R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

**Go_Dogs** · 18-05-2009, 05:40 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Good preview, and tend to agree with most of your thoughts.

Tiller is another who I think should (hopefully) come into consideration this week.

Mooney out also helps us a bit with the match ups down back.

Interesting you have Griff listed as a player under the pump. You obviously have not rated his performances very highly the last few weeks, what should be done to run him back into his best form?

**Sedat** · 18-05-2009, 06:05 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Great preview SS.

Allow me to indulge in a little revisionist history back to last year's PF - goes without saying that two of our most important players structurally that we have missed badly in patches this year have been Cooney and Murphy. Also Williams is a very important plank in the defensive 50 to free up the rest of the defensive group to find more appropriate match-ups. In last year's PF, Cooney had a cracked knee cap, Murphy's knee was stuffed to the point that he grubbered almost evey kick he had (I was very critical of his game at the time without knowing the extent of his injury), and there was no Williams down back. With these 3 either at barely 50% capacity or off the park, we still managed to push Geelong a very long way in that final.

On Friday night we have Williams, a fitter Cooney, but no Murphy. Geelong have no Ottens. If our rucks/mids can somehow limit Geelong to no more than about 50 forward 50 entries, and more important if we can spread and deliver smartly into our forward 50 so that we can isolate their defenders one-out, we are some sort of chance to get within a couple of goals or even pinch it. Failure to execute one of all of the above and it will be a comfortable loss on Friday night, simple as that.

Totally agree with Sockeye - if we are static with our ball movement, and do not run at the Cats and take them on with hands through the middle, it will be as ugly as the Round 16 game at Kardinia Park last year and the Friday night fizzer late in season 2007.

**LostDoggy** · 18-05-2009, 06:06 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Entertaining as always SS.

Like you've said, their multiple possession winning backline is a key danger, but we isolated Higgo pretty well in the Prelim last year and just kept going through him sitting on the intersection of the 50 and the boundary as the Geelong backs kept zoning off him and refused to man him up.

It seems to me that we just have to be disciplined in ruthlessly exploiting whatever chink in the armour the day throws up and not try to be too cute because the Cats are deadly on the turnover. If we can keep the game a low-scoring affair we'll be in with a shout. If we turn it into a lairy fairy shootout there's only one winner and it won't be pretty.

A real character test. Time for the men to stand up.

**1eyedog** · 18-05-2009, 07:09 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

An accurate and entertaining review SS. I notice you don't have a match up in the back half for Morris. Do you not think that Morris will be better suited to Johnson. Our best back on their best forward?

**Mofra** · 18-05-2009, 07:15 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Originally posted by Lantern

Like you've said, their multiple possession winning backline is a key danger, but we isolated Higgo pretty well in the Prelim last year and just kept going through him sitting on the intersection of the 50 and the boundary as the Geelong backs kept zoning off him and refused to man him up.

I remember us isolating Milburn's opponent (Higgins in the first) as he doesn't play a tight backman's role. We wont have that luxury this time.
We need Hill. He can run all day and leap like a scared cat. He will have to provide a chop-out marking option across the HF line with Murphy out. Harbrow will have to give Scarlett another big "don't argue". Huddo will need to do his typical 3rd & 4th efforts at the centre bounces so we can match or win clearances. Boyd is probably our best-performed midfielder this year (15 possies in the 4th vs Melbourne, they guy is all ticker) so we need a big one from him. He's gone past Cross this year IMO.

We match up better than most against the Cats. We have to play dangerous though - if we go into our shells will get smashed. If we play with slick handball and pierce their zone, we should do ok - they move the ball very quickly but their footspeed isn't actually that great.

**Rocco Jones** · 18-05-2009, 07:32 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Just a few random points from myself:

- I thought our tackling against the Cats was great in the prelim. Not only did we work hard to get our tackles but we also were very smart in how we went about it. The Cats use the ball more than any side in history. I think the first rule to beating the Cats is placing pressure on their handball receivers.

- No Mooney frees up Lake. He towelled up Lonergan in the prelim and hopefully we can see a repeat.

- It also frees up Dale and boy do we need it against a side featuring small forwards of the quality of Stevie J, Chappy and Stokes. Shaggy gave Stevie J a bath last year in the prelim. Even if Shaggy is fit, SJ now spends more time in the midfield. Huge test for Harbrow.

- Ablett, Bartel, Selwood: Pointless trying to hard tag them out of the game because all it does is sacrifice one of our own ball winners. The use of Picken will be interesting. I would do with an outside tag of Ablett or Stevie J. If we are going to win we need something like Boyd smashing his direct opponent.

- The use of Gilbee. If we play him at HBF I think he will generate a forward tag by Rooke. We really need our talented but easily stoppables in Gilbee and Griffen to damage the Cats.

- Cooney is getting back to his best, we probably need him to hit the fast forward button.

- Hudson/Minson need to take advantage of Ottens missing. We really must get an overall win in the ruck.

- Limiting the help that their defenders give eachother. Our forwards really need to work their arses off. As others have already commented on, one way to really hurt the Cats is isolating their weaker defenders.

- Most of all, we need to be confident. As SS has mentioned, we need to play on, handball and take risks. If we are safe we are probably just as likely to get smashed anyway. We have defeated the eventual premiers in each of previous three seasons and are 3rd despite looking ordinary. Essendon have been a great example of how far a bit of belief can take you.

**boydogs** · 18-05-2009, 08:40 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

A couple have mentioned confidence - its important that if we take the lead like we did early in the prelim that we don't shut down and wait for the what we believe to be inevitable in Geelong coming back at us.

In their big loss to Collingwood last year and loss in the Grand Final, their opposition did not let up. We must do the same and revel in every possession and score we can get against them

Geelong have Mooney out, Ottens out, and Ablett and Chapman have been out and hopefully not at their best. This is a good week to get them, we need to realise this and pounce like an opportunistic predator

**AndrewP6** · 18-05-2009, 08:54 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

To paraphrase Pete Seeger... I think we're knee deep in the big muddy...

I reeeeeeally hope I'm dead wrong...

**The Pie Man** · 18-05-2009, 09:19 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Originally posted by gogriff

A couple have mentioned confidence - its important that if we take the lead like we did early in the prelim that we don't shut down and wait for the what we believe to be inevitable in Geelong coming back at us.

In their big loss to Collingwood last year and loss in the Grand Final, their opposition did not let up. We must do the same and revel in every possession and score we can get against them

Geelong have Mooney out, Ottens out, and Ablett and Chapman have been out and hopefully not at their best. This is a good week to get them, we need to realise this and pounce like an opportunistic predator

Lose badly and hear the critics 'can't even get near them with all their outs' ...tis very annoying.

**Sockeye Salmon** · 18-05-2009, 09:26 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Originally posted by 1eyedog

An accurate and entertaining review SS. I notice you don't have a match up in the back half for Morris. Do you not think that Morris will be better suited to Johnson. Our best back on their best forward?

Partly because Johnson towelled up Morris at KP last year, partly because Shaggy did a job on him in the prelim, partly because Johnson is spending more time up the ground, partly because Morris can play on anyone.

**dog town** · 18-05-2009, 09:48 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

I have always thought Morris is a little less effective on players who turn him around and run him back towards goal. He is always hard to shake but most of the guys who have done ok against him have been players who not only lead up at the ball carrier but also run back into space towards goal. Johnson runs all day and gets many of his touches facing his own goal so I would save Morris for someone else. That is of course provided Hargrave gets up.

The game is ours for the taking. They havent been tested yet and with Mooney out I believe we can make it extremely difficult for them to score as we did in last years final. This gives us a shot at the very least. I dont really have anything to add that hasn't already been said. We know basically what we need to do to put them under pressure its just a matter of executing it.

**Scraggers** · 18-05-2009, 10:41 PM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Geelong can be beaten ... This round? Probably not !!

In round 21 we face them again ... again at Telstra Dome, and again on the Friday night.

If we get done this Friday, we need to learn from it ... put it in the memory bank ... use it towards the business end of this season, cause sure as eggs, if we make top 4 we'll be facing them again in the finals

**Mantis** · 19-05-2009, 08:40 AM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

That was an entertaining read SS, with some insightful comments thrown in for good measure.

Our boys face the biggest test in football coming straight off an extremely lacklustre performance against the Dees. If we have as many bystanders this week as we did just last week we will be taken to the cleaners. Our pressure skills on a whole were woeful against Melbourne, but we weren't forced to pay. We do the same this week and we most certainly will.

The midfield battles shape as the key. We must at the very least find a way to break even with the powerful Geelong midfield. We must also find a way to score 15 goals, I don't know how we will, but we simply have to.

While a win might be out of the question I would like to be in the game for much of the night. While we are still a few key players away from being at our best there are no excuses for atleast 6 or 8 'key' players who aren't performing at the consistent levels that we expect, they simply need to show something against the leagues best to give us some hope that we will be a major player at the pointy end of the season.

**Topdog** · 19-05-2009, 09:28 AM

Re: R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

I'd like to see us use Hahn in the middle to start the game with 1 instruction. Tackle everyone in sight. Along with taking a lot of risks the only way to slow Geelong down is to constently tackle them and our team seems to do that more when they see it works. Having Hahn in there will hopefully get them moving.

I'd also like to see Picken on Stevie J. Think he is too small to stop Ablett.

R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

R9 Match Preview - Western Bulldogs v Geelong

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment