The Moment: Rnd 11, 2021, vs Melbourne Demons

[jeemak]

The ease with which Harms scored in the first 20 seconds, did not bode well. That was my moment. It just spoke volumes that we were off.

Yep, Bailey Williams getting sucked into the ball carrier/ contest and leaving him to get the footy was pretty much alarm bells for me.

[DOG GOD]

When the boys walked up the race onto the field laughing etc. a HUGE game and to me that showed lack of focus.

[G-Mo77]

When the boys walked up the race onto the field laughing etc. a HUGE game and to me that showed lack of focus.

Now when you mention that, I'm thinking during the 1st quarter here is a team hungry and wanting to prove that they are a legitimate force. The other team ran out thinking there were a Premiership contender and not willing to work as hard as the other team probably thinking that it will just come.

I know which team I rate higher and it's not ours, even with a healthy list.

[Mantis]

When the boys walked up the race onto the field laughing etc. a HUGE game and to me that showed lack of focus.

I’ve seen lots of crazy takes, but this is one of the best (or is it worst) of them.

We’ve played with a sense of enjoyment all season and you want that to change depending upon how big a game it is? Yeah, nah.

[SonofScray]

The first handful of centre bounces. The ball spread too easily and we were often caught on the wrong side of the contest, lost the numbers game. Dees first goal was indicative of our worst efforts since the flag.

[Happy Days]

Caleb's intercepted kick in.

When Caleb *!*!*!*!ing Daniel is hitting an opponent under no pressure whatsoever, you're gunna have a bad time.

Yeah great call. You can almost accept some of the turnovers as we adjusted to their pressure but you can’t be under any less pressure than kicking in.

[DOG GOD]

I’ve seen lots of crazy takes, but this is one of the best (or is it worst) of them.

We’ve played with a sense of enjoyment all season and you want that to change depending upon how big a game it is? Yeah, nah.

Just my opinion. For mine, this was THE game we had to prove ourselves legitimate. As soon as I saw this I had this gut feeling just like round 1 and 2 last year. Like we had this carefree attitude. Flogging saints and them losing to crows might’ve gave a sense that we just had to turn up.

I’ve said before, sometimes the body language says a lot. When I see Naughton, Hunter, Bont etc miss easy goals with a “oh well” attitude stinks to me. You might be ok with it, but yes, I don’t expect mediocrity in BIG games...any games.

Mantis, you may laugh, but if I saw this running out in a GF I wouldn’t be too happy. We should’ve been focused. Leave that for the changrerooms. And our first 5 mins in particular showed no focus whatsoever.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Just my opinion. For mine, this was THE game we had to prove ourselves legitimate. As soon as I saw this I had this gut feeling just like round 1 and 2 last year. Like we had this carefree attitude. Flogging saints and them losing to crows might’ve gave a sense that we just had to turn up.

I’ve said before, sometimes the body language says a lot. When I see Naughton, Hunter, Bont etc miss easy goals with a “oh well” attitude stinks to me. You might be ok with it, but yes, I don’t expect mediocrity in BIG games...any games.

Mantis, you may laugh, but if I saw this running out in a GF I wouldn’t be too happy. We should’ve been focused. Leave that for the changrerooms. And our first 5 mins in particular showed no focus whatsoever.

To me I got the feeling as soon as no crowd was announced.

[DOG GOD]

To me I got the feeling as soon as no crowd was announced.

Why did you get this feeling bulldogsthru&thru?

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Why did you get this feeling bulldogsthru&thru?

I know it’s a very small sample but based on our horrific performances in rounds 1 and 2 last year. I just feel this group doesn’t have the intensity required to consistently implement our draining game style. And when we’re even a bit off we get blown away by good sides. We can bring the heat like we did against port. But an empty stadium creates a dull vibe and our efforts are too conditional to stand up to Melbourne’s heat.

[Mantis]

Just my opinion. For mine, this was THE game we had to prove ourselves legitimate. As soon as I saw this I had this gut feeling just like round 1 and 2 last year. Like we had this carefree attitude. Flogging saints and them losing to crows might’ve gave a sense that we just had to turn up.

I’ve said before, sometimes the body language says a lot. When I see Naughton, Hunter, Bont etc miss easy goals with a “oh well” attitude stinks to me. You might be ok with it, but yes, I don’t expect mediocrity in BIG games...any games.

Mantis, you may laugh, but if I saw this running out in a GF I wouldn’t be too happy. We should’ve been focused. Leave that for the changrerooms. And our first 5 mins in particular showed no focus whatsoever.

For me I have no care at all if the general population think we're legitimate or not... the only thing that matters is that we win enough games to qualify for the finals, which we are well on track to do and then we judge ourselves at that point of the year.

Sure we want to have good performances against the good teams (which we've had - think WC, Bris & Port), but if we don't we learn and we get better.

To throw the ''mediocre'' line in there is totally out of line.. sure we were off last night with our skill execution and some positioning at crucial times, but I'm sure the coaches noticed this too and will be working hard to improve our performances going forward, but we kept trying and never threw in the white towel which might have been easy to do given our predicament of having a night when not much went right.

We will find out lots about the team over the next 3 games when we have a ridiculously tough draw (surely questions need to be asked on how we cop pretty much 3 interstate games in a row?), but even so we just need to get to the start of the finals series with a relatively healthy list and see how our game stacks up when it counts because pretty much every premiership team has games they'd like to forget through the season, but it means jack-shit when they're holding the premiership cup aloft.

[DOG GOD]

For me I have no care at all if the general population think we're legitimate or not... the only thing that matters is that we win enough games to qualify for the finals, which we are well on track to do and then we judge ourselves at that point of the year.

Sure we want to have good performances against the good teams (which we've had - think WC, Bris & Port), but if we don't we learn and we get better.

To throw the ''mediocre'' line in there is totally out of line.. sure we were off last night with our skill execution and some positioning at crucial times, but I'm sure the coaches noticed this too and will be working hard to improve our performances going forward, but we kept trying and never threw in the white towel which might have been easy to do given our predicament of having a night when not much went right.

We will find out lots about the team over the next 3 games when we have a ridiculously tough draw (surely questions need to be asked on how we cop pretty much 3 interstate games in a row?), but even so we just need to get to the start of the finals series with a relatively healthy list and see how our game stacks up when it counts because pretty much every premiership team has games they'd like to forget through the season, but it means jack-shit when they're holding the premiership cup aloft.

I understand, and appreciate your post.
Melb, Freo, Geel and WC is going to go a long way to where we finish, and a long way to who/where we meet in those finals.

[bornadog]

I understand, and appreciate your post.
Melb, Freo, Geel and WC is going to go a long way to where we finish, and a long way to who/where we meet in those finals.

I don't think Bevo will be that worried about the result. Coaches like to lose some games so that he can motivate and show the team that they need to work harder to be at the pointy end of the season.

Dees lost last week to lowly Adelaide - the coach would have used that to get more out of them, plus they were playing the ladder leader wwhich would have given them more to play for (in their minds).

We had a massive win last week and maybe had a different mindset, thinking we are world beaters.

I am happy where we sit at the moment, half way through at 9-2, a position we haven't been for many years (maybe 1998).

I am not too worried about Melbourne, as I think we lost that game, rather than they won it. Melbourne's pressure was good, but turnovers killed us and they didn't run over us after quarter time (1 point difference)

We have three tough games coming up, and it is not fun being in WA.

[Grantysghost]

To throw the ''mediocre'' line in there is totally out of line.. sure we were off last night with our skill execution and some positioning at crucial times, but I'm sure the coaches noticed this too and will be working hard to improve our performances going forward, but we kept trying and never threw in the white towel which might have been easy to do given our predicament of having a night when not much went right.

This is something I've thought about as the game is moving into the rear view mirror and something I'm quite chuffed with.
The fact we didn't throw in the towel.

[chef]

The moment for me was Adelaide beating Melbourne last week. They just were hungrier to start with and we got blown away.

Lesson learnt for next time.