POSTGAME: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

[Engorged Onion 10,124]

So the evidence continues to build - for supporters, but more importantly, the players and FD,  whereby we can 'allow' teams to have momentum, to put on 5-8 goals, and for it not to affect us in starting to play safe (be it as a team, or as individuals)...moving us away from roles and structures.

This team, just keeps grinding and going, and committing to what it knows, giving itself the best opportunity to win matches,  irrespective of scores and scoreline .

It is seriously impressive.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Engorged Onion

[Maldonboy38 6,379]

I was at the game last night, so couldn't tap into my Demonland addiction until now. A few thoughts:

Wednesday 7.10pm is a killer. I live in the country so got home at 1.10am! I have no hassles with Richmond v Carlton starting each season, but our GF replay and flag unfurl should have been Saturday 2pm-ish so ALL could get to the ground. 

Gawn, Trac, Clarry, Viney. Wow, just wow. I have waited my whole life to see a Dees midfield be this good. Viney is so often not mentioned but he is so good and so important. But Trac - all round power game and unstoppable.

Umpiring was annoying but the only one that got under my skin was the free to Weightman. Utterly ridiculous and the umpire leader should come out publicly and say so. You are allowed to interfere without making contact.

For our 2nd string backline to do so well, I am astounded. Perhaps this shows a glaring weakness in the Doggies?

Bedford shocked me. A scratchy start but got right into the game in the 2nd half. Another soldier ready to play his role.

Get Jackson in your fantasy teams now. He is going to cause havoc this year. Ready to rip the game apart.

I am not a gambling man, but I am very tempted to lay down some hard earned on Brown for the Coleman. His first full preseason in years is showing his true capabilities. Oh, and thank North.

The Doggies are great when on a roll, but have major issues in attack and in the midfield. Naughton is a superstar and I love the way he plays, and Hannan at least gets stuck in and has a go, but the other 5 or 6 seem to all be outside players waiting for something to happen. Or was this just our defence system making them appear like this? But their midfield (apart from the Bont) seems to lack power, grunt, and physical arrogance. They missed so many tackles. Trac continually gets through 2 or 3 of them, Viney brushed them aside with contempt at times.

This is a great time to be a Dees supporter. Bask in it, revel in it. Feels good.

[pinkshark 948]

11 hours ago, Mickey said:

Was interesting to see a few different things in the middle. Nibbler in there a bit was interesting, especially when we have Harmes and Brayshaw in the wings.

Nibbler, my whipping boy for years, was class.  I actually now am comforted when the ball is in his hands.  His finals performances and last night (except for his miss) is his new level.  Its one of the greatest lessons Ive learned in supporting all your players.  I used to rip into him.  Carry it over into the next day type of stuff.  hahaha.  Thank god, Im done with that.

As for the rest of the game - an absolute beauty. 

Brown's timing, compared to his start with us last year chalk and bloody cheese.  He is in good nick. He kicks 60 goals if he stays fit.

Salem a worry but we've had a good run with injuries.  Im mentally prepared for us losing players this year.  Has to happen.

Steven May - love him.

Actually Im gonna just shut the f up for now.  We are the reigning premiers.  We played like it. We are the gold standard.

[In Harmes Way 7,700]

10 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Dogga (who now eerily resembles Adam Hyde from Peking Duk for mine) played more the role he did during 2021.

I'd have gone with Weird Al Jankovic.

[Ungarieboy 409]

Look at the scoring shots difference, consider the penalty count, and note the outs (particularly at short notice - Salem included); and that gives a true reflection of our dominance!

[dees189227 12,062]

I thought Viney's kicking was much better last night and loved his game. 

[Stiff Arm 4,419]

Noticed after the siren when players were hand shaking that Bont was having a serious word with Oliver and then Tracc. Looked a bit p**sed off, appart from losing the game, that is

Any lip readers out there that can translate for me?

[Spargonicus 534]

12 hours ago, Boots and all said:

Very solid, gotta love those grinding wins. Gave them very little after their run in the second. Still, we need to be able to stop those runs. If we can arrest the runs it will be very scary for our opponents.

It's always advisable to stop the runs...

[Red and Blue realist 2,026]

Another big tick to our leaders last night, Goody for putting TMac down back when Salo went off, I thought at the time it was strange he went with another tall, but it paid off big time. Not only did he play well but provided additional leadership that could have fallen onto Tomo, but it was good to just let him play his first game back without that on his shoulders as well. 

Big Max was very good, clearly he was frustrated with the amount of gifts given to English, but kept his cool. He was especially good after the joke free kick given to Weightman, he immediately went over to Smith and stopped any further penalty. I'm sure he was screaming on the inside like the rest of us (well if your like me it wasn't inside at all!), but to defuse the situation shows true leadership and class. 

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

8 minutes ago, Stiff Arm said:

Noticed after the siren when players were hand shaking that Bont was having a serious word with Oliver and then Tracc. Looked a bit p**sed off, appart from losing the game, that is

Any lip readers out there that can translate for me?

"At half time he said he was Jesus, then at 3/4 time he said he's Napoleon. And he kept saying I'm a little teapot, I'm a little teapot, over and over. He's right on the edge. I'm worried about what he might do in the presser."

[SPC 3,477]

19 minutes ago, Stiff Arm said:

Noticed after the siren when players were hand shaking that Bont was having a serious word with Oliver and then Tracc. Looked a bit p**sed off, appart from losing the game, that is

Any lip readers out there that can translate for me?

It looked like they were asking him about his injury and why he was off the ground for so long.

[Tarax Club 3,746]

Great to be at ‘G again sharing our unique Aussie rules game with a terrific crowd. Congratulations to the club for organising such a heartfelt inclusive celebration with due reference to our rich history of triumph overcoming tribulation. Last night’s premiership flag ceremony was definitely one for the true believers. 
 

The match whilst played for just  home and away premiership points this time, was worthy of season opening status and a bona fide advertisement for our home grown game. Concur with what many of the previous posters have said about the team and individual performances.
 

After being challenged by a highly skilled bulldogs outfit in the second stanza our teams’ response was full of determined resolve. The reshuffled defence was not made up by a bunch of second stringers but largely filled with experienced cool heads who ‘tightened the nuts’ as the game wore on.
On this showing those guys waiting patiently in the wings will grasp opportunities when they arise. Expect skills including goal kicking to improve in the  coming weeks,  challengers and pretenders look out!

Edited March 16, 2022 by Tarax Club
Bevo’s boil over simmers on!

[binman 41,948]

1 hour ago, dees189227 said:

I thought Viney's kicking was much better last night and loved his game. 

I thought exactly the same thing.

Seems to be chipping into space more often, allowing the receiver to run to that spot, rather than the low drilling kicks that were his go to (and that he often butchered). Seems a few players are doing the same - hunt comes to mind.

Interestingly i watched a MFC interview with Yze (who, by the by, is such a ridiculously cool cat) last night and he singled out Viney as a player who had improved his game over the preseason, noting that it was one of his only uninterrupted preseasons. 

Scarily, he also said Trac and Clarry have got better and that max is always pushing himself to get better. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by binman

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

This will sound weird but that win vindicated our premiership to me.

Hard to explain, it just made it all feel real.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Clint Bizkit

[MT64 1,141]

Watching the replay now and cannot get over the channel 7 commentators. Taylor seems to have changed his method of calling with Angus's uncle doing most of the commentary. Bradshaw gets excited but generally not too bad. Mind you he has credits in the bank with "bang bang bang BANG". 

Daisy seems to be making more insightful comments as well.

Would not surprise me that the "higher ups" at 7 have had a word to actually call the game rather than waffle on (Taylor) about the past which is just not so relevant now.

Pleasantly surprised.

Earlier on Foxtel they had Richmond V Carlton from the 80's and the commentary was brilliant. Close your  eyes and you knew where the ball was on the ground.

 

 

[Pates 9,625]

Firstly about Bevo, Goody got dragged over hot coals about alleged bullying behaviour but Bevo scolding a journalist for doing his job in front of his peers and attempted to gang them up on him live on TV over a story regarding a correct story about a player being out of favour. 

Compare that to our clubs response to the ACTUAL gutter journalism of dragging up something that is old news and trying to create controversy and create fractures. We laughed at it, called it exactly what it was as garbage, and got on with the job. 

Bevo has actually embarrassed himself and good on Tom Morris for standing his ground in the face of bullying behaviour. 

To the game, I’m pretty sure this is the first win I’ve witnessed live for actual points in about 7 years. Been away from Oz for 5 years, sitting in the MCG and watching the Dees was like seeing an old friend. Gave me chills. 

Although the margin wasn’t the same there were definite similarities to the GF. Us off to a flyer, getting challenged, leaders stepping up, and our system winning the day. We had some serious curve balls to deal with in Lever and Salem (fingers crossed on both), but a true team performance on the night.

Trac is an out and out star, Brown looks dangerous (could’ve had a couple more), Fritta came into the game, and May was huge.

We’ve won the GF rematch so we hold onto bragging rights, and we’ve proven we’re still on a mission.

Oh and shout out to Smith, did very little wrong and justified his selection.  

Edited March 16, 2022 by Pates

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

58 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

I thought Viney's kicking was much better last night and loved his game. 

He looked fit, I guess finally being able to do a pre-season has helped.

[The heart beats true 17,786]

11 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Dogga (who now eerily resembles Adam Hyde from Peking Duk for mine) played more the role he did during 2021.

I’m getting Monte Morgan from Client Liaison.

[mauriesy 7,155]

1 hour ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Umpiring was annoying but the only one that got under my skin was the free to Weightman. Utterly ridiculous and the umpire leader should come out publicly and say so. You are allowed to interfere without making contact.

One of the worst decisions I've seen.

For all the pre-season talk though about cracking down on the time holding the ball, I didn't feel there was much difference from last year. Players had plenty of time for disposal without calling HTB.

Players have also learnt to shut their mouths it seems, or the umpires have relaxed a little from the horror show that was the Melbourne-Carlton community series match.

[titan_uranus 24,595]

A very impressive win on a number of fronts.

They kicked 8 goals in something like 15 minutes. For the rest of the game they kicked 3 goals. We held them to just 16 scoring shots despite having five first choice defenders out, including losing Salem mid-game which forced TMac to be thrown into defence despite not training there for 3 years.

To do that against a side that is likely in 2022 to be a high scoring side is a testament to our structure and discipline.

The 8-goal run highlighted, though, that with this weakened backline in particular we are going to concede goals if our midfield is not on song. For much of that run Petracca was in the forward line. We just couldn't get our hands on the ball. In saying that, if we'd kicked straighter at the start the game could have been over before the Dogs got going.

Trac's game was phenomenal; no coincidence at all that when he was involved we were on top and when he wasn't involved we struggled more. Oliver was super but I thought ANB played one of his best ever games, his composure and field kicking are so much better now (pity he shanked his shot on goal late).

Brown appears to me to be more agile/mobile than last year which only serves to make him even more of a headache for opposition defenders. Should have kicked 5 but his presence, particularly noting TMac wasn't playing forward, was huge for us. I ought to mention Joel Smith too. IMO, his best ever game. 

When the injured players start to get fit, the pressure will come on Bedford, Jordon and Sparrow, all of whom struggled last night IMO. 

Some interesting new things I saw last night: ANB took more centre bounces than I think he did in 2021, and did anyone else notice that late in the fourth quarter we put Fritsch on a wing for the centre bounces for him to line up at the back of the square and then become a loose defender? I wonder what the thinking was there - maybe we're looking at options if Lever continues to miss games? Or just some further positional flexibility? I must say I'm not a fan of Fritsch as a defender so I don't necessarily think it's a great idea but I'm interested in it all the same.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

7 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

One of the worst decisions I've seen.

For all the pre-season talk though about cracking down on the time holding the ball, I didn't feel there was much difference from last year. Players had plenty of time for disposal without calling HTB.

Players have also learnt to shut their mouths it seems, or the umpires have relaxed a little from the horror show that was the Melbourne-Carlton community series match.

The HTB against Petracca that lead to their first goal was awful, but the no talking back rule is great.

[Deemania since 56 6,550]

1 hour ago, Stiff Arm said:

Noticed after the siren when players were hand shaking that Bont was having a serious word with Oliver and then Tracc. Looked a bit p**sed off, appart from losing the game, that is

Any lip readers out there that can translate for me?

Attempting to save face, was the Bont. Well  beaten, himself and across his team, there ain't much point in remonstrating with the game's stars once the final siren ends your agonies. Sorry Bont, not impressed. As for Trac and Clarry, hope they got a few well-selected words into the opposition captain, as there is a great deal that could be useful to him sometime in the future, albeit modestly and sensitively delivered.

'Carna Dees!

 

[Longsufferingnomore 1,609]

6 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

A very impressive win on a number of fronts.

They kicked 8 goals in something like 15 minutes. For the rest of the game they kicked 3 goals. We held them to just 16 scoring shots despite having five first choice defenders out, including losing Salem mid-game which forced TMac to be thrown into defence despite not training there for 3 years.

To do that against a side that is likely in 2022 to be a high scoring side is a testament to our structure and discipline.

The 8-goal run highlighted, though, that with this weakened backline in particular we are going to concede goals if our midfield is not on song. For much of that run Petracca was in the forward line. We just couldn't get our hands on the ball. In saying that, if we'd kicked straighter at the start the game could have been over before the Dogs got going.

Trac's game was phenomenal; no coincidence at all that when he was involved we were on top and when he wasn't involved we struggled more. Oliver was super but I thought ANB played one of his best ever games, his composure and field kicking are so much better now (pity he shanked his shot on goal late).

Brown appears to me to be more agile/mobile than last year which only serves to make him even more of a headache for opposition defenders. Should have kicked 5 but his presence, particularly noting TMac wasn't playing forward, was huge for us. I ought to mention Joel Smith too. IMO, his best ever game. 

When the injured players start to get fit, the pressure will come on Bedford, Jordon and Sparrow, all of whom struggled last night IMO. 

Some interesting new things I saw last night: ANB took more centre bounces than I think he did in 2021, and did anyone else notice that late in the fourth quarter we put Fritsch on a wing for the centre bounces for him to line up at the back of the square and then become a loose defender? I wonder what the thinking was there - maybe we're looking at options if Lever continues to miss games? Or just some further positional flexibility? I must say I'm not a fan of Fritsch as a defender so I don't necessarily think it's a great idea but I'm interested in it all the same.

I thought I was going mad when I saw 31 down there. My son said that Langers was resting in the forward line so that was why Bailey was there. No one can substitute for Langers and certainly Bailey doesn't have the speed so I'm not sure of the rationale for putting him there. But who am I to query a Premiership Coach. He can do no wrong in my eyes.

How was the noise in the first quarter. Reminds me of the finals against Geelong and Hawthorn. Spine tingling.

I thought Max played an exceptional Captains game. His goal steadied the ship.

I love the love between Trac and Ollie. They just know where each other is.

I also thought the game was played with very little spite despite the media and AFL hyping it up pre game.

[Monocology 1,109]

12 hours ago, Sigil said:

BBB is in for a ripper season I think.

Doesn't get outmarked, brings the ball to ground at worst and makes a contest. Plus has a bit of a run at players to force them out wide before they kick.

Also knows how to do some nice taps if he can't mark it.

And kicks goals!

Weapon.

I think the 'yours Bennie' calls from the stands will become commonplace this year 😊. High hands, sticky hands.

[Longsufferingnomore 1,609]

1 hour ago, Stiff Arm said:

Noticed after the siren when players were hand shaking that Bont was having a serious word with Oliver and then Tracc. Looked a bit p**sed off, appart from losing the game, that is

Any lip readers out there that can translate for me?

Trac was looking down at Bontempelli's leg so obviously Bont blaming that on the Doggies loss