Review Round 8, 2019 - Western Bulldogs vs. Brisbane Lions

[Broken]

Hey Broken

Hey, random pop-in I know. This is the first Lions game I've seen live in over a decade, but seeings the game was in my neck of the woods it was a good excuse to trot out the Fitzroy gear (and probably comment on things you guys probably already know).

Witherden is slow, slow, slow and his decision making leaves much to be desired.

I noticed this, there was a chase on the outer win in the last quarter where he looked liked he was just jogging. It didn't look good.

 

[Checkered]

McCluggage and Robinson were brilliant. Hugh fell away in the second half but he was incredible in the first. Robbo needs another contract asap.

Zorko was decent, Neale was down but still good and then Roch was serviceable. Couldn't name a 6th guy that played well today though.

Rayner played as ineffectual game as I can remember anyone playing. Failed to impact pretty much everytime he came near it. He's been getting by on bobbing up for a goal or two every week but just isn't having the impact he needs to be. Has to go down for Keays next week.

Cameron in a very similar boat. Has looked way off for weeks, even in the games where he managed twenty touches or a couple goals. McCarthy similar again. Even when you're down, the pressure needs to be there and none of them brought it today.

Hipwood starting 0.5 was just criminal. Robbed us of so much reward for effort. He's one of my favourite players but he just sucks the life out of the team with bad misses far too often.

Backline was way too slow. Lester can't be played in the same team as Hodge, Andrews, Rich, Witherden etc. Witho especially looking slow, unfit and down on confidence. One of our biggest deficiencies is a back flanker that can run and take the game on like JJ, Saad, Laird etc. Tried/trying a lot of guys in that role and I really hope one of them manages to really make it their own.

The two ruckman thing has definitely already been said but gee it was just that bad of a call. Both at the time and especially now in hindsight.

Umpiring gave me an aneurysm but that was still our game to be won. Very disappointing.

 

[Sausages]

Hey, random pop-in I know. This is the first Lions game I've seen live in over a decade, but seeings the game was in my neck of the woods it was a good excuse to trot out the Fitzroy gear (and probably comment on things you guys probably already know).

I noticed this, there was a chase on the outer win in the last quarter where he looked liked he was just jogging. It didn't look good.

Lions are always welcome Broken, whether they are still invested as they once were or just occasionally catch up with the game

 

[Harris Specter]

A case of the Lions losing that game, more than the Doggies winning it. We'll learn and come back stronger next week.

 

[luthor]

Umpiring gave me an aneurysm the shits but that was still our game to be won. Very disappointing.

FTFY.

 

[Lace Out]

Best half from a Lion (Clug) I’d seen for a while...hard to say he won’t be a star.

 

[undefined]

Anyone else finding this loss very difficult to take?

At least we never looked like it against Essendon/Collingwood.

 

[M Malice]

Anyone else finding this loss very difficult to take?

At least we never looked like it against Essendon/Collingwood.

Yep, expecting to win, looking like winning and then losing is so much harder than expecting to lose and then losing.

Expectation can lead to heartache, on field and with life in general. BUT it can lead to great rewards as well.

 

[Tom14]

Anyone else finding this loss very difficult to take?

At least we never looked like it against Essendon/Collingwood.

I seem to be coping fine with this one, not sure why. Just think it was one of those days.

If we lose to the Aints in round 14 I will probably have a good old fashioned melt. That's a real untalented mob that we play like crap against, at least the dogs have a couple of stars.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Anyone else finding this loss very difficult to take?

At least we never looked like it against Essendon/Collingwood.

Think the expectation after our start played a roll in that. I was expecting a good win then we just stopped. We couldn't win a clearance due to the bathing we got by trengove

 

[irish]

Too many passengers , quite simple , no pressure from the forwards , not hard enough from the midfield. Honestly any team cannot convert that badly and expect to win

Sad thing is we lost it more than they won it

Few players will be nervous at selection this week

 

[martinson]

Charlie is nowhere near the form in the first half of last year and I have to think that he hasn't fully recovered from what was a severe injury

 

[The Zork]

I'm laughing at the suggestion they would even bother to justify their decisions against us.

Only the Bombers and Collingwoods of the world have the media demanding accountability for them.

Spot on.

Was really just a frustrating game classic hits compilation:
- easy missed opportunities.
- assy goals from them when they were on the ropes
- complete lack of effort for a patch.
- really stiff umpiring against us inside defensive 50 resulting in goals for them.

Few blokes thinking just making a contest is enough at the moment. A real lack of hunger in the forward line today. Really stood out. Disappointing.

Geez the dogs get away with some iffy disposals..

 

[lionraven]

The negativity is unexpected. We aren't the Cats/Pies/Tigers who should expect to win nearly every game. The Hawks made top 4 despite losing to us twice last year. Not enough credit is being given to the Dogs. They have a deep classy midfield that has only gotten better with experience since their premiership year. They beat the Tigers and are inconsistent just like us. Not many had us winning this match at the beginning of the year and not many had us winning at the beginning of the week. We were a small rotation down in the first few minutes and then another mid down in the 4th. The rain was not going to suite us. We rely on outside foot skills and marking to move the ball whereas the Dogs rely on inside force to surge the ball forward. Despite all that it was our errors that lost this game. Some late 50-50 plays and we were a chance. Man Hippy dropping that mark uncontested in the F50 was killer. Wold have put us within 10 with 8 mins to go.

Turnovers really cut up our defense. I get that hitting the lead up forward at the arc of the 50 is sexy football ... but this is not us. We dont have a strong lead up forward. We need to play stoppage football and get the ball in deep and then use our strong small forwards to crumb or kick a goal from stoppage. We got too cute and didnt penetrate deep enough in our forward 50s in the third resulting in a turnover goal the other way. We did the same s**t against the Pies and got punished as well. Hopefully the players learn from this.

 

[FLVanLandingham]

to me the funny thing is the two hungriest in the forward line are hippy and mcstay. I don't want Big O to be dropped, but i want him aggressive in the air more. Out of the others in the forward line i'd give a pass to McCarthy. He's not travelling the best, but besides some iffy mistakes he always is trying to continue the play.

 

[jackess]

I’d like McCarthy to play more as a high half forward. He’s such a great user of the ball. Would be great to have him as that last kick inside 50 more often.

 

[martinson]

to me the funny thing is the two hungriest in the forward line are hippy and mcstay. I don't want Big O to be dropped, but i want him aggressive in the air more. Out of the others in the forward line i'd give a pass to McCarthy. He's not travelling the best, but besides some iffy mistakes he always is trying to continue the play.

Totally agree . McCarthy really has a crack . Cam and Charlie look like two lost souls wandering around in the desert. We know what they can bring when they're up and running , up to themselves and the coaching staff to work out what the problem is and rectify it

 

[Strato]

We were so far on top for the first one and a half quarters, had Hipwood kicked a couple of his 5 misses - of which 3 he really should have nailed - then it could have been different Last 10 minutes of the second quarter we went from pushing for a 5-6 goal lead to falling behind. It felt like game over at that point to be honest. Then after the third quarter it really was. We didn't turn up there and got blitzed.

McCluggage was incredible early. So much so it even stopped the commentators talking about ******* "Astronaught" for 5 minutes Zorko ran all day, Mitch Robinson .... I can't even say his name without a sudden rush of man love .... Hipwood did some good things but it seems like every game if he misses his first kick then his confidence goes to ****. If he nails the first one then he'll be kicking them from everywhere. Berry was good and losing him was a blow, though in fairness we were probably already too far behind at that point. Andrews looked at times brilliant, clueless, visionary and completely spent. Hopefully another week in training will get him back to his consistent best.

In the end it was really disappointing to lose that, and I found myself shouting "JUST PICK UP THE ******* BALL!!" with all the fumbles and sloppy handling in the second half. Special mention to the umpires too, who were terrible. Push in the back? Free kick against for not trying hard enough. Rise and take a mark, hold it for about a minute then spill it on landing? Play on. Go up for a mark and take a forearm around the side of the head? Holding the ball. First to the ball / head over the ball? That'll be legs. Was that deliberate? Was it not? How would we know when those in green certainly didn't. Very frustrating.

I went to the game and totally endorse eveything you have stated. I have a problem with the side selected - way to tall for the conditions. I was stating mid week the oval would be wet and weather conditions not good. Again to slow, they worked harder than us - our kicking was poor along with lost opportunities. Yes, umpires were poor but the standard of umpiring this season in all games are the worst I have seen in over 50 years of VFL/AFL Football. This problem is getting worse but the AFL will just make up some crap and then we will just continue with the same old issue. We have major issues all over the ground but we are a long way off a top 8 side. We must make changes otherwise performances such as today will continue. There were quite a few players that are passengers and need to be sent to the reserves to get form. I will give credit to the Dogs because they really wanted to win and worked hard to achieve the result. In all the best side won on the day.

 

[LIONS08]

The thing that hurts is that we now expect to win games like that, which speaks a lot more about who we are now. Being a bloke down from early on really cost us today! We had multiple opportunities to capitalise and we didn’t do it. I didn’t expect to play finals this year and I still don’t, I see next year as our major rise, but all the signs are there! The group we have, with another years maturity will be huge! I love these boys and as much as it hurts to lose, I can see the growth in this group!

 

[martinson]

I’d like McCarthy to play more as a high half forward. He’s such a great user of the ball. Would be great to have him as that last kick inside 50 more often.

For sure . He seems to get caught out of position a bit the way they presently have things structured

 

[MacMum]

Any word on the J + T Berry injuries?

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

That horribly disappointing loss has soured my beers. Tastes like bile.

Have anothery it with soon taste better

 

[royboys4eva]

Should have been 5 goals up at HT and instead we were behind. It looked like we threw everything at them in that first half and come 3rd qtr we were gassed. Tried to lift in the last qtr but already losing Bailey and then Berry made it mission impossible. What's more we weren't prepared to take enough risks.

Dogs out worked us today and that was the only way they could beat us. Apart from Bont and Naughton they have a lot of hard workers and run hard. We have to many guys who want to play dry footy on a wet cold windy day. Cutler was trying to pinpoint passes instead of driving it long. God knows what Cameron and Rayner were doing. Had Hippy kicked straight we might have won and he might have kicked 5 goals. Least he is getting his hands on the ball.

McCluggage played one of the best halves of footy in Lions colours in recent times but sadly they sat on him in the second half and he faded.

McStay played his best qtr of footy for the year in defence. Stef Martin is a massive liability with ball in hand right now.

Umpiring was awful. When Cutler got pushed in the back and kicked it 3 metres to the boundary and got pinned I lost my sh!t. Then Lloyd shoved a Lions player blatantly in the back and umps just ignored it. But the Hippy non mark on a wet day was truly bad.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Agree he's accountable like everybody else needs to be dropped keays in

100% agree
Thought Squizzy played an important role for us last week when the game was on in the last , but there you go the youth don't get marked as high as our older players.

 

[carnthemlions]

I’d like McCarthy to play more as a high half forward. He’s such a great user of the ball. Would be great to have him as that last kick inside 50 more often.

On the other hand, the passage of play in which he turned what should've been the goal of the day for us into a Bulldogs goal made me extremely mad. Rich hit McCarthy in about 20 metres of space with a 70+ metre bullet, McCarthy kicked it straight to a Bulldogs player and then gave away a free by trying to take a hanger.

Speaking of which, since he took THAT mark have his attempts to recreate it caused us anything other than problems? He, Cameron, and Rayner need a bit of a lesson from the Richmond smalls on playing the percentages and using their athleticism to bring the ball to ground rather than trying to take mark of the year multiple times every week.