So what needs to change?

[Boots]

Don't forget last year we had the best defence, but yeah we are still looking.

Yeah, that's part of what baffles me so much. I suspect it's about Jones' and Duryea's absences, not in terms of their skills, but as senior players who can properly direct play down back. We seemed to struggle when Easton Wood was our backline general, but were were amazing down back with less functional personnel but with Dale Morris in the leader role. But I don't really know, I'm just guessing.

[Danjul]

8’
My issue with Baker is the same, ie consistency throughout the match, not flashing in and out. That is why I had him in the maybe list to get a new contract.

My comment about Baker referred to an AFL game against a better team (they won) where WOOF contributors claimed that he was 4th best bulldog player on the day. He had 20 disposals at 80% efficiency, kicked a goal and set up some others. He had 1 less disposal than Richards. The reason you thought that he flashed in and out was he spent less time on the ground than the vast majority of the team.

He was used as a burst player, brought on to use speed. I think wisely because we don’t have others for the role . He was usually bottom third for time on ground and top third for disposals.

in the Freo game he was 6th for disposals- comparable with Kennedy, Richards, Freijah and Dale. In the earlier game against Freo (round 5) he was 7th for disposals. Against Geelong, you guessed it, 7th for disposals.

Against Melbourne, seen by many here as a danger game, he was 7th for disposals despite having less time on the ground than 17 others.

I see that as extremely consistent contributions, including against top ‘8’ teams. Not bad for someone who only played 7 full games this year.

[Danjul]

Baker hardly starred at VFL in the final. Kicked a good goal, had one good smother, and 2 really good tackles. For the remainder of the game he was no better than any SouthPort player who isnt on an AFL list. We want people in the side who are competitive with Brisbane Lions players not just for 5 minutes of the game but for 120 minutes. Its the 115 minutes they go walk about is where we lose the games. Our problem is that we have 6 doing that weekly. We need to improve in that area. If Baker tags McCluggage out of the game for 115 minutes and has 5 good minutes himself im satisfied. But we dont operate like that and it needs to change. Cannot have McNeil getting 7 possessions a game and say he plays a role. If his role wins the game then well done. If it doesnt then the role needs to be changed. The role Gardiner, Lester, Wilmont did in GF influenced the result and 2 of them would be in their bottom 6

I find the highlighted part sums up how I feel about this wasted season. So I offer the following comment in support.

In round five, Baker had 20 possessions and 17 were kicked. He is listed on the AFL website as 400 metres gained. In the same game Dolan had 5 kicks and 100 metres gained.

Baker was dropped for the next game, against Brisbane. His replacement was Hynes.

After establishing a 40 point lead in the middle of the game the Dogs allowed Brisbane (the eventual premiers) to score the next 9 goals. We were slightly ahead at three quarter time but continued to be overpowered in the last for what history records as a close loss.

How did Baker’s replacement go? 1 kick and 2 handballs and 4 metres gained.

We already had young players in Dolan, Davidson, Sanders (who all combined with Hynes to have a total of 17 kicks).

These will all be excellent players-in due time . But they can’t run out a tough game against a team that had played in the previous two grand finals. The AFL website shows Davidson, Dolan and Hynes sat out a combined 40 minutes of the last quarter (if I am interpreting it correctly). And we were already a player down from injury.

There has been a lot of discussion about why we can’t beat top 8 sides. I offer this as relevant data.

[bulldogSimmo]

I find the highlighted part sums up how I feel about this wasted season. So I offer the following comment in support.

In round five, Baker had 20 possessions and 17 were kicked. He is listed on the AFL website as 400 metres gained. In the same game Dolan had 5 kicks and 100 metres gained.

Baker was dropped for the next game, against Brisbane. His replacement was Hynes.

After establishing a 40 point lead in the middle of the game the Dogs allowed Brisbane (the eventual premiers) to score the next 9 goals. We were slightly ahead at three quarter time but continued to be overpowered in the last for what history records as a close loss.

How did Baker’s replacement go? 1 kick and 2 handballs and 4 metres gained.

We already had young players in Dolan, Davidson, Sanders (who all combined with Hynes to have a total of 17 kicks).

These will all be excellent players-in due time . But they can’t run out a tough game against a team that had played in the previous two grand finals. The AFL website shows Davidson, Dolan and Hynes sat out a combined 40 minutes of the last quarter (if I am interpreting it correctly). And we were already a player down from injury.

There has been a lot of discussion about why we can’t beat top 8 sides. I offer this as relevant data.

Great analysis.

[Dazza]

Obviously defending the turnover. We are probably the worst in the league at this. Not sure if the mids pressing forward too hard or the defenders

[bulldogSimmo]

Obviously defending the turnover. We are probably the worst in the league at this. Not sure if the mids pressing forward too hard or the defenders

For a long time we have coached our defense to take up an aggressive position in front of their attacker. It's why we give up so many over the top goals when the pressure around the ball isn't high enough. Our pressure game needs to improve but I also think our defensive positioning needs adjustment. Bevo has been pretty fixed on playing this style for a long time though