Our opponents next week: Sydney

[Dry Rot]

Sounds like they bounced back to form today against the comp's hot team. Are they back in form or was Port poor today?

Can we finally beat them at Manuka Oval?

Presume Harris gets Hall, Hargrave on Micky O and Morris takes Davis?

[Go_Dogs]

Sydney were very good today, watched the game earlier. They're tough around the stoppage, Everitt really played himself into some form today - both in the centre and around the ground. They run hard, contest hard, but most importantly rarely butcher the ball. They are patient and wait for the right moment.

Today Goodes v C.Cornes basically nullified each other, young Shaun whose been so important for the Power was very quite, and generally they could only find a winner up forward with Ebert.

Hall didn't kick a bag today, but his body work and attack created a lot of other opportunities, and Micky O continues to play well.

Port have a fairly similar game plan to us - and in really struggles in Sydney on a shorter oval with not as much space through the corridor. Sydney being a good contested/clearance team were able to execute a single kick to 20-30m out that resulted in goals time and time again. They won't have this luxury next week.

To win. we'll need a very even performance from the lads, and Cooney and Johnson would be 2 players I think will be very important - as will Cross, Boyd and West.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Sounds like they bounced back to form today against the comp's hot team. Are they back in form or was Port poor today?

Can we finally beat them at Manuka Oval?

Presume Harris gets Hall, Hargrave on Micky O and Morris takes Davis?

The challenge of sydney is clearance and stoppage work.

If we can generate enough drive from centre square, and stoppages around the ground then I am sure we will beat them.

BUT and it is a big BUT, we have not consistently been good in this are this year.

I think our guys are now working closer to the level required and so good things will continue to happen for the group

Hasn't Morris generally gone to Micky O?
Would it be Hargrave on OKeefe?
Who does Wight go to?

[Dry Rot]

Hm, yes, forgot about O'Keefe which is odd because he's my favourite Swan. Terrific player.

[Dry Rot]

IIRC, the Swans' record at Maunka isn't flash. This time we play them on a big ground.

IMO the trickiest match-ups for us are Goodes & O'Keefe, and Spider if he goes forward.

[bornadog]

IIRC, the Swans' record at Maunka isn't flash. This time we play them on a big ground.

IMO the trickiest match-ups for us are Goodes & O'Keefe, and Spider if he goes forward.

Goodes is very difficult for us to match up and seems to pick up three brownlow votes every time. I think playing on the slightly larger Manuka Oval will suit us more than the SCG. At least Manuka is a neutral ground and there won't be any advantages to either club. The biggest factor could be the weather. Its going to be an interesting battle and with Street playing well, will have a great duel with Spider.

Any one venturing to Canberra..........DR?

[Dry Rot]

Yep, I'll be there and bringing a group of local Saints and Pies mercenaries to the game.

Anyone else going? Would be good to catch up.

[bornadog]

At least Manuka is a neutral ground and there won't be any advantages to either club.

Looks like the dogs agree


The Bulldogs travel to Canberra this weekend to 'host' Sydney at Manuka Oval and Hargrave said the neutral venue made it more of a 50-50 contest that were the match played at the SCG.

[Twodogs]

Yep, I'll be there and bringing a group of local Saints and Pies mercenaries to the game.

Anyone else going? Would be good to catch up.


I'll be there with my personal army of bulldog supporters.



I couldnt handle having to cultivate friends who follow different clubs just to talk footy. Not that I have anything against people who follow other clubs, some of them can be fairly interesting sometimes, but I rarely talk footy with non-bulldog supporters. Dave I admire your perserverence and dedication to the cause.

[dog town]

I always look forward to these games against good opposition even though I have generally been dissapointed with our efforts. It is a massive test for us and I look forward to seeing what we have learnt and whether Eade has any new ideas to try and counter temas like Sydney and Adelaide.

I wonder whether Eade will be tempted to bring in Robbins who has a very good record against Sydney recently. Last year we had bugger all inside 50s but we were very effective up forward. Eade told them to kick long over the line of swans who were clogging our midfield space and get it into Johnson and Robbins in one on one situations and it seemed to expose the swans a little bit but unfortunately we were belted at the clearances and couldn't get enough supply.

Harris will obviously get Hall and that is going to be another good test for him. I hope he really gets under the skin of Hall who I think is far less effective when he is worried about bashing his opponent. He is going to find himself one out alot because the swans are so good at pushing up to the ball carrier and leaving space behind them. I would go with Morris on Micky O'Loughlin just because he hurts on the scoreboard more than O'Keefe and I like Morris closer to goal. Hargrave can run around with O'Keefe and hopefully make him spend a bit of juice chasing back side. If its not working out then Morris and Hargrave can just swap. Power might be some sort of chance to come in and play on O'keefe as well given that he beat him in the pre season game and Rocket may be concerned about matching up Goodes if he plays forward. If Goodes moves forward Eade might like the option of throwing Hargrave onto him instead of Wight but to do that we probably need someone like Power to cover off the other options. Goodes tagged last week so look for him to be released this week with his confidence up. To be honest I think their forward line looms as a massive danger. On top of the main targets I just went through they have so many small options like Davis, Buchanon etc that dont need many touches to really hurt you.

We need Street to have a blinder if we hope to be competitive around the stoppages. Sydney absolutely pantsed us last year at the stoppages and even when we won the taps we were just getting pushed straight under the ball and the swans coming off the edges of the square would clean it up. Like us to keep it simple and try and tap the ball to an area where we have numbers and go from there rather than trying pin point the hollywood tap to a running player. Guys like Hahn breaking up the traffic for us off the point of the square should be important. Darcy will spend plenty of time in the ruck I would guess.

[Dry Rot]

IIRC Hargrave has a much better record than Morris vs Micky O?

What will we do when Spider goes forward?

[GVGjr]

IIRC Hargrave has a much better record than Morris vs Micky O?

What will we do when Spider goes forward?

Wight on Spida if he goes forward would be a good match-up.

Hargrave, Morris and Griffen are all viable options on Micky O and O'Keefe

[Go_Dogs]

Bentley destroyed O'Keefe last weekend. I'd like to see someone like Addison perhaps get a role with him, or perhaps Power may come into the side - Power did play on him during the pre-season competition.

[Dry Rot]

O'Keefe rarely plays 2 poor games in a row - the task could be beyond Addison.

[Bulldog Revolution]

They clearly have a talented forward line, Harris will go with Hall.

I wonder if Morris might run with Goodes leaving Wight and Hargraves to maybe matchup on OKeefe and Micky O. But Gilbee and Griffen might factor into it on OKeefe if Rocket feels like trying something different. Griffen might thrive on being given a job, in the same way the matchup on Gary Ablett Jnr brought out the best in him.

Last year we went in with only 1 ruckman and McGuiness as the backup. I think Street was unable to ruck for more than 18 or so minutes a quarter so we looked a bit exposed in the red time of quarters.

[Dry Rot]

Great article to read about our opponents:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/afl/leos-leap-of-faith-for-the-true-believers/2005/09/25/1127586746425.html

[dog town]

Interesting changes to the team. McDougall in either as a replacement for someone who has pulled out, a possible match up for Goodes or to stretch them up forward. Power could be in specifically to play on O'Keefe. Faulkner is probably in for a little bit of bite around the packs. Its probably a good idea but I think some teams get sucked in to trying to scrap with Sydney. Realistically it is as much a test of our running/skillful players as it is our tough ball winners.

Basically the swans will score against you in 3 ways other than directly from centre clearances.

1) They will run the ball from defence with waves of runners and sometimes 10 or more handballs. This is when they are in all out attack mode and they generally do this when they feel they are controlling the game. They will draw players and then release the ball and carry the ball forward through sheer weight of numbers. I would like to see us not run at them unless we can stick a tackle and make them kick over us. Hopefully we can get the ball in enough space that we are able to hit targets going inside 50 so that they cannot hurt us on the rebound.

2) Another way they will score generally happens just when the opposition is getting on top. They will slow the game to a walk and slowly chip the ball forward. They will clear out space for each other and just keep hitting leading targets until they get close enough to spot up a target inside 50. It is incredibly effective at cutting out opposition run ons and we have to do something to counter it. The best way to do it is to not give them the ball to start with.

3) The last main way that they score against you comes about from their accountability. They are excellent at making the opposition cough the ball up by cutting off easy outlet options. They force you into a turnover and then spot up a pass inside 50 before you can push back.

Around the stoppages their tactics are fairly simple. They get as many numbers around the contest as possible and have their ruckmen tap the ball in very close giving the likes of Kirk, Bolton and co a chance to use their strengths. Stkilda did something interesting when they beat them. Sydney generally goes one on one and usually they will have good players like Kirk etc running with the oppositions good players and nullifying them in close. The saints took their guns away from the stoppages and cleared the stoppages right out because the swans all followed their opponents. I wonder how much Eade took note of this?

[Topdog]

I really can't see us winning this game unfortunately. We are going to be missing our run out of the backline a lot and I think it was going to be our greatest strength against them and the 1 thing where we had a clear advantage against them.

[GVGjr]

I really can't see us winning this game unfortunately. We are going to be missing our run out of the backline a lot and I think it was going to be our greatest strength against them and the 1 thing where we had a clear advantage against them.

I still rate our chances. It might be blind optimism but I think the Swans are very beatable.
It probably hinges on if Johnson and Darcy are limited by their injuries from last week.
A great test to see where we really are.

[LostDoggy]

I agree with you GVGjr - a winnable game. I was extremely confident till I saw our injuries, but even with those outs still believe we are a good chance.

[Go_Dogs]

I think the creativity and spark that McMahon and Griffen provide would've been very handy today.

[GVGjr]

I think the creativity and spark that McMahon and Griffen provide would've been very handy today.

I'll say. The run and drive that these two in particular can provide could have turned defence in attack for us. Bobby Murphy would have been hand as well but all in all we were outclassed.

[BulldogBelle]

I think the creativity and spark that McMahon and Griffen provide would've been very handy today.

Agreed, they both were sorely missed out there today.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Interesting changes to the team. McDougall in either as a replacement for someone who has pulled out, a possible match up for Goodes or to stretch them up forward. Power could be in specifically to play on O'Keefe. Faulkner is probably in for a little bit of bite around the packs. Its probably a good idea but I think some teams get sucked in to trying to scrap with Sydney. Realistically it is as much a test of our running/skillful players as it is our tough ball winners.

Basically the swans will score against you in 3 ways other than directly from centre clearances.

1) They will run the ball from defence with waves of runners and sometimes 10 or more handballs. This is when they are in all out attack mode and they generally do this when they feel they are controlling the game. They will draw players and then release the ball and carry the ball forward through sheer weight of numbers. I would like to see us not run at them unless we can stick a tackle and make them kick over us. Hopefully we can get the ball in enough space that we are able to hit targets going inside 50 so that they cannot hurt us on the rebound.

2) Another way they will score generally happens just when the opposition is getting on top. They will slow the game to a walk and slowly chip the ball forward. They will clear out space for each other and just keep hitting leading targets until they get close enough to spot up a target inside 50. It is incredibly effective at cutting out opposition run ons and we have to do something to counter it. The best way to do it is to not give them the ball to start with.

3) The last main way that they score against you comes about from their accountability. They are excellent at making the opposition cough the ball up by cutting off easy outlet options. They force you into a turnover and then spot up a pass inside 50 before you can push back.

Around the stoppages their tactics are fairly simple. They get as many numbers around the contest as possible and have their ruckmen tap the ball in very close giving the likes of Kirk, Bolton and co a chance to use their strengths. Stkilda did something interesting when they beat them. Sydney generally goes one on one and usually they will have good players like Kirk etc running with the oppositions good players and nullifying them in close. The saints took their guns away from the stoppages and cleared the stoppages right out because the swans all followed their opponents. I wonder how much Eade took note of this?

Wow DT. Nailed this one.