Toast Dogs beat Hawks : 76 - 40

[yebiga]

Just loved the way Bev used Naughton and Bruce. Bruce is more than serviceable in the Ruck. His second efforts are great. Best of all English plays the game out looking fit and Dunks can focus on his game.

Naughton playing more the center half-forward role running thru the middle of the ground really plays to his strengths. He is both athletically and physically going to be superior to any opponent. Getting him into more contests just tires opposition defenses and opens spaces for our other forwards.

Using Bruce and Naughton like this is a wicked combination. Bravo Bev.

Losing Mclean is tragic but it is also the one position we can best cover.

Hopefully Wood can come in for Gardner and one of West/Dale for Suckling.

It's such an odd season, a good form run, and anyone could find themselves holding up the Premiership Cup. I rate Port, Brisbane, and Richmond ahead of the pack. But if we got a run on, we match up well against the Tigers and neither the Lions nor the Power is beyond us.

I have to admit, I am not that invested into this season but anything is possible.

 

[doggies ftw]

Other glaring issue , and this will surprise a few , got taken to the cleaners in the ruck.
was really the catalyst after half time and made the Hawks far more competitive.
Good thing big Tim kicked a couple.

Another week that’s shown how good Timmy could be as a 2nd ruck who floats forward and back, another week that shows just how far we start behind the eightball having him first ruck. So all in all, nothing new.

 

[Golden_6]

Gardner was quite good today, bar one errant kick to Cordy. I’ve been baffled by his selection but today he definitely played his role well. He scares me moving forward and into a potential final, but he is playing well enough to hold his spot right now.

 

[doggies ftw]

Props to Bruce, much better today. Tried hard as per usual and didn’t make any glaring mistakes. Again it’s a low bar set that that’s a good performance, but it’s an improvement.

Suckers was a s**t call at team selection and proved an even shitter call on game day. No more, he offers nothing.

 

[bresker]

Other glaring issue , and this will surprise a few , got taken to the cleaners in the ruck.
was really the catalyst after half time and made the Hawks far more competitive.
Good thing big Tim kicked a couple.

Yeah for all Tim's great work around the ground he looked physically spent by the end. I thought Bruce looked decent in there but you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If Sweet's not ready I wouldn't mind recruiting another mobile ruck in the off season.

 

[revo333]

We’ve got 10 years of prime Naughton and Smith. Hawks have Will Day and a big pile of sh*t. Life is good.

They know they need the draft picks but they have been that spoilt and most are bandwagon supporters that they can't handle a few rough years you need to have to get back up to the top.

It's been gorgeous to witness.

 

[Anja_Nees]

Yeah for all Tim's great work around the ground he looked physically spent by the end. I thought Bruce looked decent in there but you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If Sweet's not ready I wouldn't mind recruiting another mobile ruck in the off season.

Honestly given Bevo’s extreme reluctance to play Trengove I just don’t think it’s a priority for him. He would rather persist with Tim and brief relief from Bruce/Dunkley.

Ordinarily I’d suggest we look at the lower leagues to see if there’s some late bloomer running around a la Mumford/Hudson but most haven’t even been playing.

 

[Generalissimo]

Nice work! I usually have a bit of time for the Dogs, except when we're playing each other of course, and it's nice to see you in the 8. That you beat Hawforn and took GWS's place is like Christmas for me.

 

[Next Waiting]

Yeah for all Tim's great work around the ground he looked physically spent by the end. I thought Bruce looked decent in there but you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.

If Sweet's not ready I wouldn't mind recruiting another mobile ruck in the off season.

Projecting what Tim English looks and plays like in 6 months time is a big part of how all this plays out. I think you really need to be on the inside to get a fair sense of this. 6 months is a rest, time in the gym, diet and a pre-season.

If they have faith in Sweet long term and unless Trengove is getting moved on, should we go there?

 

[weltschmerz]

Nice work! I usually have a bit of time for the Dogs, except when we're playing each other of course, and it's nice to see you in the 8. That you beat Hawforn and took GWS's place is like Christmas for me.

Keeping GWS out of the eight is deeply satisfying.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

I thought it was an average win against a depleted side. We will have to play a lot better to beat Freo and we will miss Toby think he is easily in our best 22.

Suckling finished, Roarke hit the scoreboard but is a bit of worry like Gardner however they will stay in because Bevo loves them. So guess Wood and either Dale or Lipinski will be in.

 

[adogsfan5]

The whole fox footy coverage jammed down our throats how the hawks were a bunch of kids today. Someone please find out the age and games player averages. Horrible coverage.

I’d be all for this if I didn’t see a midfield combo of Bruest/Puopolo/Shiels at one stage. Crap excuses.

 

[Boof09]

He also seems slow to react when the ball is on the ground, and his kicking is heart-in-mouth stuff. But he did perform pretty well today off the back of a competent game last week.

That said, I can’t understand why so many posters jump all over any criticism of him. He’s not an AFL standard player imo (Gowers and Hayes have also played some good games at this level - are they AFL standard?) and it’s almost certain he’ll be a liability in finals should we get there.

I don’t think he’s anywhere near best 22 in a contending side, and imo anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know anything about footy. But we’ll agree to disagree I suppose.

On a more positive note, Bont got leather poisoning, Naughton looked dominant and Caleb played a blinder. Losing the second half was very poor imo - the hawks are a really bad side - but percentage doesn’t matter now anyway.

Freo look competent recently so next week will be interesting.

Couldn't have said it better myself.....I hope they, being the selection committee don't get caught up in the poor Gardy stuff. Whilst Wood if a stuggle by foot sometimes, who would be you prefer? I know who I would, with a relatively healthy list his spot has to be in danger

 

[NthBondiDoggies]

So what changes for Freo? If North at night it is going to be humid and slippery.

Good hands will matter - Lipinski for McLean and Wood for Suckers?

I wouldn’t mind giving Fergus a run - has good hands and great run but wasn’t named in emergencies if that means anything?

Lloyd was in emergencies - he is not really a finals player but Dickson - who is - played terribly last game so LeLoyd night get a game.

Or could go for an extra tackler in the forward line - missed forward pressure today. Is West injured - I like him but Cavarro would be the one.

 

[josh the gent]

Solid win today, but spewing about Toby.

Every week is a knock out final for us, and they get tougher from here. Freo are in really hot form, so expecting a pretty challenging game.

Lipinski is who I’d bring in for McLean - and get him to play Toby’s lock-down role and see how he goes.

We will really miss Toby, played a beauty against Gaff...

 

[ossie_21]

I thought it was an average win against a depleted side. We will have to play a lot better to beat Freo and we will miss Toby think he is easily in our best 22.

Suckling finished, Roarke hit the scoreboard but is a bit of worry like Gardner however they will stay in because Bevo is loves them. So guess Wood and either Dale or Lipinski will be in.

Not very optimistic

 

[Dogs 13]

So what changes for Freo? If North at night it is going to be humid and slippery.

Good hands will matter - Lipinski for McLean and Wood for Suckers?

I wouldn’t mind giving Fergus a run - has good hands and great run but wasn’t named in emergencies if that means anything?

Lloyd was in emergencies - he is not really a finals player but Dickson - who is - played terribly last game so LeLoyd night get a game.

Or could go for an extra tackler in the forward line - missed forward pressure today. Is West injured - I like him but Cavarro would be the one.

Most likely will be pissing down like the last 2 weeks there so we need to bring some wet trackers in. Van Der Hum, Subzero and Jungle Ruler for starters.

 

[ExRoyboy]

Reckon it was Suckling's last game.

Duryea is very serviceable back there. We look so much better with him in the line up.

Midfielder's game. All of them played super well.

Caleb was superb.

We desperately need a goal kicking small.

Agree with all of this..... I don’t think Suckling plays next week. I would be playing Cavarra, I think he has shown the most of those given a chance at that role so far this season. Weightman will eventually be that player but I don’t think he is able to influence as much yet.

Loved having Duryea back in the team and releasing JJ to be more attacking up forward was great.

I thought both Roarke and Gardner did some really great things. Cordy also was really good down back.

Have to control Walters next week up forward and Fyfe and we should be able to win. In a way I’m glad that we didn’t get the percentage high enough to give us an out if we lose. We always needed to win and now it’s an absolute must and I think for the players it’s better having that singular focus rather than relying on percentage. It’s a simple equation, win and we play finals, lose and we don’t deserve to be there.

 

[Zgope1]

Bont was amazing. And to be honest his disposal was garbage. Just brilliant roving and marking to make up for it

Naughton is a beast. He’s got the power of Dangerfield and aggression of Libba in a key forwards body. Honestly it’d be nice if we won next week because any team with our midfield and this bloke forward is not fun to play against.

Libba was really impactful

if the big chilli at some stage becomes a consistently good set shot look out world

wasnt impressed with Richards to be honest. Brutally one sided player. Not sure when his disposal is supposed to be good if it’s not under pressure or out in the open. Maybe when he’s down back I guess

Third elimination final in three weeks coming up. With Fyfe, a big ruck, Mundy and a lot of exciting young talents prepare for a long and stressful contest.

 

[Zgope1]

Another week that’s shown how good Timmy could be as a 2nd ruck who floats forward and back, another week that shows just how far we start behind the eightball having him first ruck. So all in all, nothing new.

Not to mention how irresistible we look when our ruckman does win clean hit outs

 

[dogwatch]

Dermie especially keen. Notice at half time said something like the Hawks have seven under 25 games we have three blah blah, we should win by 60-80 blah blah.

While I'm not buying into Dermie's "we were the underdog because we were so young" I do think there is some disadvantage in having a lot of players who have under about 25 games. Players mature at different rates but very few are comfortable in top company from their very first handful of games. All of them (except Jason Tutt and John Georgiades) get decidedly better after about 25 games. And once you get over about 200 games the extra experience and age makes little difference ... apart from skewing your "average age" a bit higher. In fact once you get to about 300 games you're almost certainly past your peak, even if still a very good player like Shaun Burgoyne, so the benefit wears off even more.

Despite their higher averages and games played I'd say it just about evened out between the two clubs today.

The stat I liked was having 15 of our 22 players between 50 and 150 games, with Bailey Smith, Alex Keath and Tim English soon to enter that range. We are really heading into a sweet spot over the next 2-3 years if we can keep them all together.

Hawthorn had only 7 in that range today.

 

[adogsfan5]

Bont was amazing. And to be honest his disposal was garbage. Just brilliant roving and marking to make up for it

Naughton is a beast. He’s got the power of Dangerfield and aggression of Libba in a key forwards body. Honestly it’d be nice if we won next week because any team with our midfield and this bloke forward is not fun to play against.

Libba was really impactful

if the big chilli at some stage becomes a consistently good set shot look out world

wasnt impressed with Richards to be honest. Brutally one sided player. Not sure when his disposal is supposed to be good if it’s not under pressure or out in the open. Maybe when he’s down back I guess

Third elimination final in three weeks coming up. With Fyfe, a big ruck, Mundy and a lot of exciting young talents prepare for a long and stressful contest.

Ive gotta ask - who is the big chilli????

 

[Zgope1]

Ive gotta ask - who is the big chilli????

Tim English - because he’s big and he goes red when he’s shy according to Bont and Bob’s podcast

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Josh Bruce needs some love. Granted he’s out of form but he does a lot of the team physical stuff that we need. He’s helping English have more involvement. Seems like his team mates walk taller with him and his effort is coming along.

Took some good grabs and got some poor delivery.

Welcome to 3 games ago.

His form line is turning slower than a Galapagos tortoise but its definitely edging up.

Beveridge coming to his senses and using him as a second ruck and higher up the ground in the last fortnight has been the catalyst for this upswing.

 

[Rise_up_Stiffy]

Did Lachie Hunter seriously only play 40% game time?