Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

[jeemak]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

Very strange that is Monday evening and we still don't have an official time for this game. Not that it matters for all of us who are in lock down in Melbourne ....

Yeah, it seems way too protracted for mine.

[GVGjr]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

Very strange that is Monday evening and we still don't have an official time for this game. Not that it matters for all of us who are in lock down in Melbourne ....

There appears to be some speculation that it will be a twilight game.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

Fagan on 360 said he doesn’t know a start time yet.

Also, he said they may go in smaller in the forward line which might give them more unpredictability. Coaches discussing what to do without Rayner, McStay & Hipwood tomorrow. He did acknowledge that’s a big risk in a knock out final.

[1eyedog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 1st Semi Final

I wonder why 4:45? seems an odd time.

Has to be a compromise between the heat and how long we can mentally be stuck in our rooms.

[Bornadog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 1st Semi Final

Has to be a compromise between the heat and how long we can mentally be stuck in our rooms.

Forecast is 23, not sure on humidity though.

[AshMac]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I get that the lions have earned a home final, and Adelaide after that - but you cant force a team to have a mini hub then be confined to hotel rooms for 24 hours before a game of football whilst the other team live their normal lives.

Fly everyone of the 6 remaining teams over to perth - establish a hub and fly the losers home as they drop out.

[angelopetraglia]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I get that the lions have earned a home final, and Adelaide after that - but you cant force a team to have a mini hub then be confined to hotel rooms for 24 hours before a game of football whilst the other team live their normal lives.

Fly everyone of the 6 remaining teams over to perth - establish a hub and fly the losers home as they drop out.

That sounds too logical for the AFL …

[The Adelaide Connection]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

It's a tough ask either way- be stuck in hotels all day before a night game, or play in the heat of the day (after being in freezing Tassie) which are conditions taht the Lions will likely handle much better.

[Bornadog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

It's a tough ask either way- be stuck in hotels all day before a night game, or play in the heat of the day (after being in freezing Tassie) which are conditions taht the Lions will likely handle much better.

We did that to them when they came down to Ballarat

[dog town]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I had a good look at the Brisbane game against Melbourne from the weekend as well as our previous game against Brisbane.

Some questions/observations I have for this week for discussion.

- How much was our change in form driven by the weather and how much of it can we expect to see flow into a fast, dynamic game at The Gabba? It seems like it negated the Essendon ability to get on the outside and maintain possession but encouragingly it triggered us into getting in first and we were actually cleaner in tight the wetter it got. All of a sudden when both players going for the ball at a 1 meter distance we were in harder, lower and we got some shape away from the contest and even chained out with handball as a result. I hope this was just a return to form based off instinctive actions and not purely a reflection of the weather slowing the game down.

- Some good articles on Brisbane options for replacing McStay. Brisbane have tried to hold their forward structure where possible and replaced talls with talls most of the time. Do they go with extra smalls, bring in a no name tall (dangerous move with Fullarton already filling space), bring in a makeshift ruck set up to use Oscar forward more often or do they roll the dice and send Andrews or Adams forward? Andrews is clearly injured it might be more manageable for them having him engaging a tall at the other end. Acknowledge the Andrews option is 1% chance of happening but worth mentioning. If I was them I would go small.

- Brisbane ball movement when they play well is really good. They bounce off half back well if you give the ball back to them and will use the corridor and hit ups forward targets. Their mids have good mobility and half backs will get handball receives quickly on turnover so you don’t want to enable their intercept game . Getting that balance right on our ball movement will help us defend.

- Oscar is a better technician than Draper. He won’t have as much impact post tap like Draper and Lycett did but his tap work and savvy positioning is a concern. Brisbane maybe not as deep as us around the ball but I have long thought these low to the ground mid types trouble us. Neale, Zorko AND Bailey when he goes in will do far less damage if we can get on top around the contest.

- Loving the contribution from Roarke Smith but is he the most expendable if we want to plug an extra small forward in? My hunch says there is no way he is getting dropped but I do feel we are a small forward short at times.

- Would just add to this that at this stage I think Schache is a good fit and needs to remain. We are defending the ground well on turnover and I think we can carry 3 talls at the moment from that perspective.

- I really hope Brisbane go with Fullarton and another tall forward and that it helps our ball movement out of the back half.

[MrMahatma]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I definitely think we should stick with 3 tall forwards and Schache being one of them.

English v Andrews
Naughton v Adams
Schache v Gardner

We'd have a height advantage in each situation and if they put Andrews on Naughton (best defender on best forward) then the shuffle would give Andrews the height advantage which may be needed to combat Naughton's leap - but we'd then have a significant height advantage in the other 2 match ups.

If they throw Andrews or Adams forward, then the mix is even more different. Their structural issues are real and significant. Whichever way they go, they're compromising. If they play Big O up forward, they compromise their ruck advantage. It's actually they move I'd MOST like to see them make. Bring in their next best ruck, and push O forward. I think our defence can handle that, and if we get on top in the midfield I think we'll be able to score heavily.

No doubt this will be a tight match, but I'm strangely more confident than I was this time last week (and I always thought, rationally, we'd win... we won 15 games vs Bombers 11).

Lions recent form is interesting. 4 wins, 3 losses in the past 7. Losses to Melb, Rich & Hawks. They've beaten up undermanned teams and haven't really had too many tight matches. Given their fwd structure is out of sorts now, scoring 100 against us shouldn't happen. Scoring 80 probably shouldn't happen.

v Melb - 33 point loss 93 v 60
v WC - 38 point win 87 v 125
v Coll - 85 point win 57 v 142
v Free - 64 point win 54 v 118
v Hawks - 12 point loss 92 v 80
v GC - 49 point win 71 v 120
v Rich - 20 point loss 106 v 80

I'd tag Zorko with Dunkley and wouldn't be "too" concerned with Neal racking them up.

The Gabba is a fast deck and shutting Zorko out shuts out so much of their drive. If we can shut off Zorko AND Rich (maybe Roake does this job) then I don't see how they kick a score to worry us. It's the sort of match where Treloar should really come to the fore and I can see the long bomb from 50 happening a fair bit - hopefully not from Rich though.

[comrade]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I definitely think we should stick with 3 tall forwards and Schache being one of them.

English v Andrews
Naughton v Adams
Schache v Gardner

We'd have a height advantage in each situation and if they put Andrews on Naughton (best defender on best forward) then the shuffle would give Andrews the height advantage which may be needed to combat Naughton's leap - but we'd then have a significant height advantage in the other 2 match ups.

If they throw Andrews or Adams forward, then the mix is even more different. Their structural issues are real and significant. Whichever way they go, they're compromising. If they play Big O up forward, they compromise their ruck advantage. It's actually they move I'd MOST like to see them make. Bring in their next best ruck, and push O forward. I think our defence can handle that, and if we get on top in the midfield I think we'll be able to score heavily.

No doubt this will be a tight match, but I'm strangely more confident than I was this time last week (and I always thought, rationally, we'd win... we won 15 games vs Bombers 11).

Lions recent form is interesting. 4 wins, 3 losses in the past 7. Losses to Melb, Rich & Hawks. They've beaten up undermanned teams and haven't really had too many tight matches. Given their fwd structure is out of sorts now, scoring 100 against us shouldn't happen. Scoring 80 probably shouldn't happen.

v Melb - 33 point loss 93 v 60
v WC - 38 point win 87 v 125
v Coll - 85 point win 57 v 142
v Free - 64 point win 54 v 118
v Hawks - 12 point loss 92 v 80
v GC - 49 point win 71 v 120
v Rich - 20 point loss 106 v 80

I'd tag Zorko with Dunkley and wouldn't be "too" concerned with Neal racking them up.

The Gabba is a fast deck and shutting Zorko out shuts out so much of their drive. If we can shut off Zorko AND Rich (maybe Roake does this job) then I don't see how they kick a score to worry us. It's the sort of match where Treloar should really come to the fore and I can see the long bomb from 50 happening a fair bit - hopefully not from Rich though.

Great write up...

Don’t give me hope!

[Bornadog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

I definitely think we should stick with 3 tall forwards and Schache being one of them.

English v Andrews
Naughton v Adams
Schache v Gardner

We'd have a height advantage in each situation and if they put Andrews on Naughton (best defender on best forward) then the shuffle would give Andrews the height advantage which may be needed to combat Naughton's leap - but we'd then have a significant height advantage in the other 2 match ups.

If they throw Andrews or Adams forward, then the mix is even more different. Their structural issues are real and significant. Whichever way they go, they're compromising. If they play Big O up forward, they compromise their ruck advantage. It's actually they move I'd MOST like to see them make. Bring in their next best ruck, and push O forward. I think our defence can handle that, and if we get on top in the midfield I think we'll be able to score heavily.

No doubt this will be a tight match, but I'm strangely more confident than I was this time last week (and I always thought, rationally, we'd win... we won 15 games vs Bombers 11).

Lions recent form is interesting. 4 wins, 3 losses in the past 7. Losses to Melb, Rich & Hawks. They've beaten up undermanned teams and haven't really had too many tight matches. Given their fwd structure is out of sorts now, scoring 100 against us shouldn't happen. Scoring 80 probably shouldn't happen.

v Melb - 33 point loss 93 v 60
v WC - 38 point win 87 v 125
v Coll - 85 point win 57 v 142
v Free - 64 point win 54 v 118
v Hawks - 12 point loss 92 v 80
v GC - 49 point win 71 v 120
v Rich - 20 point loss 106 v 80

I'd tag Zorko with Dunkley and wouldn't be "too" concerned with Neal racking them up.

The Gabba is a fast deck and shutting Zorko out shuts out so much of their drive. If we can shut off Zorko AND Rich (maybe Roake does this job) then I don't see how they kick a score to worry us. It's the sort of match where Treloar should really come to the fore and I can see the long bomb from 50 happening a fair bit - hopefully not from Rich though.

Should we tag Neale?

[1eyedog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

Does anyone know what's going on re. bedding down the game time?

[Bornadog]

Re: Brisbane Lions V Western Bulldogs - 2021 1st Semi Final

Does anyone know what's going on re. bedding down the game time?

The AFL has confirmed a start time for Saturday's semi-final between the Bulldogs and the Lions. First bounce at 7.20pm.