View Full Version : Bulldogs v Bombers (Round 15 2007) - Slaps and Sledges
Rather than having a number of different threads either criticising or praising certain players how about one thread dedicated to either giving a player a slap on the back if they have played well or a 'constructive' sledge for those who did not perform well (key word is constructive).
Chicago1
14 Jul 2007, 22:48
Slaps to the entire team for winning. I decided to stay up all night since the match started at 4.10am my time. It's now 6.50am and I'm going to bed. Sounds like Cooney had a ripper of a game along with Boyd. I was the only one of the four of us on the radio show to tip the Doggies. I tipped with both my head and my heart. The boys didn't let me down.
Slaps to the entire team for winning. I decided to stay up all night since the match started at 4.10am my time. It's now 6.50am and I'm going to bed. Sounds like Cooney had a ripper of a game along with Boyd. I was the only one of the four of us on the radio show to tip the Doggies. I tipped with both my head and my heart. The boys didn't let me down.Join the club :o It's now 6am and I think it's bed time. Thankfully I don't have to work tomorrow and thankfully we won to make it worth it.
Slap to Johnson for a nice little bag.
Slap to Boyd and Cooney for stepping up in Cross and Wests's absense.
Slap on general to the whole team. Very even performance across the board.
No sledges for me today. Just happy to beat Essendon.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
14 Jul 2007, 22:59
Slap- Cooney after 1 touch in the first, was on fire for the rest of the game. He said after the game he had been in hospital most of the day as his little girl was sick. So great effort to refocus and not only contribute but be the dominant player on the field
Slap- Morris- really did a great job quelling Lucas' influence.
Slap- Johnno as usual the focal point
Slap- Farren Ray good intensity, and excellent work rate
Slap- Mitch Hahn- looks to be getting into gear, ran hard and as we've come to expect of him bullocking efforts through packs.
Slap- Aker- especially his first quarter- excellent kicking into the forward line, and hard at the ball all night.
Slap- Boyd for his workrate... mini sledge though for some of his disposals.
Slap- Guido- continuing his good workrate of recent weeks.
Sledge the brain fades of McMahon and Harris with very poor disposals at key times. No doubt they did well on many occasions but nonetheless some poor concentration.
sledge- if we were switched on at all times we could've made this a much larger win than it turned out to be.
Huge Slap to Adam Cooney, quite easily BOG
Slap - Dale Morris, Lucas ended up with 4 but I thought he won that contest quite easily
Slap - Eagle, I'm always pretty tough on him but he was outstanding tonight
Slap - Brad Johnson I don't need to say much more
Slap - Mitch Hahn, looked great out there the human battering ram looks like his old self
Slap - #12 for Essendon, what a tool. Got a good laugh from here watching him
Sledge - Brian Harris' first half, awful disposal
Sledge - Going to be harsh here, Tom Williams. Looked good in stages but dropped a lot of easy chest marks which were costly at times. Other than that I'm very happy with his progress
Sledge - Harbrow, please get some longer stops in your boots, he always seems to fall over.
W.Bulldogs_Aus_WC06
14 Jul 2007, 23:58
Slap to all of last years injured players (Murph, Mitch, Darc, Gia) all getting some consistency and good performances tonight.
Slap to Morris. I was worried after Lucas beat him in a 1 on 1 early but he did brilliantly from then on.
Sledge to Jord, what's happened to his kicking?? Hasn't hit a target in 4 weeks. Still good running though.
Petergm
15 Jul 2007, 00:14
Huge Slap to Adam Cooney, quite easily BOG
Slap - Dale Morris, Lucas ended up with 4 but I thought he won that contest quite easily
Slap - Eagle, I'm always pretty tough on him but he was outstanding tonight
Slap - Brad Johnson I don't need to say much more
Slap - Mitch Hahn, looked great out there the human battering ram looks like his old self
Slap - #12 for Essendon, what a tool. Got a good laugh from here watching him
Sledge - Brian Harris' first half, awful disposal
Sledge - Going to be harsh here, Tom Williams. Looked good in stages but dropped a lot of easy chest marks which were costly at times. Other than that I'm very happy with his progress
Sledge - Harbrow, please get some longer stops in your boots, he always seems to fall over.
Yep, gotta agree with Williams dropping marks. It probably cost us 2-3 goals tonight too.
Yep, gotta agree with Williams dropping marks. It probably cost us 2-3 goals tonight too.
I've been waiting for the board to come crashing down on me for sledging him for that. I'm glad someone else agrees. He was pretty darn solid otherwise and those things will get better as he progresses along.
bullish23
15 Jul 2007, 01:25
I've been waiting for the board to come crashing down on me for sledging him for that. I'm glad someone else agrees. He was pretty darn solid otherwise and those things will get better as he progresses along.
I also agree. Dropped two straight forward chest marks early in the game, and then when hard on a lead, the ball went straight through him. I think Lovett goaled from the mistake.
I am not calling for the guys head, because otherwise he looks good, and is exciting to watch. Some of his foot passes were excellent. Just needs to keep working at marking on the lead and taking them hands out in front.
Slaps
Cooney was great post quarter time. Hopefully his girl is ok. His end to end goal was a great effort. More fitness and polishing of his kicking skills, he could be anything. So glad he is a bulldog.
Aka brilliant first quarter.
Jonno is getting very close to the best bulldog player I have seen.
Eagleton's precise long kicking is also a massive asset to our side.
Sledge
Dylan Addison - Has a long way to go before he becomes a regular. Skill errors and simply picking up a rolling ball are area's he needs alot of work on.
Harris - 1st half brain explosions. Someone tell Brian to push back off the mark when taking a kick from a mark. Second half was better.
Overall wasn't a great win, but with our 2 best midfielders out we'll take the four points. Really looking forward to a red hot game and effort against Geelong.
lifelike_
15 Jul 2007, 02:20
Gee this place is quiet!
Slaps:
Mich Hahn. Huge slap tonight for showing us the Hahn of old. The bash n' crash player busting open packs and intimidating the opposition. He would have split open ten packs tonight. If there was a Ching for one percenters and brutality, he'd clearly get the five votes.
Giansiracusa. Started like the proverbial house on fire. He had some very close attention from Nash in the first half, but still managed 14 touches to half time. He had a few touches early in the third, but I didn't see him get another touch until midway through the final term. He's really warming up now. Should be nice and ready come September (providing we make it).
Cooney. Hasn't he stepped up in the absence of Cross, West and Griffen. He saves his best games for the Bombers, and this was no exception. He is going to be something very special in the years to come. I might put a tenner on him for a place in the Chas, because he would have polled a good eight or nine votes in the past five games.
Johnno. Really got us going in the first quarter. He's a nightmare to match up on. Too agile for a tall, too strong for a small. The best pair of hands for a player his size in the AFL. He's a definite show for the Coleman now.
Harris. Minus a few brain farts in the first half, it was a magnificent effort to keep Lloyd to just the one goal. The spray Eade gave him at quarter time worked a treat.
Eagle and Aker. The Running Brigade. These two are so, so important to our game. Both are very quick off the mark, both have penetrating kicks and both can kick one or two goals a game. I've heaped my praises on Eagle in another thread, but Aker is definitely our x-factor.
Sledges.
Some of our disposal was disappointing to say the least. Decision making was sub par on occasions as well.
Lindsay ****ing Gilbee! I had us over 39.5 into Brisbane over 39.5, which would have netted me a very tidy amount. Things weren't looking good halfway through the last quarter, but after we kicked three in a row, we were 38 points up. Gia takes a mark 50 out, then correctly decides to offload it to Gilbee, who missed a shot he'd nail 95% of the time. Essendon then run it down and kick a goal. Not happy Jan.
Ignoring players. I've been holding off saying this for weeks hoping it would change, but there are two players who continually get the cold shoulder when they're in acres of space. Giansiracusa and Aker have been ignored so many times in favour of a less attacking option it's getting a little worrying. A couple of times tonight Gia had a paddock around him, yet instead of kicking it 50m to him, we kicked it half that distance to someone, gaining 5-10 metres at the most.
A minor sledge for seeing Griff after the game. He could hardly walk. Looks a long way off.
All in all a decent win, but I feel we really could have won that by more than we did. Geelong will be a massive test, and I'm quietly confident we can cause a bit of an upset.
SonOfScray
15 Jul 2007, 09:41
Slaps-
The team- getting another decent result without actually playing too well. The signs are pointing towards a real lift in form, but we still haven't fired a decent shot yet, at least thats what I am hoping. Its exciting to think how we might go should they start to hit their straps on the run home.
Cooney, again a brilliant effort after quarter time and showed a lot of character to play at that level given the circumstances surrounding his private life atm. Thought in the last quarter he was one player who finally ripped the game open a little bit.
Morris- played a terrific game and while Lucas kicked 4, you couldn't say he was beaten IMO. Stuck to the task at hand and won his fair share of the footy.
The Eagle! - proved his worth for us, again. He works so hard up and down the ground and provides a heap of run. A couple of goals as well, great value.
Sledges
Addison - does some good, hard things but looked really unsettled with the footy. Not sure if he is ready, will probably be a good player in time, but in his current role he battles a bit.
Higgins- only a minor sledge because his touches were mostly good, but I feel he should be starting to get a bit more of it. Worked very hard last week, even after a few knocks but didn't seem to get in amongst it as much, or win enough of his own ball this week. Still a positive contribution at the end of the day though.
The team- getting another decent result without actually playing too well. The signs are pointing towards a real lift in form, but we still haven't fired a decent shot yet, at least thats what I am hoping is the case. Its terribly frustrating to think how we might go should they start to hit their straps on the run home, yet be left to wonder if and when it will happen.
always right
15 Jul 2007, 11:55
I'll confine my slaps to five players;
Eagleton cops his fair share of criticism for his one-way running, but gee we're a better side with him playing. His gut running is amazing to watch and he broke open the play on numerous occasions last night.
Farren Ray was really impressive last night. Silenced a number of his BF critics on last night's performance.
Mitch Hahn. I love what this bloke brings to the team.
Andreis Everett is gonna make it. Good pace, good skills....just needs to develop the decision making which will come.
Tom Williams. Considering this is really his first season, the upside for this bloke is huge. Appears to have confidence in his ability. A future key position gun.One sledge;
Brian Harris. SWitch on from the opening bounce Harro and all Austalian is yours for the taking. The way he monsters his oppnent after quarter time each match is terriffic but those first quarter brain farts are becoming a little too regular.
comrade
15 Jul 2007, 11:58
MASSIVE SLEDGE to the Bombers fan who was chanting 'not since fifty four' after the game. There's nothing like losing with dignity.
Slaps to:
Cooney - I thought he played his best game for the season last night.
Ray - Played a very solid game, and is playing better each week.
Williams - Played a very good game, made a few mistakes but he is still learning. I can see why the club has high hopes for him.
Sledges to:
The Essendon scum - whinge whinge whinge, all night.
The group of kids sitting behind me, to think that these kids are going to be the future of this country is a disgrace.
Slaps to:
Cooney - fantastic, his best game of the season and he's really starting to hit some good form
Ray - best game of the year from him last night as well
Akermanis - stood up in the absence of West and Cross and was brilliant in the middle
Eagleton - showed how important he is to the side with a class performance
Johnson - how he managed to kick five with generally poor delivery, I'll never know
Sledges
Darcy - played fairly decently, but has to stop tapping the ball into no mans land or over his head; still is starting to find his way back into the game
Harris - first half brain fades were unbelievable, but stood up in the second half after a bollicking at half time
Robbins - after such a strong performance last week he puts up one like that. The problem with Robbo is that he either plays well or he doesn't get a touch; very little in between
Scroater
15 Jul 2007, 15:28
MASSIVE SLEDGE to the Bombers fan who was chanting 'not since fifty four' after the game. There's nothing like losing with dignity.
Those that stayed around to honour their great coach and his feat. The dome was 1/4 full at the end and most of that was us in the red white and blue. We must just like presentations. First Arch now Sheeds. Third times a charm at the G in September. Hopefully.
Slaps
Aker. Brilliant, Kept moving the ball forward.
Harbrow. Some good touch. Need to work defensively. Watches ball instead of opponent when they have the ball.
Hargrave. I've been on his back lately, but thought he played a lot better last night. Still don't think it was a free.
Cooney. Brilliant after 1/4 time. The new Freddy Flintoff.
Our goalkicking considering we were 7-7 and ended up 20-11.
Sledge
Turnovers.
Welsh and Johnson. You two are the biggest sooks I've seen on a footy field in a long long time. Welsh didn't stop niggling Higgins all night.
Higgins - For not sticking it up Welsh when you kicked that last quarter goal. Ah you're young you'll learn.
Essendon supporters for not sticking around.
AFL for making it a ticketed game making us pay 100 bucks for two seats and over 9000 people didn't show. 20 % of sold tickets didn't show.
Scroater
15 Jul 2007, 15:41
Sorry, forgot massive slap to Morris for his work on Lucas. Gave away Kilos and height and did a magic job on the Leagues third highest goalkicker.:thumbsu:
beyondthevalley ofthedogs
15 Jul 2007, 18:47
Generally a good effort, but Essendon were very ordinary
Slaps:
Akers: not the match winner of last week, but put in in the middle in the absence of Westy
Cooooooney: after the night he had - to play like that he was unbelievable. He has to keep this level of consistency when we have a full side in, but I tell you this boy will win us a flag one day.
Eagles: best game of the year - tireless
Morris - smothered Lucas beautifully
Sledges :
Harro's first quarter - may have lost him the All Australian, but redeemed himself in the second half. Still, the Bombers' terrible disposal helped him a lot
Jordy - still off the boil Why?
Williams - a few clangers. Keep playing him, though - he's good.
Channel 10 commentary team - uniformly abysmal - did Doug Hawkins pinch Quartermain's drink cards some time in the 80's. Why does he hate us? Tim Lane - as pompous as ever - oh, the disappointment of the Bulldogs winning and spoiling the "fairy story". How dare we! Worst of all - Super Coach-in-waiting Vossy. Love how he whispered "Eagleton's not a bad kick you know" No kidding, Mr Insight.
dales.girl38
15 Jul 2007, 19:42
Slaps:
Morris- Although Lucas kicked 4, he did his job and was a little unlucky not to get a free kick on one of them. Lucas was the dominant forward and he stuck to him like glue.
Cooney- Best on ground after everything that had happened to him was an amazing effort, he improved so much after his first quarter.
Akermanis- He was fantastic, his kicking is amazing.
Hahn- He's really starting to get back to his form from last year before his knee injury, his strength is so important to us.
Gia- I didn't notice him much at all at the game, then I saw his stats and he was leading it for both teams! On the replay he stood out and had a great game.
Johnson- 5 goals is fantastic, but he should have had 7.
Eagle- He had a really good game as well.
Street and Darcy- They both did well in the ruck and around the ground.
Shaggy- Also had a good game.
Sledges:
Harris- His first half was absolutely shocking, Brian, when you're in the last line of defence and the man on the mark is too far forward, you WAIT, you don't try and thread it under his arms and have it roll along the ground hoping that it goes the right way. He let Lloyd get loose and he was lucky Lloyd wasn't kicking straight. I fail to understand how sometimes he can be absolutely brilliant and other times he looks lost and totally out of it- I understand circumstances that occur like with Cooney, but it appears to be just him not being right on the day, such as what happened with Petrie.
Gilbee- For such a good kick, he really doesn't think a lot of the time. When he's kicking out, common sense would say that he'd kick it to the player all by himself on one side, but no, he goes to a 2 on 2 which favoured the Essendon players. He really needs to work on his decision making, as there were several times where he made the completely wrong one- such as going the third man up in the goalsquare and leaving Ramanauskas to kick the easiest goal you could get.
Addison- Only half a sledge as he's still only young, but he made mistakes under pressure and really didn't do much.
Williams- Again, only half a sledge as he's a new kid, but he dropped a few really easy chest marks, he'll improve and learn from all of this though.
Robbins- Typical that after a 3 goal game he does nothing, his defensive efforts were also quite poor.
Higgins- Only a bit of a sledge as his possessions were all quality, but he needed to get more of the ball, had a quiet day but still got a nice goal.
We don't seem to be able to put teams away in the last quarter, but last night was probably the best that we've done in that area. It was a good thing I couldn't see the scoreboard for the whole match (the big green pole thing blocked it, I could see the score only but whenever I looked at it I got frustrated at the pole being in the worst possible position ever, so therefore I didn't look at it at all) because it was a lot closer than I thought it was.
Wally G
15 Jul 2007, 19:46
Slap to all of last years injured players (Murph, Mitch, Darc, Gia) all getting some consistency and good performances tonight.
Slap to Morris. I was worried after Lucas beat him in a 1 on 1 early but he did brilliantly from then on.
Sledge to Jord, what's happened to his kicking?? Hasn't hit a target in 4 weeks. Still good running though.
I thought Jordy's disposal the best it has been since he returned from injury. While some errors, there was depth and perception in his ball use.:thumbsu:
sackofballs
15 Jul 2007, 21:25
sledge also to gilbee --watched the replay and noticed late in the last quarter he had the ball about 60 out he had street all by himself about 20 out and refused to kick it to him
he ended up only scoring a behind
sledge also to gilbee --watched the replay and noticed late in the last quarter he had the ball about 60 out he had street all by himself about 20 out and refused to kick it to him
he ended up only scoring a behindThat pissed me off too... I posted it in the game thread in the Gameday forum. The team has no reason not to trust Street... whenever he gets the ball within 50 metres (for a set shot) 90% of the time he puts it straight through the middle. But the only time he ever does get it is when he's the last resort or he wins the ball himself.
cosmicr
16 Jul 2007, 11:56
slap to cooney - best I've ever seen him play.
sledge to ray - had a fair bit of the ball but imo didnt really do much with it.
sledge to tv commentators - it was really obvious they wanted the bombers to win.
sledge to tv commentators - it was really obvious they wanted the bombers to win.
Yea i know! This was pissing me off as well.
Petergm
16 Jul 2007, 23:14
Yea i know! This was pissing me off as well.
Me too ....... that idiot Steve (hello rebecca!) Qartermaine kept going on about how there was still time.
Annoyed the crap out of me!
sledge to tv commentators - it was really obvious they wanted the bombers to win.Ahhh well. I guess most weeks the commentators seem to barrack for us so it's not so bad they were against us for one week.
Mr. Walker
17 Jul 2007, 18:04
Sledge - Going to be harsh here, Tom Williams. Looked good in stages but dropped a lot of easy chest marks which were costly at times. Other than that I'm very happy with his progress
Sledge - Harbrow, please get some longer stops in your boots, he always seems to fall over.
My thoughts - almost word for word. (We think alike Mo77, but that's your worry). I think Williams should be played in every game until years end but dropped chest marks that result in goals to the opposition have been a factor in his game since he debuted against Richmond.
As for Harbrow, tell him to keep his feet or learn how to in the seconds. He goes to ground in every contest (maybe not the one where he kicked a goal on Saturday night) and it leaves us a man short every time.
MeestaNob
18 Jul 2007, 16:16
sledge to tv commentators - it was really obvious they wanted the bombers to win.
I tend to ignore it, they're just trying to keep it exciting.
Palace03
18 Jul 2007, 16:48
Slaps:
Cooney, brilliant. His mind was obviously elsewhere (understandably so) in the 1st 1/4, but he pulled himself together to dominate the centre sqaure after 1/4 time. We now have 2 complete footballers.
Moris, battled hard and smart, just knows when to make body contact, and where to position himself in the contest. He was outmarked once, the rest of Lucas's goals came from poor turnovers in midfield.
Johnno: Just gets the job done. Our other complete footballer.
Boyd: Keeps on keeping on. Fantastic
Hahn: This was the Hahn of old. Bashing and crashing, making life easier by obsorbing 3 blokes in a tackle and being strong enough to release to our runners.
Aka: Very, very intelligent footballer.
Sledges:
Team: still having a couple of small lapses in concentration, considering Essendon didn't goal in the first 20 min of the 1st or second quater's, we still allowed them 28 shots at goal, which means we allowed them to score heavily in patches.
D Mitchell
18 Jul 2007, 19:21
Moris, battled hard and smart, just knows when to make body contact, and where to position himself in the contest. He was outmarked once, ....
Lucas is one of the few pushers who have learned to push without using his hands. Two of his four goals came from forcing Morris under the ball, the last when he pushed Morris over, leaving Lucas free to wander into an open goal. Morris might have battled hard but he wasn't smart to get caught out like that - twice.
Palace03
19 Jul 2007, 13:20
Lucas is one of the few pushers who have learned to push without using his hands. Two of his four goals came from forcing Morris under the ball, the last when he pushed Morris over, leaving Lucas free to wander into an open goal. Morris might have battled hard but he wasn't smart to get caught out like that - twice.
One of the times he was nudged out was after an ill placed tap from Williams on the wing caused a turn over, and with a well place kick Moris was never going to be able to spoil, even though he got to the contest.
Lucas is a quality player, probably the best performed behind Johnno over the last 12 months and although he kicked 4 Moris really didn't allow him to have a massive impact on the game.