Three things I've learned, edition XV 2018 v Geelong at the stadium formerly known as Etihad.

[Twodogs]

Goodness this season is flying by. It's that time of the week where you tell us 3 things you know now that you didn't know before the game. Your 3 takeaways from the game to use the modern vernacular.


Tell us three things you've learned.

[EasternWest]

3. I love Billy Gowers a bit.
2. Lynch looked alright.
1. Roarke Smith looked alright.

[bulldogtragic]

1. Lynch & Gowers are worth upgrading, even more so if it means cutting the main list properly and it effectively covers picks 80 & 100.
2. We wanted to see a high pressure GWS prelim final type performance. So Tom Boyd said, fine, I'll do it again, 17 touches, 10 CP's (career best), 31 hit outs and 8 1%'s including getting the ball in for Gowers karate kick goal.
3. Richards will be the next in a long line of players to miss the rising star by one vote... Even though we know he is.
3a. Lippa will be a very damaging winger and half back. His hands in traffic and foot skills are sublime. And he usually kicks straight.

[comrade]

1. Lynch & Gowers are worth upgrading, even more so if it means cutting the main list properly and it effectively covers picks 80 & 100.
2. We wanted to see a high pressure GWS prelim final type performance. So Tom Boyd said, fine, I'll do it again, 17 touches, 10 CP's (career best), 31 hit outs and 8 1%'s including getting the ball in for Gowers karate kick goal.
3. Richards will be the next in a long line of players to miss the rising star by one vote... Even though we know he is.
3a. Lippa will be a very damaging winger and half back. His hands in traffic and foot skills are sublime. And he usually kicks straight.

If for some reason Bont isn't the captain for the next decade, I can see Richards taking the mantle at some point. He does everything right.

[westbulldog]

1. Woofers were premature in damning Mitch Wallis, JJ and Luke Dalhaus.
2. Toby McLean is quietly becoming one of the best midfielders in the competition.
3. Lynch showed good signs.

[bulldogtragic]

4. Hopefully that game and win saves a couple of Friday night games for us next year with the AFEL fixturing department.

[josie]

1) Dahl can get back to his best - good on you Lukey!!
2) Richards is something very special
BT is having a super birthday

[westdog54]

1. The 20 game rule is a thing. Good effort by Roarke Smith tonight.
2. Tom Boyd 's tank is building superbly.
3. To paraphrase Eric Cartman: Karma is a Super-king-kameha'meha-biatch.

[Happy Days]

1. Gowers move from "stapled to the goal line" to midfield rotation has unveiled a legitimately good player that I never would have picked in a million years

2. Josh Dunkley can kick for goal

3. Harry Taylor can't - HA

[Mofra]

1. Roarke Smith showed quite a bit tonight

2. Lynch just earned himself a spot on the main list next year

3. Ed Richards gives me a Bontempelli vibe. Good things just happens when he's involved in the play.

[Twodogs]

1. Billy Gowers will be our next Norm Smith medallist.
2. Josh Schache is going to be a good player
3. I love footy.

[westdog54]

1. Gowers move from "stapled to the goal line" to midfield rotation has unveiled a legitimately good player that I never would have picked in a million years

2. Josh Dunkley can kick for goal

3. Harry Taylor can't - HA

I'm glad Billy has won you over.

[macca]

Apologies I can't keep it to 3:
1) Richards - if he does not win the rising star then another confirmation the AFL hates us. 3 goals, reads the ball beautiful and can see the play way ahead.
2) 2.5 mins into the last quarter you could see we had the Cats Rattled. The Bulldog bite, the FEAR in the opposition. Pushing them back into their defensive half. Loved it.
3)Gowers is a beast - he knows how to find the footy, reads the play very well, and is very nimble for his size. Loved how he was directing the players in the setup in forward half. His goal on the run was superb, and scissor kick in the last quarter in mid air was pure art in motion. There are gems hidden in the VFL, and thank goodness we found him in Gowers!

4) Even team effort all around - Lipinski efforts in the backhalf were great to see. Dunkley's size and presence is so important. Schache presented, gee if he puts on a few more kg in strength, his going to be hard player to keep out. Team pressure forced the cats into making mistakes.

5) Maybe there is method in testing the depth of our list. Roarke and Lynch had good games. Brian Taylors post match interview with him was really nice to hear Smith mention how much it meant to him to be playing and getting a win, especially after coming from 2 reco's and all the rehab work.

6) We might have seen Suckling's replacement in Lynch. Is he worth upgrading?
7) the footy Gods hate Geelong for once. IF north and hawks win, cats are out of the 8 this week !

[Remi Moses]

1. Thank you to the Melbourne traffic for Ed rocking up late to the Carlton interview
2. Thanks to his car for breaking down
3. Great to beat the handbaggers

[Sedat]

1. Thank you to the Melbourne traffic for Ed rocking up late to the Carlton interview
2. Thanks to his car for breaking down
My Carlton mates are pretty shattered at Silvagni taking Lochie O'Brien. They nailed the Dow pick but missed a huge trick not getting Richards.

[comrade]

My Carlton mates are pretty shattered at Silvagni taking Lochie O'Brien. They nailed the Dow pick but missed a huge trick not getting Richards.

Pretty sure they’re still laughing over getting Curnow while we have Collins miles back in the queue and Dunks still finding his way.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. Richards, wow. His ceiling is enormous- more than what I initially thought. I really wanted him pre draft and I’m so glad we got him. Absolute star - he can do everything.

2. Gowers can really play, his confidence is sky high and he knows he belongs. Great strength and aggression but he’s also very quick and agile. He’s becoming one of my favourites.

3. Dahl, JJ, Wallis, Boyd take a bow.

The whole team was fantastic. Great spirit- won’t soon forget this.

[bornadog]

1. Bevo doesn't mind giving kids an opportunity to play - First year players Lippa, Naughton, Richards, Gowers, Lynch, Smith, and Lipinski all contributed to a great win. None of them have played Geelong and knew nothing about a hoodoo. :D

2. Richards is such a clever player, even when he doesn't have the ball - eg that goal off the ground in the last

3. Last week and this week shows when you have some experienced players in defence, what a difference.

[Bulldog Joe]

Team effort can overcome deficiencies
We continue to play an exceptionally young side.

This week average age 23 y 4 mth against Geelong 25 y 7 mth
Games experience average 65 against Geelong 107.

11 players under 50 games (6 under 20) with another 7 under 100 games
Geelong had 9 under 50 games (5 under 20) and another 2 under 100 games.

They had 11 of 22 over 100, while we had just 4.

The injury curse has given us the opportunity to see that our list can really be competitive, with some added midfield depth, over the next 5 years.

This year is starting to feel like 2005.

[choconmientay]

Last week was a character building loss. This week was a character building win. There were so many young players out there. This win will set the foundation for our future.

Starting the season I thought Gowers skills is limited. Now I am thinking his skills is limitless. He can lead, he can mark, he can kick goals, he can go to the middle and win hard contests, he is in the opposition face and not backing down and gezzzx did you guys not see that x-factor karate-kick for goal. I love his game last night!

This win against the handbaggers means so much for our supporters. The noises, the screams in unison with the team on the mark jumping up and down did put extra doubt in f&$$#&+@(+-&g Taylor mind and got us over the line. What a win. ( Done it with 6 days break for a young team and with one man down. What an effort!!!)

[ratsmac]

1. Gowers is giving us so much more than Stringer gave us in the last couple of years. Somehow Gowers is an upgrade on Stringer. He was superb again last night. That's 2 weeks in a row that I am genuinely excited about this kid when at the start of the season I was shaking my head that he was in the team. Thank you Billy.

2. Morris and Adams back in the team has added an air of confidence amongst the group. They are two intimidating figures and everyone walks taller with them around.

3. Having JJ's run back has put the opposition on the back foot. He can break the lines and open the zones when he plays like that. With Crozier also growing in confidence as well hopefully they wax with each other of the half back line for years to come.

[Sedat]

Pretty sure they’re still laughing over getting Curnow while we have Collins miles back in the queue and Dunks still finding his way.
I reckon the gap between Dunkley and Curnow won't be as vast as the one between Lochie O'Brien and Richards will end up being.

And you know how much I love Curnow ;)

[ledge]

1 we might have a few out next week Croziers knee definitley a worry,
Jong omg this kid has the worst luck in history and nothing to do with soft tissue injuries all legit hits or knees going.
Gowers ankle collapsed on him a few times he might struggle to get up next week also.
Dahl will be ok it wasn't concussion you can see it's a hit to the nose not a solid hit in the head.
2 something happened at the club two weeks ago , I have no idea what but it's like a new enthusiastic team with belief again.
3 The media have no idea and speculate things to make a story eg Wallis, Liberatore trades and even trying to make one on players standing behind a mark !
Kudos to Scott for not falling for that drivel.
4 lipinski really had a blow out game tonight.
5 Not sure where our captain and a few other older players fit in if we keep this trend up.
6 I admit I was down and out 3 weeks ago I saw the Brendan Mc Cartney years staring us in the face again. I want to know why caused this amazing turnaround within a week .
7 yeah I gave 6 things I learnt I think we all learnt well over three things last night.

[ledge]

Pretty sure they’re still laughing over getting Curnow while we have Collins miles back in the queue and Dunks still finding his way.

I bet they aren't laughing about Dunks being a premiership player though.

[AndrewP6]

1. I was right about Billy.
2. We can make footy fun again.
3. I think I want to adopt Ed Richards.

And an extra...

4. If I don't go to the game, we win. I was torn, having end of term/farewell to a workmate drinks, or going to the footy. I went to the drinks. It's a pity, I liked going to the footy. Club might bar me from going though. 🤣🤣🤣

[bornadog]

2. Morris and Adams back in the team has added an air of confidence amongst the group. They are two intimidating figures and everyone walks taller with them around. .

Makes a difference to have an experienced backline with Morris, Adams, Trengove and JJ going back, Crozier hitting his straps.

Go back to the earlier losses and we had a very inexperienced backline.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

1 Dahlhaus and Dunkley clearly played their best games for the year.
2. The playing of Gowers and Lipinski in the midfield was an important factor in the win.
3. Our relentless run and tackling was a significant return to our 2016 success.

[Bulldog4life]

Roarke Smith is improving. We can be too quick to judge.
Lychie's first game was a good one.
Schache is going to be an excellent pick up for us.

[LostDoggy]

1. Three weeks ago most of us felt our midfield depth was lacking. Add Macrae and Libba to last nights group and we'll be competitive against anyone, not to mention Suckling, Daniel and Dale as outside options. In the last few weeks Williams, Richards, Gowers and Lipinski have all added more to the midfield rotations than we could have reasonably expected. Exciting times.

2. I've been hoping to see Lynch get a go as his pace and penetrating kicking are attibrutes we can use. I thought he did really well. Was better in the contest than I expected (loved his big tackle in the 2nd qtr) and looked right at home. Definitely worth persisting with.

3. Schache continues to impress as a work in progress with huge potential. His mobility and skill level are pretty exceptional for a 199cm 20yo. In years to come he, English and Boyd should be a pretty challenging key forward/ruck combo, particularly with Naughton, Cordy and Young as swingman options and Bont and Gowers as strong mobile 3rd tall options.

[Twodogs]

1. Three weeks ago most of us felt our midfield depth was lacking. Add Macrae and Libba to last nights group and we'll be competitive against anyone, not to mention Suckling, Daniel and Dale as outside options. In the last few weeks Williams, Richards, Gowers and Lipinski have all added more to the midfield rotations than we could have reasonably expected. Exciting times.

2. I've been hoping to see Lynch get a go as his pace and penetrating kicking are attibrutes we can use. I thought he did really well. Was better in the contest than I expected (loved his big tackle in the 2nd qtr) and looked right at home. Definitely worth persisting with.

3. Schache continues to impress as a work in progress with huge potential. His mobility and skill level are pretty exceptional for a 199cm 20yo. In years to come he, English and Boyd should be a pretty challenging key forward/ruck combo, particularly with Naughton, Cordy and Young as swingman options and Bont and Gowers as strong mobile 3rd tall options.

All going well Schache is going to be our 200 cm third tall in attack. That's going to present as a match up problem. What I really like about the Shaq and English is they are quick by foot. They cover the ground quite well so the opposition won't be able to just put smaller guys and run off them rge way an opposition usually does.

[Flamethrower]

1. Geelong fans are hypocrites - they whine about the Doggies having the entire playing list standing behind the mark, yet they did the same when Issac Smith had a shot to win the 2016 Qualifying Final after the final siren.

2. Brad Lynch can play at AFL level.

3. Geelong play like scaredy cats when you put heat into the contest. Flat track bullies.

[Testekill]

All going well Schache is going to be our 200 cm third tall in attack. That's going to present as a match up problem. What I really like about the Shaq and English is they are quick by foot. They cover the ground quite well so the opposition won't be able to just put smaller guys and run off them rge way an opposition usually does.

Shache isn't super quick but his workrate is great. We haven't had a tall forward roaming the wings and between the arcs like him for quite a long time.

[Twodogs]

Shache isn't super quick but his workrate is great. We haven't had a tall forward roaming the wings and between the arcs like him for quite a long time.

I think even though Josh is not quick he will be one of those players who's footy smarts and reading of the play will see him get to a lot more contests than most players.

We bought Daniel Bandy over from Freo to play that exact role but Bandy wasn't keen on physical contact. It's a shame because he had all the skill in the world.

[Dry Rot]

1. Dahlhaus had a great job interview

2. Lynch can play, ditto back flankers Richards and Williams up forward. Gowers amazing

3. We need someone to take the gorillas, and Trengove isn't that man.

[The Doctor]

3. We need someone to take the gorillas, and Trengove isn't that man.

Personally I think I'm that man but as I'm not on the list at this time, Adams is that man.

[Bulldog4life]

1. Dahlhaus had a great job interview

2. Lynch can play, ditto back flankers Richards and Williams up forward. Gowers amazing

3. We need someone to take the gorillas, and Trengove isn't that man.

I am hopeful Dad will become that player. Hope he gets a game soon.