While others zig, should we zag?

[Go_Dogs]

So every year some clubs have success based on tweaks to game plan, how they transition the footy or the structures / types of players they put in key roles. Then clubs try to copy their blueprint and do it better the following year, sometimes with success and sometimes without.

Geelong seem to find a way to slightly reinvent themselves each year and remain competitive.

So?. While everyone is zigging this year, should we be zagging? What could our points of difference be with the cattle and coaching staff we have? How could we make that work and catch other teams sleeping or throw their list strategy and recruitment out?

[Bulldog Joe]

So every year some clubs have success based on tweaks to game plan, how they transition the footy or the structures / types of players they put in key roles. Then clubs try to copy their blueprint and do it better the following year, sometimes with success and sometimes without.

Geelong seem to find a way to slightly reinvent themselves each year and remain competitive.

So?. While everyone is zigging this year, should we be zagging? What could our points of difference be with the cattle and coaching staff we have? How could we make that work and catch other teams sleeping or throw their list strategy and recruitment out?

I have always felt that a team should develop a game plan that maximises the strengths that they have on their list.

It is futile to just copy someone else.

We need a game that suits our strength in contested marking and we need to demand our talls be active in creating options for ball carriers.

[comrade]

I think we did that to an extent this year.

We did that stripping thing at stoppage because English gets beaten every week, so oppo mids get first hands on it but we were able to dispossess and win the clearance more often than not. It fell apart in the EF because Tim was even worse than usual and our mids also had a horrible night.

I?m not sure what the game plan tweaks will be for next year but it 100% should revolve around Sam Darcy.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Find a cheap bash and crash ruck to challenge English.

Let it start from there.

[bornadog]

I think we did that to an extent this year.

We did that stripping thing at stoppage because English gets beaten every week, so oppo mids get first hands on it but we were able to dispossess and win the clearance more often than not. It fell apart in the EF because Tim was even worse than usual and our mids also had a horrible night.

I?m not sure what the game plan tweaks will be for next year but it 100% should revolve around Sam Darcy.

We lost the final because Hawks small forwards locked the ball in their half and we could only get the ball into our F50 39 times. Our average for the year was 57.

[westbulldog]

Find a cheap bash and crash ruck to challenge English.

Let it start from there.

We had one who just got some coaches votes in a high pressure final, but the naysayers and cynics on here continually derided him.

[bulldogtragic]

Find a cheap bash and crash ruck to challenge English.

Let it start from there.

We had one who just got some coaches votes in a high pressure final, but the naysayers and cynics on here continually derided him.

The Match Committee didn’t select him so he left. I think the MC/Coach had a bigger role than whoever the nay sayers were on here.

[Sedat]

We lost the final because Hawks small forwards locked the ball in their half and we could only get the ball into our F50 39 times. Our average for the year was 57.

How did it get into Hawthorn's forward line in the first place? I suspect Meek had absolutely nothing to do with this - I know he was given coaches votes against the Dogs but what would they know.

[bornadog]

How did it get into Hawthorn's forward line in the first place? I suspect Meek had absolutely nothing to do with this - I know he was given coaches votes against the Dogs but what would they know.

Meek played a great game around the ground with 23 disposals.

How did it get there: Hawks played a keepings off game that took the ball from the backline to the forward line. We should have reacted to this by going one on one.

[azabob]

Cool, another thread about ruckman.

[comrade]

Cool, another thread about ruckman.

It all comes back to Timmy.

[Sedat]

Cool, another thread about ruckman.

Guilty as charged. I started the first discussion on him back in 2019, under the premise of "shooting Bambi" for questioning the long-term viability of English as a no 1 ruckman despite being so young at the time - to me he just lacked that killer competitive instinct at the time (and obviously he still does). The fact that it is still a hot topic of discussion more than 5 years later doesn't please me at all - I would have loved to be completely wrong on him, because it would have likely meant we win a premiership in the last few years.

The James Harmes bandwagon fan club meetings are currently being held in a phone booth, and I'm not expecting any new recruits in the off-season either. I've gotten him wrong so far after year 1, and it would be foolish to double-down and not make that obvious concession. English as no 1 ruck has his fans here, and it is up to them whether or not they want to concede he has been failure to date in this role, or believe he is suddenly going to morph into the next incarnation of Simon Madden in his 9th years in the system.

Like all of us on here I just want us to get better, and we finished 7th in 2024 so we need to - some of that will be incremental improvement from within and some will be external from trading/drafting. What I don't want to see is us continue to repeat the same errors that consistently make us fall short in the big games, and the no 1 ruck situation is one obvious area that needs to improve substantially in order to compete with the big boys.

Back on topic - the coaching and fitness/conditioning changes we made 12 months ago clearly improved our game style for longer. Bevo adapted and adjusted his methods as he absolutely needed to. We have defensive stability and aren't anywhere as assertive so aren't getting torched out the back anywhere near as much in 2022/23 (until the EF of course). We started to get higher scores from turnover and didn't solely rely on stoppage/territory dominance. Just maybe, we were collectively crap in the EF (especially our top 6 or so) and had an absolute mare, but as Rocco mentioned we are still prone to having too many of these really poor games in season. I'm not sure what tactics/personnel we need to refine to get better for longer, but the no 1 ruck situation is one and we clearly need to get leg speed across all areas so we have a better ability to cover the ground. VDM and McNeill aren't being gifted games - they are covering ridiculous amounts of territory and helping defend the ground significantly when we don't have the ball, an area that was horrendous for us in 2022/23.

[ReLoad]

How can a forward line of Jamara, Naughton and Darcy not completely dominate?

It all comes down to the middle of the ground, of which Tim is a part of that, but not all of it.

Our wheel of re-invention should be to continue to develop the path we are on, it started this year and still needs work, lets not throw it out because we lost a final against a side that seriously took some beating.

[hujsh]

Cool, another thread about ruckman.

That was the intention right? They zig with ruckmen like Meek and Sweet while we zag by finding a ruckman like Sweet or Meek to beat English into being the same as them.

[Mantis]

How can a forward line of Jamara, Naughton and Darcy not completely dominate?

Because as a group they're inconsistent (experience has a fair bit of a role here), don't convert their chances and get in each other's way.

We are going to have to go all-in on these 3 being our POD... other teams are going to be running with small/mobile forward lines like Coll & Haw go with, but we are going to have to rely on our talls being our match-winners.

It all comes down to the middle of the ground, of which Tim is a part of that, but not all of it.

Timid is a big part of our failures in the middle, but the rest of our midfield group play on their terms too. It all looks amazing when our mids dominate, but we look pedestrian when challenged. The midfield group is being refreshed, but potentially not with the right types or quick enough.

Our wheel of re-invention should be to continue to develop the path we are on, it started this year and still needs work, lets not throw it out because we lost a final against a side that seriously took some beating.

We made some good strides in the back half of the year, but if you look forensically was our form actually that good? We beat the top 3 teams at the time in consecutive weeks, but we got them all at good times, and when we came up against other decent/ good teams we were found wanting.