Game Day Western Bulldogs Vs Richmond R1 NAB Cup

[Arkangel]

I sympathize with the Libba injury, it sucks and it's no good seeing a genuine young gun of the competition go down. But this is your match thread, not a Libba thread. Bringing his injury into the analysis of the game is irrelevant imo, but that doesn't mean I'm being disrespectful towards it.

To address your points, I'm saying you should have won by 50 points or more because of the dominance you had in general play, that you were unable to convert into scoreboard pressure due to a mix of our pressure, and your squads' overall poor skill level. For example:

62-27 inside 50's.
40-29 clearances.
339-251 disposals.

You were far superior in general play, yet with 6 mins to go, we were in-front and still in with a big chance. That has to be concerning to you, surely? Especially considering the context of our omissions as well.

Also, my other point is simply that the opposition you played today is probably the easiest it's going to get this season at AFL level, and if our vastly undermanned squad was able to put enough pressure on your boys to make them struggle, it's going to get exponentially harder when you play teams with their senior players actually in the squad, who will put even more pressure on you guys and probably cause even more skill errors than we did today.

You can think this was a great win if you want to, but I'm just trying to provide some context here. You'd wanna play a hell of alot better than that moving forward if you wanna actually get out of the Bottom 4.

I doubt there's anyone among us who isn't aware of these factors. However, I'd venture that anyone who thinks they can learn much from this match (be it positive or negative) is deluded: historically, pre-season form and regular season form don't seem to be particularly strongly correlated. These games are a sandbox, where coaches and teams can try out new things and see how they work (or what needs more work).

 

[Scary_Foot_9]

One the real positives from the game was Tom Boyd I felt, it was day where nothing came easily for him but he remained engaged with the contest to the very last.

 

[TempleKelvington]

have faith fronk, have faith

I'm with fronk. I don't like picko as a forward. He was the go to man a few times yesterday and it does not work.

Also we had 27 shot attempts
I like the fact we are attacking more, a clear day without wind and maybe 15 of the 17points would have been goals

We got the ball in enough times, but it's how we got it in there that made scoring harder. Very few easy entries, we seemed to bomb it too much instead of looking for the hit up. If we can get that right we will be a much better team.

I was pretty impressed with Honeychurch

Me too, very natural footballer. Rather him than picko forward. Very clever player around goals.

This one was enjoyable from start to finish, but honestly, you should really have won by 50 or more points, considering the amount of general play domination you had.

I guarantee you that if you don't clean up your skills and execution going inside forward 50 come season proper, you're gonna have a very long and painful year. NAB Challenge is never a true indicator of form, but your style of play crumbled under pressure today, and trust me, the pressure you're under in general play will increase ten-fold when you play a team with their full compliment of players.

And for the record, the reason Dwayne kept harping on the "full strength" thing is because we were resting the following best 22 players:

Trent Cotchin
Brett Deledio
Dustin Martin
Alex Rance
Jack Riewoldt
Ivan Maric
Shane Edwards
Bachar Houli
Brandon Ellis
Ben Griffiths
Reece Conca
Troy Chaplin
Chris Newman

Whereas from what I can tell, the only player you were missing pre-game that was in your best 22 was Crameri.

Whilst you guys may not like it, Dwayne absolutely had a valid point. Those 13 players mentioned above slot straight back into our best 22 very VERY easily.

As much as you guys might think we're being arrogant on our board when we're having a bit of a laugh about this game, the fact is, you were literally playing our reserves side, and with about 6 minutes left, with your full strength team on display, it was a 50/50 ball game.

That's not a good sign.

I'm not trolling when I say this stuff, and I say it with all due respect. I'm just calling it the way I see it, and the fact is, there are much better teams out there than Richmond. We are a 6th-10th team in the competition at full strength, and today you played us today at about 30% strength, and had major issues putting us away.

NAB Challenge or no NAB Challenge, if that's the standard you bring into 2015, you're absolutely heading for spoon territory.

A full strength Melbourne or St. Kilda would have beaten us by more today.

You are the ones that should be nervous my friend. Your list is now at the point that your should be challenging seriously and not just edging your way into the 8. Stop making excuses for yourselves, this is your time to do something, it's not ours.

We know exactly where we are at, we have a very young team, and yes we were almost full strength, it is by default an extremely inexperienced team playing under a new coach and style. We lost 3 very experienced players from our list, one our best player and you don't replace those guys straight way.

Your team has been drilled under the same coach for many years and the best teams bat deep and have players who can come in an play their roles, injuries or no injuries so it should not be suprise that your team performed well yesterday. Let's see how we go round 2, where you hopefully won't give yourselves an easy out by saying we had some players not playing, you are a potential top 4 side, there can be no excuses, no easy outs, your time to shine, the pressure is on you.

 

[ErnieSigley]

Would you have been satisfied with anything less?

Yes.
We had the ball in our forward line for most of the game. Wind or no wind advantage. Our Poor kicking and decision making in our F50 was the difference between a 20 point win and a thrashing. They beat us the spread which was cause by our skill errors(it's February btw) up forward (still improved from last year) and they flooded back like there was no tomorrow. They had more potential?

 

[ErnieSigley]

From opposition reports sounds like Richmond had 10 less players on the ground.

 

[tige19]

This one was enjoyable from start to finish, but honestly, you should really have won by 50 or more points, considering the amount of general play domination you had.

I guarantee you that if you don't clean up your skills and execution going inside forward 50 come season proper, you're gonna have a very long and painful year. NAB Challenge is never a true indicator of form, but your style of play crumbled under pressure today, and trust me, the pressure you're under in general play will increase ten-fold when you play a team with their full compliment of players.

And for the record, the reason Dwayne kept harping on the "full strength" thing is because we were resting the following best 22 players:

Trent Cotchin
Brett Deledio
Dustin Martin
Alex Rance
Jack Riewoldt
Ivan Maric
Shane Edwards
Bachar Houli
Brandon Ellis
Ben Griffiths
Reece Conca
Troy Chaplin
Chris Newman

Whereas from what I can tell, the only player you were missing pre-game that was in your best 22 was Crameri.

Whilst you guys may not like it, Dwayne absolutely had a valid point. Those 13 players mentioned above slot straight back into our best 22 very VERY easily.

As much as you guys might think we're being arrogant on our board when we're having a bit of a laugh about this game, the fact is, you were literally playing our reserves side, and with about 6 minutes left, with your full strength team on display, it was a 50/50 ball game.

That's not a good sign.

I'm not trolling when I say this stuff, and I say it with all due respect. I'm just calling it the way I see it, and the fact is, there are much better teams out there than Richmond. We are a 6th-10th team in the competition at full strength, and today you played us today at about 30% strength, and had major issues putting us away.

NAB Challenge or no NAB Challenge, if that's the standard you bring into 2015, you're absolutely heading for spoon territory.

A full strength Melbourne or St. Kilda would have beaten us by more today.

Sorry to intrude but don't you just love flog Richmond supporters coming onto your board with zero respect and posting?

Here's a hint for you pal, go back to your own board and bask in the royal s**t fest that is Richmond footy club where stroking of Jack Riewoldts plums is encouraged and signing up your cat for more than licking your arse means a Tigers membership!

Sorry boys, I just came to read about Libba and seen this reptile dribble and had to respond.

 

[fronkalicious]

No griff, no Libba. We have to be shortening for the spoon unfortunately.

 

[ManOfClay]

Liked dear leader's game in parts too but face palmed at that first quarter behind he kicked

 

[SonOfScray]

Enjoyed being back at Whitten Oval, it is a real spiritual place for the faithful.

The most noticeable differences for mine were a more direct route to goal, attacking use of the hand pass and a generally more cavalier approach to the contest.

Goal kicking and "cashing in" on work down the field remains an issue. We are going to need to turn effort into scoreboard pressure more efficiently and more often if we are to climb the ladder.

I was really pleased with Redpath's game. Aggressive, mobile and present in a lot of contests. He looks to have taken his fitness up a notch.

Wallis and Bonti were my two other stand outs. Wally has sharpened up by foot and Bonti performs at the level you expect from someone in line to be our best ever.

Libba injury is bloody horrific. A dampener on the day.

 

[TempleKelvington]

No griff, no Libba. We have to be shortening for the spoon unfortunately.

Fronk I thought your post game summary earlier was spot on, meant to find it again and quote but I can't be stuffed. I think you are correct in you assumption that without those 2 in the team that things look grim. But we dominated contested possession yesterday without Libber so that is heartening.

Your man Wallis stood up I thought and hit the scoreboard too. We rotated a few through the middle so the reliance on one or 2 is perhaps less going forward. I think Goodes is an ideal candidate to play he Libber role and if he does get an elevation I think it will mitigate the loss quiet a bit.

We had 40 more inside 50's yesterday but it was often to a crowded 50, so we bombed it too much. Need to tidy the entries up and we simply have to take more of the chances we have.

Our stoppage work inside both 50's was poor I thought. Cost us too many goals both ways. That needs work. Like you said Dahlhaus is a better forward than a mid, when honey or him were in there, their natural smarts made us more dangerous at the stoppages.

 

[Roscoe_au]

No griff, no Libba. We have to be shortening for the spoon unfortunately.

I just watched StKilda get beaten by Brisbane and they stunk. I would have thought we're still a better side than Carlton and Melbourne???

 

[Roscoe_au]

Agree with the entries inside 50. Looked too congested and not enough opportunities to get Boyd on the lead and use our height to advantage. Thought at times we looked like we had in previous years...simply bomb it in and make it someone else's problem to try and score.

The season proper might bring it back to a more contested style of play and less a rolling scrum of first year players looking to get their head on a highlight reel.

Still thought we looked stronger around the contest, but that might have looked different had Cotchin, Deledio and Martin been standing there as well.

Picken up forward...no thanks.

 

[Roscoe_au]

Redpaths position for Rd 1 is for him to lose.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Due a bad lifestyle and a miss spent youth, I can be prone to hallucinations, but did I really see Redpath in the midfield at one point?

Yes you did. What a Beast.

 

[Libba39]

No griff, no Libba. We have to be shortening for the spoon unfortunately.

I agree that with a midfield of Wallis, Dahlhaus, Bontempelli, Stevens, Jong, Hrovat and Boyd we are going to struggle to get out of the bottom four. Basically that's a B or C grade midfield with Bonti the only one who looks capable of elevating above that level (and then some!).

On the bright side Redpath / Boyd / Stringer combination will give teams trouble. Getting it down there will be the issue.

 

[kelpa]

This one was enjoyable from start to finish, but honestly, you should really have won by 50 or more points, considering the amount of general play domination you had.

I guarantee you that if you don't clean up your skills and execution going inside forward 50 come season proper, you're gonna have a very long and painful year. NAB Challenge is never a true indicator of form, but your style of play crumbled under pressure today, and trust me, the pressure you're under in general play will increase ten-fold when you play a team with their full compliment of players.

And for the record, the reason Dwayne kept harping on the "full strength" thing is because we were resting the following best 22 players:

Trent Cotchin
Brett Deledio
Dustin Martin
Alex Rance
Jack Riewoldt
Ivan Maric
Shane Edwards
Bachar Houli
Brandon Ellis
Ben Griffiths
Reece Conca
Troy Chaplin
Chris Newman

Whereas from what I can tell, the only player you were missing pre-game that was in your best 22 was Crameri.

Whilst you guys may not like it, Dwayne absolutely had a valid point. Those 13 players mentioned above slot straight back into our best 22 very VERY easily.

As much as you guys might think we're being arrogant on our board when we're having a bit of a laugh about this game, the fact is, you were literally playing our reserves side, and with about 6 minutes left, with your full strength team on display, it was a 50/50 ball game.

That's not a good sign.

I'm not trolling when I say this stuff, and I say it with all due respect. I'm just calling it the way I see it, and the fact is, there are much better teams out there than Richmond. We are a 6th-10th team in the competition at full strength, and today you played us today at about 30% strength, and had major issues putting us away.

NAB Challenge or no NAB Challenge, if that's the standard you bring into 2015, you're absolutely heading for spoon territory.

A full strength Melbourne or St. Kilda would have beaten us by more today.

Lol Tigers fans talking about a game plan crumbling under pressure, you guys fold like a deck of cards constantly. Its so entertaining to watch, first half of last season ******* funny stuff, more entertaining is your last 2 finals campaigns 2013 beaten by 9th place Carlton and the most entertaining of all was last years final against Port i laughed for days. Looks like your game plan stands up well.

Oh and yesterdays game as poor as we played still had twice as many scoring shots, should have been a 10 goal win against a pisspoor Tigers team.
So maybe you should put your focus into looking out for any microwaves sales in 2015.

 

[Roscoe_au]

Yes you did. What a Beast.

Can think of a few midfielders who just shat their pants...

 

[Bazza Bulldog]

Trent Cotchin
Brett Deledio
Dustin Martin
Alex Rance
Jack Riewoldt
Ivan Maric
Shane Edwards
Bachar Houli
Brandon Ellis
Ben Griffiths
Reece Conca
Troy Chaplin
Chris Newman

Well done for stating the obvious. We should have won by over 50, you are correct. For all of the 2nd half we actually had 6 of our best 22 out, but I'll let you work those out.

On a different tack ... I liked the look of a couple of your young players. Elton and Short in particular.

 

[Libba39]

Is it possible for you to post your best 22 and highlight how many were playing today?

I think we had 14 of our best 22 missing. How many players did you have missing? Is Darley best 22?

B: Batchelor Astbury Chaplin
HB: Houli Rance Petterd
C: B.Ellis Vlastuin Conca
HF: Deledio Griffiths Martin
F: Knights Riewoldt Edwards
R: Maric Cotchin Miles
INT: Hunt Morris Newman
Sub: Lennon/McDonough

Thanks for highlighting those outs. Perhaps now you'd like to draw me a map showing me how to get to my local milk bar....

 

[Roscoe_au]

Crameri's work in the midfield has just got more important IMO. Will see him on the ball a lot more often when he comes back.

 

[Roscoe_au]

Richmond fans are hilarious. If they enter the season with no wins in the NAB Challenge their boards will explode regardless of who is out.

 

[Dav1d]

I agree that with a midfield of Wallis, Dahlhaus, Bontempelli, Stevens, Jong, Hrovat and Boyd we are going to struggle to get out of the bottom four. Basically that's a B or C grade midfield with Bonti the only one who looks capable of elevating above that level (and then some!).

On the bright side Redpath / Boyd / Stringer combination will give teams trouble. Getting it down there will be the issue.

No Macrae in the mix?

Hoping that we get a nice surprise from one of the kids we drafted through out the year

 

[Scary_Foot_9]

I just watched StKilda get beaten by Brisbane and they stunk. I would have thought we're still a better side than Carlton and Melbourne???

We're probably more talented than those two and in the long run I like our chances for the ultimate success better, but we're so much more inexperianced, they have quality like Judd, Murphy and Gibbs in their heart still, Melbourne have Jones, Vince and Cross.

Some might advocate moving M.Boyd back into to the middle and in certain situations that may a good course of action to settle things down if they get out of hand, but really its just delaying development of other guys.

Or perhaps you just plug Goodes in and he is a poor mans Libba and helps the development of Bonts and Jong and which ever other young mids play.

 

[Libba39]

No Macrae in the mix?

Hoping that we get a nice surprise from one of the kids we drafted through out the year

Yeah forgot Macrae sorry.

 

[fargy]

Has anyone heard anything about Stevens? Got sent back on and looked in discomfort with his wrist, which gives me a fair bit of concern as wrists can be disasters if they get injured.