Three things you've learned. Round eight 2021 v Carlton

[Twodogs]

Alright tell us three things you know now but you didn't know earlier.

[GVGjr]

Just 3 hey.?

[bulldogtragic]

1. Our raw youngsters in Sweet, McNeal & Khamis have something to add. But not all right now.
2. We can turnaround 8 goals in a quarter of footy.
3. We will be better once our players play in their best positions.

[Twodogs]

Just 3 hey.?

After a win like that I'm saying to take four!!!!

[DOG GOD]

1. Our raw youngsters in Sweet, McNeal & Khamis have something to add. But not all right now.
2. We can turnaround 8 goals in a quarter of footy.
3. We will be better once our players play in their best positions.

1. We have too many “bit” players. Pick and play guys in their best roles.
2. Treloar bleeds this club. His efforts are fantastic. Never gives up.
3. Having so many players down at once can’t happen against the best teams.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1. Good teams can play crappy footy during games, it's just that they eventually fix things before they run out of time, we did that today. Last year we would've rolled over. It was largely a poor performance for most of the game, but a very impressive fightback.
2. Bont is a great leader, he had been largely ineffective for the first two and bit quarters, but his clearance from the middle and his pass to Hunter I think it was was exactly the thing we needed to get the boys to lift.
3. Scott and McNeil are starting to get comfortable at this level. Not stars, but they definitely play their roles well.

[Twodogs]

1. Buka Khamis will be a very good player (might even be a star) for this club
2. We are getting into the habit of winning like good teams do
1. That was close to some of Bont's best moments in a game since 2016. He was terrific in the last quarter and a half.

[Dry Rot]

1. I can see why Buku was selected. I cannot see why Hannan was.

2. Our forward entries still stink.

3. Keath is possibly our most important and/or irreplaceable player.

[Mutz]

1. I thought our mids last week were outplayed by a faster and more desperate opposition but today I realised that we have a complacency problem. Smith is No.1 offender and the comment elsewhere on Woof about being affected by Brereton's media comment could be a contributing factor. When we *want* to work hard and collectively then we are amongst the best.


2. Naughton is constantly man-handled in one-on-ones, many illegal in my view. He needs a strategy to negate this (without becoming a whinger like Riewoldt).


3. Hunter is a true professional - milking 2 very clever frees inside 50, one for a goal.


Extra. I've probably known this for a while but when switching across the backline, any potential advantage is quashed by slow decision-making by Keath, Cordy and Wood.


Bonus. I reluctantly comment on umps but they still haven't nailed down a consistent interpretation
for deliberate out of bounds. That call against Bont was a howler.

[comrade]

Extra. I've probably known this for a while but when switching across the backline, any potential advantage is quashed by slow decision-making by Keath, Cordy and Wood.


This is a bug bear of mine. Wood is the absolute worst at it.

The opposition loves it when he gets his hands on it during a switch.

[Go_Dogs]

1 - Buku can make the grade. Showed bits and pieces of being capable in the air, having some wheels, using the ball. A fair bit of development ahead of him, but he can make the grade.

2 - sometimes we need to have faith. Scott and McNeil weren’t locks in my eyes over the first month but are now. Have found their groove at the level and will be good 16-22 players in a deep finals side.

3 - Bruce might struggle in big games and at the G, but he’ll damn sure make us a top 4 side with his work at Marvel.

[FrediKanoute]

1. Buku was better than I expected, but needs time. I wouldn't play him against Port as I think we would end up playing him out of position. He is no substitute for Daniels in the backline.

2. Gee Daniels plays taller than he is. A number of times he outmarked taller opponents. He is a little gem, very underrated.

3. NAughton is not a body on body forward. He was well beaten today, but at least he kept competing.

[bornadog]

1. You have got to look beyond the scores sometimes and see where you are winning and see where you are losing and make adjustments. For the whole game, we were winning everywhere, ie Centre clearances, stoppages, general clearances but losing Cont poss and scoreboard. We turned that around mid 3rd quarter and won easily.

2. The Bont can change the game through his sear willingness.

3. Bruce is an asset despite what some have said or thought about him.

[comrade]

1. You have got to look beyond the scores sometimes and see where you are winning and see where you are losing and make adjustments. For the whole game, we were winning everywhere, ie Centre clearances, stoppages, general clearances but losing Cont poss and scoreboard. We turned that around mid 3rd quarter and won easily.


Carlton scored mostly from our turnovers, both up the ground and inside our own forward 50. Once we hit some targets, the game changed.

[Ozza]

Carlton scored mostly from our turnovers, both up the ground and inside our own forward 50. Once we hit some targets, the game changed.

Helped when we moved Caleb to defence and started carving our way through them by foot.

[Ozza]

1. We are desperately missing Dunks in the part of the game where we don't have the ball. To the eye, Bont and Libba do their share of defending, but a few others aren't as keen. Carlton moved the ball way too easily in chunks of the game. Obviously Richmond did last week also. I'd imagine it is a work in progress to adjust.

2. Carlton are a bogey side for us - so I'm genuinely just happy to get 4 points - even though there was a fair bit that wasn't great from us in the game.

3. The skipper had 12 score involvements, 10 inside 50s, 10 clearances and 8 tackles today. Yeah he had some turnovers - but its almost always when he's striving to make the big play. 19 contested today. He does the whole lot.

[westbulldog]

1. Sweet and Khamis deserve their continuing selection.
2. We should present Jacob Weitering with a blank cheque.
3. Dogs supporters are becoming too quick to jump on and off the bandwagon. I've seen a lot of fickle supporters over here in the west but like to think Dogs people are made of a more resilient loyalty.

[MrMahatma]

1. Not new but Libba... wow. His hands. Just wow...
2. Bont. Meters gained monster!
3. Daniel out marking blokes in the last. Perfect!

[kruder]

1. I thought our mids last week were outplayed by a faster and more desperate opposition but today I realised that we have a complacency problem. Smith is No.1 offender and the comment elsewhere on Woof about being affected by Brereton's media comment could be a contributing factor. When we *want* to work hard and collectively then we are amongst the best.


2. Naughton is constantly man-handled in one-on-ones, many illegal in my view. He needs a strategy to negate this (without becoming a whinger like Riewoldt).


3. Hunter is a true professional - milking 2 very clever frees inside 50, one for a goal.


Extra. I've probably known this for a while but when switching across the backline, any potential advantage is quashed by slow decision-making by Keath, Cordy and Wood.


Bonus. I reluctantly comment on umps but they still haven't nailed down a consistent interpretation
for deliberate out of bounds. That call against Bont was a howler.


What did Derm say about Smith?

[Vred]

1. Libba is our most important midfielder, ill fight anyone who disagrees
2. Sweet / English combo going into the future looks to be the way to go, for his first real game against a ruck he did incredibly well.
3. When in previous seasons we would of rolled over and taken the L, this season we fought back, 8 goal turn around is huge.

[GVGjr]

What did Derm say about Smith?

He didn't like Smith mouthing off to the North players

[The Doctor]

1. The development work put into Sweet has been very good. I think he can make it.

2. Lipinski is just no good when the heat is on.

3. Bailey Dale is becoming a star and I was his biggest critic. Well played young man.

4. Weitering....wow!

[Mantis]

1. Buku was better than I expected, but needs time. I wouldn't play him against Port as I think we would end up playing him out of position. He is no substitute for Daniels in the backline.

2. Gee Daniels plays taller than he is. A number of times he outmarked taller opponents. He is a little gem, very underrated.

3. NAughton is not a body on body forward. He was well beaten today, but at least he kept competing.

1/ Buku is not a replacement for Daniel, he’s competing for a spot with Crozier, Wood & Duryea.

2/ He did as a defender, but got out-pointed in the air as a forward... he has to play back.

3/ Naughts is still only 21 and needs a few more years in the gym to compete effectively one on one. Weitering was the same 2 years back and shows the benefits of a couple of extra pre-seasons.

[Happy Days]

Naughton got belted by Weitering but still contributed pretty meaningfully and was clever enough to make Carlton pay every single time Weitering was caught rotating off him. Happy with his game and I’m certain a big bag is coming.

[Grantysghost]

1. We are desperately missing Dunks in the part of the game where we don't have the ball. To the eye, Bont and Libba do their share of defending, but a few others aren't as keen. Carlton moved the ball way too easily in chunks of the game. Obviously Richmond did last week also. I'd imagine it is a work in progress to adjust.

2. Carlton are a bogey side for us - so I'm genuinely just happy to get 4 points - even though there was a fair bit that wasn't great from us in the game.

3. The skipper had 12 score involvements, 10 inside 50s, 10 clearances and 8 tackles today. Yeah he had some turnovers - but its almost always when he's striving to make the big play. 19 contested today. He does the whole lot.

He had 8 turnovers and was running at about 40 percent efficiency early. It was very unlike him, but as all champs do he didn’t drop his head and turned it around late.
He did look sore at times, wasn’t chasing much and he appeared lame after a couple of contests in the third hope he’s ok. Probably just the old general soreness.

[Mantis]

1. We are desperately missing Dunks in the part of the game where we don't have the ball. To the eye, Bont and Libba do their share of defending, but a few others aren't as keen. Carlton moved the ball way too easily in chunks of the game. Obviously Richmond did last week also. I'd imagine it is a work in progress to adjust.

2. Carlton are a bogey side for us - so I'm genuinely just happy to get 4 points - even though there was a fair bit that wasn't great from us in the game.

3. The skipper had 12 score involvements, 10 inside 50s, 10 clearances and 8 tackles today. Yeah he had some turnovers - but its almost always when he's striving to make the big play. 19 contested today. He does the whole lot.

Just saw on twitter he is the 2nd player in AFL history to post these numbers... the other being GAjnr.

[Ozza]

He had 8 turnovers and was running at about 40 percent efficiency early. It was very unlike him, but as all champs do he didn’t drop his head and turned it around late.
He did look sore at times, wasn’t chasing much and he appeared lame after a couple of contests in the third hope he’s ok. Probably just the old general soreness.

Bont gets a lot of footy from middle of the ground and forward - rather than chipping it around at half back. You're always going to have some turnovers with high numbers of clearances and inside 50 kicks. Doesn't excuse all of them - but he's making the play

Top 5 in the league for metres gained this year.

[EasternWest]

Just saw on twitter he is the 2nd player in AFL history to post these numbers... the other being GAjnr.

He's sometimes so sublime it's easy to not notice some of the things he does. What a gun.

[Mantis]

He's sometimes so sublime it's easy to not notice some of the things he does. What a gun.

He was so strong in the contest yesterday... like brute force strong... the piece of play where he laid the forceful tackle, won the ball and then chipped it forward to Naughts changed the momentum of the game.

He's a jet!

[Mofra]

Macrae became just the second player in history to manage 30 possession in each of the first 8 rounds of the season.
He was massive for us as well.

Cordy had some nice moments but he just seems slower than in previous years. If we went in with the intention of playing three tall defenders (Khamis), we may as well try and release Lewis Young to be the third tall because he can at least intercept. The lesser of the two performers against Port probably loses their spot the week after.

McNeill is surely leading the competitions for steals.
I don't think Sweet is ready to ruck game in, game out but he is able to be managed through this year and play a few games when Martin is sore. Will play next week with English back in the side so that will give us a glimpse of our likely 2022+ ruck set up.

Carlton had 7 Centre clearances as a team and Pittonet had 4 of them grabbing it out of the ruck. Our mids were still pretty good except for execution in the middle part of the game.

[Grantysghost]

Bont gets a lot of footy from middle of the ground and forward - rather than chipping it around at half back. You're always going to have some turnovers with high numbers of clearances and inside 50 kicks. Doesn't excuse all of them - but he's making the play

Top 5 in the league for metres gained this year.

That's a good point, not something I had considered he does create so much so there's more element of risk.

He's an outstanding footballer isn't he on so many levels, we are truly blessed to have him.

His attitude is one of this greatest strengths for mine, but of course he's not above criticism (I may have when he get collared in the third trying to baulk and we had guys out free). I think there were a couple of goals directly from his turnovers, but he doesn't let it effect him at all. (11 clangers record for AFL is 13, 8 turnovers).

He shakes it off and says right I'll just go on and win the game for us.

I'll start my self imposed ban...

Now.

Speaking of stars, Macrae is only the second player to have 30 possessions in each of the first 8 rounds since records began.

Players with 30+ disposals in each of the first 8 rounds of a V/AFL season

1971 - David Thorpe
2021 - JACK MACRAE

Now.

[Twodogs]

He didn't like Smith mouthing off to the North players

It wasn't just that. Derm pretty much said that if you say that you are having mental health problems (as Smith did earlier in the year) then you shouldn't be mouthing off at players on field. This was in direct reference to the time late in the game when Bruce outmarked that arsehole Ziebull and Smith went into fly the flag because Ziebull got into a push and shove with Libba.

I've always been an admirer of Dermot Brereton but in this case he can shove his opinion. He's got it arse around.

[comrade]

It wasn't just that. Derm pretty much said that if you say that you are having mental health problems (as Smith did earlier in the year) then you shouldn't be mouthing off at players on field. This was in direct reference to the time late in the game when Bruce outmarked that arsehole Ziebull and Smith went into fly the flag because Ziebull got into a push and shove with Libba.

I've always been an admirer of Dermot Brereton but in this case he can shove his opinion. He's got it arse around.

Yeah, *!*!*!*! Dermie. I was worried at the time it would cause Baz some issues and it’s played out that way.

[ratsmac]

1. When Caleb Daniel is in form we are a much better team. His last quarter was amazing and it's no coincidence that we as a team all of a sudden had control of the game.

2. Sweet's last quarter was so good for a ruckman playing his second game. From all reports it was fitness holding him back in the last couple seasons. He run out the game pretty well which is reassuring going forward.

3. Keath won't be found wanting. He had a few goals kicked on him but didn't let it get to him. The mark he took over Mackay in the last was a statement! We'd be stuffed without him.

[comrade]

How good will the reaction to Alex ‘Alpha Male’ Keath taking a hanger over McKay be during the game review with the team.

[Ghost Dog]

There has been a lot of hand-wringing over our defense and getting a key defender type. But Keath certainly looks like a guy capable of running with power forwards if he is supported. See how he goes with Dixon next week.

Bont did everything in that game. Just worry about him being overcooked.

So happy to see Bruce's accuracy, goal celebrations and him being happy. We really need him.

[Bulldog Revolution]

1. I get very disappointed (borderline football clinical depression) when it looks like we will lose to Carlton

2. I hate Carlton the most of any team (even fractionally more than GWS)

3. I love beating Carlton under any circumstances and enjoy that they have largely been footballing irrelevant for 20+ years

[bornadog]

1. I get very disappointed (borderline football clinical depression) when it looks like we will lose to Carlton

2. I hate Carlton the most of any team (even fractionally more than GWS)

3. I love beating Carlton under any circumstances and enjoy that they have largely been footballing irrelevant for 20+ years

Carlton and Essendon, the two teams I hate the most.

[ratsmac]

1. I get very disappointed (borderline football clinical depression) when it looks like we will lose to Carlton

2. I hate Carlton the most of any team (even fractionally more than GWS)

3. I love beating Carlton under any circumstances and enjoy that they have largely been footballing irrelevant for 20+ years

A come from behind win is even sweeter. It was theirs to lose and they did. We won!

[Mofra]

carlton and essendon, the two teams i hate the most.
gws?

[Bulldog Joe]

gws?

I found myself barracking for GWS against Essington.

Felt dirty but that is how I feel about the cheats.

[1eyedog]

Carlton and Essendon, the two teams I hate the most.

Geelong?

I need Geelong beaten first then Essendon. I don't really care about GWS because the 2016 PF will last me some years but they are third.

[hujsh]

Geelong?

I need Geelong beaten first then Essendon. I don't really care about GWS because the 2016 PF will last me some years but they are third.

Geelong might be annoying but Essendon are still the drug cheats who endangered their players health. Long may they reign at the footend of the ladder

[Twodogs]

Geelong might be annoying but Essendon are still the drug cheats who endangered their players health. Long may they reign at the footend of the ladder

They are the turds on the other side of the Maribyrnong too.


Incidentally, Maribyrnong is an anglicised version of the Aboriginal term 'Mirring-gnay-bir-nong', which translates as 'I can hear a ringtail possum" I didn't know that until recently. There are certainly a lot of possums around here though.

[bornadog]

gws?

GWS are now a rivalry, so I hate them in that sense.


Geelong?


I need Geelong beaten first then Essendon. I don't really care about GWS because the 2016 PF will last me some years but they are third.

Yeah, they are next off the rank

[Ghost Dog]

Geelong might be annoying but Essendon are still the drug cheats who endangered their players health. Long may they reign at the footend of the ladder

I think as administrators, I dislike Carlton's the most.
If you have ever lived in Geelong it's like a mad cult and very annoying.

[hujsh]

I think as administrators, I dislike Carlton's the most.
If you have ever lived in Geelong it's like a mad cult and very annoying.

Haven't had to live there but both parents and their families were from there. I was smart enough as a child to know better and pick a better standard of club.

[choconmientay]

One thing I have learn in this game... is that Bevo playing chess with the Carlton coaching staffs.

(Anticipating Daniel will be tagged out of the game in the back half...) Placing Daniel to play forward for 3 quarters just to throw Carlton's game plan in disarray on the day.

And then for them to not recognized the moment and not be able to react quickly to a late movement in the 4th quarter when Daniel went back to back half.

By then they also wouldn't have anyone with energy, mindset to tag him, allowing our play-maker to run wild in the back half and distributed the ball at will. (Even showed off with a one-hander marking of the ball)

Bont has led the team with the fight back but having Daniel going back in the fourth was the driving force for the win.

Master class in deceiving our opponent! ;)

[comrade]

One thing I have learn in this game... is that Bevo playing chess with the Carlton coaching staffs.

(Anticipating Daniel will be tagged out of the game in the back half...) Placing Daniel to play forward for 3 quarters just to throw Carlton's game plan in disarray on the day.

And then for them to not recognized the moment and not be able to react quickly to a late movement in the 4th quarter when Daniel went back to back half.

By then they also wouldn't have anyone with energy, mindset to tag him, allowing our play-maker to run wild in the back half and distributed the ball as will. (Even showed off with a one-hander marking of the ball)

Bont has led the team with the fight back but having Daniel going back in the fourth was the driving force for the win.

Master class in deceiving our opponent! ;)

The Caleb Gambit :D

[Bulldog Joe]

The Caleb Gambit :D

I agree with that assessment.

Caleb has really struggled to impact in 21, but giving him a different role early did allow him to revert late without the attention.

[comrade]

I agree with that assessment.

Caleb has really struggled to impact in 21, but giving him a different role early did allow him to revert late without the attention.

If it was done like that by design, it was a masterstroke (which it wasn't). At the very least, it was a canny piece of in play coaching to flick the magnets around. I wonder if we'd try it again?

[jeemak]

If it was done like that by design, it was a masterstroke (which it wasn't). At the very least, it was a canny piece of in play coaching to flick the magnets around. I wonder if we'd try it again?

We may have gotten a whisper he was going to be sat on like he was in the elimination final last year, so did the same to them with Daniel himself on Saad.

Or we may not have. Do clubs still get whispers?