Oh dear, West Coast. Oh dear.

I love seeing West Coast getting belted. High on my wish list is to see the Dees smash them by 100 points. At Optus

55 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Am I allowed to express my dissent with the standard of football on display today - that includes players and the persons officiating? 

Watching Port v Eagles on the couch and I’ve already waved my hands in dismay 3 or 4 times.

How many 50's paid against you????

I never thought I would ever say this, about another side, but this Eagles team looks worse than us in our Neeld nadir 

Edited April 23, 20223 yr by Deepfreeze

1 minute ago, Deepfreeze said:

I never thought I would say this, but this Eagles team looks worse than us in our Neeld nadir 

Nar NOTHING was worse than this!

Excuse my ignorance on this one but is the West Coast team playing today all AFL listed players or do they still have top-ups?

1 hour ago, Webber said:

I heard a stat some weeks ago (wish I’d paid more attention) that teams who lose the grand final by more than 45 points don’t win a final the next year. Something like 70% don’t make finals at all. And the bigger the margin, the worse it gets (sample group gets smaller though). Ergo, Dogs won’t make finals, and if they do manage to scrape in, they’re going straight out. 

Huh, that’s a great stat!
I wonder if it’s a collective thing like loss of belief in game plan, or an individual loss of belief, is it an emotional grieving type thing? Does the coach make changes that hurt team play as an over-correction? All of the above?

Never like to get too far ahead of myself but in 3 weeks time we have Eagles followed by the Kangaroos.

14 minutes ago, BoBo said:

Huh, that’s a great stat!
I wonder if it’s a collective thing like loss of belief in game plan, or an individual loss of belief, is it an emotional grieving type thing? Does the coach make changes that hurt team play as an over-correction? All of the above?

Nick Riewoldt (who of course has gone through just this) seemed to think self-preservation kicks in at a certain point - like "I don't want to be hurt like that again" so you don't work quite as hard, commit quite as much, and so on.

3 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Never like to get too far ahead of myself but in 3 weeks time we have Eagles followed by the Kangaroos.

Watch the match day thread light up if we only win by 4-5 goals

3 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Never like to get too far ahead of myself but in 3 weeks time we have Eagles followed by the Kangaroos.

Isn't Obi-Wan being sarcastic when he says that? I guess this gif works if you're Eagles and Kangas fans preparing to play Melbourne.

5 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Watch the match day thread light up if we only win by 4-5 goals

Nothing more certain.

4 minutes ago, Chook said:

Isn't Obi-Wan being sarcastic when he says that? I guess this gif works if you're Eagles and Kangas fans preparing to play Melbourne.

I think you're right actually! Tongue in cheek nonetheless. The club will probably be happy to grind out a 4-6 goal win and nothing is a given in footy.

Edited April 23, 20223 yr by Nascent

28 minutes ago, MT64 said:

How many 50's paid against you????

His dinner has been reduced to a Vegemite sandwich and a glass of water

29 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Nar NOTHING was worse than this!

Sadly picket I think you are incorrect however I enjoy it happen to the Weagles.

West Coast have kicked 1 goal to 3 quarter time. Hilarious

54 minutes ago, dl4e said:

West Coast look like a 2nd division side of the vfa from the seventies. Dreadful.

What? Dandenong was a bloody good side back then. 

6 minutes ago, BDA said:

West Coast have kicked 1 goal to 3 quarter time. Hilarious

So... are they still up??

1 hour ago, adonski said:

They effectively try to play netball. Deliberately soft to not give free kicks away, and deliberately soft with ball in hand to draw frees from tackles as frequently as possible

I think there is some truth this. I reckon they deliberately train in how to draw a free. Don’t get me wrong, I mean it’s fun blaming the umpires, but in all seriousness it’s probably more the Doggies style that draws the free. I just wish the AFL umpiring dept would catch on already and pay attention to the disposal, lowering at the knees and falling forward. 

On the flip side it must take away from the required mind set to win games and we are seeing the transpire in front of our eyes. 

1 hour ago, DEE fence said:

Minor correction,  I don't think any team is top 8 material after they play us.

The ol' JCV video cassette recorder was out over summer and running overtime. The other 16 clubs watched us dismantle the Dogs last September and have taken the leaf. Apply sustained pressure and they excrete themselves very, very badly. Calab Daniel is the number one offender . . . time and again. 

Edited April 23, 20223 yr by Queanbeyan Demon

1 minute ago, CYB said:

I think there is some truth this. I reckon they deliberately train in how to draw a free. Don’t get me wrong, I mean it’s fun blaming the umpires, but in all seriousness it’s probably more the Doggies style that draws the free. I just wish the AFL umpiring dept would catch on already and pay attention to the disposal, lowering at the knees and falling forward. 

I think there can be no doubt they train to win frees.

But that doesn't explain why they seemingly can't give away a free when they drop the ball, throw it, etc. And their opponents manage to give away frees that make even neutral supporters blow a gasket.

None of it adds up. It's inexplicable, yet it keeps happening.

16 minutes ago, old dee said:

His dinner has been reduced to a Vegemite sandwich and a glass of water

Why would that be?

1 hour ago, John Crow Batty said:

Do the betting agencies take wagers on the free kick counts?  One could retire betting on dogs games.

Make it a multi with May perpetually kicking out to the left HBF. Nothing surer in life

Hinkley's seat is going to get pretty uncomfortable if Port cough this game up from here.

16 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

The ol' JCV video cassette recorder was out over summer and running overtime. The other 16 clubs watched us dismantle the Dogs last September and have taken the leaf. Apply sustained pressure and they excrete themselves very, very badly. Calab Daniel is the number one offender . . . time and again. 

The amount of uncontested ball he gets is off the charts but his contested ball is insanely poor, but as soon as he is made accountable he turns it over time and rime again. OVERATED player

Edited April 23, 20223 yr by picket fence

2 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

I think there can be no doubt they train to win frees.

But that doesn't explain why they seemingly can't give away a free when they drop the ball, throw it, etc. And their opponents manage to give away frees that make even neutral supporters blow a gasket.

None of it adds up. It's inexplicable, yet it keeps happening.

Clarkson complained about the Bulldogs 'method' of disposal by hand back after  the 2016 semi final ... mentioned that his own team would need to learn how it's done, hinting that they would do the same

That's 6 years ago now

So all the clubs do it and try to disguise it but again, the Bulldogs do it better than the rest (probably in all facets of a free kick, if we're being honest)

For instance, as you and most others know, the handpass used to require a clenched fist punching the ball from another hand/arm that was reasonably stationary (certainly not moving about at a great rate of knots)

Now, the hand holding the ball can be moving at a great rate of knots and the slightest of 'taps' on the ball is allowed ... so that new interpretation can be exploited and is exploited.  And the Bulldogs are the best at it.  Again, in close with a mass of bodies around the ball, the release of the ball after immediately being tackled is difficult to see clearly.  Especially into what has actually happened

My eyes see a throw only being paid when it's absolutely obvious.  The rest of the time it's play on

And it's gone way past blaming the umps ... this is a rules of the game issue which is an AFL issue

Edited April 23, 20223 yr by Macca