There is something about this Footscray team.

[the dog's kennel]

I came into this thread to read a good ol' fashioned circlejerk. Not St Kilda bullshit again.

God damnit.

To be fair, Dogs supporters do this to all the St Kilda threads on the main board too.

We were both up at the same time last time. We clearly will be up at the same time next time. Neither of us have won flags since forever. The natives are restless.

Personally, I'd be more than happy to share the flags with them over the next little while. Richmond can jag one too. I'm sure GWS, GC and Collingwood will be more than happy to get in line and wait till its their turn.

Deal, fellas?

 

[Dazb86]

He's chosen a strange target. The Bont has been pretty good this year save for 3-4 games. I know the stats say he 'only' had 24 touches in the last game but 12 of those were contested to go with 6 clearances and 6 inside 50's. It's not like he's getting cheap touches and doing nothing with the ball.

When he gets it good things generally happen. He's very direct with the ball.

 

[Tiger71]

This picture says it all. I didn't spot Billings anywhere...

having no A Miles in the guts is a disgrace IMO

 

[juss]

Reckon the Doggies are 2 players short of a serious tilt in the next few years.
KPF - Will it be Boyd? Not sure but I reckon they need a more prominent number 1 target.
KPD - Someone who can go toe to toe with the best big forwards in the game and beat them. I don't see anyone they have with the Rance, Taylor, Hooker, McKenzie ability.

 

[the dog's kennel]

having no A Miles in the guts is a disgrace IMO

Those teams are based on AFL Player Ratings, which in my book are the most reliable measures in the game. I'm not knocking Miles at all - I think he is immense. But if he doesn't rate as well as other players do, it's for a reason. And that reason is likely not a disgrace.

 

[ManOfClay]

As I mentioned in the othe thread it's good we've improved so much with beveridge coming in and starting a rebuild of mccartneys failed rebuild.

We lost/got rid of/retired eight players last year: griffen, cooney, higgins, jones, tutt, giansiracusa, greenwood, Austin.

Eight players have made their debut for the dogs this year. Only one of those was on our list last season (prudden) and only two of them (t. Boyd and Shane Biggs) have played afl before this year - but not much at all in either case.

The others were new to the list this season with zero afl games.

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Reckon the Doggies are 2 players short of a serious tilt in the next few years.
KPF - Will it be Boyd? Not sure but I reckon they need a more prominent number 1 target.
KPD - Someone who can go toe to toe with the best big forwards in the game and beat them. I don't see anyone they have with the Rance, Taylor, Hooker, McKenzie ability.

Boyd will be the prominent number 1 target, but we desperately need a more mobile center half forward to partner him - someone in the McStay or Henderson mould (settle down Lions/Blues fans, I'm not advocating that we poach them).

Absolutely correct regarding our KPD trouble. Roughead is a ruckman, we've got no genuine monster key backs. Plenty of second/third options but need a readymade main man.

 

[Dogsman16]

Reckon the Doggies are 2 players short of a serious tilt in the next few years.
KPF - Will it be Boyd? Not sure but I reckon they need a more prominent number 1 target.
KPD - Someone who can go toe to toe with the best big forwards in the game and beat them. I don't see anyone they have with the Rance, Taylor, Hooker, McKenzie ability.

Hard to argue with that

I see Boyd as the tall forward/ruck chop out option, Stringer as the third tall who can push into the midfield (both of these two are best used deep) but we lack that geniune CHF. Crameri has everything etc the height and contested marking ability to do it so we need to find a tex walker clone who can.

KPD we lack a number 1 KPD, plenty of secondary and third options, no real number 1 as of yet. Our zone defence covers this issue to some degree but in finals we are going to need a brian lake type (would be handy right now) to take the number 1 role.

 

[King Bont]

Boyd will be the prominent number 1 target, but we desperately need a more mobile center half forward to partner him - someone in the McStay or Henderson mould (settle down Lions/Blues fans, I'm not advocating that we poach them).

Absolutely correct regarding our KPD trouble. Roughead is a ruckman, we've got no genuine monster key backs. Plenty of second/third options but need a readymade main man.

Roughead is a bit of a jack of all trades, does a bit of everything but isn't great at anything. we gave him a chance up forward and he was no good.
He never held down a ruck position. And got murdered as a defender.
I love what he does as a leader but he just ain't that good.
Is he honestly any better than what Cameron White was?

 

[Dazb86]

I see Roughead becoming our #1 ruck. He's up against Campbell and Ayce Cordy so it shouldn't be too hard for him to cement himself in that position.

 

[Scary_Foot_9]

Roughead is a bit of a jack of all trades, does a bit of everything but isn't great at anything. we gave him a chance up forward and he was no good.
He never held down a ruck position. And got murdered as a defender.
I love what he does as a leader but he just ain't that good.
Is he honestly any better than what Cameron White was?

Roughy really is a Jack of all trades if he can bowl some leggies

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Roughead is a bit of a jack of all trades, does a bit of everything but isn't great at anything. we gave him a chance up forward and he was no good.
He never held down a ruck position. And got murdered as a defender.
I love what he does as a leader but he just ain't that good.
Is he honestly any better than what Cameron White was?

He's an excellent ruckman, just hasn't had the chance to build continuity in that role.

 

[ExRoyboy]

Miles not even in team of the week, let alone rolling season team:



Updated R18 version year-to-date:

How did Brett Stanton get in the midfield of the team of the week? If these player ratings are supposed to be a great guide I think that they have given a weird result in this case. I could think of probably 4 Bulldogs midfielders who were better than him in that game but maybe useless stats count for more or something. I would have said Hunter, Macrae, Bont & Picken were better and even little Caleb Daniel while not getting as many possessions probably did more with them to help his team win than Stanton did. Yes he got a lot of the ball, but as the first quarter proved, that doesn't mean anything if you don't do something positive when you have it. According to the ratings, Stanton was probably the best player on the ground but if you watched it he was nowhere near it.

 

[Testekill]

How did Brett Stanton get in the midfield of the team of the week? If these player ratings are supposed to be a great guide I think that they have given a weird result in this case. I could think of probably 4 Bulldogs midfielders who were better than him in that game but maybe useless stats count for more or something. I would have said Hunter, Macrae, Bont & Picken were better and even little Caleb Daniel while not getting as many possessions probably did more with them to help his team win than Stanton did. Yes he got a lot of the ball, but as the first quarter proved, that doesn't mean anything if you don't do something positive when you have it. According to the ratings, Stanton was probably the best player on the ground but if you watched it he was nowhere near it.

It's just like how numerically speaking Scott Thompson was best on ground against us in round 4 despite doing nothing with the ball or how Heath Shaw was second best on ground in round 9 despite kicking the ball to people that would immediately turn the ball over.

 

[Tiger71]

I have been thinking further on the Dogs. A caller rang SEN and asked, can they sustain this form next year due to this year receiving a draw based on there form last year, bottom 4? I agree with Dermie when he says, how they play now is sustainable, I have only 2 question marks that I would love to throw at Dog supporters. First one, with so many performing first year players, are you worried about second year blues ? Secondly, How is your record this year with games at the G and interstate ?

IMO the draw has not been that much of a benefit early days as you beat a lot of the top 8 sides early but are you worried, leading into finals that your softer run home may be to soft and hence you play a final without much intense match day pressure ?

 

[Sentinel]

I have been thinking further on the Dogs. A caller rang SEN and asked, can they sustain this form next year due to this year receiving a draw based on there form last year, bottom 4? I agree with Dermie when he says, how they play now is sustainable, I have only 2 question marks that I would love to throw at Dog supporters. First one, with so many performing first year players, are you worried about second year blues ? Secondly, How is your record this year with games at the G and interstate ?

IMO the draw has not been that much of a benefit early days as you beat a lot of the top 8 sides early but are you worried, leading into finals that your softer run home may be to soft and hence you play a final without much intense match day pressure ?

For your first question, which is a good one, I think that whilst we have had a lot of first year players performing, we've generally only carried one or two in each game. They have been fairly heavily rotated through the side- our draftees from last year who have played are Dale (9 games), Daniel (5 games), Webb (8 games), McLean (4 games), add to that guys who have been in the system for more than a year prior to debuting and should avoid 2nd year blues (Hamling- 5 games, Prudden- 4 games). Even if a few of the draftees drop back next year, there shouldn't be much impact, particularly given our other young guys have another year into them and should be naturally improving as they push up to the 50 game+ mark (Bont, Macrae, Stringer, Hunter, Roberts, Talia etc).

Our record at the G is 1-1 (Tigers and the deplorable Demons game), out of Melbourne we've been patchy (beaten by Port, Hawthorn and Geelong in Geelong but wins over Sydney and GC) so there's not a lot to take from either there.

Our draw leading into the finals isn't nearly as soft as our middle part of the year where we won 4 in a row despite playing fairly poorly (we had a stretch of Brisbane, Saints, Carlton, GC)- games in the run home against Port Adelaide, West Coast and North Melbourne should be good tests and will indicate where the side is at. We could lose all 3, or probably at best win 2 of those, depending on which Port and NM sides show up.

 

[Dazb86]

I have been thinking further on the Dogs. A caller rang SEN and asked, can they sustain this form next year due to this year receiving a draw based on there form last year, bottom 4? I agree with Dermie when he says, how they play now is sustainable, I have only 2 question marks that I would love to throw at Dog supporters. First one, with so many performing first year players, are you worried about second year blues ? Secondly, How is your record this year with games at the G and interstate ?

IMO the draw has not been that much of a benefit early days as you beat a lot of the top 8 sides early but are you worried, leading into finals that your softer run home may be to soft and hence you play a final without much intense match day pressure ?

Not too fussed to be honest. This year and next aren't really the years we should be able to compete for a flag. If we can get finals experience in both that would be ideal.

I think we're at the stage where our best will push most sides outside of the top 3.

 

[Mofra]

Reckon the Doggies are 2 players short of a serious tilt in the next few years.
KPF - Will it be Boyd? Not sure but I reckon they need a more prominent number 1 target.
KPD - Someone who can go toe to toe with the best big forwards in the game and beat them. I don't see anyone they have with the Rance, Taylor, Hooker, McKenzie ability.

Boyd will take time - he wont be ready for a few years (development curve to match Tom Hawkins).
Agree with the KPD - even if Roberts and Hamling improve (and I have faith they will), we lack depth in KPDs and few teams have talls that play every game. Still not convinced by Talia, and Zaine Cordy plays more of a tall rebounder's game than genuine KPD.

 

[HBF]

Who would have thought they'd be 5th this deep into the season. Good on 'em.

 

[Testekill]

Who would have thought they'd be 5th this deep into the season. Good on 'em.

I figured that at best we'd maybe fall short of the 8 by a game or two and thought that the 10-13 range would be where we would end up.

 

[Haduken]

The Dogs are a sneaky chance to win it this year.

They will almost certainly, barring something nightmarish happening, win one in the next three years. This team is Essendon 1999, Hawthorn 2008, Geelong 2004 type stuff. They have that aura of impending greatness and some absolute superstars emerging in Bontempelli, Stringer, Macrae, Liberatore, Wallis, Boyd, all coming through at the same time

 

[Zgope1]

The Dogs are a sneaky chance to win it this year.

They will almost certainly, barring something nightmarish happening, win one in the next three years. This team is Essendon 1999, Hawthorn 2008, Geelong 2004 type stuff. They have that aura of impending greatness and some absolute superstars emerging in Bontempelli, Stringer, Macrae, Liberatore, Wallis, Boyd, all coming through at the same time

Way to give me chills. Want to see Beveridge back it all up though. Could be Clarko but could be Sando.

How many wins do we need to lock up the finals spot? Will 12 be enough or do we need 2 more?

 

[Haduken]

Way to give me chills. Want to see Beveridge back it all up though. Could be Clarko but could be Sando.

How many wins do we need to lock up the finals spot? Will 12 be enough or do we need 2 more?

Beveridge looks impressive so far. He's playing your kids to their strengths.

Looking at the ladder one more should make it, but two would make you certainties

 

[Testekill]

Way to give me chills. Want to see Beveridge back it all up though. Could be Clarko but could be Sando.

How many wins do we need to lock up the finals spot? Will 12 be enough or do we need 2 more?

Finishing on 13 wins means that we will more likely than not finish with a home final as Geelong would need a nearly perfect run home and to make a massive amount of percentage up while North would need three wins and 7 percentage to equal us.

 

[gavaniacono]

Double delirium seeing Dogs decimate, no, obliterate, their wealthier and corrupted neighbours on the weekend. Can it get any better for a neutral? I lived in Footscray for a few years some decades ago, great place and a big fan of dogs since. A big challenge going forward will be how they react to being the hunted. It won't be easy.