Western Bulldogs vs Hawthorn - Community Series 2/03/24

[Grantysghost]

Hmmm...my go to of bashing Churchill might not work on him.

Target his fake medical degree.

[hujsh]

Target his fake medical degree.

Maybe if I reveal I'm Father Doctor hujsh and my medical qualifications are from God that'll get him

[ledge]

Well the Weightman in the middle didn’t work.
He is a forward pocket or a HFF
I’m glad he was tried it’s what practice matches are for.
You don’t know unless you give it a go.
He looked lost to be honest.
Put him back to FP and bang he takes a mark , goal.

[Glove38]

Very little pressure from either team during this match.
I have my concerns that our pre-season hit outs will leave us underdone for Melbourne given they will have had a round zero match. We'll see - just hoping we don'y get jumped with the increase in intensity.
Negatives
- Still felt we bombed it too much inside 50. I was hoping to see more method particularly given the weak opposition
- Drop off in the second qtr had all the hallmarks of our worst performances over the last few years
- kicking for goal
- English still dropping too many marks he should take
Positives
- we look fitter
- Sanders
- Buku
- Westy
- Marra looks to have taken the next step
- Early signs good for Coff
- Love the ground being covered by Naughts

[lemmon]

Well the Weightman in the middle didn’t work.
He is a forward pocket or a HFF
I’m glad he was tried it’s what practice matches are for.
You don’t know unless you give it a go.
He looked lost to be honest.
Put him back to FP and bang he takes a mark , goal.

I think some of Weightman through the middle is about getting him into the game as well. He was incredibly hot or cold in 2023 - seemed like we could either get a four-goal or a 4-disposal game on a week-to-week basis. I think letting him roll through the middle for 5 minutes a quarter is more about getting him involved, getting the footy in his hands and trying to lift the 'floor' on some of his poorer performances.

[Mofra]

I think some of Weightman through the middle is about getting him into the game as well. He was incredibly hot or cold in 2024 - seemed like we could either get a four-goal or a 4-disposal game on a week-to-week basis. I think letting him roll through the middle for 5 minutes a quarter is more about getting him involved, getting the footy in his hands and trying to lift the 'floor' on some of his poorer performances.

He was getting locked down by the best tagger in the game (Maginness) - a small forward getting sat on that much absolutely should move up the ground or try and change it up.
McNeill created opportunities (especially the first half) and West had 3 goals and created 5 more so in a way it worked, take their most dangerous defensive asset away from the chaos ball in our deep F50.

[bornadog]

Negatives
- Still felt we bombed it too much inside 50. I was hoping to see more method particularly given the weak opposition

I was particularly not happy with this. I thought we have been trying to move the ball quicker from The backline to forward, and not giving the opposition time to clutter up the forwards so they can then lead more. Yet we kept bombing it hopping our big forwards marked it

[Happy Days]

He was getting locked down by the best tagger in the game (Maginness) - a small forward getting sat on that much absolutely should move up the ground or try and change it up.
McNeill created opportunities (especially the first half) and West had 3 goals and created 5 more so in a way it worked, take their most dangerous defensive asset away from the chaos ball in our deep F50.

I would pick them all. If McNeil can’t get a game after his last two weeks then why did we bother relisting him.

[ledge]

I think some of Weightman through the middle is about getting him into the game as well. He was incredibly hot or cold in 2023 - seemed like we could either get a four-goal or a 4-disposal game on a week-to-week basis. I think letting him roll through the middle for 5 minutes a quarter is more about getting him involved, getting the footy in his hands and trying to lift the 'floor' on some of his poorer performances.

I agree with you but you can’t sacrifice losing a game because a player isn’t getting a touch in his position to another position he is no good at.
As I said I am glad we tried it, it gave us an idea and him an idea, that’s what practice matches are for . No doubt he picked up a lot of learning from it and maybe in the future, but it was clear he isn’t anywhere near it atm.
Roll him through but then the opposition take over as you have split a winning midfield up .

[JanLorMill]

I would pick them all. If McNeil can?t get a game after his last two weeks then why did we bother relisting him.

They were practice matches against the same opposition, one of them we selected a side that suggested we weren't that serious about it.

[Uninformed]

It's yet to be seen whether our changes across Coffield, Bramble, Duryea and JJ, or Khamis and JOD fighting it out with Keath and Gardner on the sidelines with claims, will actually improve us.

Our major issue in defence last year was a lack of continuity and cohesion, it genuinely cost us a finals place. I don't really stress over who ends up in the final side because abilities across the board are close to parity, give or take some attributes when on song (i.e. JJ's run and kicking). Whoever we pick in defence needs to learn to play together without too many injuries disrupting things, and get good experiences across games under their belts.

It is a good point. You can get a bit fussed over who is a couple of percent better, but over all considering individual strengths and weaknesses it is not make or break. And as you say cohesion is way more important.

[DISHLICKERS]

Practice match or match simulation or a home and away game how good is Libba

I think I will lose a fair bit on interest when he decides to call it time.

Just a footballer who could and can play in any era

[alwaysadog]

I don't want to rain on the parade, after all a 50+ point win is emphatic, and yes there were some good performances mostly in patches. But I'm certainly not in the all's well camp far from it. To my eyes we did not in any way show that the lapses and problems of the past few seasons have been overcome. In fact the opposite.

To kick only two goals in a half of football against such decimated opposition was to put it politely very poor. Had we done that against any of the better teams we would have been so far behind at half time the game would have been beyond reach. Caste your mind back, how many top teams did we beat last year?

We replicated several fundamental and continuing weaknesses.

We showed in the first part of the game that we can dominate and still not put the opposition away.
We showed that after dominating we can be dominated. The good for a while bad for a while still haunts us.

Furthermore when the opposition gets a run on we have no idea how to stop it. This seems to be characterised by two features.

Firstly too often if we don't win the ball out of the centre the opposition make us pay. Too often we can't shut them down.
Secondly once they gain possession their players are suddenly in all space, and we are chasing tail forlornly.

Maybe our list isn't as good as I think it is. I ask myself, who played well for 4 quarters? I don?t come up with a lot of names. I admit in the long run the gap in class between the two sides was reflected in the result. But if we?re so fit and so ready, why did it take so long to become apparent?

[ledge]

I don't want to rain on the parade, after all a 50+ point win is emphatic, and yes there were some good performances mostly in patches. But I'm certainly not in the all's well camp far from it. To my eyes we did not in any way show that the lapses and problems of the past few seasons have been overcome. In fact the opposite.

To kick only two goals in a half of football against such decimated opposition was to put it politely very poor. Had we done that against any of the better teams we would have been so far behind at half time the game would have been beyond reach. Caste your mind back, how many top teams did we beat last year?

We replicated several fundamental and continuing weaknesses.

We showed in the first part of the game that we can dominate and still not put the opposition away.
We showed that after dominating we can be dominated. The good for a while bad for a while still haunts us.

Furthermore when the opposition gets a run on we have no idea how to stop it. This seems to be characterised by two features.

Firstly too often if we don't win the ball out of the centre the opposition make us pay. Too often we can't shut them down.
Secondly once they gain possession their players are suddenly in all space, and we are chasing tail forlornly.

Maybe our list isn't as good as I think it is. I ask myself, who played well for 4 quarters? I don?t come up with a lot of names. I admit in the long run the gap in class between the two sides was reflected in the result. But if we?re so fit and so ready, why did it take so long to become apparent?

I am hoping it was just brushing off the cobwebs and that’s the last we see of it.
We also did it two weeks ago.

[jazzadogs]

The importance of our inaccuracy can't be overstated. 12 times in the first half we handed the ball back to them...clearance dominance doesn't matter when you're gifting possession so frequently. It felt like Hawthorn were very good at maintaining possession during that period - I think their conversion from rebound 50 to inside 50/scoring shot would have been pretty good.