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When: Friday, May 4th – 7.50pm
Where: Etihad
Last Time they met: Round 6 2011 Collingwood 15.15 (105) def. Western Bulldogs 8.9 (57)
Over the last 4 encounters the closest we have got is 10 points in Rd 11 2010. Last year we were beaten comfortably by 48. We were close at three quarter time, but this didn’t really reflect the state of play as we struggled to get the ball inside 50, but converted at nicely when we did. In the last quarter they blew us away kicking 8 goals to our 1 in a training drill.
Last week
A poor first term comprised of lots of fumbling, errant handballs and missed shots at goal. However, we got going in the second and had a comfortable win. We would have needed to have won by 100 to have avoided anything other than ‘Disappointing Dogs’ headlines so I don’t read too much into that. The Giants, as McCartney said have a lot of talent. For my way of thinking we continued to play a lot of players who are vital to our future in Dahlhaus, Libba, Wallis, Roughie, Cordy. We are also playing DJ, Sherman, Vez and Addison who need games for us to figure out if they are part of our future. Combined with that I believe Cooney is starting to get a handle on his role, as are, I hope, lots of the other experienced players. I hardly saw any of the Pies V Ess on ANZAC day, maybe 10 minutes in the third when it looked the pies were going to skip clear comfortably. Obviously the Bombers lifted, but the Pies won and would be happy. With articles spruiking the return of premiership players spirits should be high at the Westpac/Lexus/Eddie Centre.
Key Matchups
Minson vs Jolly – Over his career Minson has generally performed well against the Pies, including one particularly enjoyable final. Jolly has looked keen to atone for a less than stellar campaign in 2011, and has started relatively well. Both are old fashioned physical competitors, who get a bit of the ball, but not lots, with Jolly probably having the edge in impact given he has kicked 4 goals in 2012, and Minson yet to score. We’d like to think Minson is building towards some excellent form.
Boyd vs Swan – A massive test for our captain against one of the premier midfielders in the competition. Whilst Swan has a peculiar running gait, he covers a lot of ground and is extremely damaging with the ball by foot and hand - Runs like a duck, stings like a bee. Boyd is no slouch and is averaging 32 touches a game compared to Swans 34. Our skipper has his detractors for his disposal, which is variable, at times he hits them beautifully at other times not so. It would be brilliant to see Boydy kick a goal or two against the Pies.
Maxwell vs Nobody in particular – Maxwell plays his best football playing on nobody in particular, he likes to roam free, be the third man up, and set up the play out of the back half. In partnership with Shaw he has made our life very difficult over recent times. We need a strategy to not have Maxwell and Shaw cutting everything off. Of our half forwards, I believe Cooney is quietly starting to adjust to his changed role.
Picken vs Pendlebury – Both players are in terrific form. Picken is perhaps quietly having his best season, and is a loved player by Bulldog supporters who know just how much he puts into doing his job. Pendlebury is the tall, running midfielder, who seems to always have time and space, and cuts teams to pieces with his use. Early in the season Pendlebury performed superbly against the Hawks in a finals like match. The rest of his season hasn’t perhaps matched that but he’s still one of the best 10 midfielders in the game.
Lake/Markovic vs Cloke/Dawes – We really are hoping for Marko to come up for this one to give us options down back. Cloke is becoming more consistent as a player and is a good chance to get supply against us, whilst Dawes seems to be becoming even more enigmatic. Lake has also been a bit enigmatic, which is well documented, but hopefully should be better for the hitout last week. Continuity seems to be important to Bryza, and we still have hopes he can build towards close to his best form.
Wellingham/Thomas V Griffen – I have to confess here I am not sure who the Pies will play on Griff, Wellingham tends to get more centre square types doesn’t he, but Griffen is clearly our prime mover and not one who you want to just run around by himself. In some of our recent poor performances against the Pies Griff has stood out like a beacon, particularly the disappointing 2010 Final. Perhaps not leading the B&F yet due to missing a game or two, but Griff is as good now as he’s ever been.
Summing up
From the start of the season the signals were clear from Buckley that they needed to re-develop the team. He has blooded more kids, taking a very youthful team into Rd 1, and made the vets come back through the VFL. McCartney has likewise persisted with Marko and Jones in key roles, blooded inexperienced players (Howard, Smith, Wallis) and played the 3 talls (Minnow, Roughie and Cordy), whilst knowing that probably at this moment in time the team would perform better with only 1 of Roughie or Cordy in the side. This selection approach may change this week against the Pies were more run would seem to be important.
Fundamentally, we have struggled collectively to match their best players over the past 3 years and it’s been a key deciding factor in the fact we have not been able to really get anywhere near them for enough of games to legitimately have any hope of winning. Of their genuine prime movers with Shaw and Thomas forecasted to be back it looks a big ask of us. They are a genuine premiership contender whilst we are in a re-development phase.
What I’d like to see from us is to persist with our young players, and for many of those young players to rise to the occasion. Yes, Easton Wood, Libba, Mitch, Jones, Grant, Roughie/Cordy etc I am talking about you. Collectively I want to see with the endeavour we’ve shown in patches (Adelaide/West Coast) combined with better execution all over the ground and conversion up forward. But then I am fan, I want it all, and I want it now.
This is a big game for us on the big stage of Friday night footy. Our results so far have been a bare pass, and with news of declining membership, this game shapes as being important for the belief of our player and supporter groups. Make no mistake, without belief, nothing can be achieved.
Can we match the Pies stars, particularly around the ball? Can we deliver the ball better to our forwards? Can one or more of our forwards stand up and not only win the ball, but kick the goals?
Prediction: Ask someone else. Is this a copout? Yes, but too bad, I don’t like having to commit to actually tipping against us. Firstly, it could be used in a court of law against me, and secondly, because I gave up tipping because I am just incapable of tipping with my head when it comes to the Dogs. I cannot do it.
Where: Etihad
Last Time they met: Round 6 2011 Collingwood 15.15 (105) def. Western Bulldogs 8.9 (57)
Over the last 4 encounters the closest we have got is 10 points in Rd 11 2010. Last year we were beaten comfortably by 48. We were close at three quarter time, but this didn’t really reflect the state of play as we struggled to get the ball inside 50, but converted at nicely when we did. In the last quarter they blew us away kicking 8 goals to our 1 in a training drill.
Last week
A poor first term comprised of lots of fumbling, errant handballs and missed shots at goal. However, we got going in the second and had a comfortable win. We would have needed to have won by 100 to have avoided anything other than ‘Disappointing Dogs’ headlines so I don’t read too much into that. The Giants, as McCartney said have a lot of talent. For my way of thinking we continued to play a lot of players who are vital to our future in Dahlhaus, Libba, Wallis, Roughie, Cordy. We are also playing DJ, Sherman, Vez and Addison who need games for us to figure out if they are part of our future. Combined with that I believe Cooney is starting to get a handle on his role, as are, I hope, lots of the other experienced players. I hardly saw any of the Pies V Ess on ANZAC day, maybe 10 minutes in the third when it looked the pies were going to skip clear comfortably. Obviously the Bombers lifted, but the Pies won and would be happy. With articles spruiking the return of premiership players spirits should be high at the Westpac/Lexus/Eddie Centre.
Key Matchups
Minson vs Jolly – Over his career Minson has generally performed well against the Pies, including one particularly enjoyable final. Jolly has looked keen to atone for a less than stellar campaign in 2011, and has started relatively well. Both are old fashioned physical competitors, who get a bit of the ball, but not lots, with Jolly probably having the edge in impact given he has kicked 4 goals in 2012, and Minson yet to score. We’d like to think Minson is building towards some excellent form.
Boyd vs Swan – A massive test for our captain against one of the premier midfielders in the competition. Whilst Swan has a peculiar running gait, he covers a lot of ground and is extremely damaging with the ball by foot and hand - Runs like a duck, stings like a bee. Boyd is no slouch and is averaging 32 touches a game compared to Swans 34. Our skipper has his detractors for his disposal, which is variable, at times he hits them beautifully at other times not so. It would be brilliant to see Boydy kick a goal or two against the Pies.
Maxwell vs Nobody in particular – Maxwell plays his best football playing on nobody in particular, he likes to roam free, be the third man up, and set up the play out of the back half. In partnership with Shaw he has made our life very difficult over recent times. We need a strategy to not have Maxwell and Shaw cutting everything off. Of our half forwards, I believe Cooney is quietly starting to adjust to his changed role.
Picken vs Pendlebury – Both players are in terrific form. Picken is perhaps quietly having his best season, and is a loved player by Bulldog supporters who know just how much he puts into doing his job. Pendlebury is the tall, running midfielder, who seems to always have time and space, and cuts teams to pieces with his use. Early in the season Pendlebury performed superbly against the Hawks in a finals like match. The rest of his season hasn’t perhaps matched that but he’s still one of the best 10 midfielders in the game.
Lake/Markovic vs Cloke/Dawes – We really are hoping for Marko to come up for this one to give us options down back. Cloke is becoming more consistent as a player and is a good chance to get supply against us, whilst Dawes seems to be becoming even more enigmatic. Lake has also been a bit enigmatic, which is well documented, but hopefully should be better for the hitout last week. Continuity seems to be important to Bryza, and we still have hopes he can build towards close to his best form.
Wellingham/Thomas V Griffen – I have to confess here I am not sure who the Pies will play on Griff, Wellingham tends to get more centre square types doesn’t he, but Griffen is clearly our prime mover and not one who you want to just run around by himself. In some of our recent poor performances against the Pies Griff has stood out like a beacon, particularly the disappointing 2010 Final. Perhaps not leading the B&F yet due to missing a game or two, but Griff is as good now as he’s ever been.
Summing up
From the start of the season the signals were clear from Buckley that they needed to re-develop the team. He has blooded more kids, taking a very youthful team into Rd 1, and made the vets come back through the VFL. McCartney has likewise persisted with Marko and Jones in key roles, blooded inexperienced players (Howard, Smith, Wallis) and played the 3 talls (Minnow, Roughie and Cordy), whilst knowing that probably at this moment in time the team would perform better with only 1 of Roughie or Cordy in the side. This selection approach may change this week against the Pies were more run would seem to be important.
Fundamentally, we have struggled collectively to match their best players over the past 3 years and it’s been a key deciding factor in the fact we have not been able to really get anywhere near them for enough of games to legitimately have any hope of winning. Of their genuine prime movers with Shaw and Thomas forecasted to be back it looks a big ask of us. They are a genuine premiership contender whilst we are in a re-development phase.
What I’d like to see from us is to persist with our young players, and for many of those young players to rise to the occasion. Yes, Easton Wood, Libba, Mitch, Jones, Grant, Roughie/Cordy etc I am talking about you. Collectively I want to see with the endeavour we’ve shown in patches (Adelaide/West Coast) combined with better execution all over the ground and conversion up forward. But then I am fan, I want it all, and I want it now.
This is a big game for us on the big stage of Friday night footy. Our results so far have been a bare pass, and with news of declining membership, this game shapes as being important for the belief of our player and supporter groups. Make no mistake, without belief, nothing can be achieved.
Can we match the Pies stars, particularly around the ball? Can we deliver the ball better to our forwards? Can one or more of our forwards stand up and not only win the ball, but kick the goals?
Prediction: Ask someone else. Is this a copout? Yes, but too bad, I don’t like having to commit to actually tipping against us. Firstly, it could be used in a court of law against me, and secondly, because I gave up tipping because I am just incapable of tipping with my head when it comes to the Dogs. I cannot do it.
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