Bankers And Anchors - Round 12, 2017 vs Sydney

[Eastdog]

This is the round 12, 2017 edition of the Weekly Bankers and Anchors Thread. Once the game against Sydney is concluded post your nominations for:

The Bankers = 3 guys/aspects of the game that we banked on to do the right thing during the game
The Anchors = 3 guys/aspects of the game that weighed us down by their errors or poor play

Optional: New addition to the Bankers and Anchors Banchors 3 players we thought who were in the middle in how they went in the game neither a Banker or Anchor.

Please limit it to no more than three of each player or aspect of the game, but feel free to make honourable/dishonourable mentions. As usual try to make it constructive criticism.

Try and restrict it to individual players rather than aspects of the overall match - I will allow more freedom now as the thread seems to be going down more of the aspects of the game path so you can have 3 for each made up of aspects of the game and individual players.

The thread is named in honour of a popular WOOF Contributor, The Banker, who passed away on 22/04/2012 after a six month battle with cancer.

[GVGjr]

Bump

[bulldogtragic]

B

I'm honestly struggling to think of someone who was a clear banker.

A

Moyd - Thanks for your service, but time has come to go.
Sydney walking out of contested situations, time after time, after time.
3 scoring shots a quarter (average). Embarrassing.

[G-Mo77]

Bankers

I thought McLean did some really good things tonight.
Dahlhaus/Macrae battled hard

That's all I've got.

Anchors

JJ. Want that money mate you've got to come to play. You can only be pushed and shoved in this league so why a player goes weak at the knees because of it has me concerned. I love ya but tonight was awful.

JJ's teamates. Help him FFS! Not many did and not many wanted the contest either. I hate the term bruise free but that is what it was tonight.

SCG crowd. What a pack of mindless douche bags. Seriously if a football hit most of these flogs in the head they wouldn't know what it was.

[Eastdog]

Bankers

Mclean - Very good in the 1st quarters

Adams - 1st half did well until he came off with that injury

Dahl - Keeps fighting


Anchors

Cloke and Stringer - Need much more from them

M Boyd - The end is around the corner - been a great servant Matty and we should when he decided to finish give him a good farewell.

The Bulldog Spirit - Non-existent tonight

[Eastdog]

Bankers SCG crowd. What a pack of mindless douche bags. Seriously if a football hit most of these flogs in the head they wouldn't know what it was.

Yeah so true. Didn't look like a big crowd at all watching from home on TV. They simply are not footy mad in NSW (except for any former Victorians who are living there now and a very small minority of NSW people who have embraced AFL) like we are in VIC.

[Sedat]

B

I'm honestly struggling to think of someone who was a clear banker.
Other than Tom Juric and Tom Rogic, I've got nothing!

[bulldogtragic]

Other than Tom Juric and Tom Rogic, I've got nothing!

Meh, I'm on Team James Comey. 54 minutes to tee off.

[always right]

B
Lukey D.....heart bigger than most
I got nothing else.

A
Boyd.....it's time
Suckling.....momentum killer
JJ.....got bullied and simply rolled over into the foetal position

[Remi Moses]

Banker- dance moms was better than the footy .
At least Storm won, and a rogic matchwinner
We only beat Sydney in big finals
Anchor - the whole effort and attitude . Totally unacceptable . We should demand better than that limp effort
- we got bullied, and just rolled over
- we love bevo , but I find the team selections puzzling

[Twodogs]

Bugger. I missed Dance Moms.

[Mantis]

Anchors
Cloke and Stringer - Need much more from them



What were you expecting from them when we lost the inside 50's 71-39?

Cloke had *!*!*!*! all chances to win the ball when he had good position on his opponent.. One of the only time he was free was on the outer wing when Boyd missed him by 5 metres with a 25m kick.

I would hate to be a forward in our team.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

What were you expecting from them when we lost the inside 50's 71-39?

Cloke had *!*!*!*! all chances to win the ball when he had good position on his opponent.. One of the only time he was free was on the outer wing when Boyd missed him by 5 metres with a 25m kick.

I would hate to be a forward in our team.

I didn't watch the game until the last quarter. When i saw the inside 50 count i was staggered. That said to me our mids were pathetic. No pressure. 2nd to the ball. Unfortunately the latter has been a common theme this year.

The game was done by the time i switched on but all i was seeing were unmarked sydney players waltzing through the middle of the ground. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. There was just no fight or spirit in the team out there. What the hell was going on?

[bornadog]

Banker

Macrae - never stopped trying but was almost a lone hand

Dahl - Gutsy little mid, did what he could along with Macrae - gives 120%

Adams - Good first half, although Buddy could have had 5 by half time. Stopped many attacks with some very good contested marking.

Anchors

JJ - wow, get angry man, intimidated by a bunch of fairies.
The Bont - Agree with Andrew, not playing 4 quarters - had a dirty night, his worse performance that I can remember.
Jong - playing his 50th game and didn't give a yelp, but he was not alone with Roughead well beaten, Suckling, Boyd, and many others that I couldn't be bothered remembering

[bulldogtragic]

What were you expecting from them when we lost the inside 50's 71-39?

Cloke had *!*!*!*! all chances to win the ball when he had good position on his opponent.. One of the only time he was free was on the outer wing when Boyd missed him by 5 metres with a 25m kick.

I would hate to be a forward in our team.

Yep. Cloke may actually be in red hot form for all we know. But since he's not given opportunities to get the ball to advantage, we'll never know.

[Rocket Science]

I would hate to be a forward in our team.

Wouldn't you just. After yet another skied, tumbling lollypop in the general direction of our goals last night I couldn't help but think you'd rather scrub dunnies for a living than earn your keep as a Bulldogs' forward.

We may as well just install a giant rubber band staked at either end of the 50m arc.

[Ozza]

Yep. Cloke may actually be in red hot form for all we know. But since he's not given opportunities to get the ball to advantage, we'll never know.

Please!
Other than one good half v Sydney - point me to another time this season that he has had an impact?

[bornadog]

Please!
Other than one good half v Sydney - point me to another time this season that he has had an impact?

Previous Sydney game

[Eastdog]

What were you expecting from them when we lost the inside 50's 71-39?

Cloke had *!*!*!*! all chances to win the ball when he had good position on his opponent.. One of the only time he was free was on the outer wing when Boyd missed him by 5 metres with a 25m kick.

I would hate to be a forward in our team.

Yes that was really poor. Some tend to forget that yes they certainly were anchors last night but they didnt get much help. Bonts certainly out of form was tackled a bit.

[Eastdog]

Previous Sydney game

My Round 2, 2017 bankers

Bankers

1. Cloke - huge highlight and kicked a couple which was great to see. Is fitting in well.
2. Picken - what can't he do
3. Jong - good game took some great marks

[Ozza]

Previous Sydney game

Literally said in my post "Other than one good half v Sydney...."

[soupman]

Please!
Other than one good half v Sydney - point me to another time this season that he has had an impact?

I'm with the other guys. His form this year has largely been underwhelming, but last night it would have been an incredible effort not to be. we barely moved the ball forward, and when we did it was only after slowly bringing out of defence and was continually kicked to speculative one on ones if not to Sydneys loose men. Cloke had two chances all night where he had a matchup and/or space to do something, one of which he dropped a difficult mark and tried to kick it off the ground, the other (mentioned in a post above) where he was missed by Boyd despite being completely by himself.

I'm not a huge Cloke fan, but considering we only moved him into the middle mid last quarter when our entire team had given up then I think it's unfair to criticise him over others in the team for last nights performance.

[bornadog]

Literally said in my post "Other than one good half v Sydney...."

sorry should have read properly. Yeah hasn't been what I thought he may be.

[Ozza]

I'm sorry, but I don't take the 'only 39 inside 50s' as an excuse really. Its not like he plays the game entirely inside 50 - not even close to it.

Its always hard to tell from watching on tv - but it appeared we rarely had options to kick to. Cloke was apparently brought in to give us that long option/lead up option. He got 'missed' once. It doesn't excuse a whole night of not getting being capable enough to get involved.

[Mantis]

I'm sorry, but I don't take the 'only 39 inside 50s' as an excuse really. Its not like he plays the game entirely inside 50 - not even close to it.

Its always hard to tell from watching on tv - but it appeared we rarely had options to kick to. Cloke was apparently brought in to give us that long option/lead up option. He got 'missed' once. It doesn't excuse a whole night of not getting being capable enough to get involved.

The inability of our mids and HB's to find space to work in and deliver the ball was the real issue.. We were either under too much pressure (Sydney's pressure was manic and we didn't run to support) or made basic skill errors (kicks along the ground or on top of someones head, handballs along the ground - I reckon Boyd made 10 of these) that didn't allow us space to get on the outside and then try and hit up a leading option.

With JJ ineffectual and Williams missing we had no one who could run the angles from behind... and the skill level of Biggs, Boyd & Suckling leaves a lot to be desired.

[soupman]

I'm sorry, but I don't take the 'only 39 inside 50s' as an excuse really. Its not like he plays the game entirely inside 50 - not even close to it.

Its always hard to tell from watching on tv - but it appeared we rarely had options to kick to. Cloke was apparently brought in to give us that long option/lead up option. He got 'missed' once. It doesn't excuse a whole night of not getting being capable enough to get involved.

Maybe he was that option. We just never had the ball even close to the wing with enough time to look up and go for a long option, our only clear kicks outside our defensive 50 all evening were short ones into the corridor.

I think the bigger question about his involvement for mine was why was he left isolated up forward for so long? We desperately needed to change things up and were getting massacred out of the middle, we should have thrown him into the ruck early in the third and atleast tried to get him involved in someway.

[Cyberdoggie]

The inability of our mids and HB's to find space to work in and deliver the ball was the real issue.. We were either under too much pressure (Sydney's pressure was manic and we didn't run to support) or made basic skill errors (kicks along the ground or on top of someones head, handballs along the ground - I reckon Boyd made 10 of these) that didn't allow us space to get on the outside and then try and hit up a leading option.

With JJ ineffectual and Williams missing we had no one who could run the angles from behind... and the skill level of Biggs, Boyd & Suckling leaves a lot to be desired.

Don't forget Murph as well.

We went from having 3 quality running line breaking defenders to just having 3 guys who stand still and pass the ball, or turn it over I should really say.

[Cyberdoggie]

Bankers:

Dahlhaus - Only one showing any form of aggression at the contest.

macrae - Was a slow starter but picked his game up to it's usual consistent level,


Anchors:

The rest of the team - Were they still on the beach from their week off?

Beveridge - Sorry coach, probably your worst game in charge. Team selection was unbalanced and not suited to the conditions, the ground and the opposition. Made some strange moves, don't care about after half time but our first quarters have been awful this year for some reason. Luke knows this but then he starts English in the ruck and gives him the majority of rucking duties early in the game. It just set the tone and we never recovered. Not selecting Honeychurch given his performances is getting bizarre, yet Boyd and Cloke get straight back in and clearly aren't in good touch.

Umpiring - I don't normally give the umps a bake but they made some bad mistakes and they are letting opposition teams get away with a lot of illegal physical handling of our mids since our success last year. Bont gets targeted at every stoppage and is now clearly frustrated and his confidence is being effected by it.

[always right]

Meh, I'm on Team James Comey. 54 minutes to tee off.

Watched it.....big anti-climax. Nothing to nail Trump on in that interrogation unfortunately.

[The bulldog tragician]

Bankers:
1. You always get 100% from Dahl. What an enormous effort to come back on after he took a nasty hit to the head, and put his head over the ball again, and again.
2. This may seem a strange banker, as the guy was spifflicated in the ruck, but I still saw those little signs that Tim "The Pom" English will be a player.
3. Ummmm....

Anchors
1. Lack of pressure, desire, heart was mortifying. We haven't seen that under Bevo. I don't want to see it again.
2. Slow, sideways, lateral movement out of defence. Was there one occasion when we moved it cleanly from the backline. No wonder the forwards had a dirty night.
3. Our skills. Where do you start? Sky high kicks. Kicks that missed targets by metres. Bont - BONT!!! - missing a sitter. The handball club might need to be disbanded. Our hand balling was appalling, never a weapon, usually got us into strife.

I am actually glad everyone is now potting us. We deserve it, and now we will see what we're made of.

[bulldogtragic]

Watched it.....big anti-climax. Nothing to nail Trump on in that interrogation unfortunately.

As Carl Bernstein said after it, there's no determinations right now and no compulsion for an immediate conclusion. This is just the beginning, and Mueller will do a good job. I did love the fact he engineered the special counsel coming about, as a private citizen, by his selective leak to the NYT. He's a smart fella, Lordy, he's a smart fella.

[Mantis]

As Carl Bernstein said after it, there's no determinations right now and no compulsion for an immediate conclusion. This is just the beginning, and Mueller will do a good job. I did love the fact he engineered the special counsel coming about, as a private citizen, by his selective leak to the NYT. He's a smart fella, Lordy, he's a smart fella.

Blah Blah Blah!!!!

[merantau]

Bankers
Dahlhaus
Macrae
Adams
Anchors
Team selection
Lack of aggression - I never want to see such passivity again. Meet fire with fire. Sit the instigator on his arse and invite him to get up for a second helping.
So many players down it was like we'd been stricken with a virus. I NEVER want to see that again.

[S Coast Simon]

Bankers

macrae. Some handballs are incredible
Daniel. Some good hands in the wet
Dal. Tried hard to no avail

Anchors.
MC. Made it even harder than it should have been
team for not helping JJ. And JJ for just taking it. Even in modern day football there is a time when you can get them not quite on guard and you should hit them hard.
Teams primed to take down the reigning premiers. We are getting hit by teams that are being relentless at our boys. 130 tackles by Geelong for f&@$ sake. Are you kidding me. We are being hunted in a massive way. Explains why back to back is so difficult. No team is coming at us a bit relaxed everyone is switched on. Would not surprise me if some boys are really hurting this year. Poor Bont looks buggered. Needs a rest from the attack on him

And thanks AFL for all our big Thursday and Friday night games away you pricks. And for changing a few rules to stifle our game plan. We really appreciate your generosity. We bought back the romance of football last year and delivered a premiership that the whole football world loved and embraced and this is how you say thanks.

thanks for listening

[ratsmac]

There is no way I was in the right frame of mind to do Bankers and Anchors straight after the game on Thursday night. Too many profanities for the filters to handle. Anyway here's mine....

Bankers
1. Dahl - nothing new here. This little bloke never plays if he can't give his all. His teammates need to take note.
2. Adams - he was trying his best before he hurt himself. His attitude was good. He flew the flag which can't be said of some others.
3. The slap. We had this coming for a while and some close wins had painted over a LOT of cracks. As SCS mentioned above, teams are primed and are ready to hit us hard. That's fine and should be EXPECTED. Yes EXPECTED. What were we expecting this year? Bruise free? Where is our *!*!*!*!ing response? Where is our preparation? Where is game plan B? The coach, the MC, the players all deserved a slap in the face like they received from Sydney and let's hope and pray it will awaken the beast we saw last year. It is difficult to put a finger on why the mindset isn't right because I know they players and coaches would of tried to prepare to be the hunted this year but clearly something is off. A bit of soul searching in a footy sense needs to be had before this season slips away. So there is my banker, The slap, which is actually an anchor disguised as a banker.

Anchors

1. Matty Boyd - they should of chaired him off on Thursday night.
2. Sneaky Matty Suckling - he has been below average all year but then you check his stats and they suggest he was involved more than you think. It's the kick to himself from the goal square that's pumping up his stat sheet surely. He the cherry in top type player but right now we need players that want the fight.
3. JJ - I saw a side of JJ I didn't like the other night. A soft side. It's easy to sit here typing this while I don't have to look over my shoulder for someone trying to take my head off (oh hang on the Mrs is always trying that) but I'm not playing footy for a living and also not signing a contract in front of me because I can get more money at another club (that last bit was a drive by while I'm at it). He layed down like a maimed dog and accepted everything dished out to him without a whimper. I expect more from a Norm Smith medalist.

[boydogs]

Bankers

Daniel has been good since he has returned from being dropped
Macrae was our hardest worker
Adams was good before being injured

Anchors

Bontempelli is in danger of joining Libba in the VFL. Being shutdown now and getting loose with his disposal and shots at goal
Beveridge needs to go back to basics and stop drinking his own bathwater with pseudo-rucks
Johannisen played like he has one foot out the door

[always right]

Johannisen played like he has one foot out the door

A little unfair.......as horrid as he was on Thursday, his form in recent weeks was excellent.

[bornadog]

A little unfair.......as horrid as he was on Thursday, his form in recent weeks was excellent.

Spot on.

Also there is some footage of JJ retaliating and getting into a big scuffle, but the umpire ignored it and just threw the ball up. I think JJ tried to just ignore what the Swans were doing, however, what should have happened, is he should have had a back up to run into there guy. Libba would have.

I have changed my mind on JJ being soft, after watching the footage.

[boydogs]

A little unfair.......as horrid as he was on Thursday, his form in recent weeks was excellent.

Not saying he does have one foot out the door, saying he played like it. No intensity or fight, didn't show that he cared

[Bulldog4life]

Bankers

Daniel has been good since he has returned from being dropped
Macrae was our hardest worker
Adams was good before being injured

Anchors

Bontempelli is in danger of joining Libba in the VFL. Being shutdown now and getting loose with his disposal and shots at goal
Beveridge needs to go back to basics and stop drinking his own bathwater with pseudo-rucks
Johannisen played like he has one foot out the door

Bevo played 2 rucks who were recruited as ruckmen.

[boydogs]

Bevo played 2 rucks who were recruited as ruckmen.

English is about the 10th best ruck at the club at this stage. He's shown some terrific signs at VFL level but doesn't have the strength to be anything but an outside mid at AFL level

[Ozza]

For the record - the handful of comments around regarding Bontempelli spending time in the VFL, are quite ridiculous.

Sure he isn't playing right at the top of his game - and didn't have a good night on Thursday. But a bit of perspective please!!

In the worst game he has played in a very long time, he still managed to have our second most score involvements (behind only Stringer) and had MORE THAN DOUBLE the amount of tackles than the next highest tackler for the bulldogs.
The previous game - he had 5 shots on goal.
He is definitely in a period of the yips in front of goal - but is anyone seriously doubting that he won't turn that aspect of his game around?

[macca]

Bonts was man handled and shepeard off the ball at a lot of the centre clearances in the 2-3 rd quarter . Just drove nuts when he did get not a free off the ball.

[bornadog]

Bonts was man handled and shepeard off the ball at a lot of the centre clearances in the 2-3 rd quarter . Just drove nuts when he did get not a free off the ball.

He was also frustrated by the stupid deliberate decisions. The one in the last quarter was just a joke - where he divided forward trying to get the ball and it rolled over the boundary.

[bulldogtragic]

He was also frustrated by the stupid deliberate decisions. The one in the last quarter was just a joke - where he divided forward trying to get the ball and it rolled over the boundary.

Don't forget the one in the first where he was elbowed in the face, and paid holding the ball. Usually good players Judd, GAJ, Dangerfield, Selwood get a fair run, or more than a fair run. What more does Bonts need to do to get into this club?

[merantau]

The umpires' treatment of Bontempelli against the Swans was vendetta-like. It was as if they'd decided to bring him back to the field by throwing him a handicap. Thus: no "ball spills free in the tackle for Bont. It's INCORRECT DISPOSAL!" No high tackle on Bont. Bont headbutted the guy's elbow. And Bonthad the ball for a nano second, ipso facto he had PRIOR OPPORTUNITY!

[boydogs]

For the record - the handful of comments around regarding Bontempelli spending time in the VFL, are quite ridiculous.

Sure he isn't playing right at the top of his game - and didn't have a good night on Thursday. But a bit of perspective please!!

In the worst game he has played in a very long time, he still managed to have our second most score involvements (behind only Stringer) and had MORE THAN DOUBLE the amount of tackles than the next highest tackler for the bulldogs.
The previous game - he had 5 shots on goal.
He is definitely in a period of the yips in front of goal - but is anyone seriously doubting that he won't turn that aspect of his game around?

v Sydney - 18 possessions, 38% efficiency, 0.1
v St Kilda - 22 possessions, 54% efficiency, 1.4
v Geelong - 19 possessions, 68% efficiency, 0.3

[bornadog]

v Sydney - 18 possessions, 38% efficiency, 0.1
v St Kilda - 22 possessions, 54% efficiency, 1.4
v Geelong - 19 possessions, 68% efficiency, 0.3

Still wouldn't drop him although he is not playing at the elite level we are used to.

[Bulldog4life]

English is about the 10th best ruck at the club at this stage. He's shown some terrific signs at VFL level but doesn't have the strength to be anything but an outside mid at AFL level

Are you sure about this?

[boydogs]

Are you sure about this?

Roughead, Campbell, T Boyd, Cloke, Redpath & Cordy have all demonstrated they can compete in the ruck better than English can at the moment. Bonts, Jong & Dunkley would have a case as well. He'll get there but he's not ready yet

He averaged 5.5 hitouts in his two games, even Ayce Cordy bettered that with 9.9 hitouts per game in his string of 7 games in his final season

[jeemak]

I don't think using Ayce's final year stats represents a fair comparison against an average of English's two games, given the former had six times the AFL experience in years.

[hujsh]

I don't think using Ayce's final year stats represents a fair comparison against an average of English's two games, given the former had six times the AFL exposure of the former (see what I did there?).

Was was also the number one ruckman in his games while English played maybe a half in each

[boydogs]

I don't think using Ayce's final year stats represents a fair comparison against an average of English's two games, given the former had six times the AFL experience in years.

English is in no way, shape or form the next Ayce Cordy, but if we play him in the seniors in his first year, that's the output we can expect

[boydogs]

Was was also the number one ruckman in his games while English played maybe a half in each

Maybe 40pc game 1 and 70pc game 2 with T Boyd out and Roughead going back in the second half when Adams went down. 11 hit outs in probably more than a full game. With 70 or so ruck contests a game, you can see how many taps we conceded

[ratsmac]

English shouldn't have played ruck on that wet track. He hasn't any where near enough core strength to compete in a 1 on 1 duel with an AFL ruckman. On a dry track he will have a better chance to run and jump at the ruck contest. Either way he still isn't ready. I think Bevo was under no illusions that he'd get smashed in the hit outs but thought he could make good contributions around the ground. As it turned out the conditions in no way suited him. He wouldn't be the first-ever player to be terrible in the wet.

Roughead was just about as useless as English so we should be getting stuck into Rough as well.