2025 AAMI Community Series - Hawthorn V Western Bulldogs Thu 27/2/25 UTAS Stadium, Launceston 5:20PM AEDT

[Dogs 24/7]

Likes, Davidsons first half,showed some flair,played himself into team against North. Josh Dolan , encouraging not quite there, looks to hav a future. Luke Cleary , serviceable backup, reads it well, tidy player but can he provide point of difference.Arty Jones, provides a spark,brings energy , reckon he get in the side,Disapointments, Sanders,seemed to not run hard enough a few times from the tv vision., works hard in dose but currently lacks strength to get clean clearances like Libba. Tackling , we can’t we stick tackles and allow teams to get a handball off too regularly..no. Improvement from prior seasons

I was pretty impressed but nearly all of his game and getting forward and kicking a goal was huge for us

[Dogs 24/7]

I know it’s still early days, but I was a firm believer that Weddle > Busslinger in their draft year. Watching Weddle deliver absolute bullets to his team mates, crash packs, take intercept grabs and have such strong presence while Buss still can’t find his way into the side just makes it feel even worse.

I’m still hopeful Buss can make something of himself, but Weddle always did look like a better prospect, and has only reinforced that opinion for me given his start to his career

There were a couple on here that were dead set keen on Weddle. He's super aggressive for a defender and very athletic.

[Bornadog]

Gotta disagree with that D FTW. Got plenty of it, got a heap of tackles. He's far from the finished product but I wasn't disappointed.

21 disposals and 8 tackles

[Rusty12]

Wow, did some of you watch the game or spend 2.5 hours typing?

Great signs from the dogs; some lesser-tried players did good things and showed progress. If you are not 95% happy after that, time to get a new hobby.

It was easy to see what we were trying to do in all phases, almost like we are a well-coached team.......

Only negatives were Poulter (low ceiling anyway, and is lowest paid) and Garcia, which is a concern, given time in the system and resigned.
The last kick inside 50 was generally poor. However, it is a practice match.

Gallagher is technically a very good kick, decision-making is the issue, but he did some good things.

The demise of the legend Libba was much exaggerated.

Well done, to anyone who had JOD and Lobb as the key backs, not Gardner (me) or Buss. JOD did good.

[jeemak]

Rusty12, PM me for rules on the game day thread etiquette and expectations. It's going to be a long year if you try and pick apart what's said within them up to 12-24 hours after the game commences.

Good call re JOD. I still think there's a fair amount of water to go under the bridge, and while he has some serious learnings to take from his defensive spoiling/ clearances in some instances he was also reasonably solid or better than that.

[Eastdog]

Naughton in for a big season.

Davidson could have that great first season like Freijah had.

Dolan and Cleary while not the best did do some good things. Dolan just starting out. JOD very good down there with Lobb.

Sanders will be ok.

Very good effort considering our outs.

[Danny Delre]

We have some decent kids coming through. Im excited

[Grantysghost]

So weird how as soon as Davidson is near the ball, I’m more confident. He hasn’t even debuted yet and already looks like he’ll be one of our most important players this year.

who’s overreacting to a practice match?

Ha, I say we make him club doctor and just stick on a big black Zimmerman moustache.

[Grantysghost]

Glad to see Libba playing well.

Can never write of Tom. He looked as good as ever. Pray he doesn't cop a head knock.

[Grantysghost]

Love Dolan already.

He looks he goods doesn't he. Just seems to have that ground skill we've been looking for.

[Grantysghost]

Naughton and Darcy how good....... sometimes less is more.

Brilliant. Darcy has that match winning ability that a rare few have. He decided we weren't going to lose that one.

[Grantysghost]

Injuries provide opportunities and that is what I saw tonight. McNeil looks ready to take the next step, midfield did well especially after Bont went down and JOD did well down back. Davison looks ready made and Dolan just needs more work to get his tank ready. Good practice match win overall.

McNeil is a driven kid, it won't be through lack of effort or work on his craft that will deny him a successful career.

He lost the head band and it did wonders !!

[jeemak]

He's in great nick. If he's out of the system in a year or two, it won't be for a lack of dedication to getting everything out of his body.

[Grantysghost]

Super impressed with Arty Jones. Josh Dolan provided a spark and will play plenty of footy however looked spent towards the end. Bam Bam and Harmes both were solid, Cleary was a shock how clean he was and composed! Gallagher didn’t mind of half back however with Dale back for Rd1 he probably falls out. Saw lot of mixed reviews about Croft, thought he was not too bad just lacked polish however can’t be too hard on the young lad. I’m quite harsh on Sanders, he was okay but wasn’t super in my opinion, lot of room for improvement though as he is still young. Overall pretty encouraging performance from the team, not to mention loved O’Donnell and Lobb combo. Look forward to sitting down over the next week or so and compile my best 23 for Rd1 against North. Go Dogs!

I was super impressed with JOD. Positioned well and competed in the air.
If he can halve contests he can't win he will be very good
I was surprised with his kicking too he can really launch it.

[Mofra]

He looks he goods doesn't he. Just seems to have that ground skill we've been looking for.

Best 22 after another pre-session. Just needs time, shows real signs.

[jazzadogs]

It's a good point you raise, were you able to work it out?

According to the AFL app they made 68 rotations and we made 76.

However they used all four of their 'subs', we didn't use Gardner and Khamis (only Poulter on for Bont and Arty on for VDM).

[jazzadogs]

It was a really impressive performance. I'm still a bit shocked that midfield dominated the Hawks mids so thoroughly - Libba was outstanding in there.

I think the Hawks would be really disappointed with some of the statistical domination in that game, when we were missing so many key players - the Hawks were only missing Lewis, Dear, Jiath and Breust in comparison. Losing inside 50s by 21, a differential that they ranked second best at last year.

Agree with all the positives mentioned by others.