Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

[Maddog37]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Cross whilst making a couple of glaring errors that deflate the whole team still keeps his spot. He is brave and far from our worst week in week out.

The problem is that we have too many plodders in Cross, Gia etc and someone has to go. The balance is not right just yet.

Higgins is a good sub IMO.

[hujsh]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Very harsh on Cross here today flowing a pretty good game with the exception of that dropped mark before half time. To say Cross was finished 12 months ago stands out as the strangest statement.

Whether or not he should have got a 2 year contract is debatable and whether he will be worth playing as Wallis, Libba and Smith (hopefully) improve is questionable, but Cross gives us pretty much the same output now as he did in 2006. He was always slow and never a great kick but his desperation, courage, overhead marking and endurance have not fallen away one bit.

I thought Ayce seemed to play behind too often, especially on a day like today.

[Eastdog]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Really enjoyed the game of Grant, Wallis and DJ from the POV that they all have clear ability but haven't shown much of what they've got at this level. Tonight they put in some real solid performances, effective at almost every contest they got involved in.

Cordy, he is young but we need him to make a stronger contest at times. Its like he hasn't got that ability to grit his teeth and just exert that extra bit of energy to ensure he beats his opponent. It will come, I'm sure and he worked hard but without that bit of extra effort he will struggle.

Gia. Must be injured, finished his opportunities well but mostly he was a liability tonight. I thought even Higgins would have given us more. Speaking of, off the bench he had a better outing than I expected. Got involved and showed some courage which is rare but but well received and appreciated by the fans. Keep up the good work.

Roughhead played a very complete big man's game I felt. Just performed well above expectations and did a really good job in unfamiliar territory as a FB/CHB. He assisted really well by the bullish work of Addison, who is much maligned but true to his best qualities just went in harder and harder each contest and bested his man when the heat was on.

We've got a mountain of work to do, but I liked a few positional changes Mac made i.e. Cooney fwd and Jones higher up the field. We won't be getting too many wins, so while it was only the Dees we may as well enjoy it.

Well said SonsofScray. This year when we win we have to savour it as we won't get too many of them this year.

[SonofScray]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Cross was close to our best I thought. I also think he is close to finished in terms of his role in the team and what we need to be looking at in terms of development. Not a reflection on him, or his ability but rather where the Club is at.

[Eastdog]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Cross was close to our best I thought. I also think he is close to finished in terms of his role in the team and what we need to be looking at in terms of development. Not a reflection on him, or his ability but rather where the Club is at.

I thought Dahlhaus and DJ were quite good as well tonight. How did you rate Wood's match.

[SonofScray]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

I thought Dahlhaus and DJ were quite good as well tonight. How did you rate Wood's match.

Dahl was very solid. He received BOG honours on the radio, just provides a real spark. A minor knock on him was his conversion, I'd have liked to see him nail a few more chances.

Wood turned the ball over less I felt, when he did we didn't get burned too badly. Battled well without playing particularly well.

[AndrewP6]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

It's a much better feeling going home on the train after a win. Not earth-shattering stuff, to me it was a true indication of two battling teams. Our skill level really worries me, we fail to do the basics even remotely well at times. I thought DFA battled well, he puts himself in harm's way so readily. Dahl was great, lots of spark and persistence. I'm in Crossy's corner - whilst he has obvious deficiencies (I could've thrown my drink when he cost us that goal), we need that person who is hard at it, courageous in contests etc. THere are others of a similar ilk, but they need time to be able to do it week in week out. Murph was great - in a decimated back line, when he has the ball I feel comfortable. Coons I thought did quite well, slotted a couple and seemed to move fairly well.

A win is a win is a win.

[EasternWest]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

He assisted really well by the bullish work of Addison, who is much maligned but true to his best qualities just went in harder and harder each contest and bested his man when the heat was on.

I absolutely love the way you've worded this.

Good to see a bit of DFA love going around.

[Sedat]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Good to see a bit of DFA love going around.

It is well deserved on exposed 2012 form to date.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

I absolutely love the way you've worded this.

Good to see a bit of DFA love going around.

What I loved was they kept belting him ( Who is that tool with the mustache? What a flop ) when in close and he showed great discipline. No expression on his face at all, just into it.

[G-Mo77]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

What I loved was they kept belting him ( Who is that tool with the mustache? What a flop ) when in close and he showed great discipline. No expression on his face at all, just into it.

That's Lyndon Dunn.

I've been flying almost blind in the last 2 weeks so it was good to see the boys first hand. Some in here worry about Jones and I have at times also but after watching him tonight I'm not worried at all, he's going to make it and be a very good KPP for us for many years to come. He clunked a few tonight which were really impressive. Still got to learn to kick but he'll get there.

Walked away pretty worried about the development of Cordy. I think it's clear all 3 rucks can't play together and he's probably going to just have to wait his turn in the VFL. He's not a forward and it does him no good playing there.

Someone said in here I'm underestimating how bad Melbourne is, well I did. They are terrible and 3 - 4 years into a rebuild and it looks like they need to start again.

It was an ugly game but it was good to get a win.

[Hotdog60]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

Is it just me or has Dahlhaus kicking improved on last year, he seems to have gained some distance in his kicking.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

If i recall correctly, when we got DJ, word was he had all the abilities but just didn't know what to and often ran in circles. Basically how he played last year
Looks significantly better this year and hopefully he can go on and become a real player

Grant playing essentially as a small is great to see, using his speed rather than trying to be the key. His pressure is a mile up now as well


Watching Melbourne, they could be in some serious trouble. Weren't they very close to full strength? They went against one of the league's weaker team, missing 4 players from the back line turning nearly our only strength into a weakness and were just terrible. They don't even have great young talent, Watts is a spud. I would put them just in front of GWS, GC may have already passed them

And they have 11 first round picks.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

I did a double header last week and went to both Rich/Melb and our game. I happily did $10 backing Melbourne who last week were competitive for most of their game, while we weren't. The addition of Vez seemed to improve our kicking. Good to see Wallis get a bit of it too, and even Djerkurra do some good work.

On Cross, we know what we are getting, he probably needs to keep playing as it allows us to protect the younger blokes, whether we will need him next year will be interesting, hope his contract next year is based on games played. But lets face it, keeping Cross on the list for the next two years isn't going to cost us a premiership.

[Topdog]

Re: Game Day 2012 - R4 Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne

we need that person who is hard at it, courageous in contests etc. THere are others of a similar ilk,.

my concern is that we are turning into a team that is just that.