Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

[Dry Rot]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Thursday night for you Dry Rot would have been a shocker but the past 2 for you at the SCG would have been great.

Had to work on the day of the one last year. But attending the Giants PF made up for it!

[jeemak]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Other than the finals series last year we were the 7th best side. We got our injured back, and our game plan clicked. We got over weagles and the belief was starting to drill into the whiten oval. We all know how it went from there.

Onto 2017...everyone is talking up the dogs as another premiership contender...will only get better, stronger....great coach...great team, and only better with Wallis, murph and Cloke to come in. Fans were getting excited. Players were getting excited. The start of a dynasty.

So where are we now? Looking like a dysfunctional lot. Not playing for each other, no hunger, no cohesive effort. Shocking kicking for goal, beaten in the coaches box on game day, poor MC decisions.....yes more injuries to key players.

My 2 cents....we aren't as good as what we thought. We are a 7th placed team, stagnating from this time last year. We have players severely out of form, and others who have taken a back step.

We need to stop believing our own hype and get back to basics. and quick, coz for me this year is nearly dead to be any chance of going far in September.

I appreciate what you're trying to say, but last year's home and away result ladder wise wasn't reflective of how we matched against the competition - given our injuries, and that we won fifteen games. At the start of the year when healthy we were as good as anyone, at the end of the year when healthy good enough and armed with a game plan that won a flag.

Agree with the rest of your post. I'm still trying to consider what is going wrong in its entirety, but one thing that stands out is that it seems it's not just sections of the playing group that might be consuming too much self contaminated bath water. The MC with its match day strategy and selections are guilty of it too. The biggest tell for me on this front was the absolute refusal to play a shut down game against Dangerwood at Geelong three weeks ago, knowing that it worked in the second half of the GF against Sydney with Kennedy, and helped us stay in the game last year against the Cats in the corresponding fixture. Other teams have proven this works, why are we so bloody fantastic that we have to invent ways of evening up the ledger on the field if they've been demonstrated as successful by other clubs?

[merantau]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Other than the finals series last year we were the 7th best side. We got our injured back, and our game plan clicked. We got over weagles and the belief was starting to drill into the whiten oval. We all know how it went from there.

Onto 2017...everyone is talking up the dogs as another premiership contender...will only get better, stronger....great coach...great team, and only better with Wallis, murph and Cloke to come in. Fans were getting excited. Players were getting excited. The start of a dynasty.

So where are we now? Looking like a dysfunctional lot. Not playing for each other, no hunger, no cohesive effort. Shocking kicking for goal, beaten in the coaches box on game day, poor MC decisions.....yes more injuries to key players.

My 2 cents....we aren't as good as what we thought. We are a 7th placed team, stagnating from this time last year. We have players severely out of form, and others who have taken a back step.

We need to stop believing our own hype and get back to basics. and quick, coz for me this year is nearly dead to be any chance of going far in September.

You make some very good puts which set out very clearly the challenge ahead of us. A top 4 finish is out of reach realistically. The best we can hope for is to make the eight with a full list to pick from and go for it.
The reality is with have been far from convincing this year. We have only bought our best intensity to one game - the loss to GWS, a game we cruelled with our poor kivking for goal.
The remainder of the season will be a test of character. Those who don't shape up will be shipped out.
For me, the biggest disappointment has been our poor delivery inside 50 and our atrocious kicking gor goal. Also players I expected to improve have not gone on with it to date.
But I'm hopeful things can be turned around over the next few months provided the right decisions are made and the players respond to what is going to be laid bare for their consideration.
So, boys, get out there and give Melbourne a hiding.

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Appreciate your comments jeemak. I understand regarding your opening comments. We did win 15 games in a very even competition, so my judgment of being 7th best team based on ladder position was probably not a correct indication.
The whole dangerwood scenario griped me no end as well. It's like we had this so called "arrogance" in the coaches box that we don't "need" to do that to win, and that mindset plays with fire.

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Merantau, thanks for commenting. I also agree with what you're saying. It's interesting, everyone has an opinion of what's going wrong, and although the opinions are slightly varied with different topics regarding the problems, at the end of the day the big picture looks the same. Things need to change and it needs to begin in the coaches box/match committee for mine....from their onto the players, and hopefully that cohesive unit that got us to the ultimate can rear its head out of the quicksand we are currently in.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

After winning from 7th last year maybe subconsciously the top 4 is not the incentive for the players but just making the finals. We have to turn it around quickly. We are capable of doing that.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

After winning from 7th last year maybe subconsciously the top 4 is not the incentive for the players but just making the finals. We have to turn it around quickly. We are capable of doing that.

Maybe, but then they're crazy. Top 4 can mean a week off and a home prelim. That should be strong incentive, other than the incentive of winning each week.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Some great points made on here , and hard to mount an argument against a lot of posts .
I do think 15 and 7 in most years gets you top 4 . There's been a little bit to clever by half in team selections and tactics .
Keeping Kennedy quiet effectively won us the flag, and yet we allowed Dangerwood there own postcode a few weeks ago .
The recruitment of Cloke looks pointless also, he looks to be to far off the pace .
Cordy's defensive efforts were pivotal in the forward half last year , yet we went away from that .
We're just not good enough long enough ATM, and not getting an across the board even team performance we had last season .

[SonofScray]

Re: Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

Some great points made on here , and hard to mount an argument against a lot of posts .
I do think 15 and 7 in most years gets you top 4 . There's been a little bit to clever by half in team selections and tactics .
Keeping Kennedy quiet effectively won us the flag, and yet we allowed Dangerwood there own postcode a few weeks ago .
The recruitment of Cloke looks pointless also, he looks to be to far off the pace .
Cordy's defensive efforts were pivotal in the forward half last year , yet we went away from that .
We're just not good enough long enough ATM, and not getting an across the board even team performance we had last season .

Early on itlooked like we would get some value out of Cloke but the knocks he got v Sydney and Nth appear to have rattled him. Not putting himself into the mix at all at the moment.