Not at all. Lower was always a depth player not a walk up start to the best 22.
I hope Wallis isn't going to be a tagger for the balance of his his career. He should continue to evolve as a player.
I'm happy to have Lower on our list because he sets a standard for the younger players to follow.
Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"
B:
Roughead.....as accomplished a defender's game as I've seen him play...on a very good player in top form.
Picken.....many were calling for his head several weeks back and not without good cause. His last few weeks have been the Picken of old.
Grant.....how many times in the past have we been able to describe him as the most dangerous player on the ground?
A:
Umpire picking out marginal free kicks from 60 metres away.
Murphy getting free kicks for things that Griffen has put up with for years.
Another disappointing turnout of bulldogs supporters. What will it take for supporters to make the effort to come and watch a team who are now providing value for money?
Personally I have never gone to away games. Going to the football ain't exactly cheap.
I'll go to all home games (in Melbourne) and very occasionally go to away games if there is a period where I can't go for a few weeks such as earlier in the year when we played in Darwin and there was quite a gap in between home games.
Out of interest do you go GA for both home and away?
I see a Liam Picken who is completely new. He's never been the sort of player to get 27 touches off a flank, he's only ever been a serviceable tagger before now. He's come on in leaps and bounds the last month or so.
Good set of anchors there, I'll take them myself. That free which the secondary umpire picked out was beyond ridiculous - and I thought they couldn't get any worse, but then they pinged Murph for himself being jumper grabbed by Betts. You don't often see Murph abusing the umpire, that's when you know they've really cocked up. In general, the only reason the Blues were any sort of chance was because the umpires gave them about 10 clearance free kicks. Half through Murphy, half in the ruck duels.
Bankers:
Adam Cooney - just a delight to see him playing genuinely well again.
Luke Dahlhaus - lifted his work rate back up recently and he's heading towards being an elite player of the competition.
Tom Liberatore - this guy could be an amazing player. He's more than just a clearance king, he has great skills too.
EDIT: Actually if I was to give one original anchor, it would probably be Koby Stevens, he never looked settled with ball in hand and was even lazy occasionally with his disposal. Still has a lot to learn.
'And the Western suburbs erupt!'
Just on the umpires. I found myself sitting in the Carlton end near the goals as I went with an old mate who's a Carlton supporter and his kids wanted to sit there. All the better to debate the merits of ROUGHEADS DOMINATION I guess . At one stage, the 10 or so moderately normal Carlton supporters surrounding us were forced to agree the goals score was OPSM 4, Carlton 5 and Bulldogs 10. Sometimes it's fun sitting with the enemy!
BANKERS
Wallis - his gut running is setting the bar for what is expected.
Grant - he has found the work rate that gets him to the contest and the next contest after that. He looks like he belongs out there.
Young - I love this bloke. He never panics. I love his competitiveness.
ANCHORS
Umpires - Pfft, please there are two teams out there.
Goal kicking - we should of been 5 goals up at quarter time, and that's being modest.
Kicking into f50 - we are getting better at this, but we seem to always kick the ball to the defenders advantage more than ours.
Here are 3 bankers who flew under the radar:
1. Austin - based on today, he might be closer to making the senior list at the end of the year than many think.
2. Stevens - not brilliant but consistent.
3. Tutt - good sub role. Fresh and pacy.
Anchors:
1. Jones - played just ok but should have had a big one yesterday.
2. Dickson, Dahlhaus, Addison, Cross, et al missing easy or gettable goals.
3. Delivery on to the forward line still a work in progress.