Review Dogs 105 defeat Crows 55 - Rd 20

[Bont2Bruce]

For those that were lucky enough to see Chris Grant’s first season as a skinny 17 year old, is there any comparison with Marra.

Grant was probably a lot more confident in leading and making the play come to him. Marra has a bit more agility though and a better leap. Grant had to compete with old school fullbacks however, while Marra is not taking the best defender most of the time for now.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

No way we should play finals based on a single ruck. Tom Boyd saved our arses when roughy went down in the prelim and I have no desire to see if lightning can strike twice. If Martin is good to go he plays for sure: thats why we drafted him.

Tigers managed to do it so happy for that lighting to strike us

 

[Al dente]

Hi AlDente, where do you get these charts and what do they actually mean? Could you send a link that explains these ratings? much appreciated. I just want to understand better what it means.

i just google AFL player ratings, and click on their twitter feed, there all in there about 15 minutes after each game.

While the calculations arent perfect, they tend to hold up reasonably close to how i see the games and offer up some strange ones that are interesting to try to explain. They basically measure each player's impact on the game.

From the website: Players accrue or lose points every time they are involved in a passage of play, and the score awarded to them each time they are in the play is determined by a complex algorithm formulated and refined over a number of years by Champion Data. Whether players accrue or lose points is based around whether they have a positive or negative impact on the passage of play. Every time a player is involved in a passage of play he will have the chance to accrue points. But rather than his score being a simple tally of his possessions, marks, tackles, hit-outs, free-kicks and scores, his performance will be measured using a system called Equity Ratings. The system determines where and how a player influences a contest and whether the player's effort then results in a positive result for his team. Equity Ratings includes what coaches love to describe as "pressure acts". As a result, players are rewarded for interrupting opposition passages of play as well as setting up scores for their own team.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Would love someone (sackofballs ?) to make a little clip of Marra’s shimmy that led to a goal.

I had to replay it a number of times to see exactly what he did, it was almost like a magic trick

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Did we we needed to, and put a bit more percentage distance between us and Geelong which might be helpful.

Happy to see Schache backing it up. He looks really calm and confident down back.

Garcia did some good stuff and JUH has been good. There are times he looks a little off the pace defensively but he’s hitting the scoreboard most weeks. Has definitely met expectations.

Daniel and Dale were awesome, and all things considered English gave a good account of himself. Even if Martin doesn’t make it back I’ve got a lot more confidence in him in the middle than I did last year.

Geelong will not catch us on % it’s too bigger gap this late in the season

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Have been concerned for a while about our bottom 4-6 players but they all had decent days today. Treloar back is a given and probably Duryea but don't think VDM will be a certainty and same with Richards. Don't forget Crozier and Lipinski are on the edge too. If Martin is fit he is a given because of the flexibility he gives us with English. Weightman is playing VDM's role at the moment and deserves his spot. Is Jamarra ready for a big final and he is developing nicely?

I think of the 22 today R.Smith and Garcia are the 2 most vulnerable but both were OK today and would be stiff. Scott was good today too so unless we get a few injuries there's going to be some disappointed boys in September. Glad I won't be having those awkward conversations with those who miss out.

One thing is for sure our bottom six is better or at least the equal of any other sides in the competition

 

[CDBulldog]

JJ very good. Dale unbelievably good. Has the best kicking skills in the AFL. It won’t be just Ben Dixon eating huge amounts of humble pie this weekend.

It is the speed he has around the contest, and his love of taking the opposition body with maximum impact. Generally makes the most of his possessions, not the greatest kick but works within his limitation.
He is very good at closing down space and putting pressure on the ball carrier. Going to be a very good player for us in the long term.

i think his kicking has been very good. Needs to sharpen up his handballs. Must attend all handball club sessions!

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

I'm not bashing at all, but I'm also not as gung-ho in my praise as it seems most here.
Definitely reads the ball well, obviously a great trait to have, but he probably cost us their second goal, when a kick-in went to the centre (strong wind). His man (at the time, Himmelberg was first up, Schache missed the spoil, ball spilt over the back and off they went.

Watching a replay, I was a bit surprised at just how fluid our defense is. Schache, Cordy, Williams were rotating constantly on Walker, Himmelberg and Fogerty.

Genuinely pleased with how he went, but 'reports' of an outstanding first quarter and/or keeping Tex to two goals are a touch over the top.

I’ve seen Keath get beaten and give away goals

I reckon Schache played a good game and has plenty of upside

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Tenacious and hard at it he's like a hybrid of Dahl and Clay Smith.. Love Sonny

His kicking efficiency is very good as well, early days but good signs

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Good win. Love seeing anyone pulling on the jumper taking their opportunity... bailey dale/Josh scache, stoked for them.

Genuinely hope scache kicks on in defence and that our supporters back him all the way.

On a side note, getting worried I'll be locked out of wherever we play finals, picked a good year to move interstate!

We will smuggle you in!

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Anyone else get the sense Garcia hasn’t really been getting much attention from the commentators? Been really good since coming in.

Absolutely but it’s a difficult task to stand out when you have some of o his teammates running around

 

[Dogsman16]

I’ve seen Keath get beaten and give away goals

I reckon Schache played a good game and has plenty of upside

Certainly has more upside than Cordy in that role. Attributes and growth all lean towards Schache.

Some of the premier KPD's leak goals. Harris Andrews for instance and Jake Lever both can be vulnerable in the wrestle/outbodied. Others can get beaten on the lead pretty often. Weitering as good as he is has conceeded 11 goals in the past 2 games.

Schache should never be tasked to take the Hawkins type. Rather I'd just let him play the 2nd role and try and be that main interceptor. The more often the ball is in his hands the better. Try and peel off the resting ruck and help teammates with intercepts and providing an option.

 

[hutchy31]

Geelong will not catch us on % it’s too bigger gap this late in the season

They also not fussed about it is my guess. Just managed the last quarter yesterday. They know they have their last three games at home, win them all and at worst they’re second.

If Melbourne lose a game before rd 23 and Geelong don’t then that last game of the season between them won’t matter anyway (for Geelong at least).

Not great for the AFL, but if that happens and we also win our next two the only thing up for grabs in the last week will be the minor premiership because the top two will be set. Dogs v Port and Cats v Dees look like potential QF matchups and will happen in rd23 which is weird, but let’s see what’s on the line when it comes around.

 

[bobs head soup]

Anthony Scott is a 'clean' role player if that makes sense. Doesn't fu** it up much. I like him in the side.

What's been impressive is that it's not just 1 role. He's played forward, mid and back and done the job.

He's no star but guys who can listen to instructions and do a range of jobs for the team without fuss are valuable as #20-28 on the list.

 

[Northernsoul74]

What's been impressive is that it's not just 1 role. He's played forward, mid and back and done the job.

He's no star but guys who can listen to instructions and do a range of jobs for the team without fuss are valuable as #20-28 on the list.

He’s done well as it’s pretty obvious that defence role is very new to him.

 

[Dogs till i die]

One thing is for sure our bottom six is better or at least the equal of any other sides in the competition

Absolutely ours are better than the bulk of the AFL but I was talking in terms of the real contenders. Are ours better than the contenders? That's a big factor in winning a flag, that's where Sydney went wrong in 2016.

 

[Dogsman16]

Absolutely ours are better than the bulk of the AFL but I was talking in terms of the real contenders. Are ours better than the contenders? That's a big factor in winning a flag, that's where Sydney went wrong in 2016.

you would say so considering how dominant our VFL team are also, despite the large amount of injuries we have had this season. For starters Dunks, Treloar, Martin, Gardiner, VDM, Wood have been unavailable more often than available.

 

[Libbaaaa]

100% gametime for as well for Josh “Bruce Doull/Glenn Jackovich” Schache.

Also very happy with the way Dunkley has been eased back into it. 75% gametime and 11 centre bounce attendances. He wasn’t attending the majority of centre bounces pre-injury either.

Also look for Bont to spend more time forward resting over the next few.

 

[bobs head soup]

On the very small sample size, Schache has more scope to develop as a defender than Cordy imo.

Cordy was pantsed by Himmelberg a number of times.

In fairness to Cordy he was thrown into Keath's role at the pointy end of the defensive structure. As a wiry 193cm, that's not his go. He did what he could.

I was very happy with the Schachle again though. I think he's best suited as the 3rd tall, mobile interceptor.

For mine our tall backline looks like;

- Keath as main man.

- Either Gardner or Cordy for the 2nd tall, form dependent.

- Either Schache or Wood as the mobile 3rd tall, form dependent but Schache ahead on current form

 

[dergert]

In fairness to Cordy he was thrown into Keath's role at the pointy end of the defensive structure. As a wiry 193cm, that's not his go. He did what he could.

I was very happy with the Schachle again though. I think he's best suited as the 3rd tall, mobile interceptor.

For mine our tall backline looks like;

- Keath as main man.

- Either Gardner or Cordy for the 2nd tall, form dependent.

- Either Schache or Wood as the mobile 3rd tall, form dependent but Schache ahead on current form

Wood is going to be pivotal in finals. Can play tall and small. I hope his body holds up.

 

[bobs head soup]

Wood is going to be pivotal in finals. Can play tall and small. I hope his body holds up.

I know his experience is valuable and he's a great leader and a cold Ballarat is a tough game to judge on, but I do worry about his mobility these days. The next few weeks will tell.

Between Schache, Williams, Dale and Duryea, I feel like that's a pretty good mix and match array for an opposition 3rd tall/midsize/small forward mix.

 

[maddog37]

I would like to see Macrae given a rest of sorts.

Dunkley starting to hunt the ball in tandem with Libba is huge. No respite for the opposition at all.

Garcia is as hard as a cats head.

Astro is battling still. I would like to see him get a quarter or two up the ground more to get his hands on the ball.

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

Also look for Bont to spend more time forward resting over the next few.

You might be right but it’s got to negatively affect his Brownlow chances.

 

[doggies ftw]

Schaches reading of the play is really good and he looks so much more comfortable in the air than he did forward. Hugely promising signs, he got caught out in a couple of one on ones but that happens, he just got found out of position which is easy with the tricky breeze. He also won a couple of good ones against Tex which is no easy feat. I think he can make it which I’m stoked about, would be such a huge thing for our team if he does. Keath, Gardner & Schache is a nice little trio

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Absolutely ours are better than the bulk of the AFL but I was talking in terms of the real contenders. Are ours better than the contenders? That's a big factor in winning a flag, that's where Sydney went wrong in 2016.

Yes absolutely they are