21 hours ago, Dr.D said:

people talking about grand finals need to have a good hard look at themselves. 

So that would be you?

6 hours ago, 640MD said:

No panic but get the side settled for the finals, and rested perhaps, or refreshed.

I also did a ladder through to round 23   taking what I thought was worst case for the Dees.

Had us winning 3/7, Bulldogs 5/7, Brisbane 7/7, Port Adel 6/7, Cats 6/7, Swans 7/7, West coast4/7, GWS 5/7, Tigers 4/7, Freo 2/7, and saints 1/7.

ladder

Brisbane 72

Bulldogs 68 percentage

Port Adel 687

Geelong 68

Swans 64

Demons 60

GWS 50

West C 48

 

9th Tigers 44

Freo 36 and saints 32 

But remember , I am a lousy tipster get a lot wrong. Hell I thought we needed a target in the goal square in the last quarter, let alone the rest of the game.

None of our forwards really dropped into the space in the forward line to allow the connection with the player streaming forward like Hunt.

2 hours ago, Antioch said:

None of our forwards really dropped into the space in the forward line to allow the connection with the player streaming forward like Hunt.

Been that way for a while now.

We have a lot of room to improve. 

However, our only three losses so far have been against teams essentially treating it like their grand final. And in at least two of those, with a bit of luck, we still could have won. 

Ball use inside fifty needs to improve A LOT but the system that has gotten us to top 2 on the ladder is still there. 

I wouldn’t say I’m confident we will turn it around. MFCSS. But I don’t think it is time to panic. It will be a disaster if we finish outside the top four now though, which is a genuine possibility. 

Still a third of the season to go. Finals are stitched up. Top 4 would be a plus. But we don't want to be more than 1-2 games off forth and certainly don't want to lose too much percentage. 5th and 6th not the end of the world but an away game would be guaranteed against Port or Brisbane towards GF. Still think Melbourne Bulldogs and Brisbane are a league above the rest, even Geelong. Sydney is a smokey as are Port.The top 6 in Bulldogs Melbourne Brisbane Geelong Port and Sydney, the flag is between them. Eagles and GWS not a chance.

I actually get a sense that we are not travelling all that badly as people might think.  GWS can be flakey (like loosing games to Hawthorn), but on their day can also be quite a formidable foe and I actually think they are a bit of a sleeper to make and then impact the top 8. 

Also look at who our much rated close opponents have played and the results in recent weeks.  The Bulldogs were hero's for 'smashing' West Coast by 55 points, but looking at West Coasts performance against Sydney last week, can you really rate the Bulldogs win against them that highly?  Bulldogs only beat North by 19 points at their last outing too.

While I'd like us to be more dominant and in better form, I think the reality is that it's a pretty close competition, so achieving that is a tall ask.  What we hace been able to do this season is to win more consistently than most other teams and importantly beat all of those teams closest to us on the ladder.  The game against Port is another important test, but if we can find a way, then it opens up some breathing space within the top 4 and sets us apart from another genuine contender again.

As hard as our draw on the way home is, in my mind we simply have to find a way to finish top 4.  Without that, we have no genuine oppertunity at the premiership and it's just another wasted season.

Edited July 6, 20214 yr by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

It will be time to panic this time next year for goody if we don’t go well with clarko available 

2 hours ago, brendan said:

It will be time to panic this time next year for goody if we don’t go well with clarko available 

Clarko will  either be coaching by then or have a deal stitched up. Sadly the best coach in the comp will not be at the Dees unless we chase now.

Our structure was poor with no tall forwards to contest as Tom Mac was marking up the ground and kicking to Frisch  with 2-3 defenders, were was Gawn or Jackson??? how do you expect Pickett or Spargo to crumb???.... Tom Mac needed to be in the forward line full stop, the mids need a rocket also!

Im Panicking as too much history off getting burnt!

Edited July 6, 20214 yr by Demonsone