Review Dogs scrape home against Oranges 62-57

[Optimistic Dog]

Two matches of teams playing keepings off against us. Freo worked and GWS with a depleted team nearly beat us even know the umps cost us several goals. Terrible games to watch good teams would not allow this but winning the ball at source something we not doing.

 

[Struggle]

Especially when either Cordy or Gardner 'wheel' on to the left foot

Cordy is usually pretty safe on either foot as ugly as it looks. They only make it by a nanosecond and only travel 30m, but he's not that bad

 

[D Mitchell]

9.8 beats 8.9. Same number of shots. Perhaps Bev's overhauling the defensive side of the game plan. GWS didn't ever do a Melbourne / Fremantle fast break out of the middle. Both clubs pushed the ball around in defence for long periods, no momentum multiple forays forward by GWS. This was a different, more defensive, approach and we won.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

I agree completely, I just am a bit sick of people complaining about each and every logical and possible ruck strategy when we're trying to choose between a bunch of bad options. English needs support? No, don't bring in the VFL player in form. Bruce goes in the ruck in recent games? No, he sucks there and he shouldn't play any more minutes than a chop out. We are going after Lobb to try and solve this weakness from a list management point if view? No, it's a bad signing and apparently illogical.

Personally, if we need to give English more rest (which he clearly benefited from with that monster 3rd quarter) I think we just need to be willing to cop Bruce/Schache rucking even more minutes than merely "chopping out". Then again, maybe Stef's VFL form was so good and his physical markers were so good that we had genuine and good faith belief that he would have had more output than what he put up today, and everyone in the club's position would have also picked Stef.

I think we are pretty close in terms of opinion.

It hasn’t been easy to bring players in considering the points we needed to get to bring in Darcy and Jamarra but it’s pretty poor list manangement to only have English, an old broken down Martin and a guy in Sweet that Bevo would rather play Lewis Young in ruck over. Surely there was other alternatives. I’m not a big Lobb fan (he is a massive front runner) but he would definitely add to our side and if he isn’t going to get in the way of Darcy’s development (which looks unlikely with Darcy looking so natural down back), I think we have to go for it.

It’s a shame Bruce hasn’t been able to get back to even 50% fitness because I think him playing makes the most sense of our options. He can’t jump and has no strength and there is no point him playing this year. It is hard with guys who are 30 getting over ACL whether they can get back to their old self but with a full preseason I think he has a chance to. With the list as it is, and if Bruce was 100%, him playing second ruck to English is easily our best option.

With this year though there was only two options. Play English as number one ruck with Schache forward and as a chop out, or Sweet playing number one ruck and English playing as a ruck/forward (even if that means Sweet playing 50% TOG, but there is no point of Sweet playing any position other than ruck). Neither option is ideal but they are much better than the alternatives. Why we have spent so long this season doing neither of these options absolutely baffles me. We played Cordy as forward/chop out ruck for half the season even though he is hopeless at both, tried Khamis in there, Sweet a game as a forward, Bruce a handful of games when he can’t move and now Martin. It was ludicrous when he was named on Thursday and surely that’s all for him. Schache should’ve played regardless (talking about “selection integrity”) but if they were going the two rucks there is no way that Sweet doesn’t offer more in the ruck contests and they are going to offer equal amounts of zero outside the ruck.

19 in the first half, 8 in the second.

I’m positive that the plan was to have Martin take more in the second half as well but with him struggling and English having no impact forward, it went back to plan A of English essentially rucking alone.

I don’t want you to do too much digging because I feel like I ask too much of you already, but do you know the splits when English and Sweet played together? Sweet had 26 contests for the game but from memory I feel like he had a lot of those in the last quarter

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Correct, Why start McRae on the bench. Baffling and not even funny

Macrae might be carrying an injury. He’s been unusually quiet the last few games.

 

[D Mitchell]

The first half was trash, but I actually enjoyed the game all up today. I may be easily pleased? I thought we copped some, no many, really poor umpireing decisions that always kept slowing any momentum we were getting. The crowd got going too and was loud for 18,000. If a couple of posters were goals as well we could’ve/should’ve won by more.
Ed Richards is a star now. And if I were betting on the B&F, I’d have my money on him.

Whatever the crowd howled, I only saw 1 free I didn't agree with, the screens at the ground are very helpful.

 

[badkicking]

Cordy is usually pretty safe on either foot as ugly as it looks. They only make it by a nanosecond and only travel 30m, but he's not that bad

I must have been watching a different Cordy

 

[Boof09]

Some thoughts

Even though it didn’t go his way Jamarra has arrived and looks great
Ed Richards is our best player
Vandermeer is probably our worst
Cordy was great
McLean next week would be nice
GWS always try some stupid s**t when they play us, they could have won this game but chose to chip it around the backline

Cordy was great? Was it him that gave away stupid frees in the last quarter?

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Yeah but don’t forget the Giants spent large chunks of the game kicking back and forth across the backline. Those numbers soon mount up.

 

[D Mitchell]

Cordy was great? Was it him that gave away stupid frees in the last quarter?

Cordy has his limitations, essentially, pace. Where a team plays zone defence, separation between defender and forward amplifies perceptions of slow pace. Cordy's now an old stager, one of one, he usually prevails, he's the best deefender's defender we have. Dale and Richards get the accolades but Cordy covers his spot in the zone.

 

[Freshwater]

Whatever the crowd howled, I only saw 1 free I didn't agree with, the screens at the ground are very helpful.

I thought Naughton took two marks that weren’t paid, the push in the back was same as everyone else this year. The HTB against him was dead wrong no prior and snicko at the goals is a joke.

 

[The Inbetweener]

I thought Naughton took two marks that weren’t paid, the push in the back was same as everyone else this year. The HTB against him was dead wrong no prior and snicko at the goals is a joke.

It’s only a push in the back it there is two actions - placing your hands and then extending out. You are actually allowed to have hands in the back to hold your ground like Naughton did

Worse part was the umpire 10 metres away called it a mark, it was over ruled by an ump 50 metres away

 

[D Mitchell]

I thought Naughton took two marks that weren’t paid, the push in the back was same as everyone else this year. The HTB against him was dead wrong no prior and snicko at the goals is a joke.

The push in the back was there, from where I was sitting, the ground screen angle was front on. Naughton could easily had used his hips or jumped higher. I don't recall the holding decision. Both Darcy and Ugle-Hagan were pushed out regularly within the rules, it's time out defenders started doing it. Good news, though, something's happening, we were 4.1 and ended up 9.8. Bev's up to something.

 

[W W Biscuit]

Hey, that's a classic!

It's definitely in the 'so bad it's good' category. Which is more than I can say for today's game.

 

[Freshwater]

The push in the back was there, from where I was sitting, the ground screen angle was front on. Naughton could easily had used his hips or jumped higher. I don't recall the holding decision. Both Darcy and Ugle-Hagan were pushed out regularly within the rules, it's time out defenders started doing it. Good news, though, something's happening, we were 4.1 and ended up 89.8. Bev's up to something.

Naughton didn’t give up, and we all were loving that. He was on the wrong end of 5 dubious decisions but kept going. JUH was having a crack. Treloar was good too I thought.

 

[badkicking]

Cordy has his limitations, essentially, pace. Where a team plays zone defence, separation between defender and forward amplifies perceptions of slow pace. Cordy's now an old stager, one of one, he usually prevails, he's the best deefender's defender we have. Dale and Richards get the accolades but Cordy covers his spot in the zone.

Cordy was great ? compared to his -5 metres gained last week, having 4 matchwinning goals kicked on him, and let's not forget his zero kicks and 4 handballs,

 

[D Mitchell]

Naughton didn’t give up, and we all were loving that. He was on the wrong end of 5 dubious decisions but kept going. JUH was having a crack. Treloar was good too I thought.

Naughton never gives up, consider how many of his goals come from his second and third efforts. Treloar is blessed with pace, that, and the ridiculous "corralling" tactic, also adopted by other clubs, thankfully including GSW, allows him and regretfully our opponents, to become effective. Bailey Smith's kicking was so much better this afternoon.. I reckon a corner was turned, a more defensive, responsible effort. 2016 was a victory for adventurism, that's gone.

 

[Munnez]

Pro’s - Darcy gets a Gatorade shower

Con’s - Everything else. What an absolute shitshow of a game, dragged down to their level and it was lucky this wasn’t a prime time game.

That umpiring performance both ways was ******* terrible, looking forward to the hastheumpstuffedup review of this one.

The mark that Naughts took but wasn't paid

 

[jdz101]

 

[D Mitchell]

The mark that Naughts took but wasn't paid

The push in the back or the out of bounds before Naughton completed the mark ?

 

[Munnez]

The push in the back or the out of bounds before Naughton completed the mark ?

Take your pick

 

[immortalmike]

That was a game.

Watching from thr ground that was the most selfish game I've ever seen from Dunkley. Only worked when he could get a stat. Good riddance if you're going to play like that.

We lacked so much energy. Looked like the boys wanted the season to be over.

 

[D Mitchell]

Take your pick

Whi9chever, the Umps got both right.

 

[ScragCity]

Which of these spikes was the ball hitting the post? And more importantly, what caused the other identical spikes that seemed to continue indefinitely?

 

[immortalmike]

Gardner is our best defender WITHOUT ball in hand.

I watched Gardner closely today. He was awful. Hogan could've kicked 10 if GWS had kicked to him. Had no body on him and constantly trailed him standing in no man's land.
Was disappointed as I thought he'd turned a corner.