Can we still win it?

[comrade]

Re: Can we still win it?

Well we haven't seen our forward line structure yet so lets maybe hold fire there, but the update (?) on Martin has to go some way to assuaging fears about the ruck weakness. What premiership winning side has ever had a decent ruckman anyway?

If he comes back in and English plays more forward then I have a ton of confidence in a Naughton/English pairing to cause havoc, especially with a more potent small forward mix than we saw with that combination earlier this year.

Keath is a full on gun KPD but yes, the second defender role is a headache. Maybe Gardner gets back but he's been a classic case of getting better with every game he doesnt play, and I don't think it really matters what Lewy Young does because we all know he's not playing when it counts. Schache looks the best but he's also probably the worst defender of the lot.

So that leaves Cordy. I'm not really sure how you feel about him but he's the best option, and to be honest against a lot of the second key forwards we're likely to see then that's enough. Bevo has got to be realistic and play him on thev tallest person closest to his athletic profile rather than his physical one. Play him on Brown when we play Melbourne, on Marshall against Port, against players where he can use his strengths (he does have a couple - he's a fantastic spoiler and doesn't often get done in the air if he hasn't been done for pace). Wood has to take the second most dangerous forward, which is again not ideal but I've got a lot more confidence in him than I do Cordy

It's not a great answer but good teams have made due with far less. But these are our weaknesses, and maybe you don't have to overcome them and win because of your strengths? West Coast had Nathan Vardy in the ruck in 2018 and 5 midfielders worse than our worst guy now, but an incredible back 6 and won pretty much entirely because of it. And then there's Richmond, who made Kamdyn McIntosh and Jason Castagna 3 time premiership players (I'm not fact checking this).

Adequacy is enough in some spots when you're incredible elsewhere, and we are.

WC had an elite defence and forward group, let's not undersell them. Peak McGovern, Barrass, Hurn etc and peak Kennedy, Darling, Liam Ryan. Vardy is about on par with English as a ruck, and yeah our mids are probably superior on paper but they're not real keen on the defensive stuff and have gone to water the past 2 elim finals.

[Bornadog]

Re: Can we still win it?

Our mids are probably superior on paper but they're not real keen on the defensive stuff and have gone to water the past 2 elim finals.

They are more mature now and no longer babies, so I am confident they are our real strength.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Can we still win it?

Feeling a bit the same.

If someone can make a reasonable argument on how we can overcome our clear weaknesses in the 2nd key defender role, the ruck and now our forward line structure, I'm all ears and ready to jump back on.

Any comparisons to 2016 need not apply.

Reality is we need our midfield to absolutely takeover.

Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunks, Treloar and Smith - they need to dominate the finals if we're going to win it.

It'd be handy if Keath/Gardiner/Cordy hold up, or if Lew Young can be a bit like Hamling in '16 where he came in late and filled an important role, but those stories only materialise if our mid group really apply the pressure to the opposition.

[comrade]

Re: Can we still win it?

Reality is we need our midfield to absolutely takeover.

Bont, Libba, Macrae, Dunks, Treloar and Smith - they need to dominate the finals if we're going to win it.

It'd be handy if Keath/Gardiner/Cordy hold up, or if Lew Young can be a bit like Hamling in '16 where he came in late and filled an important role, but those stories only materialise if our mid group really apply the pressure to the opposition.

Fingers crossed, but all the other top 4 sides have strong midfields too so I just can’t see us having it our own way.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Can we still win it?

Fingers crossed, but all the other top 4 sides have strong midfields too so I just can’t see us having it our own way.

Agreed - it'd have to be a special performance to really dominate the likes of Geelong and Melbourne in the one finals series. Possible? It is, but it's on the lower end of probability.

I'm really concerned about our forward set-up against Melbourne and Geelong - the likes of May/Lever/Stewart can potentially dine out more than they already have without Bruce whilst also being able to double team or shut out Naughton.

If Martin gets up, English forward more would be big.

[comrade]

Re: Can we still win it?

Agreed - it'd have to be a special performance to really dominate the likes of Geelong and Melbourne in the one finals series. Possible? It is, but it's on the lower end of probability.

I'm really concerned about our forward set-up against Melbourne and Geelong - the likes of May/Lever/Stewart can potentially dine out more than they already have without Bruce whilst also being able to double team or shut out Naughton.

If Martin gets up, English forward more would be big.

Yeah, Bruce going down has really dented our chances. I had us around 30% chance of winning the flag prior to last weekend, I think we’re half that now.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Can we still win it?

It’s a bit of a Hail Mary from here for mine. Melbourne and geelong are going in full strength while we continually lose major pieces. Certainly not impossible but i feel we’re fighting with an arm behind our back. If our midfield suddenly becomes hard to play against, we could pull it off. But I haven’t seen evidence that suggests that’ll happen under finals pressure.

[Mofra]

Re: Can we still win it?

We still have a trump card - a fit Treloar. After a couple of weeks of playing he's going to be huge for us. Who do Melbourne have that can go with him? The Cats?

The one thing they both lack is a genuine burst mid. It might be our only shot but it's not all doom and gloom. Would anyone give us a chance when Murphy went down, our captain and key play maker out of the back half?

[comrade]

Re: Can we still win it?

We still have a trump card - a fit Treloar. After a couple of weeks of playing he's going to be huge for us. Who do Melbourne have that can go with him? The Cats?

The one thing they both lack is a genuine burst mid. It might be our only shot but it's not all doom and gloom. Would anyone give us a chance when Murphy went down, our captain and key play maker out of the back half?

We had 20 weeks to overcome that and we don’t have the likes of Morris, Picko, Clay and Matty Boyd to brute force us over the line this time.

[Bornadog]

Re: Can we still win it?

Lots of doom and gloom just because we lost one player.

If you take the 10 goals out of Bruce's total and average out the rest of his 38 goals over 20 games, he has been kicking just under 2 goals a game. We are the highest scoring team, so plenty of fire power left in our forward line.

We have had an incredible season winning in all our interstate matches and have hardly had our best team on the park.

Dunkley, Treloar will soon be contributing, Keath is back, Dale an AA backman, Bont in Brownlow form, Naughton one of the best contested marks in the AFL, Libba a clearance King, Macrae racking up disposals. No doubt we have a star studded team.

Bring on the finals.

[Grantysghost]

Re: Can we still win it?

Lots of doom and gloom just because we lost one player.

If you take the 10 goals out of Bruce's total and average out the rest of his 38 goals over 20 games, he has been kicking just under 2 goals a game. We are the highest scoring team, so plenty of fire power left in our forward line.

We have had an incredible season winning in all our interstate matches and have hardly had our best team on the park.

Dunkley, Treloar will soon be contributing, Keath is back, Dale an AA backman, Bont in Brownlow form, Naughton one of the best contested marks in the AFL, Libba a clearance King, Macrae racking up disposals. No doubt we have a star studded team.

Bring on the finals.

Agree it's there to be won. There's no standout team and we've beaten Melbourne and pushed the Cats to the brink on their home turf.
Get excited dogs fans!

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: Can we still win it?

Lots of doom and gloom just because we lost one player.

If you take the 10 goals out of Bruce's total and average out the rest of his 38 goals over 20 games, he has been kicking just under 2 goals a game. We are the highest scoring team, so plenty of fire power left in our forward line.

We have had an incredible season winning in all our interstate matches and have hardly had our best team on the park.

Dunkley, Treloar will soon be contributing, Keath is back, Dale an AA backman, Bont in Brownlow form, Naughton one of the best contested marks in the AFL, Libba a clearance King, Macrae racking up disposals. No doubt we have a star studded team.

Bring on the finals.

I love you, Bornadog.

[josie]

Re: Can we still win it?

Dunks & Treloar are the keys, oh and acceptable goal kicking accuracy. We know our other midfielders will get their fair share of it. Two way running like we saw vs Dees a few weeks ago and hell yeah we can win a string of games & hold up the cup.

Really hoping Bevo can use last Sunday’s poor showing to instigate a positive turn around.

[The bulldog tragician]

Re: Can we still win it?

It’s a bit of a Hail Mary from here for mine. Melbourne and geelong are going in full strength while we continually lose major pieces. Certainly not impossible but i feel we’re fighting with an arm behind our back. If our midfield suddenly becomes hard to play against, we could pull it off. But I haven’t seen evidence that suggests that’ll happen under finals pressure.

Our 3 best midfielders Bont Macrae and Libba were also the core of 2016 so I don’t understand why it’s a given that our mids are susceptible to finals pressure. They are now complemented by Dunkley and Treloar who are upgrades on Dahlhaus and Clay Smith for talent if not intensity. We have Caleb Daniel and Bailey Smith to also rotate through. In ‘19 we were (unforgivably) startled and unprepared for GWS finals pressure and I’m still scratching our head about where our minds were at in ‘20, but in reality we were still a side in transition.

I’m not as worried about our mids this finals series as about virtually every other spot!! - we still haven’t got the ruck right, heaven help us if Keath goes down, and of course the loss of Bruce is significant. One of the most painful things about our loss to the Don The Sash mob is that we don’t have any margin for error - waiting another week for Keath and VDM to return for example or tinkering with our structure. Damn you Bombres and the fickle injury gods.

[DOG GOD]

Re: Can we still win it?

To be a chance in the first final, dunks and Treloar will have to be back to pre-injury form, Keath will have to play a blinder and Naughton will have to kick straight.

I still think our deep defence looks vulnerable..
I think our ruck situation without Martin will be key..
Bruce WILL be a loss, as it puts more pressure on Naughts.

And if our mids don’t come out in front, then forget it.