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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bath water, but a few of my observations:
In the last qtr Callan Ward takes a very courageous mark which results in a goal and only one player goes over to him - not good enough.
I thought the exact same thing, only Picken went to him to say that was your goal, disappointingComment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
A few more:
* Our last 6 to 8 minutes (maybe longer) was played like there was 1 minute left on the clock. We got back in the game on the back of our risk taking and run & carry, but then when we had caught up we went back to long kicking and slow play. We showed a lack of composure in this period which we have in many close games in the past.
* We need a better contribution from our 'bottom 6' against good teams. They as a group were poor and this is an area where I thought we would have an advantage against Collingwood.Comment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Agree with all of these points. We played for three quarters exactly the way Collingwood wanted us to. Slow and allowing them to get numbers back, free up defenders and then run forward once we turned it over. They played us on the counter and it worked.
Agree also on your last point. It was like everything that went right for us last week didn't tonight and we let it effect us. We're karmically even going into next week.Park that car
Drop that phone
Sleep on the floor
Dream about meComment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
I felt the 1st 3 qrts we were to slow to move the ball from the back half. Collingwood had time to flood back and the forwards had to compete against 2 opponents often with a slow high ball coming in...what hope did they have.??
In the final quarter the team decide to run, take them on, and seemed then to want to win the game...inturn the forwards had an easier time of it.!Comment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Just wanted to add a couple of points
Negatives:
-Brad Johnson... Hahn's goal from 55m was going in, Johno's actions werent necessary. Swan's run forward really damaged us. Couple of missed shots also. No need to be the here all of the time. But hey, he has played out of his skin in the last couple of weeks but didnt have such a great game last night.
-Welsh...the bloke doesnt change direction very well, and isnt the quickest fella going around. I wonder how we would have gone with another FF playing last night....Grant, Roughead, Cordy....the kids probably arent ready but they may have offered us a little bit more than Scotty.
-Disposal errors in the first half. Whilst Collingwood kicked straight, and hit their targets, the slick and usually skillful Bulldogs didnt...turnovers against a good side hurt
-Forward 50. Every time we went forwards there was a pack of 30+ bodies there. This suggests to me that the Collingwood players busted ar#$ to get back and support their defenders. Not our forwards fault, but just suggests that our backs and mids didnt move the ball quick enough down the field.
-Collingwood supporters. The only group of supporters who regularly abuse opposition supporters on the train, in the city and at the game...
-Our start. Being smashed in the first 10 minutes just isnt helful.
Positives
- We lost by 1 POINT! Its still a loss, but a learning experience, so hopefully we can improve towards the finals...we fought back, so I'm happier with a 1 point loss than what I thought at half time may be a 10 goal loss
- Lake, Hargrave and Harbow. All saved our bacon at certain times last night, especially Lake.
- Higgins and Ward. Both did some great and inspirational things last nightComment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Thats what i said last night, just because Picken is only a lock down player, why do people think his skills are not up to it, those 2 goals from outside 50 were awesome, Crossy [using his name as an example] could never kick those.
But from last nights game, as close as it was, i walked away from it quite pleased, and i can be really down after a loss, to play as bad as we did, to work nowhere near hard enough for most of the game, to be completely outplayed, yet to get back and only go down by 1 point, good sides do that.
Last night, it had that finals feel about it, the game had turned up a notch, very much like the intensity from a finals game, yet did the Pies TALL POWER FORWARDS have much of an influence? Cloke & Anthony? Would our attrocious supply into the forward line in the first half especially, would tall forwards have made any difference, or was it that our midfield was just cut up?
What last night also showed me, is that there are 4 teams with a genuine chance to be 2009 Premiers, and 4 Vic sides as well - Pies, Dogs, Cats & Saints, we all have a GENUINE chance!
Brian Lake - BLOODY AWESOME!Comment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Murphy should have been moved forward early last night when Welsh and Hahn were underperforming, Welsh to the backline to give Presti a mismatch, worked well against North.
No-one says Carlton and Hawthorn lack a key forward, but when Fev and Buddy aren't performing you notice - Welsh was held to 4 possessions, he is our key forward but was beaten last night
Our midfielders and small defenders were exposed more so than our tall defenders. Anthony, Cloke and Brown were all goalless, and only one goal to Fraser. Need to work on our matchups for Didak, Swan and Davis for round 22
Need more from Eagleton and Hill, and Tommygun better repay the faith shown by including him earlier than form warrantedIf you kicked five goals and Tom Boyd kicked five goals, Tom Boyd kicked more goals than you.
Formerly gogriffComment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Be upset about the loss, but don't write us off. To come back after losing 3 qtr.'s isn't a bad effort against a strong team like Collingwood. Eade just has to make sure we don't lose so many qtr.'s and only wait till the last to make a comeback, which in most cases will be too little too late.
We will see them again in round 22 and will show if we have improved at all in this department.Comment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
The positive I could take out of the game was the fact that the pies dominated us for three quarters and we almost beat them with one quarter of football. Maybe two quarters of footy from the boys would have been enough.
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Well observed - the last 5 minutes felt like it was going in slow motion, and our lack of emotion was like we were still 6 goals down. It was bizarre to watch.
I was really upset with Johno last night - but I prefer someone to get the pill as often as he does and in damaging positions than not - his miss in the third quarter cost us a goal soon after and the margin looked too large at that point. Needs to be hurting from this, but we've said it all before, and that's my only concern, there's continued precedent of him missing crucial shots. Still class - and it reminds me of the prelim last year and the continued argument that we need a big KF - of couse it would be great, but it was our inability to kick straight when presented the opportunities that beat us on both that night and last night. Plenty of the elite big forwards in the league suffer the same problems, and I remain convinced that our midfield pressure and delivery into the forward line can get it done in September....when/if we turn up to play
As Eade said, plenty of positives - won clearances and contested possesions, just butchered opportunities. Murphy was great but kicked 1.3 (damn impressive to have 4 shots at goal when you play less than half the game forward) Griffen racked it up but his disposal by foot was woeful at times. Williams did look off the pace, but his 11 touches were 100% effective, and wasn't the worst big man on the ground.
When Hahn marked, I honestly thought we were going to run off and win by 3 goals, that's how bad Collingwood had stopped. I think it's a massive tick for our fitness to be able to run out games like that, especially with the 6 day break. As fate would have it, it was another turnover on the half back line that gifted them the winner, kind of fitting given our play for the first 3/4
So my only concerns going forward is what we bring to gameday at times - but if we bring it, I remain confident we can challenge. Still third, and while even if we'd won last night, we'd still have to keep winning to keep top 4, which is a better position to be in than last year IMO - we don't have the luxury to 'flirt with our form' as they say.Float Along - Fill Your LungsComment
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Re: Thoughts about tonights game.
Totally agree KT31, I too am as disappointed as you all, but let's put things into perspective - 2 losses by kick in 8 weeks! For whatever reason, the boys seemed flat for most of the first 3 quarters. We didn't seem to be able to get our match ups right, and perhaps that was because Collingwood were rotating their bench like blazes. It seemed like our guys at times, weren't sure who they were playing on. Does that mean Eade was out-coached for 3 quarters?? It seemed in the last quarter, they just let loose, forgot about being too careful, and played their natural game, and it worked! As a Bulldog supporter for 45 years, I understand the highs and low's, and I'm not saying I'm accepting of a losing mentality - far from it. It's bl ** dy hard to be objective when you lose by a point, but I'm old school, and you stick by them through thick and thin. I want/need a premiership as much as everyone else, but nothing - nothing is guaranteed in this game. But I couldn't/wouldn't barrack or support any other team
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