Practice Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

[Bornadog]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Was also there yesterday but missed most of the 1st quarter which of course was our best quarter. Been really impressed with Macrae, knows where to run to get the footy, rarely wastes it & isn't afraid to put his body in. In for a big year & seems like someone who could get out of the loop this season & find a lot of uncontested footy.
Hunter is another that impresses me more & more every time i see him play. On a different wave length to most players & reminds me of Stevie J, just super clever.
Really like Jong, how he attacks the footy, his agility & fitness. Will get games this year.
Its just a great sight to see Cooney moving around like he is. The competition has forgotten how good he really is & hopefully they will be reminded on weekly basis.
Higgins does what Higgins always does in pre-season games & he was impressive. Hopefully this is a year where he delivers something.
Cordy, well what can i say about him thats positive? Nothing!!! He was horrible out there & has confidence issues. A couple of times the ball was kicked to him in pack situation & he kept looking around for another tall to contest it.
Goodes was sloppy again & think he has had a disappointing pre-season.
Pearce is one that hasn't done anything to make me think he will be kept on for next year. Big year for him in the twos if he wants a spot on the list.
Libba is just a gun. Finds the ball so easily & then is very clever with it. Libba is like a superhero, his hands are like a magnet & when the ball is close it always seems to have a gravitational pull towards those magical hands.
Liked what i saw from honey, kid is goer.
Campbell was disappointing, dropped quite a few marks i would expect him to take.
Can't wait for round 1!

Jones played well in the twos, and if he continues to do so, do you think he will take Campbell 's spot for round one?

[anfo27]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Jones played well in the twos, and if he continues to do so, do you think he will take Campbell 's spot for round one?

I'd like to see Jones in there but playing two's would make me think he is behind Campbell even though the big fella was disappointing yesterday. We also need Campbell to back Minson up as i don't think they'll look to Williams to help out in the ruck just yet.
Why was Cordy playing seniors instead of Jones? Surely macca doesn't think Cordy is ahead of Jones!

[Mantis]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Thanks for the reports guys.. Much appreciated... Good to hear that a number of mids/ mid sized forwards continued playing well, but we need more input from the talls.

I see Crameri had 22 touches which to the untrained eye seems ok, what made his game so bad?

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Thanks for the reports guys.. Much appreciated... Good to hear that a number of mids/ mid sized forwards continued playing well, but we need more input from the talls.

I see Crameri had 22 touches which to the untrained eye seems ok, what made his game so bad?

A lot of those possessions were across half back when he was the loose man. I think he's a good player and will be a good fit, but he hasn't performed yet.

Yesterday he did appear to move better/work harder, which was a positive. However, he kept running himself into trouble, either by trying to take on too many players and then suddenly coming to a stop or playing on after a mark when there was no space/options up forward. He did this almost every time, and whilst you might say where were the forwards up the field, he had to know that for a large proportion of the match the majority of our numbers were further up the field (a tactic I hate mind you).

I believe Crameri only had the 1 shot on goal and at a few crucial points in the game his disposal was sloppy. We were out and away on the wing at one point and he handballed to Campbell's feet, who inevitably got tackled and paid holding the ball against. Another passage was when he drifted to half back - can't remember what quarter but we were under the pump - and he was the 'get out' kick. There were 3 Carlton players surrounding him, the ball was beautifully placed to him and he dropped a simple chest mark, which resulted in the ball being pinged back into their F50 not long after.

If it sounds overtly critical, I don't mean it to be. Just trying to give some sound reasoning as to why I felt he was poor. I still stand by my comment that IF he wasn't our big recruit over the summer and was just a regular player, his spot in the side wouldn't be assured for round 1. However, I do still think he's going to be a very handy pick up, and as I said - one positive was that he looked fitter than he did in previous games.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Thanks for the reports guys.. Much appreciated... Good to hear that a number of mids/ mid sized forwards continued playing well, but we need more input from the talls.

I see Crameri had 22 touches which to the untrained eye seems ok, what made his game so bad?

Crameri is purely a roving half forward where he is best suited and should be left there. He tried to take players on further afield and neither had the skill or agility to be effective. In a team that lacks quality big forwards it makes more sense for him to play in attack. Stringer who didn't play yesterday is a similar type and with Grant to provide added pace together with Hunter and Dahlhaus giving us other options you would hope that we are better placed to have more and better avenues to goal.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

It's pretty early in the season. More than one sloppy player I would bet. It's just he demands a fair bit of coin, and rightly so, eyes are on him.

[Twodogs]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Crameri is purely a roving half forward where he is best suited and should be left there. He tried to take players on further afield and neither had the skill or agility to be effective. In a team that lacks quality big forwards it makes more sense for him to play in attack. Stringer who didn't play yesterday is a similar type and with Grant to provide added pace together with Hunter and Dahlhaus giving us other options you would hope that we are better placed to have more and better avenues to goal.

Do you think he can do for us what Aaron Hamill did for St Kilda? A bit of physical presence, slip away from his man and make an option, provide a bit of leadership on the field and that sort of thing? Or does he have to kick goalsabove all else to be judged a success?

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Do you think he can do for us what Aaron Hamill did for St Kilda? A bit of physical presence, slip away from his man and make an option, provide a bit of leadership on the field and that sort of thing? Or does he have to kick goalsabove all else to be judged a success?

As an aside, how sweet was the bleeting when Hamill defected. I think it was one of the biggest dummy spits I've seen.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Didn't Elliott have a go at him at the B+F about being selfish?
I think he left for something like 10 grand a year.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Didn't Elliott have a go at him at the B+F about being selfish?
I think he left for something like 10 grand a year.

Yep, Jack spat it big time.

[GVGjr]

Re: Practice Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Look I am a big L Jones fan, and he had a huge 1st quarter for Footscray, but after that he was no more effective than Cordy or Campbell were for the WB's.
Don't know how we will structure our backline for the R1 trip to the Eagle's nest, but if we can spare Williams to go forward 2 of Cordy, Jones and Campbell will be playing for Footscray. I think a big performance in the intra club match will be needed to get one of them a gig for R1.
I suspect BMac is giving Jones the J Grant 2013 treatment, so don't expect to see him in the firsts for a while yet sadly.
I feel Stewy C might be trying too hard to justify his recruitment and reported wage. I am all in favour of players being versatile, but let's see him settle into a role of a major member of our front 6 before he tries being Mr Everywhere.
I suspect Dickson will also need a good performance in the intra club to be a chance for R1. At this stage, I would say Dal and Hunter have a mortgage on the small forward spots. And I don't think BMac kept Gia on the senior roster to only play him for Footscray. I think the subs vest has his number on the back of it.
Looking forward to seeing Cooney and Griff running through the midfield together again. Add in Wal, Libba, Macrae and Stevens, and probably Matty Boyd, and we have the makings of a serious midfield there.

My one worry is I think we have already seen hints of how sides will be looking to Counter big Will's All Ausie dominance from here on ... 2 x very tall athletic rucks rotating on him quickly, with support from a third tall going 3rd man up from time to time, with the intention of wearing him down as the game progresses, in order to nullify his dominance.

Just a couple of other observations from the 2 Visy Park games.
Honeychurch looks the goods, happy with his selection. Jong continues to improve, still has work to do on his disposal, but looks senior list bound by season's end. Greenwood showed quite a bit in the Footscray match, and would have been top possessions on the ground holder for the first half. Still don't see where we can fit him into our lineup though. If he can continue to find the ball week in and week out though, by season's end he may have some trade value anyway.
On the basis of just that one Footscray match, young Darcy Fort looks to have a serious future, and a few guys have suggested we need another up and coming young ruck on the senior list, so he is certainly worth watching as this season progresses.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Cordy: Let's start with the positive: he took one great mark, arms fully extended, where he jumped off the ground and converted. Now the negatives: every minute before and after that one piece of play. He so often stood 60-80m away from a player needing an option going forward. He still refuses to lead and jump with purpose to take a mark with both hands. He jogs, woefully tries to initiate body contact and throws up a meek one hand. He's still pushed out of contests by midfielders, is slow and has poor decision making and skill execution skills. The first prime example was when he was running into goal about 50m out. He had a man all alone he could have chipped the ball over to who would have taken the shot from about 30m out. Instead, Cordy ran to 40m and kicked it out on the full. The second example was right at the end of the game, where he couldn't even hit Wallis with a 10m pass. Wallis got crunched just as the siren went. Call me a Cordy basher, but I've said from day one he can't play, and he proves me right every time I see him play. I'm tired of the 'injury/development/insert other excuse here' - the fact is he looks so far out of his depth its embarrassing.

A very good and honest assessment of Cordy. I recall a forum post from a frustrated supporter last year after a game which summed up his usual performance "OUT - Cordy IN - A palm tree"

[Go_Dogs]

Re: Practise Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

A very good and honest assessment of Cordy. I recall a forum post from a frustrated supporter last year after a game which summed up his usual performance "OUT - Cordy IN - A palm tree"

I feel I've mentioned it on here before, but his game v Brisbane round 1 last year was about his best in our colours. Reason being he blocked, he did off the ball work, he moved to create space behind him.

These are simple things he can do to make an impact - even if not for his personal stats sheet - but for the good of the team.

Going to be interesting to see how he goes this year.

[Twodogs]

Re: Practice Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

Here's a link to some footage of the game from the Herald/Sun site;

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl

You'll have to click on the video link at the top of the page.

[Mofra]

Re: Practice Match - Dogs vs Blues March 7 at 4pm Princes Park

On the basis of just that one Footscray match, young Darcy Fort looks to have a serious future, and a few guys have suggested we need another up and coming young ruck on the senior list, so he is certainly worth watching as this season progresses.

Quite a few draft watchers were a fan of his, and I think most posters here would feel more comfortable with another ruck option on the list.