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Time and Tide Waits For No Man -
I've spoken to Naughton about this at training. He said after Glandular Fever he experienced chronic fatigue and it was actually many weeks after that that he could train again and slowly build strength. Was happy to talk about it as I mentioned my wife also had the same issues, Glandular Fever and Chronic Fatigue (for months in our case).
He didn't expect to have chronic fatigue but it's common after Glandular Fever. He actually reached out to Alistair Lynch (who also went through it), to help understand it.
He said it was was weird because he was over the Fever but was still bed ridden for weeks. It was a slower than expected recovery.But then again, I'm an Internet poster and Bevo is a premiership coach so draw your own conclusions.Comment
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Home now from another good night out at Marvel.
That was fun. Can't complain tonight
To be honest before the game tonight I was expecting a much closer contest as I was nervous going into another challenge against a team in the top 8 who have found good recent form as well in the Giants.
We were solid from start to finish. Naughton and Darcy are a great combo. English had a fantastic game. Bont and Libba doing what they do both had solid games. Poulter had a very good game. Cleary, Lobb and JOD really good behind the ball. Lobb decision making really good tonight on when to mark and spoil.
Sure the Giants had some notably outs but they still had a lot of quality in there that could have troubled us but tonight they didn't. So we exposed them and it is a wake up call for them and Kingsley.
Need to keep winning next week against the Dees at the G, then the Eagles back at Marvel and then against Freo at Marvel which may decide if we make the finals.
We can enjoy another relaxing weekend.
Go Bulldogs!!"Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Any thoughts on Busslinger game? It’s hard to get a gauge on it , he didn’t get a lot of it but did some to settle things and the free kick against him was of no fault of his .
Whoever he played on hardly got a touch but neither did any other forward for them .
Do we know who he was on and his job for the night ?
Would it have made a difference playing Jones (as many thought including me ) would have been a better choice ?
Bring back the biffComment
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You might not know this but I hadn't been playing elite level sport at the time so outside of what I'd posted I'm probably not the best comparison!
Thanks for sharing. I won't underestimate the impacts, I was a zombie trying to get through day to day, showing up to work stuff.TF is this?.........Obviously you're not a golfer.Comment
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Our crowd: 23,898
Our 2nd highest crowd against the Giants."Footscray people are incredible people; so humble. I'm just so happy - ecstatic"Comment
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Yep, as an older person (eg not <20) it can knock you about. I’m a reasonably sized bloke and last about 20kgs over 2 weeks when I had it as just couldn’t eat. Shame the weight gradually crept back on during Covid…
He rightly had his output questioned over the front end of the season, however is now looking like the player we’ve all hoped he would be. He might just win a Coleman before it’s all said and done.Have you heard Butters wants to come to the Dogs?Comment
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Bont seemed to really back McNeil last night. Not sure if others noticed this? On his (first?) set shot Fridge was running past for a handball and Bont killed it backing him with the set shot. For the miss on the run McNeil instinctively looked to handball back to Bont, but Bont said “it’s yours”.
I was very happy for him. His importance to the make up of the side seemed acknowledged by the Cap who went out of his way to get him on the stat sheet too.Have you heard Butters wants to come to the Dogs?Comment
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Geez what a win, I was pretty confident we’d account for them, not like that though. They’re one of the form teams in the comp right now and we completely dismantled them. It’s a weird one obviously we contributed to how badly they played but at the same time just thought they were super flat and pathetic in the contest - and we know what we’re capable of when teams don’t bring that heat so I’m not sure it tells us toomuch but either way super
win.
What was the most encouraging was some of the changes we made defensively, it seemed live that there was a lot more one on one, especially further up the ground in our front half when they were exiting defence and then the next line of defence deeper in their half it was more zoned.
I thought it worked well as GWS found it tough to pierce through our zone off HB with shorter kicks as it was always only to a contest unless a perfect kick to a leading target, and even if they hit one or two the next in line was still to a contest and had to be perfect. The next line of defenders in a zone setup is fine because by the time the ball travels that long distance you’ve got time to cut it off. A short range zone makes no sense as you’re purely relying on a skill error to make it work and if it doesn’t the short ground opening kicks completely cut you open.
Maybe I’m old school but still nothing beats pressure, the pressure of having to beat your man one on one, the inferred pressure when your opponent is kicking the footy as they know you’re always right on their hammer, the pressure knowing you gotta get back and kick over the man on the mark because you’re right in his face. I think this is something Bevo has neglected over the years with his zone defences, corralling rather than attacking the ball carrier, backing off the mark tactics etc yeah on paper they make sense but in the real world of a pressure cooker afl environment, turn it up and force the oppo to not want to play you.
But anyway from a game plan and system point of view - we played it to perfection and I think and hope there’s a lot for us to take out of that going into games against good teams in the future. Geez I hope we don’t miss out on finals because we’re a bloody chance if we make it and get it right when it matters. Honestly.Comment
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From a players perspective, the lesser lights did more than can be expected of them which is awesome.
Poulter played his role to perfection - props to him and the coaches I didn’t think he had that in him. I guess that’s what the coaches have seen in his game as to why they think he can play that role and maybe they’ve got it right. He will need to impact more defensively as a 3rd tall lead up forward but I’ll let him off the hook for that tonight as it’s hard to pressure and tackle when the oppo doesn’t have the footy! Also should have had 2 goals - what was that decision? “From this angle we can see there’s no gap between ball & post” yeah you mean the angle directly behind the ball in line with the post? No shit you muppet how dumb are these people.
McNeil fantastic to finish his work and get some reward on the scoreboard, hopefully that gives him some confidence. If he can just start nailing those shots more often he becomes a different proposition as a player. Anyway McNeil just needs some consistency right, we don’t expect or need 3 goals a week from him he just needs to make sure he takes his chances in those pressure situation kicks, and move the ball on more quickly offensively when he gets it and not hold up transitions. We know his defensive output is fantastic. For mine jury’s still out because his issues come to the surface under pressure, not in a 90 pt win. But good game from him.
Baker similar, another good game but his disposal just worries me too much in high pressure games. It’s a shame it’s not just a little bit better because he does a lot right. His pace and hardness is elite, I’m trying to think of a role which can minimise his weaknesses, I don’t think that’s the wing or half back where you need more precision kicking though - could he play high half forward? Pressure and cut oppo exiting lanes like we expect from those in the role, but with the footy you’ve always got link up players streaming past for the overlap or basically you can just kick deep and long which he’s fine at, just the short stuff which is an issue. Keep it simple and he might be able to make something work, I’d probably have him as one of our best sub options.
Cleary awesome 3 weeks and growing in confident, he’s what we’ve needed big time there and could be really important going forward. Buss didn’t really notice him a lot but hey call me crazy but that’s what I want from a FB. The less I notice him the better job he’s doing, and Lobb/JOD can do the more eye catching stuff around him. Everyone needs an anchor in defence and I think he can be this guy, he’s just an unassuming, smart type. I think he can absolutely be a piece of a good defensive puzzle, even if not the superstar centre piece.
JJ turned back the clock, was everywhere last night. Intercepting, running, creating. We’re just such a more damaging proposition when JJ is up and about with Dale. We need to find a like for like replacement asap if he can’t do it consistently any more.
Darcy & Naughty are bloody awesome to watch, this year may not end the way we want it to and may even be considered a failure when all is said and done. But don’t take it for granted how fun it is going to the footy and watching these two kick bags and just work seamlessly together. Footys meant to be fun which we forget some times and these dudes are the benchmark of fun. As a young dogs supporter whose been just wanting to one day have one of the superstar forwards of the 90s & 00s on our team for once…. Here we are, and they’ve both got the better part of a decade left at our club too…Comment
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