Three things I have learned. Round III edition v the Sydney

[Twodogs]

Tell us what you have learned today.

[GVGjr]

3 things you learned?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1 spirit, effort and hunger are back to where they need to be.
2. Skill execution in front of goal is a millstone around our neck and whilst it remains at its present level we will always have to work unnecessarily harder to get a win than we should have to.
3. We have too many players who have at least one sub standard attribute for this level and it can't be mitigated by whatever strengths they may have in other areas.
Dunkley, Honeychurch, Gowers, Naughton, Dahlhaus are shocking kicks and combined their substandard kicking skills cost us a win tonight.
3. For someone reknowned as a great kick, Suckling executes a lot of horrible kicks, on goal and in general play.

[westbulldog]

1,2 and 3 Our Club doesn't care about inaccurate goalkicking.

[AndrewP6]

1. We can get something from this season.
2. If we can keep the likes of Naughton, Richards and English in our colours, it bodes well for the future.
3. Our thoughts about goalkicking are completely at odds with the club. We have had this issue for years.

[bornadog]

1. Sydney aren't as good as they think they are. Experienced team with average of 117 games to WB 62, they should have done better.

2. We can match it with top teams if the effort and intensity is there.\

3. Jackson Macrae really has gone up a notch this year.

[Ozza]

1. I wasn’t yet convinced that last week was enough to say we were at least back to being a competitive side. But now I’m satisfied that we are going ok. Considering the youth there - it was a very good effort, it was a high standard game against a side who is hard to beat. Whilst the goal kicking accuracy influenced the result - one of the key factors is that Sydney are still good enough and experienced enough to punish the mistakes. Those little moments when our young players compete but don’t quite hold the mark, don’t make the kick impossible to spoil or take a split second too long to make a decision with the ball - all get exposed against a team like the swans. We’d have beaten a lot of sides today.

2. Not sure I ‘learnt’ it as such - but I ‘acknowledge’ that Isaac Heeney is hugely influential on matches. Did he make a mistake today? His last 10 mins of the second quarter changed the game.

3. Wallis doesn’t just win 50-50 balls....he wins 30-70 balls.

[Jeanette54]

1. Tim English has the potential to be the best ruckman since Garry Dempsey. And no, I haven't forgotten Scott Wynd. You read it here first........ a brownlow in his future.

2. Jack Redpath played a very good lead-up game, often well up the ground ala Travis Cloke. Perhaps he (or the coaching staff) have discovered his niche.

3. For someone of his stature Bailey Williams takes a very good contested mark.

[ratsmac]

1. We are one gun midfielder short (Libba)
2. We are one gun forward short (Boyd)
3. We are one (or three) gun defender short (Morris, Adams Cordy)

We aren't that far off the pace but if we don't start chalking up the wins though it's a hard road back.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1. Sydney aren't as good as they think they are. Experienced team with average of 117 games to WB 62, they should have done better.

2. We can match it with top teams if the effort and intensity is there.\

3. Jackson Macrae really has gone up a notch this year.

Have to disagree with your comment on Sydney. Irrespective of the relative inexperience of our side, we served up a high level of combat today that would've stood up to most top level teams. That Sydney didn't panic or fold under the weight of what we put up is actually testament to their honesty as a team.
I don't as a rule harbour much good will for most teams not wearing Red, White & Blue, but gee I reckon there is a lot to admire about the way Sydney's 22 go about it each week. They're a class act and are worthy foe.

[Twodogs]

1. Tim English has the potential to be the best ruckman since Garry Dempsey. And no, I haven't forgotten Scott Wynd. You read it here first........ a brownlow in his future.

Andrew Purser went pretty well too.


1\ The future's so bright (Naughton, Richards, English) I gotta wear shades. Big win for tge twos with some big performances from players we were hoping would have them like Boyd.
2\ we just have to do something about our goalkicking. I knew this but the problem gets more glaring each week so I'm going to keep banging on about it.
3\ Buddy struggles against a well organised, disciplined defence. When we held it together and the ball didn't come in fast he struggled but we had a couple of poor defensive periods (threy were more than just lapses) where Buddy really made us pay.

[Remi Moses]

1. You get an audit when you play them , and I think we passed
2. Our goal kicking execution continues to be unacceptable ( please fix it !)
3. We’ve lost over a thousand games of experience from last season , and we’re progressing well .
Clubs got some really god kids coming through

[Greystache]

1. Nearly every win is going to be a hard fought scrap. Even when we dominate games our goal kicking is going to keep opponents in with a sniff.

2. It doesn't matter how many games it costs us, goal kicking still won't be a priority.

3. The effort is back, now the execution needs to improve. I cannot explain what those first 2 rounds were.

[Bulldog Revolution]

1. The effort is back
2. Need to keep at it
3. Biggs looked terribly out of form

[Ghost Dog]

Have to disagree with your comment on Sydney. Irrespective of the relative inexperience of our side, we served up a high level of combat today that would've stood up to most top level teams. That Sydney didn't panic or fold under the weight of what we put up is actually testament to their honesty as a team.
I don't as a rule harbour much good will for most teams not wearing Red, White & Blue, but gee I reckon there is a lot to admire about the way Sydney's 22 go about it each week. They're a class act and are worthy foe.

For sure. Footy is entertainment, and they are great to watch. To beat them or get close is a great indication of where we are at.

[Flamethrower]

1. Papley is the new Hayden Ballantyne

2. Josh Dunkley needs to have a chat to his dad's former team mate, Plugger Lockett, about a better goal kicking technique

3. Tim English is the most improved player on our list.

[merantau]

Tim English has an above average tank. Ollie Florent is seriously quick and English kept pace with him over 25mt in that chase at the death. I was very impressed by that. He is the ruck we've been looking for.

[The bulldog tragician]

Tim English has an above average tank. Ollie Florent is seriously quick and English kept pace with him over 25mt in that chase at the death. I was very impressed by that. He is the ruck we've been looking for.

...when he must have been completely stuffed by his hard work all day. He very nearly nailed him too.

[Bulldog4life]

1. Papley is the new Hayden Ballantyne

2. Josh Dunkley needs to have a chat to his dad's former team mate, Plugger Lockett, about a better goal kicking technique

3. Tim English is the most improved player on our list.

One big difference. Dunks leans back while kicking while Plugger hunched forward.

[bornadog]

1. Papley is the new Hayden Ballantyne

2. Josh Dunkley needs to have a chat to his dad's former team mate, Plugger Lockett, about a better goal kicking technique

3. Tim English is the most improved player on our list.

Plugger is the goal kicking coach at the Swans.

[Twodogs]

One big difference. Dunks leans back while kicking while Plugger hunched forward.

Yep. I will keep saying it and saying it, most of our goalkicking problems comes down to technique. I could take Luke Dalhaus or Josh Dunkley and have them kicking straight(er) inside 15 minutes.

It's not hard. There are basically four things to remember: Take a deep breath, Run in a straight line, keep your head over the ball (even after its hit your foot keep your bloody head down-just like you are driving a golf ball. You don't look at the hole as you hit the ball do you?) and follow through. AND DONT BLOODY TWIRL THE BALL IN YOUR HANDS AS YOU RUN TO TAKE YOUR KICK!!!!!!!! That's the one that really drives me mad, how are you supposed to drop the ball properly onto your foot if you are twirling the bloody thing in your hands????

This is what drives me mad. It's only as complicated as you want to make it. As Basil said to Manuel, this is not a proposition from wittgenstein it's an easy fix and it will win us games in the short term.

[Ghost Dog]

Two dogs. New kicking coach of the Western Bulldogs.:D
But actually in one of the press interviews after round 2 I think, Hunter perhaps it was, saying have to get back to the basics they teach you in junior footy. Some things do not change.
My old man used to say, aim at someone in the crowd. Not that there was much of a crowd at Hamilton Under 16's but none the less.