Game Day - Bulldogs vs Eagles

[GVGjr]

This is the discussion thread for this evenings clash against the West Coast Eagles.

My predictions today are:
The Dogs by 36 points, Hill BOG and Griffen for the first goal.

[Mantis]

Dogs by 29pts.

Higgins BOG

1st goal to Hahn.

[The Underdog]

Dogs by 25
Aker first goal
Griffen best on

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, I'm a little worried by this game. Perth on a 6 day break isn't ideal.

[aker39]

Who have the dogs taken to Perth as an emergency.

Reading the paper this morning all 3 named emergencies played for Willy yesterday.

Dogs by 5 goals
Griffen 1st goal running out of the centre
Griffen BOG (I hope so for my Brownlow bet)

[The Underdog]

Who have the dogs taken to Perth as an emergency.

Reading the paper this morning all 3 named emergencies played for Willy yesterday.

Dogs by 5 goals
Griffen 1st goal running out of the centre
Griffen BOG (I hope so for my Brownlow bet)

On the VFL site GVG said Welsh had gone but maybe he's just building up his frequent flyers. Can't imagine them taking the fine for playing an unnamed emergency

[GVGjr]

On the VFL site GVG said Welsh had gone but maybe he's just building up his frequent flyers. Can't imagine them taking the fine for playing an unnamed emergency

I think he is purely an emergency and would only play if someone genuinely got injured before the game.

[LostDoggy]

Dogs to win by 38, first goal to Johnno.

[Max469]

Dogs by 19 pts

Mitch first goal

Griff BOG

[The Coon Dog]

Dogs by 26 points, Aker 1st goal & Cross BOG.

[Go_Dogs]

Dogs by 15 points in a close one.

Higgins first goal. Gilbee BOG.

[bulldog]

Dogs by 45
Griff ist goal and Bog
Aker 5 goals

[strebla]

Dogs by 33
Minson first goal
Lake bog

[robb]

Dogs by 16p. West Coast come home hard.

[Scorlibo]

Dogs by 73.
Hahn first goal.
Griffen BOG.

[Scraggers]

Dogs by 6 goals
Griffen BOG
Lynch first goal for the Eagles
Hahn first goal for the Bulldogs heavily into time-on in the first quarter

[mighty_west]

Dogs by 22
first goal : Gia
BOG : Gilbee

[BulldogBelle]

Dogs by 34 points
Johnson first goal
Griffen BOG

[comrade]

Dogs by 9 points.
Hill first goal.
Gilbee BOG.

[dogman]

Dogs by 48
Aker first goal
Griffen BOG

[LostDoggy]

Dogs by 14, a tight tussle until the dogs better fitness sees them draw away in the last quarter.

Aker first to goal.
Higgins best on ground.

[LostDoggy]

doggies by 13 points
Gia first goal
BOG to aker :-)

[westdog54]

Dogs by 23 points.
Higgins First Goal
Lake BOG.

I think well have it far harder against the Eagles than we did against Freo, I can see us having to work very bloody hard for these four points.

[Happy Days]

I want to go on record as saying we will either slaugher them, or lose.

But seeing as I'm a glass half full kind of guy;

Dogs by 72,
Gilbee first goal,
Aker BOG.

[bornadog]

Dogs by 27

First goal Hahn

BOG - Gilbee

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Dogs by 6 points.

I think we'll struggle with the second trip in a month, heat and the fact that West Coast should be trying to prove some sort of point. Very much hoping our boys still have the run in the legs, if we do, I'd imagine we'll win comfortably but going over to Perth in the space of a month isn't easy.

First goal to Hill.
BOG to Higgins.

[bornadog]

The only thing about the heat is , both teams have to play in it.

[BulldogBelle]

Dogs by 50 points.
First goal = Eagleton.
BOG = Eagleton.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

The only thing about the heat is , both teams have to play in it.

Considering we're coming off a 6 day break and our second trip to Perth already, I would think it should effect us more.

[bornadog]

Yeah, I know what you are saying, but I am not sold on this travel thing. These days players are pampered with recovery sessions, diaticians, specialist coaches etc etc and are also full time footballers. I game every 6 days is not a big deal any more.

[becmatty]

Does anyone know if I can watch the game online??????????

I live in UK...!!!!!

[The Pie Man]

Dogs by 2 goals, tight one coming up.
Aker first goal and BOG in his Subiaco swansong

[LostDoggy]

I have a good feeling about this game. Dogs by 60+ Im expecting a tight 1st quarter though. I'm predicting an Eagle to kick the first goal, I'll just say Lynch. We never seem to kick the first goal. I have a feeling Hargrave is due for a big game.

[LostDoggy]

Does anyone know if I can watch the game online??????????

I live in UK...!!!!!


http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=36325&part=sports

or maybe -

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/footy-net

[AndrewP6]

I'll say Dogs by 20 pts... love if it was more!

First goal to Josh Hill

BOG - Griffen or Higgins

[comrade]

Really looking forward to soaking up the insightful comments of G. Jackovich :rolleyes:

[The Coon Dog]

Really looking forward to soaking up the insightful comments of G. Jackovich :rolleyes:
Not!

[KT31]

Dogs by 47.
Griff best on ground.
Johnno first goal.

[comrade]

Average start.

[ledge]

We are in trouble, dont looked turned on and umpire has Eagles colours on.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Average start.
Which just got wose. Deplorable decision by the boundary ump on Griff, calling it out on the full.

We're in a lot of trouble if we don't start winning more conested ball.

[The Coon Dog]

I can just hear Mantis venting his spleen right about now over you know who.

[G-Mo77]

Which just got wose. Deplorable decision by the boundary ump on Griff, calling it out on the full.

We're in a lot of trouble if we don't start winning more conested ball.

They should peg it back. Poor umpiring decisions like that disgraceful one have a way of evening out down the line. The Eagles just want it more at the moment. I doubt they can keep it going for the rest of the game if they do then we are in for a very tough contest!

[comrade]

Questioning the decision to play Aker. His timing seems off by a long way.

[dog town]

Hudson and Minson need to start bringing the ball to ground more at the stoppages. They need to at least create a draw from those taps because at the moment the are getting cleaned up from the taps.

[LostDoggy]

Really looking forward to soaking up the insightful comments of G. Jackovich :rolleyes:

Hes got to be the worst "special comments" man covering the game. fair dinkum I thought Fremantle would've been well in front of us during the rd 1 game, given the amount of praise he was heaping on Freo.

Hes even worse when the weagles are on......

cant believe that the decision just before 1/4 time got reversed......shocking decision. Hudson remonsrated, when Kerr went down about 5 eagles remonstrated with Higgins, but they didnt reverse it then.....

[Happy Days]

We are being umpired directly out of this game.

That, and our inabilty to get a clearance.

[comrade]

Hi Daniel Kerr, meet Mitch Hahn's elbow.

[LostDoggy]

Its really hard to enjoy richmond hitting the bottom of the ladder whllst we are trailing the eagles...

[comrade]

I'm really enjoying BT calling every player the wrong name. Douche.

[LostDoggy]

Its really hard to enjoy richmond hitting the bottom of the ladder whllst we are trailing the eagles...

Yeah i know what you mean

[LostDoggy]

Mitch is THE hard man.

[LostDoggy]

Yeah i know what you mean

We do make a habit of starting slow...

[LostDoggy]

I'm really enjoying BT calling every player the wrong name. Douche.

Must be a tough job... very hard to confuse Hargreave will Hill. I usually enjoy BT but yeah, douche!

[LostDoggy]

err... 'with Hill', typing while watching...

[comrade]

Not sure if bombing it to a 2 on 1 contest in our forward line is very astute...

[comrade]

I was hoping these sort of games were a thing of the past - obviously not.

Eagleton, you are killing me.

[LostDoggy]

Where is our forward line?!!!!

[DOG GOD]

Hmmm...seems like game over to me...skill level is SHOCKING and our run is VOID!!! SHOULD run out of legs in the 2nd half giving the weagles a comfortable win.

[Bomberdog]

That's why we need welsh and murph back asap

[LostDoggy]

Where is our forward line?!!!!

Was thinking the same thing, where is the structure?

Every week i'm getting more frustrated with Minson, LEARN HOW TO MARK FFS!!!

[hujsh]

Which just got wose. Deplorable decision by the boundary ump on Griff, calling it out on the full.

We're in a lot of trouble if we don't start winning more conested ball.

I though it was a reversed free kick for something Hudson did.

[The Pie Man]

I can just hear Mantis venting his spleen right about now over you know who.

haha yep - he's been poor hasn't he?

What I'm about to vent my spleen about is clearly an aberation so I don't want to crucify the bloke, but Griffen being run down by Cox (who admittedly is the gun ruckman of the comp) on the wing and then not chasing him back (at least couldn't see him on screen) while he streamed forward and created a goal was very frustrating. He's done some good things to balance that out.

Geting Gilbee more involved would be nice - Cal Ward as well.

[comrade]

3 goals is nothing in modern footy and we should come out breathing fire but geez we look flat. Was it a mistake not to rest a few of the older guys?

[LostDoggy]

Disappointing start.

Hard to get a line through our form considering we have only beaten Rich,Freo and North.

[ledge]

So rules are if you drop a mark its a ball up now?

[LostDoggy]

Players that need to lift: Griffen, Guido, Hill, Johnno, Hahn and Eagleton. Win the midfield and the dogs win the game. Simple as that. Getting smashed in the clearances, got to fix that and keep pressure on while in the dogs forward line. Maybe in with a chance now that Glass is injured.

[comrade]

Getting smashed out of the middle - we need to lock it down and get on top.

[comrade]

Thank god for Higgins.

[LostDoggy]

Higgins is a man that can kick. Come on boys.

[AndrewP6]

Higgins the only one who has delivered. So much for our gun midfield.

[AndrewP6]

Maybe the critics who say we can't win without a KPF are right, players look clueless going into forward 50

[ledge]

Could be a blow out at this rate.

[Scorlibo]

Onya Boydy, what's happening with our forwards? Only one goal the rest have come from the midfield.

[The Pie Man]

Thought Eagleton would get dropped when his kick was smothered, but two tackles that followed calmed me down.

Aka will surely have an enforced rest for a week or two following his trip.

Higgins again!!!!

[ledge]

We are horrid!
Second to the ball, not even there on the fumble. we fumbling, no forwards the list goes on...

[comrade]

Next goal and we're right in it...not sure how though.

[LostDoggy]

I'm calling it. Dogs won't win this game

[comrade]

If we put as much energy into winning the ball as we have into crunching Kerr we might be closer.

[AndrewP6]

Anyone here who has believed our team can win the premiership this year should take a look at this...

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Just listening on radio but wow.

What a load of absolute crap.

[ledge]

Did i hear BT say we were worried about this game all week?
Now there is a defeatist sign if ever i heard one, should be looking forward to a win every game not go into a game worrying, wheres the positive attitude?
Set up for a smashing by the sound of this.

[ledge]

How come they load up on a poor decision made in our favour but bugger all on all the West Coast favoured decisions?

[comrade]

Eagleton, you need to have a spell.

[Scorlibo]

We're gone now, let's just try to minimize the damage.

Remember before the season that everyone was saying to get 2 wins 2 losses out of the first four rounds would be a good result, well we have 3 and 1 so really we havent done too badly.

[LostDoggy]

Some players need a spell.

[G-Mo77]

Pretty piss poor, they have been smashed all day in the mid field they are making it look so easy in there. Really frustrating. It would take a miricle to get back from here and quite frankly we do not deserve to win this game.

Picken's hit on Kerr was really the only highlight of that quarter.

I'd also put money on Aker missing next week as well. :mad:

[lemmon]

Lets keep it in perspective I was content with 2-2 going into the season so 3-1 wont break my heart

[G-Mo77]

While we are throwing fuel on the usual scape goats how about throwing some Gilbee's way. Woeful so far today! I'd hate to think what Eade said to him when he got dragged after he watched the Eagles walk away with the ball in the midfield.

[DOG GOD]

We're gone now, let's just try to minimize the damage.

Remember before the season that everyone was saying to get 2 wins 2 losses out of the first four rounds would be a good result, well we have 3 and 1 so really we havent done too badly.

Yep...and we havent played anyone of merit yet. (freo, north, rich, wc).

[hujsh]

When Morris is our 2nd leading possie getter it's not an awesome sign.

Can't wait for the Murph/Coon kicking class to come back. O'Keefe may be useful there too

[AndrewP6]

If form counts for anything, Gia will be at Willy next week. Aker may be in need of a rest, but Gia has done nothing.

[Rocket Science]

Perspective my arse, are we intent on being fair dinkum this season or not?

The lack of midfield accountability is deplorable, and any team given four quarters of that sort of latitude, even the Eagles, will make you pay, and they rightly have.

You can't go on holiday through the guts against anyone and expect to win a game of football.

EDIT: How nonsensically bad have the umpires been in this game? It's not an excuse, we've been woeful and don't deserve to win, but I'm tired of seeing strings of consistently pisspoor decisions unduly influence the trajectory of a football game.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Eagleton, you need to have a spell.

I don't think he's been anywhere near our worst.
It's been a collective belting in clearances and contested ball, and the fact that our forward line has ben missing,.
Priddis and Kerr have dominated.

I don't understand why Picken was put on Rosa, I would've thought either Kerr or Priddis would've been a better way to go.

All in all this has been a disappointing TEAM effort not befitting a team who has top 4 aspirations.

[AndrewP6]

Yep...and we havent played anyone of merit yet. (freo, north, rich, wc).

IF WestCoast aren't worthy of merit, and we are getting towelled up by them, what does that make us?

[AndrewP6]

Lets keep it in perspective I was content with 2-2 going into the season so 3-1 wont break my heart

I was looking at 4-0.... why settle for mediocrity? We've done that for years... losing to WC is a real setback.

[1eyedog]

If form counts for anything, Gia will be at Willy next week. Aker may be in need of a rest, but Gia has done nothing.

Bit harsh, Gia was magnificent last week, most tackles and contested possessions at the club. From what I saw the whole team was ordinary today.

[Bomberdog]

Good sides do not lose games like this. Geelong wouldn't.

[LostDoggy]

I was never confident of winning this game, I have more faith in the dogs winning against Carlton. Which is why I'm not as shocked as the rest of you are. :D

[lemmon]

Perspective my arse, are we intent on being fair dinkum this season or not?

The lack of midfield accountability is deplorable, and any team given four quarters of that sort of latitude, even the Eagles, will make you pay, and they rightly have.

You can't go on holiday through the guts against anyone and expect to win a game of football.

A 6 day turnaround, two trips to Perth in four weeks, our two best player are out as well as a guy who kicked 40 goals for us last year, playing against an underated team on their home patch who are full strength in testing conditions.
We were up against it this week.

[comrade]

I don't think he's been anywhere near our worst.


When kicking is your key attribute for being included in the team, ploughing it into the man on on atleast 3 occasions including 1 in the goal square is not good.

[AndrewP6]

Bit harsh, Gia was magnificent last week, most tackles and contested possessions at the club. From what I saw the whole team was ordinary today.

Yeah but selection is done week to week...and he's been non-existent today:(

[LostDoggy]

West Coast seem to be playing to a different set of rules than us :S Pretty bad umpiring IMO.
Don't know what is going on today, the whole team looks pretty disinterested.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

If form counts for anything, Gia will be at Willy next week. Aker may be in need of a rest, but Gia has done nothing.

You're kidding?
1 shocking game from one of our most consistent players over the the last 18 months should not see him sent to Willy.

[comrade]

When the pressure is on, Eagleton misses.

[AndrewP6]

Might have to jump on the anti-Eagleton wagon... earlier he ran himself into trouble just get on his left foot, now he's blown a goal chance...

[1eyedog]

Well, console yourselves with the fact that Richmond lost too. We'll be right, this happens every now and again and as stated above, we've had a pretty rough trot with travel and have been missing our two strongest forward targets in Welsh and Murph.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Yeah but selection is done week to week...and he's been non-existent today:(

No it is not. By that rationale, if Gayr Ablett had a bad game, he would be out the next?

[AndrewP6]

Dropped marks, missed tackles.... :(

[lemmon]

Still have a sniff?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Our effort in the last has been very good, lot's of run.
My question is, where has this been all day?

[AndrewP6]

No it is not. By that rationale, if Gayr Ablett had a bad game, he would be out the next?

Gazza doesn't have bad games..;)

Maybe it's just the pessimist coming out in me...

[LostDoggy]

Poor effort by the boys today.
Not trying to be a poor loser or anything, but the bouncing early on was pathetic, and they gave EVERY 50/50 call in the WCE favour!
Why should we have a round of footy to recognise the umps when they do a crappy job anyway??

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

OKay... I've changed my mind Eagleton needs a spell........

[LostDoggy]

Eagleton, you hack.

[LostDoggy]

Bah humbug. Should have made better of opportunities. Hill and Eagle had a shocker.

[ledge]

So another new rule today you cant push a player at all!
I wanna see Geish get out of this one.

[LostDoggy]

Again with 2mins left!
Hahn as a finger on eagles opponent's jumper, and recieves head high contact for 2 seconds!
AGGHHHH!

[LostDoggy]

And Ward.

[AndrewP6]

Poor effort by the boys today.
Not trying to be a poor loser or anything, but the bouncing early on was pathetic, and they gave EVERY 50/50 call in the WCE favour!
Why should we have a round of footy to recognise the umps when they do a crappy job anyway??

Agreed.
Those monkeys with the whistles get FAR too much credit in my book. You're not allowed to touch them, talk to them, go near them, but they can do whatever they like. Not going to recognise them when they perform so poorly (calls and bounces!) and they often consider themselves the highlight of the game. And many seem to forget they get paid to do that job...

[AndrewP6]

One funny thing from today (the only funny thing about today!). A quote from BT pre-game, talking about Quentin Lynch.

"An unusual Christian name, but a good player"...

What the ???

[hujsh]

We played shithouse but could have snatched it. Aka's drippling effort, Hill's missed mark from Minson and of course Eagle.

3 kicks into the man, 3 kicks forward that scraped along the ground to two WCE players (it was as if he was taking shots from the centre) and that missed shot.

However it was one bad week and he's not been too bad.

[lemmon]

Agreed.
Those monkeys with the whistles get FAR too much credit in my book. You're not allowed to touch them, talk to them, go near them, but they can do whatever they like. Not going to recognise them when they perform so poorly (calls and bounces!) and they often consider themselves the highlight of the game. And many seem to forget they get paid to do that job...

The problem is that now they go out looking for free kicks, I think in the past they paid what they saw and knew there role. They think they are the centre piece of the game when all we want them to do is pay the obvious ones and get out of the way to let the boys play footy.

[G-Mo77]

Didn't deserve to this one, pathetic effort by our mids today which is suppose to be a strong area for us. The Eagles made us look like fools at the stoppages. I thought our defenders were fantastic today they were under so much pressure all day and really held up well. It makes it hard when the ball is being waltzed in to easily. For those saying "Look on the bright side we are 3 - 1" That's a poor way of looking at it. We lost a game we should have won! We have a really tough few weeks ahead and it is lapses like this that are very costly. We have got to be a lot stronger mentally if we are to do any damage in the finals because we will be playing hard fought games like this and we will fall short yet again.

This game was a really piss poor effort right up there with the loss to the Hawks in the Finals last year.

BTW I love Liam Picken!

[hujsh]

That was an odd one where Hahn had his throat clasped and he gave one against Gilbs for holding his arm.

[LostDoggy]

The Good:
Boyd and Morris battled hard. Aker was useful, but not game breaking.

Shaun Higgins BOG for the dogs.

Callan Ward did some good work too....just not enough.

Picken, three great games and he maybe a little fella, but he knows how to throw that flyweight around.

No Injuries, No Reports.

The Bad:

Getting smashed in the clearances, bad decision making and hitting targets.

The move of Mitch Hahn to the backline for Lake to go forward....I don't know about that. Hahn has never been a defender.

Gilbee had a shocker and should cop a spray from Rocket.

Minson and Hudson were not effective - Let Cox run riot.

Griffen was well held, Harbrow did not impress enough to stay in the 22.

The Ugly:

Relying on a second year forward as our main forward option will not always play out for the dogs and it showed today. Hill cannot be THE forward, he can't compete with someone like Darren Glass.

It was frustrating when the half backs and midfielders looked up and had a frustrated look on their face and then asking the question: "Where're the targets?!"

I never was confident about this game, even told other doggies supporters....and I just have to say...I hate being right : (

The Next Game:
Meeting up against the Blues, who are coming off consecutive defeats and the dogs coming back from Subiaco and the dogs are backs to the wall. Will Rocket make the changes necessary? Rest Aker? Bring in some young guns in Grant, O'Keefe?

Basing on todays performance, I'd say Grant needs to get a gig. There's no better chance than to get some fresh legs into the team after coming back from Subi.

The Upside:
Cooney, Murphy and Welsh are all to come back in...that's alot of goals and class coming back in....I hope.

Now let the Richmond Tigers bashing begin!

[comrade]

Hopefully that loss gives them a kick up the backside - if we want to compete this year we have to work hard and fight, rather than just turn up.

[GVGjr]

Despite the warnings that Rodney Eade gave us about the two trips to the West in the first 4 weeks, the heat, the shorter break between rounds 3 and 4 and the need to manage the older crew a bit differently, he basically ignored his own views and we may have been caught out playing guys with weary legs.

It will be interesting to see how Akermanis, Eagleton and Johnson back up for the important encounter with Carlton on Sunday.

[LostDoggy]

The Good:
Boyd and Morris battled hard. Aker was useful, but not game breaking.

Shaun Higgins BOG for the dogs.

Callan Ward did some good work too....just not enough.

Picken, three great games and he maybe a little fella, but he knows how to throw that flyweight around.

No Injuries, No Reports.

The Bad:

Getting smashed in the clearances, bad decision making and hitting targets.

The move of Mitch Hahn to the backline for Lake to go forward....I don't know about that. Hahn has never been a defender.

Gilbee had a shocker and should cop a spray from Rocket.

Minson and Hudson were not effective - Let Cox run riot.

Griffen was well held, Harbrow did not impress enough to stay in the 22.

The Ugly:

Relying on a second year forward as our main forward option will not always play out for the dogs and it showed today. Hill cannot be THE forward, he can't compete with someone like Darren Glass.

It was frustrating when the half backs and midfielders looked up and had a frustrated look on their face and then asking the question: "Where're the targets?!"

I never was confident about this game, even told other doggies supporters....and I just have to say...I hate being right : (

The Next Game:
Meeting up against the Blues, who are coming off consecutive defeats and the dogs coming back from Subiaco and the dogs are backs to the wall. Will Rocket make the changes necessary? Rest Aker? Bring in some young guns in Grant, O'Keefe?

Basing on todays performance, I'd say Grant needs to get a gig. There's no better chance than to get some fresh legs into the team after coming back from Subi.

The Upside:
Cooney, Murphy and Welsh are all to come back in...that's alot of goals and class coming back in....I hope.

Now let the Richmond Tigers bashing begin!

I agree.

[AndrewP6]

A very disappointing performance. We never looked switched, with the exception of the last 10 mins when it was too late. Our forward line, of which I've been a staunch defender, is a real issue. To have the ball bombed in to Josh Hill regularly, and he's competing against bigger, stronger players, is a problem. We got killed in the middle, and we're supposed to have one of the best midfields. Boyd was strong, and did well. Our defenders were OK, Morris a standout. To me, if we're looking to make the famous "extra step" in September, we're a long way off. The next game worries me, still haunted by last years letdown. Oh well, the sun should still come up....

[LostDoggy]

Disappointing effort today. Next week Carlton and than the Saints who smashed the Eagles by 97 points:eek:

I hope Cooney, Murphy and Welsh can give us something to lift the team - because the signs are not too good.

[The Pie Man]

Perspective my arse, are we intent on being fair dinkum this season or not?

The lack of midfield accountability is deplorable, and any team given four quarters of that sort of latitude, even the Eagles, will make you pay, and they rightly have.

You can't go on holiday through the guts against anyone and expect to win a game of football.

EDIT: How nonsensically bad have the umpires been in this game? It's not an excuse, we've been woeful and don't deserve to win, but I'm tired of seeing strings of consistently pisspoor decisions unduly influence the trajectory of a football game.

We were on the good end of some of the more questionable calls as well.

[G-Mo77]

Is Picken in any danger for his hit on Kerr?

[AndrewP6]

A very disappointing performance. We never looked switched, with the exception of the last 10 mins when it was too late. Our forward line, of which I've been a staunch defender, is a real issue. To have the ball bombed in to Josh Hill regularly, and he's competing against bigger, stronger players, is a problem. We got killed in the middle, and we're supposed to have one of the best midfields. Boyd was strong, and did well. Our defenders were OK, Morris a standout. To me, if we're looking to make the famous "extra step" in September, we're a long way off. The next game worries me, still haunted by last years letdown. Oh well, the sun should still come up....

sorry, I meant "switched ON"...maybe I wasn't...

Needed to correct, school's back tomorrow!;)

[lemmon]

I still dont have a clue why we went in without the extra midfielder. We were smashed out of the middle and we had a shorter turn around, playing on a large ground in hot conditions.
The change of Harbrow for Cooney was abolutely stunning and left us a midfielder short, surely Reid would've been a better option.

[azabob]

I did not see the game at all. I am hoping that most of the post's are emotional and are over reacting.
W/C have improved this year. They were unlucky against Brisbane round 1, smashed Port in round 2 who have also improved and they got smashed last week so maybe they showed some spirt this week?

[LostDoggy]

But the dogs should beat anyone and everyone!:rolleyes:

[The Pie Man]

The move of Mitch Hahn to the backline for Lake to go forward....I don't know about that. Hahn has never been a defender.

The Next Game:
Meeting up against the Blues, who are coming off consecutive defeats and the dogs coming back from Subiaco and the dogs are backs to the wall. Will Rocket make the changes necessary? Rest Aker? Bring in some young guns in Grant, O'Keefe?

Basing on todays performance, I'd say Grant needs to get a gig. There's no better chance than to get some fresh legs into the team after coming back from Subi.

The Upside:
Cooney, Murphy and Welsh are all to come back in...that's alot of goals and class coming back in....I hope.

Now let the Richmond Tigers bashing begin!

I remember Mitch debuted at half back against Sydney, I can't remember how long he stayed there, but he can play defence. I've always wondered how Lake would travel with a sustained stint at FF....

Aker I suspect will earn some MRP points ruling him out for a bit - could be a silver lining (rest wise)

While he may not be ready, I'd almost say what the hey and throw Grant in.

We did miss Cooney badly today.

Nothing that happened at Subi can ruin the good news that was Richmond's loss today.

What did Gia do to earn pretty much a half of footy on the pine?

I'll take 3-1, and it wasn't a blow out when one seriously looked on the cards.

[AndrewP6]

Is Picken in any danger for his hit on Kerr?

Looked a bit high...I personally thought it was great, but the goons at the MRP probably will look at it..

[Happy Days]

We were on the good end of some of the more questionable calls as well.

Doesn't that make them even more rubbish?

[LostDoggy]

The bright side... Higgo, Boyd, 1 out of 2 at Subi.

3 BIG weeks coming up, less than 2 of the 3 would be a bad result.

Bring back Murph.

[LostDoggy]

Doesn't that make them even more rubbish?

Good call!

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Oh dear, I didn't see or hear any of the game, just relied on your posts. They're grim. It seems we've been found out as pretenders. Or maybe I, like most of us, just dared to hope too much. This is a great human characteristic, to hope despite being regularly knocked on the head. For me, without having seen it, but it stood out last week in the first quarter, we need Welsh (his back may have been a problem) to present and represent and present again, like Murphy does.
It is like the Colosseum and the players are warriors and we spectators can lose a sense of this. Hopefully the players can refocus and regenerate the intensity that is needed, week in, week out. They need our support, not our criticism. Get off Eagletons back, this forum has a voice that is heard by the players. We need to support, not to accuse because our expectations are not met. No whinging about players, just positives. Lets forget this one and move on to another opportunity for success.

[LostDoggy]

Oh dear, I didn't see or hear any of the game, just relied on your posts. They're grim. It seems we've been found out as pretenders. Or maybe I, like most of us, just dared to hope too much. This is a great human characteristic, to hope despite being regularly knocked on the head. For me, without having seen it, but it stood out last week in the first quarter, we need Welsh (his back may have been a problem) to present and represent and present again, like Murphy does.
It is like the Colosseum and the players are warriors and we spectators can lose a sense of this. Hopefully the players can refocus and regenerate the intensity that is needed, week in, week out. They need our support, not our criticism. Get off Eagletons back, this forum has a voice that is heard by the players. We need to support, not to accuse because our expectations are not met. No whinging about players, just positives. Lets forget this one and move on to another opportunity for success.

Amen Brother!

[AndrewP6]

Oh dear, I didn't see or hear any of the game, just relied on your posts. They're grim. It seems we've been found out as pretenders. Or maybe I, like most of us, just dared to hope too much. This is a great human characteristic, to hope despite being regularly knocked on the head. For me, without having seen it, but it stood out last week in the first quarter, we need Welsh (his back may have been a problem) to present and represent and present again, like Murphy does.
It is like the Colosseum and the players are warriors and we spectators can lose a sense of this. Hopefully the players can refocus and regenerate the intensity that is needed, week in, week out. They need our support, not our criticism. Get off Eagletons back, this forum has a voice that is heard by the players. We need to support, not to accuse because our expectations are not met. No whinging about players, just positives. Lets forget this one and move on to another opportunity for success.

Hmm....strangely sensible words. Might give that a try!:D

[BulldogBelle]

This was always going to be a danger game but I felt quite confident before the game. Anyway, 3 wins and 1 loss after the first block of 4 games (with the two WA visits completed) - all things considered I think we are travelling ok.

With Murph, Cooney & Welsh to come back into the side definitely something to look forward to.

A few were out of touch today but it will be interesting to see how their recovery process goes for our game against Carlton coming up. A loss will jolt them back into reality.

[AndrewP6]

Interesting bit of trivia...many calls for Tiller to be dropped (me included) yet he got 100 Supercoach points.. don't know what they saw...

[BulldogBelle]

The sky isnt falling, and think a combination of a short break, the heat, West Coasts flogging in the previous week and our lack of intensity cost us today

Mids- We got smashed at the centre clearances, with only Boyd standing up in that department...Griff didnt even get a look in at the centre bounces

Forward line- Would like to see Grant or Welsh in this week as well, although I wouldnt want a forward line that includes Hahn, Welsh, Johnson and Aker...tad slow for chasing and keeping presure on the oppositions backmen

Interesting to see Lake at CHF in place of Hahn...with Tommy, Tiller and Morris down back you would hope we could cover the oppositions talls...and with Lake being a fantastic pack mark think its worth a roll of the dice

Hopefully Murphy will help with an inclusion this week

Eagle- ARGH...smothered kicks, bad handballs and clangers ...surely with O'Keefe's VFL form and considering he is a similar attacking outside player it would be worth the punt until Eagle finds some form

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Hahn in any trouble to be dropped? He's been pretty damn poor after Round 1. Barely sighted and virtually hasn't given too many contests. Looks out of touch.

[BulldogBelle]

We also are missing our two best players...Murphy and Cooney

And its only round 4

[LostDoggy]

I would say that most of the posts were over emotional IMO. The Eagles played really well (probably as good as they're gonna play this year) and we didn't deserve to win. For some reason I don't get upset at all over losses like this. Our senior players really let us down but that won't happen very often. Guys like Gia, Hahn, Gilbee, Johnno and although he's not a senior player Griffen had very ordinary games. If that's close to the worse we're gonna see this year, I'm not losing too much sleep.

Hill presented well and threatened to turn the Subiaco into the Hill Show but as others have mentioned was outplayed (by strength) by a former All Australian Full back Darren Glass.

Although Addison, Griffen and Ward sometimes/often get caught at least they try and break the lines rather than just chip it around only for it to be bombed into a 4 on 1 contest in the forward 50 (which is what happened today)

I was impressed with the backline. Considering the space players like Kerr were allowed I thought they held up reasonably well. I liked Tom 'William's Wish Wellingtons' Williams today. I enjoy his attack on the ball and he's only going to get better (hopefully) as the season moves along.

Overall I'm not too dissapointed with a 3-1 start. Higgins is growing in stature and Boyd is knocking on the door of elite midfielders. Our improvement must come from our opening quarters. It only puts pressure on ourselves later on and minimises the impact our 5 goal bursts have on the game.

[Rocket Science]

I'd agree that's probably the Eagles' ceiling at the moment but did they really play that well?...And against what sort opposition when we basically ceded control of the midfield to them.

West Coast were ok, they took their chances, and deserved to win, but if we performed at anything approaching the level we've demonstrated over much of the previous 3 rounds I'm confident we'd have knocked them over today. Alternately, if we served up what we did today against a better quality opponent, I suspect it would have gotten rather ugly.

Nobody here's really wallowing in wholesale gloom and doom based on today's loss, but the team performed poorly, certainly well below expectation, and that rightfully precipitates a response.

I'm certainly not grateful to be 3-1. There may have been mitigating circumstances today but if the club's expectations of itself mean anything, we should have beaten a team of the Eagles' calibre.

[LostDoggy]

As bad as we were, and we were pretty awful, we were still in with a shot until about 6 mins to go.

Our fitness levels look good, as late in the game we were running better than the weagles. (just not executing skills too well)

Poor disposal hurt us.

We did have a chance to win a game that as it progressed, looked like we had no right to, is actually a bit of a positive.

Hopefully we can get some hunger back for the blues......they have had the wood on us for the last couple of years.

[LostDoggy]

First 5 games is always just damage limitation -- we're aiming to peak in September not April. Definitely showed enough, despite short turnaround, travel, heat. It was definitely a disappointing performance, but it wasn't unexpected or inexcusable. I was far more upset when we lost to North in Round 9 last year because it was more in the guts of the season and was a worse time to lose form.

Sydney don't put much stock in first 5 rounds but make the finals every year, Geelong were trashed in Round 5 last year and didn't lose another home and away game for the rest of the year.

Having said all that:
- Hill playing FF was weird, got outmuscled all the time and dropped a few gimme marks.
- Where was the run? Too many long kicks to contests -- I thought we were supposed to be a handball-happy, run through the middle type team? Today we just stopped and propped and let West Coast man up.
- Eagle was a bit confused today as to which team he was supposed to play for. Maybe it was because he was playing the Eagles. The pub I was in was filled with ironic jeers everytime he got the ball. Just really unlucky/piss-poor. Hitting the post from 20 metres right out in front, kicking into a player from 5 metres out. I mean, you can see he's trying his heart out, but what the heck. He and Adam McPhee can join the same club of guys giving their all but just short on something -- luck or skill or something. Could be so much more, but.
- Pinned the Eagles back for long periods for zero scoreboard pressure. Not good enough up forward. And Johnno, geez you're a gun, but decision making is simply not a forte.
- Cal Ward oozes class.
- Really missed Coons today. Don't realise how good he makes everyone else look until he's gone -- there were those here saying he wasn't 100% anyway, but he takes their best midfielder and everyone else gets an easier gig. Today, they all moved up one rung and didn't look up to it.
- Picken + Addison = my new favourite players

[Scraggers]

I've just come home from the game and read all of the posts in this thread ... There are a few 'Chicken Littles" here :rolleyes:

We didn't lose the game because of the heat ... we were flat in the warm-up before the game started.
We didn't lose the game due to the travel (or the six day turn around) ... the Eagles have won three premierships doing this fortnightly.
We didn't lose the game due to bad umpiring decisions ... as atrocious as they were, the bad decisions went both ways.

There is two reasons we lost this game ...
1. The Eagles wanted it more than we did; their intensity was higher, their running in packs more frequent, and their attack more direct
2. Our poor decision making ... the amount of times we bombed the ball long to a two on one contest absolutely blew my mind today. Our running game requires us to follow our first instinct and play on at all costs ... we didn't do that, when running with the ball we waited for a second option allowing the Eagles to man-up giving us no choice.

But in saying all of this, we can still be serious contenders this year ... we don't have to win every game (Hawthorn certainly didn't last year), but we do have to win the important ones.

The most important thing from this game is how we bounce back and play next week ... 14 - 15 wins should ensure a top 4 finish, lets concentrate on that

[Before I Die]

- Where was the run? Too many long kicks to contests -- I thought we were supposed to be a handball-happy, run through the middle type team? Today we just stopped and propped and let West Coast man up.


I only saw the first half on the TV (in a pub with no sound), but it looked to me like the Eagles were using a midfield zone and we had no answer today. I would be interested to hear from any poster who actually was at the game, as the TV gives you nothing with regard to game plan or zoning.

Did we tag Kerr? I couldn't identify anyone who was running with him and couldn't work out if Picken had any run with role.

According to an article on Minson a few weeks ago, he has been asked to be a leading target rather than just a long target. I don't understand this as he just doesn't hold enough marks to be a leading target and it stops him from contesting the long ball and bringing it to ground for the crumbers, which he did well at times last year.

[LostDoggy]

Fresh and fresher blood.

Welsh, Murph, O'Keefe, Skip.

3-1 is still a great start but some of the guys did suffer from another trip over west i think. Big two weeks coming up.

Yesterday was the worst example of umpiring i've seen in a long while. WTF was with that "mark" from Tom? Ball up? The ball wasn't in dispute, nobody was disadvantaged. Disgrace. Umpire round my arse.

[Dazza]

Thought Hargrave bombed the ball aimlessly a few too many times today.

[dog town]

This was always on the cards. We have not played fantastic footy so far this year. We have really been carried by a brilliant backline and our ability to win the contested ball. Our use of the ball moving forward has been well down all year. Our use of handballing has been brilliant but our kicking has been disgraceful. I saw a stat on the weekend that has us number 1 for turnovers but 4th best for scores against from turnovers. This is a massive pat on the back for our backline and a huge kick in the arse for our ball users and forward set up. It is not panic stations at all but its a problem we need to counter.

Our defense was fantastic again imo. Not only were they keeping the opposition out but they were launching the majority of our attacks as well.

We have clearly made concerted effort to use handball in close and I think its been a real feature of our play. Something that really annoys me though is when a receiving player gets past the contest before the player gains possession of the ball. In the first quarter I think this cost us 2 goals. Aker is brilliant at holding position over the ball and releasing players by hand. Twice he got in position to do this only for his teammate to be 2 metres past him by the time he had the ball. Aker turned it over here but it was not his fault at all. It might sound old fashioned but his teammate should have tread water and stayed front and square to the contest. Happened at other times around the ground as well.

Hammered at the stoppages mainly due to the hit outs to advantage Cox was able to effect. We needed to keep the ball in close from the taps but they were able to clear the area pretty easily. The midfield should be stung by that performance.

Hahn- Just not working hard enough. I have always said second and third efforts are the big indicator with Mitch and at the moment they are not evident. Even in round 1 he got quite a few gift goals so that performance was a little bit overrated. He just needs to lift his work rate so he can impact more contests.

Minson- It was set up for him to stamp himself on the game yesterday. He didnt have an impact. I have generally given Minson the benefit of the doubt but if we have guys performing below him then we should expect more than that from him.

Hargrave- One of the in form defenders of the competition. Spoiling yesterday was absolutely first rate and he is one of our best uers of the ball. Cant speak highly enough of him at the moment.

Aker- In very good form. Certainly wont be resting him if he doesnt get suspended.

Guido- Not sure whats going on. Injured or just in bad form?

Griffen- Does not work hard enough. Waiting for the penny to drop. Would also like to see him take more care of the footy.

Eagleton- Was deplorable by foot. In his defense I think he was going for some miracle kicks due to the way we were set up.

Picken- Was questioning his selection until the second half. Good signs and showed he is more than just a tagger or at least has other aspects to his game.

Gilbee- Didnt see anyone trying to free him up or block for him. He was awful in his own right but he needs some help.

Higgins- Very good at times. Seems a bit unsure overhead at the moment, not sure why that is. Seems to be fading out of games.

Hill- Again forced to play him deep to give us an aerial target. Its an indictment on Minsons presence in the air that Hill is more of a threat in that situation.

Harbrow- Least influential game I can remember from him. Little bit out of character I thought.

Will continue later.

[LostDoggy]

I didn't get to watch the game, just heard it on a very biased radio station.

My thoughts are: we have not really played as well as we can yet. Freo were just so awful that it made us look good. Hard wrestle with North Melbourne, but they have gone down a peg or two from last year IMHO. Richmond, well Melbourne beat them, and to think we struggled to score against them in the first quarter:eek:

Still all in all, I think it is better to peak later in the season and not this early ala St Kilda, who I suspect will start to mount the injuries as the year wears on (they have already lost Kosi for a couple of weeks).
We have Carlton next week who are coming off a couple of losses, who will see us as an easy beat this week going by their past record and our loss to WC, this could give us a psychological edge - we have to beat them to restore some credibility, for the fans
not the media.
Three wins our of four with Cooney at half mask and no Murphy or Welsh is not too bad. This loss well get the media off our back and allow us to fly more under the radar which is when we play our best footy.
Next couple of weeks are going to be interesting. We need to beat Carlton, even if we lose to the Saints, we have them again later in the season and that is when we should knock them off.
I think we keep judging ourselves on the standards that Geelong have set, which is not realistic, other premiership team have had their losses along the way.

[LostDoggy]

We also are missing our two best players...Murphy and Cooney

And its only round 4

You really should include another, Guy!!!!!

[Sedat]

Picken- Was questioning his selection until the second half. Good signs and showed he is more than just a tagger or at least has other aspects to his game.
Great wrap-up as always DT. Quick question? Why on earth wouldn't Picken be assigned to Kerr from the very start of the match? By all accounts, Boyd was assigned the job but gave Kerr too much latitude and he torched us before Picken was given the job. Was Picken put onto Rosa at the first bounce? What a strange decision by the match commitee if true.

[mighty_west]

I've just come home from the game and read all of the posts in this thread ... There are a few 'Chicken Littles" here :rolleyes:

We didn't lose the game because of the heat ... we were flat in the warm-up before the game started.
We didn't lose the game due to the travel (or the six day turn around) ... the Eagles have won three premierships doing this fortnightly.
We didn't lose the game due to bad umpiring decisions ... as atrocious as they were, the bad decisions went both ways.

There is two reasons we lost this game ...
1. The Eagles wanted it more than we did; their intensity was higher, their running in packs more frequent, and their attack more direct
2. Our poor decision making ... the amount of times we bombed the ball long to a two on one contest absolutely blew my mind today. Our running game requires us to follow our first instinct and play on at all costs ... we didn't do that, when running with the ball we waited for a second option allowing the Eagles to man-up giving us no choice.

But in saying all of this, we can still be serious contenders this year ... we don't have to win every game (Hawthorn certainly didn't last year), but we do have to win the important ones.

The most important thing from this game is how we bounce back and play next week ... 14 - 15 wins should ensure a top 4 finish, lets concentrate on that

Well said scragger, you call em Chicken Littles, i call them Mike Sheahans, wants players heads after a bad performance etc etc, we are world beaters one minute, the next we are poo etc etc.....

Have to give West Coast credit, they were ON, and not only on, but hitting targets etc, they had a real structure, a forward line, not pinning their hopes on a skinny flanker [Josh Hill] as their main target.

It was like West Coast of the 90's, the positive was that we wearn't blown away, but we did look as flat as a tack, just hope the players can recover for next Sunday, yesterday was grooling, the players looked spent by half time.

To me, even though it was round 4, it was almost a finals type of game, the pressure etc, and we crumbled, especially up forward, thankfully our defence is holding up strong, just wanted a few clearances though, we got BELTED from the middle.

If Welsh was taken over with the team, why didn't he play? I would have even given Grant a game, at least giving us some sort of a structure up forward.

[dog town]

Great wrap-up as always DT. Quick question? Why on earth wouldn't Picken be assigned to Kerr from the very start of the match? By all accounts, Boyd was assigned the job but gave Kerr too much latitude and he torched us before Picken was given the job. Was Picken put onto Rosa at the first bounce? What a strange decision by the match commitee if true. Not sure on this one. Perhaps they were not keen on breaking up that core center square group? I must admit when I saw that he hadn't gone to Kerr I thought it was a bit of a waste of a position to have him in the side particularly up in the Perth heat. Glad to say he had a real impact at stages with his pressure skills and dropped off nicely to get a few important touches.

I think Boyd and Kerr went in a bit of a shoot out but Kerr did too much damage at the stoppages. I think if we had our time over again we would go a bit more defensive at the stoppages because the eagles mids got an arm chair ride from the ruck division. I think we may have been better off doing what some clubs do to us by making it a bit of a scrap around the ball.At the very least a little more attention on Kerr might have made it a bit tougher for them.

[Desipura]

I believe Boydy's disposal has improved over the last 1-2 years which is pleasing, nailed a nice goal from the pocket yesterday.

[Sedat]

Not sure on this one. Perhaps they were not keen on breaking up that core center square group? I must admit when I saw that he hadn't gone to Kerr I thought it was a bit of a waste of a position to have him in the side particularly up in the Perth heat. Glad to say he had a real impact at stages with his pressure skills and dropped off nicely to get a few important touches.

I think Boyd and Kerr went in a bit of a shoot out but Kerr did too much damage at the stoppages. I think if we had our time over again we would go a bit more defensive at the stoppages because the eagles mids got an arm chair ride from the ruck division. I think we may have been better off doing what some clubs do to us by making it a bit of a scrap around the ball.At the very least a little more attention on Kerr might have made it a bit tougher for them.
Thanks DT, much appreciated. From my perspective, just a bizarre decision not to put Picken onto Kerr, who has proven frequently in the post Judd/Cousins era that he cannot handle the really close checking tag, not to mention the fact that he is by far the most important weapon in West Coast's midfield.

Did West Coast adopt the zone set-up against us? All 3 of our opponents in the first 3 rounds have used the zone liberally, with only North succeeding with it to some extent. West Coast have been a staunch one-on-one side until this year but their use of the midfield zone was very noticiable against Brisbane and Port in the first 2 rounds. It also sounds like we were quite static when we did have the ball yesterday, which is in sharp contrast to our run and carry by hand in the first 3 weeks of the season.

[dog town]

Thanks DT, much appreciated. From my perspective, just a bizarre decision not to put Picken onto Kerr, who has proven frequently in the post Judd/Cousins era that he cannot handle the really close checking tag, not to mention the fact that he is by far the most important weapon in West Coast's midfield.

Did West Coast adopt the zone set-up against us? All 3 of our opponents in the first 3 rounds have used the zone liberally, with only North succeeding with it to some extent. West Coast have been a staunch one-on-one side until this year but their use of the midfield zone was very noticiable against Brisbane and Port in the first 2 rounds. It also sounds like we were quite static when we did have the ball yesterday, which is in sharp contrast to our run and carry by hand in the first 3 weeks of the season.

Definetly employed the zone against us. We still tried to push through it by hand but obviously it is a very long ground and at times we were always going to need to find a target further down the ground. Without Murphy and Welsh we probably lacked that target coming up the ground. I actually thought we looked at our most dangerous when we kicked the ball through the corridor coming out of defense and then used handball from then on. It was high risk stuff because they were running a zone but it meant we were penetrating deeper as it made up for that extra half kick in length that Subi has.

When we used exclusively hands out of defense if we didnt find an out rider in space who could continue the ball carrying then we seemed to be a kick and a half away from our next target. That resulted in a lot of kick and hope type situations. It was a little similar to watching us play say the crows 3 years ago.

Nothing to worry about too much as we still looked more than dangerous at times. Getting first hands on the ball would eliminate a lot of these problems anyway.

[Cyberdoggie]

Well said scragger, you call em Chicken Littles, i call them Mike Sheahans, wants players heads after a bad performance etc etc, we are world beaters one minute, the next we are poo etc etc.....

Have to give West Coast credit, they were ON, and not only on, but hitting targets etc, they had a real structure, a forward line, not pinning their hopes on a skinny flanker [Josh Hill] as their main target.

It was like West Coast of the 90's, the positive was that we wearn't blown away, but we did look as flat as a tack, just hope the players can recover for next Sunday, yesterday was grooling, the players looked spent by half time.

To me, even though it was round 4, it was almost a finals type of game, the pressure etc, and we crumbled, especially up forward, thankfully our defence is holding up strong, just wanted a few clearances though, we got BELTED from the middle.

If Welsh was taken over with the team, why didn't he play? I would have even given Grant a game, at least giving us some sort of a structure up forward.

Agreed, you can attribute a few factors to the performance of the dogs, however i don't think we should panic. I personally am going to write this one off.

There were a few things about the game that i noticed however that i can't forget:

*Johnson is starting to look old, and we can't rely on him to be our key forward. Hahn, Minson and Another tall are required to perform. I think maybe Williams or Grant should be looked at soon.

*A few players still looked unable to cope with the physical pressure of West Coast
*Eagle, enough said
*Lots of mistakes, many due to pressure but if we are going to play that game we can't afford to make so many
*I didn't realize that the green coloured theme "let's be nice to umpires" round had been changed to "Work experience umpires" round. Some terrible decisions, particularly at the end of the first quarter which lead to several goals to the eagles and ultimately the approx margin at the final siren.
*We miss Cooney
*Higgo is the most improved player in the AFL so far this year.

[The Coon Dog]

Just a few things about Sunday.

Gia was benched as he was playing poor. Had 75% game time instead of the usual 85%.

Brian Lake was crook & got out of a sick bed to play.

Johnno rolled an ankle in the warm up, by then it was too late so he had to play.

[Mantis]

Just a few things about Sunday.

Gia was benched as he was playing poor. Had 75% game time instead of the usual 85%.

Brian Lake was crook & got out of a sick bed to play.

Johnno rolled an ankle in the warm up, by then it was too late so he had to play.

Interesting reading CD.

Do we know if we had an emergency in Perth? It was reported by GVG that Welsh had flown over there, but conflicting reports had him missing with a back injury.

[The Coon Dog]

Interesting reading CD.

Do we know if we had an emergency in Perth? It was reported by GVG that Welsh had flown over there, but conflicting reports had him missing with a back injury.

We did (not sure who), but it was too late. Johnno rolled the ankle after the team sheets had been lodged.

[Mantis]

Downloaded the game last night and have just finished watching it now, comments:

* Gia's game was poor, no wonder he spent so long on the bench. Ditto for Gilbee.

* Our kicking in perfect conditions was poor. The number of times we missed a target under little pressure was staggering. Individuals such as Griffen & Eagleton need to use the ball better.

* Backline was good once again, Hargrave was very impressive.

* Killed at the stoppages and probably the main reason why we lost.

* Struggled up forward, just seemed to be out-numbered every time we went forward, but they weren't helped by the sloppy kicking.

* And we got murdered by the ump's.