POSTGAME: Rd 01 vs Western Bulldogs

[WalkingCivilWar 39,266]

1 minute ago, Demonsterative said:

I’m not sure Grundy would have been a target if the club didn’t know Dogga was leaving. I would have thought the Salary cap would have nipped that in the bud. 

Too many believe they know what is going on at the club. 
 

in the meantime let’s enjoy the death ride of Freeo 

The club in all likelihood did know. That still doesn’t redeem him, imo anyways. 

[Lucifers Hero 39,041]

5 hours ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

Shame on those Dees fans who booed Sauce. He was delisted ffs.

To be fair, this was in retaliation to the bulldogs fans booing Hunter.  Not right for us to do it to Baker but war is war!

Our cheer for Hunter was louder than their booing and they quickly shut up.  But I loved the way our fans made the love for Hunter obvious to all.

[WalkingCivilWar 39,266]

2 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

To be fair, this was in retaliation to the bulldogs fans booing Hunter.  Not right for us to do it to Baker but war is war!

Our cheer for Hunter was louder than their booing and they quickly shut up.  But I loved the way our fans made the love for Hunter obvious to all.

Which is understandable if all concerned were 8yo or younger 

[Dees_In_October 3,346]

7 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Good to see our AFLW team do a Premiership lap of honour.  But disappointed that the applause wasn't what was deserved.

Was pretty loud where I was, though to be fair, I was on the fence with other enthusiastic types. I guess we know by now that it's a passionate minority that follows both teams closely - and have had a VERY enjoyable few years.

6 hours ago, BDA said:

Every dee around me clapped.

pity more of our supporters don’t see them play. They are great ambassadors for the red and blue

Yes, great ambassadors. Nice to see Birch at the forefront at home games. Just wish she could announce herself as a two-time premiership player as I think plenty are unaware...

[DutchDemons 1,427]

My 5 week old son and fellow MFC member Louie has been alive for one AFLM match.

Wins: 1

Losses: 0

Win percentage: undefined

 A portent of things to come?

[Sir Why You Little 36,735]

4 hours ago, Flag 2021 said:

Bontempelli was quiet - was Harmesy on him?

Yes. He did his job 

[picket fence 16,801]

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Yes. He did his job 

Next week Lochie Neale LOCKDOWN!!

[Kent 2,879]

6 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Of course. But Brown doesn’t kick 4 goals if TMac isn’t there

Watched the replay today. I'm still not convinced as to the perceived value of T Mac during yesterdays game  He looked completely at sea but that is only my opinion

[John Demonic 5,600]

Meanwhile over on reddit post round thread:

• The Bulldogs discover the major problem of having 4 tall forwards is that they take 40 years to bend down when the ball hits the ground

Edited March 19, 2023 by John Demonic

[adonski 10,988]

11 minutes ago, Kent said:

Watched the replay today. I'm still not convinced as to the perceived value of T Mac during yesterdays game  He looked completely at sea but that is only my opinion

T Mac is coming off a significant injury, I will hold judgement for a few more weeks

[Kent 2,879]

Just now, adonski said:

T Mac is coming off a significant injury, I will hold judgement for a few more weeks

 

Just now, adonski said:

T Mac is coming off a significant injury, I will hold judgement for a few more weeks

Fair enough !!

[Sir Why You Little 36,735]

13 minutes ago, Kent said:

Watched the replay today. I'm still not convinced as to the perceived value of T Mac during yesterdays game  He looked completely at sea but that is only my opinion

It’s not hard. Last year Ben was getting 3 opponents 

Last night he was free to run and cover ground 

TMac played an effective team role. He will get better 

[daisycutter 29,429]

21 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Kozzies kicked 40+ goals in both his 1st 2 seasons.
I doubt Cyril did that.

yeah, i can't see cyril catching kozzy now

[Vipercrunch 2,820]

2 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

 

IIRC he was only booed at his first touch, which was shortly after Hunter’s first touch where the Dogs fans booed him. I felt like those who booed were doing it in response to the Dogs fans and it didn’t happen again.

I loved the way our fans drowned out the boos for Hunter and Pickett as the game went on though. 

Re Sauce booing: Agree. All pantomime and in good fun and as a response to the Hunter booing.  I think a lot of Melbourne supporters gave him a good cheer when he kicked his goal.

And loved how we drowned out the booing.  The dogs supporters seemed to lose interest after that.

[CHF 2,696]

I was on a flight to Doha that took off an hour prior to the bounce. I know….. bad organisation but it was not my decision. Good thing was that Qatar Airlines has on board internet. Joy oh joy.

I can tell you that my fellow business class travelers were bemused by the advice that I was giving to the umps, our players and the doggies even though I was restrained. I am sure I was restrained….. really I was…..

The game reminded me a lot of the way we played games during ‘21. Apply a bit of pressure early on, assess what the opposition brings to the game, come out after the halftime break with the coached instructions clear and step up our game to cover the opposition. Good to see.

As with the Richmond Practice game, the team looks confident, fit, mature and well drilled. I believe that any team sport needs to concentrate on defence and transition both ways. It is critical that a team has the fitness and structures to do this 100% of game time week in week out. Loved that we ran out the game so well and did not let up.

Our defence without May and Salem was excellent. They reduced the Doggies tall timber to kindling. Tomlinson was very good in the defensive team. He did all that was asked of him and slotted in very well. Petty did well and Lever played his best game in a long while. Seemed to mark everything he could get to. Bowey just does it all very well. Brave committed and skilful. McVee’s first game was great and Rivers looks to be in excellent form. I think he is the natural replacement for Hibberd as he looks to retire. Brayshaw looked like the replacement for Salem. Always in the right spot and distributed the ball well.

The movement out of defence into attack was very good. The running in waves and passing by hand and foot good to watch. Others have commented but I also want to highlight the way we paced our attack at times. Sometimes holding the ball and passing it around looking for a weakness in the opposition and at other times moving the ball quickly when we have the defence disorganised and scrambling. Good decision making.

I recall early on in Goodwin’s coaching term that he stated that he wanted to build versatility into the players and the playing group. He and the coaching team have done that in spades. I always take note of the players we send to the centre bounces and yesterday we had a variety of players effectively moving through there. At one stage, Rivers, Kossie and Oliver were there at Max’s feet. I think we had 9 different players attend there at some stage in the game. I also noted at times both our wings in Langdon and Hunter came into the centre square after the bounce when required with one of the other players covering the outside for them. Good coaching and it must be a headache for the oppo coach.

The forward setup worked well, and Brown looks very fit and bouncy. In the game yesterday we led the tackle count by 12. And all 12 of those additional tackles were in our forward 50, 21 to 9. You cannot ask for better forward 50 defensive pressure than that.

Gawn, Petracca, Oliver Brayshaw all excellent and a very good team performance.

I will temper my expectations a bit as I do not rate the Doggies or their coach, The Pornstar. I would have them mid table at best with a spot in the lower reaches of the 8 possible.

4 points and a warning to the rest of the comp…… a good way to start the season.

[BDA 22,402]

I reflexively booed Hunter last night then remembered he was playing with us now. Lol

[mandeelorian 211]

Kozzy is an absolute superstar.

Max, Trac & Oliver are absolutely elite.

Lever is a ROCK in defence.

Big Benny Brown with 4 sausages.

And both WA teams lose. What a weekend.

[Stu 901]

12 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It’s not hard. Last year Ben was getting 3 opponents 

Last night he was free to run and cover ground 

TMac played an effective team role. He will get better 

Max's mark and goal at the top of the square was able to happen because Tom did a great job of keeping his body between the contest and Sam Darcy. It doesn't look like much, but it takes a lot of strength and skill to do that and not give away a blocking free kick. If that's Weideman or another forward they probably try to fly for the contest and the mark and goal doesn't occur. 

[pineapple dee 2,892]

4 hours ago, jnrmac said:

$cully

$cott Thompson

Dogga

Can all get stuffed

You’ve got a good memory for bad MFC moments and I agree 100%

[dees189227 12,294]

I bet he doesn't but lever deserves Brownlow votes 

[Vipercrunch 2,820]

5 minutes ago, dees189227 said:

I bet he doesn't but lever deserves Brownlow votes 

Played well all game but his first quarter especially was brilliant.  If any of our younger defenders may have been anxious without Steve May, they would have been greatly reassured that the system would stand up with the way Lever played.  It definitely reassured me 😂👍

[WalkingCivilWar 39,266]

We’ve now spent 47 consecutive home and away rounds in the top 4.

Not too shabby, huh. 

[MrFreeze 1,872]

3 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

To be fair, this was in retaliation to the bulldogs fans booing Hunter.  Not right for us to do it to Baker but war is war!

Our cheer for Hunter was louder than their booing and they quickly shut up.  But I loved the way our fans made the love for Hunter obvious to all.

This was also in response to Baker getting in McVee's face after he was caught with the ball, Gawn gave him a spray and the crowd probably thought he was deserving too

[Sir Why You Little 36,735]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Max's mark and goal at the top of the square was able to happen because Tom did a great job of keeping his body between the contest and Sam Darcy. It doesn't look like much, but it takes a lot of strength and skill to do that and not give away a blocking free kick. If that's Weideman or another forward they probably try to fly for the contest and the mark and goal doesn't occur. 

That’s right. Goal assists 

Tom did a lot of that in the GF as well

He is very good at it. The Coach(s) would be well aware of what TMac does. If we can get 2 goals a game out of him, plus all his strength work, then he becomes a very important contributor. 

[Demon Dynasty 17,108]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Max's mark and goal at the top of the square was able to happen because Tom did a great job of keeping his body between the contest and Sam Darcy. It doesn't look like much, but it takes a lot of strength and skill to do that and not give away a blocking free kick. If that's Weideman or another forward they probably try to fly for the contest and the mark and goal doesn't occur. 

Yes a great example of playing your role.  No stat for this act either, it's purely team driven & sacrificial