It's becoming clear we broke the Doggies in the GF, and they have struggled to reset over the break...

Don't think they'll make the 8 this year.

Edited March 24, 20223 yr by PaulRB

51 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

When Carlton (or any other team) can consistently keep the opp to 60-70 points, which is the goal of our defence, then I will rate the team's defensive capability.  Until they develop an 'all team defence' then I doubt their finals credentials.  They might make the 8 and beat other low defence capable teams but will struggle vs a Sydney, Melbourne and probably Geelong.

They need much more pressure from their fwds and mids to protect their d50 to keep the ops score down.

This

We watched two teams with good attack and contest games but poor defence last night. The score line proves that unequivocally. The blues are going to be tougher to beat with that midfield firing and both Curnow and Mackay clunking marks. The blues were actually the scarier team from my view as they are starting to get their 2 way running game going. A number of times they managed to get an outnumber in defence through a number of their midfielders gut run. Their defensive structure still looks lacking though and Mcgovern has a fair way to go in trying to emulate Jake Lever.

I'm going to have to take back some of my disparaging comments about their list. Adding Cerra and Hewett has totally reshaped that midfield, the emergence of Kennedy has helped too. I'm really looking forward to playing them, the midfield battle will be something to watch.

8 hours ago, Thehardtackler said:

The Dogs have a crap, non existent game plan and were exceedingly fortunate to make the Grand Final last year. I would not be surprised if they missed out on the 8 this year.

History says they only have a 1 in 10 chance of making the GF this year.

And similar chance of making finals after a 0-2 start.

Easton Wood retiring last year was well overdue and Fritsch did him a favour but this issue not fixed and dogs no way have a serious finals defensive ssyetm or personnel group. How did Beveridge and his coaching staff spend their summer I would be asking if a dogs fan.

 

There was an interesting stat on First Crack last week along the lines of a good majority of teams that lost the GF by over 50 points the year before either didn't make the 8 or win a final the next year. The dogs are looking good for that at the moment...

If the dogs had kicked straight they would have won. They have themselves to blame.

Posted last week that the post match outburst was putting up smoke to hide the issues at the Bulldogs.  Really 1 forward, weak backline and strong mids with no ruck.

They need Bruce back to have any chance

Listening to talkbalk radio this morning, I've learned that:

• last night's win was the greatest win ever by any club playing Aussie Rules football
• this year's Carlton team is the greatest team ever to play Aussie Rules football
• Cripps is the greatest leader of men since Alexander the Great

Paddy MCCartin's comeback is quite a story. the-unbelievable-return-that-no-one-saw-coming

Really wish him well.  He deserves some luck.

His comeback is right up there with Doherty at Carlton.  And with that of our Jesse H who is in line to play this week.

Edited March 25, 20223 yr by Lucifers Hero

14 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Carlton have joined us, Brisbane, Sydney, Port, Geelong and maybe Dogs as a genuine premiership contender.

Not sure what more they could have done so far this year and have another vital midfield cog in Cerra to come back in.

Winning two games isn’t flag contention. 

I am getting convinced the Dogs are back in the pack but BL, Dees, Port, and Syd is where I am at.

Definitely threw that one away the Doggies.

I wonder how much scarring they took away from that GF? They should have put Carlton away twice over. It's not like those shots were all tight on the boundary line 45 meters out.

Mentioned this a while back but I was genuinely surprised with the way the doggies handled their list management over the summer.

The Grand Final performance really exposed a few holes on their list. I was shocked they did not go after another ruckman. Stefan Martin is a cooked as they come and he's 35 years old now. Luke Jackson was simply jumping all over him on GF day. Tim English is good around the ground but he is one of the softest big blokes I've ever seen playing AFL. He just hates the physical side of things and this is where they get exposed at times.

There was an opportunity there to get Peter Ladhams from Port Adelaide who was shopping himself around and would have been the perfect fit to team up with English. Plays up forward also so that would have given them another tall forward to assist Naughton who is getting smashed as we speak. Missed opportunity there.

They failed to address their need for another big bodied defender. They went and grabbed Tim O'Brien who is a 3rd tall defender (meh footballer really) who realistically replaces Easton Wood who got taught a huge lesson by Fritsch on GF day. 

Alex Keath gets badly exposed because he's quite slow off the mark and he's banged up at 30 years of age. If Keath goes down they are in serious trouble because there isn't any up and coming defenders on their list.

Ben Brown was so unlucky not to kick 6 last week and both McKay and Curnow combined for 9 goals last night. This was a genuine weakness last year that wasn't addressed in the off season.

They did not even address this in the draft and instead focused on half forwards and midfielders. Something that they're already stacked with.

Looking carefully at their list, I think they could really drop in the next few years until they learn to address some significant needs.

1 hour ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Paddy MCCartin's comeback is quite a story. the-unbelievable-return-that-no-one-saw-coming

Really wish him well.  He deserves some luck.

Great article. But what I don’t get is why would a player such as Paddy not wear protective headgear? Or any player, for that matter. 

1 hour ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Definitely threw that one away the Doggies.

I wonder how much scarring they took away from that GF? They should have put Carlton away twice over. It's not like those shots were all tight on the boundary line 45 meters out.

I wouldn't trust Aaron Naughton to win a match after the siren with any shot from close to 50.

2 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

I wouldn't trust Aaron Naughton to win a match after the siren with any shot from close to 50.

Josh Dunkley and Cody Weightman also had absolute mares.

16 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Josh Dunkley and Cody Weightman also had absolute mares.

Weightman’s kicking was atrocious 

if they weren’t slewing off his boot sideways, they were going straight up in the air 

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

Winning two games isn’t flag contention. 

Look you're probably right and they're not quite a flag contender, but if they beat Hawthorn, GC (a) and Port (h) in the next 3 weeks then I'll start getting Richmond (2017) and Melbourne (2021) vibes about this group.

I really do think they've built a contending list through aggressive trading/FA and generational player drafting in Cripps, Walsh and Curnow when he's out of the rehab gym.

22 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Look you're probably right and they're not quite a flag contender, but if they beat Hawthorn, GC (a) and Port (h) in the next 3 weeks then I'll start getting Richmond (2017) and Melbourne (2021) vibes about this group.

I really do think they've built a contending list through aggressive trading/FA and generational player drafting in Cripps, Walsh and Curnow when he's out of the rehab gym.

They’re on the way, but the defence is still no where near it. 
Dogs would have won quite comfortably if they had nailed a few very standard shots in the last quarter. 
Carlton were good last night, Footscray were bog ordinary. 
Their style of “Pinball” Football is not sustainable 

Blues looked formidable.

I just hope for a laugh they have set themselves up for a Collingwood like Salary Cap debacle on the back of their big player offers. Would love to know how how all that sits. 

2 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Definitely threw that one away the Doggies.

I wonder how much scarring they took away from that GF? They should have put Carlton away twice over. It's not like those shots were all tight on the boundary line 45 meters out.

True. 

I also do wonder about mental toughness after last week. 

Dogs kicked 8 straight and still lost to us running away in the end.

What do we have to do to beat the Dees? they must be thinking. Or else recognising serious weaknesses not fixed and time is passing them by?

3 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Listening to talkbalk radio this morning, I've learned that:

• last night's win was the greatest win ever by any club playing Aussie Rules football
• this year's Carlton team is the greatest team ever to play Aussie Rules football
• Cripps is the greatest leader of men since Alexander the Great

Unfair on Alexander the Great. 

He was only 5 feet 0 inches so was never drafted. Retired too early at 32 but easily covers Crippa in the leadership stakes in his chosen profession after missing out on draft night.

Conquering the world. Cripps has only conquered Lygon st.

3 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

Unfair on Alexander the Great. 

He was only 5 feet 0 inches so was never drafted. Retired too early at 32 but easily covers Crippa in the leadership stakes in his chosen profession after missing out on draft night.

Conquering the world. Cripps has only conquered Lygon st.

Come to think of it, Libba senior was more like A the G. Short, with a propensity to kill & maim every [censored] who got in his way.

2 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Great article. But what I don’t get is why would a player such as Paddy not wear protective headgear? Or any player, for that matter. 

He did in his last year at the Saints and didn’t do anything to stop the issues, literature suggests helmets are ok at preventing some cuts and bruising on the head but does nothing to stop the brain bouncing around in the skull. 

Never mind the respective comebacks of Sam Docherty, Paddy McCartin and Jesse Hogan.

The real story in team selection this week is that The Big Prussian, Brayden Preuss, has been named in the extended squad and might finally make his debut for GWS.

West Coast with 12 out from last week due to covid sounds very ominous for them. If Kangaroos lose this they should just shut up shop and join a local league!

17 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

He did in his last year at the Saints and didn’t do anything to stop the issues, literature suggests helmets are ok at preventing some cuts and bruising on the head but does nothing to stop the brain bouncing around in the skull. 

That’s interesting. And I guess that’s why so few wear them.