Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

How do we rate Hahn's game?
I thought Eagleton was good.

I thought Hahn was pretty good. His effort to effect the kick to Johnson right at the end, when he had about 10 blokes hanging off him, was sheer brute strength. He also managed to tackle Ablett to the ground, which is something that isn't seen often.

He probably still has a little way to go to get back to his best, but it was by no means a bad effort last night.

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

It harder to come back when you are 5 goals down: you not only have to kick 5 yourself, but you have to stop them from kicking ANY. The opposition can also take on a more defensive structure if you get a run on, making it harder still to make up the deficit. Physically its very draining. Who's body's would be more sore, ours or Geelong's? Do that over 22 weeks and it takes its toll come final's time.

That's all just mindset. To get a 5 goal lead they have to kick five without us scoring any.


Bu really it's more likely that you'll score 8 goals to 3 than 5-0.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Have to disagree.

Griffen cops the hard tag every week. Selwood runs around with Callan Ward for company. No comparison. If Griffen ran around with a 13 gamer on him he would tear games apart, which teams know, and thus send their best tagger to him.

For what it's worth, Griff had 9 (!) tackles, 6 clearances (only Ablett had more with 7) and 2 goals last night, and was instrumental to a lot of the midfield pressure the Dogs put on the Cats and is a key reason to why we are the best clearance team in the comp at the moment.

I tend to agree and think a lot of the assessments have been a bit harsh on Griffen this year. Hopefully he has a massive break out game not too far away, at this rate people will be calling for his head soon.

[Scorlibo]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I tend to agree and think a lot of the assessments have been a bit harsh on Griffen this year. Hopefully he has a massive break out game not too far away, at this rate people will be calling for his head soon.

He was good but again he was just that little bit away from being great, he just seems to be struggling to find space in general play. I liked the aggressibe attitude he took in the 3rd and 4th quarters, which I noted as being after the point at which Scarrlet got him for holding the ball. He needs to show that aggression all the time and attack the ball like he knows he's the most talented player out there, because a lot of the time he is.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

He was good but again he was just that little bit away from being great, he just seems to be struggling to find space in general play. I liked the aggressibe attitude he took in the 3rd and 4th quarters, which I noted as being after the point at which Scarrlet got him for holding the ball. He needs to show that aggression all the time and attack the ball like he knows he's the most talented player out there, because a lot of the time he is.

Teams just sit so tightly on Griff - he is universally respected by opposition teams

I thought he really worked defensively and he had 3-4 shots on goal - kicked 2, could easily of had 3, bloody shame he didn't

He still got a lot of improvement left in him but I was very pleased with his game Friday night. The mix of Higgins, Griff and Cooney still shapes as a potent force when fully fit.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Teams just sit so tightly on Griff - he is universally respected by opposition teams

I thought he really worked defensively and he had 3-4 shots on goal - kicked 2, could easily of had 3, bloody shame he didn't

He still got a lot of improvement left in him but I was very pleased with his game Friday night. The mix of Higgins, Griff and Cooney still shapes as a potent force when fully fit.

And when you add in the hardness of players like Boyd, Cross, Ward, Picken and possibly Reid we look to be developing an awesome midfield group.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

He was good but again he was just that little bit away from being great, he just seems to be struggling to find space in general play. I liked the aggressibe attitude he took in the 3rd and 4th quarters, which I noted as being after the point at which Scarrlet got him for holding the ball. He needs to show that aggression all the time and attack the ball like he knows he's the most talented player out there, because a lot of the time he is.

He definitely could get better - no doubt about that, but to say (not by you, Scorlibo, I know) that Selwood is 50% better than Griff is just to not understand football very well.

Every team, if given the choice, would take Griffen over Selwood in a heartbeat, no question.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I will wait for another look at the game before I hang anyone

Anyone else think we immediately look a better side with Tim Callan in? Lacks a little polish but he helps out other defenders and is one of the bravest players in the comp.

Did you get a chance to watch the tape?

I just did and I can't think of too many occassions where our players didn't commit themselves to the contest.

[Rocket Science]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Did you get a chance to watch the tape?

I just did and I can't think of too many occassions where our players didn't commit themselves to the contest.

Fully agreed...loved the fact that we were doing it in numbers, and in rapid succession as well. It really underpinned our resurgent 2nd and 4th quarters, and it's the sort of irrepressible footy that stands up against any opposition, clearly even Geelong.

If we learned anything from that loss, I hope we learned that. If so, it'll take us a long, long way.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Ok as I got slightly hammered in the corporate area on Friday my re-collection of the game was a little fuzzy, but after the watching replay last night it all came back to me.

Umpires - I don't mind that the let the game flow, but when players take on the tackler and drop the ball they need to be penalised.

Intensity - Bar for a few 5 minute bursts (which cost us dearly) our intensity was fantastic.

Opportunities missed - Our skilled players must convert their opportunities in front of goals. We missed 4 or 5 very gettable goals in the 3rd qtr which hurt us in the end of result.

We kept coming - We could have chucked in the towel a couple of times, but we didn't and that was almost the most impressive aspect of our performance.

Cross - really good game, but was still very indecisive with the ball in his hands. He has to learn to move the ball on quickly.

Boyd - has really matured as a player, hard & physical and he doesn't take any shit.

Johnson - vintage Johnson in parts, but he needs to be more aware at times and share the ball. In the piece of play where the ball was smothered in the 3rd qtr he should have dished the ball off by hand, I know thats being picky, but little mistakes are costly against the best teams.

Higgins - Fantastic game. The kid was hurt, but he put his body on the line every time he was in a contest. I was harsh with some of my comments in the pre-season, but performances like Friday night prove the kid is maturing and will be a damn good player.

Hahn - Thought he was great, battled hard and gave us a real hard edge.

Eagleton - His second half was good, but I still think he can use the ball better.

Williams - His kicking for a big bloke is good, his spot up kick to Aker in the 3rd qtr was very good.

Gia - Much better game, used it well, finished well and mixed it up in the centre.

Ward - Tough as nails, but still needs to find a bit of power in his legs to help him break through tackles or 'explode' away.

Griffen - Needs to take a little more care with his kicking, but his work around the contest was great.

Cooney - when he switches on he is great, but was too quiet for large chunks of the game.

Callan - did some great things defensively, but also did some poor things. He needs to be smarter defensively when he is isolated, he over-committed a couple of times and it was costly. When you have team-mates around his reckless actions can be helpful, but when you are isolated and go to ground in the contest your actions can be extremely hurtful as we saw late in the game with his contests with Bartel.

Harbrow - was badly beaten in the air by Stokes on a couple of occassions, but I thought he was ok. In the last 5 or so minutes of the game his work around the contest was fantastic. In this time he had 3 one on one contests with Ablett and beat him in 2 and held the ball in for the other one. Speaks volumes about the sort of player he could develop into.

Picken - I think we saw that he struggles in defence, but he did some great things. Was more than happy to mix it up and out close. His awareness is good and he is now happy to take on players in order to free up his team-mates. Hard and tough as well and is developing into a handy player.

Overall you can't be anything but impressed with our performance. We really controlled the game for probably 60 or 70% of the game and bar for the costly lapses where we gave away goals in quick succession we looked the better team.

As many other posters have commented since the game we need to bring that intensity to our game more often than not because when we do we go ok.

[azabob]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Was Johnson's kick after the siren a goal an AFL player would kick 5 out of 10 times, or 8 out of 10 times, or 10 out of 10 times?

Should have he kicked the goal? The more I look at it, the more I wonder....

[Mofra]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Callan - did some great things defensively, but also did some poor things. He needs to be smarter defensively when he is isolated, he over-committed a couple of times and it was costly. When you have team-mates around his reckless actions can be helpful, but when you are isolated and go to ground in the contest your actions can be extremely hurtful as we saw late in the game with his contests with Bartel.

This is a very good point - I'm not sure if it is overenthusiasm and desperation to be part of the best 22, but he needs to learn when to hold off & corral the opposition.

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Was Johnson's kick after the siren a goal an AFL player would kick 5 out of 10 times, or 8 out of 10 times, or 10 out of 10 times?

Should have he kicked the goal? The more I look at it, the more I wonder....

I have watched this a number of times.

A couple of things:

* He was only metres out, even though there was an angle.
* He rushed his shot
* Why a banana kick from so close, why not a drop punt, and steer it through

In the end, I am soooooo disappointed with his effort from a player that has played 333 games.

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

Umpires - I don't mind that the let the game flow, but when players take on the tackler and drop the ball they need to be penalised.

This is fine if it happens for four quarters, but why do we have to have soft free kicks in the first quarter. Three goals out of six, were kicked from direct free kicks in the 1st qrt.

[azabob]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Cats

I have watched this a number of times.

A couple of things:

* He was only metres out, even though there was an angle.
* He rushed his shot
* Why a banana kick from so close, why not a drop punt, and steer it through

In the end, I am soooooo disappointed with his effort from a player that has played 333 games.

I tend to agree with you. It wasn't till Sunday mind you that I thought he should've kicked it.