In my footy tipping email in the comp I run, I picked Hawthorn.
I thought there was literally ZERO chance we would win last night.
The prognosis is pretty simple:
Are we playing against a team that is:
- Prepared to take away - or at least fight the fight - around stoppage?
- Willing to force us to repeatedly kick LONG?
- Going to separate our talls from the footy up forward and has viable interceptors?
- Motivated and willing to apply physical pressure to the ball carrier?
If so, we are going to lose.
Yep, I mean - sure. We'll have some moments and because we aren't hopeless and the players do have some pride we wont get blown out. Ultimately there are enough good players + a good enough system in place for us to be a 'hard out'...but we are not going to win.
I'm sorry to say, we don't "lack an edge". We're ROUND. We have NO EDGE. No desperation to fight it out and see it through.
Is a single person surprised that after having a week off last week before playing a Hawthorn side who lost both their captain AND their top 10-draft pick/small forward agitator during the week on top of already being without their best player (Day) would come out of the blocks and kick 5-goals to 1 effectively ending the game in 20-minutes? Not one person who posts regularly on here is surprised.
Is anyone surprised that it all came off the back of our contest being challenged and our defensive system being based on structure vs opponent meant that dangerous oppo forwards found themselves in space with the ball coming in fast?
I don't know about you guys but I really wonder why I get so invested in this when I know what's gonna happen before the game. Then I have those thoughts confirmed within 5-minutes of the bounce.
Apparently Bevo was talking to the players about potentially being the "Best Bulldogs Team Ever" during the pre-season. Certainly a worthy thing to aim for and aspire too. But we've gone from a team that once upon a time was always a DANGEROUS fringe side...it was US that knocked off Essendon in that seminal 2000-season of theirs and prevented the unbeaten run. These days? Holy hell - I mean, North Melbourne better bloody watch out...Josh Bruce might kick 10 - but if you're the Brisbane Lions or Geelong (or Hawthorn...or any other 'Solid' footy team)...you're safe as houses. Bank the 4-points and move on. Apologies to Josh for the Drive-By but my goodness between that game and the time we kicked 15 goals in a row or whatever it was against Essendon a couple of years back it all just serves to remind me of the mentality of this group of players and coaches. If you are no good - LOOK OUT. You wont see a better side than us. If on the other hand you are desperate for 4-points and prepared to play committed footy...we're gonna 'try' but, I mean, fair's fair. If you really want it, we're nice blokes...here...here it is. Take it.
I thought there was literally ZERO chance we would win last night.
The prognosis is pretty simple:
Are we playing against a team that is:
- Prepared to take away - or at least fight the fight - around stoppage?
- Willing to force us to repeatedly kick LONG?
- Going to separate our talls from the footy up forward and has viable interceptors?
- Motivated and willing to apply physical pressure to the ball carrier?
If so, we are going to lose.
Yep, I mean - sure. We'll have some moments and because we aren't hopeless and the players do have some pride we wont get blown out. Ultimately there are enough good players + a good enough system in place for us to be a 'hard out'...but we are not going to win.
I'm sorry to say, we don't "lack an edge". We're ROUND. We have NO EDGE. No desperation to fight it out and see it through.
Is a single person surprised that after having a week off last week before playing a Hawthorn side who lost both their captain AND their top 10-draft pick/small forward agitator during the week on top of already being without their best player (Day) would come out of the blocks and kick 5-goals to 1 effectively ending the game in 20-minutes? Not one person who posts regularly on here is surprised.
Is anyone surprised that it all came off the back of our contest being challenged and our defensive system being based on structure vs opponent meant that dangerous oppo forwards found themselves in space with the ball coming in fast?
I don't know about you guys but I really wonder why I get so invested in this when I know what's gonna happen before the game. Then I have those thoughts confirmed within 5-minutes of the bounce.
Apparently Bevo was talking to the players about potentially being the "Best Bulldogs Team Ever" during the pre-season. Certainly a worthy thing to aim for and aspire too. But we've gone from a team that once upon a time was always a DANGEROUS fringe side...it was US that knocked off Essendon in that seminal 2000-season of theirs and prevented the unbeaten run. These days? Holy hell - I mean, North Melbourne better bloody watch out...Josh Bruce might kick 10 - but if you're the Brisbane Lions or Geelong (or Hawthorn...or any other 'Solid' footy team)...you're safe as houses. Bank the 4-points and move on. Apologies to Josh for the Drive-By but my goodness between that game and the time we kicked 15 goals in a row or whatever it was against Essendon a couple of years back it all just serves to remind me of the mentality of this group of players and coaches. If you are no good - LOOK OUT. You wont see a better side than us. If on the other hand you are desperate for 4-points and prepared to play committed footy...we're gonna 'try' but, I mean, fair's fair. If you really want it, we're nice blokes...here...here it is. Take it.
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