GRAND FINAL: Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs

[Smokey 4,345]

Last night doesn’t change the fact I’m not that worried about the dogs. I think we’ll beat them comfortably. 

[Dee Zephyr 19,145]

How exciting for all of us especially the Melbourne supporters that can attend. We’ve played them twice as 1 v 2 without crowds and as much as I respect them as a side I certainly don’t fear them.
Hoping to see a huge number of our fans at the game and give the boys the support they deserve for the way they’ve made us feel this season. 

For the moment I’m looking at the first two words of the thread title ‘GRAND FINAL’ and just soaking it all in. 

[Whispering_Jack 29,143]

The Bulldogs’ total domination over Port Adelaide is great for us - removes any chance of treating the game as anything other than a contest to be won by hard work against a strong opponent. Heads firmly fixed on the ground and concentrating fully on the job ahead.

[Antioch 221]

10 hours ago, godees said:

Important to keep in check are:

Naughton - May or Petty

Libba - Harmes (hard tag at contest then run off him)

Smith - Brayshaw

Daniel - ANB (or Spargo)

We have plenty of weapons that they will also have to counter.

Bontempelli?

[FlashInThePan 1,893]

45 minutes ago, rufus said:

They are a brilliantly coached side and they will have plans to take away our strengths. Beveridge is not too stubborn and will put multiple players in negative roles to take away any of our advantages. I hope we are not too stubborn and are prepared to look at multiple shut down roles.

They are going to hack, knock and scrap the ball forward in every contest to get it in there before we have had time to setup. If they get it in quickly we are going to get pulverised as we can't match them at ground level in their forward half.

The game will be decided by one thing: The amount of pressure we apply to them at the absolute inside of the contest. If we can restrict their ability even hack it forward, we will have a decent chance. Our mids are going to need to be better than they have been all year (and they have been great) and in fairness that is what it should take to win a flag.

I firmly believe to win we will need to keep the Dogs to <65 points. With the level of pressure they applied last night it is going to be hard for us to score more than 9 or 10 goals. We are going to need to make it an arm wrestle and hopefully be the ones who bob up at the right minute.

I can’t agree with this. At least half the time Beveridge out coaches himself. His strange insistence on flexibility and playing people out of position has put a random element into many games, often to the bulldogs detriment.

 Grand finals are usually pretty simple affairs, won and lost in the ability to dish out and handle pressure. Their midfield is all we need to worry about, not their coaching. They bat deep and they can definitely bring the heat. I’m backing us to soak it up and return it with interest.

 We already have the blueprint for how to stop their run and gun game. We lost round 19 in forward half stoppages (their forward half). We leaked 7 goals that way. We have made mistakes this year, no doubt, I haven’t seen us make the same mistake twice though.

 This is going to be a high pressure game but it is unlikely that tactical coaching is going to have a big effect. Both us and the doggies showed our respective opponents what unrelenting pressure looks like this week. In 2 weeks it will be an arm wrestle to see who cracks first. I’m shaking off the old MFCSS, I believe in this group, I know what they will bring. The question mark is on whether the doggies can match us.

 Good luck with that doggies

[Demon17 5,024]

11 hours ago, The Swimming Dee said:

Why does Brad Johnson laugh with every sentence he says?

Its a nervous laugh!

[Delusional demon 82 1,197]

3 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Gutted that I can't be there of course but super excited that it's us against the Dogs. For all I know I might be the only Dee west of the Maribyrnong, definitely in Albion so I might have to sell up if we don't win. 

I've always had a soft spot for Footscray so happy that it'll be two of the league's former 'cellar dweller' teams battling it out on the day. It should be a cracker between the two best sides in the comp this year. 

Nah Rab there’s a few of us dees out west. 
I’m in Yarraville and there’s already 3 houses decked out in red and blue (no white) , but my kids and I are definitely outnumbered here (& the wife is a bandwagon dogs supporter too) 

I guess for me it’s going to be the same as 2000, I grew up in East Keilor and went to school In Essendon (smug sheedy disciples  at school) 

[Demongirl35 975]

It’s one of those games where every single person out on the field for us needs to play their role at 100% intensity.

Caleb Daniel and Hunter are our Salem. All three are calm and a brilliant kick which most lead to either a get out of pressure kick to a player who can mark along the wing then take their time and let’s set up. 
Bailey smith is another one who if he gets momentum he can carry that for the whole game if you don’t take it seriously. When in the forward line he needs to be tagged.

Schache seemed to play a fair bit of time purely just stopping aliirs influence in defence. Guess what, he’ll probably be doing the same with Lever. 
 

Gawns is a fair stretch better than Martin and English but Jesus do we need him to have another prelim game type. Martin looked cooked so Gawn needs to take advantage of that. He needs to run run run and be everywhere because Martin just won’t catch up that fast.
Dogs backline is their weakness but it’s still very good. They seem to have a taller backline (that’s with Keith in) like ours so our crumbs will be so important. The never seem to try and mark the ball they always go for the long punch so they can get their mids back and like last night some of the dogs players stayed about 5-10 meters away ready for the long punch, get the ball and go.

I think one of the players who could win us the game with out having to take care of an opponent is Kozzy. I think he has another level to go this year and this will be the game. We feed off his energy when he is up and about 

[Engorged Onion 10,117]

1 hour ago, Lucifer&#x27;s Hero said:

A few weeks ago Richardson said that if the bulldogs made the GF we might need to move out of the Joondalup resort for them.  He mentioned our players were really happy there. 

At the time I thought the bulldogs should go to the resort where the loser of Dees vs Cats PF had been.

It would be a shame if we had to move and be disrupted, even in a small way, what our team was used to.

Change of scenery could be a good thing?? Don't know about you Lucy, but I get cabin fever after 2 hours from waking up in the same place :)

[Demon17 5,024]

15 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

The Bulldogs’ total domination over Port Adelaide is great for us - removes any chance of treating the game as anything other than a contest to be won by hard work against a strong opponent. Heads firmly fixed on the ground and concentrating fully on the job ahead.

Great post that summarises the benfits of last night. 

Dees will not be sucked into to 'one hand on the cup' garbage.  That scenario reminded me of the first final against the Eagles in 1988, when we went in thinking  ours to lose, and it took Garry Lyon heroics in last minute the win.

Not this time.

It'll now be inside the team "..Come and get us..."

 

[Rab D Nesbitt 8,100]

2 minutes ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

Nah Rab there’s a few of us dees out west. 
I’m in Yarraville and there’s already 3 houses decked out in red and blue (no white) , but my kids and I are definitely outnumbered here (& the wife is a bandwagon dogs supporter too) 

I guess for me it’s going to be the same as 2000, I grew up in East Keilor and went to school In Essendon (smug sheedy disciples  at school) 

Hi DD82. It's comforting to know that I'm not on my Pat Malone out this way. Good to see we've got some of our kin flying the colours in the 'Toorak of the West' 😉. I've already been out on the bike for my 20km ride and saw a few doggies scarfs hanging from front porches. I've got mine out as well for everyone walking / cycling along the Kororoit Creek trail opposite the house to see. The red & blue balloons have been ordered for the front fence. 

[Little Richard 6,212]

Got a funny feeling Viney will get the Norm Smith. The man is simply built for finals.

[old dee 23,469]

1 hour ago, Lucifer&#x27;s Hero said:

A few weeks ago Richardson said that if the bulldogs made the GF we might need to move out of the Joondalup resort for them.  He mentioned our players were really happy there. 

At the time I thought the bulldogs should go to the resort where the loser of Dees vs Cats PF had been.

It would be a shame if we had to move and be disrupted, even in a small way, what our team was used to.

Now it is probably due to age and decaying brain cells but I don't understand this comment LH. Why would the MFC have to move? 

[rpfc 28,042]

41 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

I didn’t know McKay played for the dogs? If you’re talking about Naughton then he’s no where near it. Fritsch has kicked 7 more than him and played 1 less game.

If Hugh had a player like Bruce taking his scraps - he wouldn't be seen in the light he is.

Naughton's ability to run at the footy, and take pack marks, is powerful and I think he has more tools than McKay.

[Swooper1987 3,204]

This travel narrative around the dogs is wearing thin already.  The fact is they finished 5th.  That means that other than week 1 you are always going to be the "away" team.  So in the first final they got the Bombers on neutral territory, then quite rightly as in any other year they got an away game at the Gabba and then an away game at Adelaide.  Now they play at a neutral venue against Melbourne, who finished top and throughout the finals have had no home ground advantage either.  The dogs in 2016 went Perth in round 23 and lost to Freo, flew back, had a bye as all finals teams did, went back to Perth for the elimination final against WC, flew back to Melbourne to play Hawthorn, then flew to Sydney to play GWS and then back to Melbourne for the GF against the Swans.

The Sydney teams had it way harder this year.  

As to our chances, we comfortably beat them in round 11 on a nice dry deck.  Our round 19 game was brought forward from round 20.  It was terrible weather in the first quarter and despite multiple early chances we had some bad misses and finished 1.4 at QT to the dogs 3.2.  You might recall Tim English kicking a goal out of his backside that he just sat up in the air and it got carried through the middle.  A late rally saw us within 4 points midway through the last before Bontempelli, Ugle-Hagan and Hannan kicked three goals in three minutes to get up by 20 points.  Our heaviest loss of the year, despite having the same number of scoring shots.  The dogs kicked a crazy straight 13.7 in those conditions.  We were 9.11.  Macrae, Daniel, Smith and Bontempelli all caused us a lot of problems.  Gawn had 56 hitouts but our mids were well beaten.

That was our last loss for the season.  Goodwin was quite positive post game believing that we had turned the corner after a bit of a flat patch.  Notable changes will be Martin, Treloar and Dunkley in, with Josh Bruce the biggest out since that game (he kicked 2.1 that night).  For us, Bowey has taken Hunt's place, and Sparrow in for Jordon.  

Our best is better than theirs and I expect that if we play at our best we will get the job done.

[Kent 2,856]

11 minutes ago, Demongirl35 said:

It’s one of those games where every single person out on the field for us needs to play their role at 100% intensity.

Caleb Daniel and Hunter are our Salem. All three are calm and a brilliant kick which most lead to either a get out of pressure kick to a player who can mark along the wing then take their time and let’s set up. 
Bailey smith is another one who if he gets momentum he can carry that for the whole game if you don’t take it seriously. When in the forward line he needs to be tagged.

Schache seemed to play a fair bit of time purely just stopping aliirs influence in defence. Guess what, he’ll probably be doing the same with Lever. 
 

Gawns is a fair stretch better than Martin and English but Jesus do we need him to have another prelim game type. Martin looked cooked so Gawn needs to take advantage of that. He needs to run run run and be everywhere because Martin just won’t catch up that fast.
Dogs backline is their weakness but it’s still very good. They seem to have a taller backline (that’s with Keith in) like ours so our crumbs will be so important. The never seem to try and mark the ball they always go for the long punch so they can get their mids back and like last night some of the dogs players stayed about 5-10 meters away ready for the long punch, get the ball and go.

I think one of the players who could win us the game with out having to take care of an opponent is Kozzy. I think he has another level to go this year and this will be the game. We feed off his energy when he is up and about 

Last time we played Dogs Gawn  had a fantastic game in the wet very similar to Friday nights

We still lost for 3 reasons I ) DIdn't kick goals when we had the opportunity

2) Our midfield didn't take advantage of Gawns' dominance  

3) The Bont won the game in the last 3 minutes with one goal and a fantastic goal assist

 

[Demongirl35 975]

Have been reading some bigfooty stuff and some dogs fans already think they will gift us the Grand final win because we’ve been ticked away in Perth.

When you are the home team you play at home.. we couldn’t so we picked Adelaide as our home ground for our first two games if we won the first week.. then they wanted us to get into Perth.. again we are the home team with no home so we can pick.

When you’re the away team of course you play at the home teams ground. They said the AFL has shafted them with not being able to train and food not given to the players. Isn’t it the government that says yes or no to AFL clubs training? I think they’re a little worried and looking for an excuse incase we win 

[DeeZee 7,296]

Harmes on Libba again , to stop them dishing the ball out to McRae and Bont.

We gave to guard the outside carefully as they get a lot  of scores from Bont, Bailey Smith snd even Hannan running mid to half forward along the boundary.

Rivers to play the game of his life on Bailey Smith and Sparrow to tackle and pressure  Bont hard at every opportunity.

[dazzledavey36 52,693]

1 minute ago, DeeZee said:

Harmes on Libba again , to stop them dishing the ball out to McRae and Bont.

We gave to guard the outside carefully as they get a lot  of scores from Bont, Bailey Smith snd even Hannan running mid to half forward along the boundary.

Rivers to play the game of his life on Bailey Smith and Sparrow to tackle and pressure  Bont hard at every opportunity.

Really think we need to change tactic with this.

William Drew put s hard tag on Libbs last night and limited his influence. This allowed Bont to get off the leash and impact and kick 2 goals.

Same exact scenario when they beat us. Bont was given far too many opportunities and we didn't put much pressure on him.

I'd easily put the hard tag on Bontempelli. 

[dl4e 5,843]

Pressure. That is all that matters in this game. 

[radar 1,865]

Dogs shoulda been top 4 after R23 Gabba timekeeping fiasco - Lions v Eagles

If it had been a “big” Victorian club. Eddie or Dimma would have a Royal Commission and Covid be page 9

[rufus 1,045]

13 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Really think we need to change tactic with this.

William Drew put s hard tag on Libbs last night and limited his influence. This allowed Bont to get off the leash and impact and kick 2 goals.

Same exact scenario when they beat us. Bont was given far too many opportunities and we didn't put much pressure on him.

I'd easily put the hard tag on Bontempelli. 

Can we go hard tag on both? Use someone from outside the square like Brayshaw to follow Bont? I think we are going to have to do something a little different to the norm to handle these guys...so many damaging players in the middle.

[DeeZee 7,296]

The beauty of viney is he can stop and be damaging the other way as well.

[Willmoy1947 3,957]

A word of warning..

This game must be played on our terms, not theirs. As others have indicated this will be the two best Teams playing each other. Fascinating..

Bontempelli is injured no doubt and now can be shifted off the ball. Has pace forward and back but not balanced sideways.

[Fork 'em 6,938]

3 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Some of these comments….Suddenly people are jumping of Melbourne.  

Spent the whole year on top of the ladder.
Beat every-one.
Strong all over the ground.
Just put together the best game I've seen a Melbourne side play
Goin' in absolutely red hot and just gotta do what we've done all year on GF day.
Show every-one why they finished on top.
And they will.
And it will be glorious.
 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Fork 'em