Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

[LostDoggy]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

The crowd was 19000.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Just got back from the game. If Ray Chamberlain had been at the end we kicked to in the first quarter we would have won the game. That preposterous little man's will to make the game all about him is plain pathetic.

[Hotdog60]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Freo like to attack from the half back line and our team helps them do that. They could set easily by running off Higgins, Cordy and Gia.

Jones is quick enough if he commits and of course Dahlhouse but thats it.

We need to find some more leg speed in our forward line for teams that like to create from defense.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Pleasing that we didn't get blown out of the water, but there is no doubt Fremantle took their foot off the pedal halfway through the third. Having said that, last year we copped many beltings so it was nice that we avoided that today.

Libba and Cooney were enormous. Very, very impressed by their games. Libba had something like 12 clearances and kept us competitive for large parts of the game when we looked really shaky. Cooney found plenty of the ball, looked composed and used his pace on a number of occasions.

Minson was again a colossal figure in the ruck. He's made huge improvements since becoming the number one ruckman, and again did really well today. Some nice combinations with Libba. I also thought Will competed well around the ground.

I thought Young was the best performed defender, although his disposal was a little loose at times. Goodes struggled a little, particularly in the first half with a number of turnovers. JJ got a bit of a lesson today.

Dahlhaus was lively and did his job once again. Dickson tried hard but some of his disposals and decision making was ordinary. Unfortunately, Jones/Cordy were poor and need to be MUCH better.

Might get shot down for this a little, but the biggest disappointment for mine was the senior core of Griffen, Higgins, Murphy and Giansiracusa. Griff still struggles to shake tags which is incredibly disappointing, Higgins was close to worst on ground, Murphy wasn't a factor and Gia was quiet with a couple of bad turnovers. In games like this against much seasoned opponents, it's not good enough. These guys should be leading the way.

Overall, I think it's a good learning experience for us. I was pleased with the likes of Libba, Cooney, Wallis, Young, Dahlhaus, Smith, Minson and Stevens but our senior and best players were ordinary and that really hurt us.

[whythelongface]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Best thing I'm taking out of this is Cooney. This is a 2009 vintage game.

He was superb

[Missing Dog]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

It will be interesting to see how long the coach persists with Jones/Cordy. Can either of these guys mark a ball or show some real presence? Even last week when we dominated they weren't much good. Look like thirds players to me.

[boydogs]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Really liked the way we stuck at it today, but we had nowhere near the number of contributors this week compared to last week. Griffen, Gia, Higgins, Murphy, Dickson & JJ were much better last week.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

It will be interesting to see how long the coach persists with Jones/Cordy. Can either of these guys mark a ball or show some real presence? Even last week when we dominated they weren't much good. Look like thirds players to me.

Campbell Roberts and Williams would all be better options. Dahlhaus was our only effective forward. Great games by Liberatore and Cooney. I guess giving Freo 5 goals start and being beaten by a similar margin indicated that we at least although under manned fought it out.

[lemmon]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

The engine room was very good, Libba will be the best inside mid in the comp in a few years, dominated the clearances and they all won plenty of ball. Sit Cooney on a wing for the year and let him run and carry, easily our most creative player, all pace and skill today. Lower was underrated, first half job on Mundy was excellent.

The forwards were individually pretty poor, Dalhaus was opportunistic but you'd like to see more of him in the middle. Jones and Cordy were awful, worst thing was they didn't compete, Cordy simply won't attack the ball. Higgins was LAZY, really poor, just wouldn't work. Gia and Murph were well held, Dickson was sloppy.

[always right]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

The bottom line is that very few players won or broke even in their position. Thank goodness for our centre clearance work otherwise this could have been far worse. Worst game from Dickson since he joined us......he was the turnover king today.

[Bornadog]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Its amazing, Barlow and Mundy did not influence the game and were well held, Minson dominated the ruck, and Cooney, and Libba accumulated possessions, yet we were done by 5 goals.

Freo kicked too many easy goals all due to their game plan of bottling up the game and then a quick break and catching out our backline. Crowley did a great job on Griffen and took him right out of the game and stopping one of our senior ball getters.

I think in the end our skills let us down badly as once more we were found out when the pressure was on.

[always right]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Its amazing, Barlow and Mundy did not influence the game and were well held, Minson dominated the ruck, and Cooney, and Libba accumulated possessions, yet we were done by 5 goals.

Freo kicked too many easy goals all due to their game plan of bottling up the game and then a quick break and catching out our backline. Crowley did a great job on Griffen and took him right out of the game and stopping one of our senior ball getters.

I think in the end our skills let us down badly as once more we were found out when the pressure was on.

No excuse for some of our errors today. How many times did we kick into the man on the mark?

Dickson was horrendous today, Jones and Cordy inconsistent with their effort and Dahl needs to stop taking off without the ball. Really disappointing game today from all of our forwards.

Hate to say it but Morris also seemed to really labour out there today. Seems to have lost some of his zip which shouldn't surprise.

On the plus side, we realy hung in there today. Last year we would have lost that match by 12 goals.

[Twodogs]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Higgins was LAZY, really poor, just wouldn't work

I watched him for ten minutes in the third quarter. He stood and watched play from a position about 30 metres away from our bench and very occasionally jogged 10 or 15 metres and then stood and watched play again.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

Its amazing, Barlow and Mundy did not influence the game and were well held, Minson dominated the ruck, and Cooney, and Libba accumulated possessions, yet we were done by 5 goals.

Freo kicked too many easy goals all due to their game plan of bottling up the game and then a quick break and catching out our backline. Crowley did a great job on Griffen and took him right out of the game and stopping one of our senior ball getters.

I think in the end our skills let us down badly as once more we were found out when the pressure was on.

Lack of skills for sure but also a very poor forward line. Our tall timber also struggled to take an overhead mark. We have improved from last year but are still 3-4 players away from matching it with the top 8 sides.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Game Day - R2 Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle

One thing the commentators highlighted (and I can't really comment on from watching on tv) but all Freo players were making sure to give Griff a bump or elbow at every opportunity and really helped Crowley with his tag. We need to get better at continually applying blocks and creating space to help Griff beat his man.