Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

[Webby]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Well done to the club for putting on a great event today. I take my kids to the WO for most VFL games and, occasionally, it's a struggle. Particularly after the Williamstown game last year!!

It's great to get my kids' little brains associating a trip to the Bulldogs with such raucous fun. This year they had an animal enclosure (no, not like Moorabbin's!) with goats, chickens, geese, calfs, ducklings etc, jumping castles, fare events etc. It was like taking them to a carnival.

I didn't get to see too much of the game as a result, but I do acknowledge that it's a fantastic endeavour by the club. I, for one, will have to tug a little less hard to get them down to the ground in the coming weeks, whilst I reckon a couple of local kids who aren't Dogs fans may well have been converted.

A good day!

[GVGjr]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Some good footy today, some of it free flowing and most of it good contests.

Most of the newer guys performed well.

Dunkley was composed and kicked a couple of goals. He played midfield rotating into the forward line
Adams was poor in reading the play and his skills were down. A couple of nice intercept marks but nothing to get inspired about. He cost this team a goal through a poor skill execution.
Williams was a mixture of good and poor play, He grubbed one kick into the forward line but generally he performed OK.
Collins didn't play
Adcock was quiet but did a bit.
Goetz kicked two goals but Minson let him know in non uncertain terms that he wasn't switched on when he couldn't see Minnow making his way to the bench. He moves well.
Lynch was very good across half back. Used the ball very well and when he gets fitter I think he will be a great addition. Can kick the ball with both feet
Sucking was average maybe a bit better than that but he really overrates his kicking ability. For as many as he gets right he gets wrong.

I'll add a few more names shortly.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Had a gander at the last 3 Terms .
Spent most of the time looking at the team lists and wondering who was who.
Looked like blokes getting the cob webs out for me, some just cruised .
Suckling's bullet passing a highlight, Daniel looked like he's picked up from last year.
Redpath was terrific, bit disappointed Boyd didn't get to play on Collins .
Adams looks a great Mark, but his execution was off .
Bigger crowd than last year, and having a scratch match before the family day is a great concept

[Eastdog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Was thinking of going but didn't end up going. From the sound of it it was a great morning. Certainly should try next year to get along. Very glad to hear Libba did well and got out with no issues on the WO. Was at WO last year when he did his knee and it was a bad sight.

[SlimPickens]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Fantastic morning. My daughter loved it, although didn't get to watch as much footy as I would have liked. Looked like Libba hadn't missed a beat...I like that.

[SonofScray]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Good hit out. Hamilton, Redpath and Dunkley jumped out to me as players switched on and putting their hand up.

Adams was great getting the footy and ordinary getting rid of it.

Not sure I liked the Family Day aspect as much as last time I went. Seemed a bit too spread out and it didn't lend itself to some of more exciting 'pep rally' type moments. Maybe the general difficulty in pushing a pram around the ground set me off on a negative trail though.

[Eastdog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Anyone get any video

It would probably to big to upload on here.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Pretty good first hit out. I thought it was noticeable that we are clearly paying more attention to ball retention; that is, a lot of switching and overlap handballs to create space to run into. It worked well in the first quarter, but our skill level dropped a little (as you would expect) after that and consequently some errors/break down of gameplans occurred. Much more of an emphasis to get the ball into running backs (JJ, Biggs, Suckling, Murphy, Boyd, Lynch).

Libba was fantastic and was a real highlight. Such a clearance machine. He got some heavy tackles and bounced back straight away, it was good to see. Caleb was almost my BOG - he got a lot of the ball in all areas of the ground and refuses to waste the ball. Some of his kicks were terrific under pressure and his vision sublime. Macrae, Dahlhaus, Murphy and Hunter were all very good and didn't miss a beat whatsoever. Campbell won the ruck duels reasonably easy, but still needs to improve the efficiency of his taps and hold his marks. Dale looks noticeably bigger and has more confidence. Made a few basic errors but otherwise was good. I thought Hamilton impressed late, he got a fair bit of the ball and generally used it well. Hrovat was solid and made good decisions ball in hand/disposed of it well - an area he needs to improve on. Good start.

Of the newer recruits, I thought Lynch was most impressive. He looks raw and needs to add size, but he has genuine pace and great skills which he displayed on a few occasions. Adams took 2 or 3 nice marks but otherwise struggled with positioning at times and had poor disposal. Dunkley showed some good signs and got better as the game wore on - looks a pretty likely type. Smart, uses his body well. Suckling was OK but I disagree with GVG, he only missed one target that I saw and he hit a couple of beauties. Adcock was OK although I expected more. Williams was OK but will need time to lift his fitness, did some positive things.

Overall, pretty encouraging display. The only worry is our key defensive stocks; Redpath dominated Hamling before getting injured, he might've had 8 by the day's end otherwise and Roberts isn't strong enough either. I still think we should probably be using Roughy as our FB.

[GVGjr]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

A few other notes

Blue team
Murphy and Wood were prominent.
Macrae got a lot of the footy and was very good but has rekindled those dinky kicks where he kicks across his body.
Roberts was okay without being much better and he made some kicking errors.
Webb was quite good throughout the game
Dunkley had a very good game kicking some goals
Liberatore looked to be struggling with fitness early on but finished the game very strongly. This was a real positive for us.
Honeychurch started well before fading. He has a bad habit of handballing behind his team mates which then loses monentum
Biggs was composed and put in a 4 quarter effort.
Hamilton was hesitant early on but got better in the 2nd half.
I liked Minson's effort in the ruck but it's a shame he doesn't take a few marks when needed
Dale has filled out a bit and was a good contributor
Daniel started well but I think he faded just a bit in the 2nd half. Good game
Morris was as reliable as normal. Put in two hard tackles on Stringer.
Goetz kicked two goals and moves well.
Redpath was very good until his injury with 4 goals
Adcock was okay but didn't get a lot of the ball
Jong looked pretty good today and should be in the mix for senior selection

I'll do some comments on the white team a bit later

[ledge]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Caleb Daniel is a gun, the kid has got superstar written all Over him, his tank Is unbelievable being so young , can't believe how much ground he covers, reads the play, knows where teammates are, a true footballer brain you can't teach that.

[Eastdog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Caleb Daniel is a gun, the kid has got superstar written all Over him, his tank Is unbelievable being so young , can't believe how much ground he covers, reads the play, knows where teammates are, a true footballer brain you can't teach that.

Great stuff. Yes he was great last year and while he make be one of the smallest players in the league I reckon that is an advantage giving him more speed.

[lemmon]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Thanks for the reports guys. Did Webb play more back or midfield? We're pretty right for half backs but he was impressive last year

[Bornadog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Thank you for the updates from ALL

[Bornadog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Has Macrae added some body strength? This is one area I feel he has been lacking.

[Eastdog]

Re: Western Bulldogs Family Day -2016

Like Lemmon and BAD thanks for the reports. Much appreciated.