3 Things Learned - Round 15 vs Richmond, 2025

[Mantis]

1. Not sold on Coffield…yet…he looks slow.

2. Naughton is a shadow of himself. Red flag with the long deal we signed him too.

3. Treloar is cooked. Can’t afford to carry him anymore this year.

4. percentage means nothing if you don’t win enough games to make finals. Let’s see Whst we’ve got.

Love the positivity after a 12 goal win… we aren’t, and weren’t perfect, but if that’s your take away after a pretty good performance then I can’t wait for our next loss when the list might go off the page.

[DOG GOD]

Love the positivity after a 12 goal win… we aren’t, and weren’t perfect, but if that’s your take away after a pretty good performance then I can’t wait for our next loss when the list might go off the page.

we were playing the 17th best team. I expected to win and win well. As we should if we are a finals contender. I’m no way excited until we start beating teams in the 8. Sorry for not wearing rose coloured glasses.

coffield played well. Looked ok for first game back. Still not convinced he will take us next level though. Wait and see.

if Naughton didn’t have the name “Naughton” he’d be dropped by now. A very disappointing season so far from him. I understand he had an interrupted pre season but here we are almost in July. Needs to show something. Never seen him fumble at ground level so much. Completely devoid of confidence.

commentators talking up our %. So what. Means squat if we don’t win enough games for finals.

might seem negative to you
reality for me.

syd, NM, Adel and Bris will set our season up. Need 3 wins.

[GVGjr]

I'm not sure if the statistics support it but Bailey Williams might be having his best season with us in terms of how he is impacting games.

Davidson is exceeding any reasonable level of expectation we might have had of him. His game against the Tigers was his best for the season and came after a couple of quieter weeks.

We need to get a few good games from Naughton. His timing for his leads and marks was often wrong against the Tigers.

[comrade]

I’m convinced Naughts has some eyesight or depth perception issue. Surely he can’t consistently misread kicks like he has been without some sort of underlying issue.

[hujsh]

I expected him to look slower, tbh. Would you believe that he had the highest maximum speed of any bulldog today at 32km/hr?

He had one bad moment of indecision deep on the goal line (but didn't have many options anyway), but good disposals and some nice intercepts.

I learned that I am comfortable with Coffield being ahead of Cleary when he is fit.

There was a contest on the wing I was surprised he was able to reach to impact. Maybe some life in him yet.

Coffield had a bit of a 50/50 game overall for me. A dropped mark or two, the wrong choice a few times on whether to go up or not, but overall some positive signs and willing to wait and see on if the mistakes are just readjusting to AFL speed again.

I was really impressed with Dolan's contest as a lightly bodied first year player more known for his skill and decision making.

Hynes clean hands were another great sign. As players get better at tackling and the rules around holding the ball have gotten more strict, clean hands have become more and more of a difference between the best players and the rest. Just look at how Darcy clearly palms the ground ball vs Naughton tripping over it multiple times.

[Rusty12]

1 - I am a huge fan of Trelor the player, bloke and what he has contributed to the Dogs, and am backing him to play again next year. However, I watched him from the opening bounce, even when 100m off the ball, he was shuffling around, which was sad to see. Assuming for team balance, it was a Trelor or Garcia decision (Half-forward/Mid), his aggravation, saves the match committee from a decision I am not sure they had the courage to make. We are better with Garcia right now.
Trelor should aim for 2026, complete 12 weeks of conservative rehab and isometrics, and then complete another 3 months of plyometrics before playing again.

2 - A back 6, mostly including Lobb, JOD, Dale, Truck, and Freijah, is the way. It gives us the ball use and launching ability we need, whilst still being big enough. Have been calling for this group all year, and I hope it stays this way. JJ and Bramble can fight over no7. Coffield, Jones, Buss and Sellwood (Consussed the poor fella) can fight over no6.
Khamis in the team, makes this group a lot easier to run with also.

3 - Great that Hynes and Dolan got another senior game, and to see Hynes front and centre, and Dolan win some important footy. I don't think they are ready to stand up against the top 4, but between now and those games, I assume we are trying to figure out the best 23 balance. Like them both, it is just a bit early.

[lemmon]

I expected him to look slower, tbh. Would you believe that he had the highest maximum speed of any bulldog today at 32km/hr?

He had one bad moment of indecision deep on the goal line (but didn't have many options anyway), but good disposals and some nice intercepts.

I learned that I am comfortable with Coffield being ahead of Cleary when he is fit.

Agreed he played a good game of footy - I'm just a bit worried about who he matches up on when he actually has to defend against a quality forward.

I'm with Dog God and thought he looked pretty slow back there, he's a good size but I worry about how he goes against more mobile, agile types.

Will Hayward seems like the most natural match-up this week for Coffield. It's a good test considering Hayward has decent speed and is dynamic at ground level.

Coffield is a better interceptor of the footy than Cleary, but at this stage I'm not sure he's a better defender and Cleary probably has better ability to play small or tall.

[doggies ftw]

1 - I am a huge fan of Trelor the player, bloke and what he has contributed to the Dogs, and am backing him to play again next year. However, I watched him from the opening bounce, even when 100m off the ball, he was shuffling around, which was sad to see. Assuming for team balance, it was a Trelor or Garcia decision (Half-forward/Mid), his aggravation, saves the match committee from a decision I am not sure they had the courage to make. We are better with Garcia right now.
Trelor should aim for 2026, complete 12 weeks of conservative rehab and isometrics, and then complete another 3 months of plyometrics before playing again.

2 - A back 6, mostly including Lobb, JOD, Dale, Truck, and Freijah, is the way. It gives us the ball use and launching ability we need, whilst still being big enough. Have been calling for this group all year, and I hope it stays this way. JJ and Bramble can fight over no7. Coffield, Jones, Buss and Sellwood (Consussed the poor fella) can fight over no6.
Khamis in the team, makes this group a lot easier to run with also.

3 - Great that Hynes and Dolan got another senior game, and to see Hynes front and centre, and Dolan win some important footy. I don't think they are ready to stand up against the top 4, but between now and those games, I assume we are trying to figure out the best 23 balance. Like them both, it is just a bit early.

Agree with all of this but definitely on the back 6, we look a HEAP better with Freijah & Williams back there. I like how we’re using them both right now, especially Freijah. Still want him to get forward he’s too creative to waste but having him using the footy out of the backline is a far cry from some of what we’ve been dealing with earlier in the season.

Thats a pretty versatile group, would love a good lockdown small defender but they’re not on the list so can make do with what we’ve got, and would love a 25yo Jj but for now he’s still the best ‘run’ option we have when fit.

The 3rd tall can be match ups based week to week but was very happy with Coffields first game, he looks quicker than he has since he got to the club. Early days and we’ll see if his body holds up but he is a good fit for our defence if he can hold the position. Genuinely good in the air and frees up Williams to be more of a distributor. Very dependable with his kicking too, usually pretty safe but I don’t cover my eyes like with a Cleary etc doesn’t need to be too attacking anyway when we’ve got Dale, Truck, & Freijah and even Lobb/JOD who are pretty direct and long with their ground opening kicks

It was definitely my biggest concern on us competing a few weeks ago, so Williams & Freijah down there has made me a lot more confident on our fortunes as a team