Autopsy Well, that happened vs Doggies

[giantroo]

 

[Cyber_punk]

Poor first quarter and first 5 minutes of the last, were the game.
We were on top or at least breaking even for the rest of the game. Missed opportunities in front of goal also cost us and we should've been in front at 3/4 time.

Looked better offensively than we have for a long time and the forward line functioned well for the most part.

Was about the result I expected, so there's no melt from me. But still frustrating to blow opportunities to take the game right to the end.

If it were a full strength bulldogs side, I'd be more inclined to agree.

But they weren't. We lost to a VFL side.

A VFL SIDE.

Full strength, we lose this game by 10 goals +.

Under Ratten in 2023 we had 5 or 6 'honorable' losses by very close margins. A couple last year too.

It can't be the pass mark anymore.

 

[Gasometer]

Our mistake kill us. Miss kicks, dropped marks, momentum killers. We only have ourselves to blame.

Said the same during last years Finals

Those top 4 Teams rarely make mistakes

We make mistakes play to play to play

 

[Samsquanch]

Logue hammy and Comben blown ankle

2 teenagers or Pink/KDawson… it’s only going to get worse pal.

Worse?



How could it be any worse?

 

[giantroo]

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

I'm not as pessimistic as you, and some others, I just fear that the weight of number (with regard to successive years of failure) is bearing down on us and salivating. The risks are real and obvious.

The good news is that I think that for the first game of the season, this was a pretty good showing. We have no form to build on, no trusted system to rely on, no real synergy to speak of between players because we move so many on and have so many fresh faces. We also took the piss when it came to really putting in effort in the pre season games.

Yet we were pulling forward chains out of our ass at will for half of the game. Did we **** too many of them up? Yeah. But most of those chains did 80%+ of things right to get us to where a goal or opportunity for goal was the next step. That was new, and good. Fact is if we tidied those chains up better and actually got the goals then we would have gone through so much less defensive transition hell. While it was a massive issue, it's also something that could/should be mitigated by simply not getting our asses caught out so much.

tl;dr I can see a pathway forward after that game. Most of the last 5 years I couldn't.

I’m pessimistic because the issues that have been prevalent for five years, are still there and are no better.

 

[Ischenko]

Zurharr missed six shots. Kicks half we win.

Obviously more to it than that but the difference in pressure and ball movement you’d have to be blindly and actively committed to us failing not to see.

 

[koshari]

Thought the recruits were a bit disappointing.

Daniel wasn't exactly cutting them to ribbons with his kicking and Parker did some tough stuff but no real impact in the middle or forward.

Darling was probably the best of the 3.

Constantly for mine. If technically you can call him a recruit as he debuted

 

[Marksup]

The way we defend kick ins still baffles me. Exact same as last year. Give them the two chips out wide to get them outside 50 to release the pressure valve and only then force the long kick. The modern game is all about locking the ball in and forcing teams to defend, we score a point and it’s without a doubt becoming a 50-50 on centre wing at a minimum no matter what.

We would be better just going man on like the dogs did and forcing the long kick straight away so it’s still in our half as opposed to on centre wing or in their half of the ground…

 

[koshari]

Zurharr missed six shots. Kicks half we win.

Obviously more to it than that but the difference in pressure and ball movement you’d have to be blindly and actively committed to us failing not to see.

Even sheeze shoulda nailed that set shot.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Kudos to larkey and jy coming in under injury clouds but being our 2 best

 

[StazMob]

The way we defend kick ins still baffles me. Exact same as last year. Give them the two chips out wide to get them outside 50 to release the pressure valve and only then force the long kick. The modern game is all about locking the ball in and forcing teams to defend, we score a point and it’s without a becoming a 50-50 on the wing no matter what.

We would be better just going man on like the dogs did and forcing the long kick straight away so it’s still in our half as opposed to on centre wing or in their half of the ground…

I was losing my mind watching this happen constantly, I don’t understand the logic giving them 50-70 meters out before pressure the long kick

 

[Ischenko]

I’m pessimistic because the issues that have been prevalent for five years, are still there and are no better.

Disagree. Forward pressure significantly better. Linkup between mids and forwards no where near good enough but still improved, especially by RHJ and the run of Scott and FOS and Darling providing a contest. Keeping on coming when we were 3/4/5 goals down instead of folding - this was pleasing and not something we’ve been renowned for.

Sad to say maybe, but we’re a better team than last year.

 

[rickety]

There was talk on the tele about the interchanges left for the match, and the dogs had far call. That fella being stretchered off gave them time to catch their breath and have a few minutes rest. Prior to that, X was catching everything and thingo English was trailing him by a yard or 3. Had the game kept going we'd've been a shout for sure I reckon.

 

[Marksup]

I was losing my mind watching this happen constantly, I don’t understand the logic giving them 50-70 meters out before pressure the long kick

We did it all of last year which is why it’s so alarming because it’s clearly a tactical direction. Would love to know why.

 

[Friday Night Lights]

Is immense frustration an upgrade on feeling numb? Yeah, I guess.

Some thoughts.

Ball movement, transition defending, and skill errors were all problems. And they’re pretty big ones let’s be honest. Especially when you’ve just spent all summer working on them.

It’s just so much more laborious for us to score than our opposition. Our best chains came from Luke Parker twice with an immediate handball to a player running past that opened up the ground.

I was so disappointed with Daniel tonight. Constantly ran himself into trouble and either dump kicked, turned it over or sold a teammate into trouble with a horrible handball. Hopefully it was a case of nerves against the old team but he has to be so much better than that.

Darling on the other hand was brilliant. Our forwards should watch the tape of his game cos it was just pure forward craft all night. Hats off to JD.

Larkey, excellent. Konstanty was a difference maker in game 1. RHJ classy and looking more and more comfortable. Curtis brought the pressure early and got rewarded in the last. McKercher looked a bit lost. Comben had a mare. Darcy might the toughest match up in the league but I do worry about his decision making.
One of Harry’s worst games (and he wasn’t even bad - his standard is just so high). LDU was invisible for a half, not good enough tbh.

I wanna believe we’re coming but there’s some shit to sort out.

 

[Horizons_00]

Can’t wait for another 100+ more excuses for how we can’t win

We going to blame the heat now?
Does he realise that bulldogs played in the same heat yeah?

Surely we are gonna run out of them. When do we say “it’s not good enough”

I hate to say maybe I miss Brad Scott’s snake oil









I kid… I just want something

 

[trooroo4life]

Worse?



How could it be any worse?

we aren’t going to come up against half a vfl side every week… that’s how it gets worse.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Disagree. Forward pressure significantly better. Linkup between mids and forwards no where near good enough but still improved, especially by RHJ. Keeping on coming when we were 3/4/5 goals down instead of folding - this was pleasing and not something we’ve been renowned for.

Sad to say maybe, but we’re a better team than last year.

We conceded over 100 points.

Again. We can’t defend. Across the field.

It’s a disaster. It shouldn’t take three ****ing years to learn how to prevent opposition ball movement.

 

[Danni_Benson]

How is it we can draw so near and still never look like winning

Exactly how I feel.

I watch and feel like we’re right on the edge of a breakthrough—then boom, effing dumb damaging turnovers!

 

[Ischenko]

We conceded over 100 points.

Again. We can’t defend. Across the field.

It’s a disaster. It shouldn’t take three ****ing years to learn how to prevent opposition ball movement.

We also kicked 100. Carlton and Port are disasters. This is something to build on.

 

[hcd199]

R1 is always a little weird, but this game maybe more so; very hard to get a read on where tonight suggests we might go this year. Some things you can put down to early-season rustiness - a few players uncharacteristically poor, a few moments of two players going for the same ball/lead or (worse) both not going - but the disposal standards and (lack of) positioning on defensive transition, especially early, really need to start disappearing if we're to meaningfully improve: bringing the workrate after quarter time mitigated a lot of the damage tonight, but it inherently means we visibly have to work much harder than our opponents for the same output every time, and as much as effort should be non-negotiable, effort alone is never going to be a stable foundation in the long-term.

Darling definitely a positive, has the capacity to play the kind of intelligent football we just haven't for years. Didn't think Parker and Daniel added a whole lot tonight but the side as a whole seemed a little more systematic around them. FOS a good debut despite a couple of rookie errors (e.g., the off-the-ground kick in the back half). Konstanty excellent in his debut, the way he plays is the sort of player I gravitate to liking anyway but the forward intensity he brings is critical.

Yeah, still not sure on this one. First quarter dismal, patches afterwards pretty poor too, but definitely signs there that we know how to apply the right level of pressure and do something vaguely structurally sound. Still the openness on turnover (including from their kickouts) that galls me most - why do our opponents always, consistently, look to have an easier time of moving the ball down the field than we do? - but then, R1 games are typically more open affairs anyway. In the end, I think - not a whole lot to be pleased with, but a few indicators that we can be cautiously optimistic that the long, slow crawl out of this abyss might finally begin...

 

[LeFtBehinD]

The way we defend kick ins still baffles me. Exact same as last year. Give them the two chips out wide to get them outside 50 to release the pressure valve and only then force the long kick. The modern game is all about locking the ball in and forcing teams to defend, we score a point and it’s without a doubt becoming a 50-50 on centre wing at a minimum no matter what.

We would be better just going man on like the dogs did and forcing the long kick straight away so it’s still in our half as opposed to on centre wing or in their half of the ground…

Feel exactly the same. We struggled to move the ball all game from a kick in. Not once did they give us an outlet.

Conversely they had one and then another outside 50 mark before our zone is setup. Very strange.

Improvement is there. The 3 senior inclusions make a big difference. But we still panic and turn it over under no pressure. That hasn’t changed at all.

 

[tricknologist]

Clarko breaking out the ambush excuse lmao

 

[Devington]

The way we defend kick ins still baffles me. Exact same as last year. Give them the two chips out wide to get them outside 50 to release the pressure valve and only then force the long kick. The modern game is all about locking the ball in and forcing teams to defend, we score a point and it’s without a doubt becoming a 50-50 on centre wing at a minimum no matter what.

We would be better just going man on like the dogs did and forcing the long kick straight away so it’s still in our half as opposed to on centre wing or in their half of the ground…

I think the logic is that we force them to a wing so that we're all but guaranteed to have talls there to get a stoppage, and then trust ourselves to win that(because we're all in on our midfield) and move it onwards from there.

It does shit me just how damned easily we let them get to the D50 line though. Most of the time it's seemingly unpressured.