Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Bit harsh on Wight there Doc. Granted it wasn't a fantastic game by him by any stretch of the imagination, but he was OK in the ruck and did a few alright taps. I still have hope for him developing into something. What I'm not too sure. If he could add some size to his aerobic ability, and be more confident above his head, he'd be a damaging player. I think we will, and should, persist with him.

[GVGjr]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Bit harsh on Wight there Doc. Granted it wasn't a fantastic game by him by any stretch of the imagination, but he was OK in the ruck and did a few alright taps. I still have hope for him developing into something. What I'm not too sure. If he could add some size to his aerobic ability, and be more confident above his head, he'd be a damaging player. I think we will, and should, persist with him.

Sorry M#23 but I'm with Doc on this. Wight turned the ball over a bit too much for my liking and really had no positive impact on the game.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

... Gia is too slow to dispose of the ball and this allws opposition defenders enough time to man up. His kicking lacks penetration and is generally dreadful under pressure. His contested work has been already well scrutinised by all and sundry. One piece of play said it all. North bombed long to a 3 on 3 contest (despite the fact all 18 of our players were in the defensive 50 and only 12 of their were) Gia was in the contest and fell over and didn't get up. Suddenly 3 v 2. They won the loose ball, used the extra man, result goal. Once the goal was scored he got back up like a soccer player does after feigning injury. I was livid...

OMG (as the youngsters say)! I had forgotten about this till now. I was ranting to my father "We've got all our players in their FF!" And then they scored a bloody goal!! Livid. I was foaming at the mouth. I know bugger all about the technicalities of football and couldn't agree or disagree about Gia's contribution, but honestly - to have your entire squad flooded back and concede a goal was just awful.

My question to the more astute posters here - what was going on with our play "off the ball". As it was (at times) too horrible to watch what was going on around the ball (I saw McMahon pull his arms in towards his chest during a contest which can only be described as "flinching"), I turned my goggles towards players that weren't in the immediate contest. Not a lot going on - a lot of stationary players. Is this how it should be?

[Bulldog Revolution]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Sorry M#23 but I'm with Doc on this. Wight turned the ball over a bit too much for my liking and really had no positive impact on the game.

Wight did not have a good game - based on what I saw I dont think he is a centre square ruckman. Hes played his best senior footy as a centre half back, rebounding defender - but at this stage Williams looks a better player. Cam is well down on confidence and still needs an enormous pre season of weights and marking work. It was amazing how much lighter and shorter he looked than Hamish McIntosh - who made me green with envy the way he covered the ground and kicked goals.

[The Underdog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Sorry M#23 but I'm with Doc on this. Wight turned the ball over a bit too much for my liking and really had no positive impact on the game.

The worst part of it was MacIntosh continually getting the ball running into the 50 or the front of the centre square. I mean I know Wight's not a ruckman but he is supposed to be a mobile tall. He just had no idea of what he was doing

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

The worst part of it was MacIntosh continually getting the ball running into the 50 or the front of the centre square. I mean I know Wight's not a ruckman but he is supposed to be a mobile tall. He just had no idea of what he was doing

A bloke sitting behind me on sunday said that we should draft Scott Wynd back next season just to stop opposition ruckman running around doing what they please.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Whilst Wight still has a lot of work to do to become a permanent player in the side, I still think he has enough to persist with. He's played some good roles at times early this year and late last year, he has a bit of mongrel and aggression in him too. I think he really just needs to nail a position and put on another 4-5 kgs - I'm still hopeful.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Whilst Wight still has a lot of work to do to become a permanent player in the side, I still think he has enough to persist with. He's played some good roles at times early this year and late last year, he has a bit of mongrel and aggression in him too. I think he really just needs to nail a position and put on another 4-5 kgs - I'm still hopeful.

But at what point do we give up on him? At the end of last year I had high hopes for Wight. His last 6 or so games of 06 were very good culminating in a pretty good game against West Coast when the rest of the team was very poor. This year Williams, Everitt and perhaps even McDougall have gone past him in terms of a tall defensive role. Cam's body shape at present does not lend it's self to well to playing in the ruck. He was very good in the ruck against Fraser earlier in the year, but has been terrible ever since. So where do we play him?

Do we hope and pray that he can bulk up over the pre-season or do we just cut our losses and try again with another 18yo who will take 4 years to get to the same point we are at now?

[GVGjr]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Whilst Wight still has a lot of work to do to become a permanent player in the side, I still think he has enough to persist with. He's played some good roles at times early this year and late last year, he has a bit of mongrel and aggression in him too. I think he really just needs to nail a position and put on another 4-5 kgs - I'm still hopeful.

I think he is a depth player and whilst he probably won't make our best 22 if everyone was available, I think he can still improve a bit and provide us with a bit of coverage.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

But at what point do we give up on him? At the end of last year I had high hopes for Wight. His last 6 or so games of 06 were very good culminating in a pretty good game against West Coast when the rest of the team was very poor. This year Williams, Everitt and perhaps even McDougall have gone past him in terms of a tall defensive role. Cam's body shape at present does not lend it's self to well to playing in the ruck. He was very good in the ruck against Fraser earlier in the year, but has been terrible ever since. So where do we play him?

Do we hope and pray that he can bulk up over the pre-season or do we just cut our losses and try again with another 18yo who will take 4 years to get to the same point we are at now?

He puts his heads over the ball and takes knocks and gets up. For those reasons alone I reckon we have to keep him.

[Mantis]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

He puts his heads over the ball and takes knocks and gets up. For those reasons alone I reckon we have to keep him.

I like him too, I like the way he puts his 'thin' body on the line.

But where do we play him? For me he is best suited as a ruckman, but does not have the body strength to compete in this very tough and demading role. Do we simply hope that he will add size?

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

But where do we play him?

Honestly dont know. What I do know is that we dont have a lot of that type of player and it's possible to teach him a position to play but not to teach blokes to put their head over the ball.

[Raw Toast]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Wight's still a project player for mine, but his disposal and decision-making raise some pretty big question marks regarding his long-term future.

He started the year pretty well, and at his best was taking contested marks in the defensive fifty and adding a bit of physical presence. There were also times when he was our most effective ruck. On the plus side then is that he has the potential to add a lot of versatility, he is very athletic (I remember Eade commenting on his surprise re this in his first pre-season), and he puts his body on the line and has a good agressive streak.

On the minus side, he can lose his confidence big-time and become a liability. His disposal by foot is still v ordinary, by hand his only marginally better, and when hand-passing he tends to choose the wrong option. Maybe we should try and turn him into a forward who can ruck a bit? Sockeye says he runs to the right places as a forward which is an invaluable skill, and he should at least be able to bring the ball down a fair bit. I agree he does look like a depth player at the moment, but I'd give him at least another year.

McDougall played pretty well I reckon. Perhaps the most pleasing thing was that his composure increased as the game went on, and he showed he can dispose of the ball with a bit of vision - it didn't always come off, but he generally chose good options. Also, he gives the appearence of really wanting to make it which is a good sign. Needs to work on his technique sometimes when he appears not sure whether to punch or stay down, but has the potential to become a good to very good player which would be a very gruntling thing indeed.

Was Power played in any tagging role? Couldn't tell from the tv. On the screen it looked like he had an ok game (apart from that awful hand-pass attempt). He kicked long to advantage a couple of times and was more pro-active for mine. I'm still hoping

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

Power won a few hard clearances too. Just think his whole package isn't where it needs to be at this stage. Again he's one who could survive due to our massive loss of experience and our need for some 'depth', but as far as proving himself as a best 22 tagger, he hasn't done that for me.

[The Underdog]

Re: Game Day - Bulldogs vs Kangaroos

There's a lot of inbetween guys like Power and Wight who could be with us next year, but if an appropriate trade came along they could just as easily be gone.
I'm just not sure how these guys are valued outside the club and whether trading them would bring us any improvement as far as what we would receive, but it's going to be an interesting offseason.