Dogs v Carlton practice match

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

I concur, thanks to all for the reports.

Yes, thanks!
You wouldn't want to be relying on the Age report _ 2 mingy para about us and the rest about the Judd.

Good to see they named Hill third best?????

[Missing Dog]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

yeh i didnt think anyone else played in the game on friday. not for us or the blues. just Judd.

[hujsh]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Out of curiosity did anyone see Willy play

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Thanks for the reports everyone, good read.

I think Hill has definitely earned himself a start in Round 1 based on his performances over the pre-season. Hopefully he does get rewarded.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Had seats a few metres from the bench, on the fence. They set up the bike RIGHT in front so for plenty of the time I could only see Mitch Hahns backside...

You must have been somewhere near me, i was in the next bay across from the bike, but yeah i was on the end so mitch and boydy was just there .

[Rocket Science]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Concur with much of what's been written about individual players, but didn't come away from the game versus Carlton bounding with positivity I'm afraid.

It's a very presumptuous call before a ball's been kicked in anger, but based on observations through 2 NAB Cup tilts and a pair of NAB Challenge contests there's just too many (familiar) holes in our broader game (personnel, style, application, execution) to suggest we're a bona fide top-eight threat this season. Clearly much could alter that, including events at other clubs which are entirely out of our control, but I'd suggest a real tooth and nail scrap for one of the last 2 finals slots is how we're likely shaping up, with the prospect of again missing out on September action altogether a realistic one.

Anyway, better late than never, as for the Carlton game itself some sporadic observations.

1st Quarter: Arrived midway through the opening term with the good guys up 3 goals to 1...Morris stood Fev and was worryingly both outmuscled in marking contests and beaten cleanly on leads, though a little more upfield pressure on the Blues ball carriers might have aided Dale's cause. Fev got plenty of it and had he brought his kicking boots and perhaps been a little less selfish could have done more damage early....Dogs early forward setup was a fairly conventional mix of Welsh/Johnson/Murphy/Tiller, with Welsh having a 5 minute purple patch resuting in a pair of goals from clever marks...Addison spent some time tagging Judd but struggled to keep up, beaten more by Judd's well timed darting through traffic than pure pace...Notable Eagleton clanger coming out of defence just prior to the first break almost resulted in a Judd goal, prevented only by the siren...Overall, Carlton sprayed some straight forward chances, and we were too easy to play against when not in possession.

2nd Quarter: No frills pair of Minson/Hahn up forward to start the term, with a lively Aker prowling across half-forward...Westy manning Judd at centre bounces, then tagging out with Eagleton who vaguely attempted to follow him around the ground meaning Judd faced minimal man-on-man resistance as he went about his business...Hargrave gave Houlihan a nice late-ish clip in a marking contest on the Blues half-forward line which riled Fev and saw a little bit of harmless niggle...Hudson later thrown into ruck at expense of resting Street with Boyd/Higgins/Akermanis onball trio, with Huddo eagerly scrapping at ground level as required...Though again, application of teamwide pressure when we don't have the footy is ad hoc at best, allowing Blues to string together multiple possessions and work up some rhythm...Pleasingly though, while the Blues challenged strongly going forward during the 2nd half of the quarter, the Dogs backline defended pretty stoutly as a unit (McDougall, Hargrave, Gilbee, Murphy) during that particular phase, contesting smartly, getting to the fall of the ball, intercepting and teaming fairly well by hand and foot out of defence...Griffen also noteworthy for his bold run and carry, but while his inclination and ability to create in this way is invaluable and it's a pleasure to watch him make fools of multiple pursuers, he was collared twice for holding the pill and should be wary of attempting to do too much whilst occasionally ignoring the support of his teammates.

3rd Quarter: McDougall again at full back and handling a healthy amount of the kickout duties, generally preferring the long roost...Tiller also swung into defence and Gilbee playing quite deep who while involved at times, was understandably less active than normal with upfield forays...Addison still getting the occasional run between halfback and half forward but general endeavour again undone by skill errors with the footy...On the plus side, Hill more noticeable at wing/half forward and beginning to work his way into the game after a quiet first half, attempted a couple of hangers which while unsuccessful demonstrates a certain flair and headiness we could do with more of, he's shown enough to earn a spot methinks and am looking forward to seeing how he acclimates to senior footy this year...Higgins also more noticeable with some handy passages going forward, makes generally sound decisions with the footy, another quality in reasonably rare supply...More extended niggle between Minson and O'Hailpin during the term which continued for several minutes with the ball down the other end...Hudson again busy at ground level when we aren't in possession, fantastic endeavour from a big bloke and wish it would rub off on some of his midfield pals...Ultimately though, our turnovers by foot hurt us this quarter, allowing an occasionally lazy and disorganised Blues outfit back into the contest, getting to within 2 points at the last break with a big sniff and an edge in momentum.

4th Quarter: Minson/Welsh/Johnson/Higgins/O'Keefe mix starting up forward...Minson showing occasional signs of being useful near goal, albeit he'll never be a conventional key forward...doesn't do a bad job of stooging for frees which is a necessary weapon in any key forward's arsenal...Welsh much quieter in 2nd half after handy opening half...Johnno busy as usual thoughout the game and more involved with play upfield, as far up as half back at times and often repeatedly involved in the same passage of play which saw the ball travel from half back to our forward 50...Cooney too quiet for mine overall this day, played the sort of high-energy yet passive game in the mould of a certain teammate wearing #10, and struggled to impact proceedings, even in spurts, in the manner expected of him...Agree with others that Callan hasn't shown he's up to AFL standard right now, he's a trier but has too many basic limitations in his game ranging from skill level to play reading and barring a mid-year developmental spurt if he's a regular this season I'd suggest we're in some strife...

McDougall tried all day though and while needing to add some polish and steel in equal measures, was amongst our better players...Hill also continued to dazzle in patches, chiming in with a cracker of a snap where he leapt to grab a loose ball in mid-air about 20m out on a slight angle and in one action before his feet hit the ground thrust boot at ball for full points, very much a la Daniel Wells' 2004 goal of the year...The kid's got panache...Sadly though, as a squad we didn't finish the game in glowing fashion...Goals generally dried up for the Dogs in the last term as the Blues overran us and ran out 10 point winners...Worth noting that despite all this talk of us adding bulk, whether due to fatigue or poor technique our tackling frequently let us down with opponents too often able to break free of traffic with the ball...

Biggest issue for mine is that we appear too reliant on opposition skill errors to regain possession after committing turnovers. Carlton were happy to oblige on this front, but if this laxity without the footy remains unchanged we're going to have major trouble against better drilled teams who are less wasteful in possession and use the ball more frugally than the Carlton's of this world. It's simply too costly to have routine turnovers in our forward 50 predictably end up as scoring chances for the opposition in our defensive 50, with nary a Bulldog getting a hand on the footy in between. Unless we want the backline continually under seige, we can't afford to concede the entire middle of the ground when we lose possession up forward, that means forwards and midfielders must be prepared to work twice as hard when we don't have the footy.

I'm typed out so that's about it. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Lets hope the pre-season can serve as a much needed tune up and that we can overcome this ridiculous, almost annual spate of early season injuries to the tackle real stuff with more cohesion and purpose.

[Bornadog]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Lets hope the pre-season can serve as a much needed tune up and that we can overcome this ridiculous, almost annual spate of early season injuries to the tackle real stuff with more cohesion and purpose.

Good report RS. Personally I don't take as much notice of preaseason form as some others do. Some how when the real season starts, there is this mental thing that kicks in with players and suddenly, all the work and hard yards the players have gone through comes together. If a player has had an interrupted preseason, they start the year poorly and it takes a while to get match fit.

Whether we have the cattle on the ground to win games or not is yet to be seen. If we had no injuries at all, I believe we would have the players to win alot of games.

Lets hope we don't get anymore major injuries and we can start to field a full side by at least round three.

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Excellent analysis there RS, very impressive.

[hujsh]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

What you've typed is almost as impressive as how much you have typed RS.

Good job

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Thanks for the report, RS, but I can't help thinking that you're a bit pessimistic about it all.

I came away quite happy with the hitout. I thought we were by far the better team in the first half and they were only in it because of Fev and some straight kicking from Edwards.

We only played 23 players (Carlton played 26), Wight lasted 10 minutes, Murphy had gastro, Gilbee was underdone and had reduced minutes, Boyd and Hahn both had corkies (I was sitting behind the bench near the exercise bike so I can tell you how little game time Boyd and Hahn got after half time).

On a warmish day we were always going to get overrun.

[mjp]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

...and some straight kicking from Edwards.

How did young Jake go SS?

(From an obviously interested observer).

[Rocket Science]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Thanks for the report, RS, but I can't help thinking that you're a bit pessimistic about it all.

Fair point, and to be honest after relaying the report I felt similarly to a degree...There were obvious caveats regarding the game itself as you've mentioned, and it can't be emphasized enough that we haven't played a minute of the real stuff as yet, but that 'overall' assessment of where we're at is the product of four games, not solely the Carlton game.

Very simply, based on what's been served up so far while it's not entirely a tale of woe, and there are certainly some positive aspects of our development to enthuse about, I just can't find sufficient signs of improvement in the key areas which have let us down against quality opposition in the recent past, and the broader manner in which we go about our football.

Team and individual form fluctuates and things can change very quickly as we all know, but that's my honest, if unwelcome view right now...though would love nothing better than to be proven wrong come ten weeks into the season.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

How did young Jake go SS?

(From an obviously interested observer).

Very well.

He leads hard and has sticky fingers but the highlight of his play is his kicking. Fevola owned the corridor so if Edwards wanted to get a kick he had to lead wide - and then he nailed 3/3 from deep in the pockets.

He started on Wight (hamstring after 10 minutes) then played mostly on Tiller. 10 kicks, 6 marks and 3 goals I read somewhere. Tiller had his measure when they were shoulder to shoulder but Edwards won out when he moved.

I think he has real talent and would love him at WO. I heard some gossip about Butch not being happy with him at Carlton - not getting a decent go as long as Fev's at FF.

[Missing Dog]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

thanks for the effort on the report RS. Top work.

[hujsh]

Re: Dogs v Carlton practice match

Very well.

He leads hard and has sticky fingers but the highlight of his play is his kicking. Fevola owned the corridor so if Edwards wanted to get a kick he had to lead wide - and then he nailed 3/3 from deep in the pockets.

He started on Wight (hamstring after 10 minutes) then played mostly on Tiller. 10 kicks, 6 marks and 3 goals I read somewhere. Tiller had his measure when they were shoulder to shoulder but Edwards won out when he moved.

I think he has real talent and would love him at WO. I heard some gossip about Butch not being happy with him at Carlton - not getting a decent go as long as Fev's at FF.

I thought Tillers speed was his strength not his muscle