Your opinion of the loss last night?

[Dogs 24/7]

The nightmare of the 2007 thrashings raised its ugly head again last night but how seriously should we regard the loss?

[LostDoggy]

Very bad on so many levels. This will hurt memberships in a big way

[Mantis]

Can I pick more than one?

Signs weren't good, but is only NAB Cup. Collingwood got hammered 2 weeks ago and they are expected to be a top 4 team.

Not slitting my wrists just yet, but the areas we were bad in last year were bad again last night.

[LostDoggy]

Can I pick more than one?

Signs weren't good, but is only NAB Cup. Collingwood got hammered 2 weeks ago and they are expected to be a top 4 team.

Not slitting my wrists just yet, but the areas we were bad in last year were bad again last night.

Wouldn't option 6 suit the each way punter? ;)

[LostDoggy]

*West, Boyd and Cross -cant all be in the midfield at one time. No pace and no penetration
*Harris/Lake- is the most overrated player in the comp. Turns the ball over to often with stupid kicks and handballs
*Tiller-doesnt have it
*Minson- no recovery. needs to be more than just a 'target'. Tried hard though
*Accountability - once again opposition players are allowed to run free
*Eade- wouldnt of slept well last night

[hujsh]

Only NAB cup but it was like being in the dark ages of 2007. Disappointing after the signs showed in Darwin

[mike1954]

I wouldn't say Lake is the most overrated player in the comp. He did win the B & F last year. He does do the odd clumsy disposal, but it was only the NAB cup and the team was thrown around all over the place.
I really worry about guys like White, Addison and Eagleton. I really dont think they are up to it. They're receiving and disposal (especially) doesnt make the grade. Of the 3, I would say Addison, with more of an opportunity can maybe produce something.
With last night, you could see the Bombers were desperate and hungry to win and the Doggies did look lethargic. Not the best outcome when you are trying to sign up as many members as you can. But if Essendon think that when we next play them for 4 points, they think it will be that easy, they better think again!!

[LostDoggy]

One thing that stood through was lack of confidence all over the ground highlighted by players looking to pass off 40m out (and screwing it up on occasion) rather than taking the shot.

[LostDoggy]

One thing that stood through was lack of confidence all over the ground highlighted by players looking to pass off 40m out (and screwing it up on occasion) rather than taking the shot.

I noticed that, no one seemed confident enough to take a shot at goal. Even Murphy looked shaky and a bit nervous.

We looked done from the start- absolutely no run from the (horibbly wonky) opening bounce. Bad signs, but im just hoping we wake up before Round 1

[mjp]

Can I be 'bitterly disappointed but really not all that surprised'?

When you replace one of Griff/Gilbee with Callan (who was pantsed by Welsh - he is not a defender) you are in trouble. We needed run and the guys who provide a lot of it weren't there and the replacements were - well - inadequate.

Everitt looks woeful at the moment. Passive.

Doogs was smashed, but was left one-out too often against a much smarter player.

That said, things could have turned a bit during the second quarter, but we missed and they hit, and that was all she wrote. The second half was an improvement based on ball movement alone...Jerry is right though (and Mantis has been saying it, and I was on the 'trade one of them' bandwagon) - Boyd, Cross and West cannot play in the midfield together. We talk about the Bombers mids being slow - we are glacial when those three are in there.

Cooney was good.

I dont necessarily agree with the accountability comment that is coming through though - when your coach is telling you to take risks (which Eade told the TV audience he was at 3/4 time), you can't expect that to be translated by numbers behind the ball...we run forward, and if we turn it over....well, we saw what happens last night...and last year.

[LostDoggy]

What I saw horrified me.
I saw players who I don't think really deserve to be on our team at the moment (Tiller, anyone?). But I guess we didn't really have a choice.

The whole team effort was just crap. I didn't expect to lose by quite so much, and I expected better off Tiller, Minson and a few others. MC DOUGALL, ARGH.

Whats going on with Johnno these past couple of weeks? Why's he suddenly lost consistency?

[LostDoggy]

One thing that stood through was lack of confidence all over the ground highlighted by players looking to pass off 40m out (and screwing it up on occasion) rather than taking the shot.

I noticed this as well. Welsh will make a difference and hopefully he and Minson can work together well.

I'm leaning towards being concerned with last nights effort but I never suspected that we would win. I thought a 2 to 3 goal loss with some encouraging trends not a 50 point result where we didn't display a lot of positives.
Rockets got plenty to do and with an increasing injury list on top of a young group who are a fair way off it, it won't be an easy fix.
A couple of wins at the start of the season will do wonders for the confidence of the team.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

MJP's on the money with Everitt - he looks extremely ordinary at the moment. Last week against The Kangaroos he didn't play a whole lot, but when he did, he couldn't get himself in the game at all. He looked completely lacklustre & lost. Last night was the same added with a few mistakes by foot/hand. Not sure why, I realise he's only young, but he's playing himself out of the best 22. Defensively he's passive; he's absolutely no where near capable of playing any defensive role at THIS stage. Perhaps he needs to be released back to a wing and ease him into a HBF role.

The side can only get better, but they have a long way to go. There was no evidence of any game plan or anything. No structure all over the ground, and we look incredibly slow over the last two weeks and the last six/seven of '07. Why? Those suggesting we can't play West/Cross/Boyd in the one midfield are right - we look bad. We almost redefined the way football was played in 05/06, appears as though now we've gotten slower whilst other sides have gotten faster.

I know I made a separate thread for this too, but for one reason or another Eade refuses to play the kids. Look at most of the other sides, The Dons, Blues - all playing quite a few young guys. For some reason we keep shadowing ours. Lynch, Stack & Hill need as much game time as possible. Even O'Shea. It's very frustrating and disappointing to keep reading about other clubs young stars whilst ours twiddle there thumbs on the pine. We need an injection of pace; Harbrow, Lynch, Hill, Stack etc. are those that can provide it and it's disappointing we have been deprived of that, whilst other sides have used that as a platform.