Changes Round 11 vs Demons

[Zeno The Great]

The most obvious omission is the bloke at Sportsbet who writes the footy odds, because to have us in as favourites is even worse than some of the horrible performances I've seen from gards, Gallagher and mc !

 

[fred cook]

The most obvious omission is the bloke at Sportsbet who writes the footy odds, because to have us in as favourites is even worse than some of the horrible performances I've seen from gards, Gallagher and mc !

Maybe those odds are linked to how many Melboune fans are going to turn up at 3.15 pm Sunday for the game and played at Marvel

 

[Optimistic Dog]

I have followed the dogs for a long time and Hynes, Davidson, Emmett and McNeill would be the equal to the worst 4 players going into a game you know will give you nothing. It is like playing 4 players short.

Hynes and Emmett may develop over time but are getting a game because the cupboard is bare. Hate to know what The Bont and Butters are thinking.

 

[Mutt]

This is one of those times when the game plan will be more important than the selection changes. We need to find a way to be competitive for 4 quarters and not get totally opened up. I know. For a start, maybe we could tag some of the Melbourne prime movers and play someone defensively behind the stoppages. Maybe we could not press up so freaking hard.

 

[Golden_6]

I have followed the dogs for a long time and Hynes, Davidson, Emmett and McNeill would be the equal to the worst 4 players going into a game you know will give you nothing. It is like playing 4 players short.

Hynes and Emmett may develop over time but are getting a game because the cupboard is bare. Hate to know what The Bont and Butters are thinking.

Davidson has really disappointed me. Started last year like a plug and play long term wingman that could hit the scoreboard and cover a lot of ground. There was a period when I thought we had found our Isaac Smith.

Now he just runs around like a headless chook, shirks contests and has zero composure in heated situations.

 

[Shacf501]

Davidson has really disappointed me. Started last year like a plug and play long term wingman that could hit the scoreboard and cover a lot of ground. There was a period when I thought we had found our Isaac Smith.

Now he just runs around like a headless chook, shirks contests and has zero composure in heated situations.

This is why you have to be very careful drafting mature age recruits.... it's easy when the team is flying to pick up possessions and look great but when the chips are down and you are getting more attention its easy to be found out and this is what is happening to Sam.

Unfortunately he has no aggression, you can improve someone's kicking, running patters etc etc but what is almost impossible to improve is someone's desire to be physical and show mongrel. Unless, he is given the right act but for some reason coaches don't seem to do that anymore

 

[Shacf501]

I have followed the dogs for a long time and Hynes, Davidson, Emmett and McNeill would be the equal to the worst 4 players going into a game you know will give you nothing. It is like playing 4 players short.

Hynes and Emmett may develop over time but are getting a game because the cupboard is bare. Hate to know what The Bont and Butters are thinking.

I think we have to be careful bagging Emmett.... The poor kid is under developed physically and being asked to play a role he isn't ready for.

Most young players are put in positions that can help with their development without highlighting their deficiencies. Gun mids are often played at half back or on the half forward line to introduce them to the pace of the game. This poor kid has been thrown to the wolves so I think people should get of his back. Yes it's frustrating but it's not like he isn't trying, he just physically can't compete at this stage of his career in the position he is being asked to play.

 

[Foxman98]

I think we have to be careful bagging Emmett.... The poor kid is under developed physically and being asked to play a role he isn't ready for.

Most young players are put in positions that can help with their development without highlighting their deficiencies. Gun mids are often played at half back or on the half forward line to introduce them to the pace of the game. This poor kid has been thrown to the wolves so I think people should get of his back. Yes it's frustrating but it's not like he isn't trying, he just physically can't compete at this stage of his career in the position he is being asked to play.

Spot on,

We wouldn't expect Will Darcy to come in and kick 6 every week so not sure why we are expecting poor Louis to play this role

Really really dumb coaching

 

[Golden_6]

Spot on,

We wouldn't expect Will Darcy to come in and kick 6 every week so not sure why we are expecting poor Louis to play this role

Really really dumb coaching

It's honestly one of the stupidest decisions I've seen amongst the coaching group and it's the sort of stuff that make you question what they're doing overall.

Louis Emmett is a 19 year old skinny developing key forward. From all reports, his strengths include his aerobic capacity and ability to work the entire field as a key position player over the course of a game. The coaching staff specifically selected him to play with the intention of playing 30-40% gametime as a pure backup ruckman. Roles that directly exposed his weaknesses and underutilised his strengths.

What on earth could they possibly be thinking?

 

[Shacf501]

It's honestly one of the stupidest decisions I've seen amongst the coaching group and it's the sort of stuff that make you question what they're doing overall.

Louis Emmett is a 19 year old skinny developing key forward. From all reports, his strengths include his aerobic capacity and ability to work the entire field as a key position player over the course of a game. The coaching staff specifically selected him to play with the intention of playing 30-40% gametime as a pure backup ruckman. Roles that directly exposed his weaknesses and underutilised his strengths.

What on earth could they possibly be thinking?

I would think you would find Croft would be the preferred option but he is struggling to get a kick in the VFL and looking like his development has stagnated.

Obviously the club thinks Smith isn't up to it, so if Emmett is pushing him out of the side then unfortunately I do not see a spot on the list for Smith next year based on team selections. It wouldn't make sense.

 

[Marsy]

So I gather your part of the Bulldogs medical team with the above comments and data. Oh you copied the sentence from Facebook now that makes sense

I’m not 70, I don’t use facebook.

He has had 6 concussions. It was mentioned that one preseason (last year) was no contact due to concussions. When has English ever come back from a concussion after a week?

 

[King Harold]

Blind Freddy and me can see Emmett is a long way off.
Based on the above , there is no hope for Smith.

 

[Proffessor]

Serious questions need to be asked surrounding the continued selections of Emmett and Hynes this year.

We also need to get them both to self-assess how they approach their own personal development because the attitude and effort they have been displaying on the ground is well below par. Their opponents and almost everyone in the stadium apart from their closest relatives and some of our selection committee can see that they look completely lost out on the ground.

They are currently miles off AFL pace and class. We need to prepare them better, but they also need to prepare themselves better.

Hynes - Do some speed, strength and fitness work for goodness sake! And whilst you are building up in those area, try to work with the coaches on improving your positioning and game reading.

Emmett - Develop a strategy around kicking for goal so you don't have an anxiety attack and lose the ability to kick should you be lucky enough to get one. Oh, and while you are at it, learn to approach ruck contests with a look of determination rather than resignation on your face. Try to work on your poker face.

It's time to stop coddling our young players, if they want to play professional football they need be prepared to stand up and meet the challenge with a minimum of a competitive mind set, if not a competitive physical presence.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Blind Freddy and me can see Emmett is a long way off.
Based on the above , there is no hope for Smith.

I don't think there needs to be imminent worry about Smith. He is a 20yo ruck, he shouldn't be playing AFL either it's just the list position we've got ourselves in. He should definitely be ahead of Emmett but it's against our philosophy

It's hard to predict rucks, some that you think are sure things don't make it. Some you think are no good end up being very good. I'm not sure Smith's ceiling is very high, I don't think it's even higher than Sweet but even he didn't debut until 23. Think from age 22 he'll probably be a serviceable backup for a long time, but have some doubt whether he ever becomes a starting ruck like Sweet was able to

 

[threenewpadlocks]

If English comes back, I wouldn't be against the idea of Lobb playing back in defence and moving Khamis forward. A shuffling deckchairs kind of move, but we have to think creatively, surely.

 

[mookieb]

The most obvious omission is the bloke at Sportsbet who writes the footy odds, because to have us in as favourites is even worse than some of the horrible performances I've seen from gards, Gallagher and mc !

Opened Melbourne +14.5 lol.

Talk is that English will be managed conservatively so he's likely a massive out coming up against Gawn and Heath.

 

[Graeme Cook]

I'm going to get smashed I know his atrocious down back but Gardiner forward pocket he can mark the ball & change with Lobb ruck.
O'donnell full back buku forward also and surely Cleary is better McNeil, hynes.
Jacques has done nothing wrong and Trelore at 70% still better than most.

 

[Mojorisin]

I'm going to get smashed I know his atrocious down back but Gardiner forward pocket he can mark the ball & change with Lobb ruck.

Normally I would say you're mad but with English looking like missing a decent chunk of games and a ruck combo or Gawn and Heath ahead of them I think Gardner makes alot more sense than Emmett.

 

[Guido]

Normally I would say you're mad but with English looking like missing a decent chunk of games and a ruck combo or Gawn and Heath ahead of them I think Gardner makes alot more sense than Emmett.

I've never seen Gardner ruck, but surely with a mature body he'd be 10x more likely to halve the contest than Emmett. Not sure if he doesn't still get smashed by Gawn, but think it would have made some difference against Pittonet.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

We surely can't play Gardner ahead of Emmett now, and then complain in 3 years' time about how we are choosing between whoever our next fringe player is and our 18 year old in 3 years time.

I don't mind the idea of playing Gardner, but we have to accept that the logic comes at the cost that it's not really building sustainability via developing players giving them AFL experience for the future. The same issue that bit us when we were giving Gardner games in 2022 ahead of a young developing key defender.

 

[Foxman98]

I'm going to get smashed I know his atrocious down back but Gardiner forward pocket he can mark the ball & change with Lobb ruck.
O'donnell full back buku forward also and surely Cleary is better McNeil, hynes.
Jacques has done nothing wrong and Trelore at 70% still better than most.

I've been saying this for the past 2 weeks

If you won't play Smith play Gards as back up ruck

We drafted him as a "KPF/Ruck" in his first couple of mid season games

 

[Mojorisin]

We surely can't play Gardner ahead of Emmett now, and then complain in 3 years' time about how we are choosing between whoever our next fringe player is and our 18 year old in 3 years time.

I don't mind the idea of playing Gardner, but we have to accept that the logic comes at the cost that it's not really building sustainability via developing players giving them AFL experience for the future. The same issue that bit us when we were giving Gardner games in 2022 ahead of a young developing key defender.

How much is feeding Emmett to Gawn going to help him though?

I've never seen Gardner ruck, but surely with a mature body he'd be 10x more likely to halve the contest than Emmett. Not sure if he doesn't still get smashed by Gawn, but think it would have made some difference against Pittonet.

He played ruck forward right after we took him in the MSD. He is by no means going to win us the game and probably Won't even break even with Heath but I still see it as the lesser of two evils.

 

[Foxman98]

We surely can't play Gardner ahead of Emmett now, and then complain in 3 years' time about how we are choosing between whoever our next fringe player is and our 18 year old in 3 years time.

I don't mind the idea of playing Gardner, but we have to accept that the logic comes at the cost that it's not really building sustainability via developing players giving them AFL experience for the future. The same issue that bit us when we were giving Gardner games in 2022 ahead of a young developing key defender.

Do you really think sitting on the bench for 60% of the game and getting smashed the 40% you are on is helping young Louis?

Look at his 2 set shots for goal he's had (Kid is shitting himself with pressure because he knows he is doing nothing and needs to impact)

 

[DognBones]

Emmett is on a hiding to nothing. He's been flung into a role he's clearly not equipped for in terms of experience and physical strength. 1st year, immature talls like him should be doing an apprenticeship in the VFL learning the demands of senior football and developing his skills. The coaches, either through desperation or more hope than expectation, have taken the view that he can learn in the heat of AFL battle. I think he's got genuine talent and will be a very important player for us in a year or two. That is, of course, if his confidence isn't broken by recent performances. What he is experiencing now is a real test of his character and hopefully he comes through much better prepared for his future career.

 

[Butabi Brothers]

This is one of those times when the game plan will be more important than the selection changes. We need to find a way to be competitive for 4 quarters and not get totally opened up. I know. For a start, maybe we could tag some of the Melbourne prime movers and play someone defensively behind the stoppages. Maybe we could not press up so freaking hard.

Been saying this for a few years. Play man on everywhere. create a contest at every stoppage and around the ground. If our guys get beaten to the ball, its because Melb read it better or are faster. At least create some pressure on the ball carrier to not lace out a fwd. Make those kicks come in slow and high to give our backs a chance.
Then when we get possession, spread, run hard to space and move the ball fast. Have fwds come at the carrier rather than away.
Season is cooked. Play a bunch of kids who are willing to have a crack, tackle and put defensive pressure on.