Player Managers - Round #2

[GVGjr]

So far we have the following people writing their reports this week:

Ryan Hargrave - GVGjr
Ryan Griffen - YHF
Daniel Giansiracusa - Griffen#16
Easton Wood - Comrade
Tom Williams - Soupaman
Brian Lake - The Coon Dog
Daniel Cross - BulldogBelle
Robert Murphy - Bornadog
Ben Hudson - Mantis
Brad Johnson - BornInDroopSt'54
Jason Akermanis - hujsh
Shaun Higgins - WB Age
Dylan Addison - bulldogsman
Josh Hill - Alexxx
Mitch Hahn - EJ Smith
Dale Morris - MsBulldog
Andrejs Everitt - lemmon
Callan Ward - Rocket Science
Stephen Tiller - Alan Shorty
Jarrod Harbrow - Max469
Lindsay Gilbee - Sockeye Salmon
Adam Cooney - Scraggers
Matthew Boyd - Bulldog Revolution
Will Minson - DazB
Tim Callan - Bulldog

Lantern will pick up the debutant's which will include Liam Picken this week.

[The Coon Dog]

I thought Brian Lake was terrific today. For some inexplicable reason North allowed him to zone off & he's as good as anyone at reading opposition kicks coming into our forward line & marking them. Had an absolute picnic today.

Brian had 19 & 6, but importantly too, he took 18 marks.

[GVGjr]

I thought Brian Lake was terrific today. For some inexplicable reason North allowed him to zone off & he's as good as anyone at reading opposition kicks coming into our forward line & marking them. Had an absolute picnic today.

Brian had 19 & 6, but importantly too, he took 18 marks.

Understatement there TCD :)

[The Coon Dog]

Understatement there TCD :)
Fair call, he was bloody fantastic!

[LostDoggy]

Josh Hill
16 Disposals (10K 6H)
7 Marks 3 Tackles
3 Goals 1 behind

Just reading those stats wants me to change my votes! haha..

Anyway Joshy had an absolute day out..proved a handful for the roo boys. Presented well, great kicking (especially that nice one to Johnno who then kicked the goal) Hill is just very composed, didnt make many mistakes today and 90% of the time you can expect him to take that 1on1 mark which is great for his size. "ONYA JOSHHH" I screamed as he kicked that sealer-goal. Happy manager tonight :D

[LostDoggy]

My voice cracked when he kicked that goal. All I kept saying was "GO JOSHY HILL, GO JOSHY HILL!!!" And completely lost it when he kicked the goal.

[bulldog]

Unfortunatley Tim "Batman" Callan did not play hopefully next week

[GVGjr]

Ryan Hargrave

Very composed game and one of the players that really handled the conditions well today.

14 kicks, 11 handballs, 7 marks and possible an important zero stat in no free kicks against him which isn't always a strong point.

He wasn't named in the best from a few media reports I have read but I'd have him in the top 5 Bulldog players for the day.

[lemmon]

Everitt was one of Willys best and will push for selection next week.

[LostDoggy]

Dale Morris

Another solid day out for Dale, without being spectacular. Along with Lake he spent 100% of the game on the ground. His opponent for the bulk of the day was Thomas who did manage to kick a goal on him (also missed one) but for the most part Dale kept him out of the action. A vital cog in our backline machine.

Stats:

Kicks - 7; Handballs - 3; Marks - 7; Tackles - 4

[LostDoggy]

Liam Picken

9 disposals (3 kicks, 6 handballs)
3 contested possessions
3 tackles
2 inside 50s
1 free for

Stats for Liam tell only a small fraction of the tale of his day. Making a debut at 22 after being elevated from the rookie list to replace long term injured Paul O'Shea, Liam showed yesterday why he was picked up in the rookie draft after training for the past 2 pre-seasons with the Dogs.

On the list as a ready-made. hard-bodied, in and under type as cover to the likes of Boyd, Addison, Cross and Tim Callan, he showed his bona fides yesterday in a blanket job on North dangerman Brent Harvey, who has regularly tormented the Bulldogs over the past several years. Arguably quicker than either Boyd or Cross, Liam showed admirable concentration and single-mindedness -- not to mention an impressive level of fitness borne from a fanatical work ethic in training rivalling Cross's -- to run with the pacy Harvey all day, while getting his hands dirty in the clinches himself, notably in the last quarter.

His day was made by the desperate tackle that led to Harvey being called for incorrect disposal, creating the turnover that ended up being the game clinching goal to Josh Hill. Bulldog's coach Rodney Eade praised Liam's efforts in the post-match press conference, noting his never-say-die attitude and his 'hardness', having been playing 'with men' in the VFL.

Liam's challenge now is to cement a spot on the senior list by proving his consistency and improving other aspects of his game to become a valuable contributor both defensively and offensively, much as Boyd has done. An exciting start which will hopefully end up being the answer to an important piece of the puzzle that the Dogs has lacked over several years, a good, fast and tough shut-down player. Looking forward to his potential duel with Judd in a couple of weeks.

[hujsh]

Jason Akermanis

While the stat sheet may indicate otherwise Jason was vital yesterday. Spent probably all of the day up forwards and was excellent at providing the bit of class needed to get a scoring shot off in the wet. Sheahan wrote that he had 4 score assists and was involved in 7 passages of play that resulted in a score. That means that 16% of our shots were directly set up by Aka and 28 % of our shots at goal involved Akermanis in some way.

Even if he isn't as fit due to his calf injury and even if he has lost pace he has shown he is still an extremely valuable creative force up forward who we will struggle to replace IMO.

[ledge]

Rodney Eade another great day in the box, bringing in Picken, Obviously gave Lake big instruction to back himself and run off Hale.
The only blemish i see was probably leaving Cooney on after the hip got hit, but in Eades defence Cooney did ask to see if he could run it out, Eade gave him the chance.
Maybe some talking to during the week with the players about a certain rule re Addison.
And Mitchs "if i cant see you, you cant see me" probably needs some more work on the training track.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Ryan Griffen

A very mature performance from Ryan this week. Whilst he was gamebreakingly spectacular in the first quarter last week, this week was a more rounded and even performance across the 4 Quarterswith 9,6,9 and 4 disposals across each of the quarters.

Importantly for us whilst Cooney is still getting the game miles in his legs following a disruptive pre-season, Griffen has stepped up and provided the quality run and delivery we've needed.

A great running goal kicked slightly across his body from 40 out in the 3rd Quarter was a highlight.
Not a day for his trademark dashing run and bounces, instead his game was played often in hard and close quarters.

Shaded by Lake in my opinion for BOG honours, Ryan was still very effective and instrumental in our win, especially in driving the ball into our forward 50 and by making his possessions count.

Despite the conditions Ryan's disposal effectivenes % was higher than last week's effort in the dry.

Pleasing also to see that following the always tough trip to Perth he was able to step up his performance without fading during this week's game. He has now set a great platform for the rest of the season.

Stats.

Kicks 18
H/B 10
Marks 4
Goals: 1
Inside 50's: 7 (Equal game high)
Constested Possies: 7
Clearances: 5 (Equal game high)
Possession effectiveness: 82%

[soupman]

Well Tommygun had a solid game, playing on David Hale who had a minimal impact.

Didn't get a heap of the footy himself (12 disposals and 6 marks) but certainly did enough.

Did scare us all a couple of times, going down winded once after being hit in a contest, and then clashing with Hudson head on and not getting up quickly. Luckily he seems to be alright though, and should be able to continue helping out our backline this season.

[Dazza]

Will Minson

Disposals. 7 Kicks, 2 Handballs at 78% efficiency, 4 Marks
1 goal, 1 behind

Had an average game. Had a little purple patch in the 3rd quarter taking a nice contested mark then hitting a target in the f50 with a nice kick. Also got on the end of some nice work from higgins and got pretty pumped up after kicking the goal which is always good to see.

[Rocket Science]

CALLAN WARD - Round Two vs North Melbourne Kangaroos

Match Statistics:
- 15 Disposals (8 kicks - 7 handballs), with 33% effectiveness (ranked lowest amongst the chosen 22, with a team-high 6 clangers)
- 8 Contested possessions
- 1 Mark (uncontested)
- 2 Tackles
- 4 Clearances (ranked 2nd behind Boyd/Griffen with 5 each)
- 3 Inside-50's
- 0 Rebound-50's
- 0 goals or goal assists
- Won 1 free kick for, with 1 free against.

Match Review:
Ward dished up as scrappy a performance as one could fathom, his game a product of equal parts conditions, opponent, and a liberal dash of head-down, bum-up resolve.

Was again deployed out of the middle and while Ward consistently demonstrated his inclination for body contact and contested ball, he also encountered similar issues to his previous week's outing, finding it difficult to break free of traffic and generate clean possessions. However if not generally damaging with the ball, it's worth noting he applied comparable pressure to most North opponents in his vicinity.

Still, Ward persisted undeterred in the heavy going, remarkably unphased for a player still in his teens by the bruising contact he invites, and while the polish was lacking his willingness to sacrifice and get his nose dirty in tight was an important ingredient in heavy going against a traditionally dogged opponent.

Evidently nothing Ward did was pretty, the highlight of his game was perhaps proving the catalyst for skipper Brad Johnson's 3rd goal courtesy of a nicely anticipated shark of Kangaroo Scott McMahon's lazy attempted handball on the members wing.

More generally, in spite of any rough edges or growing pains while Ward demonstrates the requisite worth ethic it appears he'll continue to be given plenty of rope by the selection committee as part of his on-the-job training.

[Mantis]

Ben Hudson

Key stats:

3 kicks
3 marks
9 handballs
5 tackles
14 hit outs

Review:

Nothing remarkable about Ben's performance. He got down and dirty as per normal and kept the more athletic North ruckman in check around the ground. Perhaps he was helped by the conditions or perhaps he just worked hard in his role, make up you own mind.

[LostDoggy]

Mitch Hahn

Pulled off play of the day whilst blind-folded.

Nothing much more to report basically because my town did not get coverage of the game thanks to the incompetence of Channel 7 and Foxtel.

6 K
7 HB
2 M

[Go_Dogs]

Daniel Giansiracusa

Didn't get to see the game, so my report is not going to be very good.

From most reports, had a much quieter game than last week. His consistency is still something that he needs to really work on, his ability to get himself into a game. Hopefully he can turn his form around come Monday and put in a really strong showing.

[Scraggers]

Adam Cooney

5 Kicks
10 Handballs
2 Marks
3 Tackles

Another quiet one from the Brownlow Medalist ... Rocket says he is not injured, but he did acknowledge the hit to the hip he copped later in the game ... Adam was visibly limping late in the day.

Calls for him to be dropped to make way for Welsh are premature ... Cooney needs game time in his legs NOT a run in the magoos

[LostDoggy]

Adam Cooney


Calls for him to be dropped to make way for Welsh are premature ... Cooney needs game time in his legs NOT a run in the magoos

Not only premature but fairly stupid. He has had no pre-season at all and as you say needs game time to ease him in to it.

Despite his lack of preparation, he is still worth his weight.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Brad Johnson
We saw classic Johnno in the first quarter. He scored first goal and imposed his will on the encounter early. His reading of the play and the flight of the ball was superior to those around him. He kept his feet in the contest and outsprinted opponents, executing skill at pace. He ended the day with 18 kicks, 3 goals and 3 contested marks.
He had a clanger in the last quarter when he missed an easy target, kicked a shocker without much pressure, straight to unguarded opposition. He does nothing by half measures. We were lucky that didn’t turn the game. His wide, mouthguard filled smile was not enough to get him off when he insulted the umpire by suggesting the umpie's orbs were duds, by doing the three stooges' fingers-to-the-eye-trick.
It seems he relishes the responsibility of being the main target, without Murph or Welsh. His better fitness this year was evident.

[Bulldog Revolution]

CALLAN WARD - Round Two vs North Melbourne Kangaroos

More generally, in spite of any rough edges or growing pains while Ward demonstrates the requisite worth ethic it appears he'll continue to be given plenty of rope by the selection committee as part of his on-the-job training .

RS - I think these are very good points

Ward is making mistakes at the moment. It was a very costly turnover in the third where he took on his man only to have his kick was smothered and north subsequently goaled. He gave Simpson an uneccessary free kick for a head high tackle when basically out of bands. He's also been caught with the ball a few times over the first two weeks of the season.

Whilst he wasn't as clean by hand on Sunday as we'd like him to be, he really shows that he knows where to go to win his own ball and he is certainly prepared to tackle. I'm impressed with his ability to put his head over the ball and win it in congested situations.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Matt Boyd

28 touches (10 contested - 2nd highest dogs players next to Hargrave)
12 kicks
16 handballs
7 marks
4 tackles
5 clearances

Not quite as brilliant a game from Boyd but a pretty solid and consistent performance in the trenches in greasy conditions

Started very well, seemed to be spending more time working back into defence. Boyd is moving well, covering the ground and continued to accumulate plenty of the ball. Probably did not provide as much offensive drive as against Freo, but difficult conditions and a very different style of game against a much tighter stingier North side may have reduced this. His left hand, handball is becoming his signature move. Others may have noticed this previously but I've only just taken on the role as his manager.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Brad Johnson
We saw classic Johnno in the first quarter. He scored first goal and imposed his will on the encounter early. His reading of the play and the flight of the ball was superior to those around him. He kept his feet in the contest and outsprinted opponents, executing skill at pace. He ended the day with 18 kicks, 3 goals and 3 contested marks.
He had a clanger in the last quarter when he missed an easy target, kicked a shocker without much pressure, straight to unguarded opposition. He does nothing by half measures. We were lucky that didn’t turn the game. His wide, mouthguard filled smile was not enough to get him off when he insulted the umpire by suggesting the umpie's orbs were duds, by doing the three stooges' fingers-to-the-eye-trick.
It seems he relishes the responsibility of being the main target, without Murph or Welsh. His better fitness this year was evident.

Turns out that wasn't what was going on at all.

Apparently he told the umpire that this opponent didn't have his eyes on the ball (front on contact in a marking contest) and the umpire simply assumed he was giving him some lip when he heard the word 'eyes'.

[Scorlibo]

Ryan Hargrave

Very composed game and one of the players that really handled the conditions well today.

14 kicks, 11 handballs, 7 marks and possible an important zero stat in no free kicks against him which isn't always a strong point.

He wasn't named in the best from a few media reports I have read but I'd have him in the top 5 Bulldog players for the day.

I disagree GVGjr, I think that Heggars is continuously underrated, but this was not one of his better games imo. He fumbled the ball a lot and misfired handballs which he shouldn't have. That being said he did find a fair bit of the pill and this allowed him to steady himself later on.

[bornadog]

Adam Cooney

5 Kicks
10 Handballs
2 Marks
3 Tackles

Another quiet one from the Brownlow Medalist ... Rocket says he is not injured, but he did acknowledge the hit to the hip he copped later in the game ... Adam was visibly limping late in the day.

Calls for him to be dropped to make way for Welsh are premature ... Cooney needs game time in his legs NOT a run in the magoos

You misunderstand, I said drop him only if injured, not because of form.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Turns out that wasn't what was going on at all.

Apparently he told the umpire that this opponent didn't have his eyes on the ball (front on contact in a marking contest) and the umpire simply assumed he was giving him some lip when he heard the word 'eyes'.

I'd like to think that's true. I think he knew he didn't mark it.
By the way, did Salmon come from Fish Creek? He really was a big country lad. I didn't have a TV in those hippy days and missed out a bit on Salmon history. I just remember him as slightly ungainly but went straight at the ball and made the most of his opportunities. Whoops you're not really him are you??

[The Coon Dog]

I'd like to think that's true. I think he knew he didn't mark it.
By the way, did Salmon come from Fish Creek? He really was a big country lad. I didn't have a TV in those hippy days and missed out a bit on Salmon history. I just remember him as slightly ungainly but went straight at the ball and made the most of his opportunities. Whoops you're not really him are you??
I think Ian Salmon came from Leongatha & I can confirm that SS on here in not his namesake.

[bulldogsman]

Dylan Addison

10 Kicks
5 Handballs
5 Marks
2 Tackles
1 Goal

Pretty solid game from Addison. Played mainly as a half back, pushed forward a couple times and kicked a great goal under pressure. Kicked well, kept his opponent fairly quiet and had good 2nd and 3rd efforts. Made a massive blue on the goal line when he got confused and tried to stare down the ball (maybe he thought he had special powers). The North player ended up running around him to toe poke a goal. Dylan obviously hates the rush behind rule.

[Sockeye Salmon]

I think Ian Salmon came from Leongatha & I can confirm that SS on here in not his namesake.

But I do have very large thighs.

Curly was my first favorite player primarily because he was the Ben Harrison of his day, and was the cause of the first time I ever heard my old man swear.

[LostDoggy]

Tiller didn't get out there, mores the pity.