Ask a question: Freo

[mjp]

I live 5kms from my work. I drive past the Dockers training facility every day. Twice! My wife supports them (so does my Mum who attends every game dressed in purple)...if I watch one game a weekend, it is the Dogs. If I watch 2, the second would almost certainly feature the Dockers.

If anyone has any Dockers questions they want answered, fire away. I might not be able to answer them but I probably can...

[Happy Days]

They have a great midfield, two elite rucks who give very different looks, quality key defenders and gunners who can put real speed on the ball, and a forward line that’s dangerous in the air and on the ground.

So my question is why do they play such restrictive, safe football instead of killing everyone

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I live 5kms from my work. I drive past the Dockers training facility every day. Twice! My wife supports them (so does my Mum who attends every game dressed in purple)...if I watch one game a weekend, it is the Dogs. If I watch 2, the second would almost certainly feature the Dockers.

If anyone has any Dockers questions they want answered, fire away. I might not be able to answer them but I probably can...

Will they beat us?

[mjp]

They have a great midfield, two elite rucks who give very different looks, quality key defenders and gunners who can put real speed on the ball, and a forward line that’s dangerous in the air and on the ground.

So my question is why do they play such restrictive, safe football instead of killing everyone

I think some of the talk of Freo's capabilities are a bit over-exagerated.

When you look at the mids:

- Darcy, Jackson, Serong and Brawshaw started in the centre square on the weekend.

Now - whilst Jackson is a great runner as a ruck, he isn't a great runner for a mid. Brayshaw and Serong seem to be at their best around the contest/loose ball vs as providing a running/receiving target. So...that kind of means they are dependent on their outside players (O'Driscoll is sadly out of form), half forwards - where Frederick is a genuine spud who needs space to use his running capability and Switkowski a very good player but one at his best (again, like Brayshaw and Serong) around the contest. Which leaves it to Clarke and Chapman off half-back...Those guys do it pretty well but if the oppo is challenging them defensively, it's a big ask for them to get as involved in ball movement chains.

On top of all of that, you have a player like Pearce who tries to lead the way by getting involved in the transition game but he cannot kick - which often (as you might have seen in q1 last Friday night) makes things worse rather than making them better....Luke Ryan is a good kick but his insistence on being the deepest defender these days has limited his effectiveness in BM chains...

I mean, like most teams in the top 9, Freo are a really solid side but no-one is perfect...I suspect this week they will use Wagner to tag Richards which will further limit their ability to run and spread....

When you talk about their forwards - as talented as the Voss/Treacy/Amiss trio are - they are very inexperienced...

Hayden Young of course is somewhat of a missing link and he is expected to play this week...we'll see.

In short - for Freo to do what you are asking they need some of their BEST players to do things that aren't their #1 attributes...in Bulldogs terms, Serong and Brayshaw are more like Liber than Richards.

[mjp]

Will they beat us?

Um - they might!

I think Wagner goes to Richards and if we leave him in the mids and he is held to < 18 touches then I don't think we can overcome that.
They have key defenders for days and we really need Naughton and Darcy to bring the ball to the deck and in such a way that Clarke can't use marking contests as defensive rebound opportunities.
I do think we'll get our forward half game against these guys - but if we squeeze our backs too tightly like we did at Optus earlier in the year and ask our backs to defend 4 vs 2 in 100m of space, they WILL SCORE on transition....

So...have we learned from the game at Optus or not??

[angelopetraglia]

You are probably in one of the best positions to anwser the question above. What do you think happens on Sunday?

Last time we played them in Perth, Bont didn't play and outside of a 12 minute "purple" patch, we controlled the game but we could not hit the scoreboard with any effeciency when we had control of the game. Naughton was horribly out of form at that point of the season. We won the inside 50m count 44-63. Lost the first quarter by two points. Lost the second quarter by 5 goals. Won the third quarter by eight points. Won the last quarter by eight points.

Serong dominated for them with 38 touches.
Darcy dominated for us with 5.0 from 21 touches and four contested marks.

[Bornadog]

Should we sort of tag Serong - I mean not a hard tag, but have someone run with him to try and dent his ability to get the ball?

[mjp]

Should we sort of tag Serong - I mean not a hard tag, but have someone run with him to try and dent his ability to get the ball?

I don't know who could do that. He wins his footy inside and I always battle with the idea of tagging an inside player.

I would:

- 100% tag Clarke at half back. Take him out of the game.
- If Young plays, don't mess around - his kicking changes games. Put him under immediate physical pressure.

[mjp]

You are probably in one of the best positions to anwser the question above. What do you think happens on Sunday?

Last time we played them in Perth, Bont didn't play and outside of a 12 minute "purple" patch, we controlled the game but we could not hit the scoreboard with any effeciency when we had control of the game. Naughton was horribly out of form at that point of the season. We won the inside 50m count 44-63. Lost the first quarter by two points. Lost the second quarter by 5 goals. Won the third quarter by eight points. Won the last quarter by eight points.

Serong dominated for them with 38 touches.
Darcy dominated for us with 5.0 from 21 touches and four contested marks.

Yeah - I kind of answered this above. I think we will again get a forward half game but Freo are pretty comfortable playing the game inside their defensive 50. Ryan, Pearce, Cox - even Chapman - super cool heads under pressure...Serong and Brayshaw have the support of two good rucks and are comfortable with repeat stop after repeat stop.

At Optus, our backs got very high in squeeze to amp up the pressure but Freo were able to get over our press and we were left trying to defend 2v4 in acres of space...and they kicked the goals they needed too...

Bont probably changes some of the D50 (Freo D50) stop stuff as he will help pull their backs apart so maybe that changes things? If it was me I would move to more of a 4-2 squeeze and keep an extra number back (I reckon we were 5-1 at Optus) and give us more opportunity to defend the ground.

[angelopetraglia]

Bulldogs v Dockers - Docklands

Played 15. Bulldogs have the edge with a 9-6 record.

Last 5. Bulldogs have the edge with a 4-1 record.

Average crowd is 20,455. Largest crowd was 2016, 27,832.



MJP - how relevant is the home ground advantage for this contest? How well to the Dockers play Marvel? Does their game suit this ground?

Dockers recent record at Marvel

2025 - loss to Saints by 61 points
2024 - loss to Dogs by 67 points, beat Saints by 17, beat NMFC by 26
2023 - loss to Dogs by 29 points, loss to Saints by 15 points

[mjp]

Bulldogs v Dockers - Docklands

Played 15. Bulldogs have the edge with a 9-6 record.

Last 5. Bulldogs have the edge with a 4-1 record.

Average crowd is 20,455. Largest crowd was 2016, 27,832.



MJP - how relevant is the home ground advantage for this contest? How well to the Dockers play Marvel? Does their game suit this ground?

I think they'll be fine.

Perth Stadium: 165m x 130m
Docklands: 160m x 129m

They're the same.

[angelopetraglia]

I think they'll be fine.

Perth Stadium: 165m x 130m
Docklands: 160m x 129m

They're the same.

Dimensions are similar, but high marking is easier at Docklands compared to playing footy outside. Darcy kicked 5 last time, he may be even hard to stop under the roof for instance.

[Grantysghost]

I think Treacy is super important to their way of playing. He presents well up the ground and can be an outlet between the arcs from d50 and obviously forward. Super strong overhead. He's prone to some brain fades but I really rate him.

Do we have a defender that can go with him ?

[Pleather Sole]

They were dreadful at home v Brisbane. Barely scored, goal kicking was cringey. Glacial pace moving the ball from their D50, quite slow in all areas comparatively. We're quick, do they have the physical and mental agility to play at our pace this weekend? It'll be a significant shift.
The Marvel ground isn't so different in dimensions. It is the only footy stadium under the lid, against a home side, a long flight. Can they flick a switch and sustain it better than us for four quarters?

[Bornadog]

I haven't seen the Dockers play much, but previously against us they like the possession game and move the ball slowly, criss-crossing the ball acrtoss the ground before entering forward 50.

1. Is this still thge way they play?
2. if so, how do we counter it?