The End of the World

[DOG GOD]

Re: The End of the World

^^^

It's worth looking at Freo's run home while considering this.

vs Richmond @ Etihad
vs Melb @ Subi
us
The Derby
vs North @ Etihad
vs Syd @ Subi
vs Dawks in Tas
and Carlton at home

Let's see how inuries impact them, but on current form, I reckon we fall short of them by a game.

Id say Freo will win 5-6 of 8 there. I cant see us winning 7 of 8.

[Mofra]

Re: The End of the World

In recent history, the top 4 teams that get the week off in September tend to play in the GF.
It is a very difficult task to play 4 games on the trot at finals intensity, and the week off appears to be vital.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The End of the World

Indeed tcd. We have made it extremely hard.

The thing that worries most is that when it gets hard we don't seem to have anyone that can genuinely stand up and win it. .

Ryan Griffen. Last game against Melbourne, in the wet. Was that not standing up and winning it? With another 10 seconds he may have done it on Friday.

[AndrewP6]

Re: The End of the World

Ryan Griffen. Last game against Melbourne, in the wet. Was that not standing up and winning it? With another 10 seconds he may have done it on Friday.

But he chose not to try and shepherd the last kick.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The End of the World

True! That looked pretty poor but I was not at the game. From what others here said, the siren went when the ball was at its apex. Rocket discussed it on " Before the game". Any comments?

[AndrewP6]

Re: The End of the World

True! That looked pretty poor but I was not at the game. From what others here said, the siren went when the ball was at its apex. Rocket discussed it on " Before the game". Any comments?

Haven't seen that part of the replay (couldn't bring myself to watch it) but was at the game. It kind of summed up a big part of our problem, particularly this season - lack of desperation, the fact he didn't even try. Maybe he knew the rule better than me. I had thought it was all over.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The End of the World

In recent history, the top 4 teams that get the week off in September tend to play in the GF.
It is a very difficult task to play 4 games on the trot at finals intensity, and the week off appears to be vital.

Who did you pick last week, St Kilda or Geelong?

Funny things can happen in sport. Hang in there Bulldogs

[EasternWest]

Re: The End of the World

But he chose not to try and shepherd the last kick.

True! That looked pretty poor but I was not at the game. From what others here said, the siren went when the ball was at its apex. Rocket discussed it on " Before the game". Any comments?

I did say that I thought it was a pretty big brain fade from Ryan, but Eade handled it well when asked and pretty much exonerated Griffen for it.

After hearing that I have some sympathy for Griff. It's pretty easy to say "he should've" in hindsight.

[azabob]

Re: The End of the World

Are we neccesarily done?

Our run home is pretty good;

- Carlton @ Etihad
- Port @ TIO
- Freo @ Etihad
- North @ Etihad
- Adelaide @ AAMI
- Geelong @ Etihad
- Sydney @ SCG
- Essendon @ Etihad

.

On paper the run looks ok,

BUT

- Carlton @ Etihad - lost to them 2007, 08, 09
- Port @ TIO - Port normally play well in Darwin
- Freo @ Etihad - Tough game, Even tougher due to the game before in darwin
- North @ Etihad - Should win. Will be physical due to last time
- Adelaide @ AAMI - Should win - but Crows are finding form
- Geelong @ Etihad
- Sydney @ SCG - Roos last game in Sydney
- Essendon @ Etihad - Last few years struggled against them and lost earlier this year

Now there is no room for error if we want top 4, and in isolation each game has its little factors which make it even tougher.

[Chicago1]

Re: The End of the World

We get told all the time by rocket that the dogs are a spirited bunch- I just haven't seen that in the same way this year .

If you want to see a "spirited bunch" have a look at the Tigers team that just beat Sydney. The match was shown live here on ESPN2 and the heart shown by the Tigers players put us to shame from what I watched the other night. Where has it all gone wrong? I honestly expected us to play in the Grand Final this year. I know that's still a possibility, but then again...

[The Coon Dog]

Re: The End of the World

If you want to see a "spirited bunch" have a look at the Tigers team that just beat Sydney. The match was shown live here on ESPN2 and the heart shown by the Tigers players put us to shame from what I watched the other night. Where has it all gone wrong? I honestly expected us to play in the Grand Final this year. I know that's still a possibility, but then again...

How would the Tigers have fared against Hawthorn & how would we have fared against Sydney? It's not like you're comparing apples with apples.

We lost to the most inform team in the comp at the moment by 3 points, not something I'm ashamed of.

A kick either way in both games & we win & Richmond lose. I accept that that didn't happened, but it could so easily have.

[mjp]

Re: The End of the World

Richmond showed a fair bit late to fight it out - but honestly it was only the Swans' inaccuracy that kept them in it.

In games like ours (decided by less than a kick) too much gets read into the whole winning/losing thing...we would be celebrating courage and commitment had we won but the way we played would not have changed a single bit.

Hawthorn were very hard at it and we matched them for commitment and intensity all night...Franklin's ability to kick that goal from outside 50m was the difference in the end - we simply couldn't do it.

You want to look for reasons for the loss? Fine - but just as many can be found in the first 15 mins (3 goals Hawks, none to us) as in the last quarter...

[Go_Dogs]

Re: The End of the World

You want to look for reasons for the loss? Fine - but just as many can be found in the first 15 mins (3 goals Hawks, none to us) as in the last quarter...

Agreed.

Saw an interesting stat the other day (prior to the Hawks game) that had us at -61 against our opponents over the first 10 minutes of matches for 2010. We are poor starters for sure.

[LostDoggy]

Re: The End of the World

Looking at it closely, each time we've finished Top 4 we've lost week 1 anyhow, so the week off has never been an option for us.

Provided we don't have to go to Perth week 2, finishing 5th may not be such a bad thing.
By finishing 5th we get the loser of 1 v 4 which would be Cats or Freo at this stage - lets hope that Freo finish a bit higher which is possible.
Idealy Freo finish 3rd and lose week 1 which means, if we win week 1 we wouldn't have to go to Perth at all (potential GF meeting with Freo at the MCG possible but thats all!).

I reckon any team we meet in week 2 would be fearing a straight sets exit against us (Cats / Pies??).

[LostDoggy]

Re: The End of the World

Say the ladder finished as;

Geelong/Stkilda, Collingwood, Fremantle, Bulldogs

Which is highly possible. We then go onto beat the team thats 8th. Would we play the loser of Geelong/Freo or StKilda/Collingwood? would the advantage of not playing freo in Perth be the 5th or 6th position?

5th goes on to pay loser of 1 v 4 which at this stage is probably Freo (in Perth).