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Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool" -
Just some snippets
Weightman, Treloar and Naughton were in the rehab area. Scott not on the ground
Davidson on a wing for the A team and got a lot of the footy.
Darcy with 3 X 1st q goals beat Khamis
West must have kicked 5.
Harmes was very good as a midfielder and forward.bkicked 2 goals.
Sanders kicked 2 goals and was one of the best.
Bont was outstanding and the clear BOG.
Libba, M.Kennedy and Richards were B team mids to create a more competitive match-up
Gardner pretty good against English and could be in R1 plans.
Jaques just know how to navigate in traffic.
JJ still has a lot to offer.
Busslinger was more direct when he got the footy.
I'll post some more thoughts later.Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"Comment
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I'm getting concerned that Gardner is continually able to compete well against English. Not surprised, but concerned.
It just shouldn't happen.W00F!Comment
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Good write up of today's session is here https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/key...1a0fecba3bbfa9Comment
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Training next week is on Monday (Public Holiday) and Wednesday starting at 9.30 to 10am.
If you are going on Monday please be aware it is very likely that the cafe will not be open and if that is the case there will be no public toilets.
I know we are all one big family here on WOOF so please be discreet if you need to go
Entry will likely be from Cross street and the weather forecast is extreme so bring plenty to drink
The players will head off to their training camp at Maroochydore later in the week but WOOF's dedication to keeping people informed might mean we have one of our best heading up there for a squiz.Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"Comment
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Can we confirm the rumours that the cafe does a top tier bacon and egg rollComment
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FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.Comment
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I normally keep the detail for the members who have earned their way onto the Rewards board but here is a bit of an Australia Day weekend bonus.
Doggy-Bag Takeaways - 24/01/25
Snippets
Huge day at the WO for another match sim and then match scenario session. Since they started advertising the sessions the crowd numbers have increased.
A player I really rated as a kid Geoff Jennings was there today and I believe he wanted to have a chat to Cody. Forwards 4 Life There were some other past players there as well.
6 Players from Footscray were there today to top up for some of the players who were missing. Craig-Peters, Spicer, Stretton, Gilbee and a couple of others made up the numbers
Liberatore left the ground a bit early and I believe he had a appointed to attend.
Coffield and Dolan came off later in the match sim and they are having their workloads managed.
Muzzled Dogs
Treloar, Weightman, Naughton and Scott with his knee injury not sighted
All of the boys at various times took turns in throwing the ball in along the Hawkins wing when they were having any rests between their running drills.
Weightman and Naughton must be close to getting a green light to return as they put in big sessions.
Pupdates
Hynes - played in the B side and filled a few roles forward. Looked pretty good without starring
Jaques - played as a defender and his ability to navigate through congested traffic and make smart decisions with his field kicking is very noticeable.
Dolan - really catches the eye when he gets the ball and is quick and a good kick. Played in the
Davidson - played on the wing and had a few opponents in Arty and Croft. Really impressive performance given his ability to get up and down the ground and get involved in chains of play plus he is a good kick.
L.Kennedy - quieter game than some others and spent nearly all of the game as a FP. Noticed a couple of tackles he was involved in.
The Squads
Blue (a lot of people think it's black)
This side was stacked with just a couple of non best 22 players included. Some players swapped jumpers for the 3rd Q to help balance out the sides.
Bontempelli, English, Sanders, Garcia, Williams, Davidson, Gallagher, Dale, Freijah, Duryea, Lobb, L.Jones, Bramble, Harmes, Dolan, Darcy, McNeil, Vandermeer, West
White (probably more of a light grey)
This side had some premier midfielders to make sure the centre square contests were 'fairish'
Gardner, Liberatore, Richards, M.Kennedy Baker, A.Jones, Jaques, Coffield, O'Donnell, Khamis, Cleary, Poulter Hynes, Brew, L.Kennedy, Craig-Peters, Stretton, Gilbee, Spicer
plus 2 I couldn't identify abut have trained with us previously.
Match Sim / Match Scenario
The match was very lopsided and it didn't flow very well until the 2nd quarter. Things didn't improve that much after half time when the revised the teams and moved Jones and Lobb back for the white team.
Observations from the Stands
Pitted against a very good opposition midfield Bontempelli put on a masterclass performance. He drove the ball forward repeatedly and kicked a nice goal
In what was a poor match-up in the first quarter the manner in Darcy kicked 3 goals was impressive. His ability to mark the ball at a high point is a feature but he is also learning how to better use his body in those contests is encouraging
While he put in a good performance on Mondays match sim it was great to see West back it up again today. He must have kicked 5 goals 1 and made very few errors.
A role change up forward might see us get the best from Poulter. He was often matched against Lobb today and he got a bit of the footy even kicking a goal
There is still plenty of life in Johannisen and he was one of the better performers. At one stage he marched through traffic and kicked a long and low goal. Just what we wanted to see.
Playing on a wide range of opponents (taller and smaller) Freijah was great in all the contests
We have seen quite a change in the physique of Sanders and based off today's superb performance it's paying dividends. He frequently gets first hands on the football in the centre square contests and kicked a couple of goals.
It was a very good head-to-head contest between English and Gardner. I'm not sure there was a clear winner because each of them had good moments but Gards kicked a couple of goals and looks to have opened the door to a R1 selection up forward.
One of the forgotten men of this preseason has been Harmes and he was excellent today rotating between midfield and forward duties. Kicked a goal or two as well. He needs to lose the headband though.
I might be on my own here but I don't like the way we are occasionally using Croft on a wing. He looks lost in that role and today was the day to settle him into a key forward role.
It's good to see Garcia get through all of the preseason with just minimal injury concerns and he is reaping the rewards for it. He got caught a couple of times while being hesitant with kicking the ball with his left foot and that is something he needs to work on.
Another one to catch the eye today was McNeil and from my observations he is a steady improver over the last 12 months. If he isn't in your best 23 you should have a rethink.
We get a lot of dash and run from Dale and Bramble and today had some highlights of how damaging they can be.
If you have any questions, I will try to answer them.Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"Comment
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Thanks for the write up. Really appreciate it.
What’s the go with Lachy Smith if they’re using Gardner as the back up ruck? I liked the look of him at times last season.
Also, slightly concerning - but not surprising that English isn’t dominating that match up. -
Sounds as though Beveridge was fairly true to his word from first day of pre-season. Not going to change much to a team that did lots of things right in 2024. Let’s hope it results in a good start to the year. The first 5 games normally dictate how our whole year goes under Beveridge.
Davidson on the wing can hopefully be an upgrade on the stop gaps we’ve had.
Thanks for including the newbies on this update
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