Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

[KT31]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Very dirty game from Nth, a lot of sniping I thought, then I realized who their coach is.
What happened to the clean, hardworking, honest Nth?

On Barry Hall.
Wrestling is usually a fine and I would think the misconduct charge will be light due to a lot of provocation, sadly because of Thompsons crap the umpires will now be against any fullback touching a forward.

Luckily ours plays in front.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

The support Barry was given after the incident, was awesome. The supporters standing up on there feet as he came off, after scoring a goal. Would've done wonders for Barry, and we all felt he was being treated.

Also North getting booed off at there own home game for halftime, was a funny moment.

[Ozza]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

I didn't see today's game because I was playing - but am surprised to hear comments inferring it was an ordinary 70-point win, cheap possessions, we didn't play that well etc... Will have to wait til I watch it tomorrow morning to comment - but coming off the field (with a 126 point win!) hearing the dogs won by 70 - I was pretty stoked.

That and getting a handy collect on Freo winning (Sydney played us last week - they could never win!).

Go dogs.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

I didn't enjoy today's game at all. That European handball type of chipping the ball around is shocking to watch and it's an indictment on the game. These cheap stats that our backline racked up mean nothing.

Yep, and Rocket mentioned he was not happy with it in the pressy.
Hope to see that change

[AndrewP6]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Great to hear Eade in the presser "The tough players aren't given protection"

[ledge]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

After todays game and some posters commenting it wasnt a good win, I find myself looking at the ladder and a bigger picture.
We havent played well this year according to a few and they are probably right but we are one game off top and if we are the side we think we are and will improve it shows how much of a good side we are.

Does it matter how you win as long as you win? (apart from dirty tactics)

Sydney and St Kilda have been accused of being terrible but they have both played in grand finals and one won it.
I missed the Sydney game but was told we turned a corner.

Yesterdays game?
In my opinion it can be hard to get good footy going if you are getting sniped at every opportunity, it wasnt just Hall it was near on everyone Pratt or Thompson could reach, to win by 70 in this environment with a club intent on being in Afghanistan instead of a footy ground was a huge effort.

I think this game and the Melbourne game should not be taken as not playing well but getting through rare conditions with a win. The sign of a good team.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Some interesting discussion on this thread with regards to the game style, in particular the switching of play.

Whilst yesterday was an example on the extreme side of things (as far as I'm concerned at least, there was much more done this week than I have ever seen previously by a Dogs side) I think at times you need to be able to switch the play and create an opening so that we can take the space.

Obviously, when you are switching the play 5 times before moving forwards, the opposition is able to get numbers back, set up their structures and ensure that there is no space to take once the play has switched sides. So I do agree that in that scenario, we need to be a bit more daring, move the ball a bit quicker and back the player further up the field to win his 1:1 contest.

At times this isn't possible, and I'd prefer that we hold the ball by switching it, rather than kick to an out-numbered contest and turn the ball over. How often did we used to see that? Players running forward as hard as they can, looking up and having no one to kick to and bombing long causing a turnover. It might look "prettier" than the switch play style, but certainly doesn't help on the scoreboard.

[anfo27]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

After todays game and some posters commenting it wasnt a good win, I find myself looking at the ladder and a bigger picture.
We havent played well this year according to a few and they are probably right but we are one game off top and if we are the side we think we are and will improve it shows how much of a good side we are.

Does it matter how you win as long as you win? (apart from dirty tactics)

Sydney and St Kilda have been accused of being terrible but they have both played in grand finals and one won it.
I missed the Sydney game but was told we turned a corner.

Yesterdays game?
In my opinion it can be hard to get good footy going if you are getting sniped at every opportunity, it wasnt just Hall it was near on everyone Pratt or Thompson could reach, to win by 70 in this environment with a club intent on being in Afghanistan instead of a footy ground was a huge effort.

I think this game and the Melbourne game should not be taken as not playing well but getting through rare conditions with a win. The sign of a good team.

Thats why I'm still very positive on our season. For as great as the pies have been playing and being a flag favourite they are only a win ahead of us. You just feel we are building and the further the season gets on the better we will get.

I don't envy the pies at all, i wouldn't want us playing our best footy now. As long as we get enough wins to make that top 4 thats all that matters.

[Missing Dog]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

At this stage in the club's history I don't care how we win. Chip it a dozen times at the back if it means we win. I don't care. When we break a 50+ year drought and win a premiership, i'll worry about playing attractive football the following year.

BUT

What I was concerned about was the 15+ minutes at the beginning of the match where a lowly team like North could've been 4 goals up if they simply didn't kick so atrociously for goal. And there were other periods in other quarters where North did that as well. Thats why I believe 70 points flattered us: North's misses were simply extraordinary, possibly 8-9 goals that they just butchered. This for mine is the concern, not the chipping around at the back, because you can bet that Geelong, Collingwood and St Kilda (with Reiwoldt) won't miss.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Yeah I think you have to blame North for that.
If you're flooding back while we have a 50 point lead, I say chip it around.
Screw you.
Why should we care?

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Rocket has said that the purpose of playing kick to kick when the game is over is to avoid contests and extra running, in effect giving everyone a few minutes off.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

HEY!
I've been away all weekend.
What did I miss???????????????????
70 pts! Sounds good??

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

Rocket has said that the purpose of playing kick to kick when the game is over is to avoid contests and extra running, in effect giving everyone a few minutes off.

It makes sense and I personally didn't mind it. We over did it in the last quarter, but whatever. The game was won.

It's good practice for Finals too. Sometimes you need to slow the game down, possibly even to win the game.

In regards to our side not playing as 'daring' as we used to, it's certainly helping our defence and is one of the main reasons why we aren't coughing up big/easy scores. You can't really have it both ways, and I am happy that our defensive structures are working well because that's what Finals is all about. We still have the talent (and ability) to score heavily when we need to, so it's about getting the balance right. It'll take some time but I like the way we're starting to go about it.

[comrade]

Re: Game Day - R9 Western Bulldogs vs North Melbourne

It's good practice for Finals too. Sometimes you need to slow the game down, possibly even to win the game.

Geelong did it to perfection in the dying minutes of our Qualifying Final.