Autopsy Dogs 🐕 pantsed by injury depleted Cats 🐱 97-75

[Next Waiting]

A good team is often “more than the sum of its parts”. We are the exact opposite, we are somehow less than the sum of our parts. A handful of elite players but it’s just not working.

That's an interesting way of looking at it and hard to disagree with.

Along with some psychological assistance to increase kicking efficiency across the group in every aspect of the game, to at least equal the sum of our parts is a desirable outcome for the second part of the year. To surpass it a dream.

On the above shall ye be judged at year's end.

 

[Next Waiting]

I‘m not the biggest Bevo fan these days - although I do think Scott out coached him last night, and also clearly owns him in general.

However last night the players are to blame for the loss.

Beveridge cannot make players like Naughton, JUH, Bont, McNeil and Artie mail the shots they should be.

This.

The coaches can do many things for the players, but actually kicking the ball for them is not one of them.

As Norm said earlier, it's between the ears of most of them.

 

[dogwatch]

"When it comes to goal kicking practice, more is less...if that makes sense." Luke Beveridge

He means “more shots for us is still less than the score needed to beat them “.

Makes sense.

 

[NBates]

I‘m not the biggest Bevo fan these days - although I do think Scott out coached him last night, and also clearly owns him in general.

However last night the players are to blame for the loss.

Beveridge cannot make players like Naughton, JUH, Bont, McNeil and Artie mail the shots they should be.

He can try to get assistance for what the problems are though, and his comments sound like this ain't even on the radar because there's no interest.... practice, technique advice from a specialist.... hell, even get someone in for visualisation techniques if necessary!

 

[Leon]

He can try to get assistance for what the problems are though, and his comments sound like this ain't even on the radar because there's no interest.... practice, technique advice from a specialist.... hell, even get someone in for visualisation techniques if necessary!

Agreed, and Beveridge’s pig-headedness and stubbornness also drives me crazy.

Goal kicking has been an issue at this club since dinosaurs were roaming the Earth.

Currently watching the Giants vs Tigers game - if Jack Riewoldt retires this year, the club would be doing well to get him in to teach Naughton, JUH and others a few things.

 

[Sharpiesadog]

He can try to get assistance for what the problems are though, and his comments sound like this ain't even on the radar because there's no interest.... practice, technique advice from a specialist.... hell, even get someone in for visualisation techniques if necessary!

Exactly! I heard the sports psychologist on SEN the other day who worked with Richmond 2016-2021, maybe Dr O’Donnell? She was superb in talking about Harry McKay and how to get him to be more positive in how he goes about kicking for goal. Follow the process and don’t worry about the result kind of stuff. Surely this stuff, along with technical coaches etc, should be the standard requirement at afl level.

I feel like we are not doing enough of this. We have been terrible in front of goal for all of Bevo’s reign (you are excused Tory Dickson), it’s on him that it hasn’t been improved. It’s a fundamental part of his job and he has let everyone down in this regard. It’s just not good enough.

 

[yebach]

Exactly! I heard the sports psychologist on SEN the other day who worked with Richmond 2016-2021, maybe Dr O’Donnell? She was superb in talking about Harry McKay and how to get him to be more positive in how he goes about kicking for goal. Follow the process and don’t worry about the result kind of stuff. Surely this stuff, along with technical coaches etc, should be the standard requirement at afl level.

I feel like we are not doing enough of this. We have been terrible in front of goal for all of Bevo’s reign (you are excused Tory Dickson), it’s on him that it hasn’t been improved. It’s a fundamental part of his job and he has let everyone down in this regard. It’s just not good enough.

I feel Bevo thinks that talking about the Cuban revolution and The Cat In The Hat is much more important than getting the players to be better shots at goal.

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

Agreed, and Beveridge’s pig-headedness and stubbornness also drives me crazy.

Goal kicking has been an issue at this club since dinosaurs were roaming the Earth.

Currently watching the Giants vs Tigers game - if Jack Riewoldt retires this year, the club would be doing well to get him in to teach Naughton, JUH and others a few things.

I would rather miss goals from 10m out dead in front than have that campaigner around our club.

 

[Leon]

I would rather miss goals from 10m out dead in front than have that campaigner around our club.

You’d rather a glaring problem that’s costing us games not be fixed than have someone who can potentially help fix the problem because you personally don’t like them?


Goody-o then.

 

[_Cerberus_]

If a professional footballer is not practicing his goal kicking and his kicking is crap, then he is wasting his career, his talent and everyone who pays to watch him and his team. Flushing it all away. If a coach is not insisting on practice and setting standards, the coach is also forfeiting their role in the club. This is the coaches job, to improve their men.

They shouldn't just be training set shots in general with little kick to kick sessions, or on their own like they are taking a stroll down to the local park for a little kick with themselves. They need to practice goal kicking under match simulated scenarios and pressure. It is the match environment they are missing the easy ones from. I hardly see them miss during their warm ups.

 

[Mutt]

Imagine NBA players practicing passing, dribbling, and rebounds... but not shooting...because "more is less... if that makes sense."

Peak Bevo.

 

[Mr. Walker]

In all seriousness, isn't it a successful technique to have the kicker aim for a specific person, or sign, behind the centre of the goals? I've seen supporters hold up targets or signs saying Kick it to Me.

Yeah that mongrel with the “ kick it to me “ sign sitting seven rows back on the forward flank and holding it up every time Bailey Smith gets the ball can go and get f@@@@@.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

The last good kick for goal we had was Tory Dickson

29

Tory Dickson

Age

36

Ht

184cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.5

3star

K

6.9

3star

HB

5.7

4star

M

3.5

4star

T

2.9

4star

G

1.6

5star

No current season stats available

D

12.8

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

5.8

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

3.4

5star

G

1.0

4star

dead eye dick. We do not have one player from a set shot you can rely on. Probably Cody would be the one I would pick as the least worst.

 

[Dogs Rule]

"When it comes to goal kicking practice, more is less...if that makes sense." Luke Beveridge

Yes, practising something makes me get worse at it.

Good grief. What are we dealing with here? No wonder our goalkicking is up the creek.

 

[Dogs Rule]

Um...No it isn't. Its more an issue of the recruitment of players who have a sub-par skillset.

Its nearly impossible to remove this aspect once its so imbedded in their football DNA after they've progressed to the AFL.

Most players carry the same faults that they had as juniors right through their careers.

Case(s) in point: Jack McRae. Bailey Smith. Aaron Naughton.

Or indeed from last night. Look at Gryan Myers. There is no coach in the world that is going to teach him how to kick conventionally or beyond 40 metres.

So they will work with what they've got and use the unpredictability of his dinky little kicks to maximum advantage. This allows the Geelong forwards to dine out on his predictable unpredictability. They always know exactly where his kicks are going to go. Defenders, not so much. Good coaches see this and re-role players into positions to take advantage of their weaknesses.

Coaches can drill fitness, disposal techniques, game day structures, coaching philosophies or any other football voodoo into players until the end of time. What they can't do is improve techniques to a point where they are failsafe under pressure or in front of goals. That is an issue for the individual and one that resides entirely between their ears. It's also an issue that has plagued this group for a number of years. They just dont have it.


Heres a question that is unknowable to anybody not in the inner sanctum.

Are they "yes men" or guys that the club in its penny pinching ways could afford?

But hey, look over there at our shiny new facilities. Aren't we a success!

Understand what you mean regarding recruiting players with good skills, but I think we've all been in positions where we haven't been the most skilled or talented at something but we work and work until we get better. Some of our players skills and set shots have gone backwards.

 

[bullish23]

Yeah because he tore us a new one playing that role for hawthorn in tassie. Just another example of a spud playing like a champion against us.

On SM-A505YN using BigFooty.com mobile app

I laughed at Lobb’s missed shots. Of course he was banging them through the exact spot against us last year when he kicked 5.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Understand what you mean regarding recruiting players with good skills, but I think we've all been in positions where we haven't been the most skilled or talented at something but we work and work until we get better. Some of our players skills and set shots have gone backwards.

The flip side of this argument is the workmate that we've all encountered who no matter how hard they work is entirely incompetent. In my experience, these guys usually end up in politics or on boards of ASX200 Companies.

I think that we just have to accept that this current list is vastly overrated by us and the media. Sure as is the Bulldogs way it has a core of 10 or so elite talents at various stages of development, but underneath that it's journeymen, list-cloggers, long shots, guys waiting de-listment and not a lot else. How else can we explain our much vaunted midfield getting chopped up two weeks in a row by sides that shouldn't on paper at least been near them?

Ive said it so many times now that it's almost a meme. We're a side that has a massive issue that it just can't seem to surmount. They are a fantastically skilled side when oppositions allow us to fling the ball around by hand. The problem is that these skills especially by foot go to water when sides ramp up the pressure on our ball carriers knowing full well that when they do our disposal efficiency drops quicker than a pinched off turd in a long drop.

A new coach may give us a sugar hit uptick in performance, but I doubt that it addresses the underlying issues inherent in the list that we've assembled.

Its a confidence game and these last two weeks have spent all of the capital that we had built up after the first two disastrous weeks.

We're now back to square one. We will see if this side has the mettle to once again dig themselves out of the hole they have so needlessly dug for themselves.

Its a little over a week ago when we seemed poised to ascend into the mythical top 4 and stay there. Now it feels like we're hanging on to the 8 like grim death.

 

[King Harold]

If a professional footballer is not practicing his goal kicking and his kicking is crap, then he is wasting his career, his talent and everyone who pays to watch him and his team. Flushing it all away. If a coach is not insisting on practice and setting standards, the coach is also forfeiting their role in the club. This is the coaches job, to improve their men.

Do golfers practice putting , basketballers practice shooting & why would cricketers need hours in the nets ?

Seems even a ridiculous discussion !

Given our current goal kicking woes , it’s a bloody indictment on any of our coaching gurus to suggest its not a big big problem with this group.

 

[dogwatch]

...

We're a side that has a massive issue that it just can't seem to surmount. They are a fantastically skilled side when oppositions allow us to fling the ball around by hand. The problem is that these skills especially by foot go to water when sides ramp up the pressure on our ball carriers knowing full well that when they do our disposal efficiency drops quicker than a pinched off turd in a long drop.

...

For all his fatal weaknesses in man management and various other aspects of coaching Brendan McCartney was a bad arse who famously taught his charges to "crack in" and get their hands dirty. It was a significant factor in our 2016 flag in my opinion (without taking anything away from the wonders worked by Bevo in 2015-16).

As those graduates of the McCartney class of 2013-14 have mostly disappeared from the scene so has our hard edge when the pressure is on.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

For all his fatal weaknesses in man management and various other aspects of coaching Brendan McCartney was a bad arse who famously taught his charges to "crack in" and get their hands dirty. It was a significant factor in our 2016 flag in my opinion (without taking anything away from the wonders worked by Bevo in 2015-16).

As those graduates of the McCartney class of 2013-14 have mostly disappeared from the scene so has our hard edge when the pressure is on.

In my opinion other than his timely and much needed departure, the whole mythos around McCartneys role in our flag is way over stated.

Most of the hard arses that were the core (Boyd, Morris, Wood and Picken) of our premiership side were already uncompromising hardarses by the time that McCartney arrived. Putting aside the contribution of Murphy in its lead up. It's not a coincidence that these very guys made up half of our premiership backline.

All of the "crack in" horse s**t we heard about him was far outweighed by the fact that he was terrible match day coach and a communicator on par with a rock. Not to mention the role he had in driving a club champion and team captain away from the club. That this single event was the catalyst that saw his own downfall and ultimately our ascent to a flag a mere two years later under the eye of a coach with actual man management skills is in the end a nice bit of serendipity. Not an endorsement of McCartneys Crack In mantra. He was a dud on par with Royce Hart at our club, or so Im told. Royces tenure being a little before my time.

 

[grassman75]

Just one observation regarding the impact of playing in Darwin last week...do we look at how the Gold Coast performed last night? They ran all over the Crows in the second half, booting 11 goals to 5.

Could also be that they had plenty of time to acclimatise and the Crows were cooked

 

[grassman75]

Agreed, and Beveridge’s pig-headedness and stubbornness also drives me crazy.

Goal kicking has been an issue at this club since dinosaurs were roaming the Earth.

Currently watching the Giants vs Tigers game - if Jack Riewoldt retires this year, the club would be doing well to get him in to teach Naughton, JUH and others a few things.

Like how to milk free kicks?

 

[Next Waiting]

In my opinion other than his timely and much needed departure, the whole mythos around McCartneys role in our flag is way over stated.

Most of the hard arses that were the core (Boyd, Morris, Wood and Picken) of our premiership side were already uncompromising hardarses by the time that McCartney arrived. Putting aside the contribution of Murphy in its lead up. It's not a coincidence that these very guys made up half of our premiership backline.

All of the "crack in" horse s**t we heard about him was far outweighed by the fact that he was terrible match day coach and a communicator on par with a rock. Not to mention the role he had in driving a club champion and team captain away from the club. That this single event was the catalyst that saw his own downfall and ultimately our ascent to a flag a mere two years later under the eye of a coach with actual man management skills is in the end a nice bit of serendipity. Not an endorsement of McCartneys Crack In mantra. He was a dud on par with Royce Hart at our club, or so Im told. Royces tenure being a little before my time.

I'm not so sure Norm.

The emphasis and adoption of the crack in was team wide. Throw Dahl and Clay Smith into the mix not to mention Bont, Libba and Macrae. There was an element of team wide heightened pressure on the opposition at the contest and elsewhere that hasn't really been replicated since 2016, and Bevo acknowledged that it was one area of the game that he didn't need to address.

For all his faults, McCartney can rightly take some credit for that IMO and arguably it was the foundation for our ultimate success. The rest of what you've said about him is probably correct although the departure of Cooney, Higgins and Griffen through that period is not something I see any need to regret.

 

[Next Waiting]

I'm curious about something Bevo said in the presser about Tom Stewart's influence, in effect, that it wasn't significant. A part of which was that the Geelong backline pressed higher up the ground after previously stating that we often play 5 forwards with an extra around the stoppages.

So I don't know the answer to this and I wasn't at the ground, but, is it possible that Bevo's extra man at stoppages was effective enough to force a change from Geelong. Did he actually get the game on the terms he wanted but we just didn't kick accurately enough in the field or for goal to take advantage of it.

In the Friday presser he noted that the biggest area of improvement for the Dogs was to score more and that that was a combination of ball use, connection between midfield and fwd lines and conversion itself. He also suggested that if they didn't make those improvements, they weren't going far.

Prophetic given what happened yesterday. I think he definitely knows what the problem is, and given that, the solution is likely his highest priority. Can he find it is the question.

 

[MrChristo]

Yep, I think we got exactly what we wanted.

I don't know if O.G. has posted his excellent stats for the game, but the expected score was right around 80 each.
Given that from memory they got at least 2 (possibly 3?) goals directly from really poor kicks across half back (under little to no pressure) then it's a coaching win.

Poor kicking for goal (agree with everyone else that's is an unacceptable constant. I mean who here actually expected Bont to kick his set shot early in the 3rd?), and poor execution from perfectly reasonable decisions killed us.

Edit: I guess I've dismissed the fact that they were significantly undermanned, so we "should" have beaten a mid-table team...
I guess that makes us exactly the same thing.