3 things learned from Rd18 vs Sydney Swans 2023

[GVGjr]

Please list 3 new things you learned from our round 18 clash with the Swans

[bulldogtragic]

Going early. Let’s see what happens.

1. Umpires having money on results is now endemic
2. McNeil should never, ever, ever, ever, ever play again
3. Rumour was Bevo would quit if we missed finals. He might be shopping for moving boxes.
4. If VDM is the answer, the question is ****ed

[Bullies]

1, We have no leadership beside Bont. No one demnded the ball in the last 1/4.
2. Lobbe would have been handy tonight. Not fair on Sam Darcy he has missed so much football and only played 2 games in the 2nds. 3 of his goals last week came after the 30 minute mark of the last 1/4. He was not ready.
3. How did we not have players behind the ball in the last few minutes when we had the lead.
4. Duryea is cooked and MacNeill is just no good.

[GVGjr]

1 - Rushing Sam Darcy isn't the right option and he's not ready to ruck. That's not a knock on his talent.
2 - JOD was looking okay before his injury, the footy gods weren't smiling on him
3 - We needed to put some work into Gulden early in the game.

[lemmon]

1. A team with Bailey Dale, Ed Richards, Bailey Williams and Vandermeer playing behind the ball shouldn't struggle as much as we do to rebound the footy from our D50. Complete lack of dare and urgency during that second quarter especially
2. Our forward 50 pressure was non-existent for much of the night. I thought it might improve with Garcia coming on, but he, McNeil and Weightman really didn't bring what the Swans small forwards did
3. We've found a good one in Poulter. Thought he immediately looks like one of our most composed ball users.

[westbulldog]

1. The rest of the season should be used to weed out the non-performers, coaches included, and bring in players who have not been given a chance. if we make the 8 it is just making up the numbers.
2. It is quite possible that some of tonight's umpires should not get a gig next week.
3. In hindsight, Darcy was rushed in too soon.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. Poulter has something to work with. Still very young at 20 but seems to have some composure, handles the pill OK and uses it well enough.

2. Losing 5/7 games, two against depleted opposition in Geelong and Sydney, is dangerous territory at this point in the season. Top 4 is gone, top 8 increasingly unlikely, and with it comes pressure onto our coaching / administration.

3. Darcy can't take a trick.

[Boots]

1. Darcy wasn’t ready and the fact he was played says something about the faith the MC have in the list
2. West has really started to come on. Still not perfect by any stretch but geez he tries and the selfish bits of his game are slowly disappearing.
3. vandermeer is a liability at worst and not terribly useful at best. Waste of a lost spot.

[angelopetraglia]

1, We have no leadership beside Bont. No one demnded the ball in the last 1/4.
2. Lobbe would have been handy tonight. Not fair on Sam Darcy he has missed so much football and only played 2 games in the 2nds. 3 of his goals last week came after the 30 minute mark of the last 1/4. He was not ready.
3. How did we not have players behind the ball in the last few minutes when we had the lead.
4. Duryea is cooked and MacNeill is just no good.

100% this. Just dumb. We had time to adjust. When they went up they put Mills behind the ball immediately.

[MrMahatma]

1. I overrate our team
2. I love Naughton
3. I did, for at least a couple of min, wonder if a change of coach/game plan would give us better results. Just for a couple of mins. I feel dirty

[Critter]

1. The indecision when under pressure demonstrated by Baileys Williams and Dale in recent weeks is worrying. Both have had costly moments in the backline where they have frozen in dangerous spots. I suspect our transition game is poorly defined and fuzzily coached, leaving them without clear get-out paths.
2. Lachlan McNeil's first reaction when under pressure is to hand off the the ball to the nearest teammate, regardless of the pressure that person might be under. He is a turnover king who is not AFL standard.
3. Riley West has real potential. He makes the odd error, drifts in and out of the game at times, but has real smarts and the skills to demonstrate them. He simply needs more game-time experience. So, given we've been prepared to put time into so many underperformers in recent years, let's hope the MC extends the same courtesy to West. I think he will end up a 200+ game player.

[Flamethrower]

1. I watched the VFL game last week - Sam Darcy did very little until the last 5 minutes when he kicked the last 3 goals. He also looks as fragile as a baby deer. Was surprised to see him selected. Once he bulks up though, he could be anything.

2. We have too many list cloggers in both the AFL and VFL teams - time to slash and burn and send a heap of players back to the WRFL. They are not good enough to be paid to play Aussie Rules football.

3. The coaches box needs a refresh. Keep Bevo if we can't afford to pay him out but get someone else in there who he will listen too with a contrary opinion when he loses the plot or gets too radical.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

100% this. Just dumb. We had time to adjust. When they went up they put Mills behind the ball immediately.

Exactly how we lost to Geelong a couple years back.....we are so bloody dumb.

[bornadog]

1. Close games against Port (14points), GC (7 points), Pies (12 points) and Swans (2 Points) is killing our season. Just shows we are short of a few good players in the HBF, Wing and HFF.

2. Bulldog supporters were calling for Lobbs head, yet without him it exposed our inexperienced forward line

3. We showed in the first quarter we can move the ball quickly and kick 5 goals, then we changed for the next 3 quarters and lost. Need to put together 4 quarters like the first

[JanLorMill]

2. Bulldog supporters were calling for Lobbs head, yet without him it exposed our inexperienced forward line

Not really the forward lines fault last night and nothing another tall would have fixed. Lobb wasn't going to stop them kicking willy nilly or over possessing it.

[bornadog]

Not really the forward lines fault last night and nothing another tall would have fixed. Lobb wasn't going to stop them kicking willy nilly or over possessing it.

McCartin ended up on JUH but would have taken Lobb if he was playing - JUH doesn't have the strength to compete with a Macartin.

[JanLorMill]

McCartin ended up on JUH but would have taken Lobb if he was playing - JUH doesn't have the strength to compete with a Macartin.
Not sure about that. Rampe went to Darcy. Rampe is no slouch either. JUH is going to get the best defender if he plays like last week.

[HOSE B ROMERO]

1. It occurred to me today just how much free time people that don't follow sport have on their hands.

2. And also just how much less anxiety they must experience.

3. And that they will probably live much longer lives than the rest of us.

[angelopetraglia]

1. It occurred to me today just how much free time people that don't follow sport have on their hands.

2. And also just how much less anxiety they must experience.

3. And that they will probably live much longer lives than the rest of us.

Ha. Yes. True. Last night got to me. Not sure why. But I really felt that loss. When you think deeply about it is absolutely absurd to care about something you have no control over and in the context of life matters little. But this game does crazy things to us.

I didn't sleep well. I had to be up early. I could not concentrate properly all day. Only did the tasks that required little brain power. Deep focus difficult things were gone. I spent way too much time on Woof. The Dogs poor performance robbed me of a productive day!

Your post made me think about one of Tim Urban's post "Why Sport Fans are Sports Fans" https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/sports-fans-sports-fans.html

The entire piece is a worth a read. But a few paragraphs below.

"A bunch of strangers in their 20s and 30s are paid to play games against each other that have no real world consequences, and you?ve decided that you care a ton about this. There are teams that must win and teams that must lose, and players that must play better than other players?and this is all critical."

"Then, every 30 years or so, this team you so badly want to win actually wins! 30 years and thousands of hours of time and dedication and finally, the ultimate goal is achieved?and then what happens? Some major change in your life? No, you go stand on the street and yell things, and then people start rioting, which makes no sense because they?re happy. Then you spend a few days reading articles about the great victory, buy a t-shirt, and go on with your life. That?s it. That?s what it was all for. Like I said, it?s an odd phenomenon."

[muzzyahoy]

1. In my 45 years of supporting the Bulldogs the No.1 thing the club has always struggled with is convincing itself that VFL players are AFL players. Baker, O'Donnell, O'Brien, Vandermeer, A.Scott, Hannan, McNeil, Garcia, Gardner are all VFL players that continually get games. O'Donnell is the only one that may turn into something. The rest are all evidently lacking in either skill, size or ability to think thru the game, aka a bunch of 2's.
2. We need an assistant coach reset at the very least. The club should be all over S.Dew right now to come in and play a Don Pike type role. Bevo's message may be getting old and stale
3. Our backline is unfixable. We have too many offensively minded players playing down there and thru the midfield. They have all the drive and determination when going forward, then lose all composure when teams then go on the rebound, hence leading to multiple goal onslaughts by almost every opposition we've played this year so far. Over thinking offense and under thinking defensive is a team's curse in any sport

[D Mitchell]

Ha. Yes. True. Last night got to me. Not sure why. But I really felt that loss. When you think deeply about it is absolutely absurd to care about something you have no control over and in the context of life matters little. But this game does crazy things to us.

I didn't sleep well. I had to be up early. I could not concentrate properly all day. Only did the tasks that required little brain power. Deep focus difficult things were gone. I spent way too much time on Woof. The Dogs poor performance robbed me of a productive day!

Your post made me think about one of Tim Urban's post "Why Sport Fans are Sports Fans" https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/sports-fans-sports-fans.html

The entire piece is a worth a read. But a few paragraphs below.

"A bunch of strangers in their 20s and 30s are paid to play games against each other that have no real world consequences, and you?ve decided that you care a ton about this. There are teams that must win and teams that must lose, and players that must play better than other players?and this is all critical."

"Then, every 30 years or so, this team you so badly want to win actually wins! 30 years and thousands of hours of time and dedication and... finally, the ultimate goal is achieved?and then what happens? Some major change in your life? No, you go stand on the street and yell things, and then people start rioting, which makes no sense because they?re happy. Then you spend a few days reading articles about the great victory, buy a t-shirt, and go on with your life. That?s it. That?s what it was all for. Like I said, it?s an odd phenomenon."

Bolded bit. But those hours could have been wasted on futile activities like home maintenance, extra qualifications, more work in your business / 2nd job / preparation for work the following day / community work.

[Bulldog Joe]

Bolded bit. But those hours could have been wasted on futile activities like home maintenance, extra qualifications, more work in your business / 2nd job / preparation for work the following day / community work.

Sort of brings to mind the George Best quote when asked what he did with the money he was paid.

It was something like

"I spent some on wine and women and the rest I just wasted"