Western Bulldogs V Adelaide Crows R18, Saturday 12/7/25 at Marvel Stadium at 1:20pm

[JanLorMill]

I also think we’re missing the leadership of Jones and Duryea in the back line. They were awesome last year at setting us up behind the ball. Unfortunately I think the game has gone past both of them, as neither can keep their feet anymore.

Ridiculous to think that they both could this season coming with both turning 34.
They both finished last season poorly.

[ledge]

And all the other results aren’t going our way either.

[angelopetraglia]

Interesting. We have not played Adelaide at Marvel since 2016. Our record against them in the last 25 years at the stadium is not too shabby. 8 wins in 10 matches. Hopefully we can give the record crowd versus the Crows at Marvel a nudge too.

Round	W/L	Margin	Crowd	Date
R7	W	15	26,984	Sat 07-May-2016 7:40 PM
R4	W	57	19,915	Sun 26-Apr-2015 4:40 PM
R6	L	-9	17,404	Sun 27-Apr-2014 1:10 PM
R21	W	17	17,159	Sun 18-Aug-2013 4:40 PM
R13	W	30	19,363	Fri 17-Jun-2011 7:40 PM
R5	W	49	26,884	Fri 23-Apr-2010 7:40 PM
R1	W	3	24,835	Sun 23-Mar-2008 1:10 PM
R5	W	31	27,900	Sat 23-Apr-2005 7:15 PM
R1	L	-19	18,475	Sun 31-Mar-2002 2:10 PM
R16	W	61	22,229	Sun 25-Jun-2000 2:10 PM

41,198

Massive crowd versus an interstate team for us.

[Eastdog]

Was at the game today. Great crowd for our home game of 41K.

The issue was our defensive game for sure and not being able to quell the influence Thriththope, Fogarty and co had on the game. Need to make some changes to the defence at selection and just have a better structure down there. Lobb and JOD were well beaten today. L. Jones, Busslinger should have been played under the roof at Marvel knowing the Crows have those talls up forward.

We were able to score again close to 100 points so the offensive game isn't an issue and Naughton played well kicking 5. The Bont was the one who really kept us in it and give ourselves a chance.

The Crows far better at transitioning the ball today and our inability to defend that transition was very telling.

Lions next week at the Gabba which is another tough assignment. Will be going in heavy underdogs.

Just need to qualify for the finals and hopefully get a home elimination final as top 4 is pretty much out of reach unless we win very game now.

[BontlowSzn]

Really disappointing. Aside from a 10 minute purple patch from Naughton we weren't really in the game at all. They had us covered.

The difference in our disposal going inside 50 and Adelaide's was chalk and cheese. Without checking stats, Dawson must've had nearly 10 inside 50 kicks that hit targets. He's their only midfielder who can damage you and we allowed him free reign to wrap around and get handball receives. Staggering. No other team allows that.

The instruction must be to just throw it on the boot as high at you can kicking inside 50. Does my head in.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Since the bye, I've had this game down as "the one" to see if we're the real deal or not this year. Now we know.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but at this point I'm pretty sure that we're destined to crash out in the first week of finals again

- BNC

[westbulldog]

Since the bye, I've had this game down as "the one" to see if we're the real deal or not this year. Now we know.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but at this point I'm pretty sure that we're destined to crash out in the first week of finals again

- BNC

................ if we even make the finals. At this point in time we have half a dozen who are either not contributing or simply are not up to AFL standard.

[azabob]

A lot of angst towards Bevo, Coffield, Lobb and JOD.

The way the crows moved the ball was so easy, even if Jones played it is a high probability that Thillthorp kicks 6.

More than half the team played either an average game or below average game when comparing to their talent level or output this season.

In particular Darcy, Dale, Williams, West, Kennedy and Freijah were disappointing and couldn’t impact moments when needed.

[SonofScray]

I’m giving the team a small window and an increased degree of difficulty to answer a question I think has already been solved by waiting until the Brisbane game before I pop off.

The signs are pretty clear right now though. The flat track bullies tag is warranted.

There’s been a handful of performances and a general vibe check that have won me over this season. Introduction of new players in meaningful roles, increased scoring power, Darcy’s rise etc have been well received. Saddled with those signs we have also seen games where our tackling has been sub par, the defensive squeeze not at a standard we know must be brought to finals and the inability to find the killer blow in tight games look like fundamental flaws to our prospects.

Bit worried we have just found a new path to the same outcome, or just aren’t going to be able to bridge the gap this year and then lose confidence.

[doggies ftw]

Nah let’s stop making excuses for poor selection, it’s a ****ing joke to be honest. We needed Jones to match up on Thrillthorp, he would have done a better job than Lobb but it’s not even the point, we lost every single bit of the rebound & intercept game we usually get from Lobb. All to accomodate Coffield? This bloke actually sucks, can’t kick can’t mark can’t play small cos he’s too slow like literally what is he bringing?

This isnt even hindsight, everyone knew this on Thursday. I’m sorry but I’m sick of Bev losing games at selection. These sort of mistakes just aren’t acceptable, and yes it might have cost us the game cos it’s an 11 pt game at the end of the day.

This is why Bev doesn’t make top 4, constantly pulling this shit because he thinks he’s the smartest bloke in the world. I’m glad he resigned but he’s got massive ****ing flaws as a coach that are still as evident as day 1. I hope Egan can recognise this and is putting the right pieces in place behind the scenes

[Flamethrower]

Stop calling for Jones - he has completely lost confidence in his body. We need to see if the Buss or Sellwood can develop at AFL level AND we need to trade JUH or one of our young midfielders and throw the kitchen sink at a tall lock-down defender who wants a better contract or a change of scenery.

We also need to re-assess the full ground press and create a system that can withstand fast break football when we turn it over in our front half.

Just a random though - for the 2nd week in a row someone has taken offence to the defensive actions of Butts. Last week Lynch got sick of the attention and Barry Halled him, and this week Sam Darcy Jackie Chaned him - where there is smoke theres usually fire.

[Stevo]

It's a shame there is no VFL for us this round. The likes of Jones, Busslinger, Cleary and Sellwood could have pushed their case for selection.

[SonofScray]

Stop calling for Jones - he has completely lost confidence in his body. We need to see if the Buss or Sellwood can develop at AFL level AND we need to trade JUH or one of our young midfielders and throw the kitchen sink at a tall lock-down defender who wants a better contract or a change of scenery.

We also need to re-assess the full ground press and create a system that can withstand fast break football when we turn it over in our front half.

Just a random though - for the 2nd week in a row someone has taken offence to the defensive actions of Butts. Last week Lynch got sick of the attention and Barry Halled him, and this week Sam Darcy Jackie Chaned him - where there is smoke theres usually fire.

I can’t see that happening, that’s been a feature of the whole philosophy under Bevo’s tenure.

Volume entries inside 50 and full ground press, give up the fast break as a sacrifice.

[jeemak]

If we want to play something other than an aggressive press then we need defenders who can be relied upon to either intercept the ball (we have one in Lobb when he's on his game), or halve contests (again we have one in Lobb when he's on his game). So failing having the personnel we're stuck with what we're stuck with.

We didn't press as aggressively last year when Liam Jones was playing capably alongside Lobb. We're actually doing it to protect our defence - not in spite of it. Another problem is we're not picking up the cues on when to run back hard and we're giving away too much width and being caught in no mans land when we finally do run back. It's why it looked like Adelaide got us going both fast and slow The dearth of leadership on the field is a problem.

I am happy to give Jones another go, but there's got to be a reason outside of being too cleaver by half for not selecting him at the moment. He might just be cooked. Having said that, Coffield probably has one more game at the level to show more convincing form after some patchy contributions. He's not had continuity in the game for a while, I'm sure it's not easy to adjust straight away after having so many concerns physically.

As for being flat track bullies, I think that's an unnecessarily disparaging term to describe us. We've taken most of the quality teams to task at different times throughout our contests against them but we just don't have the quality to compete. If we did have the cattle then I'd be OK with the term, but we don't.

[whythelongface]

Nah let’s stop making excuses for poor selection, it’s a ****ing joke to be honest. We needed Jones to match up on Thrillthorp, he would have done a better job than Lobb but it’s not even the point, we lost every single bit of the rebound & intercept game we usually get from Lobb. All to accomodate Coffield? This bloke actually sucks, can’t kick can’t mark can’t play small cos he’s too slow like literally what is he bringing?

This isnt even hindsight, everyone knew this on Thursday. I’m sorry but I’m sick of Bev losing games at selection. These sort of mistakes just aren’t acceptable, and yes it might have cost us the game cos it’s an 11 pt game at the end of the day.

This is why Bev doesn’t make top 4, constantly pulling this shit because he thinks he’s the smartest bloke in the world. I’m glad he resigned but he’s got massive ****ing flaws as a coach that are still as evident as day 1. I hope Egan can recognise this and is putting the right pieces in place behind the scenes

Whilst the non selection of Jones or Buss may have been disappointing or questionable, the question needs to be asked why the 23 selected couldn’t collectively beat the Crows? Why is it always on the selectors? I mean we are good enough but maybe we execute poorly, the game plan isn’t as good as it should be or we just aren’t good enough. Honestly I don’t think Jones or Buss would have made a difference. Again we had too many skill errors that lead to turnovers in critical moments and in critical areas of the ground. They were great at capitalising on these.