Preview Western Bulldogs vs West Coast Eagles. Round 1, 2014.

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Thought we might as well get this thread going, since discussion is happening in the old Carlton thread.

We face a tough task heading over to Perth for our first game. The Eagles have had a great pre-season, and look very sharp. But that counts for nought once the real stuff starts, as we saw in round 1 last year.

The midfield is the only area of the ground we'll have it over the Eagles, and is the key to us getting the win. We need to capitalise on our likely higher possession rate. We were able to do it in the last 6 rounds of last year, so hopefully we start where we left off.

If anyone wants to write a more detailed preview I'll add it to the OP.
 
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On a big ground the only chance I believe we have is to move the ball quick into a fast leading forward re Cameri and Stringer.

If we bomb long eagles will just rebound and open us up with run and they know and play the ground so much better than us.

Take the game on with run, handball and kicking to targets. Need big games from our skillful runners in Cooney, Griffen and JJ if we are to have any chance on Subi

If we resort to slow, dropping into holes, chip it around, keep possession we will lose.
 
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Eastdog

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Yeah it's a tough 1st round match for us especially over at Subi against West Coast. If we win then it will give us lots of confidence for the season I reckon because its very difficult to win over there.
 
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Our midfield is in form and this is where we can expose the Eagles. Shame about Griffen, fingers crossed he's alright by next weekend. I'm confident, as I believe we have enough weapons around the ground to win this. The form of Cooney, Stevens, Macrae and Higgins is exciting and if the midfield can stifle the supply for the Eagles forward line, we'll win.
 
I am surprised at the pessimism on the board re this game. I have the eagles finishing in the 8, but they are definitely gettable.

Dahl, Dickson, hunter, gia, Crameri will have to kick us a winning score (I rate glass and schofield highly), and roughie, talia and Morris need to step up, but I firmly believe we have them covered in the midfield. If we use the ball ok (no doubt in my mind we'll get our hands on it more than them) we can win for sure.
 
The way it's looking so far is that we have them covered in the contested ball area but not in the open spaces and ball movement, so we won't have clear midfield dominance. They should have us covered with their tall forwards and we have a fairly experimental forward line - good smalls but no reliable big targets. They have enough quality ruck power to wear down Minno too.

Put them on their home turf (long and narrow but not as long and narrow as VUWO) and we will need to be playing at our very best to win it.

I won't rule us out but WCE should be short-priced favourites for this.
 

TheHoneyBadger

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Hopefully someone tennis balls Kennedy before Sunday week, but I think he's due for a poor game against us anyway. I'm still not comfortable with how unsettled the defense seems to be with Higgins now dropping back (showing very good signs though) and obviously the injury to JJ and seeing Picken down there sometimes, but I'm encouraged by Roughead's development along with that of Talia and the ever-dependable Morris, and seriously, we should smash them in the midfield, provided Liberatore, Stevens, Macrae and Cooney maintain the pre-season rage and, hopefully, Griffen gets up for it.
Again it just comes down to kicking a score that can win us the game, they've got a very good defense and propensity for rebounding very quickly, so we're going to need to convert all our chances and lock the ball into the forward 50.
 
Whats the dimensions of subi compared to vuwo?
Subi is 175 x 122.
VUWO used to be 184 x 130 (might be a bit smaller these days with boundaries moved in a bit). VUWO was always the longest ground in the old VFL but also one of the narrowest.
 

King Harold

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I am surprised at the pessimism on the board re this game. I have the eagles finishing in the 8, but they are definitely gettable.

Dahl, Dickson, hunter, gia, Crameri will have to kick us a winning score (I rate glass and schofield highly), and roughie, talia and Morris need to step up, but I firmly believe we have them covered in the midfield. If we use the ball ok (no doubt in my mind we'll get our hands on it more than them) we can win for sure.

Hope your right Fronk , but just remember some very good Bulldog teams have struggled over there against that lot. I doubt we can win. If we can get close it will give us a good indication as to where we are at.
 

ivan rassmussen

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While I am hoping we can pull off a repeat of R1 last year, I fear we will go down by 19, 13-15-93 to WCE 17-10-112. On the flip side, Libba and Cooney will be in the votes, and Hunter and Gia will kick 4 each, but Crameri will have a quiet start in Bulldog colours.
(Liam Jones will kick 7 against Richmond in R1 VFL, and repeat the dose in an AFL game later this year).
 

Dazb86

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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I don't think we'll win this.

Stranger things have happened. WCE without injury problems are a pretty bloody good side. Especially over there.
 

Martyn_30_

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West coast are being massively over rated again this pre season only someone with very limited footy knowledge would of had them as premiership favourites before last year. The reason they didn't play finals last year, was that the side had plenty of weaknesses and the forward press that was so effective in 2011 had been found out. The forwardline is nothing special Kennedy and Darling are good players and Lecras is yet to be proven whether he can get back to his best again, but outside of those 3 there isn't much to be concerned about. We all know Hill is the biggest down hill skier in the league and if they do get on top next week and have a big win he'll rack up some cheap goals.

West coast may well sneak into the 8 but I wouldn't have thought this year their the type of team to fear, it's not as if it's a round one game against the quality Perth team.
 
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Sep 22, 2008
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I reckon Crameri will have a big first showing, just need to give him space to work in. Just wish Grant was in because those two on subi would be a handful.

I think our backline will be alright, we will finally have some good rebound coming from Higgins, Murph, JJ and Goodes but those guys really need to get some overlap going to take advantage of our strong midfield, which will help our small but fast forward line function, as long as they actually lead and make options.

If were on i reckon were good enough to win, but whether we can keep it up for the full game is my worry.
 
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I'll be there flying the flag, copping the boos and giving them straight back. I try to disperse as much logic around as I can but it's hard when 30000 people think they should get a free kick because one of our players took a mark.
 
I don't think we will win, so I am looking at the boys having a good crack and coming away with a close loss.

The thing I hate about Subi, is the crowd seems to influence a lot of umpiring decisions.

I think our back line is a worry, against a very good forward line, Kennedy looks in good form and they do have some very good crumers, Lecras being one. I don't think Hill will get a game, I think he has been pushed out. I also think that we under-rate some of their midfield for example Rosa who was injured last year. What goes against the Eagles is that they have a few players who are ageing and as we know that can happen overnight.

Will be a really interesting game to watch, but I bet Marko is pleased to be playing in the VFL this week:D
 

The Barrel

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I agree with Fronk. We all shouldn't be so pessimistic. We will definitely have enough forward entries, it is all about the quality of the entries. Instead of just bombing the ball to the square maybe they we should be pinpointed targets and honouring the lead...

Don't people remember what happened round 1 against the Lions last year?
 
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I don't think many are saying that we have no chance at all, just that it will be tough. I'm inclined to agree.

Given West Coast's quick ball movement and plethora of tall options it'll be tough for us to get the ball off them once they win it. These are the sorts of teams we've struggled with in recent times so I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that it will require our best footy to grab a win.
 
We cannot afford to get smashed. If we really have improved we need to me more than competitive interstate. I think it is a chance of an upset but it will require things going right like hitting targets forward of center which we can struggle. Furthermore, 2 and a half quarters of footy will see us be beaten by a big margin in the last so we need to keep control and take advantage.
 

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I think this will have a lot of importance for both teams; we need to get a solid start on the board to try and mark a break from last year's annus horribilis, you guys need to show the results of a continuing rebuild. I know last year our home form (3-8) was terrible compared to our away form (6-5), but I think that's been a real area of focus for the team, to reinstate the House of Pain tag.

Midfield battle will be fascinating, as we'll need ours to show of the new additions and, more or less, try and stop the match from being lost there. All told though, I would set a betting line around around -18 or so.

On a footy sojourn to Melbourne last year I got to watch you guys take on Essendon and was really impressed by a lot of aspects, you're on the way back up. Just a few too many easy goals and spurned chances slipped through. Loved watching Dalhaus and Bob Murphy, looking forward to seeing them play again.
 
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