On the Couch - Fox Sports

[bornadog]

Hird has now taken over Robert Walls role and as usual was a wanker. Healy and Mike Sheahan rated Geelong, Hawthorn and the Doggies above the rest of the pack, however, Hird rated Port Adelaide above us. He is another one that never praises the dogs.

Hird had his top ten players listed alongside Sheahans and of course not one bulldog amongst them.

When discussing the Freo game, Sheahan pointed out that not one team kicked more than 20 goals aginst Freo last year and how good the perfomance was. Hird's response was the dogs performance wasn't that good as 18 goals came from Freo turnovers, the guy is an absolute tool.

[aker39]

He obviously still hasn't got over Granty's goal

[Rocket Science]

He does have something of a point - few opponents this year will hand us possession on a platter in the corridor like Freo did on Sunday. Our pressure was generally a factor and more often than not we were composed enough to make them pay, but they seriously butchered the footy so regularly I almost pitied them.

I also suspect Mike's gotten a little carried away with us based on one round of footy.

[Cyberdoggie]

He does have something of a point - few opponents this year will hand us possession on a platter in the corridor like Freo did on Sunday. Our pressure was generally a factor and more often than not we were composed enough to make them pay, but they seriously butchered the footy so regularly I almost pitied them.

I also suspect Mike's gotten a little carried away with us based on one round of footy.

That wouldn't be the first time.

Mike loves jumping on the bad wagon. As soon a team has a big win he is all over them like a bad smell, he's also the first to jump off after a bad loss. Typical news man.

Let's see how we go against North this week. I think it will be a better gauge of where we are. North always give us trouble and will bust their guts to beat us. If we win convincingly then maybe even Jimmy 't'Hird might change his opinion ;)

[SonofScray]

Mike had as picked as a potential "slider" in the preseason Footy Magazine lift out that his paper does each year. I was astonished that he has jumped back on board so quick, if I was a bit of a cynic I'd say he is setting us up for a run of "choker" headlines.

[Sedat]

I also suspect Mike's gotten a little carried away with us based on one round of footy.
Less than a week ago, 3rd position in 2008 "flattered us". He changes positions more often than a porn star.

[ledge]

Healy had him by the short and curlys when he mentioned Mike rated them this year but called them crap last year and is same list!

[LostDoggy]

Less than a week ago, 3rd position in 2008 "flattered us". He changes positions more often than a porn star.

lol sounds like you're going for the Woof quote of the year award:p

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Hird has now taken over Robert Walls role and as usual was a wanker. Healy and Mike Sheahan rated Geelong, Hawthorn and the Doggies above the rest of the pack, however, Hird rated Port Adelaide above us. He is another one that never praises the dogs.

Hird had his top ten players listed alongside Sheahans and of course not one bulldog amongst them.

When discussing the Freo game, Sheahan pointed out that not one team kicked more than 20 goals aginst Freo last year and how good the perfomance was. Hird's response was the dogs performance wasn't that good as 18 goals came from Freo turnovers, the guy is an absolute tool.

Hird didn't say our performance wasn't that good, he merely pointed out that 18 of our 25 goals came from Freo turnovers, and that this was a statistically high figure.
I don't disagree with that assessment. As I was watching the game I also picked that up, and whilst several errors were due to our pressure, the vast majority were un forced skill errors. WE can't expect that to happen each week.

[bornadog]

Hird didn't say our performance wasn't that good, he merely pointed out that 18 of our 25 goals came from Freo turnovers, and that this was a statistically high figure.
I don't disagree with that assessment. As I was watching the game I also picked that up, and whilst several errors were due to our pressure, the vast majority were un forced skill errors. WE can't expect that to happen each week.

Thats fine, and big deal, 18 goals came from turnovers, hey welcome to modern day footy Hirdy. The fact he rates Port higher than the dogs just confirms to me what I have thought of the man all these years.

[LostDoggy]

The fact he rates Port higher than the dogs just confirms to me what I have thought of the man all these years.

Yeah, wanker.

[mighty_west]

Hird didn't say our performance wasn't that good, he merely pointed out that 18 of our 25 goals came from Freo turnovers, and that this was a statistically high figure.
I don't disagree with that assessment. As I was watching the game I also picked that up, and whilst several errors were due to our pressure, the vast majority were un forced skill errors. WE can't expect that to happen each week.

Well Hirdy should know more than anyone, you can only beat who you play, and perhaps he could have given us credit for QUICKLY stopping their run on from the opening bounce, the old Dogs would have conceeded 8 or 9 goals in that first term, they got the jump on us, yet we quickly plugged them back and some.

They got back at us again, then we just killed them, thats what good teams do, especially with their home ground advantage, their crowd.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Well Hirdy should know more than anyone, you can only beat who you play, and perhaps he could have given us credit for QUICKLY stopping their run on from the opening bounce, the old Dogs would have conceeded 8 or 9 goals in that first term, they got the jump on us, yet we quickly plugged them back and some.

They got back at us again, then we just killed them, thats what good teams do, especially with their home ground advantage, their crowd.

I agree we did well, but having said that I think that Hird was just tempering Sheahan's glowing praise.
I will be more impressed if we do this against quality opposition that doesn't turnover the ball and wilt under pressure.

I think it's unrealistic to expect us to score so heavily from turnovers week in week out, and we will need to generate more of our own ball from the middle, and I think this is the essence of what Hird was trying to convey as a counterpoint to Mike's unbridled enthusiasm over our performance against a team that finished 15th last year, and who has a significantly more inexperienced list than when we played them last time.

No doubt there appears to be a harder edge to our play, and I look forward to seeing it hold up against the better teams in the competition.

[Remi Moses]

Don't mind Hird,the other half has done some business with gemba and relayed to me that he is quite a nice fella.As for Sheehan how is it possible that a team after 22 rounds is ''flattered'' by finishing third. Then the big suck job last night.Time for another fluff Wayne Carey piece Mike.

[Dogs 24/7]

I get the felling from a number of Bulldogs supporters that if anyone from the media bags us then they are stupid and no good at their job. I know others have mentioned this but if I was Grant Thomas I would never have rated the Doggies that highly either.
Hirds entitled to his opinion as is Thomas and Caro. I don't agree with them but they are just doing their job.

[mighty_west]

Don't mind Hird,the other half has done some business with gemba and relayed to me that he is quite a nice fella.As for Sheehan how is it possible that a team after 22 rounds is ''flattered'' by finishing third. Then the big suck job last night.Time for another fluff Wayne Carey piece Mike.

Well in all honesty, the way we played most of the second half of the season, and the first final against the Hawks, did we play like a 3rd placed team?

The Swans Final & Prelim suggested we wearn't far away, but i'm guessing Mike was judging most of our second half of 2008.

[Remi Moses]

Agree to a point 24/7 but to say the third position flattered us is totally rediculous. I also reckon we're a better side than Port.How is it possible after spending the whole season 1,2 or 3 that our final position flattered us. I reckon Thomas just takes the piss out of us knowing he'll get a reactionon SEN.

[Remi Moses]

Well in all honesty, the way we played most of the second half of the season, and the first final against the Hawks, did we play like a 3rd placed team?

The Swans Final & Prelim suggested we wearn't far away, but i'm guessing Mike was judging most of our second half of 2008.

Good point but who was better? The second half of the season was disappointing.

[The Pie Man]

I get the felling from a number of Bulldogs supporters that if anyone from the media bags us then they are stupid and no good at their job. I know others have mentioned this but if I was Grant Thomas I would never have rated the Doggies that highly either.
Hirds entitled to his opinion as is Thomas and Caro. I don't agree with them but they are just doing their job.

I thought getting someone like Hird who is not long out of the game was a good call for the show, and he's well spoken/presented - though the way he hmmm'd every 4 seconds when listening to Malthouse speak got on my nerves. Just ask the question and shutup James.

Regarding negative views on us, well we can only keep winning and playing well. If we do keep winning, I'd rather fly under the radar anyway.

[aker39]

Well in all honesty, the way we played most of the second half of the season, and the first final against the Hawks, did we play like a 3rd placed team?

The Swans Final & Prelim suggested we wearn't far away, but i'm guessing Mike was judging most of our second half of 2008.


So who did deserve to finish 3rd.

Of the 3 teams below us on the ladder, not one of them beat us during the year. We beat the Swans 3 times, St Kilda twice and Collingwood the only time we played them.

In relation to the 2nd half of the season, we played with nothing to win or lose. We were third, couldn't go any higher, couldn't go any lower.

Your ladder position is based on 22 rounds, not just the 2nd half of a season.

[bornadog]

I get the felling from a number of Bulldogs supporters that if anyone from the media bags us then they are stupid and no good at their job. I know others have mentioned this but if I was Grant Thomas I would never have rated the Doggies that highly either.
Hirds entitled to his opinion as is Thomas and Caro. I don't agree with them but they are just doing their job.

No, bulldog supporters are sick and tired of not getting any positive commentary, all we hear about how great the Collingwoods, Carltons, Hawthorns, Geelongs are. If we win its because other teams were bad, if we lose then its because we aren''t good enough. Happy to take criticism but how about some praise as well.

[GVGjr]

No, bulldog supporters are sick and tired of not getting any positive commentary, all we hear about how great the Collingwoods, Carltons, Hawthorns, Geelongs are. If we win its because other teams were bad, if we lose then its because we aren''t good enough. Happy to take criticism but how about some praise as well.

Not sure that I agree with this BAD. How many commentators picked us to finish high up last year? From memory it was the vast majority and in the end we proved them right.
Did Caroline Wilson pick us as the minor premiers? Every time that she or Thomas have a crack at us they get knocked down. Sometimes that is deserved and occasionally it isn't.

Hawthorn and Geelong deserve to get the focus ahead of us and Carlton will get a lot this year because they are on the rise. Most in the media tip us as being a top 4 side but obviously it won't be everyone.

From a media perspective I don't think we are hard done by.

Seriously we are acting like we are victims when in fact we control a lot of our own destiny for media reporting.

Just because we don't get ongoing endorsements from everyone in the media it doesn't mean the poor old Dogs are being treated poorly.

[azabob]

Not sure that I agree with this BAD. How many commentators picked us to finish high up last year? From memory it was the vast majority and in the end we proved them right.
Did Caroline Wilson pick us as the minor premiers? Every time that she or Thomas have a crack at us they get knocked down. Sometimes that is deserved and occasionally it isn't.

Hawthorn and Geelong deserve to get the focus ahead of us and Carlton will get a lot this year because they are on the rise. Most in the media tip us as being a top 4 side but obviously it won't be everyone.

From a media perspective I don't think we are hard done by.

Seriously we are acting like we are victims when in fact we control a lot of our own destiny for media reporting.

Just because we don't get ongoing endorsements from everyone in the media it doesn't mean the poor old Dogs are being treated poorly.

Totally agree with everything you have said GVGjr.
For some reason some people on this forum love digging the boots into Caroline Wilson. I would think she has written more positive articles on us this season than not.
And yes Caroline Wilson did pick us for minor premiers, even though Im sure that was a rhetorical question!!

[GVGjr]

Totally agree with everything you have said GVGjr.
For some reason some people on this forum love digging the boots into Caroline Wilson. I would think she has written more positive articles on us this season than not.
And yes Caroline Wilson did pick us for minor premiers, even though Im sure that was a rhetorical question!!

Some of the media annoy me but I know they have a job to challenge the status quo and that means that we will occasionally cop a bad review or two but overall I think we do OK.
We can certainly challenge the competency of some of the journos but I do believe that some get over sensitive when someone doesn't rate us highly.
Didn't old footy coaches used to tell the players if the crowd was getting stuck into them "If you are in front, point to the scoreboard but if you are behind cop it sweet".
It's a bit early in the season to be calling any journo useless if they don't rate us that highly but there will be plenty of time during the season to remind them of the their errors.

I'm more concerned at the lack of effort by our own supporters in signing up for memberships and in my opinion the majority of them are the ones that don't rate us highly enough.

[hujsh]

I'm more concerned at the lack of effort by our own supporters in signing up for memberships and in my opinion the majority of them are the ones that don't rate us highly enough.

Maybe they value the opinion of the papers too much?

[GVGjr]

Maybe they value the opinion of the papers too much?

The ones that have been talking us up? I can't find any negative ones about us that would give any of our supporters good reason not to join up.

[LostDoggy]

Just watched this, had it recorded..

Hird gave us absolutely nothing.

Healy asked him whether he rates us up there as a third best team 'Yeah they are better than Sydney & St Kilda but Port Adelaide...are a good side' You numnut. Yeah i think theyll go alright this year..but look at last year? We came 3rd they came what..11th? How can you praise them but not mention how much of a good side we currently are?

Never had a bad opinion towards him but in that show he just seems like a numbskull and im looking forward to his comments throughout the year if we do become a top 3 club again. He just sat there with a frown and nothing to say when Mike was praising Lake and talking about Griffin making that a tribute to his dad..maybe he thinks he is better than our whole side or something, he may aswell of said we were one of the worst clubs in the AFL, at least then he would of talked about us ;)

[Bulldog Revolution]

Does anyone think Hird is perhaps deflecting negative attention away from Essendon? but also heaping it on a former Essendon assistant?

From what I saw of the Port V Dons clash I didn't think either team looked particularly good

[hujsh]

The ones that have been talking us up? I can't find any negative ones about us that would give any of our supporters good reason not to join up.

Who talked us up before this week?

[GVGjr]

Who talked us up before this week?

I went through the paper with all the predictions by the journo's and in the main it was positive. Most of the comments on the radio before the round was positive as well. It's a myth for anyone to suggest that the media has it in for us. Sure some don't rate us that highly but that's to be expected.

[Mantis]

Who talked us up before this week?

Sheahan said we would finish between 3rd & 6th. I think that's a pretty fair prediction.

[Dazza]

I think we'll get a few members signing up this weekend. Need a few games in melbourne to get people on board.

[bornadog]

Not sure that I agree with this BAD. How many commentators picked us to finish high up last year? From memory it was the vast majority and in the end we proved them right.
Did Caroline Wilson pick us as the minor premiers? Every time that she or Thomas have a crack at us they get knocked down. Sometimes that is deserved and occasionally it isn't.

Hawthorn and Geelong deserve to get the focus ahead of us and Carlton will get a lot this year because they are on the rise. Most in the media tip us as being a top 4 side but obviously it won't be everyone.

From a media perspective I don't think we are hard done by.

Seriously we are acting like we are victims when in fact we control a lot of our own destiny for media reporting.

Just because we don't get ongoing endorsements from everyone in the media it doesn't mean the poor old Dogs are being treated poorly.

My point was answering another posters point, so I am slightly out of context here.

[immortalmike]

Not sure that I agree with this BAD. How many commentators picked us to finish high up last year? From memory it was the vast majority and in the end we proved them right...

I don't post much but I had to correct you on this. We were out of pretty much every media personality's top 8 early last year. I remeber thinking to myself "surely we cannot be this bad". James Hird from memory had us in his bottom 4 last year.

We just have to accept that some people (Hird, Sheedy, Thomas, etc) will give us nothing until we win a premiership, which is fair enough. Although, if they still talk up another team (like perennial 'gonna be' teams Fremantle, Carlton and Richmond) when/if we do I will lose my mind.

[alwaysadog]

Totally agree with everything you have said GVGjr.
For some reason some people on this forum love digging the boots into Caroline Wilson. I would think she has written more positive articles on us this season than not.
And yes Caroline Wilson did pick us for minor premiers, even though Im sure that was a rhetorical question!!

I have a sneaking suspicion that I just might be one of the people you are talking about bob, but I think you are totally wrong in saying I get any delight from it. Perhaps you should ask if there is substance to the negative critique she is attracting rather than imply the problem lies on the side of those who find fault with her work. After all the purpose of this board is to conduct analysis and of all things football at as high a level as is possible and to back up what is being said with argument and evidence.

Those her read her critically pretty soon get a hang of the persuasive techniques she constantly employs and her biases. I would much prefer she exercised her journalistic skills with some intellectual integrity. I'm ready to applaud her when and if that day comes, but I've been waiting a very long time and she continues to disappoint.

Do you recall her piece about our Mission Foods sponsorship deal? Is it sticking the boots in to conduct a textual analysis of the piece, as they teach kids to do in year twelve, and to conclude that it was a biased, innuendo strewn piece of illogical writing.

If it was submitted as a year 12 piece of creative writing it would be a passable contribution, if it was submitted as a piece of serious analysis it would returned for a rewrite. Now is year 12 standard too much to expect of a senior journalist?

[alwaysadog]

I get the felling from a number of Bulldogs supporters that if anyone from the media bags us then they are stupid and no good at their job. I know others have mentioned this but if I was Grant Thomas I would never have rated the Doggies that highly either.
Hirds entitled to his opinion as is Thomas and Caro. I don't agree with them but they are just doing their job.

You may be correct but I would think that the vast majority of negative comments about journalists etc. actually just don't throw around bald generalisations but ask those who criticise us to provide reasons and argument, especially those who over a long period have shown persistent unfair bias against the Dogs and don't provide logical reasons or evidence to support that opinion.

It is not enough to say someone is entitled to their opinion, not all opinions are valid or equally valuable... and many are just a smokescreen to conceal bias. Their job is to analyse and argue in a fair minded fashion not just to vomit up an opinion that has no substance.