Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I have had my doubts on Griffen's real value playing in the middle. I'd still prefer him on a wing or off half back but I do understand the need to inject some more pace and grunt.

I feel against teams like Geelong and Hawthorn we really need Griffen in the mix as otherwise our midfield looks a little one paced. His ball use is fantastic and he's strong enough to break/stand up in tackles and he really adds value to the mix we have.

We shouldn't feel obligated to play him in there every week though, and if others are doing alright, like they were last night (with no danger of it slipping), he could be used to better advantage somewhere else, which will in turn continue to build his confidence.

[1eyedog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

Griff has gone missing the last few weeks. I'd trial him up the forward half of the ground, or settle him back in defence for a week or two, just to get some confidence back. We look a much better side with him having 20+ quality touches. He's shown he can mix it through the midfield, but will probably struggle with a bit of consistency this year considering he had a bit of a reduced pre-season and it is his first real season in the guts at this level.

Yep Griffen to a HBF

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I like the idea of keeping them guessing about where Griff will play.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

How come there is no Kerr-bitching thread?

Anyone see in the last quarter Kerr go up to Murphy and push Murphy's reco'ed knee over himself? Bit hard to explain but did anyone see it? It was when one of our boys were going for goal.

...and also, what happened in the cheer squad in the last quarter??? Everyone was off their seats looking behind them.

[The Underdog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I have had my doubts on Griffen's real value playing in the middle. I'd still prefer him on a wing or off half back but I do understand the need to inject some more pace and grunt.

It's wierd but when he gets the ball in a contested situation he almost seems to be looking for a tackle to break rathe than just going for the first option. I think the problem we have is that our quality mids are mainly slower in and under link types. Cooney aside, there isn't anyone who has that touch of class and ability to break from a centre bounce, which Griff has the capacity to do. I agree though he'd be great off a HBF and would potentially take the pressure off Gilbs.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

...and also, what happened in the cheer squad in the last quarter??? Everyone was off their seats looking behind them.

Oh god....don't tell me a riot! We'll be slowly forming into Collingwood supporters!

As for Griffen, I think he chose the wrong (and usually, closest) option last night. If, my memory serves me correctly!

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

How come there is no Kerr-bitching thread?

Anyone see in the last quarter Kerr go up to Murphy and push Murphy's reco'ed knee over himself? Bit hard to explain but did anyone see it? It was when one of our boys were going for goal.

...and also, what happened in the cheer squad in the last quarter??? Everyone was off their seats looking behind them.

Kerrs a dirty player cant stand him.

Nothing happened in the cheersquad, it was in the bay to the right of it(looking out onto the ground) some eagles feral fan was just cheering for his team, trying to incite the crowd, i dont know what happened when he walked away from the security, but yeah he was a total tool, but hey he was supporting his team so yeah.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I forgot the ULTIMATE highlight of the game...
Cooney out rucking Cox
Sooo good!

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

Has anyone else noted how often Cooney and Griffen look for each other?

I think we have another Johnno-Bubba type pair.

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

Has anyone else noted how often Cooney and Griffen look for each other?

I think we have another Johnno-Bubba type pair.

I reckon it will come with Minson and Murph.

Is it me or does he look for Minson more than most?

[The Coon Dog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

For those of you in Perth, how have the local media seen this game, a Dogs win or Eagles loss? What's the feeling on the Kerr headbutt too?

Happy with that effort jerry?

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

Happy with that effort jerry?

jerry only posts when we play poorly...

[dog town]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I didn't really want Griffen to go into the midfield yet prior to this season but now that he is in I would leave him. He is just getting more attention now thats all. They are blocking his run at every stoppage and not letting him get a free run at it. While they are doing this it is taking the attention away from our other midfielders (see Cooney). He just needs to keep chipping away it and staying involved. If he gets a game where most of the heat is on someone else then thats when he has to step up and burn sides. Teams were always going to put alot of work into someone who can be so damaging so he might as well learn how to cope with it now. Cant look at his contribution to the midfield group purely in terms of personal numbers.

Just a few observations from the game...

Another thing having Griffen, a fit Cooney and Cross has done is its allowed us to use Boyd more wisely. Boyd is a great ball getter but also one of the few players we have with the attributes to shut players down around the stoppages. We might see him and West used more defensively at times especially around the stoppages. I think that could be a good new challenge for West. Never going to go with guys around the ground but he is so strong that he would be pretty good at stopping midfielders who do most of their damage around the contest.

If Daniel Cross isn't in the best handful of midfielders going around at the moment I must be watching the wrong game. He did some of the most ridiculously fearless things you would ever see on a football ground the other night. Just leading by example every week.

Our forward line pressure is back at the levels of early 2006/late 2005. Our hard outs would have been way up on saturday night and the eagles players just panicked and coughed up the footy. Massive key to our game.

Hudson has just been an awesome pick up for us. Not much more to say about that.

Little bit concerned with us starting to leak goals again. We always seem to have atleast one or two defenders who are having a bad day. If the swans score over 100 points against us then the odds are that we wont win.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

^^^

As usual a good summation dog town.

Agree with your thoughts on Griffen. He is being the shown the utmost respect by our opponents, maybe before time, but the attention he is receiving and the way he handles it will lay the foundations for his life as a midfielder. He is being hammered by the opposition who are giving him no space to work in, but he will find away around it and it will make him a better player and in the meantime we have other players picking up the slack.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

I didn't really want Griffen to go into the midfield yet prior to this season but now that he is in I would leave him. He is just getting more attention now thats all. They are blocking his run at every stoppage and not letting him get a free run at it. While they are doing this it is taking the attention away from our other midfielders (see Cooney). He just needs to keep chipping away it and staying involved. If he gets a game where most of the heat is on someone else then thats when he has to step up and burn sides. Teams were always going to put alot of work into someone who can be so damaging so he might as well learn how to cope with it now. Cant look at his contribution to the midfield group purely in terms of personal numbers.

Absolutely agree 100% with everything you've written d-town. My thoughts precisely. Griff's current value to the midfield goes way beyond numbers. If, then, over the next year or so, he gets to the next level and breaks out and starts getting those numbers up again, then we'll have a genuine, genuine Judd-level game-breaker/superstar on our hands.