Webber

Probably only accounts for their injured players, thus an even playing field. They are just a class above, in every way….intent, intelligence, skills. Casey this quarter are an embarrassment by comparison, no disguising it.

I take it back…..getting ugly this quarter. Western Bulldogs depth is truly frightening. As of now, I don’t see how they don’t win the premiership.this year.

Getting beaten in every facet. It’s gonna really really ugly in the last quarter. Bulldogs play like their seniors - hungry, sharp, constantly there for each other. Probably some learnings there….?

I reckon a good amount of this is the wet games we’ve been playing. Expecting a turnaround on the Goldie.

Spot on. The swapping behinds for goals argument is spurious at best. There is however no doubt we are kicking poorly, but it’s at all points of the oval. Fatigue, confidence, who knows? One thing for sure, like yawning, it’s infectious.

Yep. We ultimately lost by 4 straight kicks (and boy do we struggle with straight kicks), and as much as it kills me the way Australian Football is umpired at the top level - unquestionably the ugliest, most disappointing aspect of our game - there’s just no appetite to improve it, let alone have the conversation. The Bulldogs will continue to be gifted the umpiring golden egg, and it may win them another flag, but it simply isn’t going to change, so can’t be factored into last night’s loss and what it say about our current form. The other objective truth is that our past 6 weeks of results put us in the bottom 6. Our ladder position exists now only as a reminder of our early form and an opportunity to extend the season, for what that’s worth. If we can re-discover that form, great, but that opportunity will be worth nada if we don’t.

I don’t think we have the exposed talent yet. People keep talking about Bowey for example. He’s played only a handful of games against men at all, and is seen as a current option. The next few years, sure, but now?! My worry is that if you think about any of our ‘essential’ players being injured/unavailable, what’s the likely replacement/consequence? That would be Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, May, Lever, Petty, Fritsch (yes, our best forward by some margin, despite the inexplicable lack of understanding of that by many on here), Tmac, Salem. We don’t have anyone outside the current 22 who wouldn’t be a serious downgrade on our game-to-game reliance on those players. The first five mentioned are disproportionately carrying us this year. Shuffling would be necessary of course, and can bring some players on to new levels, but I suspect we’re two lost essential players from an irretrievable position, 1 if it’s any of the first 3. I look through the other ‘contenders’, and who they couldn’t afford to lose, based on their game plan and full 22 contribution, and don’t see any of them having a list as fragile as ours.

On Demonland. It’s starting to be used a lot to explain, dare I say excuse our late season form tumble. For every team looking finals likely, season load management would be very similar. Otherwise, it’s a phantom. Our form is not fitness and fatigue based, it’s a slump in pressure, execution, one-percenters, and team-centric football. Yes, the young guns are fading, because they’re young, but they’re not being rested because we have illusionary depth and no VFL to create form pressure. It shouldn’t be forgotten that we currently have the least injured list in the AFL, which should be an ENORMOUS advantage. Our form is making a lie of that fact. I keep hearing Simon Goodwin talk about internal belief remaining strong during this down-turn, but we all know it looks a country mile away from early season. It can turn of course, and quickly, but at the moment, our trajectory is southwards, and it’s got nothing to do with loading.

The Swans ‘murdered’ them by 19 points, and the Suns tried hard, but never looked like running over them. The Dogs are on top of the ladder, with rising form where we’ve won 2 of our last 6, having failed to defeat 3 deadset struggling teams and in that time have become the lowest scoring team in the eight. Clearly our form is retreating, and our season hopes are in trouble. As a tale of two teams, they’re pretty compelling facts.

Not sure what you mean by dominate, but the way I saw it, we had a few minutes (at best) of possession and attack dominance each quarter, which they quickly snuffed out, then added to. The Dogs never looked like they’d lost control or would succumb, not even when we got within 4 points. The truth is they’re beginning to peak beautifully, where we’ve retreated to bottom 6 form. Funny old game, and we all so hoped it wouldn’t be the case, but the ‘April-May premiers’ jibe is sadly proving true for this team.

Did you mean to write this AF, because it’s patently not true.

Yep. Great marking too. He’s had a very consistent year.

Much more evidence in that!

This is becoming a much raised reason for our drop off, and there’s literally nothing to back it up, nor, if it weren’t a phantom, would the Bulldogs be doing any different.

There are two wildly unbalanced stats from that game, and all the others are remarkably tight. We won hit outs 68-18. They won free kicks 25-11. Every sport at the top level should aspire to the best possible quality of adjudication. This was not that. Doesn’t matter how you spin it, that was not a level playing field out there. Season free kick stats equally confirm the Bulldogs are getting a free ride through the season. The big question is why, but nobody’s asking it.

There are two wildly unbalanced stats from that game, and all the others are remarkably tight. We won hit outs 68-18. They won free kicks 25-11. Every sport at the top level should aspire to the best possible quality of adjudication. This was not that. It’s just not a level playing field out there.

Their body work to block, shepherd puts ours to shame. They are a better team, and they’re currently getting better. We are going the other way.

Neither of those two disposals that got to Bontempelli were handballs.

He won’t, and of course he won’t. It needs to be a closed doors conversation. The Bulldogs and Tigers way way out at either end of the free kick differential needs acknowledging and addressing. Why the media don’t run it who knows. It’s ruining the game.

Well at least they only have three times as many free kicks now.

15 seconds before, Smith threw the ball out of a tackle…..nothing.

Yep. All over. Disgraceful umpiring, rubbish football. Not within a paddock of finals-worthy intent.

Yep. All over. Disgraceful umpiring, rubbish football. Not within a paddock of finals-worthy intent.

Does anybody have any legitimate, logical reason why they get such a free kick advantage? Honestly? It’s killing this game, and it’s killing football.

This is going to be a slaughter.