Review Bulldogs Lose To GWS (113 - 55)

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_M_16_

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Nov 26, 2009
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Himmelberg getting away with a fine is going to be interesting. All the uproar of Bont after he was in the act of smothering, but a straight up punch to the guts completely off the ball will be considered a lesser incident. Calling it.
What I loved is reading Giants fans pushing for their players to target Bontempelli. Bont's act was a smother that came in late, not a dirty snipe off the ball that a few on the Giants have been guilty of in the past. Targeting players with cheap shots is deliberate and dirty. Shows the mentality of their fans when they endorse deliberate and dirty acts in retaliation for what wasn't one.
 
Smith in 2-4 years. Maybe as early as next year.
Also West. Doesn't mind getting into the opposition and he's only played 3 games.
I was also pleased to see Lewy Young flying the flag in one of the scrimmages.
 

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What I loved is reading Giants fans pushing for their players to target Bontempelli. Bont's act was a smother that came in late, not a dirty snipe off the ball that a few on the Giants have been guilty of in the past. Targeting players with cheap shots is deliberate and dirty. Shows the mentality of their fans when they endorse deliberate and dirty acts in retaliation for what wasn't one.
Exactly. You'd never see anyone here calling for someone to punch out Toby Greene's lights or put a knee into Jez Cameron's throat.
 
Good on him. It was crap and it needs to be called out. There’s playing hard which is fine, but he left the ground with blood all over his mouth. Hmm.

That particular incident was innocuous. Definitely not a 'targeting'.

Don't get me wrong, they were filthy early... Toby Greene goes 'hands to the face' 3 times in the first quarter, which I genuinely hope gets mentioned if not looked at...

Both both Bont and Naughton's first hobble off the ground were nothing untoward.
 
Sep 25, 2008
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Disappointing final, but lots of heart from that season.

We were well beaten today, mids will get a lot from watching the tape - and the experience should burn in the minds all off-season.

GWS are such scum. Players, coach, rough-house style, and their soulless stadium. I’ll be cheering on the Lions next week.
 
Sep 27, 2005
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Disappointing final, but lots of heart from that season.

We were well beaten today, mids will get a lot from watching the tape - and the experience should burn in the minds all off-season.

GWS are such scum. Players, coach, rough-house style, and their soulless stadium. I’ll be cheering on the Lions next week.

Snipers. Usually with that sort of stuff they eventually come up against someone that does it better than they do. Looking forward to that.
 
Didn't get to see any of the game due to local footy commitment's but not surprised with the result.

It was a gutsy call to back up in a final with the 18th youngest tram from round 23.

Could be critical of selection but even with those that missed out in I doubt we would make up 10 goals.

We finished the season moving forward. Hopefully we get who we target in the trade period then continue to build.

Some really promising signs

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SonOfScray

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Disappointing day. From the 100s stranded at the airport, to the final result.

There was always a fair chance things could go this way, given some of the s**t we’ve put up this year, age profile and the quality of the opposition. Equally, could have gone the other way at a few points too, so not shattered. Missed opportunity.

JT probably should have played, missed Libba.

GWS are a s**t bunch though, ideally we don’t get rolled like that by a mob that pipes crowd noise through the PA. Ah well, win some, lose some.

One small grace: glad I saw Deledio’s last game. Enjoy retirement dickhead.
 

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the dog's kennel

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Today showed that Libba has a place in this team. He’s our campaigner. We missed him badly. We need more of them and a few other guys to get some more campaigner in them.

Was thinking this all game - Libba was missed so much - this game was made for him. Hope he gets some form up next year, because with adding Libba to one more year's experience for Bont, Macrae, Dunkley, Lipinski and Smith is going to be one hell of a midfield (by the way West has a bit of mongrel in him. I predict big things for him next finals series.)
 
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TMoney22

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I'm ok with the loss but dissappointing to lose to those plastics. At the end of the day we may have over achieved for the year which is a pretty good result i reckon.

To go deep in the finals you need all around effort from everyone. Compare Daniels from GWS against Mclean for example, far too much of a gap and that was evident for about 10 or so players. Can't rely on Bont, Macrae and Dunks to perform every game.

There are many who either aren't built for finals footy, or just aren't ready yet... Schache, Richards, Dale, Hayes, Lapinski and West, a quarter of the team who have very slight body builds and didn't have their usual impact on a game. No chance we win a final with that. Add Lloyd, McLean, JJ and Hunter having bad games. With almost half the team right there having minimal impact GWS could focus hard on our guns and right there is the ball game.

B.Smith, will be a big game player and a good reason why you should almost never trade 1st round picks. Players in the first round have usually already performed in finals during juniors which translates to a better chance at playing well in AFL finals.

I've been a critic of Wood this year but he was easily our best player today. Macrae had a nice stat line but his impact would be the same with 20 disposals as usual.
Young and Cordy were great, couldnt ask much more. As some have said no change would have won us the game, playing Dickson and Trengrove may have got us a bit closer but it wouldnt change the result so best to get the finals experience.

In saying all that, biggest dissapointments in todays game were JJ who gets away with too many poor games and McLean. I don't know how McLean has gone from a crafty small forward to what he has done this year. Has he cracked the shites not playing mid? i dunno just doesn't seem right to me.

Impressed by English, Smith, Young. Suckling wasn't our best but easily smartest today so anyone getting on his case needs to look harder at others.

Need to add muscle and class. Bruce and Martin thankyou very much.
 
No question - we were comprehensively outplayed today. They looked like they were "on" from about the 20-second mark of the first quarter. Swarming all over us at the stoppages, roughing us up when they could, sitting on us after the tackle. Plenty has already been said about their physical game, most of which was legit, some of which was not.

The chink in our armour is that everything flows from our powerhouse midfield - mainly the trio of Bont, Macrae and Dunks. Stop them and you stop the Dogs. And it worked. All of them got plenty of close attention, but especially Bontempelli. No surprise that Bailey Dale couldn't get into the game without Bont drilling low passes to him and without the repeated f50 entries we've had in recent weeks. Dunks was uncharacteristically quiet. Macrae was the least affected - I thought he was superb today, given the attention they all got.

The defence stood up well considering the number of times it came their way. Cordy and Wood were great early and Young, Crozier and Duryea got into it more as the game progressed.

Special mention to English who is improving every game and really stood up today. Look out for him next year!

So much for the post mortem, but what lessons can we learn from today? How do we step up a level in 2020?
 
We are the youngest team to compete in a final in 50yrs and young teams can buckle easily. Enjoy a great second half of the season and don't dwell on this game.as to win key finals, you need hunger and today the new bulldog class class got that hunger.
 

perro_loco

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I continue to live in hope. I'm used to it.

Disappointing end to the season, not the result in itself, but how we went about it. But thanks to the Doggies for making this winter one that breathed life into not only the club and its supporters, but also myself personally. I don't know what I would have done this winter without the footy. Thanks also to everyone for putting up with my nonsense. Now I must order that Somali Lucky Meal for tonight and turn it into a Bad Luck Meal for Richmond.
Chicago you are great. Try this restaurant in case you have not. Amazing if you like spicy. https://karlaylisi-restaurant-uyghur-cuisine.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral
In Bangkok licking my dog wounds.
 

Unorth

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No question - we were comprehensively outplayed today. They looked like they were "on" from about the 20-second mark of the first quarter. Swarming all over us at the stoppages, roughing us up when they could, sitting on us after the tackle. Plenty has already been said about their physical game, most of which was legit, some of which was not.

The chink in our armour is that everything flows from our powerhouse midfield - mainly the trio of Bont, Macrae and Dunks. Stop them and you stop the Dogs. And it worked. All of them got plenty of close attention, but especially Bontempelli. No surprise that Bailey Dale couldn't get into the game without Bont drilling low passes to him and without the repeated f50 entries we've had in recent weeks. Dunks was uncharacteristically quiet. Macrae was the least affected - I thought he was superb today, given the attention they all got.

The defence stood up well considering the number of times it came their way. Cordy and Wood were great early and Young, Crozier and Duryea got into it more as the game progressed.

Special mention to English who is improving every game and really stood up today. Look out for him next year!

So much for the post mortem, but what lessons can we learn from today? How do we step up a level in 2020?

I'm not even sure how much 'learning' there is to be done, in a way. This outcome is not that surprising: We fielded an incredibly young side, 11 guys who'd never even played a final before. The bye did us in this year by giving them the chance to reload and stopping our momentum, when in 2016 it was the other way around with us and West Coast.

We took a bunch of kids in to play against men in a certified bloodbath of a game. They were simply not ready for the occasion (Exceptions: Naughton, English). Guys like Bailey Smith were used to have a lot more time and space than they got. In other words they were harshly introduced to finals footy. But you get more experience into Smith, Lipinski, Richards, Young, West, that goes a long way. Fortunately now they got that intro over with and they can hopefully have another crack next year.

Honestly if there is a lesson to be learned, it's from our premiership players. Out of those that were on the field that were there in 2016, maybe two could hold their heads high. Hunter, JJ, Bont, Dunkley simply needed to be more effective than they were. Cordy competed well but his decision making with ball in hand was very costly early. These guys were the youngsters of 15/16 - but while they're not 27/28 yet, they are the leaders. They're the ones that had to rise and lead by example for all the youngsters out there today. Next season they'll be another year older and if we make finals, they collectively need to become what Boyd, Picken and Morris were for us in 2016 - Steadying forces. Rocks.

So if we're going to try to truly contend next season, I'll just say this: Keep on getting experience into these guys, but make them earn it (Richards, Hayes were clearly carried when their form wasn't warranting selection). Be smart at the trade table; this trade period is huge for this club. Huge. We have picks, and we have cap space, when we know we're going to hit the draft the year after. We have to be smart like Hawthorn were and supplement the young premiership winning core with what they need. Go for Bruce, Martin, Keath. See if all three can happen. See if we can at least get two. Or who knows what names we're talking to that the media haven't got wind of. But we have to get bigger, older, harder around the ball and in the air. Lastly, the young players of 2016 need to step up and become proper leaders. Achieve levels of steadiness and consistency the guys younger than them need. No more Boyd, Bob, Picken or Morris; the torch has to be passed now.

I think this could be the 2015 to our 2016 if we make the right moves. That's why this result isn't really that upsetting, Naughton injury aside. I think it's apparent we're on the right course, but they'll need to work hard as a club, as the competition's parity grows, success won't just come to a talented young team.
 

hamwell

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B.Smith, will be a big game player and a good reason why you should almost never trade 1st round picks. Players in the first round have usually already performed in finals during juniors which translates to a better chance at playing well in AFL finals.
We've done this twice in the last 5 years to pretty good effect. One of those instances yielded Dunkley.

Young and Cordy were great, couldnt ask much more. As some have said no change would have won us the game, playing Dickson and Trengrove may have got us a bit closer but it wouldnt change the result so best to get the finals experience.
I disagree.

We thumped GWS 3 weeks ago, yet today, the result was a complete reversal. What is this on the back of? A multitude of things of course, but personnel changes stand out the most.

GWS brought in strong, experienced, high quality players, whereas we brought in more inexperience and youth, and it really showed in the second half.

I don't know if it would've changed the result, but I think the inclusion of Trengove alone would've made a significant difference, just for some physical presence at the stoppages. Not selecting him was a baffling decision, and in my opinion, arrogance on Beveridge's end.
 

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