Autopsy Dogs discombombulated by Mt Buller - 115 to 65

[Angak]

The Melbourne boys spent the 3 week Christmas break doing a player organised intensive block of training

Our boys went galavanting across Europe for three weeks.

there are differences in this game.

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

S

So our two big signings in the offseason are out injured already and Gardner is also out for an extended period. This means far from being straightened up in defence we are probably worse off than the parlous condition that we ended 2022 in. A lot is resting on Bruce being an unlikely success in his new role.

And in attack we are back to Naughton and Marra as our only targets and still getting appalling service from the i50 entries. Yes there’s also Darcy but he’s a gangly foal at the moment. He’ll probably do well against the likes of North Hawthorn and St Kilda but we can’t expect him to dominate against the genuine finals contenders. He was all at sea against Melbourne.

To make matters worse Weightman, our 30 goal “small” forward is now out for a period that seems to double with every passing week.

Meanwhile our once vaunted midfield has probably regressed again.

That off-season optimism sure vaporised quickly.

And Keath has just played about the worst game of AFL footy i've seen anyone play. He was horrendous. 7 possessions with 5 clangers wasn't even the worst part of his game. His positioning in the zone is atrocious

 

[BrisDog]

The Melbourne boys spent the 3 week Christmas break doing a player organised intensive block of training

Our boys went galavanting across Europe for three weeks.

there are differences in this game.


View attachment 1635546

F*ck they are ripped. Gotta give them that.

 

[Mofra]

I think you've identified the problem but not the solution. That is going to be somewhat problematic and take a paradigm shift in thinking from Beveridge.

Our midfield has clearly been good enough to deal with the mid and lower tier sides of the the competition for years. It's just that more often than not it's been found out against the elite end of the competition. They just have no answer for the dynamism of the likes of Gawn, Petracca and Oliver and if the first round was anything to go by then dynamic midfields that bat deep are the new, new black. Contrary to popular opinion, our midfield is as deep and has the resilience of a spit on a footpath in summer.

If an undersized West and Garcia are the next tier of midfielders that we might look to add a similar refresh to our dower midfield unit then we have got things dreadfully wrong. Although I understand that you are coming from a "bastard" point of view. In my view both are at very long odds to make it as regular mids, let alone do anything about teams going on a 17 possession 5 goal arse tear against us. As Melbourne in particular is want to do!

This is why I spent a good part of the post season banging on about how much Dunkleys departure was going to expose our midfield. Sure, he was as one paced as the rest of the starting mids and was part of the problem, but he along with Libba could be relied upon to go over the top of the trench first.

This side could do with a Matt Boyd/Dan Cross type, but aside from Libba there just isn't one apparent on the list.


It would seem that the coaches just don't have faith in the utility types to be relied upon to spend minutes rotating through the middle to give the team a point of difference.

Why we don't shake things up rotate the likes of Richards and Dale with their pace and foot skills through the middle of the ground just staggers me.

I can imagine Simon Goodwin quoting the Duke of Wellington to his players after the game saying "They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way."

....and they all had a good laugh.

Norm, you make a number of good points there but I'm not sure I agree that West (in particular) is too small to have a burst in the middle as a defensive mid.
'Stopping' is as much about desire as it is size, noting Libba's job in the second half of the 2016 GF on the much bigger Josh Kennedy. Rhylee's the same weight and 2cm shorter than Libba, and might be the hardest player on our list.

The stronger 'burst' mids seem to present particular issues for us so having someone with a psycho-like attack on the footy really is the only way we can combat this, as our 'stars' are now either unable or unwilling to do it. Rhylee on the defensive goal-side of Petracca in any instance they'd get a second clean clearance is something I'd do.

 

[doggies ftw]

Norm, you make a number of good points there but I'm not sure I agree that West (in particular) is too small to have a burst in the middle as a defensive mid.
'Stopping' is as much about desire as it is size, noting Libba's job in the second half of the 2016 GF on the much bigger Josh Kennedy. Rhylee's the same weight and 2cm shorter than Libba, and might be the hardest player on our list.

The stronger 'burst' mids seem to present particular issues for us so having someone with a psycho-like attack on the footy really is the only way we can combat this, as our 'stars' are now either unable or unwilling to do it. Rhylee on the defensive goal-side of Petracca in any instance they'd get a second clean clearance is something I'd do.

Yeah they have Viney with that defensive hard edge that allows Trac & Oliver to run 20m goal side of the center bounce without a care in the world (and a gun ruckman in Gawn tbf)

West has virtually the same athletic profile, 180cm isn’t too small to be a big bodied mid it’s how they attack the man and footy

 

[Mofra]

Yeah they have Viney with that defensive hard edge that allows Trac & Oliver to run 20m goal side of the center bounce without a care in the world (and a gun ruckman in Gawn tbf)

West has virtually the same athletic profile, 180cm isn’t too small to be a big bodied mid it’s how they attack the man and footy

I'm not sure of his exact stats - listed at 182cm elsewhere vs 184cm for Libba but both at 85kgs.
Stevie Baker - arguably the hardest tagger of his time, was 179cm and 83kgs but his intent and commitment to each contest made him feared in his day.

Throw a ball down at training and have 195cm 94kg Cheesy Barlow on one side, and Rhylee West on the other, and I know who I'd back to win the ball.

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

Yeah they have Viney with that defensive hard edge that allows Trac & Oliver to run 20m goal side of the center bounce without a care in the world (and a gun ruckman in Gawn tbf)

West has virtually the same athletic profile, 180cm isn’t too small to be a big bodied mid it’s how they attack the man and footy

I remember reading a scout or junior coach saying the hardest player to ever go through the u18s comp was Jack Viney and Rhylee West was second

 

[Boyd oh Boyd]

Almost forgot: love you Johnson, but he and Mooney immediately scrounging to protect Pickett on the broadcast with "that's just a one week because Smith's okay yada yada" was extremely disappointing.

Respect the MRP to make the right decision. Maybe he's trying too hard to be impartial. To be impartial, you can just not comment.

Really, really disappointing. Boys club syndrome running wild.

I read Johnno's comments completely differently, as critical of the system the MRP use for these incidents.

"This could be classified as low impact. Now, one cm to the right he could be knocked out... If that's classified low, because Bailey gets up and plays the rest of the quarter, I'm not too sure that sits too well with me"

"There's a lot of debate at the moment around the action, the action here is no good whatsoever... we can't [suspend on action] because of the matrix, because of the way the AFL have this set up. There's nothing else we can really do about that... The action's no good, but the outcome's okay, so that's where it gets lost a little bit I think for myself."

"It's sitting there that it should be longer, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just the one week."

Mooney is a flog though.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Macca and Libba are tough as nails but they aren't physical enough to match it with Petracca and Oliver. A couple of time they both had Oliver and Trac dead to rights with both arms pinned and they just got dragged along for a metre or so before breaking free.

 

[Golden_6]

Good news if Jones is cleared to play and Gardner back in a week. Is that from the club?

I’ve been going by sketchy reports and a fair bit of doom and gloom when Jones was subbed out. What happened to our injury reports from our club medico? (There you have it Dogs fans …)? Is he still doing them? Can someone update our injury thread? I’m on the road ATM.

Not interested in comparisons with a year ago though. More interested in comparisons with our end of year situation in 2022, where we were clearly incapable of progressing against top 8 sides.

We will need both Jones and Gardner fit and in form to have made any improvement.

I didn’t mention Duryea either. These days he doesn’t seem the player he was in 2021. Who is there to fill that hole? Crozier? Cleary? Can’t expect Gallagher to step up immediately.

VU Medical Room | Round 2

The latest injury news ahead of Round 2, thanks to Victoria University.

www.westernbulldogs.com.au

The weird medico reports are still there. Gardner listed as 1-2 weeks in the official report and Jones as a test.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Norm, you make a number of good points there but I'm not sure I agree that West (in particular) is too small to have a burst in the middle as a defensive mid.
'Stopping' is as much about desire as it is size, noting Libba's job in the second half of the 2016 GF on the much bigger Josh Kennedy. Rhylee's the same weight and 2cm shorter than Libba, and might be the hardest player on our list.

The stronger 'burst' mids seem to present particular issues for us so having someone with a psycho-like attack on the footy really is the only way we can combat this, as our 'stars' are now either unable or unwilling to do it. Rhylee on the defensive goal-side of Petracca in any instance they'd get a second clean clearance is something I'd do.

Yeah they have Viney with that defensive hard edge that allows Trac & Oliver to run 20m goal side of the center bounce without a care in the world (and a gun ruckman in Gawn tbf)

West has virtually the same athletic profile, 180cm isn’t too small to be a big bodied mid it’s how they attack the man and footy

As always, I'll be happy to be proven wrong about Wests ability to roll through the midfield.

What Im certain of however, is that if we are going to match it with the elite sides in the competition then Beveridge needs to shake things up with our starting mids. They're just not getting the job done when it really matters. If any shake up is to include West then Beveridge would need to walk back one of the strongest tenets of his coaching philosophy and go with a defensively minded mid. Let alone assign somebody to the role of a dedicated tagger. I just dont ever see that happening.

Anyways...Its a new week and as a lifelong dogs supporter hope always springs eternal.

Enough of my negativity. Ive had my say.

Go Dogs...

Or some such.

 

[stefoid]

Norm, you make a number of good points there but I'm not sure I agree that West (in particular) is too small to have a burst in the middle as a defensive mid.
'Stopping' is as much about desire as it is size, noting Libba's job in the second half of the 2016 GF on the much bigger Josh Kennedy. Rhylee's the same weight and 2cm shorter than Libba, and might be the hardest player on our list.

The stronger 'burst' mids seem to present particular issues for us so having someone with a psycho-like attack on the footy really is the only way we can combat this, as our 'stars' are now either unable or unwilling to do it. Rhylee on the defensive goal-side of Petracca in any instance they'd get a second clean clearance is something I'd do.

Id love more discussion about our midfield.

'Running and gunning' like Melbourne do is rolling the dice - when they think they are going to gain possession, they spread and surge forward which looks fantastic if they do win it , but has the potential to backfire horribly. However, our own midfield is more inclined to shoot handball between stationary players until they find someone free to kick it, and for a variety of reasons, we dont connect with our forwards very well .... Reduces the risk for melbourne to play this way - we arent able to adequately punish them for it.

I dont think the answer is to go defensive in a midfield situation. We might stop more 'surge goals' by going defensive, but we wont discourage them from continuing to do it. If all you do is cover up and never throw a punch it just encourages your opponent to tee off on you even harder. That being said, I wouldnt be against someone shadowing Oliver every step if it means we got a 'nil-all' draw out of those two players.

The best way to upset this style of play is to win the contest more often and really punish your opposition on the scoreboard for playing fast and loose.

I reckon we need to be more dynamic to give ourselves a better chance of scoring from congestion, but also have the ability to beat the likes of Oliver to the ball.

So many factors come into this - the tap, first hands on the ball, teammates prepared to receive, run and kick well.

Maybe this is why Cody has been trialled as a mid?

Id like to get a better look at Garcia

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Almost forgot: love you Johnson, but he and Mooney immediately scrounging to protect Pickett on the broadcast with "that's just a one week because Smith's okay yada yada" was extremely disappointing.

Respect the MRP to make the right decision. Maybe he's trying too hard to be impartial. To be impartial, you can just not comment.

Really, really disappointing. Boys club syndrome running wild.

Johnno bends over backwards to look as if he doesn’t favour the Dogs. Have you heard Brereton goad and goad and giggle whenever Johnno has the bad luck to be teamed with him in commentary? I would have punched him in the face long ago. I suppose now he’s in the habit.

 

[ossie_21]

People have varying opinions on this account and if they are really an ex-AFL umpire or just a dedicated fan/lower level umpire, but at least they acknowledge it was poorly umpired. Not the cause of the result by any means, but it was s**t all night. My insta had a suggested post from Grundy, which was a Melbourne post about his goal after he got a free kick for a hold from Bruce. Even Stevie Wonder seen they were holding each other, plus a Melbourne fan even asking who was holding who lol

 

[St 07]

I read Johnno's comments completely differently, as critical of the system the MRP use for these incidents.

"This could be classified as low impact. Now, one cm to the right he could be knocked out... If that's classified low, because Bailey gets up and plays the rest of the quarter, I'm not too sure that sits too well with me"

"There's a lot of debate at the moment around the action, the action here is no good whatsoever... we can't [suspend on action] because of the matrix, because of the way the AFL have this set up. There's nothing else we can really do about that... The action's no good, but the outcome's okay, so that's where it gets lost a little bit I think for myself."

"It's sitting there that it should be longer, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was just the one week."

Mooney is a flog though.

Well said, I stand corrected, he was actually being very diplomatic and intelligent about it