Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

They should be very disappointed with this last quarter. To have put in such a good contest for three quarters to give themselves a chance in the last . . . disgusting. Cooney and Akermanis haven't done anything in the last quarter. Our forwardline has been spanked. So depressed right now.

[Dry Rot]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Nothing wrong with the forward line,

Disagree. Seemed to be no viable leading targets all day. Do agree that delivery and efforts around the HF line were poor.

At least we now know who the best team is.

[ledge]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Gia seems to be the bloke left one out in our forward line when it goes into the square, would have thought Welsh would be a better option to do that with body strength, probably would have marked 95% of them.
Watching it on tv its hard to see whats going on down there i must admit, but it looks like we were just bombing it a lot of times, i dont mind doing that but Gia as the one to take the marks??
We need a tall marking forward, it stuck out today bigtime.

[Rach]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Very disappointed with the 2nd half, especially the last quarter. Who would've thought the score would be all even at half time, and then blown out like it did.
Also, I think the umpires need to get their measuring tape out. Some "not 15" metre calls looked pretty dodgy.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Wow

Anyone else feel like you've had your heart ripped out and tredded on?

Mooney didnt drop a freakin mark, hes a freak.

I broke my phone in frustrations with Harbrow...his tackles were great but him and Tiller are not in our best 22, and showed that today..maybe be harsh but we missed defensive pressure from Tommy Gun & Callan badly.

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Gia seems to be the bloke left one out in our forward line when it goes into the square, would have thought Welsh would be a better option to do that with body strength, probably would have marked 95% of them.
Watching it on tv its hard to see whats going on down there i must admit, but it looks like we were just bombing it a lot of times, i dont mind doing that but Gia as the one to take the marks??
We need a tall marking forward, it stuck out today bigtime.

Hurry Jarrad, hurry.

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Pretty bad last quarter that. dear oh dear, the cats really stepped up when they needed to, and looked too strong around the clearances.Thought our pressure and tackling was really good for the 1st half but we just couldnt sustain it. ALOT of players had quite days especailly Hahn and aker, while Murph didnt do much either. Our backline busted their guts considering the cats had 21 inside 50's to 8 in that last qtr.

The guys really need to get their focus back coz after today, next weeks game againt the blues looms as a danger match that we CANNOT afford to drop.

Everitt on Gamble was a nightmare match-up.

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Very disappointed with the 2nd half, especially the last quarter. Who would've thought the score would be all even at half time, and then blown out like it did.
Also, I think the umpires need to get their measuring tape out. Some "not 15" metre calls looked pretty dodgy.

Yea I was soooo angry at those calls. Umpiring was very bad but at the same time it didn't lose us the game.

Wow

Anyone else feel like you've had your heart ripped out and tredded on?

Mooney didnt drop a freakin mark, hes a freak.

I broke my phone in frustrations with Harbrow...his tackles were great but him and Tiller are not in our best 22, and showed that today..maybe be harsh but we missed defensive pressure from Tommy Gun & Callan badly.

Yes I do feel like I've had my heart ripped out and treaded on

Yea Harbrow went missing in the second half and Tiller apart from a couple of nice spoils on Mooney had a bad game. For all the talk of who Geelong was missing it didn't make much of a difference in the end with Gamble, Kelly and Prismall all having good games. It was the players out for us that made most difference.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

They should be very disappointed with this last quarter. To have put in such a good contest for three quarters to give themselves a chance in the last . . . disgusting. Cooney and Akermanis haven't done anything in the last quarter. Our forwardline has been spanked. So depressed right now.

Aker has been very poor all day. Has he cracked the sads since being told off about doing the handstand? He's playing crap football. No pressure, looks dis-interested, poor decision making/skills. He needs to shape up, and fast.

Hahn was fit? You're lying. He did absolutely nothing again today. No pressure at all and this combined with Aker meant Geelong had a free ride across half back.

Lake was horrible all day. Mooney's a good player but nothing more. Lake's beaten some of the best forwards in the comp, yet he was spanked today. He turned the ball over regularly when he had it too. Indecisive too and had to rush a few behinds because of it. Perhaps his worst game for the club.

Morris was equally as bad. Constantly playing from behind he was out-played by a thousand country miles.

I could rant on more, but it's pointless. The defense was disgraceful, aside from Hargrave & Gilbee we were hammered. Lake, Morris & Addison all had their worst games for the club whilst Everitt was beaten easily too. Hargrave/Gilbee were about the only two players for us willing to work hard, carry the football and generally use the ball properly. If Williams was fit enough, he should of played - what's the point of holding him back another week? We've 'babied' him since he was drafted and he's been constantly getting injured, if he was down there today, it would of given us some flexibility. In the end, TILLER had to play on Mooney!

The forwards were pathetic too. Aside from Harbrow & Johnson, they refused to pressure in the second half. The delivery into the forward half was shocking too. Long bombs - WHY? The only way we win games if we constantly move around creating space for themselves and for others. All day we were happy to stand flat footed and as a result the Geelong defense had a day out. Milburn had 19 possessions in the first quarter - that's just poor on our behalf. EVERYONE knows that Geelong generate plenty of run off half back, yet we simply allowed them to. Welsh, Minson, Murphy, Hahn & Aker were very poor all day.

Gia/Eagleton/Hargrave/Gilbee were pretty good, but the rest of the team let themselves down. Cooney, Griffen, Cross & Boyd lost the midfield battle with Ablett & Ling missing - it's not particularly encouraging.

I don't wanna sound like a drama queen, especially as I'm writing on raw emotion at the moment, but I'm very disappointed and angry at what we dished up. We played ten or so minutes of good football in the first half of the second quarter, but aside from that, we were too handball happy - CONSTANTLY putting our team mates under pressure, we missed targets by foot, we had absolutely no forward structure whatsoever, our backs played from behind & we were second to the ball.

The thing that kept us in the game was our pressure - once that dropped off, we were always going to be belted. The fact that it was 70 odd points on a day where we had a lot to prove is hurtful. We're a long, long way off unfortunately.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

It was the players out for us that made most difference.

I wish I could agree.

Higgins injured his ankle in Round 2 - hardly can count him as a 'difference' since we've had a good season without him.

West has played 4? games. Again, as good as West is, it's not a viable excuse because we've beaten good teams without him. Nevertheless, I hope he's back soon - we definitely need him.

Williams I will agree on - our backs were slaughtered today and we really missed him.

Ablett, Ling & Wojcinski out hurts us today more than it hurts them, because they're all key players of their side - two with genuine pace, and Ling with ball winning ability/tagging. All that gone yet they still smashed us.

So for mine, players out isn't an excuse we can use at all - but West & Williams need to be brought back ASAP based on today.

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

TBB, Tiller, Harbrow, Everitt for Williams, Callan and West would have been bloody nice today, whereas the three inclusions for Geelong all did very well.

Two players who can hold their head up high today are Gilbee and Addison. Gilbee was one of the only players who could take Geelong on effectively with his run and carry and precise foot skills. Addison was hard at it as usual, made all the right decisions, tackled well and was good with his disposal.

[ledge]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Bulldog bite, yes raw emotion does get to us, but lets be positive if we played as bad as you have said, we played the top side by a mile, had so many players playing badly but still only lost in one 1\4 .
We did play them at the cattery, that wont happen again.
Signs are good if what you wrote is all true.
I hurt too, but we might play them in finals, let them meet us being cocky, thinking we arent any better than we were.
Other positive is we saw our deficiencies and saw how they structure against us, let them have a game that all in all meant little.
Geelong any side will struggle to beat twice in a season, i am happy to just beat them once as long as its not todays game.

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

How many times have I said against quality opposition our small half forward line would break down? Cant pin point passes under pressure like this.

So much for our much vaunted small forwardline.

Maybe if we kicked it to their advantage once in a while?

[Rocket Science]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Gutted.

Little of constructive merit can come from reflecting on a wound this raw, this early.

Will suggest the worrying signs were noticeable early irrespective of the competitive scoreline up to the main break. Sheer endeavour and heart kept us in it during the first half...that predictably took it's physical and mental toll, and once fatigued the errors crept in, the heads dropped, the momentum shifted in an instant, and suddenly she was all over bar the shouting. Shattering.

In terms of where we go from here: This result can either end up being an extremely valuable lesson learnt the hard way...or a debilitating millstone.

It's up to the group. Flags don't come easily. File it away and use it.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Maybe if we kicked it to their advantage once in a while?

My point exactly Hujsh, you cant pin point passes under pressure. You need an outlet.
All those WOOFers who have been saying 'i dont think a player like Jonathon Brown would fit in our forward line structure' might like to reconsider.