NAB Challenge?

[Bulldog Revolution]

Anyone know when and where our next game is likely to be?

Do they still call it NAB challenge if you are eliminated?

[SlimPickens]

Just saw a media release, it'll be announced by the AFL tomorrow.

[Desipura]

Just saw a media release, it'll be announced by the AFL tomorrow.

I read somewhere that we will be playing Carlton at Visy

[SlimPickens]

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

The AFL today announced the fixture for round two of the 2011 NAB Cup. All times are local:

Thursday February 24
Melbourne v Essendon at Etihad Stadium, 7.10pm (Fox Sports)

Friday February 25
Collingwood v Sydney Swans at Etihad Stadium, 7.40pm (Channel 7)

Saturday February 26
Geelong Cats v St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, 7.10pm (Channel 10)

Sunday February 27
West Coast v Gold Coast Suns at Patersons Stadium, 4.40pm (7.40pm AEDT, Fox Sports)

The schedule of matches in the NAB Challenge for the weekend of February 25-27 will be confirmed by the AFL tomorrow, Monday February 21.
ends
Patrick Keane

[chef]

Nice round of matches coming up.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Collingwood on FTA again, wouldn't have picked that.

[The Coon Dog]

Collingwood on FTA again, wouldn't have picked that.

Onya Ernie! ;)

[Desipura]

Collingwood on FTA again, wouldn't have picked that.Its not as if all the ferals will not rock up to the game, put em on Foxtel

[G-Mo77]

I read somewhere that we will be playing Carlton at Visy

Hopefully Saturday. I'm flying out to Sydney Saturday night to watch UFC Sunday so I could catch that game before my flight.

[Maddog37]

Says on AFL site that Carlton are playing GWS at Manuka. Hope we play Nth at Ballarat!!

[The Coon Dog]

1pm Saturday at Princes Park v Brisbane.

[G-Mo77]

1pm Saturday at Princes Park v Brisbane.

Yep, that should fit in nicely. :)

[Cyberdoggie]

1pm Saturday at Princes Park v Brisbane.

Sweet!

I love practice games at Princes Park against poor opposition.

:p

[LostDoggy]

1pm Saturday at Princes Park v Brisbane.

Bummer. I love playing out in the country somewhere, can go for a nice long country drive, have some country pie for lunch, and make a good day of it.

Visy, on the other hand, will stink of that blue filth.

Either way, good for Sherman I suppose, get that one out of the way early.

[Mr.1975]

Visy, on the other hand, will stink of that blue filth.

Funny cause it's true... LOL :)

[LostDoggy]

Might see if I can get around the stink of filth and go to the game Saturday!

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I'll try to get down too if all falls according to plan.

[choconmientay]

NAB challenge ticketing detail: http://www.afl.com.au/nab%20challenge%20ticketing/tabid/15700/default.aspx

[The Coon Dog]

NAB challenge ticketing detail: http://www.afl.com.au/nab%20challenge%20ticketing/tabid/15700/default.aspx

I guess the upshot is if you bring your 2011 Membership ticket along, you get free access.

[Mantis]

I guess the upshot is if you bring your 2011 Membership ticket along, you get free access.

And if yours hasn't yet arrived?

[The Coon Dog]

And if yours hasn't yet arrived?

Ring the club I suppose. I reckon there will be a few people in this situation.

You would like to think the club would either email members with advice or put some notice up on their website.

[Mantis]

I have heard that we will be making minimal changes to the squad for this weeks game. Reason for that is that in week 3 we are off to Bunbury to play Freo and due to the amount of travel involved we will be leaving quite a few (like 12-15) of the more experienced players at home.

[mjp]

Bunbury? Awesome...only a 2.5 hour drive.

What is the point of coming to WA and playing in Bunbury?

[ledge]

To make people like you drive 2.5 hours?

[mjp]

To make people like you drive 2.5 hours?

It is hard enough following an interstate club without them being scheduled to play country engagements. If they want to play in Bunbury - awesome. Let the good people of Bunbury watch West Coast play Freo - who I suspect 99% of them would follow anyway. Why make a Melbourne side fly across country then get on a bus to play a meaningless game...

Sorry, but this is just dumb.

[ledge]

No argument from me, maybe Ricky Nixon did the draw.

[Mantis]

No argument from me, maybe Ricky Nixon did the draw.

Why is that funny ledge?

[ledge]

Because he is dumb and the related post was it was a dumb draw.

[cambo]

Just found out round 3 Saturday 5th March we will be playing in my home town Bunbury WA against the Freo shockers!!! cant wait to see the boys over here but it means we will travel to WA 3 times in 8 to 10 weeks, good ole AFL wouldn't see Collingwood doing that!

[Ghost Dog]

I have heard that we will be making minimal changes to the squad for this weeks game. Reason for that is that in week 3 we are off to Bunbury to play Freo and due to the amount of travel involved we will be leaving quite a few (like 12-15) of the more experienced players at home.

Great chance to get some vision of unfamiliar faces. Am particularly keen to get a look at Dahlhaus an hope they give Hoops a run.

[Mantis]

Great chance to get some vision of unfamiliar faces. Am particularly keen to get a look at Dahlhaus an hope they give Hoops a run.

Where are you expecting to get this vision from?

[LostDoggy]

Western Bulldogs v Brisbane Lions
Visy Park
Sat Feb 26
1:00pm
Ticketing Information: All tickets will be general admission and available from the gate on the day only.

Adult $10.00
Concession $5.00
Junior Under 15 $2.00
Family (2A & 2J) $20.00

2011 AFL Members and 2011 members of the competing clubs can show their memberships at any gate to obtain entry.

[Ghost Dog]

Where are you expecting to get this vision from?

Video uploads...where else? Most fans upload video from games so from either ours or their fans, bound to get some clips.

[Cyberdoggie]

Team List v Brisbane Lions

1 Jarrad Grant
3 Mitch Wallis
4 Daniel Cross
5 Matthew Boyd
7 Shaun Higgins
9 Lindsay Gilbee
10 Justin Sherman
12 Tom Williams
13 Daniel Giansircausa
14 Callan Ward
15 Ben Hudson
16 Ryan Griffen
19 Liam Jones
20 Josh Hill
21 Tom Liberatore
22 Dylan Addison
24 Jayden Schofield
27 Will Minson
28 Barry Hall
29 Easton Wood
30 Chrsitian Howard
32 Patrick Veszpremi
33 Nathan Djerrkura
37 Lukas Markovic
42 Liam Picken
44 Brodie Moles

Entry is free for Western Bulldogs members.!!!

[Cyberdoggie]

Great chance to get some vision of unfamiliar faces. Am particularly keen to get a look at Dahlhaus an hope they give Hoops a run.

Neither are playing i'm afraid.

Looks like a current full strength squad (minus injuries) though.

[LostDoggy]

Surely, they won't make a full senoir squad travel to bloody WA next week?

[Cyberdoggie]

Surely, they won't make a full senoir squad travel to bloody WA next week?

Sorry Magic,

That squad is for the Brisbane game tomorrow.

Not sure for the Bunbury game yet, we'll probably find out mid next week.

[Mantis]

Not sure for the Bunbury game yet, we'll probably find out mid next week.

As per post #22 in this thread we will be making a heap of changes to the team for next weeks game which will allow some of the experienced guys to have a spell and quite a few of the younger guys to get a run.

[always right]

Check out Da Druid chatting with Aker on heraldsun.com.au

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport

Adam...can't believe you said Collingwood are looking real "spiccy". Is that even a word?:D

[LostDoggy]

Check out Da Druid chatting with Aker on heraldsun.com.au

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport

Adam...can't believe you said Collingwood are looking real "spiccy". Is that even a word?:D

You are wrong, always right. I said "spooky" in the Aker piece. If you are going to the Family Day tomorrow, I can bring some cotton buds down if you like? Sounds like they won't go to waste! ;)

[LostDoggy]

Sounded like Spiccy or Spiffy to me

[LostDoggy]

What about Aker getting on the bandwagon for Doggies to finish top 2? While we are all thinking positives, is it a good thing for us to have Aker in the press talking this up now or potentially dragging us down if we don't get off to a fast start?

[cambo]

I have heard from within the club that we will only be at 85% fitness at start of the year and the boys will be progressively getting fitter come mid season, this will hopefully allow us to have a full fit squad at finals time, something we have never had.

As I live in Bunbury I have been asked to help out in the rooms this weekend, so I may find out some more info on this

Cheers

[soupman]

I have heard from within the club that we will only be at 85% fitness at start of the year and the boys will be progressively getting fitter come mid season, this will hopefully allow us to have a full fit squad at finals time, something we have never had.

As I live in Bunbury I have been asked to help out in the rooms this weekend, so I may find out some more info on this

Cheers

You must be the only Bulldogs supporter in the World to look at the NAB challenge fixture and be happy we're playing there.

[Mantis]

I have heard from within the club that we will only be at 85% fitness at start of the year and the boys will be progressively getting fitter come mid season, this will hopefully allow us to have a full fit squad at finals time, something we have never had.

As I live in Bunbury I have been asked to help out in the rooms this weekend, so I may find out some more info on this

Cheers

I hadn't heard that before so would be interested in hearing any further info. if you can attain it.

I hope you enjoy the game on Saturday.

[LostDoggy]

I have heard from within the club that we will only be at 85% fitness at start of the year and the boys will be progressively getting fitter come mid season, this will hopefully allow us to have a full fit squad at finals time, something we have never had.

As I live in Bunbury I have been asked to help out in the rooms this weekend, so I may find out some more info on this

Cheers

I am not sure that I can totally subscribe to this theory, but then again the Crows credited some of their success in running out the season strong in the late 90's to drinking colostrum.

I agree that you want to be fitter at round 22 than you are in round 1 but I believe the concept is more to with injuries/load balancing over the season rather then not being at your peak fitness.

All players (bar injuries) are typically going to be fitter after a season of playing and training.

Sydney during their recent premiership window were alway very slow starters but by seasons end were red hot.

There was talk prior to last season that we would rest players like Hall throughout the season to ensure he made it in good shape for the finals.

From memory he only missed the one game so not sure if we really did enact this plan or he just made it through the season on good solid match preparation and recovery.

[cambo]

I hadn't heard that before so would be interested in hearing any further info. if you can attain it.

I hope you enjoy the game on Saturday.

I am friends with one of or trainers and he is the one who told me about our fitness levels, i just hope it works, no harm in trying i suppose

[cambo]

You must be the only Bulldogs supporter in the World to look at the NAB challenge fixture and be happy we're playing there.

Yes Soupaman I am happy its being played in Bunbury, even if it will be mostly our kids and inexperienced players, the only thing is we than travel over here 3 times in about 10 weeks which may not be good for us

[Mofra]

Yes Soupaman I am happy its being played in Bunbury, even if it will be mostly our kids and inexperienced players, the only thing is we than travel over here 3 times in about 10 weeks which may not be good for us
Hopefully the fact we're playing mostly kids this week means it's less of a factor in the H&A season.

The bye breaks up the travel too which could help.

[LostDoggy]

Yes Soupaman I am happy its being played in Bunbury, even if it will be mostly our kids and inexperienced players, the only thing is we than travel over here 3 times in about 10 weeks which may not be good for us

Cambo my brother lives in Bunbury, unfortunately he's a Pie but I was lucky enuff to take him to Visy to see us demolish the Lions and then to familyday where he kept rather quiet about his preferred team :D

[LostDoggy]

BTW Cambo. Nice piece of Artwork

[Mantis]

I am friends with one of or trainers and he is the one who told me about our fitness levels, i just hope it works, no harm in trying i suppose

I guess on Saturday you can confirm with your friend what he meant by the 85% figure, but I have heard that we will go into rd 1 at full fitness.

Enjoy the experience on Saturday and please share any insights you receive. :)

[The Adelaide Connection]

I am friends with one of or trainers and he is the one who told me about our fitness levels, i just hope it works, no harm in trying i suppose

I would argue there could potentially be a huge amount of harm in trying. We hit the Bombers in round 1 and their upside is they are a very young, fit team.

They beat us last year when their injury list was low and I think if we go into that fixture at 85% I think we could be in trouble. Coupled with the impressive preseason thus far of a host of their younger players, newfound confidence and a much smaller injury list I don't think that fixture is a "gimme" like the Brisbane game probably will be.

Winning form is good form. Our start last season was pretty ordinary but we have a favourable draw in the first few rounds to get off to a flyer, hope we don't blow it.

[The Adelaide Connection]

I am not sure that I can totally subscribe to this theory, but then again the Crows credited some of their success in running out the season strong in the late 90's to drinking colostrum.

I agree that you want to be fitter at round 22 than you are in round 1 but I believe the concept is more to with injuries/load balancing over the season rather then not being at your peak fitness.
.

Spot on. With regards to the Crows, didn't they used to start training the house down a month or so out from finals and then completely back off when finals started? Worked for a few years but seemed to completely derail them a few years back when all the extra work saw quite a few players start breaking down.

[The Adelaide Connection]

[QUOTE=DoggyStyle;201306]There was talk prior to last season that we would rest players like Hall throughout the season to ensure he made it in good shape for the finals.QUOTE]

There is talk of resting players EVERY year but we never seem to do it. I guess we are never quite in the position that say Collingwood were last year or St. Kilda were two years ago where they have already sewn up a top 2 spot with a few rounds to go and can afford to rest players. We seem to leave it very late to cement our spot in the 4.

[cambo]

BTW Cambo. Nice piece of Artwork

Thanks Shnookie
took 43 years to get 1st tat, got it done in Bali last October, rapt in the way it turned out, i am a very proud WA born Doggies supporter, have been all my life, even got Bulldogs number plates on my car. memorabilia all over house etc

[cambo]

Just been and watch boys have a light run in Bunbury, Rocket spoke to me and said they are not at 85% fitness, they will be 100% Sorry Rocket didn't know you read these posts!
I was given wrong information!

[LostDoggy]

Just been and watch boys have a light run in Bunbury, Rocket spoke to me and said they are not at 85% fitness, they will be 100% Sorry Rocket didn't know you read these posts!
I was given wrong information!

Nice one Rocket!! :D

[LostDoggy]

Just been and watch boys have a light run in Bunbury, Rocket spoke to me and said they are not at 85% fitness, they will be 100% Sorry Rocket didn't know you read these posts!
I was given wrong information!

So, a big Hi to Rocket! BTW - how did the boys look after their long trip over? Is the weather going to be hot over there - we don't really get Bunbury weather on the news here?