Take a Breath & Debrief - Round 11

[Palmybulldogs]

For hopefully the last time, I wasn’t able to watch the match in its entirety, really was only able to catch the last quarter, so I can’t comment too much on the game itself


We’re at the halfway point of the season and we’re sitting at 6-5. I think all Dogs fans can agree the start to this season, battling both fixture and injury was always going to be our biggest challenge, and we’ve come out the other side with a positive ledger, sitting 6th on the ladder (worst case, 7th pending results this round)


While I would’ve LOVED to beat Geelong, especially on their home deck it is what it is, they’re a great team and just got the better of us on the day, all we can do is learn from it and continue improving. Again I didn’t watch so can’t really comment, but I saw a lot of commentary about the umpiring and the free kick count suggests they got a lot more of a look than we did. All I’ll say on that is I love Bevo’s mindset about it which I feel passes down to the players as well. It’s swings and roundabouts. Some games we may get the rub and others we may not. However what we absolutely can’t do is have the players get sucked in and undisciplined when it’s not going their way, just get on with the game and it is what it is


We’ve reached the bye and after playing 8 venues in 11 games including 5 interstate trips and 2 trips down the highway, the boys will well and truly need a refresh. I hope they have a great break (maybe a few specific people can sign some paperwork too) and get ready to really push for a top 4 finish with an easier fixture as well as 10 games in Melbourne (9 at Marvel) and just 2 interstate trips left to finish the year, it’s absolutely ours for the taking


My last point, to Baz. I’m still mad at you for all the digs you’ve made at us every chance you get. I can understand wanting a fresh start but don’t pretend like the Dogs didn’t do absolutely everything to support you and give you huge opportunities to start your AFL career. Personally I believe you should never burn your bridges, now that this game is over with I hope you can start paying some respect to where you got your start. I also believe it ended up being a pretty win win trade period with Bailey Smith as we turned him into Matty Kennedy, who I personally believe has had a better year than Baz, might not accumulate as much as Baz but his ball use and scoreboard damage is far more significant in my opinion

[Happy Days]

Little over oh we did this well and these circumstances went against us and there’s a lot to take from this and whatever.

we’re a good as hell team and yet we’ve lost 5 times in eleven games. I’ve seen this movie before.

[Palmybulldogs]

Little over oh we did this well and these circumstances went against us and there’s a lot to take from this and whatever.

we’re a good as hell team and yet we’ve lost 5 times in eleven games. I’ve seen this movie before.

It’s a tight competition, there’s a reason teams don’t go undefeated all year. All that matters is we make it to finals, top 4 is a plus. We’ve played some bloody hard fixtures in these first 11 weeks and the positive is we’ve been in absolutely every game, we aren’t a perfect side and you only need to be 1% off to lose sometimes. If you expect the team to dominate and win every single game you’ll be very disappointed, it’s just not realistic

[Aidan7557]

A lot of positives I think most fans can see. At round 1 I think 90% of us would have taken 6-5 going into the by. BUT with context and how good we have been it feels like a win or two short of what we should be. I'm very happy overall but can't help thinking of what if... need to chalk up a win or two against one of these top teams sooner rather then later.

[Boots]

I turned it off after Bont's 50m penalty and I am avoiding any coverage today because I don't want to see Smith's smug face. This one will burn for a while.

That game was way more than just a Home and Away game. Geelong don't see that we have a rivalry, because we've been their bunnies for thirty years; it's not a rivalry to them. That is the primary reason to need to beat them - to make them take us seriously. They don't take us seriously on-field, at the trade table, or off-field. Worse, that game said to every team watching that it is right and good to just pilfer other teams' stars using dirty trade tactics. They did it with Dangerfield, Cameron, Smith, and they'll do it with Reid if the rumours are to be believed. They make an absolute mockery of equalisation and frankly make me want to stop following the sport. In short, we had to beat them to demonstrate that the game was bigger than Bailey Smith. All we did was play into the narrative that he's a great player that we couldn't get the best of, and that he's a steal for them.

But that's not taking a breath and debriefing, so here you go: it was also the way we lost. It was an eight-point game, a chance to put a bitter enemy that much closer to the bottom of the eight. They played like it mattered. They brought masses of pressure, made us look slow and took away our ball movement. There was a Geelong player hugging every one of our players all through the match, and we were never rewarded for holding the man. This has been a problem for us for ages, and it's sort of baked into the game - there seems to be an invisible threshold of 'pressure'; if you're under it, you aren't deemed to be holding even when you have an arm around a player who has not taken possession. But every other team in the comp watched that happen last night and is figuring out how to do it to us next time we meet. That's a huge problem and we need a way to deal with it.

I had a huge amount of faith in this team, but watching us last night, it evaporated. This morning it's clicked for me that we are not top four. I had been running the argument that the Collingwood, Brisbane, Suns losses were all 'explicable', but even if the Geelong game was also 'explicable', fact is, we've lost to every side above us on the ladder. They've been close, but so what? That still puts us exactly where the ladder has us - not beating the best sides.

From the current top four, we only play the Hawks next week and the Lions (in Brisbane) in round 19. I know it's a long season, but an 'easy fixture' is also one that lulls you into a false sense of security, and that's assuming Adelaide, the Giants and Melbourne don't all come good. The question mark that has hovered over us since 2021 is back, in my mind, and will probably stay there now until we win at least a semi-final.

[Palmybulldogs]

I turned it off after Bont's 50m penalty and I am avoiding any coverage today because I don't want to see Smith's smug face. This one will burn for a while.

That game was way more than just a Home and Away game. Geelong don't see that we have a rivalry, because we've been their bunnies for thirty years; it's not a rivalry to them. That is the primary reason to need to beat them - to make them take us seriously. They don't take us seriously on-field, at the trade table, or off-field. Worse, that game said to every team watching that it is right and good to just pilfer other teams' stars using dirty trade tactics. They did it with Dangerfield, Cameron, Smith, and they'll do it with Reid if the rumours are to be believed. They make an absolute mockery of equalisation and frankly make me want to stop following the sport. In short, we had to beat them to demonstrate that the game was bigger than Bailey Smith. All we did was play into the narrative that he's a great player that we couldn't get the best of, and that he's a steal for them.

But that's not taking a breath and debriefing, so here you go: it was also the way we lost. It was an eight-point game, a chance to put a bitter enemy that much closer to the bottom of the eight. They played like it mattered. They brought masses of pressure, made us look slow and took away our ball movement. There was a Geelong player hugging every one of our players all through the match, and we were never rewarded for holding the man. This has been a problem for us for ages, and it's sort of baked into the game - there seems to be an invisible threshold of 'pressure'; if you're under it, you aren't deemed to be holding even when you have an arm around a player who has not taken possession. But every other team in the comp watched that happen last night and is figuring out how to do it to us next time we meet. That's a huge problem and we need a way to deal with it.

I had a huge amount of faith in this team, but watching us last night, it evaporated. This morning it's clicked for me that we are not top four. I had been running the argument that the Collingwood, Brisbane, Suns losses were all 'explicable', but even if the Geelong game was also 'explicable', fact is, we've lost to every side above us on the ladder. They've been close, but so what? That still puts us exactly where the ladder has us - not beating the best sides.

From the current top four, we only play the Hawks next week and the Lions (in Brisbane) in round 19. I know it's a long season, but an 'easy fixture' is also one that lulls you into a false sense of security, and that's assuming Adelaide, the Giants and Melbourne don't all come good. The question mark that has hovered over us since 2021 is back, in my mind, and will probably stay there now until we win at least a semi-final.

I can’t argue it’s disappointing to of not beaten those sides above us in our 4 chances, like Bevo said in his press conference the frustration is really that we were in the games and had chances to win late in the game and just couldn’t get over the line. So it’s not as if they aren’t aware and working on it.

I actually think along that vein, Hawks is a must-win game, not only to put us back into top 4 calculations but to give the group confidence that we can beat those better sides.

if it doesn’t happen it’ll be incredibly disappointing especially coming off the bye, and being the team that ended our season last year. We are definitely still a top 4 chance with a loss but it will feel less deserving, although all we really need is to get there, I believe we are good enough to beat those sides and have shown that being in the games, just gotta get over the line now. The injuries and tough fixtures are behind us so there is absolutely no excuses from here on out

[BiteNibbleChomp]

He who shan't be named got fined again.
It's not much but I'll take it

More seriously, 113 is quite respectable for a losing score against a good side. I'm still hella bummed about this one, and we really ought to be better than a close loss every other week, but if that's a score we're putting out at the end of a "bad" game.... well it could be a lot worse.

- BNC

[jeemak]

Little over oh we did this well and these circumstances went against us and there’s a lot to take from this and whatever.

we’re a good as hell team and yet we’ve lost 5 times in eleven games. I’ve seen this movie before.

I think we're a committed bunch/ good team and are well coached, but we don't have the forward half polish of the best sides in the competition.

It's so bad that we need to generate 33 scoring shots to lose by 14 points against a side that generated 27. If we don't dominate the rest of the ground to severely limit opposition scoring opportunities what happened last night will continue to happen.

We need to face facts. Players like Naughton, Khamis, McNeil and VDM are going to butcher opportunities the likes of Geelong's players won't because they don't have the requisite skill level under pressure and probably never will. They'll try their guts out, absolutely they'll try their guts out, but they just lack polish.

[Bulldog Joe]

My take is more optimistic than what has been posted

We made a lot of uncharacteristic turnovers with the Geelong pressure and Geelong made the most of them.

That level of close checking pressure is not as likely anywhere else as the confined space of that TOY STADIUM really stifles the ability to find space.

Despite that and some dubious umpiring decisions we still did enough to create more scores. 5 posters is unbelievable.

It would not take much to reverse that result without any change in personnel.

Get them on the MCG and I believe the extra space would improve us enough to win comfortably.

While our schedule improves from here we still need to bring our best and this loss should do more to build our mindset to not take anything lightly.

Before this game I had a look at the schedule and felt confident we would win 11 of 13 and this was one of the anticipated losses. The other is Brisbane.

It is not unrealistic to suggest we are good enough to win at least 9 and maybe 11 of our remaining 12.

Flag is certainly more than possible.

[Flamethrower]

Little over oh we did this well and these circumstances went against us and there’s a lot to take from this and whatever.

we’re a good as hell team and yet we’ve lost 5 times in eleven games. I’ve seen this movie before.

For some reason the way this season has started reminds me a lot of the 2016 season.

Coming off a very disappointing losing elimination final at the MCG.
Crushing the poor teams, but losing close games to the best.
The top 7 being ultra competitive with a huge gap to the other 11 teams.
Lots of serious injuries early in the season with crucial players returning through the season to solidify a long finals campaign.

It is this last point that gives me belief - we are missing our best forward and our best backman - Liam Jones played last night so should regain his spot once his form and fitness demand it.
And then there is Sam Darcy - if he comes back in the form he was showing preinjury there is no limit to what this team can achieve.

[Bornadog]

For some reason the way this season has started reminds me a lot of the 2016 season.

Coming off a very disappointing losing elimination final at the MCG.
Crushing the poor teams, but losing close games to the best.
The top 7 being ultra competitive with a huge gap to the other 11 teams.
Lots of serious injuries early in the season with crucial players returning through the season to solidify a long finals campaign.

It is this last point that gives me belief - we are missing our best forward and our best backman - Liam Jones played last night so should regain his spot once his form and fitness demand it.
And then there is Sam Darcy - if he comes back in the form he was showing preinjury there is no limit to what this team can achieve.

2016 losses were all under 21 points except the Geelong game. So agree so far it is similar, but we need that top 4 to have a chance.

[Bornadog]

Jeff White Analysis of the adjustments made in the second half

[Mantis]

I think we're a committed bunch/ good team and are well coached, but we don't have the forward half polish of the best sides in the competition.

It's so bad that we need to generate 33 scoring shots to lose by 14 points against a side that generated 27. If we don't dominate the rest of the ground to severely limit opposition scoring opportunities what happened last night will continue to happen.

We need to face facts. Players like Naughton, Khamis, McNeil and VDM are going to butcher opportunities the likes of Geelong's players won't because they don't have the requisite skill level under pressure and probably never will. They'll try their guts out, absolutely they'll try their guts out, but they just lack polish.

If at the start of the pre-season you were asked to pick our starting 6 forwards, I would think you would’ve included all of Weightman, Darcy and Jamarra in this group. To think that 2 of these haven’t played a game, and look likely to both miss the entire season, and the other has played less than half it's pretty easy to see why we are a little thin on talent up front.

The fact that Darcy & Weightman are also our best converters doesn't help our cause any further either.

[whythelongface]

If at the start of the pre-season you were asked to pick our starting 6 forwards, I would think you would’ve included all of Weightman, Darcy and Jamarra in this group. To think that 2 of these haven’t played a game, and look likely to both miss the entire season, and the other has played less than half it's pretty easy to see why we are a little thin on talent up front.

The fact that Darcy & Weightman are also our best converters doesn't help our cause any further either.

interestingly we are ranked #1 in points for (noting GC are 218 points in arrears with 2 games in hand) and ranked #11 in points against. Scoring is not the issue, nor is getting our hands on the footy. Turnovers are the killer and this is across the ground.

would our points for continue on this trajectory if all three mentioned were in the team? Hard to tell. Would we play a less manic brand of footy and focus on more direct play rather than slicing the opposition open with slick ball movement. I love the way we play but it is risky and any deviation from accuracy can be severely punished, especially against the good teams.

but to your point missing our 3 leading goal kickers is huge and the fact we are amassing so many points means we are doing a lot right.

[Danjul]

Jeff White Analysis of the adjustments made in the second half

Thanks for the video, it is very informative and should be put on a chip and implanted into the player’s head.

If you freeze the play at 1:32 and study the image you see why the game plan set up a loss.

After a mark Williams quickly goes into handball mode. But count the players. Geelong has 7 players within 2 seconds of the receiver. 3 within 1 second. The boundary locks the Dogs within few square meters. At full speed and no space mayhem means misery. So naturally a turnover where Geelong easily controls the play. All clearly explained in the video.

Geelong knew we would handball weeks ago and planned accordingly. And won with what I saw as an inferior team.

But not mentioned in the video but clearly visible is something equally important. Look at the Dogs 50 metre arc.

We have a player within William’s kicking range who is totally in the clear and running into a goal scoring zone. So it was actually a 2 goal mistake. One we didn’t get- one the opposition does get. And we lost by 2 goals.