24 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

The bulldogs know how to beat us. 

They certainly do and I'll be most surprised if they don't beat us twice this year.

19 minutes ago, Sydee said:

I can run out and play CHF but I would be a waste of space - that would be "trying something" 

Mitch Brown is not the answer IMO - over the off season we have thrown all our cards on the Weid (again despite his inability to perform consistently) and BBB who was effectively dumped by a team that I expected to finish bottom 4

I hope both prove me wrong but neither seem to bring what I believe is sadly lacking in our forward 50 - that is physical presence and aggression  

You’re not on the list 

23 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

You’re not on the list 

No but would be as much value as Mitch Brown 

Also, I implore people to have a look at how behind the pace Harmes was on so many occasions at stoppages and centre bounces.

Start of the last quarter is a classic example of what I'm talking about. It is absolutely embarrassing. 

Max has clear advantage due to the bounce of the ball and Macrae roves it as if he's a Melbourne player. 

Harmes with no idea and just body watching.

This happened all day. And it's not a one off.

 

Our forward line, for all the missing players, was actually fine yesterday. We played a forward line of (mostly) TMac, Jackson, Fritsch, Chandler, ANB and Spargo, and we managed to have 13 marks inside 50 from only 41 entries. As a yardstick, the Dogs also had 13 marks inside 50 from 64 entries. From 41 entries we kicked 10 goals (24%), whilst the Dogs kicked 15 from 64 (23%) despite having many of those extra entries from stoppage clearances, which are far more dangerous. 

Our structures held up pretty well and, despite what has been said here, our kick ins were very dangerous and a real weapon. Having two players who can cover territory quickly, along with 2 ruckmen, means that our direct kickouts are going to be very dangerous. That, in turn, will force teams to throw numbers long and straight, which will open up gaps later on. 

They kicked 6 goals to 1 in the 3rd quarter where, from memory, I think we only won one clearance for the quarter. That isn't a typical occurrence for us since contested ball and clearances are usually strengths for us, but with 3 of our 4 best contested midfielders being out we were exposed. That is a one off, so we should be looking past that and thinking how we fared assuming we win 50/50 contested ball and clearances, rather than losing them 113-164 and 24-48.

 

Don't care what anyone says, when you play a full strength team whilst missing 8 first picked players of your own you will get spanked most times.

11 hours ago, kev martin said:

 

If we can't get the ball, we can't work our system out.

Long bombs into the forward line, or leads into the boundary.

We still can't play when under pressure. They killed us with their pressure.

They slipped too many tackles.

Did not try and control the tempo.

All straight line and red mist.

Why can't we stop their ball movers.

If English and Bruce learn to kick goals they will give it a shake.

Disappointed, no confidence created to buy in. Panic, fumbles, very little 1 percenters, handball to pressure, turnovers from kicks.

Too many passengers.

Without May, Fritta, ANB, Langdon, Gawn and Lever, we would be completely lost.

Passengers not respecting the opportunity that they were given - even if given to substitute for better identities.

It was a totally passive presentation across the game by the MFC, excepting just a few .

22 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Also, I implore people to have a look at how behind the pace Harmes was on so many occasions at stoppages and centre bounces.

Start of the last quarter is a classic example of what I'm talking about. It is absolutely embarrassing. 

Max has clear advantage due to the bounce of the ball and Macrae roves it as if he's a Melbourne player. 

Harmes with no idea and just body watching.

This happened all day. And it's not a one off.

 

let him get back into it. He has shown he's been very good at the role. 

2 hours ago, poita said:

 

We're a bottom six side on that performance with or without returning players.

Out of interest, what were we last week after the tiges performance ?

34 minutes ago, JimmyGadson said:

Also, I implore people to have a look at how behind the pace Harmes was on so many occasions at stoppages and centre bounces.

Start of the last quarter is a classic example of what I'm talking about. It is absolutely embarrassing. 

Max has clear advantage due to the bounce of the ball and Macrae roves it as if he's a Melbourne player. 

Harmes with no idea and just body watching.

This happened all day. And it's not a one off.

 

Harmes is a very limited footballer with pretty low footy IQ and big ego.  I expected us to get beaten by a much stronger doggies outfit. 

Moment in the last quarter i found really concerning when Bedford passed to him on the boundary line.   The kick was near perfect and Harmes did not work hard enough to get in front.  He then gave Bedford a massive spray saying something like that pass was censored!  Bedford is a player like all our young guys who needs to be encouraged.  When i see someone like Harmes blaming a kid who actually did the right thing is an ugly look.

We need to be fighting the opposition, not each other.   If i were part of coaching staff i would be ripping into Harmes over that and saying it is not acceptable on any  level.

If he had been advising him on what he could have done better , that's fine.  But that was not the case here, clear frustration and the blame game is real.  All this coming from a guy who played like a headless chicken off half back for full year.  Probably one of the easiest positions on the ground to play.  Do not rate him at all before that incident, rate him even less now!

Smashed in the clearances 48-24, by 51 in contested possessions and that resulted in 64-41 i50s - it's a long time since that's happened to us and it's hard to win when it does.

Adem Yze moved from the speed ball and the bag to the ring against an opponent two weight divisons above and found out the hard way.  James Jordon head-to-head with the Bont, OK - a pre-season game is a good place for a man to find his limitations I guess.  Macrae, Bont, Dunkley, Liberatore, Hunter racking up the numbers.  Apparently Adem is replacing Simon Goodwin when we're 1-4 - but it's very hard work when you're missing Oliver, Viney and Brayshaw up against that midfield.  Baker is not up to finals-level football and I'm hoping we play Melksham on that wing when he comes in.  I saw him and Jones put in a heavy running pre-season at TBO and I think he'll be ready to go.

The backline held up very well - May and Lever really enhanced their reputations, Salem and Hibberd will make good additions and Bowey warmed to the task and showed he has the tools with some good decisions and execution by hand and foot.

The forward line has been maligned in most of the commentary, but they made equal conversion rate of the less effective entries they received.  We took just as many marks inside 50 as the Dogs and Fritsch was clearly the most dangerous marking forward in the match.  I actually thought TMac and Jackson were OK - generally providing a contest.  Yes it would be a cause for concern in the long run if we didn't have B.Brown, Weid and Pickett to return.

Someone does need to play a defensive role on Caleb Daniel.  I can't recall anyone hitting targets like he does.  That one-two on the kick-out and handball receive is going to be hard to stop with the new rule.  Stefan Martin is a very handy addition to the Dogs arsenal.

ANB really enhanced his reputation and was very good, Jones was pretty effective too with good disposals and stuck his tackles and will make 300 if he keeps that form up.  On the other side of the ledger AVB was terrible.

Before I turned the commentary off, because I couldn't stand another second of the insufferable Gaddy, I did hear them say that their inside man at the Dogs said they had set themselves for an all out assault on this game and it looked like it.

Edited March 9, 20214 yr by Pollyanna

12 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Gold.  Absolutely.  
 

I’d rather the coach and captain say... “it’s not about words and ifs.  It’s about actions and results”.  

Goodwin is a politician at the moment and not filling me with the confidence that we all deserve. 

Dan Goodwin??

Yesterday was the same old same old. The only excuse is injuries and they were real but some of the efforts were poor. Our forward line is a joke.

Macrae and Daniel are guns and will carve up many a side with the new rules. Their disposal is as good as it gets

16 minutes ago, Pollyanna said:

 

Before I turned the commentary off, because I couldn't stand another second of the insufferable Gaddy, I did hear them say that their inside man at the Dogs said they had set themselves for an all out assault on this game and it looked like it.

A shame that we didn't have the same opportunity for an all out assault.

When you have 8 of your best 22 out for the final practice game and a couple of those scrambling for minutes at Casey, I don't see how this pre season can be labelled anything other than disappointing, and has a whiff of 2019 about it.

3 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Macrae and Daniel are guns and will carve up many a side with the new rules. Their disposal is as good as it gets

Agree Chook but in the first quarter Daniels had Spargo on him. Now ask yourself this, WHY , given Daniels ability to create play would you not have instructed Spargo to wear him like a glove and negate his influence?

28 minutes ago, Pollyanna said:

Before I turned the commentary off, because I couldn't stand another second of the insufferable Gaddy, .....

Garry Lyon is the worst commentator out there. An impossibly self-important lightweight. 

I often wonder if he lives in constant fear that everyone's going to realise that he doesn't know what he's talking about anymore, although I suspect that that he probably doesn't have the self-awareness for that.

Edited March 9, 20214 yr by Axis of Bob

12 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Agree Chook but in the first quarter Daniels had Spargo on him. Now ask yourself this, WHY , given Daniels ability to create play would you not have instructed Spargo to wear him like a glove and negate his influence?

because they're probably not concerned with tagging anyone in a pre season hit out, let alone in the first qtr.

Edited March 9, 20214 yr by Demon Dude

Just now, chook fowler said:

Macrae and Daniel are guns and will carve up many a side with the new rules. Their disposal is as good as it gets

Add Bontempelli to that mix too.   After seeing how much better his kicking has gotten put a few on him to win the Brownlow, he was scintillating yesterday. 

Last few times we played WB both Daniel and Bont destroyed us.  We can't be serious  without tagging these 2 at least. Next time i would be lining up Kozzie on Daniels and saying just stick with him and pressure him relentlessly.  Harmes should be playing tight tag on Bont, or put VDB on him for brief period and just tell him to smash his body.  Amazing we did not try and tag any of their major ball magnets.  We need to put much more thought into curbing other teams and the way they want to play, we are far too sociable and let them do as they please.  It is on the coaches to have a plan....vs EVERY opponent.  We can't just play our way, the other teams simply will not allow this! We need to do similar and be much harder to play against.  Need many more selfless role players prepared to just stopping their playmakers getting any easy kicks,  won't be holding my breath though. We want to play our way 100% of time. It is flawed, every team puts thought into opposition, not sure we do honestly.  We seem to get beaten in same manner by same oppositions too often.  Groundhog Day !!

35 minutes ago, NeveroddoreveN said:

Harmes is a very limited footballer with pretty low footy IQ and big ego.  I expected us to get beaten by a much stronger doggies outfit. 

Moment in the last quarter i found really concerning when Bedford passed to him on the boundary line.   The kick was near perfect and Harmes did not work hard enough to get in front.  He then gave Bedford a massive spray saying something like that pass was censored!  Bedford is a player like all our young guys who needs to be encouraged.  When i see someone like Harmes blaming a kid who actually did the right thing is an ugly look.

We need to be fighting the opposition, not each other.   If i were part of coaching staff i would be ripping into Harmes over that and saying it is not acceptable on any  level.

If he had been advising him on what he could have done better , that's fine.  But that was not the case here, clear frustration and the blame game is real.  All this coming from a guy who played like a headless chicken off half back for full year.  Probably one of the easiest positions on the ground to play.  Do not rate him at all before that incident, rate him even less now!

Of all the players out there yesterday, I was probably most disappointed with Harmes' game.

People had been crying out for him to have more midfield time last year and he was given the opportunity to really step up yesterday and he didn't.

He's in the same boat as Melksham IMHO. Has the talent but not the determination and leadership we need when we're under the pump.

The opposite of Steven May.

Not sure why people are losing their minds over a loss to a much stronger Bulldogs side.

 

Adjust your expectations kids. We will not be competitive against any top 8 side with 3 of our best 4 mids missing, and we are not a top 4 quality side. Stop torturing yourselves.

sorry if others have said it, but josh mahoneys assertion of sticking with the talent we've already got i.e. baker on the wing and not pursuing tom philips when the pies were giving him away for a bag of chips is looking like a positively idiotic move at this point. 

39 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Agree Chook but in the first quarter Daniels had Spargo on him. Now ask yourself this, WHY , given Daniels ability to create play would you not have instructed Spargo to wear him like a glove and negate his influence?

He probably was picket, it says more about the players ability than the instructions from the bench.

2 minutes ago, old dee said:

He probably was picket, it says more about the players ability than the instructions from the bench.

Has any team used a practice match to hone a player's run-with skills? I doubt it. 

1 minute ago, sue said:

Has any team used a practice match to hone a player's run-with skills? I doubt it. 

Then why play a guy on him who cannot tackle?