Game Day Round 12, 2017 - Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs

[Remi Moses]

Expect a significant improvement next week

[Sedat]

Oh goody. The cherry on top of a shit sundae.
We beat the Saudis 3-2 so all was not lost tonight.

But yeah, Adams injury is not good. Particularly if Morris is out for more than the 1 week.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It's not so much the loss that worries me, it's the way we lost Sedat. We were bullied and rolled over - it was bizarre and embarrassing.

[Eastdog]

We have been nothing short of honest in every game this year until tonight - whilst I'm really disappointed with our performance I'm prepared to write it off as a collective shocker, which to be fair the players have hardly delivered in 2 and a 1/2 years under Bevo. And it came after a very strong performance against St Kilda, which to be frank we let slip a potential 10 goal win.

I expect to see a strong response next week.

100% record at home this year (Etihad and Round 1 at the MCG) so really string chance we bounce back next week - our next 3 matches are at home, 0% record away and I thought tonight was the night but it wasn't to be. The Crows in Adelaide in Round 16 is our next opportunity but that will be really tough especially if we play like we did tonight.

[G-Mo77]

Expect a significant improvement next week

There would want to be. I'm taking my son next week and need to be respectable. A performance like that again would probably put the bad parenting label on me.

[SonofScray]

Even though we've not been at our best, we have been nothing short of honest in every game this year until tonight - whilst I'm really disappointed with our performance I'm prepared to write it off as a collective shocker, which to be fair the players have hardly delivered in 2 and a 1/2 years under Bevo. And it came after a very strong performance against St Kilda, which to be frank we let slip a potential 10 goal win.

I expect to see a strong response next week.

Thats a reasonable assessment of the squad and tonight's horrendous performance. I am concerned that its all just a bit too hard at the moment and we can't get any real traction with a settled 22, or any dominant patches of form from key players.

[bulldogtragic]

There would want to be. I'm taking my son next week and need to be respectable. A performance like that again would probably put the bad parenting label on me.

Melbourne all year have been sending out Viney, Jones, Vince & others to intimidate and hurt opponents. Expect Melbourne to already smell blood in the water now, if Papley & Hewitt intimidate us.

[ratsmac]

Adams looked ok but Buddy looked dangerous when Adams played on him kicking 3 goals. Adams got injured and I didn't notice Buddy after that.

[bulldogtragic]

Comey. Comey. Comey. Comey. One hour to go.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Melbourne all year have been sending out Viney, Jones, Vince & others to intimidate and hurt opponents. Expect Melbourne to already smell blood in the water now, if Papley & Hewitt intimidate us.

If we are anything less than murderous in our intent and effort next week not even a repeat effort of this evening's demolition of a bottle of wine will save me from abject despair.
C'mon doggies save my middle aged liver..its not in my composition!

[MrMahatma]

First game at the SCG ever tonight.

No atmosphere.

Gutted we lost. Horrible game of footy. God we need Libba back to win a centre clearance!

[The bulldog tragician]

That was our lowest score since 2013 which is just about the most damning statistic of the night.

So many guys sadly out of form that it's hard to know where to start. To end up with a forward line of Easton wood and Travis Cloke, with Bont missing a sitter..this week will be a very interesting one for us to learn a lot about Bevo and our team in the greatest adversity they have so far faced.

[bulldogtragic]

I don't like the comparison because it diminishes last seasons outstanding result as a bit of a fluke. I tend to think we traded poorly and have tended to mess around with selections. We also haven't improved our foot skills.

I wouldn't write Bevo off on getting us back on track but it's to happen soon.

I don't care what outsiders think of our premiership. It's our premiership. If there are parallels (which I see) then we need to look at what they did from grabbing an early one, into a dynasty. We might just learn something to not re-invent the wheel.

[Sedat]

Melbourne all year have been sending out Viney, Jones, Vince & others to intimidate and hurt opponents. Expect Melbourne to already smell blood in the water now, if Papley & Hewitt intimidate us.
Melbourne don't respond well when they are hunted - plenty of bluff and bluster in their ranks. They are a good opponent for us next week as we'll be forced to bring our manic intensity and pressure game plan against them.

[Eastdog]

That was our lowest score since 2013 which is just about the most damning statistic of the night.

So many guys sadly out of form that it's hard to know where to start. To end up with a forward line of Easton wood and Travis Cloke, with Bont missing a sitter..this week will be a very interesting one for us to learn a lot about Bevo and our team in the greatest adversity they have so far faced.

2013 yes when I started going more frequently to Doggies games. I remember Round 1 against the Lions that year great game winning by 68 the season not so great.

The Fremantle I think at Etihad in 2014 got around 14,000 and I was one of them.

The pre-Bevo days and since Bevo has come in its been a revolution.

There have been some setbacks along the way to getting our Premiership most notable injuries but we got there so in 2017 right now its a disappointment for us but with the competition as close as it is we believe or not if we get our stuff together still are a chance.

[AndrewP6]

Anyone know what's wrong with Adams? Channel 7 gave us nothing during the game as usual.

Bevo in his presser said he thought it was the Lisfranc (foot), although not confirmed.

[Twodogs]

Bugger. I woke up and thought I'd had a bad dream.

[Go_Dogs]

We lost this game at the selection table. We knew the conditions, and more importantly, we knew our opponent had 4 losses they wanted revenge for, including a GF and 2 on their home deck.

If we'd had Libba, Cordy and HC (all who were justifiable selections) it adds some mongrel and we have a few more who fly the flag.

We didn't adjust to the conditions well.

A number (well, most) of our players had poor nights. 4 days leave, a short window of resuming training and now another 10 day break isn't great for us.

Our team defence didn't work well, Sydney were able to create isolated contests at will. I'm not smart enough to know how they did it, but if you can do it on that oval you can do it anywhere. Maybe it was just us missing Moz.

Our forward line has been dysfunctional for 7 years and despite little signs of improvement at times, it's not any better than it was when Bevo took over. We missed having Toyd, we need some players at ground level who can scrap and we need to set the ground up better defensively.

It's such an even competition but we've basically thrown away a chance at the top 4 now and having a genuine crack at going back to back.

[chef]

It's such an even competition but we've basically thrown away a chance at the top 4 now and having a genuine crack at going back to back.

We don't have to be top 4 to win the flag again. We just have to be 'in form' come September.

[chef]

Sydney wanted it more than us last night. They were hungrier and out for revenge. We had a shocker.

It's not panic stations yet.

[Bulldog4life]

I'm watching dance moms
Life doesn't get worse than this

I hope you aren't by yourself Remi.

[Mantis]

Sydney wanted it more than us last night. They were hungrier and out for revenge. We had a shocker.

It's not panic stations yet.

It seems everyone wants it more than us... It's like we get ambushed every 2nd week and have nothing in repsonse.

Lots of players have rested on their laurels, which is their choice... but for the MC to continue to back them in is getting a bit hard to cop.

[LostDoggy]

Once Sydney kicked the first of the last I wanted them to go on with it. It's been quite some time since we have needed a slap. The last thing I wanted was to get some cheap ones late and paper over the cracks again with a couple of goal loss.

Sydney worked so much harder and I'm hoping this will shock us into action. It will be very interesting how we respond now and I'm confident we will respond like good teams do.

[Bulldog4life]

This year we are a middle of the road team. We are not a top team. 4 losses interstate. Other loss an away game against Geelong. We are battling with a whole host of teams just to make the finals. That is the reality of our season.

[merantau]

Hopefully this is the jolt we need to sting us into action and I am confident the response will be swift and decisive. It must be so because, collectively, that was a lamentable performance. The blame must be shouldered by ALL involved. The MC got it so wrong, the mind set running out on to the ground was straight out of la la land. For a game to go 3 minutes before we got a kick says something. The positive is: it's happened at the half way mark. We have a lot of work to do, but we have the time to get it done. And I'm sure those at the helm will come up with the goods. Go Dogs!

[bornadog]

Hopefully this is the jolt we need to sting us into action and I am confident the response will be swift and decisive. It must be so because, collectively, that was a lamentable performance. The blame must be shouldered by ALL involved. The MC got it so wrong, the mind set running out on to the ground was straight out of la la land. For a game to go 3 minutes before we got a kick says something. The positive is: it's happened at the half way mark. We have a lot of work to do, but we have the time to get it done. And I'm sure those at the helm will come up with the goods. Go Dogs!

Nice positive post.

For some reason, we have lost all 4 interstate games and of course going down the road to Geelong which we treated like an interstate trip staying overnight.

We still have games in Adelaide, Cairns, Gabba and of course Ballarat.

[soupman]

What is going on with our midfield? I know they are terribly out of form, but has there been even half of footy this season where we have been the better side at centre clearances? Every week we are absolutely slaughtered in the middle, which puts our defence on the back foot immediately.

We've blamed the lack of a ruckman a lot of the time, but having tried each of our 4 best rucks through there this season, and facing such mediocre ruckmen as Sam Naismith and Billy Longer, is it time to concede that there is more at fault there?

Besides, the last few years we have been excellent at winning centre clearances even against very good rucks, why can't we work it out of there anymore?

Bont has typically been playing off a wing or deep forward, so that's one reason potentially. And Libba has been poor, but aside from that I see no reason why we should be getting killed out of the middle every week.

Could this be a result of the coaching rotations, are we not hungry enough, or are we just not that good?

[The bulldog tragician]

What is going on with our midfield? I know they are terribly out of form, but has there been even half of footy this season where we have been the better side at centre clearances? Every week we are absolutely slaughtered in the middle, which puts our defence on the back foot immediately.

We've blamed the lack of a ruckman a lot of the time, but having tried each of our 4 best rucks through there this season, and facing such mediocre ruckmen as Sam Naismith and Billy Longer, is it time to concede that there is more at fault there?

Besides, the last few years we have been excellent at winning centre clearances even against very good rucks, why can't we work it out of there anymore?

Bont has typically been playing off a wing or deep forward, so that's one reason potentially. And Libba has been poor, but aside from that I see no reason why we should be getting killed out of the middle every week.

Could this be a result of the coaching rotations, are we not hungry enough, or are we just not that good?

I am really puzzled as to why Bont is relatively seldom in the middle.

[GVGjr]

It seems everyone wants it more than us... It's like we get ambushed every 2nd week and have nothing in repsonse.

Lots of players have rested on their laurels, which is their choice... but for the MC to continue to back them in is getting a bit hard to cop.

Perfectly put.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

It seems everyone wants it more than us... It's like we get ambushed every 2nd week and have nothing in repsonse.

Lots of players have rested on their laurels, which is their choice... but for the MC to continue to back them in is getting a bit hard to cop.

And to be honest its that lack of want that is so disappointing and verging on disrespectful to the guys who missed out on last year's success through injury, but who put aside their own misfortune to show solidarity with their victorious teammates.
Murph and Wally to name but two deserve better.

[Dry Rot]

I unfortunately saw this rubbish live, sitting among Swans members.

I'm still too angry to post much.

[josie]

Apologies in advance for this rant. Our worst performance since Macca. Could not even bring myself to give votes (partly due to switching over to soccer). No-one likes losing however the manner in which we lost was really dreadful.

Regarding our woeful midfield performance this year..Has the no third man up rule made a bigger difference than we are acknowledging? Why does MC continue to adopt the flexible position mantra when it is clearly onto our clearance detriment? Why change line coaches when the assignment last year worked so well? Are players hungry enough? Why the hell doesn't Honey get a gig in the guts so we have more midfield grunt? MC surely can see we at least one inside midfielder short? If we are playing the long game by keeping English in, why are MC persisting with Suckling and MBoyd instead of Webb who may not get as many touches but what he does with them are pretty good (yo yo-ing poor kid is surely denting his confidence, he has played well as midfielder in vfl so give him an extended run in seniors there too). Why has our kicking to I50 and to goal not improved? Do we have a kicking coach? Is it a combo of some of all of these?

Something in Denmark ain't right and I hope we can fix it soon. Am I the only one who switched the telly to Socceroos so as to at least see some real heartfelt effort?

[Eastdog]

It seems everyone wants it more than us... It's like we get ambushed every 2nd week and have nothing in repsonse.

Lots of players have rested on their laurels, which is their choice... but for the MC to continue to back them in is getting a bit hard to cop.

Yes that's how I see it as well Mantis. I reckon we are just way to content at the moment.

[Eastdog]

I unfortunately saw this rubbish live, sitting among Swans members.

I'm still too angry to post much.

Thursday night for you Dry Rot would have been a shocker but the past 2 for you at the SCG would have been great.

[DOG GOD]

Other than the finals series last year we were the 7th best side. We got our injured back, and our game plan clicked. We got over weagles and the belief was starting to drill into the whiten oval. We all know how it went from there.

Onto 2017...everyone is talking up the dogs as another premiership contender...will only get better, stronger....great coach...great team, and only better with Wallis, murph and Cloke to come in. Fans were getting excited. Players were getting excited. The start of a dynasty.

So where are we now? Looking like a dysfunctional lot. Not playing for each other, no hunger, no cohesive effort. Shocking kicking for goal, beaten in the coaches box on game day, poor MC decisions.....yes more injuries to key players.

My 2 cents....we aren't as good as what we thought. We are a 7th placed team, stagnating from this time last year. We have players severely out of form, and others who have taken a back step.

We need to stop believing our own hype and get back to basics. and quick, coz for me this year is nearly dead to be any chance of going far in September.

[Dry Rot]

Thursday night for you Dry Rot would have been a shocker but the past 2 for you at the SCG would have been great.

Had to work on the day of the one last year. But attending the Giants PF made up for it!

[jeemak]

Other than the finals series last year we were the 7th best side. We got our injured back, and our game plan clicked. We got over weagles and the belief was starting to drill into the whiten oval. We all know how it went from there.

Onto 2017...everyone is talking up the dogs as another premiership contender...will only get better, stronger....great coach...great team, and only better with Wallis, murph and Cloke to come in. Fans were getting excited. Players were getting excited. The start of a dynasty.

So where are we now? Looking like a dysfunctional lot. Not playing for each other, no hunger, no cohesive effort. Shocking kicking for goal, beaten in the coaches box on game day, poor MC decisions.....yes more injuries to key players.

My 2 cents....we aren't as good as what we thought. We are a 7th placed team, stagnating from this time last year. We have players severely out of form, and others who have taken a back step.

We need to stop believing our own hype and get back to basics. and quick, coz for me this year is nearly dead to be any chance of going far in September.

I appreciate what you're trying to say, but last year's home and away result ladder wise wasn't reflective of how we matched against the competition - given our injuries, and that we won fifteen games. At the start of the year when healthy we were as good as anyone, at the end of the year when healthy good enough and armed with a game plan that won a flag.

Agree with the rest of your post. I'm still trying to consider what is going wrong in its entirety, but one thing that stands out is that it seems it's not just sections of the playing group that might be consuming too much self contaminated bath water. The MC with its match day strategy and selections are guilty of it too. The biggest tell for me on this front was the absolute refusal to play a shut down game against Dangerwood at Geelong three weeks ago, knowing that it worked in the second half of the GF against Sydney with Kennedy, and helped us stay in the game last year against the Cats in the corresponding fixture. Other teams have proven this works, why are we so bloody fantastic that we have to invent ways of evening up the ledger on the field if they've been demonstrated as successful by other clubs?

[merantau]

Other than the finals series last year we were the 7th best side. We got our injured back, and our game plan clicked. We got over weagles and the belief was starting to drill into the whiten oval. We all know how it went from there.

Onto 2017...everyone is talking up the dogs as another premiership contender...will only get better, stronger....great coach...great team, and only better with Wallis, murph and Cloke to come in. Fans were getting excited. Players were getting excited. The start of a dynasty.

So where are we now? Looking like a dysfunctional lot. Not playing for each other, no hunger, no cohesive effort. Shocking kicking for goal, beaten in the coaches box on game day, poor MC decisions.....yes more injuries to key players.

My 2 cents....we aren't as good as what we thought. We are a 7th placed team, stagnating from this time last year. We have players severely out of form, and others who have taken a back step.

We need to stop believing our own hype and get back to basics. and quick, coz for me this year is nearly dead to be any chance of going far in September.

You make some very good puts which set out very clearly the challenge ahead of us. A top 4 finish is out of reach realistically. The best we can hope for is to make the eight with a full list to pick from and go for it.
The reality is with have been far from convincing this year. We have only bought our best intensity to one game - the loss to GWS, a game we cruelled with our poor kivking for goal.
The remainder of the season will be a test of character. Those who don't shape up will be shipped out.
For me, the biggest disappointment has been our poor delivery inside 50 and our atrocious kicking gor goal. Also players I expected to improve have not gone on with it to date.
But I'm hopeful things can be turned around over the next few months provided the right decisions are made and the players respond to what is going to be laid bare for their consideration.
So, boys, get out there and give Melbourne a hiding.

[DOG GOD]

Appreciate your comments jeemak. I understand regarding your opening comments. We did win 15 games in a very even competition, so my judgment of being 7th best team based on ladder position was probably not a correct indication.
The whole dangerwood scenario griped me no end as well. It's like we had this so called "arrogance" in the coaches box that we don't "need" to do that to win, and that mindset plays with fire.

[DOG GOD]

Merantau, thanks for commenting. I also agree with what you're saying. It's interesting, everyone has an opinion of what's going wrong, and although the opinions are slightly varied with different topics regarding the problems, at the end of the day the big picture looks the same. Things need to change and it needs to begin in the coaches box/match committee for mine....from their onto the players, and hopefully that cohesive unit that got us to the ultimate can rear its head out of the quicksand we are currently in.

[Bulldog4life]

After winning from 7th last year maybe subconsciously the top 4 is not the incentive for the players but just making the finals. We have to turn it around quickly. We are capable of doing that.

[bulldogtragic]

After winning from 7th last year maybe subconsciously the top 4 is not the incentive for the players but just making the finals. We have to turn it around quickly. We are capable of doing that.

Maybe, but then they're crazy. Top 4 can mean a week off and a home prelim. That should be strong incentive, other than the incentive of winning each week.

[Remi Moses]

Some great points made on here , and hard to mount an argument against a lot of posts .
I do think 15 and 7 in most years gets you top 4 . There's been a little bit to clever by half in team selections and tactics .
Keeping Kennedy quiet effectively won us the flag, and yet we allowed Dangerwood there own postcode a few weeks ago .
The recruitment of Cloke looks pointless also, he looks to be to far off the pace .
Cordy's defensive efforts were pivotal in the forward half last year , yet we went away from that .
We're just not good enough long enough ATM, and not getting an across the board even team performance we had last season .

[SonofScray]

Some great points made on here , and hard to mount an argument against a lot of posts .
I do think 15 and 7 in most years gets you top 4 . There's been a little bit to clever by half in team selections and tactics .
Keeping Kennedy quiet effectively won us the flag, and yet we allowed Dangerwood there own postcode a few weeks ago .
The recruitment of Cloke looks pointless also, he looks to be to far off the pace .
Cordy's defensive efforts were pivotal in the forward half last year , yet we went away from that .
We're just not good enough long enough ATM, and not getting an across the board even team performance we had last season .

Early on itlooked like we would get some value out of Cloke but the knocks he got v Sydney and Nth appear to have rattled him. Not putting himself into the mix at all at the moment.