Strategising a Win Against GWS - Preliminary Final 2016

[bulldogtragic]

Superstition, I'm not changing anything I've done the last two weeks. How do we strategise a win in our preliminary final?

Last time Shaw slaughtered us. So send Clay Smith or Liam Picken to him?

Their forward line will have two very good smalls plus Patton, Cameron & Lobb. Do we need to add an extra tall defender or an extra ruck in a horses for courses selection?

Do we need to have Tom Boyd more forward to stretch their defence?

Who are they guys we need to shut down? For the last two weeks we've been able to shutdown opposition prime movers and working off them.

How do we nullify their the run & carry, and impact their elite foot skills?

[bulldogtragic]

When we played them at spotless earlier this year:

15.8 to 10.13 - So we generated the same amount of scoring shots, but lost by 25 points.
They had 60 more kicks. 30 more uncontested possessions. 60 more marks. 30 more tackles including 17 more tackles inside 50. They only had a slight hitout advantage against Camhead.

Cameron kicked 5, Green kicked 3 & Johnson (suspended now) kicked 2. The rest were singles. Shaw had 38 possession, of which 36 were kicks and had 14 marks.

[westbulldog]

Shaw must not be allowed to run around unmarked and set up their attack from defence. It was so frustrating watching this happen last time, he is not that good people.

[comrade]

Don't kick points and let Shaw do that little kick to himself. That stat padding BS ****s me to tears.

[Bulldog4life]

Our team is stronger now. There were 8 changes to the team last night compared to when we played GWS. The team is below how we lined up last time against them.


B
Kieran Collins,
Fletcher Roberts,
Jed Adcock
.

HB
Shane Biggs,
Dale Morris,
Easton Wood
.

C
Lachie Hunter,
Tom Liberatore,
Tory Dickson
.

HF
Caleb Daniel,
Jake Stringer,
Koby Stevens
.

F
Luke Dahlhaus,
Tom Campbell,
Mitch Wallis
.

Fol
Jordan Roughead,
Jack Macrae,
Marcus Bontempelli
.

I/C
Toby McLean,
Bailey Williams,
Liam Picken,
Lin Jong

[westdog54]

So we've got an entirely new backline, plus Dunkley, Tom Boyd and Clay Smith, all of whom have been superb in this finals series so far.

Looking purely at the backline, JJ, M Boyd and Hamling is a monumental improvement on what we sent up to Sydney last time.

We structure up the way we have over the last fortnight and we go a long way to curbing Shaw's influence.

[EasternWest]

So we've got an entirely new backline, plus Dunkley, Tom Boyd and Clay Smith, all of whom have been superb in this finals series so far.

Looking purely at the backline, JJ, M Boyd and Hamling is a monumental improvement on what we sent up to Sydney last time.

We structure up the way we have over the last fortnight and we go a long way to curbing Shaw's influence.

I love his willingness to be physical. He's still got a ways to go, but he's most definitely doing his bit.

[DOG GOD]

Simple things will give us a real show...

be harder at the ball, control the stoppages, win the contested footy, TAG Shaw, don't miss set shots from 30.

[bornadog]

Bevo said today on SEN that GWS plays a very similar game to Hawthorn, and last night was like a practise on how will play GWS. He did concede that since we last played them they have added a bit of contested footy to their style.

[jeemak]

Sydney in week one of the finals were insipid and didn't give a whimper to the GWS intensity compared to their usual standards. If we bring anything similar to what we have these past two weeks in terms of intensity then GWS won't know what's hit them.

The ground should be a lot easier to defend in terms of closing down space, but we can be exposed easily if we get caught ball watching or defending too high.

[comrade]

Sydney also lost a couple of key players and their best inside mid was knocked out early.

My hope is we literally blitz them with inhuman pressure and stress them to the point they implode.

[Remi Moses]

Shaw and Williams off half back must be stopped .
Mantain the rage

[MrMahatma]

So we've got an entirely new backline, plus Dunkley, Tom Boyd and Clay Smith, all of whom have been superb in this finals series so far.

Looking purely at the backline, JJ, M Boyd and Hamling is a monumental improvement on what we sent up to Sydney last time.
.

Suckling too.

Our line up is monumentally better and in better form than last time. It'll be a very different game of footy.

[LostDoggy]

Picken on Heath Shaw seems the go. Can be very tight defensively, but can also expose Shaw, especially overhead and toughness in the contest.

[bulldogtragic]

Picken on Heath Shaw seems the go. Can be very tight defensively, but can also expose Shaw, especially overhead and toughness in the contest.

I like it. Picken has 5 goals in two finals so far so this should be some pressure on Shaw & Leon Cameron.

[azabob]

We cant afford to press to far up the ground and get caught on the transition. GWS run forward hard in waves and will punish us.

[Go_Dogs]

GWS are a different beast to Hawthorn in that they are a quicker side, move the ball faster in general play (similar on the turnover) and unlike the Hawks on Friday night, they have some genuine key forward options.

We need to work hard to slow their ball movement, not allow them turnover goals out the back and once we've slowed their ball movement work for each other so they can't dominate in the air.

Our midfield is very strong and that's where we hold an advantage, despite them also having quality and depth. Our mongrel and ferocity will be where we set ourselves apart.

Up front we need to continue to lower the eyes and kick to leading players' advantage. If we can't get that right we need Boyd to continue to halve those deep contests and bring the ball to ground and create repeat entries and stoppages in our forward half.

Amazing to look at the difference in the side we had last time.

[comrade]

We need to neutralise Hayne. Killed us last time with his defensive marking.

Zaine, break some heads.

[Mantis]

Just bring the Men of Mayhem.. The rest will take care of itself.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Right now we are an express locomotive thundering down the track straight at them. They are just sitting there waiting

[bornadog]

Right now we are an express locomotive thundering down the track straight at them. They are just sitting there waiting

I like Patrick Smiths description of us - a Tsunami read here (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_TWT&mode=premium&dest=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/opinion/patrick-smith/hawthorn-are-not-dead-but-theres-a-tsunami-on-the-way/news-story/04a59a923173b833054ac14f2d191edc&memtype=anonymous)

[ReLoad]

I like Patrick Smiths description of us - a Tsunami read here (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/index.html?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a_TWT&mode=premium&dest=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/opinion/patrick-smith/hawthorn-are-not-dead-but-theres-a-tsunami-on-the-way/news-story/04a59a923173b833054ac14f2d191edc&memtype=anonymous)

paywall please paste

[Mofra]

GWS have three big forwards - that is possibly our advantage,
KPFs don't kick bags in finals anymore, smalls do the bulk of the scoring. We need to roll the dice, play shorter in the backline and back our ability to chop each other out - that will give us an advantage on the rebound.

Playing safe will kill us. We have to be brave and adventurous with the ball. Zaine to Shaw or Hayne and sharpen his elbows.

[Bulldog4life]

One big plus we do have is no Stevie Johnson. He has had a great season as well as being the "coach" of their forward line. They are going to miss him heaps.

[bulldogtragic]

Lots of very, very loud Dogs fans turning it into a Dogs Cauldron. Crowd advantage.

[hujsh]

GWS have three big forwards - that is possibly our advantage,
KPFs don't kick bags in finals anymore, smalls do the bulk of the scoring. We need to roll the dice, play shorter in the backline and back our ability to chop each other out - that will give us an advantage on the rebound.

Playing safe will kill us. We have to be brave and adventurous with the ball. Zaine to Shaw or Hayne and sharpen his elbows.

Tell that to Nick Riewoldt :(

I think you're right though that KPFs get you to the big dance but normally aren't the ones doing the damage on the scoreboard once it gets deep into September.

[Greystache]

Pile on the pressure and melt the plastics!

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Maybe, just maybe our horrid injury run throughout the year will help us this week in keeping us fresher.

I ran some numbers and of the likely players to lineup for each team, GWS average 1 game per player more than we do (and that includes us playing an extra game in the semi). So the week off for them shouldn't be too much of an advantage. Obviously having a break right before the game will make them a bit fresher but let's hope they are rusty and we put them away early

[MrMahatma]

All roads lead to victory.

We've played so well on the past 2 weeks. We need to do that again. Hard at it. Good skills. We need to take our chances early and have them stress that it's do or die.

The last 2 weeks we've missed gettable chances early. We shouldn't do that this week.

[DOG GOD]

The last 2 weeks we've missed gettable chances early. We shouldn't do that this week.

If we do, we lose....will need 12-15 goals and can't afford to miss set shots from 30-40 out.

[Ozza]

Bevo said today on SEN that GWS plays a very similar game to Hawthorn, and last night was like a practise on how will play GWS. He did concede that since we last played them they have added a bit of contested footy to their style.

Loved that he referred to playing Hawthorn as being a 'good dress rehearsal'....I know he didn't mean it disparingly to Hawthorn...but still enjoyed the unintended shot.

[comrade]

The game from earlier in the year is on Fox Footy.

Collins was cooked from the first minute, we had no forward structure or pressure and Bonti had a very down day.

If we bring Men of Mayhem, we can disrupt their running game and send them into chaos. No Stevie J slotting them out of his arse, as well as coaching them on field also helps us.

[Ozza]

Sydney also lost a couple of key players and their best inside mid was knocked out early.

My hope is we literally blitz them with inhuman pressure and stress them to the point they implode.

Watching the Sydney game - I thought the game was fairly evenly poised, even despite the two significant swans injuries - they were hanging in there. Then the ball comes in to Heeney and he gets mauled, no free kick, ball goes down the other end - goal. Centre clearance giants and another goal - and the game had completely changed.

[LostDoggy]

As far as I'm concerned if Leon Cameron has them at 100% then he is a genius. This will be their 2nd game in 28 days, for me that's just too long a break. Physically it would be hard enough to keep it flowing but mentally to get them up is a big ask. I expect Geelong with experience to handle it better, a bit bigger ask for Gws.