Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

[Dry Rot]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

On a positive note, I read that Daniel played on Mitchell for over half the game. Is that true?

If so, and he was one of our best, then that is a mighty achievement.

[merantau]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

I can't believe no-one seems to have seen it. When Bob did his knee, Breust was hanging on to him, preventing him getting to Sicily and may have caused his injury. The replay on AFL doesn't show it but I saw it clear as day. Plus an old guy came up to me after the game and said incredulously how Bob was being held in that contest. It should have been a free, Bob shouldn't have done his knee and we should have won full stop.

That old bloke might have been me. I definitely thought he was being hung on to.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

That old bloke might have been me. I definitely thought he was being hung on to.

Could have been me and all. I was telling anyone who'd listen,

[Missing Dog]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

At the end of the day I prefer not blame the umps, the dirty behind the play tactics of the Hawks but Stringer's and Jong's misses cost the game. Our capitalising on the scoreboard has been poor in the first two games but it didn't matter. Today it did, in the finals it will.

[always right]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

At the end of the day I prefer not blame the umps, the dirty behind the play tactics of the Hawks but Stringer's and Jong's misses cost the game. Our capitalising on the scoreboard has been poor in the first two games but it didn't matter. Today it did, in the finals it will.

What Stringer misses? Hard to miss when you don't have the ball.

Hunter's two misses were certainly costly.....as was Jong's and Boyd's.

[chef]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

What Stringer misses? Hard to miss when you don't have the ball.

Hunter's two misses were certainly costly.....as was Jong's and Boyd's.

Stringer fluffed two certain goals with the ball in his hands, at the very start and when he hit the post.

Didnt have a great game, but he'll be better for it.

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

What Stringer misses? Hard to miss when you don't have the ball.

Hunter's two misses were certainly costly.....as was Jong's and Boyd's.

Stringers two short inaccurate short passes hurt. Libba's kick into the 50 when Stringer was virtually on his own, missed him by 20 metres. Lot's of bad kicking cost us the game.

[Sedat]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

I've feel like I've made this argument before but here I go:

We're not cursed. Players aren't infected by a strain of 'big game softness' as soon as they walk through the doors of Whitten Oval.

Those games you mentioned stand out because they were underdog victories. Everyone loves underdog victories. But underdog victories are pretty rare.

When have we closed out a big time close game when we were considered the favourite? The answer is probably never, as we've never been the favourite going into a big H&A game or final.

As in we've never assembled a good enough team.

The losses you refer to have generally always been against a team that is just better than us.

Here's a few big games I can recall from the past 7 or 8 years that we've dropped when we were in a position to win:

St Kilda PF 2009
Geelong QF 2009
St Kilda H&A 2010
Geelong H&A 2009 (I think)
Adelaide EF 2015

In each of those games, we were the betting underdogs. Why? Because the other teams were considered better than us for a multitude of reasons.

Yes, we didn't handle the pressure well - or should I say, the other team handled it better than us - but that's because the other team was better than us. The Adelaide game was probably the one that we really should have won, but even then they went in as the bookies favourites as the more experienced and older side and were were missing the likes of JJ and Koby Stevens.

It's not like we get to big games as roaring favourites and continue to fall over. We get into positions with inferior teams and are able to make a scrap of it, yet just don't have the quality to get the job done.

This group has that quality and depth. The scars of 1997, 2009 etc mean jack all because Stringer wasn't there, Bonti wasn't there, Libba wasn't there, Tom Boyd wasn't there, JJ wasn't there.

This time last year, we lost to Hawthorn by 70 points. Tonight, we lost by 3 with a minute to go. Yes, they had some outs. But I'm sure the likes of Dickson and Wood (and Crameri next year) will come in handy for us down the track.

I love your passion Comrade, and we all share it. And you raise some good points, but let me respond to some of them:

Whether or not we were rank outsiders in those games you mentioned, we were in them up to our eyeballs when the whips were cracking. And on each and every occasion we've failed to seal the deal. We've lost them fluffing gilt-edged chances to take the lead, we've lost them with the opposition being clinical, we've lost them being overrun, we've lost them coming back and not quite getting there, we've lost them coming from behind to hit the front and then fail to hold on. You name the way and we've lost them.

Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney were young once and all won tight finals with young teams (as young as we currently are). Some of our youth are 50+ games. Sicily is a kid and booted 3 goals in the final qtr like a pro. Our kids aren't complete greenhorns, and some of them now have their own scars.

We aren't cursed. We are simply useless at closing out tight and important games - yesterday was no exception. It is what we've done many times in the past with many different players under many different coaches and playing many different game plans. Let's not tiptoe around the fact, or use youth and inexperience as a cop-out - let's call it for what it is. Does it mean that this group will continue to fall in a heap in such circumstances in the future? Of course not.

[KT31]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

With the exception of a couple of players our skills were right down, maybe overrored at the start but IMO mainly was caused by the Hawks pressure and not allowing us space.
Hawks are still bigger bodied, and their experienced got them over the line in the battle.
Kudos to us it was a mighty effort from our boys to get back into the contest, not many side would come back against the hawks after being goalless in the first quarter let alone being 5 goals down.
Far from being back to the drawing board and if a couple of our lauded players had shown a bit more we would have got over the line.
Bobbies a huge loss and I'm gutted so I can't imaging how Bob himself or the players are feeling.
I just hope we come out firing next week and not flat because of the loss and Bob not running out with them.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

What a game, full of drama and mini stories. What a devastating 90 seconds, so unfair on Bob, that was horrific to watch.

The game was hyped in the media, the boys were pumped up. We could have been 2 goals to zip early. Highly skilled players made very uncharacteristic errors, big mistakes consistently for a qtr and a half. The hawks were clinical but we were somehow still in the game. The umpiring was diabolical and unbalanced and worth a few goals in that first half. Jake Stringer somehow fluffed certain goals, as did several others. Yet we were still in the game against the three time champs, a very very good side, one of the best ever. Then we actually took over, we were smashing them all over the ground, we were still wasteful in front of goal, could have put them away. The hawks came back hard. 90 seconds made the difference, early errors made the difference, poor goal kicking made the difference, a few sub par performances made the difference. Not some curse or intrinsic fault within the jumper.

Players were missing from both sides.


Coming into the season, I thought we may struggle against Freo and have had issues with the saints before. We destroyed them and matched the best.

Awful 90 seconds.

We could jag one this year. We are going to be around the mark for a few years to come.

[always right]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

Stringer fluffed two certain goals with the ball in his hands, at the very start and when he hit the post.

Didnt have a great game, but he'll be better for it.

Yeah...he was really disappointing but I'll forgive him for the second stuff up. He was right to pass the ball onto Caleb and I think he deliberately kicked it over Caleb's head to allow him to run onto the ball rather than run the risk of it being intercepted if he kicked it short. The fact the ball ran past two bulldogs to hit the post was really unlucky.

I'm not sure I like Stringer playing so deep one-out on the better defenders. He really isn't a great mark overhead and he may be able to use his pace better in open space.

[1eyedog]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

I love your passion Comrade, and we all share it. And you raise some good points, but let me respond to some of them:

Whether or not we were rank outsiders in those games you mentioned, we were in them up to our eyeballs when the whips were cracking. And on each and every occasion we've failed to seal the deal. We've lost them fluffing gilt-edged chances to take the lead, we've lost them with the opposition being clinical, we've lost them being overrun, we've lost them coming back and not quite getting there, we've lost them coming from behind to hit the front and then fail to hold on. You name the way and we've lost them.

Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney were young once and all won tight finals with young teams (as young as we currently are). Some of our youth are 50+ games. Sicily is a kid and booted 3 goals in the final qtr like a pro. Our kids aren't complete greenhorns, and some of them now have their own scars.

We aren't cursed. We are simply useless at closing out tight and important games - yesterday was no exception. It is what we've done many times in the past with many different players under many different coaches and playing many different game plans. Let's not tiptoe around the fact, or use youth and inexperience as a cop-out - let's call it for what it is. Does it mean that this group will continue to fall in a heap in such circumstances in the future? Of course not.

Why not? Haven't we lauded each fresh bunch of players that come through? The Darcy's, Johnson's, West's. Smith's Grant's and the Cameron's and then into the 2000s with the Gilbee's, Cooney's, Lake's , Murphy's, Higgins'? What is it going to take to find a player or a team of players capable of consistently winning the most important matches and why does it keep happening? Is it resources? Recruiting? Culture?

The only reason I can think of is the potential weight of a 62 year premiership drought and the ingrained perception that a Grand final is a bridge too far. We seem to be accepting of our plight, the Dogs are a good team and made the Prelim and that is a pass. Next year they'll go a step further, but then it never happens...

That said I'm frustrated but still wildly optimistic about this year. I think losing Bob greatly affects our premiership chances though, but the belief comes from our list, it's well balanced and highly skilled and most importantly, young. In addition, they're all locked away so we have the potential for a sustained run at it, unlike past decades where we've had very brief windows before falling horribly away.

I guess the club has waited 62 years so it is quite happy to wait and see for another five.

[Jeanette54]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

I think there were a large number of positives to take from the day.

Up until now we didn't know whether our boys could cut it against the best. A couple of points is just the siren ringing at the wrong time.

Bevo's team met the best that the best could throw at us, and we coped with that. When the Hawks initially managed to curtail our running game, we adapted and came back at them. I can't think of too many teams that are capable of that. Silly mistakes under a finals like pressure cost us dearly. But we need to experience that sort of pressure in order to learn to cope with it.

And our bodies are getting better. I can't remember a single instance of any player taking a backward step, even with the odds stacked against them. The Hawks have made intimidation an art form, but the Bulldogs didn't look like a team that was daunted at any stage.

Loss or not, we now know that Bevo's doggies have what it takes to perform on the biggest days. And that is all we need to know, the boys will take it from here.

[Hot_Doggies]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

Anyone else think Bonti looks a tad slow this year?

I think he would benefit from losing 2-4 kgs.

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day Round 3 2016 - Western Bulldogs V Hawthorn

Anyone else think Bonti looks a tad slow this year?

I think he would benefit from losing 2-4 kgs.

Yes I agree, he seems to lumber around a bit.