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Re: Game Day Round 15, 2017 - Western Bulldogs V West Coast
This is something which has been an ongoing issue this season and is really disappointing. Our coaching staff continue to be reactive and refuse to throw things around to either get the team going or get a player into the play.
Multiple times this year we have been struggling, as have players like Stringer, Cloke, Dickson, Suckling, JJ etc. The coaching staff however refuse to try to work them into the game and instead just leave them struggling in their positions.
Stringer yesterday should have been run through the middle by the mid point of the second quarter. Or played off the back of the square running through. Or made to tag someone like Mitchell or Gaff. That way instead of being able to sulk around up forward thinking it's just not happening he is put where the ball is and encouraged to impact more than the occasional contest.
The Cloke incident that comes to mind was the game at the SCG. Cloke was being starved up forward, and we were being killed in the ruck. From halftime we should have thrown Cloke into the ruck to get him in the play and change the midfield dynamic. Instead we played Jong and Bont in the ruck and only put Cloke around the ball in the dying stages of the match.
Dickson has been struggling for supply up forward all season and hasn't been great at creating chances. He should be rotating through the wing or even further back to try to give us his pace out of defence and get him involved. It also means if he pushes further he might be able to play on a lesser defender than usual and opens him up more. Dale appeared to be playing as a wingman dropping behind the ball yesterday and running it out, Dickson could also do something like this.
Suckling has been trying hard but is a poor defender and is struggling to really impact games. Why aren't we pushing him further forward in bits, onto the wing or half forward where he is more likely to be in range of goals and is alleviated of one on one defensive responsibilities? Particularly when we are struggling so hard to finish our work why don't we put our best kick somewhere more dangerous when he is struggling?
And JJ as everyone is aware is dying a slow, painful, embarrassing death in defence. He has had no impact for a month now, are we adopting some tough love philosophy where he has to grind his way out of this rut to the detriment of the team? Play him up forward like he did in round 1, play him on the ball, just change his role to something else which gives him an opportunity to regain confidence and get in the game. For his current output we may as well play Brett Goodes. JJ is a good player, why aren't we trying harder to restore him to his previous standards?
There are more (including the way we have failed to use Bont this season), and there are other factors like our refusal to tag anybody or adjust our gameplan. But these are simple changes that we need to start making with a team horribly out of form. They aren't responding to the current challenges so give them new ones.
This is something which has been an ongoing issue this season and is really disappointing. Our coaching staff continue to be reactive and refuse to throw things around to either get the team going or get a player into the play.
Multiple times this year we have been struggling, as have players like Stringer, Cloke, Dickson, Suckling, JJ etc. The coaching staff however refuse to try to work them into the game and instead just leave them struggling in their positions.
Stringer yesterday should have been run through the middle by the mid point of the second quarter. Or played off the back of the square running through. Or made to tag someone like Mitchell or Gaff. That way instead of being able to sulk around up forward thinking it's just not happening he is put where the ball is and encouraged to impact more than the occasional contest.
The Cloke incident that comes to mind was the game at the SCG. Cloke was being starved up forward, and we were being killed in the ruck. From halftime we should have thrown Cloke into the ruck to get him in the play and change the midfield dynamic. Instead we played Jong and Bont in the ruck and only put Cloke around the ball in the dying stages of the match.
Dickson has been struggling for supply up forward all season and hasn't been great at creating chances. He should be rotating through the wing or even further back to try to give us his pace out of defence and get him involved. It also means if he pushes further he might be able to play on a lesser defender than usual and opens him up more. Dale appeared to be playing as a wingman dropping behind the ball yesterday and running it out, Dickson could also do something like this.
Suckling has been trying hard but is a poor defender and is struggling to really impact games. Why aren't we pushing him further forward in bits, onto the wing or half forward where he is more likely to be in range of goals and is alleviated of one on one defensive responsibilities? Particularly when we are struggling so hard to finish our work why don't we put our best kick somewhere more dangerous when he is struggling?
And JJ as everyone is aware is dying a slow, painful, embarrassing death in defence. He has had no impact for a month now, are we adopting some tough love philosophy where he has to grind his way out of this rut to the detriment of the team? Play him up forward like he did in round 1, play him on the ball, just change his role to something else which gives him an opportunity to regain confidence and get in the game. For his current output we may as well play Brett Goodes. JJ is a good player, why aren't we trying harder to restore him to his previous standards?
There are more (including the way we have failed to use Bont this season), and there are other factors like our refusal to tag anybody or adjust our gameplan. But these are simple changes that we need to start making with a team horribly out of form. They aren't responding to the current challenges so give them new ones.
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