Unofficial Preview Changes v The Dogs, round 4 in Ballarat.

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I'll use the opportunity of our first win and the endorphins available to remind everyone that there's still plenty of previews that we need posters for this year!

 
Apr 4, 2015
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Reckon McStay was pretty important structure wise and I think we’ve missed that a bit this year. Looking forward to seeing how he slots back in.
He played a role , not all that well imo but I understand most disagree , in the style of game we played which doesn't seem to be working for those trying it this year . Likewise I always looked at him as a straight ahead player not suited to the forward line but he's been in the system around 7 years now so take off the shackles and let's see what he can do.

Ah Chee looks lost half the time but still does a lot of things instinctively that most players can't do and I think it's just a matter of letting him loose as well. Not that it looks like happening any time soon.
 

youneverknow22

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Significantly Worse ?? He was a good player for us all last year. Mostly a role player.

OK.

Lots of people hate Ah Chee. Not going to be happy till he's not in the side. I get it. I completely disagree. Every mistake he makes is highlighted ,all the good things he des ignored .

What did Answerth ever do that was so good . I realise he's just a kid and will be a good player but he coughed it up a lot more than Ah Chee ever has.

Answerth is best 22 and was kept out purely because of injury. Nothing else. He's faster than Ah chee and provides what we desperately need. Speed coming from defence.
 
Likewise McStay.

He was mostly terrible last year.

Just my opinion.

Ah Chee is being played out of position , this year we see if McStay can really play with more freedom. He seems to have dropped a bit of weight.

I'm not arguing with the coaches because on the results of the team overall they've done exceptionally well. But they're not right all the time. Like every team.

Which player on our list last year do you think would have performed McStay's role better?

I think he has been our biggest out so far this season.
 

BangyBangy

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Answerth is best 22 and was kept out purely because of injury. Nothing else. He's faster than Ah chee and provides what we desperately need. Speed coming from defence.

Well he's fit now so I guess we'll find out pretty quick if that's correct or not.

I don't ever recall an 'Answerth v Ah Chee' conversation to be honest. I seem to remember everyone talking about Coleman vs Answerth in terms of selection last year.
 

youneverknow22

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Well he's fit now so I guess we'll find out pretty quick if that's correct or not.

I don't ever recall an 'Answerth v Ah Chee' conversation to be honest. I seem to remember everyone talking about Coleman vs Answerth.
Someone has to come in for Answerth, and as much as I wish it was Birchall, I don't see that happening.
 
Apr 4, 2015
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Answerth is best 22 and was kept out purely because of injury. Nothing else. He's faster than Ah chee and provides what we desperately need. Speed coming from defence.
He got dropped last year when he was injury free. So he was never in. His disposal was awful. He played a lockdown role like Ah Chee. If you wanted someone coming out of defence with the ball with speed or otherwise it wouldn't be Answerth on anything I've seen.

But these are things he has hopefully worked on.
 

youneverknow22

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He got dropped last year when he was injury free. So he was never in. His disposal was awful. He played a lockdown role like Ah Chee. If you wanted someone coming out of defence with the ball with speed or otherwise it wouldn't be Answerth on anything I've seen.

But these are things he has hopefully worked on.
Answerth wasn't dropped at all. He's had a groin injury since the end of last season. Also, he is out best lockdown defender and easily the fastest player we have coming from defence. He's probably one of the fastest players at our club. Answerth is the perfect player for the new rules.
 

BangyBangy

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Someone has to come in for Answerth, and as much as I wish it was Birchall, I don't see that happening.

When we're under the pump in the backline & need to get out or trying to setup an offensive move through the corridor, no one is going to try to get it into Answerth's hands. Birchall is a key player in our back six, I would love someone younger to come & take his spot & be better than him, but that person isn't Answerth.
 
Apr 4, 2015
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Did what well?
Did his role well .

He can't tackle much and doesn't chase. And averaged 6 or 7 disposals tops a game. He sometimes provided a contest in the ruck but wouldn't be a preferred option with that..

But I'm happy to look at him in another role more in the play . He did have some success at CHB for a few games 3 or 4 years ago.
 

youneverknow22

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When we're under the pump in the backline & need to get out or trying to setup an offensive move through the corridor, no one is going to try to get it into Answerth's hands. Birchall is a key player in our back six, I would love someone younger to come & take his spot & be better than him, but that person isn't Answerth.
And when there is a turnover, who do you think will chase down the forwards running into goals? Answerth or Birchall? Answerth provides to us what we don't have. Speed coming from defense. I would argue he's our most valuable player because the new rules are more advantaged towards a faster play style
 
Apr 4, 2015
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Answerth wasn't dropped at all. He's had a groin injury since the end of last season. Also, he is out best lockdown defender and easily the fastest player we have coming from defence. He's probably one of the fastest players at our club. Answerth is the perfect player for the new rules.
Is he actually that fast ? I haven't seen any evidence of him being particularly fast.

As far as the new rules go he's a poor player for that because he can't hit a target nor does he try most of the time , usually skies it.

But he's got the capacity to improve on that.
 
Apr 4, 2015
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When we're under the pump in the backline & need to get out or trying to setup an offensive move through the corridor, no one is going to try to get it into Answerth's hands. Birchall is a key player in our back six, I would love someone younger to come & take his spot & be better than him, but that person isn't Answerth.
100%

If Birchall's fit and on song he's still as good as we've got . Very good on his good days like last week. There's seriously no comparison between Answerth and Birchall unless Answerth has really improved his disposal. Even so....
 

youneverknow22

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Is he actually that fast ? I haven't seen any evidence of him being particularly fast.

As far as the new rules go he's a poor player for that because he can't hit a target nor does he try most of the time , usually skies it.

But he's got the capacity to improve on that.
he's our fastest defender. That's all I know. And his calmness under pressure is severely underrated. I know most people rate Andrews as our best defender and he is, but to me, Answerth is our most important player because we don't have another player on our list who can play the fast, shutdown defender type role he does. Contrary to belief, Ah chee actually isn't fast and his role is different from Answerth.
 
We are looking at purchasing tickets for the bulldogs game and will check with the club tomorrow but if anyone knows this question will be greatly appreciated. Will be group of 4 of us who are all members and are happy to stand and also taking my elderly mum who has a walker. Does anyone know whether it won't be a problem for her to take her walker into Mars stadium? She will then use here walker as her seat during quarter breaks.

I wouldn’t bother ringing the Queensland office re anything to do with Melbourne venues - history says they are hopeless. I’d ring the Bulldogs office as they are the ones organising the game and will have the best knowledge. Good luck with getting tickets - it’s going to be hard work this week. I’m not sure what level priority us Melbourne members are as some tickets for dogs members go on sale tomorrow for their coterie groups and Ballarat members and then Dogs members tomorrow pm.

On a separate note how crap is that we are playing there - it’s going to hold 8300 of which around 5000 of those are seats.

Im Sympathetic to the Dogs - given their support of Fitzroy, and understand they want to get money from Ballarat to have the game there etc but jeez play Freo/West coast/adelaide who have a very small Melbourne supporter base there and not us. We already suffered trying to get tickets to Geelong and now Ballarat. Having not seen footy for a year - playing at venues such as Geelong and now Ballarat where the home team takes an understandable chunk of the seats and having to deal with the Ticketmaster system trying to get tickets is really starting to give me the squirts. Even getting tickets to the pies game was a struggle.
 
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youneverknow22

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100%

If Birchall's fit and on song he's still as good as we've got . Very good on his good days like last week. There's seriously no comparison between Answerth and Birchall unless Answerth has really improved his disposal. Even so....
Birchall has been shanking it up all year. Poor disposal, constant turnovers, etc. I would argue that he can't provide anything that Answerth doesn't do better at. At this point, Birchall should be used as a match day defense coach
 
Did his role well .

He can't tackle much and doesn't chase. And averaged 6 or 7 disposals tops a game. He sometimes provided a contest in the ruck but wouldn't be a preferred option with that..

But I'm happy to look at him in another role more in the play . He did have some success at CHB for a few games 3 or 4 years ago.

I can't speak to exactly what his role is but will go off the commentary I have read/heard from our coaches over the past two or so seasons.

Yes he has deficiencies in his game, no doubt. However, he pressures as well as most tall forwards, he makes a contest and brings the ball to ground which brings our smalls into the game and he can play up the ground in a linking role / will create a contest. He can also pinch hit in the ruck.

I think he is important for us structurally and well help us to move the ball further up the ground, especially with the addition of Daniher we now don't lose anything having him further up the ground. One thing which has hurt us in the first three weeks is our inability to move the ball beyond about halfway up the wing. If we can link up with McStay and then have runners further up and Hipwood and Daniher in the forward 50 then I think he may be one of our most important players to come back in. Obviously behind big O.
 
Apr 4, 2015
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I can't speak to exactly what his role is but will go off the commentary I have read/heard from our coaches over the past two or so seasons.

Yes he has deficiencies in his game, no doubt. However, he pressures as well as most tall forwards, he makes a contest and brings the ball to ground which brings our smalls into the game and he can play up the ground in a linking role / will create a contest. He can also pinch hit in the ruck.

I think he is important for us structurally and well help us to move the ball further up the ground, especially with the addition of Daniher we now don't lose anything having him further up the ground. One thing which has hurt us in the first three weeks is our inability to move the ball beyond about halfway up the wing. If we can link up with McStay and then have runners further up and Hipwood and Daniher in the forward 50 then I think he may be one of our most important players to come back in. Obviously behind big O.
I agree with the argument and I'd like to think McStay could do it. He's got the build , a bit of pace , a bit of a leap ,quite a good field kick. I'd like to see him more competitive in the contest , he seemed to give up a lot to my eyes . I like him across half forward and the wings if he brings his A game.

As for that guy who thinks Answerth is our most important player. Well.....words fail me.
 
Apr 4, 2015
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I wouldn’t bother ringing the Queensland office re anything to do with Melbourne venues - history says they are hopeless. I’d ring the Bulldogs office as they are the ones organising the game and will have the best knowledge. Good luck with getting tickets - it’s going to be hard work this week. I’m not sure what level priority us Melbourne members are as some tickets for dogs members go on sale tomorrow for their coterie groups and Ballarat members and then Dogs members tomorrow pm.

On a separate note how crap is that we are playing there - it’s going to hold 8300 of which around 5000 of those are seats.

Im Sympathetic to the Dogs - given their support of Fitzroy, and understand they want to get money from Ballarat to have the game there etc but jeez play Freo/West coast/adelaide who have a very small Melbourne supporter base there and not us. We already suffered trying to get tickets to Geelong and now Ballarat. Having not seen footy for a year - playing at venues such as Geelong and now Ballarat where the home team takes an understandable chunk of the seats and having to deal with the Ticketmaster system trying to get tickets is really starting to give me the squirts. Even getting tickets to the pies game was a struggle.
I agree Lockie. Sending us to Ballarat doesn't make sense. Geelong and Ballarat within 2 weeks. I think we earnt better than that with our performances the last 2 years.
 

Virgin Dog

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Oct 29, 2017
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I wouldn’t bother ringing the Queensland office re anything to do with Melbourne venues - history says they are hopeless. I’d ring the Bulldogs office as they are the ones organising the game and will have the best knowledge. Good luck with getting tickets - it’s going to be hard work this week. I’m not sure what level priority us Melbourne members are as some tickets for dogs members go on sale tomorrow for their coterie groups and Ballarat members and then Dogs members tomorrow pm.

On a separate note how crap is that we are playing there - it’s going to hold 8300 of which around 5000 of those are seats.

Im Sympathetic to the Dogs - given their support of Fitzroy, and understand they want to get money from Ballarat to have the game there etc but jeez play Freo/West coast/adelaide who have a very small Melbourne supporter base there and not us. We already suffered trying to get tickets to Geelong and now Ballarat. Having not seen footy for a year - playing at venues such as Geelong and now Ballarat where the home team takes an understandable chunk of the seats and having to deal with the Ticketmaster system trying to get tickets is really starting to give me the squirts. Even getting tickets to the pies game was a struggle.
Have to agree there. We should never be playing Brisbane or Sydney outside of the main Melbourne stadiums given their history in the state. Attendance will be low regardless so better off facing Port, Gold Coast or Freo in Ballarat. Good luck with the tickets
 
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