Three things you've learned. Round eighteen 2021 v Gold Coast Suns

[Twodogs]

Tell us three things you've learned today

[GVGjr]

Bump

[bulldogtragic]

1. Barely beating North, GCS and losing at home to Sydney needs to turn around. Sure two wins are great, but a lot of issues.

2. We won by 11 points. Our second game kicked 18.

3. I’m worried about selfishness and discipline. Naughton giving a free kick away while JJ was having a shot, something he’s done many times this year. Bailey Smith taking the mark off Jamarra last week. Wally & Hannan making choices more consistent with selection, than team. Ben King kicks a touch shot into the post, but Caleb abuses the umpire and then gifts him the goal and run to win the game. I thought we were the most selfless and most disciplines team in it a month ago. I’m not getting that feeling anymore.

[DOG GOD]

1. Barely beating North, GCS and losing at home to Sydney needs to turn around. Sure two wins are great, but a lot of issues.

2. We won by 11 points. Our second game kicked 18.

3. I’m worried about selfishness and discipline. Naughton giving a free kick away while JJ was having a shot, something he’s done many times this year. Bailey Smith taking the mark off Jamarra last week. Wally & Hannan making choices more consistent with selection, than team. Ben King kicks a touch shot into the post, but Caleb abuses the umpire and then gifts him the goal and run to win the game. I thought we were the most selfless and most disciplines team in it a month ago. I’m not getting that feeling anymore.

Totally agree with this. I’ve noticed some ugliness rearing it’s head over the last month.

Anyone who thinks we are going to win a final playing like we are….well.

[bulldogtragic]

Totally agree with this. I’ve noticed some ugliness rearing it’s head over the last month.

Anyone who thinks we are going to win a final playing like we are….well.

The god thing is there’s only a bit of damage done last week. But fitness into Libba & Dunks helps. Treloar, Wood, Young & Martin is massive. We can win this season. No doubts. If the players get fit and into form is one thing. But discipline and selflessness can start from right now through every game we play this season. That was our greatest asset the season to date. We need to fullyrediscover it across every 23 players, every week.

[westbulldog]

1. Cordy, Crozier and Roarke Smith should be no more than fill-ins, if that, in the backline for the rest of the season.
2. We look a lot better when Bailey Dale is able to charge off the backline.
3. Keath impresses every week with his calmness and skill.

[Mutz]

1. Very unconvincing win. I'm now starting to seriously worry about our form over the past few weeks. More changes are needed to shock the team out of complacency.

2. Was pleased to see Dunks return but he clearly needs time to get back his full grunt (although he did lead tackles today).

3. Pleasure to see the much vaunted skills of JUH at AFL level.

Extra. Gold-plate Dale's right boot and mount it on Barkly St.

Bonus. Bont must need some work done on his piriforms after all the shimmying he did today – just poetic to watch.

[bornadog]

1. We haven't lost interstate this year, unlike years gone by.

2. Still need to deliver the ball into the F50 without bombing it and actually hit targets

3. Can't stand what the AFL have done to this game - very evident with the confusion with holding the ball.

[Bullies]

1. The manic handball we had at the beginning of the year is no longer there.
2. Have we been going through a heavy training load over the past couple of weeks? I hope so as we need an excuse for our performances over the past 3 weeks.
3. Smith has had so many chances and there is no spot for him. Surely we have others to play his role.

We will turn it around once we get Libber, Wood, Treloar, MacLean and Martin back.

[1eyedog]

Relax everyone it's still July. Hawthorn are level with Melbourne at 3QT. The Suns are playing well. We got the 4 points. Next.

[Twodogs]

Relax everyone it's still July. Hawthorn are level with Melbourne at 3QT. The Suns are playing well. We got the 4 points. Next.

Exactly. They are in good form and we've been all over the country in the last 6 weeks or so. We have around 6 best 22 to come back in and we still won 3 of our last 4. Winning is a habit and it's a habit we are in.

1. We managed to get a rest for Libba and still wwin
2. We won all our interstate games
3. Marra has it. He's going to be an ideal addition to the team for the run home to the end of the season.

[Grantysghost]

Relax everyone it's still July. Hawthorn are level with Melbourne at 3QT. The Suns are playing well. We got the 4 points. Next.

Spot on every team goes through a down period.

Melbourne have lost to Collingwood, GWS and drawn with the 17th team over the last month or so.

It's a very long season, there will be peaks and troughs, and I don't think the top team has won the flag since the Hawks in 2013 which is indicative of this.

My 3 :

1. The Suns aren't a bad side and Touk Miller is a bonafide A grade mid atm.
2. You could put a tow rope on Marcus and he could extricate your car from a bog.
3. Jackson Macrae can kick multiple goals. (he's a star).

[AshMac]

1. We always win when Jacko scores
2. We have another week to click back into gear. Need to beat the demons in 2 weeks
3. Pretty sure Holman spraying Cordy with his water bottle after drinking from it is in breach of Covid restrictions

[SonofScray]

1 It has been a long five or so weeks and we just aren’t looking as sharp as a result.

2 JUH is a very nice kick of the footy in set shots and field kicking

3 Josh Bruce is off the boil, not a full 2020 regression, his effort and competitiveness is still up, but the confidence and goal kicking is withering. Have loved his turn around this year, hope he can get going properly again.

[Grantysghost]

1 It has been a long five or so weeks and we just aren’t looking as sharp as a result.

2 JUH is a very nice kick of the footy in set shots and field kicking

3 Josh Bruce is off the boil, not a full 2020 regression, his effort and competitiveness is still up, but the confidence and goal kicking is withering. Have loved his turn around this year, hope he can get going properly again.

On point 3 I agree SOS. Do you think he needs a rest for a week? I'd be ok with it.

[ratsmac]

1. I am very happy with the win but we look like a middle of the table team right now. Hopefully it's just the calm before the storm.

2. Naughton looked tentative to go for high ball. Normally he's over zealous at times. Maybe the concussion rattled him more than we think.

3. Bailey Dale is becoming one of our best and most important players. He has the ability to step through traffic that I didn't realise he had. He's a huge upgrade of JJ off half back

[Mofra]

1. We won with Naughts and Dunkley 'building'. Both will be better for the run.

2. JUH is going to be good. Very very good.

3. Touk Miller is a top 5 player in the competition.

[Happy Days]

I actually thought it was Bruce's best game in a while. He never stopped trying and willed himself into having an impact when it was clear the cards weren't falling for him early, and I actually had him just outside the votes.

I think this forward mix with English is the one that we can do the most damage with and wouldn't be resting any of them.

[GVGjr]

I actually thought it was Bruce's best game in a while. He never stopped trying and willed himself into having an impact when it was clear the cards weren't falling for him early, and I actually had him just outside the votes.

I think this forward mix with English is the one that we can do the most damage with and wouldn't be resting any of them.

Doesn't having a forward line containing Naughton, Bruce and Ugle-Hagan limit the opportunities of moving English forward?
Unless Martin comes back in good form I suspect there is a chance we will prefer the one ruck man set-up.

[Bulldog4life]

Doesn't having a forward line containing Naughton, Bruce and Ugle-Hagan limit the opportunities of moving English forward?
Unless Martin comes back in good form I suspect there is a chance we will prefer the one ruck man set-up.

IF Martin does come back in good form who misses out?

[azabob]

IF Martin does come back in good form who misses out?

Ugle-Hagan unfortunately

[Happy Days]

Doesn't having a forward line containing Naughton, Bruce and Ugle-Hagan limit the opportunities of moving English forward?
Unless Martin comes back in good form I suspect there is a chance we will prefer the one ruck man set-up.

I don't think so. Ugle-Hagan and Naughton are by far quicker and better pressure players than the alternative options, particularly now that we have what I would hope are established small forwards in Weightman and McNeil (who I'd play every week from here on). It's just a matter of establishing chemistry with one another and trying to ensure they don't all fly for the same ball, which is really a Naughton problem as much as anything.

They also all pose different strengths and are vastly different players to one another. Naughton as a contested aerialist and also further up the ground in the territory between 40 and 80m out, Bruce one on one, Jammara as a lead up player and English under the high ball. They're all (mostly for Nauhgton) beautiful kicks to one another too.

I think that their height should be considered a feature, not a bug. We lose nothing by playing all of them.

[GVGjr]

I don't think so. Ugle-Hagan and Naughton are by far quicker and better pressure players than the alternative options, particularly now that we have what I would hope are established small forwards in Weightman and McNeil (who I'd play every week from here on). It's just a matter of establishing chemistry with one another and trying to ensure they don't all fly for the same ball, which is really a Naughton problem as much as anything.

They also all pose different strengths and are vastly different players to one another. Naughton as a contested aerialist and also further up the ground in the territory between 40 and 80m out, Bruce one on one, Jammara as a lead up player and English under the high ball. They're all (mostly for Nauhgton) beautiful kicks to one another too.

I think that their height should be considered a feature, not a bug. We lose nothing by playing all of them.

It's more having too many jumping for the same mark.

[bornadog]

I don't think so. Ugle-Hagan and Naughton are by far quicker and better pressure players than the alternative options,

How was the Naughton chase forcing Ellis to run so fast he did his hammy

[Happy Days]

It's more having too many jumping for the same mark.

Yes, but we can deal with this by being very disciplined with our spacing and having adequate presences at ground level, which, in this current group, should both be very achievable.

English, Naughton, Weightman and Marra are probably our most talented guys along with Bont. Imagine if we can get this set up humming.

[Happy Days]

How was the Naughton chase forcing Ellis to run so fast he did his hammy

Naughton is our best pressure forward, the best pressure key forward in the league and has been for some time. No coincidence our forward line turned into a trampoline when he was out.

[LostDoggy]

Looks like we'll be playing Melbourne at MCG next week instead of Adelaide!! According to John Ralph on Fox Footy.

[Grantysghost]

Looks like we'll be playing Melbourne at MCG next week instead of Adelaide!! According to John Ralph on Fox Footy.

Hopefully we’ve got more vitamin D.

[FrediKanoute]

1. We can win ugly

2. JUH showcased his aerial talent and now needs to showcase his groundball talent

3. The Bont can be effective inside as well as out

[SonofScray]

On point 3 I agree SOS. Do you think he needs a rest for a week? I'd be ok with it.

If he was spent after the extra minutes in the ruck, I think so. Watched the replay and thought he actually worked pretty hard at the contest. It’d befa Tor in his set shot getting shaky.

[Mantis]

1/ When our defenders aren't fully supported by our midfield & forward pressure they can be horribly exposed. The inability of our defenders to actually defend isn't where we need it to be.

2/ Cody Weightman is like the little brother who wants to be included in everything. The number of times he was in the way of a ''key'' forward was concerning.

3/ That was the best & worst of the Bont all in 2 hours. His kicking is off the boil and it seems like he's trying a bit to hard to kick it perfectly, rather than just to our advantage. Loving his power and confidence around the ball, just toyed with Rowell on occasions.

[azabob]

2/ Cody Weightman is like the little brother who wants to be included in everything. The number of times he was in the way of a ''key'' forward was concerning.



The other part of Weightman's game he can work on is when he is totally out of position is rather than flying to try and impact the contest learn to make contact with the body - this way he can stay in the contest if the ball comes to ground.

[1eyedog]

I don't think so. Ugle-Hagan and Naughton are by far quicker and better pressure players than the alternative options, particularly now that we have what I would hope are established small forwards in Weightman and McNeil (who I'd play every week from here on). It's just a matter of establishing chemistry with one another and trying to ensure they don't all fly for the same ball, which is really a Naughton problem as much as anything.

They also all pose different strengths and are vastly different players to one another. Naughton as a contested aerialist and also further up the ground in the territory between 40 and 80m out, Bruce one on one, Jammara as a lead up player and English under the high ball. They're all (mostly for Nauhgton) beautiful kicks to one another too.

I think that their height should be considered a feature, not a bug. We lose nothing by playing all of them.

At this stage of his physical development Marra really struggles to stick tackles or even break up play. He gets to a contest and snowflakes around it. It's ok it's what you'd expect given his stage of development. He'll need at least two more preseasons under his belt before being able to make a meaningful impact in this area. If we play Marra, English and Bruce in the forward line Naughton, McNeill and Cody really need to pick up the slack once the ball hits the ground. As Gary points out it's something we need to consider.

Bruce would be low on the rung of the best one on one key forwards in the comp. His strengths are his timing on the lead, his ability to create space and his amazing work ethic. He can only really out mark inferior opponents, pretty much crumples up like a slater whenever he gets the ball under pressure in open play and is just as likely to falcon a ball as he is to mark it.

Critical player in others ways for us though.