Post Match Discussion - Round 8

[Earl Hood 6,152]

I'm glad Spencer did some nice things and got to enjoy a win, but I have to be a bit of a negative Nancy and say he was up against the worst ruckman going round.

Then again Dogs supporters would say the same if Cordy beat Spencer so good on him.

I still can't believe how much they paid for Boyd, I said he was in the dinosaur mould last year, and I've seen nothing to change my opinion.

If you're a stay at home forward that size, you need to be able to move.

Daniher and Hogan must be worth 4 mil each if he's pulling 1 mil.

Hey I was there that one hand pass from Boyd was all class before being subbed in the second half. That is what they paid for.

[Biffen 12,949]

Maybe he's just getting dumber (was going to say stupider but thought that was even less of a word than dumber).

His comment regarding Hogan was totally unfounded and I have no idea what made him say it. Maybe he just couldn't find a negative thing to say about Hogan and that was the best he could come up with.

Hogan is a champ and I would happily dig into my own pockets to keep him at the club.

Cash?

Keep it Dark.

You Perth crooks are too flashy.

[Seraph 1,824]

How many weeks will Goodes get for his hit on M. Jones?

Looked head high, Goodes jumped off the ground to bump, and Jones was subbed out with concussion.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

Worth getting consecutive games into: Pedersen, Fitzy, Toump, Grimes, Spencil.

Not worth gifting games to: Dawes, Jamar, Bail, MJones

[pantaloons 2,019]

How many weeks will Goodes get for his hit on M. Jones?

Looked head high, Goodes jumped off the ground to bump, and Jones was subbed out with concussion.

And yet no free kick with the umpire right there. Bizarre.

[Red and Bluebeard 2,101]

Easy the mighty Dees.

Retribution is at hand.

So the season isn't a write-off?

[1964nowMORE 492]

A nice little aside, Toumpas absolutely played his role today, and good on him. Jack Macrae didn't even get picked and The Bont was completely outclassed by our Bernie!

[Nasher 33,617]

I have to confess, I was half-expecting Fitzy to come in to the side and end up playing 2nd ruck despite not having played in that position for Casey at all this year. Just seemed like such an MFC thing to do. Defence is obviously a last-ditch effort to try and get some value from a player who clearly has AFL level attributes but hasn't been able to string it all together; I'm glad they're sticking with it though, and so far so good though. Very pleasing.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

Fitzy's value today: champagne on a beer budget

Boyd today: the opposite

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

Worth getting consecutive games into: Pedersen, Fitzy, Toump, Grimes, Spencil.

Not worth gifting games to: Dawes, Jamar, Bail, MJones

Tyson and Viney will be big ins for us both had good games last year against Port in Alice Springs....Bail and M Jones both played well up there last year in the heat.

[Undeeterred 3,127]

Absolutely cracking game today. Eat a bag, haters.

Jesse Hogan is amazing. I love that every time the ball goes near him, something happens or he looks threatening. Just a beast.

Watts was fine today and is well worth having in. His pass to Toumpas was just perfect.

Speaking of Toumpas, eat a bag again, haters. So! Picket! How do you like them apples!! Hey?! He ran and ran and ran and was really solid. Will be great for his confidence.

Heritier looks old and slow.

Brayshaw dropped out through the middle, but was absolutely massive in the last quarter when it was there to be won. A star in the making.

Dunn, Cross, McDonald, Newton, Garland just did what they needed to.

Pedersen - more mobile, dangerous and able than Dawes. I'd be worried if I were Chris, because Pedersen adds three times as much to us. Was enormous today.

Riley cracked in really hard when he came on.

Loved Garlett's little f you to the Bulldogs supporters behind him when he jagged that goal from the boundary. A bit of mongrel and arrogance that we've missed.

Grimes did one or two stupid things but that was far outweighed by his work rate, courage and leadership. Good on you, Grimesy.

Vandenberg was just a beast. What a pick up. He turned the tide on his own at least a couple of times.

Was great to be able to swing Howe forward, he looked far more comfortable and interested up there. Really went for some marks and took some screamers.

Bernie Vince. What can you say? He just loves the big stage and his sealing goal, when he turned to the MCC to celebrate, was just brilliant.

Bail was absolutely fine tonight. You don't see it on TV, but a couple of his efforts were huge. Good on him for really getting involved.

And Fitzy. Whichever genius gave him a crack down back should have his pay doubled. Gave Boyd an utter bath and was everywhere. Was even better live than he would have looked on TV - he was just everywhere.

[rjay 25,347]

According to AFL.com.au, Vandenberg wasn't even in our best 6 players.

Wtf?

Must have been Barrett giving the report.

[Deestroy All 14,266]

Hey I was there that one hand pass from Boyd was all class before being subbed in the second half. That is what they paid for.

I bet Greg Williams wishes he played in this era!

[old dee 24,028]

Tyson and Viney will be big ins for us both had good games last year against Port in Alice Springs....Bail and M Jones both played well up there last year in the heat.

Not hot in Alice springs this time of the year HL

6 to 24 today and forecast for next Saturday 9 to 25.

[The Devil Inside 2,147]

Bail & Jones did their jobs. If you'd seen much of Footscray this year you'd know that so much of the Dog's attack this season has been generated by the run & distribution off half back by Murphy, Johanniesen & Wood. Our two "spuds" significantly reduced their impact. Good planning from Roos.

I had to trawl backwards through the pages to find this, nice to see someone else who actually watches the game and not the stats

As for the question "what game were you watching", it depends on how much they can see from the bar

Fitzy key defender....one game YES.........Spencer working his way into the season....YES

[binman 44,695]

How many weeks will Goodes get for his hit on M. Jones?

Looked head high, Goodes jumped off the ground to bump, and Jones was subbed out with concussion.

On the AFL highlights i just watched Leigh Matthews, honest to god, called it good clean play. Well perhaps that was his problem as a player - he thought ironing out unsuspecting players was good clean play.

Crazy actually coz he says that it is fine when a player knows he is going to get hit from a sheppard, implying Jones is. He was saying this whilst the slow mo clearly showed Jones had stopped chasing and clearly was not expecting to get hit as evidenced by the fact he didn't brace for conatct at all (which obviously he would have had he expected contacted). Strange.

[Undeeterred 3,127]

That Jones hit was brutal and completely unnecessary. Was way off the ball and I'd be amazed if that wasn't looked at.

[titan_uranus 25,211]

Wonderful performance again today. We all know if the game had been played on their terms we were going to lose. But to our credit we got stuck in, we tackled hard, we made it a contested game and the Dogs hated it. Just like the Richmond game, we got our hands dirty, we were tougher, stronger and more disciplined and it paid off.

We also scored 100 points despite focusing on closing the Dogs down. That's a huge positive IMO - we combined toughness and a willingness to make things contested with scoring, something we just couldn't do last year.

N Jones and Vince returning to form helped us immensely too.

Brayshaw's last quarter was incredible. I thought he was just going through the first three quarters but that last term he showed such amazing composure and determination. I love having this kid in our side.

Toumpas, Spencer, Watts, Grimes and Pedersen all had improved performances, and all except Watts played their best game for the year too. On Toumpas, it wasn't silky skills or 'outside class' that stood out to me, and yes, he made a few mistakes. It was the running. I've never thought of him to date as a good runner, in fact he's stood out as the opposite. But today his work ethic and gut running was superb. There were multiple times he would get involved on half back, link up with handpasses, and then bust his ass to continue to provide an option through the middle and would end up at the forward line stoppage/mark. I really hope today was a corner turned for Toumpas, he looked to enjoy himself, and if he keeps that level of running up then he's going to keep improving.

I also think Riley deserves credit for how he went about his job. Didn't get a lot of time but in his sole quarter he had 10 disposals and threw himself into tackles. It was obviously the only way he could do things in his restricted role as the sub, but I thought he did it well.

I thought Dunn had a good game too.

In the nicest possible way I am glad Tommy Mc wasn't best for us.

He played well but it means others carried their fair share of the burden.

Agree on McDonald but I don't agree on Dunn.

Again, I felt he let us down in a number of areas. He has resorted to his 2013 finger pointing form where he tells everyone else where to stand and what to do but when it's his turn to go he doesn't go hard enough and/or mucks it up.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Fitzpatrick suddenly creates competition with Frost when he's fit. I like it.

[rjay 25,347]

Oh, one more thing and I'm done for tonight.....smiling too much.

Anyone who continues to opine that JW should play for Casey, watch the replay.....time, space, composure, decision making.

As Roos said, the highest footy IQ going around.

Some good 3rd man up stuff too. He does add a lot to the team.

[Ethan Tremblay 31,272]

Cash?

Keep it Dark.

You Perth crooks are too flashy.

Will hopefully be a Melbournite again soon

In preparation I have purchased leather patches for the elbows of my jackets, a vertical garden (with kale), and a book on how to grow a hipster beard and maintain a man bun.

Edit: forgot about the stack of old vegemite jars I'm going to use to drink my green juices out of.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Agree on McDonald but I don't agree on Dunn.

Again, I felt he let us down in a number of areas. He has resorted to his 2013 finger pointing form where he tells everyone else where to stand and what to do but when it's his turn to go he doesn't go hard enough and/or mucks it up.

Did Dunn shag your missus?

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

Not hot in Alice springs this time of the year HL

6 to 24 today and forecast for next Saturday 9 to 25.

warmish....

[rjay 25,347]

Loved that game from Toumpas. For me the only mistake that gets to me is the shot he had on goal while on the boundary when there options in board. Got a bit carried away there. But he was hard and classy today. Used it well. Hope he stays in the team all year and really works into some consistent footy.

I'm actually happy he took that shot. He used to eat them up in the SANFL and there was one great one in their GF win that inspired his team.

Yes there were better options but finally he started to show some real confidence in his ability and kick through the ball rather than chip, chip.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,850]

We are 3/3 from our genuinely winnable games this year (3/4 if you want to count GWS). I think most of us had a sense of dread when Picken kicked that goal in the last quarter but I think we are finally learning how to win. It's something that haunted us a bit last year, the Doggies got us twice in similar circumstances!