Western Bulldogs V Essendon - Pre-Season 15/2/25 Whitten Oval 2.00pm

[Scott2016]

Crossley. Like I said earlier we should have signed him after the first quarter. He's not playing unless we break glass and is a perfect backup. He may not even play but at least we have someone we can slot in there if Tim goes down. He can beat up on Tim at training and hopefully toughen him up.

Yes Tim does need a person who bullies him around to prepare for real games

[Bornadog]

He’s a terrible ruckman let’s be honest now, I think Bevos finally starting to realise that, has only taken 8 years but better late than never

An AA Ruckman and you are being completely disrespectful - wow

[Grantysghost]

I thought Crossley was horrible.
He will need at least 6 months in an AFL system to get to below average and 12 months to average.
He had one or two decent hit outs, and apart from that, was a complete liability.
Love to know, what did others see to say he was good.

It was one of those surreal moments at the footy where I was thinking, am I the crazy one here ? He looks like my old ruckman when I played local footy.

I do think he has good ruck smarts, and he's in a position of need however this whole strategy feels so rushed and unplanned.

I couldn't see him playing until well into the season fitness wise.

[Grantysghost]

I think as average as Crossley is, and he’s VFL standard at best, the club is starting to realise how important a genuine ruckman is and English isn’t a ruckmans asshole.

Ive said this before but we really do need to focus on what he's good at.
If our strategy is to pick Crossley because English is no good then that's a really bad outcome.
Crossley would purely be emergency break glass if Tim goes down and then only against certain types.

[whythelongface]

This is ridiculous.

100%. Uncalled for and unnecessary.

[Rusty12]

To get back to a positive, I thought Dolan showed some traits of a good small forward.
VDM and MCneil need to be careful, not sure they are too far ahead of him.
Something about him.

[Scott2016]

He is in front of them if he can crumb and hit scoreboard. The others you mentioned dont have an impact on the game apart from costly errors

[jeemak]

To get back to a positive, I thought Dolan showed some traits of a good small forward.
VDM and MCneil need to be careful, not sure they are too far ahead of him.
Something about him.

I only saw the second half, but of all the new kids he and Hynes for me showed they had something without getting huge amounts of it.

The attack on the footy from Croft and hit to Poulter was also a standout moment from the younger pups.

[Woofingwarrior]

To get back to a positive, I thought Dolan showed some traits of a good small forward.
VDM and MCneil need to be careful, not sure they are too far ahead of him.
Something about him.

Did some nice things in the vfl game too.

[Miti-Dog5]

Am I going crazy? Everyone here seems so negative after a scratch match halfway through February, like, we got some run in the legs, and the young kids had a crack, what more are you looking for?

[GVGjr]

To get back to a positive, I thought Dolan showed some traits of a good small forward.
VDM and MCneil need to be careful, not sure they are too far ahead of him.
Something about him.

While I liked what I saw, he needs to back his run a bit more. He also needs to improve the depth of his kicking.

[Jeanette54]

Am I going crazy? Everyone here seems so negative after a scratch match halfway through February, like, we got some run in the legs, and the young kids had a crack, what more are you looking for?

I look for signs of how they cope with the standard of competition. I remember Adam Cooney's first practice match,, when he backed out of a tackle and delivered the ball onto someone's chest. In that same match (and I can't remember the name, he eventually went to St. Kilda) I watched our other name recruit gather the ball and deliberately pause to draw in the opposition players, and then handball over to one of our players he had freed up. In both of those single actions you just knew we had found two players.

[GVGjr]

I look for signs of how they cope with the standard of competition. I remember Adam Cooney's first practice match,, when he backed out of a tackle and delivered the ball onto someone's chest. In that same match (and I can't remember the name, he eventually went to St. Kilda) I watched our other name recruit gather the ball and deliberately pause to draw in the opposition players, and then handball over to one of our players he had freed up. In both of those single actions you just knew we had found two players.

I suspect it's Farren Ray

[jeemak]

I suspect it's Farren Ray

Ray Farren?

[Happy Days]

I get that it’s just one game in February where no one good played the whole time but the absence of anything unexpectedly positive is a real bummer. Sanders still looks one paced, Garcia still can’t kick, Buss is still behind Buku and maybe even Gardner, etc.

Compare that to an Essendon fan leaving that game seeing improvement from Caddy, Kako looking like a ready made livewire, and that SSP guy kicking 4 in a half. I think it’s fair to be a little down.

[Danny Delre]

Macrae was one paced too. Didn't stop him becoming an multiple all Australian