Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

[Dry Rot]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

My point exactly Hujsh, you cant pin point passes under pressure. You need an outlet.

Agreed - it all looks good against lesser teams, but not really top class ones. The Swans will keep a video of yesterday's game for reference in a couple of weeks.

[Topdog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Our forward line failed for 1 quarter against the best team in the league.

Panic stations people. Sydney already had a crack at doing it and came out well down.

[Rach]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Anyhow it was a dreadful 2nd half by us and I still don't think a lot of it had to do with not having a key forward. Most of our kicks into the forward 50 went straight to Harley who was by himself by 10 metres.

It looked like for the whole game, Geelong had extra players on the ground. At one stage in the 4th quarter, the ball was kicked into the forwardline to Murphy (I think) and there were about five Geelong players around him. That seemed to happen a lot yesterday, the ball was kicked long into the forwardline to a two or three on one contest, in favour of Geelong. Disappointing

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if Riewoldt (now everyone wants him.. I've always said he would be great for the Dogs) or Browny are on the market (and they are!), we would be remiss to not throw everything we have at them. They would cement the next four grand finals for this group of players and reward the team for all their endeavour.

Hmm. I would love Riewoldt at the dogs but I doubt him or Brown will leave their current clubs. If they do though, what would we have to give up do you think? Our 1st pick and a current player? We may not have the flexibility this year with low picks, obligation to Ayce Cordy and a list of committed players (no Sam Powers or Pattrick Bowdens to offload).

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I tend to disagree, I think we are easily good enough, and during the first half it really looked as though we could've blown the game open. We choked though under the pressure and perceived pressure that they created, and as such our disposal was poor, decision making poor and a lot of blokes looked rushed and confused.

I think Geelong were worried, I haven't seen them make as many mistakes by hand or foot as they did in the first half.

Sure, the game got away from us in the end, but if I were a part of the coaching staff or playing group, I'd be feeling pretty confident that we can give them a serious shake later in the year.

We should have been five goals up at quarter time but our delivery into the forward line was not good. With the wind howling down that end, we kept going to the wrong pocket ie the left on the goals. In the last quarter, Geelong showed us how to play their ground, ie go to the right pocket and have a shot from that side.

[Scraggers]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Spot on, let them meet us next time being all cocky because they beat us by 10 goals.
Gives our players more drive to beat them.

I agree ... even though it was a last quarter drubbing, I think we learnt more from the game than they did

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

What I learnt yesterday.

We were smashed in the ruck by two ruckman who stand over 200cm and Hudson was found wanting. The effect was Geelong's midfield had first use of the ball out of the middle and around the ground. With our midfield down, the forward line had limited opportunities. Any balls going into the forward line were either under pressure or just banged in and the best backline in the AFL cleaned them up. Should Street have played?

We were smashed everywhere and the ruck wasn't the main issue. Hudson just failed to get his regular clearances(the ball went through his legs so often).
With Street there would have been the same.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

As for the backline, Wight should have played at CHB and allowed Lake to play the FB role. Everitt is only 19 and needs muscle and is far from a KPP. At 193cm and 87kg and with 14 games, he is far from ready for a key role. Williams will be a welcome return next week.

Agree here. Tiller was probably worse than Wight against Melbourne. I'm very disappointed with Lake's game yesterday. I have no problem usually as he lets the forward lead up but usually its 2+ kicks from goal. Mooney killed us.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

We do need a mobile, tall forward, and I mean tall (over 195cm), not a lumbering Minson, this was very evident yesterday. These guys donot grow on trees and it will be years before either, Everitt, Grant, or Boumann are ready. In the meantime, if we are going to deliver the ball into a mid to small forward line, we have to hit these guys on the chest, or Minson has to contest, (in front) and bring the ball to ground.

Murphy, Hahn have been well down for several weeks now and need to find some form. As for Aker, Voss made an interesting observation, he has never played well against Geelong....... interesting.

I also felt that Griffen and Welsh, who have not played for three weeks, were a bit rusty. They will bounce back next week.

A champion CHF would be great but I think Minson is ok for the moment. He is under utilized. Mark just after siren would have been a good confidence boost.
Delivery into our F50 was shocking and no forward would have prospered yesterday.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I wasn't as critical of Lake's game as most. Mooney took about 5 of his marks diving low down on the lead, no-one stops that.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I wasn't as critical of Lake's game as most. Mooney took about 5 of his marks diving low down on the lead, no-one stops that.

5 out of 13 marks.
5 were also inside 50. Only 1 contested. 16 of 18 uncontested possessions for a CHF or FF seems very high.
Lake was no where near him all day.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

ps. Quite annoyed that Addison, Aker and Harbrow are getting the knocks that they are. Addison put his head over the ball every time and saved our bacon on quite a few occasions. Aker made two great tackles in the forward 50 in the second quarter that led to goals. He also crumbed the ball early in the third that led to another goal. The bloke is trying his heart out, sometimes it's just impossible to run guys down all day. On that point, Johnno ran down a player too, as did Harbrow, twice. That's a huge return from a forwardline as far as forward pressure goes.

It's not the forwardline's fault -- Coons and Crossy had a flat-ish day, and Griff, apart from one or two nice things, looked a little bit off the pace too.

There are some parts here that I do not agree with.

Addison was extremely disappointing in my view. I have always stood up for Dylan, but I thought he looked out of place yesterday. Yes he showed some desperation at times, but not all the time, but when he was asked to guard man he couldn't. Stokes led him a merry dance when the game was tight, he just seemed to have no feel for the game or the conditions. I'm not sure who's idea it was to allow him to play as the spare man in defence either.

Aker and the rest of the forwards were let down by the delivery and yes it is hard chasing tails all day, but some days the team needs you to do this and our forwards as a group seemed unwilling to do the hard stuff. In my mind that simply wasn't good enough and once again it was the same players letting us down in this area .ie. Murf, Johnson, Gia & Aker.

[The Pie Man]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

There was a 10 minute period in the third term when the game turned -- we had locked them into their forward 50 for 10 minutes, which ended with Johnno running down a defender and getting a free. If Johnno had iced that kick, we would have won the game. But he missed, the ball went down the other end, Jarrod turned the ball over, and Taylor kicked a goal from outside 50 on the run, and momentum was lost and we never recovered. If Johnno had converted, it would have been the Dogs that would have gotten on a roll and potentially blew the margin out the other way.

I'm not too fussed with the loss, by any stretch of the imagination.

I can see where you're going with this, though it's a prerty long bow to draw saying we would have won the game with Johnson not missing that shot - though through this period, I felt we were up to our ears in the game, I was pretty happy despite giving away plenty of possession.

Like Lantern and many others, I can draw pleny of long term positives from this.

* It's July (and that means a few things - obviously not a final and less obvious, cold & windy)
* Williams out - he would've been very handy
* So many players down - Aka, Hahn, Murphy, Lake etc
* Skilled Stadium - wide expanses of the MCG on a still, sunny September day it's not

If we were to win the flag this year, we could be looking back on this game as a massive turning point - we've seen the yardstick play a blinding quarter (much like the West Coast final in 06) we know we can be competitive, we know a fair group can play miles better next time. Ling & Ablett big ins for the next clash should we meet again this year, though Gamble was very impressive, they didn't have a bad player.

Hahn's goal in the 2nd qtr was an interesting moment for mine - just like any game of footy, you're a chance to kick goals with centre clearances - we just didn't win enough of these yesterday, Hudson I'm sure will want to get one back on Ottens next time round. I'd still trust Lake on Mooney...he couldn't play that badly again. Morris' second bad game of his career, I'd have no hesitation throwing him Steve Johnson again and being confident the result will be different.

We, like 14 other teams, broke down across HF against the Cats (how does Milburn get 19 first quarter possessions?) Murphy can play much better than that (he wasn't that bad really, but can have more of an influence)

Will feel a lot better with a solid win against the Blues, so we don't feel a hideous sense of deja vu. Confident we'll be fine.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

5 out of 13 marks.
5 were also inside 50. Only 1 contested. 16 of 18 uncontested possessions for a CHF or FF seems very high.
Lake was no where near him all day.

I tend to think Lake was often caught in two minds as to whether or not he should zone off to help out, say an Everitt, or stay to his man. I noticed a few times he left his man to try and get to be the 3rd man at a contest, couldn't quite make it, his teammate lost the contest and suddenly he was badly out of position.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

There are some parts here that I do not agree with.

Addison was extremely disappointing in my view. I have always stood up for Dylan, but I thought he looked out of place yesterday. Yes he showed some desperation at times, but not all the time, but when he was asked to guard man he couldn't. Stokes led him a merry dance when the game was tight, he just seemed to have no feel for the game or the conditions. I'm not sure who's idea it was to allow him to play as the spare man in defence either.

Aker and the rest of the forwards were let down by the delivery and yes it is hard chasing tails all day, but some days the team needs you to do this and our forwards as a group seemed unwilling to do the hard stuff. In my mind that simply wasn't good enough and once again it was the same players letting us down in this area .ie. Murf, Johnson, Gia & Aker.

To reiterate:
Aker made two great tackles in the forward 50 in the second quarter that led to goals. He also crumbed the ball early in the third that led to another goal. The bloke is trying his heart out, sometimes it's just impossible to run guys down all day. On that point, Johnno ran down a player too, as did Harbrow, twice. That's a huge return from a forwardline as far as forward pressure goes.

--

How many run-down tackles inside 50 is a team expected to make? Maybe two, three a game to change the momentum? That's six I can remember off the top of my head, and you think that our forwardline doesn't chase? If delivery is into no-mans-land, a forward can hardly be blamed for being 10 metres behind the play -- those 10 metres are the 10 metres he has managed to get clear and would use to snaffle the ball if delivered to advantage.

I was more disappointed that Scarlett wasn't more physically man-handled. I don't mean breaking his cheekbone, but we should have been happy to give away a couple of 50s by just falling on his head or running through him. At least tackle him hard and make the damn things stick. It was like we missed an opportunity to make a statement to their leaders.

Having said that, I can't think of who in our team would physically intimidate Scarlett. Maybe Hahn.