Not worried but worried?

[mjp]

Watching the game last night, was anyone else worried that as the game drew to a conclusion:

1/. Murphy was our best option to go back and cover number 4 (the fat short bloke who belted Caleb).
2/. Murphy was the one who best seemed to understand we needed to RUN with the ball and not just blaze away...'cos when we just booted it forward that Hayne bloke just dropped off Dunkley and marked it.

Not worried about the outcome and I am convinced the umpires dudded us on 2x 50m penalties (John Patton says thanks) during the last 20 minutes, but the seeming reluctance of many players to take the initiative was bewildering.

I am talking about Bailey Williams bizarre 'non-effort' on the half back line when he seemed to do everything possible to avoid running through the line of a loose ball...eventually the opposition arrived and he was caught holding the ball. Talking about Dunkley's equally bizarre shot on goal after Murphy's run. Talking about a couple of Picken and Toby's completely un-adventurous i50 entries when they just threw the ball on the boot...the list goes on.

The last quarter was so frustrating and just filled with dumb play - Boyd missing, Morris missing, Libber on the bench obviously didn't help - but there just seemed to be an absence of cool heads who understood the situation and knew what to do (which wasn't blast the ball straight into an out-numbered forward line).

[comrade]

Williams has played a handful of games and will learn with experience. He's proven at VFL level that he's very capable of running the lines and making deliberate decisions with the ball. I'm not concerned with him at all.

Murphy is our most experienced player so no surprise he was given the job on Greene. If Morris was there, he would have probably done it. We do need to develop a small back that can lock down on the opposition's best small forward. Biggs is ok at it but can put in the occasional shocker.

I hated the kick to 30m out over and over. If Travis Cloke was there, fine. But he wasn't and we kept doing it.

But we kept them to 75 points and they needed to kick 2 absolute clutch goals in the last to beat us. We generated 8 more scoring shots.

We still have our best ruckman (Rough) best defender (Morris), AA half back (Boyd), 40+ goal kicking dead eye dick (Dickson), gut running mid sized forward (Crameri), a solid key forward (Cloke) and quality inside mid (Wallis) to come back in. Replace Dale, Williams, Cordy, Jong, Smith & Dunkley with that group and I'm sure we win comfortably.

In fact, keep Libba on the field and we probably find a way to squeak out an extra goal to win. We looked gassed late and used less than 80 rotations. That big fat thug dropping Libba on his head had huge consequences.

[Sedat]

The last quarter was so frustrating and just filled with dumb play - Boyd missing, Morris missing, Libber on the bench obviously didn't help - but there just seemed to be an absence of cool heads who understood the situation and knew what to do (which wasn't blast the ball straight into an out-numbered forward line).
Our F50 delivery in the last qtr reminded me of being a Dogs supporter from when I was born up to 2015, but it appears to be a deliberate tactic as we have been blazing away with long kicks to the forward 50 all this season. I don't mind quick delivery when there is an open forward line and a 1-on-1 contest, but when the opposition have extra numbers back and we don't have a big target up forward it is rather dumb. Last night it was dumb - we needed to run and carry and spot up the shorter options.

[Rocco Jones]

Agree with a lot of what mjp said in the OP but Cloke, Redpath, Roughy/Campbell freeing up Tom Boyd, Crameri and Dickson will make a massive difference. Even Mitch is strong in a contest up forward. Morris can also free Adams or a defender to play forward. Our tall forward/target stocks are ridiculously depleted.

[always right]

No-one never tinning the slippery conditions last night. Though it had a big impact on the quality of our ball delivery inside 50.

[mjp]

Didn't seem to impact the Giants on the little 1-2-3 that led to the Patton goal from the boundary...

[comrade]

Agree with a lot of what mjp said in the OP but Cloke, Redpath, Roughy/Campbell freeing up Tom Boyd, Crameri and Dickson will make a massive difference. Even Mitch is strong in a contest up forward. Morris can also free Adams or a defender to play forward. Our tall forward/target stocks are ridiculously depleted.

Losing Roughy, Cloke and Crameri (plus Morris which fees up Adams) is kind of ridiculous.

[jeemak]

I thought the tactic of getting it to 30 meters out worked for 2-3 quarters but the Giants adjusted. We should have changed tact in the last.

[Go_Dogs]

I thought the tactic of getting it to 30 meters out worked for 2-3 quarters but the Giants adjusted. We should have changed tact in the last.

Yes, create the spill, win the ground ball, kick the goal.

We created the opportunities in the last, just didn't execute them.

[jeemak]

Nor did we kick enough goals in 2-3 quarters when it was working well.

[comrade]

Nor did we kick enough goals in 2-3 quarters when it was working well.

Yep, had we converted in the 2nd like you would expect a professional team to do, we'd be 3-4 goals up and in a position to choke the life out of the game.

[boydogs]

Didn't seem to impact the Giants on the little 1-2-3 that led to the Patton goal from the boundary...

They didn't have two players on the bench after being belted in the head

Dirty, dirty team that knew we had their measure and systematically took us out to steal a win

[bornadog]

Williams and Dunkley are 19 and 20 years old, so not too worried there. I was concerned JJ disappeared after half time and gave us no run and carry, and as the OP says, Murphy had to shoulder the load. We should have been better in the last 5 minutes and tried to find a forward target.

[Remi Moses]

We just weren't far enough ahead at half time when we should have been .
Agree on the bombing after half time . We need a hit up

[Remi Moses]

On the wood 50 metre penalty . Why on earth does the umpire have to tell a player to move on ?
Why not just call play on ?

[Mantis]

Williams and Dunkley are 19 and 20 years old, so not too worried there. I was concerned JJ disappeared after half time and gave us no run and carry, and as the OP says, Murphy had to shoulder the load. We should have been better in the last 5 minutes and tried to find a forward target.

Not sure if there was an injury concern, but JJ seemed to spend a fair amount of time on the pine in the 2nd half.

[Twodogs]

Nor did we kick enough goals in 2-3 quarters when it was working well.

I thought at 3/4 time we hadn't hurt them enough on the scoreboard. We'd dominated for two quarters but just couldn't put them away.


Not sure if there was an injury concern, but JJ seemed to spend a fair amount of time on the pine in the 2nd half.

His lack of run was really noticible toward the end wasn't it?

[SlimPickens]

On the wood 50 metre penalty . Why on earth does the umpire have to tell a player to move on ?
Why not just call play on ?

Agree but it is hardly a new thing. Couldn't believe what Wood did to be honest. Umpires have never used a whistle to call play on

[bulldogtragic]

Percentage looks to be worrisome again. We're on 110%, while the other top 4 contenders are 133-153%.

[chef]

Percentage looks to be worrisome again. We're on 110%, while the other top 4 contenders are 133-153%.

Its what we do. Our percentage wasnt great last season either.

[bulldogtragic]

Its what we do. Our percentage wasnt great last season either.

If doing what we do is not kicking straight and getting percentage, maybe it's time we improved what we do. I'm not sure if I had a choice, that I'd do it as hard as we had to last year. I'm not sure we can reasonably expect to win premiership after premiership from 7th and poor percentage. Hopefully we can turn it around, but I'm not too sure with the draw we have that we are going to chase down the pack.

[bornadog]

Not sure if there was an injury concern, but JJ seemed to spend a fair amount of time on the pine in the 2nd half.

That would explain it

[jeemak]

My biggest concern in the second half was our handling in poor conditions seemed to be poorer to theirs. In close and outside.

I've always maintained cleanly skilled sides are better in the wetter conditions and looking back to 2016 our finals conditions didn't expose us on this front.

Do we have a clean enough group to cope with wet weather?

[jeemak]

If doing what we do is not kicking straight and getting percentage, maybe it's time we improved what we do. I'm not sure if I had a choice, that I'd do it as hard as we had to last year. I'm not sure we can reasonably expect to win premiership after premiership from 7th and poor percentage. Hopefully we can turn it around, but I'm not too sure with the draw we have that we are going to chase down the pack.

We have a team of guys who do everything well except kick properly. We are shit kicks and like we do most weeks we need to work around it, essentially by generating as many scoring opportunities as we do.

[merantau]

Re goal kicking: at the risk of stating the obvious: "The more I practise, the luckier I get." (Peter Daicos via Gary Player)

[Twodogs]

Its what we do. Our percentage wasnt great last season either.

Historically we haven't ever been a side that finishes with big percentages. Even when we've had good H & A seasons like in 97/98 and 2008-10 we didn't typically have high percentages. Some years we would but mostly compared to the team's around us we have a bad percentage.

I wonder why?


My biggest concern in the second half was our handling in poor conditions seemed to be poorer to theirs. In close and outside.

I've always maintained cleanly skilled sides are better in the wetter conditions and looking back to 2016 our finals conditions didn't expose us on this front.

Do we have a clean enough group to cope with wet weather?

It looked like each team had a different footy. And it's usually simple technical things that can be worked on. Keeping your eye on the ball until you've marked it and how to kick properly. Things like that.

[Bulldog Revolution]

I suspect the issues touched on in this thread are a large part of the post game chat bevo gave the team - we played a dumb last quarter - lacked composure and imagination but never heart - we butchered it

On the whole I feel positive about beating them in a final - blind optimism/delusion or justifiable?

[Twodogs]

I suspect the issues touched on in this thread are a large part of the post game chat bevo gave the team - we played a dumb last quarter - lacked composure and imagination but never heart - we butchered it

On the whole I feel positive about beating them in a final - blind optimism/delusion or justifiable?


Easily justifiable.

-they didn't win, we lost
-when we played our game, they had nothing. No reply at all.
-9.19!
-Walis, et al. We have a lot of structure players to get back.
-they couldn't get their game going at all most of the night. When the game was played on their terms they still couldn't punish on the score board.

When the whips are cracking then we have them covered. Our bitches.

[Mantis]

Easily justifiable.

-they didn't win, we lost
-when we played our game, they had nothing. No reply at all.
-9.19!
-Walis, et al. We have a lot of structure players to get back.
-they couldn't get their game going at all most of the night. When the game was played on their terms they still couldn't punish on the score board.

When the whips are cracking then we have them covered. Our bitches.

In the Bevo years it's 2-2 and with key players to come back in for both sides future contests seem to me, as line ball calls on who goes in favourites.. The constant talk of them being our bitches is downright dumb.

[jeemak]

They had some pretty good players out Friday as well.

[Sedat]

In the Bevo years it's 2-2 and with key players to come back in for both sides future contests seem to me, as line ball calls on who goes in favourites.. The constant talk of them being our bitches is downright dumb.
They aren't our bitches but in an era of potential domination for them, we seem to be able to match up well and deny them the opportunity to play the game on their terms. Other teams would probably fear their ability to break games open more than us.

[Twodogs]

In the Bevo years it's 2-2 and with key players to come back in for both sides future contests seem to me, as line ball calls on who goes in favourites.. The constant talk of them being our bitches is downright dumb.


One of us must lead on percentage or something? The Prelim should count twice!

[The bulldog tragician]

I felt pretty upbeat for a loss against our most despised rivals.

A two point loss, with appalling kicking for goal, Libba on the bench in the important final clinches. Surely if even one of Cloke or Crameri played, that one goal margin would have been gettable.

By the way, who was the least experienced team of the round? If you said Brisbane, you're right. But who's the 2nd least experienced?

Here's the list of ave games according to Footywire (I can't get Adelaide/ Richmond, but neither have especially young profiles):
Bulldogs 74.3
Gold Coast 76
CArlton 77
Freo 79.9
Sydney 82.7
Nth 84
Ess 84
Melb 87.3
GWS 89.3
Port 93.8
Coll 95
St K 96.7
Geelong 108
Hawks 117

Ok, if Morris & Boyd played, our ave would have changed a little - but this is still such an exciting stat for what our club can hope for over the next few years.

[WBFC4FFC]

I felt pretty upbeat for a loss against our most despised rivals.

A two point loss, with appalling kicking for goal, Libba on the bench in the important final clinches. Surely if even one of Cloke or Crameri played, that one goal margin would have been gettable.

By the way, who was the least experienced team of the round? If you said Brisbane, you're right. But who's the 2nd least experienced?

Here's the list of ave games according to Footywire (I can't get Adelaide/ Richmond, but neither have especially young profiles):
Bulldogs 74.3
Gold Coast 76
CArlton 77
Freo 79.9
Sydney 82.7
Nth 84
Ess 84
Melb 87.3
GWS 89.3
Port 93.8
Coll 95
St K 96.7
Geelong 108
Hawks 117

Ok, if Morris & Boyd played, our ave would have changed a little - but this is still such an exciting stat for what our club can hope for over the next few years.

I was more peeved than upbeat, as a massive opportunity went begging and knowing we have a team on the rebound this week.

Still the effort was like what we saw for most of last year, except we kicked accurately last September!

[Ozza]

To address the OP, I am not worried.

We almost always win the close games, which is a terrific trait for any side, let alone a young side.
Murphy wasn't playing when we won a number of close games last season.
The conditions are part of the reason for some 'strange' efforts and skill errors.

On the balance of things, although we never like to lose - we were probably way overdue to lose one of the very close ones. Last year the only close loss we had was early in the season also, we learnt from it and steeled ourselves for the close finishes v Port, West Coast, Sydney, Richmond, Collingwood & GWS.

[always right]

They aren't our bitches but in an era of potential domination for them, we seem to be able to match up well and deny them the opportunity to play the game on their terms. Other teams would probably fear their ability to break games open more than us.
Agree. Claiming they're our bitches is wishful thinking but we seem to match up well on them and unlike almost every other team, we have no reason to think we can't beat them whenever or wherever we play them. I'm more worried about us being able beat Adelaide.

[Mofra]

Agree. Claiming they're our bitches is wishful thinking but we seem to match up well on them and unlike almost every other team, we have no reason to think we can't beat them whenever or wherever we play them. I'm more worried about us being able beat Adelaide.
Caught a snippet on SEN where the presenters noted Geelong's gamestyle is a perfect counter to the Crows, and the cats have won their last two matches against the Crows. Then they mentioned that the Bulldogs also had the gameplan to beat the Crows as there are still doubts at their ability to sustain a 4 quarter onslaught against their mids.

The Crows are cutting teams up with outside run then getting opposition defences over the back. If we can counter GWS' outside run, we can do it against the Crows. My only worry is that at times this year (e.g. first half against Brisbane) we appear susceptible to opposition forwardlines getting over the back too.