My theory on form slump

[GVGjr]

C'mon, let's not keep propping them up. THEY'RE SOFT. Opposition players know it. With the exception of a few regulars (Johnno, Westy, Cross and Darcy) the rest go in like they're afraid of getting their new Peter Jacksons' dirty. Will Minson has yet to show the fight he had two seasons ago, Matty Robbins is a nice guy, but finished as a senior player, Griff, Coon, Murph and Streeter have excuses and will improve with time but the others are either struggling for form or don't have the ability. Let's start turning over some fringe players and see if we have any youngsters with the ticker to grab a spot(such as Higgins has done).
No guts No glory.

Beaza, first up welcome to the board. Secondly I hardly think the club ha been slow at turning players over each season. I thought Robbins was a pretty good player last year and while he had some problems over the pre-season it would have been a bold and brave decision to delist him at the end of 2006. I'm all for giving the young players a go but they have to be ready to play. They are also more likely to succeed if they are in form with the Bees.

[alwaysadog]

Interesting thread and no doubt a fair dgree of validity to most of the points made. If the team loses again it will be hard to contain the disappointment.

[BulldogBelle]

It has to but Eade must be confident enough about Williams ability 'to do a job'

Yes, the whole of the club has nothing but the greatest of praise for him, although he hasn't played many games of AFL the fact that he played Rugby his body is already conditioned with regard to the physical aspect side of things. Will be good to see him finally get to play a game.

[alwaysadog]

I think the combination of some underdone players, new players, and some others coming in who haven't played much seniors - Wight, Higgins, Addison - has got us a bit unsettled at the moment for sure. We'll build and get better as the season continues, and hopefully peak around finals.

As usual Macca I agree. The club knew it would take a while to come together, given all of the baove factors. What I think has surprised them is the ferrocity of the assault on our game plan and the meakness of our reply so far.

[LostDoggy]

I have been thinking about our form slump and come up with the following as a possible reason for it.

I think it has to do with us playing too many injured players.

Last year we coped a lot of injuries, but they were all injuries that FORCED players to miss games. The injuries were so severe, that the players could not play with them.

This year we have players that have had limited pre seasons, and although they may still be injured, they may still be able to play.

Cooney clearly had an interupted pre season, as did Griff. Darcy and Murph are still getting back to full fitness.

So we are carrying at least 4 players who are not 100% fit, or anywhere near that.

Can we afford to continue down this track?

Cooney was back to good form last night and Griffen showed that he is regaining some touch that he was missing in the previous games. Murphy and Darcy played well which is also a positive sign. It's still something that needs to be considered but at least we appear to be getting back on track.

[The Coon Dog]

Well, I don't think it's that easy now. I would have played Darc and Murph at Werribee for a few weeks to get their fitness and form back, but now that they've played 3 AFL games, do you send them back to Werribe, or do you leave them in the AFL in the hope that the first 3 games have helped them and it's only a matter of time that they will turn it around.

Been crystal balling have we Aker?

[alwaysadog]

I think generally the work ethic of the entire team needs to increase, we need to make our own luck. Numbers at the contests, hunt in packs, help out you mate, simple slogans that will increase the players output and hopefully result in us winning more contested ball and then we can use or pace and skill going forward.

Well said Mantis and most prescient. Exactly the ingredients that we relied on last year and which were so conspicuous by their absence for a couple of weeks. Starting to see it coming back and look how it helped.

What Adelaide and StKilda were able to do was to turn a team game into a set of individual contests and exploit them. The attack on the ball and the body was down as was our teaming. So we allowed ourselves to become the hunted.

On Friday we went ahunting Tiger and apart from the period in the third quarter when we forget the maxim about what happens to those who ride on the back of the beast, we hunted pretty well.

[Beaza]

Ok. Well done doggies, we had a win. But let's not get too carried away with ourselves just yet. We've beaten the hot favourites for the wooden spoon. We tackle one of the other teams expected to finish outside the eight next week. It's a must win situation if we want to have any chance of finishing in the four. These are the sides the good teams leave in their wake.

Congrats to Jarrod Harbrow, great effort first up. The cream rose to the top again as Westy picked up the slack with Cross out of the team. Murph and Darcy as expected are improving every day and what a brilliant piece of coaching by Eade to save Cooney for a last quarter touch of magic.

Someone has to make way for Cross this week and I still think that should be Matty Robbins. He doesn't do enough, whether we win or lose for my liking. 6 kicks and 2 handballs in a winning side is not a great effort. Compare him with the forward pockets from other sides and his figures are deplorable. We can't afford to have too many passengers if we want to be a successful combination. Sorry Matty, you've been a good servant but it's time to move on.

Big Will, you've gone halfway, you've had a haircut and got rid of that girl's headband, but you're lucky there is no-one at Werribee pushing for your position.

Tom Williams, you will only improve. A little overawed this week.

All in all, from my pessimistic point of view, a good effort. But it was only Richmond !!

[bornadog]

Ok.
Someone has to make way for Cross this week and I still think that should be Matty Robbins. He doesn't do enough, whether we win or lose for my liking. 6 kicks and 2 handballs in a winning side is not a great effort. Compare him with the forward pockets from other sides and his figures are deplorable. We can't afford to have too many passengers if we want to be a successful combination. Sorry Matty, you've been a good servant but it's time to move on.

Sorry Beaza can't agree with you on Robbins, stats don't tell the full story, its what you do with those kicks and handballs, like create goals. The other stat that doesn't show up is the chasing Robbins does out of the forward line and the pressure he exerts on the opposition defenders. If he can kick two a week then he is not far off 50 goals for the year, like last year.

[Beaza]

Sorry Beaza can't agree with you on Robbins

Well bornadog, I'll be happy if you're proven to be right. One of the nicest blokes you could ever meet at a footy club.

[LostDoggy]

Anything can happen in the first game and Geelong are a team that can be as bad as it can be good. We were able to get the running game going and Johnno had a day out. A win.

Adelaide had been beaten at home by a team it probably underestimated and was smarting. It's current game plan, lots of flooding, getting numbers a kick ahead of our players and forcing the ball into contests where their bigger bodies prevail, is the blueprint to beat our running, creative game. Add to that its tall forward structure, Johhno held and you had a loss.

St Kilda, much the same as Adelaide but even better forwards and our one dimensional forward structure.

Richmond aren't good enough to play the lock down styles of Adelaide and St Kilda and Wallace allowed Giilbee and/or McMahon to play loose in defence. Add contributions by a traditional tall, Darcy, and a livewire, Murphy, up forward and the running game prevailed.

I think it's more the opposition than us although the level of intensity was down in the 2 defeats. Hawthorn will tell us a bit, another lock down team. I don't think they are good enough to emulate Adelaide. If the intensity level is right, we should win.

After all the summer hype and publicity, we are now the hunted and the game plan is better known. Whether he's injured or not, Griffen cops more attention now, everyone know's he'll try and break tackles now so the tackles on him are fiercer. He'll work through that, like Cooney has after the extra attention he got last year.

Is Eade gradually changing the game plan ? With Williams, Wight and Harris, we have a defence with 3 near 200 cm occupants and still plenty of run as all three are rebounders, too. With Darcy and Murphy, the forward line has more tricks than multiple leads. I thought that we went longer and direct into the forward line more last Friday rather than running the ball in and trying to spot up leads. There's plenty of scope for optimism.

[alwaysadog]

There's plenty of scope for optimism.

The eternal cry of the long time Bulldog supporter

[bornadog]

Is Eade gradually changing the game plan ? With Williams, Wight and Harris, we have a defence with 3 near 200 cm occupants and still plenty of run as all three are rebounders, too.

The only thing I noticed was that all three didn't play in defence at the same time. When Williams came on, Wight went into the ruck. Do you think all three should play in defence at the same time or I guess, will it depend on the opposition match ups.

[alwaysadog]

The only thing I noticed was that all three didn't play in defence at the same time. When Williams came on, Wight went into the ruck. Do you think all three should play in defence at the same time or I guess, will it depend on the opposition match ups.

Let's assume that Williams progresses at only half the pace that has been suggested, even that is a huger asssumption, then they could all play there, given appropriate match ups, but without Grant in the side he really lacks a game reader to organise their introduction to the defense so I guess he is trying to not leave us totally exposed for experience in the backline.

Mind you if Wight can ruck successfully we are even more flexible and one area of complaint about our recruiting would then be less valid.

[Go_Dogs]

When Everitt starts to play we'll have Williams, Wight, Harris and Everitt all as "talls" in the backline, so I think it's quite likely that one of them at least will find another role. I've heard it suggested that Williams was perhaps drafted with the view of being a forward, as was Minson - not too sure about how accurate that is. Perhaps Wight will end up a ruckmen - he certainly looked a bit more comfortable rucking against the Tigers than he did last year, when he was thrown in there as our players broke down around him. He could be a good option there with his fitness, agility and ability to disposal of the ball reasonably well. Just not sure if he has a big enough and strong enough body just yet to compete against some of the seasoned ruckmen of the competition. Our tall woes are suddenly not seeming as bad as we thought. Fingers crossed.