Game Day - Bulldogs vs Demons

[GVGjr]

This is the discussion thread for tomorrow tonights game.

Who's you tip to kick the first goal for us? I'll go for Darcy

Will Power and Eagleton be given defensive assignments again this week?

[Go_Dogs]

I hope we don't go too defensive today. It could be our downfall.

I'm going with Akermanis to get our first goal again. Looking forward to the game, should be a good one. Let's hope not an upset like last night.

[LostDoggy]

Eagleton to kick our first. Back to our running, attacking game tonight.

[bornadog]

Murphy to kick first goal. looking for a big tonight, but hope the boys don't think its just going to happen like Collingwood did.

[BulldogBelle]

Giansiracusa to kick our first goal tonight.

[Dry Rot]

First goal Riewoldt.

Go Saints!







(Scored a free ticket to Telstra Stadium tonight and I'm going to be a Sainter for the night. Hope I survive - strange things happen when i go to the footy with my Saints mates. Hope they win - I hate hearing the Swans song....)

[bornadog]

Confirmed

Out: Johnno

In: McDougall

[LostDoggy]

Oh well, there's always next year.

[GVGjr]

Well wasn't that embarrassing? I had a bad feeling about the game and early on it was evident that we were just not switched on against a committed opponent.

A mate of mine mentioned earlier today that if we didn't win tonight that he didn't think we would win another game for the season. On tonights performance we will struggle to crack another win.

[GVGjr]

Demons dent Dogs finals' hopes
11 August 2007 Herald Sun

AN inspired Melbourne put a massive dent in the Western Bulldogs' dwindling finals chances with an upset 19.15 (129) to 12.15 (87) victory to celebrate Jeff White's 250th AFL match at Telstra Dome tonight.

The Demons' surprise win was the second major upset of the round, after bottom-placed Richmond downed Collingwood at the MCG the previous night.

It was just the Demons' fourth win of the year, but second in six games under caretaker coach Mark Riley, who oversaw a victory over Carlton in his first game in charge, before guiding the team to four straight big losses.

For the Bulldogs, who started the round out of the top eight only on percentage, it was a terrible result, with the loss their third big defeat in four rounds, broken up only by last Friday night's draw against St Kilda.

It was made worse by the loss of veteran key defender Chris Grant with a suspected knee injury 10 minutes into the match.

That came after skipper Brad Johnson was a late pre-game withdrawal with a hamstring injury, robbing the Bulldogs of class and experience at both ends of the ground, with both losses sorely felt.

Melbourne looked the better team from the start, kicking three of the first four goals, two of them coming to makeshift tall forward Ben Holland, who finished the night with four majors in a fine performance.

Hard-working midfielder Nathan Jones had a strong first quarter to help his side get on top, but it was not until late in the second quarter that the Demons took control of the match.

After leading by five points 10 minutes into the second quarter, they broke the game open by kicking the final four goals of the first half, including two in time-on to Aaron Davey.

Up by 28 points at the long break, they buried any chance of a Bulldogs revival by piling on six consecutive goals in an 18-minute stretch from early in the third term to push their lead out to 59 points.

Classy midfielders Travis Johnstone and Brad Green were instrumental in the game-breaking surge, while milestone man White was a solid contributor in the ruck.

Holland was a constant danger up forward, helping to stretch the Bulldogs' defence, particularly once Grant, his initial opponent, was out of action.

Russell Robertson kicked three goals, chiming in with two goals during the third-quarter surge, the second a clever snap which rolled through from a tight angle, after Holland set it up by working desperately to keep the ball in Melbourne's forward zone.

Bulldogs midfielders Daniel Cross, Adam Cooney, Matthew Boyd and Scott West worked hard, but the 'Dogs generally failed to make the most of their chances when they went forward.

Half-forward Shaun Higgins booted five goals and Robert Murphy worked hard to provide a target and kicked three, but the Bulldogs had few other avenues to goal and missed plenty of gettable shots.

[LostDoggy]

Anyone able to get some positives out of tonights effort? Higgins? Power?
I'm really struggling to find much out of the game.

[The Coon Dog]

Hard to really find any positives out of that utter debacle.

It was like the white flag was hoisted early on.

Perhaps, Murphy & Higgins were the only positives I could think of.

Interesting to hear the Melbourne's coach Mark Riley in his presser say that Neitz's role tonight was as a decoy forward purely to take Harris away from the action & allow Holland to go up against the inexperienced Williams as the main target. Worked well!

Any word on Chris Grant's injury?

After tonight do people feel that the season's over or can we win our last 3 games?

I heard David King tonight say on radio say that he feels that the Bulldogs players would get a far better message if they missed the finals rather than limping into to it & being bundled straight out.

I'd like to make the finals, can't see it happening & on reflection of our season we don't really deserve it. One thing about the the ladder, it doesn't lie.

[GVGjr]

We struggle against Adelaide, the Hawks and Roos are in good form or better form than us so we have had a big dose of reality thrown at us.

Not sure what the answer is but there need to be a comprehensive review at the club because clearly this is not acceptable.

For next season we will lose Grant, Darcy, Montgomery, Robbins and Walsh plus I'm sure there will be a couple of others as well. We gain Harbrow.
We lack a key forward of quality and our list is far too light on for body size, strength and experience.

It goes without saying but there is plenty of work to get done before we are genuine contenders.

[Dry Rot]

First goal Riewoldt.

Go Saints!







(Scored a free ticket to Telstra Stadium tonight and I'm going to be a Sainter for the night. Hope I survive - strange things happen when i go to the footy with my Saints mates. Hope they win - I hate hearing the Swans song....)


Bloody hell!

I go to the footy up here kitted out in my Bulldogs gear no matter who is playing.

The Saints got done and we got thrashed by the Dees.

63,000 people were laughing at me....

Shocking night. Double loser.

[Dry Rot]

Confirmed

Out: Johnno

In: McDougall

How did he go?

[The Coon Dog]

Bloody hell!

I go to the footy up here kitted out in my Bulldogs gear no matter who is playing.

The Saints got done and we got thrashed by the Dees.

63,000 people were laughing at me....

Shocking night. Double loser.

Could have been worse DR.

You could have been at Telstra Dome with some of the very disappointed 18,000 watching us put up at best, token resistance to the 15th side on the ladder. :(

[The Coon Dog]

How did he go?

I thought he didn't do too bad at times in defence. Seems to have nice closing speed, so was able to effect a few spoils, one that allowed him to run onto & kick to Murphy for a goal.

[BulldogBelle]

How did he go?

DR my friend, to be completely honest he didn't set the world on fire, did one or two good things but not enough - would have preferred Johnno in the team. ;)

[Dry Rot]

DR my friend, to be completely honest he didn't set the world on fire, did one or two good things but not enough - would have preferred Johnno in the team. ;)

Sounds you watched a very different game to the one I saw.

Yes, it was shit to watch, but every player had a real crack and put their bodies on the line.

[LostDoggy]

Sounds you watched a very different game to the one I saw.

Yes, it was shit to watch, but every player had a real crack and put their bodies on the line.

Which is all you can ask for really. It really was a poor, poor performance. I don't know a lot about footy but even I realise handballing to a stationary teammate will get you in trouble. And it was happening all the time. They just could not, for whatever reason, get any run going. Made Melbourne look good. Of course our injuries this year (and last night) play a part but for the fit players out there to lose their intensity (or is it confidence) is very disappointing.

Murphy was good - he took a great mark at one point. Contested, leaped in the air and spun around and some came down with the ball in his arms. The only happy memory I will take from last night. Higgins did well with his 5 goals too.

Was it a case of no Johnno, no Bulldogs? It was as if their legs were full of lead.

To be honest, we haven't played that well all year and certainly not consistently. A stark contrast to last year. It really hasn't "clicked" for us and I can't see us making the finals. That was my expectation for this year - that we play finals again but clearly we are not good enough at this point.

GVGjr - I agree that a full on review will need to done at the end of Round 22 as there are some real problems with the current list balance.

The weekend is always more gloomy after a loss ...

[GVGjr]

I thought he didn't do too bad at times in defence. Seems to have nice closing speed, so was able to effect a few spoils, one that allowed him to run onto & kick to Murphy for a goal.

There was also a good tackle early on as well.. It wasn't a good game by McDougall but I think we should stick with him.

[Go_Dogs]

Positives:
Murphy - another great game. He's so important and almost singlehandedly kept us in the game early.
Higgins - Ditto. Great game, could've had 7 goals, easily.
Tiller - pleasing efforts forward and back, good speed and good below the knees. Still got a lot of learning, but enough positives to persist with for mine.
Doogs - Liked his game and attack on the ball, his run from defence was good, pleasing.
Ray - Liked his game and work rate, becoming an important player and one who is prepared to keep working and not drop his head.

Negatives:
Basic skill errors by guys like Cooney, McMahon, West, etc, long bomb kicks to no one or no where. Why are we so panicky out the clearance? How many did we win and combine with an efficient ball movement forward? Perhaps 1 or 2??!
Cross inability to quickly move the ball forward by foot. I counted about 5+ occasions where he received the ball, and instead of running forward or moving it by boot whilst he had the chance, he stood on the spot and waited for someone running past to handball off to, by which stage we're surrounded and coughing up the ball.
Harris rushing that behind, where was the talk by Cooney to him, or others?
Power running along near the boundary on our hff line, we're under pressure, he's running past, isn't even looking to receive the handball, which was obviously coming, turnover.
Paying attention - Someone should've manned up Dutchy in the goal square, how he can sit there, get the kick from 10 out to him and goal. Overall, one to forget.


I agree with your friend GVGjr, that we probably won't win another game for the year.

[bornadog]

Couldn't go last night and only got to listen to the first half on radio. Watched the first and last quarters this morning, couldn't bear to watch the second and third where we got smashed. Looking at the stats for the game (WB 370, Melb 316), you would think we dominated, but this hold on to the ball and chip around game is not us and must be stopped immediately. No Melbourne player had more the 25 disposals yet we had four with West (37), Cooney (34), Cross (30) and Boyd (26), but all round Melbourne seem to be more even than us and their disposals were more effective.

The biggest problem for us as I see it, are the rucks, which help clear posession from stoppages or out of the centre and therefore the midfield can deliver with less pressure to the forward line. Melbourne killed us in the hitouts with White (20). Jamar (15) compared to Darcy (17) and Skipper (6), this is just not good enough. Street needs to get back in and its a pity Minson is injured, otherwise I don't see any alternative, unless we decide to put Wight in the ruck and keep him there to learn in the last three games.

Overall, disspointing this season to be beaten by the two second bottom sides.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Couldn't go last night and only got to listen to the first half on radio. Watched the first and last quarters this morning, couldn't bear to watch the second and third where we got smashed. Looking at the stats for the game (WB 370, Melb 316), you would think we dominated, but this hold on to the ball and chip around game is not us and must be stopped immediately. No Melbourne player had more the 25 disposals yet we had four with West (37), Cooney (34), Cross (30) and Boyd (26), but all round Melbourne seem to be more even than us and their disposals were more effective.

The biggest problem for us as I see it, are the rucks, which help clear posession from stoppages or out of the centre and therefore the midfield can deliver with less pressure to the forward line. Melbourne killed us in the hitouts with White (20). Jamar (15) compared to Darcy (17) and Skipper (6), this is just not good enough. Street needs to get back in and its a pity Minson is injured, otherwise I don't see any alternative, unless we decide to put Wight in the ruck and keep him there to learn in the last three games.

Overall, disspointing this season to be beaten by the two second bottom sides.

You make a lot of good points bornadog re possession game, ruckman and ruckwork, plus the disappointment of droppping games to teams we as supporters feel we should be beating.

I couldn't go either. I head the last quarter on the radio and the wrap up and heard King talking. I actually kind of agree with him that there is no way this current group deserve to play finals. We have a lot of work to do

[Topdog]

Wow I didnt think it was possible to see a worse performance than the the game against West Coast but gee that oassed it easily.