Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

[Missing Dog]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

I know its tough to say after a Terrible loss like this but it may prove a blessing in disguise that
we arent the only team that can win the Flag and go under the radar let The Pies fans think they have the flag We Will Bounce back from this

[Hotdog60]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Why didn't Ward play today?

Ward just over the groin injury and then had a flu bug I thought, so I'd say he was rested.

[Hot_Doggies]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

What was William's trying to do one out with Medhurst on the wing in the 2nd qrter?

He had no idea!

[soupman]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Very dissapointing performance. Collingwood played very well, and we were very average.

My observations:

-We lacked a willingness to run and support today. Watching Collingwood it seemed they had extra players on the field because wherever the footy went they had the numbers. So often today we got caught loooking for the hands out the back, not seeing anyone there and then having to try and shrug a tackle. On top of this there were numerous times, particularly with the kick outs, when nobody would lead or work to offer something for the disposing player. This meant we almost always went to 50-50 contests.

-Our disposal and decision making was dissapointing. Normally we are a lot more efficient than that. A lot of our kicks needed to be flatter, or more to our players advantage.

-Our forwards need to play in front. Matthew Boyd and Adam Cooney were winning centre clearance after centre clearance, but these rarely amounted to anything because our players were starting too far behind their opponents who could meet the footy when it invariably dropped short. We needed our player to be in front to at least give a contest.

With Individual players:

-Tom Williams. I actually thought Williams wasn't too far off a good game. He had three things that worked against him: His hands under pressure, his constant dropping of marks and his average disposal by foot today. However, I feel the latter two are usually pretty good and I can put them down to a bad day. I'm pleased to see he actually flew for marks today and backed himself in. Even Lake wasn't taking them today so Williams wasn't alone here. His most pressing problem is that he tends to panic under pressure, but as yet I'm not sure how to fix this. But really, Cloke had no impact and Williams showed again that he could be alright.

-Andrejs Everitt. Possibly the biggest positive from today. Used the ball well by foot, got himself in good positions, and looked dangerous. Also wasn't obviously beaten by anybody. I think he'll have a good season.

-Will Minson. Surely that would have to be one of the worst games he's ever played. It's hard to continue calling Leigh Brown a spud when Will plays like a potato. Usually his disposal by foot is good and his ruckwork is pretty good also. Today he looks slow and cumbersome, couldn't mark a thing and his diposal was woeful. I was very dissapointed with his performance and felt he was a leading candidate for worst on ground.

[alwaysadog]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

I thought we were comprehensively beaten out of the middle
We fumbled the ball in close a lot
We had players fall over rather than keep their feet
At times we used the ball badly into the forward line, missing targets or kicking up and under.
The Pies killed us for getting the ball off packs and scoring or setting up scoring opportunities.
In terms of keepings off, when the Pies got the ball in our forward line, you always thought they could go the length of the ground to score. It seemed we played off their players a lot.

Agree with you metal, the stats for clearances etc might suggest otherwise but they won't show how regularly we fumbled ball we had won, nor how easily they hunted and dispossessed us. The number of goals they scored from turnovers should show it.

The inconsistent old bulldogs ala West Coast late last season were back in force today. You can't tell if the players have turned up ready for a pressure game or for an extended smoko. They went back to work briefly in the second and early third quarters, but pretty soon drifted back to the lunch room.

It's not a critical loss, we lost the first two games in 1954, but having won the respect of most of the scribes and opposition supporters, something that is very grudgingly afforded us, we put in a shocker like that and now have to win back that respect. More importantly other sides that would have approached a game against us with some trepidation will walk taller and fancy their chances more - so once again we have made the going more heavy than it needs to be.

[Happy Days]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Really dissapointing.

Our inability to deal with Collingwood's forward pressure, whilst it was sensational, was very poor, especially considering the supposed elite foot skills of our backmen. Gilbee and Harbrow were particularly dissapointing. What about Gilbee's miss in the 3rd? You would expect an average kick to nail that, let alone Gilbs.

Back on to their forward pressure, I think we attributed to it a bit, as I felt we were sluggish with our kick-ins. West Coast showed last night early in their game that the best way to deal with a press is to kick it long and fast. We seemed to complacent to try to worm our way out of defence, and often we got caught on it.

Conversly, our forward pressure, which was so good in the NAB Cup, was woeful. We simply could not contain the ball, which meant that Shaw could cut us to shreds on the rebound. Also, why did we not play in front. I reckon at least 10 times we were caught out of position in that second half, and it really cost us.

Collingwood were just too good for us today.

[DOG GOD]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Obviously watching on tv isnt the best as being there, but it seemed that our fwd 50 was always clogged and theirs was so open it wasnt funny.

Shaw, Maxwell and O'Brien worked so well together and it amuses me why we continually left Shaw untagged, just as we did last year.

Their pressure was enormous and we made fundamental errors of a team with no time to think. Bombing kicks into the 50, and even from defense out of the 50. Yes Boyd was good but with over 30 possies and a supercoach score of only 80 odd says alot of how he used the ball.

Couldnt believe how slow our fwd line looked in their defensive pressure. Totally killed thru the middle of the ground for most of the game. Having the bigger body of Moles wouldve been nice in there.
Cooney, Griffen and Higgens showed patches but we cant expect to beat the pies with only patches of good footy. Williams was like a rabbit in headlights on occassions and will really need to get his mojo back quickly.

Thanks god its rd 1 and not rd 22 coz we dont wanna a performance like that again for a LONG time if we are to be a chance this year.

[alwaysadog]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

I know its tough to say after a Terrible loss like this but it may prove a blessing in disguise that
we arent the only team that can win the Flag and go under the radar let The Pies fans think they have the flag We Will Bounce back from this

Yes Pickenitup, if there's any good to come out of this it's that others will believe that "the Premiership is a cakewalk" but we now know differently and it should help to drive out from our players the complacency that was evident.

The message is that if we don't play at out best for the whole games we will be humbled: efforts like today's are no longer acceptable, mediocrity is not an option.

If the players are as honest and as committed as we have been led to believe then they should apologise to our fans.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Terrible performance, and i am not really ready to single out any players.

The team knows how they need to perform week in & week out, obviously today wasn't one of them. I always knew this was going to be a danger game, the flag isn't a walk in the park (although everyone who posts here knows that).

I turned to my Dad today and said 'I told you', hopefully it opens up the players eyes now & they can see the bigger picture. Turn up to play every week, or you are going to get your behind handed to you. The fairytale pre season wins & cup success are gone, it's the real stuff now & today they looked like a team not ready to be contenders.

Time to stand up dogs, i know you area ready for a Premiership tilt.

[G-Mo77]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Really disappointed with the boys today. It was one of those cases when you fall into a 6 goal hole it is always tough to get out of it. The miss by Gilbee in the 3rd was a real changing point he kicks that I really think we would have won this game. Collingwood get a few goals and all of a sudden we are down by 20 points again. We can't afford to have those first quarter lapses especially against such a good side.

I thought our midfield played some pretty dumb football at times. Collingwood space the packs in stoppages quite wide and constantly Bulldogs players were sucked in and leaving men free. I know you have to help out teammates when the ball is there to be one but you also have to be smart about it.

Our defence was beaten pretty convincingly IMO. I thought Lake was woeful today he really needed to stand up with Morris out. Shaggy was beaten by Medhurst. Not a good match up for him though with the glove there Medhurst barely gets a touch. Williams had a very ordinary night, poor disposal and really lost all confidence in himself as the game wore on. Hopefully he'll forget it very quickly. Harbrow was off as well.

Murphy was a star tonight and BOG IMO. Boyd was fantastic all night. Hall did his job, Cross and Higgins held there own and I also thought Hudson was very good. Apart from them not much else to discuss. A lot of passengers today. I don't think there is a lot to worry about though. It's Round 1 and there are 21 games to go plenty of time to iron out those creases.

[Jasper]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

What happened to Tommy Williams today? He just seemed off the mark by a mile. He dropped a few easy uncontested marks and his kicking wasnt great. Hope Morris doesnt miss any more games because from todays result I think it shows how important he really is.

[mighty_west]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Very dissapointing performance. Collingwood played very well, and we were very average.

My observations:

-We lacked a willingness to run and support today. Watching Collingwood it seemed they had extra players on the field because wherever the footy went they had the numbers. So often today we got caught loooking for the hands out the back, not seeing anyone there and then having to try and shrug a tackle. On top of this there were numerous times, particularly with the kick outs, when nobody would lead or work to offer something for the disposing player. This meant we almost always went to 50-50 contests.

-Our disposal and decision making was dissapointing. Normally we are a lot more efficient than that. A lot of our kicks needed to be flatter, or more to our players advantage.

-Our forwards need to play in front. Matthew Boyd and Adam Cooney were winning centre clearance after centre clearance, but these rarely amounted to anything because our players were starting too far behind their opponents who could meet the footy when it invariably dropped short. We needed our player to be in front to at least give a contest.

With Individual players:

-Tom Williams. I actually thought Williams wasn't too far off a good game. He had three things that worked against him: His hands under pressure, his constant dropping of marks and his average disposal by foot today. However, I feel the latter two are usually pretty good and I can put them down to a bad day. I'm pleased to see he actually flew for marks today and backed himself in. Even Lake wasn't taking them today so Williams wasn't alone here. His most pressing problem is that he tends to panic under pressure, but as yet I'm not sure how to fix this. But really, Cloke had no impact and Williams showed again that he could be alright.

-Andrejs Everitt. Possibly the biggest positive from today. Used the ball well by foot, got himself in good positions, and looked dangerous. Also wasn't obviously beaten by anybody. I think he'll have a good season.

-Will Minson. Surely that would have to be one of the worst games he's ever played. It's hard to continue calling Leigh Brown a spud when Will plays like a potato. Usually his disposal by foot is good and his ruckwork is pretty good also. Today he looks slow and cumbersome, couldn't mark a thing and his diposal was woeful. I was very dissapointed with his performance and felt he was a leading candidate for worst on ground.

Agree with everything you say.

That was Minsons worst performance in a long time, he was terrible, i don;t know if dropping him would be the right way to go, but Roughead always dominated Tyrone Vickory at under 18 level, could be worth a look at, that said, you would have to back Minson against either Vickory or Simmonds.

Unfortunatly, when Williams has a shocker, everyone seems to want his head, yet he is vital to our structure, who else do we have that could play a key position down back? Boumann needs to pull his head in & Mulligan is a long way off, Markovic could be a show, but his lack of pace could be a worry & Everitt is simply not a key possie player.

Morris was a big loss for us, i can't remember too many times both Davis & Didak have been given so much space.

The big positive was Cooney and his knee, at first, he grabbed at it, and it didn't look good what so ever, fortunatly he seemed ok and came back on, but had it iced up after the game, let's hope he is given the all clear.

[G-Mo77]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

The big positive was Cooney and his knee, at first, he grabbed at it, and it didn't look good what so ever, fortunatly he seemed ok and came back on, but had it iced up after the game, let's hope he is given the all clear.

Got the all clear on the radio.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Haven't seen all the game yet {Most of The Second Half] We distinctly got this wrong at the selection table Not enough run. We've troubled The Pies over the journey with our Run and yet we didn't have enough on the park. Need Morris back urgently [Rocket said he had a fever] have to pick Ward and Moles next week. I don't think you play underdone players in Round 1 even if they are top footballers. As for Williams he really has to eliminate this panic play out of his play,I think he broke even with Cloke [They were as bad as each other] Big Bonus is that the Over Hype baton has gone back to it's original and longstanding owner COLLINGWOOD

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Game Day - R1 Western Bulldogs vs Collingwood

Hope Morris doesnt miss any more games because from todays result I think it shows how important he really is.

Welcome to WOOF Dogs101.

As soon as I heard that Morris was out of the side - I just had this awful feeling that things wouldn't go our way today. He is super important to our side and fingers crossed he is right for next week.