Round 3 - Carlton V Western Bulldogs - Fri 28/3/25 Marvel Stadium 7:40PM AEDT

[Mofra]

Another 10% from Naughton, Bont and Flea back, and we're a pretty good side
If Treloar gets back too, bonus.

[ReLoad]

Great win last night. Made for a very pleasant night at the footy.

My big two take away were;
English is a puzzle wrapped in a riddle; he’s either hopeless at ruckwork , or has a great ruck game; And simultaneously; he’s brilliant around the ground, or he’s a total liability. He’s never brilliant at both at the same time.

Naughton; yeah he didn’t get a hold of that game; but jeez the delivery to him was abysmal, I mean atrocious. Perhaps that’s caused by confidence or conditioning, but he didn’t stop trying. As resulting in the go ahead goal.

oh and a bonus; how good is the weekend when you win on a Friday night.

[hujsh]

Great win last night. Made for a very pleasant night at the footy.

My big two take away were;
English is a puzzle wrapped in a riddle; he’s either hopeless at ruckwork , or has a great ruck game; And simultaneously; he’s brilliant around the ground, or he’s a total liability. He’s never brilliant at both at the same time.

Naughton; yeah he didn’t get a hold of that game; but jeez the delivery to him was abysmal, I mean atrocious. Perhaps that’s caused by confidence or conditioning, but he didn’t stop trying. As resulting in the go ahead goal.

oh and a bonus; how good is the weekend when you win on a Friday night.

That's not fair. Sometimes he's terrible at both at the same time.

[Bornadog]

One final thought from me….

Last year we would’ve probably lost that game by 6 goals and blamed our injuries. This side has heart and guts and determination I haven’t seen from us in a minute. I’m liking a LOT of what we are building.

I agree, You look at us on paper and you think how do we win, but sheer guts and amazing effort and determination by the players is getting us over the line.

How good has Libba been as captain.

[G-Mo77]

Another 10% from Naughton, Bont and Flea back, and we're a pretty good side
If Treloar gets back too, bonus.

And lets be honest, we really should be 3 - 0 right now.

[Bornadog]

Bevo Presser. " That was a pretty important and Influential game from Tim"

[Grantysghost]

Bevo Presser. " That was a pretty important and Influential game from Tim"

Be careful spreading propaganda like that bad.

Tims building into the season nicely.

[Bornadog]

Be careful spreading propaganda like that bad.

Tims building into the season nicely.

The haters will hate.

[Bornadog]

AFL have got rocks in their head about the roof at Marvel. Another hot and sticky night

Jon Ralph @RalphyHeraldSun
·
Dogs assistant Brendon Lade told ABC Radio his club had asked the AFL about opening the roof in round 1 and again tonight given the heat and had been rejected. It is steamy in here

[kruder]

Still rapt how we won that game last night it just hasn't been in our playbook recently at all to come from behind and win a close one, Bevo has much to work with on the narrative front.

Just on Naughty seemed to have a similar preseason to English last year when he spent a lot of time away from the group just running? The outcome so far is similar but I'm sure I saw him hurt his knee again in the early stages against the Pies he hasn't looked the same since.

We really need more from him, it's time.

[Critter]

A pleasing development demonstrated in this game was the continuing evolution of a core of hard nuts. Players like Libba, Truck and Westy, who play tough and who can handle it coming back the other way.
Thinking of players like Harmes, Kennedy, Gallagher, Vandermeer & Sanders who were front and centre when things became willing.

[soupman]

Boots mentioned that we seem to be playing corridor more.

I think that's definitely the case and was evident right from round 1 (maybe Hawks practice but I didn't watch that). Think we have been very aggressive trying to move the ball through there and probably reflects us trying to use the faster 22 we are selecting.

[doggies ftw]

i agree whole heartedly that Naughton was close to being subbed , but I think a lot of us have forgotten or just havnt taken into account, that Naughton missed a far chunk of preseason with an illness(i think glandular fever ) and a calf injury , and im wondering if that is playing a part in his mixed season start , but it just proves you can have a bad night but if you keep contesting things happen , perfect example was Naughtons night , beaten badly most of the night and bobed up to kick a crucial goal.

Good call, I don’t know how bad he had it but glandular fever is awful, it ****ed me up for a good few months. Can’t imagine how costly it would be for a professional athlete in the middle of their preseason. He didn’t really have a proper preseason at all until very late. Not at all concerned, plus we just burnt him on so many occasions last night with miskicks.

[doggies ftw]

Really really happy with the performance again, I actually wasn’t that worried early to be honest always knew we’d get back into it. As Boots put nicely I didn’t think we were horrible and the system somewhat was holding up, there was a few costly turnovers when we pushed up and Carlton fluked a few lucky plays through the middle and our way we missed a couple of chances. Felt like a 10pt deficit at most to be honest and always knew it would start to turn.

Ballsy effort to run out the game though - yeah we’ve maybe got it wrong this preseason leading to some soft tissue injuries but geez it’s clear we’re a much fitter and harder running team than we have been in a long time.

I can’t believe my eyes with Vandermeer, he’s a genuinely very good half forward right now, playing the role to perfection really. All the front half runners Davo, Williams, McNeil, VDM really impressing and changing our make up as a side. Williams especially is playing out of his skin, his awareness is unmatched the amount of times he takes a hospital hand pass and I think he’s about to get clobbered but he calmly gets out of trouble or moves the ball on cleanly etc. he’s one of our most dependable players now.

Wests impact is off the charts, I’d love him to get a bit more involved because everything he touches is gold, I said to my mate when the ball was going to him when he dished it out to McNeil for his goal in the last that there was just no way West wasn’t winning that ball. His determination & craft in each and every contest he attends is Libba like. Just such a high impact player from minimal touches needed, I love having him in the front half and keen to keep moving him into the on ball rotation. So many goal assists he directly creates with his hands out of the stoppage ie Libba goal last week, McNeil tonight and another one from memory

Kennedy is a stud, Darcy what more needs to be said about him? Dolan impressive late impact and will be a mainstay of this side soon. Sanders keeps stepping up in the 2nd half, he’s starting to get it I think, just improving bit by bit which is all we can ask for.

was disappointed in Freijahs game but then remembered he’s literally a 2nd year player and I expect way too much from him consistently already. He was quiet but his touch is unbelievably clean & composed.

I can not wait to see how this midfield performs when we have Bont taking a bit of the offensive pressure off Richards and Freijah who are expected to do it all right now. Alongside two absolute beast inside mids in Libba/Kennedy

this will be an exciting year

[Dazza]

We are playing a good system at the moment. Bevo has got us humming along quite nicely.

Had a few too many turnovers by hand from clearance in the first half which cost us.