Old Dog's new trick

[SlimPickens]

Re: Old Dog's new trick

I thought he was very good both ways against St Kilda. A game where he recieved 8 votes in the Coaches mvp award. Didn't take an opponent, but laid 7 tackles playing a bit of the Goddard midfield role, sweeping the back side of stoppages. They tried this again against Collingwood and it backfired, Boyd only managed to lay a single effective tackle and Swan dominated as a result. He's been playing the roles he's been given for a few weeks, it just backfired quite badly against the pies.

Agree, the premise of the article however is how good he has been defensively. He has had one good game this year shutting out an opponent (Cotchin). Many lament his lack of defensive effort, positioning around the contest over the years and have been calling for more of it (I'm one of them). It was nice to see this effort against the tigers and I hope it continues.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Old Dog's new trick

I love the balance of the article. In summary it says what most on here say. Boyd tries and works his heart out. He's a player with ordinary skills and is at afl grade because he works harder than anyone else. He's gutsier than most players, has a stronger will than most players. He is a year by year proposition for the coach to analyse do his heart, head, accumulation and guts outway what would normally be an unacceptable clanger rate for an afl player. Up until now they have but Macca is clearly seeing the balance slip the wrong way this year and so have we. Hence the absolutely fair criticism on here and he's lucky he's not followed Cross in many ways. Doesn't mean he's stopped bleeding red, white and blue or being a team man. I think Boyd will do the team thing, as he always has, and quietly stand down for 2014. Club will announce its decided to reward someone new or someone who can take the team into the future. The captaincy will go to Murph (if he stays) or more probably Griff if they adopt the second tack next year. Boyd should be absolutely showered with praise for the way he has guided us through some of our toughest years at that point. He's earned our admiration for doing it without the pure ability of an Ablett, Johnson, Wynd.

[The Pie Man]

Re: Old Dog's new trick

I rarely disagree with you, but this statement is absolutely wrong. He sets the example with training, he sets the example on the field with his work rate and never gives up. He is one of the highest accumulators in the AFL. All you are focusing on are the clangers, nothing else.

Fair enough BAD, on reflection my statement maybe a touch strong.

I don't see training at all, though you often read that he demands a certain standard in teammates, which is of course positive.

I remain unconvinced of his work rate and propensity to chase (which concerns me as skipper around a young group) but I do respect his ability to accumulate a massive amount footy for over 10 years.

[Sedat]

Re: Old Dog's new trick

It's a big article based on one game, especially as Comrade mentioned he was torched in usual fashion the week before against Swan. Cotchin has been poor all season, but if Boyd can restrict in form players in a similar fashion while reducing his clangers then he can be a valuable contributor.

It's probably the only Dogs game that Loinchop has seen all season, judging by some of the jibberish written in that article. For starters Cotchin is playing on one leg and is being nursed through each game at the moment - he is only playing to take the heat off the 2nd tier mids like Grigg, Houli and Conca. Then he glosses over the clangers issue, which cost us a number of scoring opportunities, not to mention provided Richmond with some east scores from turnovers.

That's 5 minutes of my life I won't get back after reading that drivel.