Positives and Negatives vs Western Bulldogs

[Grahame]

+With finals played largely in QLD, and no guarantee we'd even get a home final if we did earn one, finishing top 4 is not as important as previous years.

Agree. Most important thing now is to prioritise having a full fit squad for the finals. If there is a year to win from outside the top four it is this year.
The second most important thing - having a Plan B for the teams who like the ‘chaos ball’.

If we have a fit full squad - and if it’s good enough - then four wins in four weeks might be doable.

 

[ConcreteWaters]

+ Cole, Duggan, Ryan, Redden were great. Ainsworth did some good stuff.
+ Showed a bit of fighting spirit to stay in touch and be in a position to win.
+ After calming down from a melt, I think we're still in the hunt. This year, finishing 4th isn't as good as it has been in previous years, and finishing 5th not as bad as it has been in previous years. 5th would give us a home final with the week and the ability to quarantine, 4th may mean a whole finals series away from Perth. I reckon we've weighed up the probabilities and figured we're almost certain to finish 3-6, Geelong will likely beat Richmond, so 4th is still in play.

- Backline kicking. Cost us goals.
- Some of those frees to the Dogs for shots at goal, particularly the Nelson one. It's been done the whole season and that one gets picked out. Against the spirit of the rule change around the ability to play on from the square.

If ever there was a year to win one outside the top 4 it's this year. Half the teams in it can't play home finals, and the other half are shaky. Prioritising a fresh squad may be more important than where in the top 6 we finish.

 

[The Stid]

Naturally I have far more negatives / A need to vent tonight

Positives:
+ Flyin’ - gone to another level this season. Become a leader
+ Reddo really stepped up in Boots and Yeoy absence.
+ Ainsworth was solid.
+ Waterman was good on return
+ Compressed fixture is almost over and the cavalry is on the way (Hopefully).

Not so much a negative but after a good first 3 game XON was really quiet.

Negatives:
- TK, I mean, Wtf. No Yeo, Shuey, Naitanui in the midfield I expected him to step up and he didn’t. That center clearance with a few minutes left would have hit a target(teammate/goal) had it been Shuey or Yeo.
- Rothams brain fade in the last leading to a free kick against in front of goal was shocking.
- I‘m really sick of Gov and TB’s dinky little kicks that don’t hit a target or aren’t the required distance. Always puts teammates under immediate pressure.
- Speaking of required distance how many times did the umps call not 15 for us but let it slide for the dogs? This seems to be their new throw tactic that the umps turn a blind eye to. That Goal to Bont that was touched shouldn’t have even happened. No way that kick to Bont was the required distance.
- JK & JD were bad. JD getting too close to the man on the mark was frustrating.
- It’s about time we do something about leaving oppo players free in their attacking 50. Happens every game and oppo get cheap, easy goals every time. Teams like Port, Lions, Tigers with quick forwards will kill us in finals if we let it continue.
- We seem to really struggle at Metricon for some reason.
- Forward line can’t lock the ball in this season. Just let oppo walk it out with zero pressure. Too many broken tackles.
- Midfield - trash. No pressure. Pathetic.
- Have to laugh at the commentators always talking about the outs for teams like Richmond, CWood etc.... and the graphics with the “who’s missing” List. Or how many games they’ve played in the past two weeks. But hardly any mention of who we’re missing or the 4 games in two weeks and Dogs coming off an 8 day break. No Naitanui, Shuey, Yeo, Hurn, Cripps, Rioli, Venables, Petrucelle, Cameron or Jones. All of whom would have played ahead of Hickey, Ainsworth, Ah Chee, O’Neill had they been fit/available.

 

[Strongside]

+ Ainsworth shows signs of life..hopefully a late bloomer.

+ Ryan flashed a trait of elite players in sport..creating positive plays wherever and whenever..stars don’t wait, they take.

- The AFL review system is now worse than MLB here in the states imo..it’s a reasonable assumption that the AFL powers that be must prefer the unnecessary clunky review..why?..however, a lack of execution brought this call to importance..WC had opportunities to convert.

It still appears the Eagles have not adjusted mentally to the hub / compressed fixtures reality. Playing flat footed the better part of two full quarters is mostly effort and want to. Other sides are finding a way. Injuries, recovery, wet conditions..so? Ryan showed a whatever it takes effort tonight. I hope the rest of the side digs deeper and follows his example down the road. Lot’s of footy left.

 

[Scotland]

Our midfield minus Naitanui, Yeo and Shuey looks like it did a few years ago. One dimensional and one paced.

 

[TassieEagle]

+
Dogs accuracy made the game closer than what it was
Not much. Ryan continuing his good form

-
Shuey and Yeo are out... why not rest NN. Our top 3 mids gone and we wo der why we get smashed.
Goodbye top 4 and goodbye 2020.
Another game at Metricon another 4 points gone.

 

[fidstar]

Felt like our Hawks game from last year. A game we needed to and should have won. But we didn't play like it.

Dogs were the best team on the night and I feel the scoreboard flattered us.

Like last year, now we have to rely on results going our way to crack the top 4 and be a chance to win the premiership.

 

[Goroyals22]

This is what i don’t get.. last night I didn’t think it was a lack of effort. It might be cause I’ve seen all the games here but our effort in the hub this time is far and away better than our first stint. With our outs sometimes we are just not good enough...

As for the momentum killer it was jks play on which was really bad.... on tv you wouldnt have seem darling 30’metres out by himself in the 50 or the free eagle in the pocket... certajn goal went begging.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Black Saab]

I reckon the big difference in the Bont ARC decision is that the goal umpire called it a goal.

The way I saw it, Bulldogs were on from the start and played one of their better but ugly games. They wasted the ball terribly but were on top for most of the match and eventually scrubbed a score together. Conversely, the Eagles seemed to be absorbing pressure from the start and were on the back foot but their ball movement and skill execution was a clear cut above and nearly won them the game.

Uncharacteristic misses from your forward stars really hurt and some decisions in play that turned into errors that you almost never see WCE do sealed the deal (Gov 1st qtr htb, Lloyd missed the easy shot, JK htb late in the 4th).

The first qtr was a good demonstration of the game. Dogs dominated but destroyed their own chances and the Eagles were far too clean with the few opportunities they had and by qtr time the scoreboard gave a misleading reading but one that could have seen the Dogs typically fall away like they so often do but they had one of their periodic good games despite trying really hard to throw it away. I was convinced you lot would win on class despite Bulldogs efforts.

Ryan was nearly the difference in the result, had a blinder. For mine, he looked hurt after that head knock which may have prevented him having more impact on the game???

The Eagles kryptonite seems to be hard footy. Time and space denial really affects them. I'm not sure I buy the whole weather conditions thing. Unless the weather is just right and the grass is dry WCE can't compete. Seems crazy, its a tough winter sport, surely they can handle all conditions, they are footballers.

 

[Marlin01]

Geez, I don’t know what some of you guys expect. 4 days prep vs 9 days without 3 of our starting 4 centre square players. That’s a pretty tough ask and we nearly snuck away with a victory. I thought it was a pretty good effort.

Ainsworth showed a couple of glimpses for the first time and Ryan has shown himself to be an absolute star in very difficult conditions.

I go away from the game thinking we did pretty well tbh. Maybe I was overly pessimistic before the game.

 

[Astro7]

They beat us by 2 points on a ARC review minus, Yeo, Shuey, Hurn, NN and Cripps coming of a 9 day break

Sure, thanks for the fuzzy feel good facts..I watched the game too..could've also lost by 4-6 goals. Might've won by 1-3 goals. We lost. We move on.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

- Speaking of required distance how many times did the umps call not 15 for us but let it slide for the dogs? This seems to be their new throw tactic that the umps turn a blind eye to. That Goal to Bont that was touched shouldn’t have even happened. No way that kick to Bont was the required distance.

Bulldogs have been great at bending the rules.
Noticed last night how well they stalled the free kick to get numbers back. They'd hold onto the ball and repeatedly ask the umpire who's free kick it was, even if there was only 1 player who was in the area to have received it.

Good old "point at opponent and ask if it in fact was that players free kick" trick.
I know players often do it when genuinely unsure to not give away a 50m penalty, but when it happens EVERY free kick, it's obviously a conscious stalling tactic.

 

[Numero Uno]

another Vic team given a massive fixture advantage when playing us...I'm shocked

Razor Ray called the 'not 15 play on' against us about 6 times last night. Then awards a mark from an 8m kick for the winning goal

how did the goal umpire call it a goal initially...all the Dogs players in the vicinity knew it was a point as well

 

[Seadog]

Darling was one of our best players although he did stuff up some shots on goal. He is a great set shot from <40, from 50 he really struggles. Our team does not like Metricon. Besides that there was a tipping point of good players out. Shuey,Yeo, Naitanui, Hurn, Cripps - we couldn’t do it. Bullies not a great team.

Yeah Darling has barely missed a set shot all year, he is allowed to have a down day, it happens.

 

[WCE Wizard]

Sure, thanks for the fuzzy feel good facts..I watched the game too..could've also lost by 4-6 goals. Might've won by 1-3 goals. We lost. We move on.

Exactly same feeling with me top 4 is still a shot i know we need Geelong to beat the tigers but the season is alive

 

[flyinghi64]

To be honest we should have lost by more, to be still in it up until the end could be considered a positive.
Darlings kick after the siren probably should have been a 50m penalty, over the mark by nearly a meter, can't believe it wasn't even looked at.
Once we got it in our 50 we were dangerous and scoring, just couldn't get it in there enough.
Take out English, Bont and Macrae and see how well Dogs go.
We are now missing 1/3 of our preferred starting 18, bloody injuries.
Down a rotation when we were already coming of a short break also didn't help when playing a team coming of a big break.

Bloody hurts to of lost a winnable game but my god the stars couldn't of aligned themselves any better for the Dogs.

Oh and one more thing, are we the only team that get's pinged for "not 15 play on" The amount of dinky 10-12m kicks that get paid, even last night, then we get called play on for ones that actually looked like they went 15+. Nelson was stiff as well, 14 steps.

 

[ziad]

Geez, I don’t know what some of you guys expect. 4 days prep vs 9 days without 3 of our starting 4 centre square players. That’s a pretty tough ask and we nearly snuck away with a victory. I thought it was a pretty good effort.

Ainsworth showed a couple of glimpses for the first time and Ryan has shown himself to be an absolute star in very difficult conditions.

I go away from the game thinking we did pretty well tbh. Maybe I was overly pessimistic before the game.

As a positive we have the same mandated squad size as all teams.
As a negative yesterday we had out from that squad (Unavailable):
Nic
Hurn
Yoe
Shuey
Cripps
Willie
Venables
Petro
Jones
Cameron
etc

I didnt think we would romp it in as many would be fatigued.
Of the unavailable players our mids and high forwards took the brunt and were undermanned. We were a mid rotation down after quarter time.
I thought it was a very unlucky and gutsy effort.

 

[West Coast 06]

Bulldogs have been great at bending the rules.
Noticed last night how well they stalled the free kick to get numbers back. They'd hold onto the ball and repeatedly ask the umpire who's free kick it was, even if there was only 1 player who was in the area to have received it.

Good old "point at opponent and ask if it in fact was that players free kick" trick.
I know players often do it when genuinely unsure to not give away a 50m penalty, but when it happens EVERY free kick, it's obviously a conscious stalling tactic.

Noticed that too and it was driving me crazy! You know who’s free it is dickhead now give him the ball!

Umps let it happen time after time.

They got away with so many throws as well, forgot how good they were at that.

 

[Bacchus]

+ve
Ryan - sublime performance, not just a highlight package, everything he does is creative and skilfull, has gone several levels above what he was;
Redden - took up the mantle of leading the midfield;
Waterman - strong contribution, could he become a big bodied midfielder?
Commendable effort backing up for fourth game in about 16 days with a depleted team plus moving across the continent

-ve
Goal Review - that was a disgrace, the goal umpire and reviewer got it wrong, the Bulldogs won the game only because of a ‘black and white’ error, it doesn’t matter what all the other stats are. You don’t win the game by having the most clearances, tackles or any other stat, the winner is the one who has the highest score at the end of the game. Saying they were the better team on the day clouds the issue. Does the apparently better team win every game. Absolutely not! The Bullies had the highest score only because of a clear umpiring error.

Gov’s injury - hope it’s not bad but didn’t look good, injuries to key players derailing this season. I regard Yeo as our most important midfielder, equivalent of having Dangerfield or Martin out, and Shuey is easily the second best. Good coaching move by Beveridge to tag Gaff.

 

[Coasters7]

Geez, I don’t know what some of you guys expect. 4 days prep vs 9 days without 3 of our starting 4 centre square players. That’s a pretty tough ask and we nearly snuck away with a victory. I thought it was a pretty good effort.

Ainsworth showed a couple of glimpses for the first time and Ryan has shown himself to be an absolute star in very difficult conditions.

I go away from the game thinking we did pretty well tbh. Maybe I was overly pessimistic before the game.

No one was expecting it to be a walkover but even with all those against us it still goes down as an L that we should’ve won if we were more clinical with our chances in the last quarter. Contrast that with others from the top 4 winning similar games all year and it’s pretty easy to get down about the remainder of the year.

Has the same “vibe” to last year, where you know overall we probably deserve 3rd or 4th but one or two bad games towards the end of the season and a whole heap of bullshit keeps falling against us (other sides getting out of jail and refusing to give us an opening), on top of us playing poorly just enough for others to sneak in. We really haven’t played that much worse than say Brisbane or even Richmond over the course of the season but all of these sorts of games have fallen their way and it only takes one on our end to f*ck it.

2018 we were winning these sorts of games and it just shows how tight it is to swinging the other way. Literally 3 points between the Norf/Brisbane game and the Dogs/Eagles game is an 8 point swing.. and it’s similar for the rest of the other teams around us. 5 teams fighting for 4 spots and we’re going to be the side that misses out when we could just as easily be second.

This is why the Richmond game was our most important of the year (exactly like last year), you could see it coming from a mile off if we didn’t lock top 4 away that game. One cheesy match and it’s curtains. Some of the reasons we lost are valid (lack of an entire starting midfield against one of the best depth midfields in the league), but it still doesn’t give any comfort to the fact that it’s a loss that we could’ve won and a loss that’s realistically ended our season.

If we won it from here it’d be the greatest of all time, let alone our best one, that’s the mountain we’re up against.. and after feeling the flatness of both the 2017 and 2019 finals series where we built up hope and expectation, it really just feels a similar vein to those years rather than the overcoming of everything in our path ala 2018.

 

[WCE Wizard]

I reckon the big difference in the Bont ARC decision is that the goal umpire called it a goal.

The way I saw it, Bulldogs were on from the start and played one of their better but ugly games. They wasted the ball terribly but were on top for most of the match and eventually scrubbed a score together. Conversely, the Eagles seemed to be absorbing pressure from the start and were on the back foot but their ball movement and skill execution was a clear cut above and nearly won them the game.

Uncharacteristic misses from your forward stars really hurt and some decisions in play that turned into errors that you almost never see WCE do sealed the deal (Gov 1st qtr htb, Lloyd missed the easy shot, JK htb late in the 4th).

The first qtr was a good demonstration of the game. Dogs dominated but destroyed their own chances and the Eagles were far too clean with the few opportunities they had and by qtr time the scoreboard gave a misleading reading but one that could have seen the Dogs typically fall away like they so often do but they had one of their periodic good games despite trying really hard to throw it away. I was convinced you lot would win on class despite Bulldogs efforts.

Ryan was nearly the difference in the result, had a blinder. For mine, he looked hurt after that head knock which may have prevented him having more impact on the game???

The Eagles kryptonite seems to be hard footy. Time and space denial really affects them. I'm not sure I buy the whole weather conditions thing. Unless the weather is just right and the grass is dry WCE can't compete. Seems crazy, its a tough winter sport, surely they can handle all conditions, they are footballers.

The player that makes the most impact is Elliot Yeo to be honest he is the real animal at ground level.

 

[WCE Wizard]

I thought we battled ok. Our three best mids (one of which can ruck a bit) out. Rioli, Cripps, Venables, Petch and JJones worth of groundball gets out of our forwardline. Redden, McGovern, Waterman and Kennedy all returning from injury. A host of new/young players not up to it. 5 games in 19 games. That ******* review was a farce. All good Geelong will beat Richmond and we will win the next two

We will get Hurn and NN back for the Saints game
We will get Yeo back for the Roos
Finals Shuey and Cripps

 

[West Coast 06]

No one was expecting it to be a walkover but even with all those against us it still goes down as an L that we should’ve won if we were more clinical with our chances in the last quarter. Contrast that with others from the top 4 winning similar games all year and it’s pretty easy to get down about the remainder of the year.

Has the same “vibe” to last year, where you know overall we probably deserve 3rd or 4th but one or two bad games towards the end of the season and a whole heap of bullshit keeps falling against us (other sides getting out of jail and refusing to give us an opening), on top of us playing poorly just enough for others to sneak in. We really haven’t played that much worse than say Brisbane or even Richmond over the course of the season but all of these sorts of games have fallen their way and it only takes one on our end to f*ck it.

2018 we were winning these sorts of games and it just shows how tight it is to swinging the other way. Literally 3 points between the Norf/Brisbane game and the Dogs/Eagles game is an 8 point swing.. and it’s similar for the rest of the other teams around us. 5 teams fighting for 4 spots and we’re going to be the side that misses out when we could just as easily be second.

This is why the Richmond game was our most important of the year (exactly like last year), you could see it coming from a mile off if we didn’t lock top 4 away that game. One cheesy match and it’s curtains. Some of the reasons we lost are valid (lack of an entire starting midfield against one of the best depth midfields in the league), but it still doesn’t give any comfort to the fact that it’s a loss that we could’ve won and a loss that’s realistically ended our season.

If we won it from here it’d be the greatest of all time, let alone our best one, that’s the mountain we’re up against.. and after feeling the flatness of both the 2017 and 2019 finals series where we built up hope and expectation, it really just feels a similar vein to those years rather than the overcoming of everything in our path ala 2018.

I really don’t know why you would have had any hope and expectation this year? I am surprised we got a season played TBH.

This year is different to any other year ever, there should be no expectations. Except for Brissie there is no home ground advantage for teams, very limited travel involved. We are still in the hunt for top four and we will get players back for finals. It’s still anyone’s year. Who wants it the most?

 

[eaglesnutcase]

Couldnt be bothered with + and -.
Just a couple of things bugging me..
- Shepherd.For f##ks sake get a move on.You take a mark at CHB with nobody in front of you and you stop....look...chip sideways or backwards and the trap tightens.If you mark and no ones in front of you .GO!!!Have a bounce;draw somebody.
-Somebody has already mentioned the dinky kicks.Ah Chee 50 out looking,looking looking; then trying to curl a pass round the man on the mark.For Gods sake guys hurry back from the mark.
- On kicking.Have ALL our players[Not you Flyin'] been told to kick up and under? Big windy woofers!
- Rotham worries me.Good mark but thats it.Hes not proactive.He tracks his player but doesnt try to beat him.Much as Cole has the odd horror you cant question his attack on body and ball.Rotham,Nelson take note.
- Kicking out from the square cant our custodian see the loose players 35-50m dead in front of him?? Its like tunnel vision to the right flank.All day,every day.
- Players have a kick around the back flank.They look up and see 3-4 of our players in front all leading to the same area.Mmmm he thinks nah ill bomb it 50-60 to congestion.If you have a lot of your jumpers in one area isnt it a good idea to kick there?
- the Bullies missed a few sitters so its no use moaning about a mm camera angle to save us.

 

[Beutbrute]

Really disappointed to loose this game - a top 4 finish is now out of our hands. The smother of Darling's shot on goal at half time should have been a 50m penalty, and Bont's goal should have been a point... but in saying that we didn't deserve to win. We were well and truly outplayed. Much as I was hoping otherwise the cumulative effect of the short breaks and injuries to our first choice midfield reached a tipping point. The dogs played well and collectively we didn't.

• Ryan continues to impact the play, his ground ball work is improving out of sight and when he touches it it generally leads to a shot on goal. That kick into the forward 50 to Allen (who dropped the mark) went unrewarded but not many players make that kick.
• The dogs worked their way through out defensive system too easily at times - I think it showed the importance of Hurn marshalling our defensive structure.
• We didn't switch the ball enough when the dogs locked it into our defence, and more importantly, when we are switching we are doing it too slowly. A few times we had a man out, or at least in space, but our slow ball movement allowed the dogs time to close down the options.
• Shep had a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes.
• We were smashed in the clearance game and more importantly the dogs were able to break too many takles and run into space from the clearances.
• We were lucky against Essendon last week, but now the lack of forward 50 entries has cost us a game.