Review Dogs smash Eagles by 101 points

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McNeil is seriously settling into his position which is great. I said a few weeks back all he needs to aim for is 1 goal 10 touches 15 PAs and 4+ tackles a week, he’s done that for a month now and kicked multiple goals on a few occasions, surprisingly strong overhead too - although his tackles can get broken a little bit so needs to work on that.
Next step is stringing a full game together. He'll be good.

One of Dom Milesi's gems from the rookie draft.
 

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Sorry, what does ‘below’ mean on the AFL website? You mean amount of fantasy points? If that’s the metric you’re judging off, let’s leave this debate alone. This isn’t a statistical argument. It’s a totality of impact during the game and West was far and away the most impactful of the three players you mentioned.
I don’t know mate I’m not a stats expert it’s the ranking on the AFL website not my own personal opinion. but whatever its one game and all three played well but none of them are gauranteed weekly selections so we will see what pans out. I just make the point that the two macs were in this forums firing line a couple of weeks back and IMO last night played as good as west
 
Just quietly Dunks is in the best form of his career right now IMO. He’s not having 40 touches a week like he was a few years back but he’s having more impact now, this is the most complete football he’s ever played - we’re finally getting the mix right for him.

His work around the contest and tackling still elite but now he’s genuinely looking like a forward up there for the first time - he’s kicking mountains of goals, marking is best it’s ever been around the ground and up forward.

But most importantly, he’s finding more uncontested marks with gut running plus using the ball the best he ever has. There was 2 occasions I can think of where he didn’t like what was on offer, called the leading forward to where he wanted and then laced them out inside 50. He’s never done that before, has usually blasted long or wasted it.

He’s becoming super important again and getting into much sign territory - he looks super happy and the club is absolutely smashing him in promotions/media so I get the feeling he stays otherwise why would we be doing that.

I know we all want to better balance our cap around the ground but * it, midfield is our strength let’s just stick to that
 
English has unbelievable skill and touch for a big bloke as well as vision and awareness that half the midfielders in the comp would give their right nut for.

Clearly today wasn't a real test given the opposition. Bit of a track gallop with a solid last 600 before race day next week. Good to have him back but not looking forward the vet bill.
Especially if it includes a fee for the unilateral gelding of some midfielders.
 
It's ultimately comparing Cordy as a ruck vs Sweet as a forward. Of course I am worried about next week since Stewart is going to run off of Sweet all day so he might not be the appropriate player next week although Cordy isn't that either.
Tagging Stewart as a CHF is literally the AFL role Cordy is built for. It's one of the few times I'd ever argue for his inclusion, and if it convinces Geelong to bring Ratugolea to take advantage of his stints in ruck, then so much the better.
 
Just quietly Dunks is in the best form of his career right now IMO. He’s not having 40 touches a week like he was a few years back but he’s having more impact now, this is the most complete football he’s ever played - we’re finally getting the mix right for him.

His work around the contest and tackling still elite but now he’s genuinely looking like a forward up there for the first time - he’s kicking mountains of goals, marking is best it’s ever been around the ground and up forward.

But most importantly, he’s finding more uncontested marks with gut running plus using the ball the best he ever has. There was 2 occasions I can think of where he didn’t like what was on offer, called the leading forward to where he wanted and then laced them out inside 50. He’s never done that before, has usually blasted long or wasted it.

He’s becoming super important again and getting into much sign territory - he looks super happy and the club is absolutely smashing him in promotions/media so I get the feeling he stays otherwise why would we be doing that.

I know we all want to better balance our cap around the ground but duck it, midfield is our strength let’s just stick to that
To me his best footy was the first 6 rounds of last year before he did his shoulder, when we was almost exclusively playing on ball and clearly outperforming Bont, Macrae and Libba. The problem is balancing the rest of our midfield around that given we have 5 other guys who play best as starting mids, but to me he is the main one who needs to stay in there as much as possible, especially against guys like Petracca and Oliver.
 
Tagging Stewart as a CHF is literally the AFL role Cordy is built for. It's one of the few times I'd ever argue for his inclusion, and if it convinces Geelong to bring Ratugolea to take advantage of his stints in ruck, then so much the better.

That role’s really only worked for us with Schache because he’s an actual forward and threat to kick goals too.
 
Just quietly Dunks is in the best form of his career right now IMO. He’s not having 40 touches a week like he was a few years back but he’s having more impact now, this is the most complete football he’s ever played - we’re finally getting the mix right for him.

His work around the contest and tackling still elite but now he’s genuinely looking like a forward up there for the first time - he’s kicking mountains of goals, marking is best it’s ever been around the ground and up forward.

But most importantly, he’s finding more uncontested marks with gut running plus using the ball the best he ever has. There was 2 occasions I can think of where he didn’t like what was on offer, called the leading forward to where he wanted and then laced them out inside 50. He’s never done that before, has usually blasted long or wasted it.

He’s becoming super important again and getting into much sign territory - he looks super happy and the club is absolutely smashing him in promotions/media so I get the feeling he stays otherwise why would we be doing that.

I know we all want to better balance our cap around the ground but duck it, midfield is our strength let’s just stick to that
I just cant see him breaking up the gayest, heterosexual, quasi-familial relationship in the games history.

Its no coincidence that Dunkley and Treloar would be approaching career best seasons. I doubt either would want to tempt the football gods nor deal with the separation anxiety that would ensue if Dunkley chose to play at the likes of Essendon, let alone interstate.
 
Having watched quite a lot of the replay, I want to give a big shoutout to Rhylee West. He is showing so much determination to stay in the team that his attack on the ball and the man is manic. His bulldozer tactics might not always work but last night they contributed to several goals. He might find it more difficult against better teams than WC but it is good to see him building a role for us.
 

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Hah thought it said 'Sweet Has Dogs In Eight' at first




https://pages.pagesuite.com/9/f/9fe2719a-e136-4b1c-93e1-8ac7a650677e/page.pdf#page=1





















72 SPORT AFL SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022 heraldsun.com.au



BRAD ELBOROUGH
THE Western Bulldogs will finish the
weekend inside the AFL’s top eight
for the first time this season after a
third consecutive win.
The Bulldogs’ massive 101-point
win over West Coast at Perth Stadium
on Saturday night improved the per-
centage of last year’s runners-up by
11.2, enough to push them ahead of
Richmond and into eighth spot.
The Dogs had a record-equalling
16 players kick goals in the 25.11 (161)
to 9.6 (60) win, their biggest ever over
the Eagles, beating the 70-point hid-
ing they gave them in the 1998 quali-
fying final at the MCG.
Even key defender Alex Keath
booted two in the Dogs’ biggest score
of the season.
Josh Dunkley set the tone with two
goals in the opening term, continuing
his run of six consecutive games hit-
ting the scoreboard.
Those two goals went with his 25
touches and seven tackles.
This was the Eagles’ seventh con-
secutive loss by 52 points or more and
second by a triple-figure margin; the
average losing margin over those
games is 80 points.
While they welcomed Dom Sheed
and Elliot Yeo back to the WAFL this
weekend, defender Jeremy McGov-
ern was subbed out on Saturday night
before halftime with a back injury.
DOGS SHOW BEST IN WEST
WESTERN Australia is, traditionally,
not a happy hunting ground for the
Dogs though.
It was the Bulldogs’ first appear-
ance in Perth since losing last year’s
grand final to Melbourne.
Saturday night’s win was only their
12th in Perth, against all opposition
and at all grounds since the Eagles
joined the competition in 1987. Their
record over there now is 12 wins, 34
losses and one draw.
Importantly, the Dogs used the run
against the league’s bottom side to
bring back ruckman Tim English and
forward Cody Weightman.
English hasn’t played since round 5
due to illness and a hamstring injury.
He made the most of his chance
against Eagles youngsters Bailey
Williams and Callum Jamieson.
He contributed 28 hitouts, 15 con-
tested possessions, eight clearances
and a goal.
Weightman has missed the past
two wins because of a broken collar-
bone. He wasted no time getting back
into the thick of the contest, taking a
strong contested mark late in the
opening term.
While he missed the earned shot
on goal, he made up for it in the sec-
ond half with two goals at the start of
the third term.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
BEFORE the Eagles can start think-
ing about winning a game, they need
to win a quarter.
Since beating Collingwood in
round 4, their only win from the first
11 rounds of 2022, the Eagles have
claimed victories in only two terms.
They won second quarters against
Sydney in round 5 and Greater West-
ern Sydney in round 10.
Their forward line received a boost
going into this game with Josh Ken-
nedy returning after knee issues kept
him out for a couple of weeks.
Jack Darling benefited from the re-
turn of his partner in crime.
Darling finished the game with
four goals, only the second game this
season he has managed multiple
goals, kicking two in the round 4 win
over Collingwood.


Bulldogs forward Aaron
Naughton takes a big pack mark
against the Eagles at Perth
Stadium on Saturday night and
(inset) celebrates a goal.
Pictures: Getty Images
SWEET 16 HAS
DOGS IN EIGHT
THE BOARDTTHHEE BBOOOAARRDD
60 161
3.0 6.3
5.5 10.7
7.5 18.9
9.6 25.11
ELBOROUGH’S BEST
Eagles: Kelly, Gaff, Redden, Darling.
Dogs: Dunkley, English, Treloar,
Macrae, Naughton, Dale.
GOALS
Eagles: Darling 4, Kennedy, Gaff,
Williams, Kelly, Cripps.
Dogs: Naughton 4, Dunkley, Keath,
McNeil, Weightman, West, Williams 2,
Bontempelli, Dale, Duryea, English,
Liberatore, McComb, Treloar,
Scott, Khamis.
INJURIES
Eagles: McGovern (back).
CROWD
31,838 Perth Stadium.
 
That role’s really only worked for us with Schache because he’s an actual forward and threat to kick goals too.
The 2nd ruck/part time tall forward role has to be the most cursed in football no matter who you are. Your good games have supporters saying "what a handy cameo, couple of goals and competed in the ruck." Your average games have people saying "what the * does this spud even do?" I feel sorry for anyone who has to play it, but imo Cordy, for this specific week, is more likely to be successful because he's more competitive in the air than Schache, and Geelong have just about the worst ruck combo in the AFL so he won't be conceding clearance after clearance when he has to take them.
 
Please re-sign Tim English ASAP.

Keep West in the seniors as well. Looking great.
Added insult to injury watching him kill it last night. Gonna be a very special player
 
To me his best footy was the first 6 rounds of last year before he did his shoulder, when we was almost exclusively playing on ball and clearly outperforming Bont, Macrae and Libba. The problem is balancing the rest of our midfield around that given we have 5 other guys who play best as starting mids, but to me he is the main one who needs to stay in there as much as possible, especially against guys like Petracca and Oliver.
Yeah he was awesome to start last year, more as a full time mid, but now I think we’ve got a better balance for him.

In the last 6 games he’s kicked 10 goals including multiple on 3 occasions, still having 25 touches a week (except one outlier of 15 against port), 5 GAs in total, 9 SI per game. Bont like numbers.

Where as last year he was avg more touches but in those 6 games he only hit the scoreboard 3 times for 4 goals, only 1 GA in total & 5 SI per game for the first 5 weeks until a monster round 6 where he had 2 GA & 15 SI then got injured

So I think he’s having a bigger impact now imo, inside midfielders are great but inside midfielders who impact on the scoreboard are worth their weight in gold
 
That article says the eagles have 7 consecutive losses of 52 points or more.

As good at it appears to have been I'm not going to read anything much into this win apart from we got four points and a great % boost.

Next week, and the second half of the season for that matter, are going to be a whole different ball game.
 
That article says the eagles have 7 consecutive losses of 52 points or more.

As good at it appears to have been I'm not going to read anything much into this win apart from we got four points and a great % boost.

Next week, and the second half of the season for that matter, are going to be a whole different ball game.
We can’t get ahead of ourselves from it but still we went over to Perth and did what only Tigs have done so far and beat them by 100. Brissy couldn’t even do that at home and Melbourne couldn’t do it either so have to give us credit for keeping our foot on it all day.

Main thing is it tops off a really good month of footy with some good wins over improving teams like Pies and Suns. Last week was a great win, Suns are quite good. And most importantly we look like playing our bulldogs brand of footy that we’d just completely lost, good players are getting back into form, injuries clearing up

But yeah next week the real challenge starts and we cannot get ahead of ourselves because we can’t afford to drop another must win game from here on out
 
According to my independent and completely objective plater ratings, our best 3 players were West, Sweet and Keath.

Just to clarify, I base my ratings on 5 random moments I land on when scrolling through the match highlights from AFL.com

So I just happened to land on:
#1 Sweet palming the ball beautifully in Q1 which resulted in McNeil's first,
#2 and #3 two instances of West doing great (repeat) work in heavy traffic - one setting up Williams for a goal,
#4 and #5 Keath's two goals from his full ground run and double 50

This highly scientific method has also helped me identify something where all the other systems have fallen down, and that is that both Dylan Addison and Daniel Bandy are easily in our 10 greatest players of all time.
 
Was at the game so need to watch the replay.

Also grain of salt etc given the result.

But seems like Williams on a wing is gaining momentum?

Building confidence around goals each week
Definitely. Williams is settling in nicely.

His defensive work over the past few years really holds him in a good stead for the role I think. Gives him a point of difference compared to a lot of other wingers in the league.
 
How funny was both of Keath's goals. A run up the middle involving a give and go, and then a push off turn follow up, and then a 100m penalty. Just pure comedy
Laughed out loud at both occurrences. Both of them were such Keath plays as well. Once he had the ball in the forward half of the ground you could see a switch in his head go, "fk it I'm just going to keep going and see what happens."
 
Definitely. Williams is settling in nicely.

His defensive work over the past few years really holds him in a good stead for the role I think. Gives him a point of difference compared to a lot of other wingers in the league.
It’s a really good move so I credit Bevo for actually making it but it was also so obvious.

Williams was in terrible form and we were rotating VFL standard players through our wings. I can definitely see it as a long term role for him.
 

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