close to the individual highlight of the game

[The Doctor]

I thought Doogs was very good. Got better and better as the game went on. He seemed to gain in confidence with every touch. In the first half I got very angry with some of his team mates who blatantly ignored him and opted for boundary riders when he had run hard into the centre corridor from defence. I reckon this happened about 5 times that I noticed. Beautiful running goal from around 60m. I think there is a fantastic player somewhere inside Doogs. How to get the best out of him is a mystery it seems.

Cam Wight is bordering on hopeless. I dread when he gets the ball and he can't stop his opponent. What purpose does he serve? Honestly if we weren't so stuck for talls I would call for his delisting. If another club showed any interest I would be prepared to deal.

Matty Boyd's defensive work was bordering on pathetic. His opponent Daniel Harris was able to run freely and set up play at crucial times in the 2nd 1/4 particularly. This is where we lost the game. Boyd gets plenty of it and no doubt he tries hard but he doesn't really hurt the opposition.

I liked McMahon playing out of the centre square late in the game. I've always felt ruck roving is his go and I think he can hurt one paced midfields with his dash from the centre.

Skipper was great til he got injured or went off or whatever happened to him. His demise in the game co-incided with the team's demise.

Gia is too slow to dispose of the ball and this allws opposition defenders enough time to man up. His kicking lacks penetration and is generally dreadful under pressure. His contested work has been already well scrutinised by all and sundry. One piece of play said it all. North bombed long to a 3 on 3 contest (despite the fact all 18 of our players were in the defensive 50 and only 12 of their were) Gia was in the contest and fell over and didn't get up. Suddenly 3 v 2. They won the loose ball, used the extra man, result goal. Once the goal was scored he got back up like a soccer player does after feigning injury. I was livid.