Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

I agree D.R. I thought we were totally outplayed when it counted. Cats took the foot off the pedal in the last but just did enough. IF we had kicked those goals, i'm sure the cats wouldve kicked back into gear. The selections of Murph, Gia, and Griff cost us dearly as they looked either SLOW, UNABLE TO RUN RUN RUN, and skills and decision making was poor. They werent alone though, we didnt have many winners. I thought Gilbs was good though.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

Margin flattered us IMO. At least we didn't give up. Outplayed for most of the game. Not good enough.

I'm not convinced the margin flattered us, once again our poor start cost us, insofar as we were playing catch-up-football from Qtr time on.

Both side missed easy chances, but in the end the difference was the inability of our midfield to get a consistent advantage at stoppages. Geelong were consistently able to win enough clearances and get it to advantage too many times, and apart from Ward on Selwood we had no winners in our midfield.

And lastly our use of the ball into our forward 50 was woeful, which didn't allow us to put scoreboard pressure on Geelong for long enough.

After quarter time I felt our effort improved, and I think that our last quarter will at least give us some positives to build on for next week.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

I agree D.R. I thought we were totally outplayed when it counted. Cats took the foot off the pedal in the last but just did enough. IF we had kicked those goals, i'm sure the cats wouldve kicked back into gear. The selections of Murph, Gia, and Griff cost us dearly as they looked either SLOW, UNABLE TO RUN RUN RUN, and skills and decision making was poor. They werent alone though, we didnt have many winners. I thought Gilbs was good though.

I don't have a problem with Gia's selection. Having 2 games in a row, I think it was fair enough of the selection panel to assume he would increasingly find his feet.

I also don't see how the selection panel could've even considered not including Murph, as he is arguably our most important players in getting our forward line to function. He just had a poor game, as did several others, but his playing was not a selection blunder.

Griffen however, 3 weeks off, coming into this game, and given the personnel had done the job in his absence, I'm not sure he should've played.

[Dry Rot]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

I'm not convinced the margin flattered us, once again our poor start cost us, insofar as we were playing catch-up-football from Qtr time on.

I agree D.R. I thought we were totally outplayed when it counted. Cats took the foot off the pedal in the last but just did enough. IF we had kicked those goals, i'm sure the cats wouldve kicked back into gear.

I agree with DG. I think the last quarter was a mix of our better endeavour PLUS the Cats taking their foot off the accelerator.

One constant factor was our dinky little handpasses and kicks don't work under real pressure. Some very poor decision making out there today.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

At least we went down with a fight!
Now we have to pray that Brisbane win tonight..

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

What did Gia offer though? He looks majorly slow and his decisions can sometimes leave me scratching my head for someone with experience.

NO WAY Griff shouldve played ahead of Reid, and i'm a fan of Griff but he is frustrating. Everitt wouldve at least given us "something" surely as some sort of target eith back or fwd.

Murph had a shocking final series last year and he didnt change that aspect in this match.

[LostDog]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

I dont wanna play carlton, straight sets will be embarrasing

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

At least we went down with a fight!
Now we have to pray that Brisbane win tonight..

Yep...dont wanna play blues.

[LostDog]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

Best result for us
Brisbane win
Collingwood Upset St Kilda

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

Best result for us
Brisbane win
Collingwood Upset St Kilda

Yeah thats what i reckon.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

What did Gia offer though? He looks majorly slow and his decisions can sometimes leave me scratching my head for someone with experience.

NO WAY Griff shouldve played ahead of Reid, and i'm a fan of Griff but he is frustrating. Everitt wouldve at least given us "something" surely as some sort of target eith back or fwd.

Murph had a shocking final series last year and he didnt change that aspect in this match.

As a selector though I can't see how they could've contemplated not selecting Gia or Murph, especially Murph.

I was more perplexed when they played Gia against the Cats two weeks ago, after a 8 week lay-off, but once they made that decision for him to play that game, then he was always going to play in the finals. We forget that prior to his injury he was leading the competition for Goal Assists, and I think that our forward line needs as many guys who add to our ability to score.

And normally Gia's decision making is very good. Last week and today it wasn't.

Murphy does need to put in a good game next week to start squaring the ledger on his poor finals record.

I see both Murphy and Gia playing next week, and as much as I think it's a gamble, I think Griffen, whilst coming under close scrutiny at the selection meeting, will also play next week.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

I agree with DG. I think the last quarter was a mix of our better endeavour PLUS the Cats taking their foot off the accelerator.

One constant factor was our dinky little handpasses and kicks don't work under real pressure. Some very poor decision making out there today.

Agree on the dinky handpasses, which I think are a reflection on our lack of run overall.

I'm still not convinced that the Cats took their foot off the accelerator, especially given our propensity to surge in last quarters, as we need against them early in the season.
I think it would've been supreme arrogance for Geelong to have put the cue in the rack. Once our pressure lifted they were no longer looking assured with their disposals and decisions.
If Higgins or Aker had've kicked one of the three chances they had in the last, I think it would've been very very interesting.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

Disappointing day but the equation is still the same as 2:29PM win 3 games in a row and you win the flag.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

WHY WHY WHY is everyone trying to avoid the Saints????
You watch, Collingwood will win that one by 40+ points. My biggest fear coming into the finals were Geelong (they know when to turn it on), and Adelaide (remember '97, when they had to have a wining streak just to make the 8, then the streak continued to win the flag). Saints have switched off, yeah they are a good team but you can't turn poor form around in a week!
Today the Dogs got over whelmed by the moment at the start, and couldn't regroup.
The only positives to come out of the negatives of playing Gia and Griff are, they get some games into them so they'll be right for the later (and more important) finals.
The only danger now is if the Dogs make it to the more important finals????????????

[GVGjr]

Re: Game Day - QF2 Western Bulldogs vs Geelong

The easy option is to lay the blame at our lack of height up forward again. It's a convenient excuse albeit not that accurate.

We got beaten today for 3 reasons:

- Some senior players didn't stand up to be counted when the pressure was on.
- We played a couple of guys that were underdone.
- A higher portion of unforced skill errors than would normally be acceptable hurt us.

We can keep dancing around blaming the lack of height up forward but it's the same list that we had at the start of the season so why do we need to go over old ground after every loss.

We gave an experienced side a significant start and couldn't rope them back in and it's not because of a lack of a key forward.