Round 5 - Western Bulldogs V Brisbane Lions - Sat 12/4/25 Norwood Oval, Adelaide 4:15PM AEDT

[doggies ftw]

Had to sleep on it because **** that was bad last night, really hurts to lose a game like that when you’re up by 40.

But after sleeping on it there’s a fair few positives here IMO.

Realistically right now we expect to be a finals team, but finals teams don’t have 9 players under 50 games. There is a huge amount of rejigging going on here right now. The offseason from hell has contributed to this but unfortunately that was the hand we were dealt and were making do.

We’re a team of kids up against a super experienced Lions team who has done this to many a good side in recent history, as recently as Geelong 2 weeks ago. Coming off a short break, a lot of travel and a very hot day where everyone was out on their feet, and then losing Harmes early. I’m not really surprised we ran out of legs to be honest. Also in hindsight that wasn’t the game to play an underdone Jj and debut Hynes against the reigning premiers in sapping heat but hey we’re running out of options and they’ll be better for the run.

Weve played 4 out of 5 matches on 30 degree days and outside WCE & Freo we have played in the hottest conditions in the comp, as a very young and inexperienced team, it’d take a lot out of you.

Onto the game there was some really key moments in that 2nd half which contributed to the loss.

- 2 direct turnover goals from kick out to Dale & Bramble, this anyway you look at it, is unacceptable. These are absolute coach killers and both came in key moments, just killed us and should NOT be happening under any circumstances.
- Missed goals to halt momentum - Freijah twice, Darcy set shot, a couple more from memory. These go through and it’s a completely different game and probably a win to be honest. All too familiar though as we’ve seen this before…. Just need to take our chances, to be fair we did also put through a number of goals that we probably shouldn’t have so it evens out but just thought these happened in key moments which could have swung the final result.
- 2 free kicks to Naughty, one clear chopping the arms and then should have been holding the ball in the goal square to put us back in front after we went down in the last. These were so clear and again, important moments to halt momentum or swing it back the other way.

if just a couple of those things went our way the result probably goes our way too. Momentum footy is king in the afl right now, we’re not the only team that gets runs kicked on them, hell we did it to Brissy in the 2nd. It’s just how footy is played. We need to be better at halting that momentum and swinging it back our way but that takes experience and we are NOT experienced right now.

Theres some clear holes in this side, we need class & speed in the forward line which is so crucial in the modern game but our options are non existent, we need help in the backline, I don’t think we have the mix right with Buku as 3rd tall, we need a genuine medium defender who can play small or tall and Buku isn’t that.

But we’ve unearthed some key components of our side in this early season run, Freijah and Sanders becoming key cogs so early in their 2nd years, obviously Darcy, Dolan getting better every week and looks like he’s got so much of what we need but just not there yet, Hynes overawed but will be better for the run just need to keep getting games into him, Davo the winger we’ve been crying for - these 3 have played 11 games between them remember.

It’s frustrating we’re not 3-2, even 4-1 - hell if we had Bont, Cody, Marra, Treloar out there I genuinely think we’d be 5 & zip, but that wasn’t the hand we were dealt this year and we’re just making do.

I really do still think we’re building towards something this season, realistically we’re probably not ready to compete but I think we can go deep if we get rolling.

[Go_Dogs]

I’m on holidays and only caught the first half which was excellent. So, based on what I saw, we’re going to win the flag. Hope those who saw the second half don’t disagree.

[mjp]

I don't know about you blokes but I can't bear f**king losing a game like that!

Look, fantastic effort but what does a f**king fantastic effort mean? It doesn't get us anything! We don't get diddly squat! We don't get a point. They don't just give us something for just f**king getting close! It means nothing! If you think that I'm going to be happy walking into this room when we get beaten still, we can't be! We just can't accept it! I don't know about you guys, but if I see one bloke walk out of here, getting a pat on the back from people out there for a good effort, I'll spew up! Because it's just not acceptable!

We were a rabble in that second half, absolutely bloody disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful. yeah, for a half we were worked our arses off, we worked our backsides off to dictate the game, but the game is about 120 minutes of footy, and that was the most winnable one that we get for a long time, and we just pissed it down the drain. We absolutely pissed that game down the drain. Don't any one of you forget about it. Take away one thing from this game. You have the ability to play in this competition and to play it very very very well. We cannot got from that which we've displayed right in first half, back to what we displayed in the second half ever again. Ever again.,

Now go and have your showers, we'll see you back at the social club.

OK.

How did you do that?

#1 (and most impressive): Straight off the top of your head, memorised back when the docco came out.
#2 Replayed the docco and transcribed directly into the post.
#3 Found a written source online - cut/paste?
#4 Asked ChatGPT to summarise your thoughts after a Bulldogs loss following a 39-point halftime lead and it channelled Plough to provide the answer.

I'm impressed no matter the answer.

[Danny Delre]

Travelled over from gather round. Disappointed, but i think we have genuine excuses.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

How good is Kennedy.

He was the one bloke who took it upon himself to do something about the avalanche in the last quarter. Finally a player willing to not accept it and do something about it.

There's a heap of reasons for the 2nd half fade out. Youth, travel the past two weeks, heat, playing against a seasoned team known for big second half's.

The biggest killer was giving up two goals from kick-in errors. Horrific.

If we can beat the Saints we are still in it.

Kennedy has been brilliant.

His effort and courage is inspiring. He really does buck the trend when the going gets tough, I felt Harmes had been able to do this for us too so his injury was always going to be costly.

My feeling is that we aren't quite good enough to contend this year, and with our reliance on Jones/Doc/Treloar/Libba and their decline, we'll be worse off for the next 1-2 years. With Tasmania coming in, being in the middle is doomsday.

We need to settle JOD as a defender for the now and for the future. Ideally we need to try and develop Busslinger too, as IMO Jones is battling and has been for a while.

Marra's situation really has been disappointing, he would/could be such a crucial piece now and for a decade, but it looks like being another talented player that moves on.

If stars align and we can get our full side on the park we can clearly do some damage but with Treloar and Weightman having setbacks and Marra, this is a year quickly becoming what could have been.

[merantau]

I genuinely want to say something positive but fmd, it's hard to come up with anything re the second half.

I didn't see or hear any of the first half. Switced on the radio and first thing I heard was Englsh turning the ball over and seconds later they goaled. Then the tide turned. I switched radio off in the vain hope that it might change our fortunes.

Got to the Yarraville Club to witness the last quarter on TV. With the game up for grabs we played four minutes of good football in a quarter! Friejah's miss would have put us in front. McNeil's miss - by 10 metres, btw - would have tied the scores.

After that we were bog ordinary. So many school boy errors, so many tackles that didn't stick, so much poor positioning, poor decision making, poor execution and players who had no impact at all.

We were killed at the stoppages. Absolutely taken to the cleaners. No matter how you look at it, this performance cannot be glossed over. It was Jekyll and Hyde.

Not acceptable.

[azabob]

I genuinely want to say something positive but fmd, it's hard to come up with anything re the second half.

I didn't see or hear any of the first half. Switced on the radio and first thing I heard was Englsh turning the ball over and seconds later they goaled. Then the tide turned. I switched radio off in the vain hope that it might change our fortunes.

Got to the Yarraville Club to witness the last quarter on TV. With the game up for grabs we played four minutes of good football in a quarter! Friejah's miss would have put us in front. McNeil's miss - by 10 metres, btw - would have tied the scores.

After that we were bog ordinary. So many school boy errors, so many tackles that didn't stick, so much poor positioning, poor decision making, poor execution and players who had no impact at all.

We were killed at the stoppages. Absolutely taken to the cleaners. No matter how you look at it, this performance cannot be glossed over. It was Jekyll and Hyde.

Not acceptable.

So what you’re telling me is that you missed the entire first half and then switched on the to hear and see the second half.

Sounds like you are a little bit to blame also!

[lemmon]

Something interesting out of the game yesterday - outside of the players subbed in and out, the Lions only had one player (Sam Day) to spend less than 75% of time on-field.

We had 4 - Hynes (60%), Davidson (68%), Dolan (68%) and JJ (74%).

I know the list is stretched thin at the moment, but I think we made a mistake picking that mix of first-year players and JJ in the same lineup, purely because we needed to manage their minutes so closely. We looked out on our feet in the last and we've had an incredibly sapping first month of footy.

I think that was winnable last night, and we might've looked a bit better in the last if we had some of the more seasoned guys out there in terms of Gallagher, Poulter or Arty.

[Aidan7557]

Anyone else feel like we don't need that third tall back in defence? Not a knock on Buku but maybe an extra runner would be better for us? Just a thought that came out of the game.

[Sedat]

Are you just taking the black and white "not acceptable or no excuses" line, or are you searching for reasons why this time around it might be different.

Not meaning to antagonise, genuinely interested in what you think should have happened given the circumstances as you're often a good counter to how I'm viewing things.

Honestly, I reckon the 2021 GF capitulation caused a lot of psychological damage to the playing group and the coach. We are the only consistently top 8 team this decade to so often concede massive goal run-ons akin to a shit team like West Coast or North (or entry level GC and GWS). A lot of that is psychological and some of it was method/coaching (until overdue changes in both were made in 2024).

The last 2 weeks have revisited a problem that I thought was resolved in 2024. It could be the last dying embers of this problem flaring up, like with Brisbane early last year.

Keen to see how we respond next week. Those sort of capitulations can't be a consistent part of our game again in 2025, if we are to be a serious team worthy of contention.

[Bornadog]

Honestly, I reckon the 2021 GF capitulation caused a lot of psychological damage to the playing group and the coach. We are the only consistently top 8 team this decade to so often concede massive goal run-ons akin to a shit team like West Coast or North (or entry level GC and GWS). A lot of that is psychological and some of it was method/coaching (until overdue changes in both were made in 2024).

The last 2 weeks have revisited a problem that I thought was resolved in 2024. It could be the last dying embers of this problem flaring up, like with Brisbane early last year.

Keen to see how we respond next week. Those sort of capitulations can't be a consistent part of our game again in 2025, if we are to be a serious team worthy of contention.

Only 6 players in the team yesterday that played the 2021 GF. In 2021 we lost Centre Clearnaces 19 to 11, yesterday we won them 22 to 13.
We lost yesterday due to a number of reasons with the most telling stat being Stoppage Clearnace where we were smashed 31 to our 19. Their mids were stronger and more experienced.

[merantau]

So what you’re telling me is that you missed the entire first half and then switched on the to hear and see the second half.

Sounds like you are a little bit to blame also!

I'll be going to the game next week so we'll win big!

[doggies ftw]

Honestly, I reckon the 2021 GF capitulation caused a lot of psychological damage to the playing group and the coach. We are the only consistently top 8 team this decade to so often concede massive goal run-ons akin to a shit team like West Coast or North (or entry level GC and GWS). A lot of that is psychological and some of it was method/coaching (until overdue changes in both were made in 2024).

The last 2 weeks have revisited a problem that I thought was resolved in 2024. It could be the last dying embers of this problem flaring up, like with Brisbane early last year.

Keen to see how we respond next week. Those sort of capitulations can't be a consistent part of our game again in 2025, if we are to be a serious team worthy of contention.

I agree that it seemed like we fixed the issue last year and revisited it the last couple of weeks, I think that’s kinda to be expected though when we’re now so inexperienced and lacking leadership - so I’m not that concerned.

not saying you are saying this but so many people act like it only happens to us when it’s league wide. Momentum footy is key, teams are routinely coming back from 30 down these days and piling on runs of goals, it’s happened weekly.

i also feel like in all these runs we have chances to end them with a goal but we fluff it, that’s not the coaches fault. I do think we need to have a profile we can turn to, to lock down a game. Ie kill the clock for 10mins if we really need to. In that ‘profile’ you just can’t push as high as we usually do or you’ll get done out the back. Need to be able to settle the defence deeper and just hold oppo out for a period of time when we’re getting beaten around the ball and take the sting out of the game.

We actually did this pretty well to end the 2nd qtr after our run of goals when they started coming back at us - but couldn’t hold on in the 3rd unfortunately.

[doggies ftw]

Also look at Freo today… both us and them were basically completely out on their feet last week, that last qtr was the most knackered I’ve seen afl players in a long time. Both teams have played in a similar amount of heat games now, more than anyone this year (although they should theoretically be more used to it than us)

both teams struggling this week, not surprising

[kickit2Koly]

I m as frustrated as anyone with the last 2 losses but I sometimes wonder if people don’t realise we are a year into a re-build. Add that to fact we are missing our best player and leader as well as several other senior players, it’s impressive we’re still so competitive . It’s the one thing Bevo doesn’t get enough credit for, we are into our 3rd re-build under him and we remained largely competitive through most of his tenure.