Autopsy Dogs win another close one.

[4Seasons]

Re Beveridge's comments on McNeil. We supporters can only make comments about what our eyes tell us. In many games over the past few seasons, when selected, McNeil has had minimal impact and has made crucial errors at important times such as missing sitters in front of goal. In my view he has always been a bit too much 'outside' the action and it's no coincidence that he has been dropped numerous times. If there is a developing change in his output in terms of pressure acts, attack on the ball and an improved contribution overall then that's a good thing that we can all comment on constructively and give praise. I do think, however, that Bev's comments that McNeil is a whipping boy amongst our supporters and that "pisses him off" is a bit over the top.

The criticism of our club by people who cannot control their emotions is what is over the top

 

[Sharpiesadog]

The criticism of our club by people who cannot control their emotions is what is over the top

Ever since professional team sport has been running, team supporters have generally had a whipping boy. It’s just human nature(sadly) to find someone to blame when your team doesn’t win.

I generally groan and have a whinge to my son if certain players are in the team. That doesn’t mean I boo them at the game or want them to fail. I will also cheer them as loudly as anyone else when they do something good. It’s just we can all see who our lesser players are, and we all want a team of ‘a’ graders, always, which of course is not possible. All I ask is that they give their all every team they step on the field.

I think Bevo’s backing of his players is why they support him, mostly.

The excellent English journalist Liz Truss wrote a book about being the first female sport writer for an English newspaper. She was sent to follow Spurs for a whole season. She wrote a great passage about not knowing about the ‘whipping boy’ concept until she followed a team regularly. It had her totally flummoxed for a little while. She also had a great line about how unfair it is that when said ‘whipping boy’ did something good, the general reaction was, ‘well he bloody well owed us that one.’

It takes a lot for a ‘whipping boy’ to lose that status. Usually, in my experience, the heat just moves on to someone else for a while. I don’t like it, but I don’t suppose it will ever change.

It’s also why I generally don’t post on the Game Day threads - probably get permanently banned!

 

[manutd/dogs]

View attachment 2632522

Let this be the rebirth of the harder edge we've all been waiting for since 2016.

 

[Freshwater]

I don't want to ever hear anyone say sack Bevo ever again.

Whatever the faults for this team they wanted to run through walls for him and the club in the 2nd half.

A season we thought was dead is very much alive.

I would never say sack Bevo, but I definitely wouldn’t be re-signing him until he finishes his contract (no last year of the contract shenanigans). Then after he has fulfilled his contract ask ourselves, are we getting the most out of this list? Is there any chance of a top 4 finish? Or winning an elimination final if we don’t achieve top 4 ever. Is selection integrity happening? And are important superstars wanting out? Are we capable of stopping run ons of opponents goals and similar with a run of losses? Can he adapt and change his opinions, on say strong ruckman who may not all be ruck-rovers like English? Can he keep himself away from the recruiting team? Is it worth trying another coach while Bontempelli is still the best player in the league? Are we happy to finish every season between 10th and 6th? Remember the Port Adelaide players absolutely loved Kenny, the Carlton players loved Voss too.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I would never say sack Bevo, but I definitely wouldn’t be re-signing him until he finishes his contract (no last year of the contract shenanigans). Then after he has fulfilled his contract ask ourselves, are we getting the most out of this list? Is there any chance of a top 4 finish? Or winning an elimination final if we don’t achieve top 4 ever. Is selection integrity happening? And are important superstars wanting out? Are we capable of stopping run ons of opponents goals and similar with a run of losses? Can he adapt and change his opinions, on say strong ruckman who may not all be ruck-rovers like English? Can he keep himself away from the recruiting team? Is it worth trying another coach while Bontempelli is still the best player in the league? Are we happy to finish every season between 10th and 6th? Remember the Port Adelaide players absolutely loved Kenny, the Carlton players loved Voss too.

Would another coach change all that? We could end up with a Lyon, Voss, BScott. What criteria would the admin be looking for that would be an upgrade on Beveridge? How would we feel if Bevo went to another club (St Kilda his spiritual home would snap him up in a heartbeat) and took them to a drought-breaking flag?

 

[Freshwater]

Would another coach change all that? We could end up with a Lyon, Voss, BScott. What criteria would the admin be looking for that would be an upgrade on Beveridge? How would we feel if Bevo went to another club (St Kilda his spiritual home would snap him up in a heartbeat) and took them to a drought-breaking flag?

Definitely could be a possibility? But the idea we just keep Bevo, year in year out, finishing 10th to 6th, with the most talented list ever assembled at the Whitten Oval. With the greatest player to ever represent the club and a potential ‘best in league’ player coming on, is also not the attributes of a great club. That’s how mediocrity works. Either keep Bevo on a tight leash and keep him operating just in his lane, willing to change and improve or let him finish his contract and move on.
Buckley’s hungry, there are assistant coaches who would be ready. There’s a lot of coaches that would want to be the head coach with Bont and this squad, not to mention the new facilities and general stability of the club. The wise heads like Luke Darcy, Chris Grant, Matthew Croft etc from the past looking out for the club.

 

[theAthenian]

After watching the game 3 times my observation is:

when you have will lewis or sellwood leading with their balls
then lesser likes like croft and hynes start getting more and more courageous
Then accomplished senior players start taking up the slack
Those with no tank find something and run backwards
English wears a trickle of blood like a medal of honor
and a fire starts that cant be extinguished
leading to a passive coffield to become a lion and leave his man risking the game to win it.
... but westy even after all that decides a banana inside out job as if hes at training at the very end!

what a basket case of individuals we all are to love these flawed geniuses!

 

[bobs head soup]

After watching the game 3 times my observation is:

when you have will lewis or sellwood leading with their balls
then lesser likes like croft and hynes start getting more and more courageous
Then accomplished senior players start taking up the slack
Those with no tank find something and run backwards
English wears a trickle of blood like a medal of honor
and a fire starts that cant be extinguished
leading to a passive coffield to become a lion and leave his man risking the game to win it.
... but westy even after all that decides a banana inside out job as if hes at training at the very end!

what a basket case of individuals we all are to love these flawed geniuses!

That is an interesting take. I have somewhat similar thoughts.

Many times in recent years, I've watched a game from late 2016 and marvelled at that teams intensity and appetite for the contest

It always felt a long way from where the team was at almost any point 2017-2025.

With a number of key people (coaches, players) from 2016 still at the club, it was frustrating that that special spirit had somehow slipped from our grasp.

Each year's squad is a unique beast, occasionally there is something ephemeral that lifts a team to be greater than its parts. Not just from the leaders, but from a weird chemistry where seemingly fringe players become key.

Maybe we're seeing something similar coalesce before our eyes.

I'm probably kidding myself, but hope springs eternal.

 

[Distinctive_]

Watching live Croft and Hynes were 2 that I thought far exceeded my expectations.

Croft was shifted to the wing after McNeil went down and it freed him up to play his natural game and use his endurance. Absolutely destroyed Perez on the wing and showed lots of ticker.

Hynes also has been moved to a wing role which more fits his natural ball winning ability we’ve seen in the VFL. Still has to work on power and ball control but his running has massively improved

 

[Timewillcome]

Hawks play exactly like you would imagine a team coached by Sam Mitchell would. Nice to get a win over these over confident flogs in their harry potter hats.

 

[TiAn_]

Was really good to have Weightman back. You could feel a bit of excitement from Dogs supporters when he got the ball.

Didn’t seem to be short of a gallop either, so barring something coming to light this week might be able to chalk up a W for the decision to skip VFL.

 

[maddog37]

Hawks play exactly like you would imagine a team coached by Sam Mitchell would. Nice to get a win over these over confident flogs in their harry potter hats.

They are not exactly a bunch of tough brawlers either. Lots of outside soft types.

No idea why we look so timid against them.

 

[Iamspock]

Was really good to have Weightman back. You could feel a bit of excitement from Dogs supporters when he got the ball.

Didn’t seem to be short of a gallop either, so barring something coming to light this week might be able to chalk up a W for the decision to skip VFL.

How good would it be if he kicked a goal with the faithful there to cheer him on, on Thursday night. Raise the roof!

 

[Bulldogs85]

Coaches Votes

Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs​

10 Jai Newcombe (HAW)
7 Jarman Impey (HAW)
6 Bailey Dale

31

Bailey Dale

Age

29

Ht

188cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.2

3star

K

7.6

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

1.6

4star

MG

117.4

2star

D

9.0

2star

K

5.1

2star

HB

3.9

3star

M

2.3

2star

T

1.7

3star

MG

117.4

2star

D

8.0

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.0

3star

M

1.4

2star

T

2.0

4star

(WB)
5 Marcus Bontempelli

4

Marcus Bontempelli

Age

30

Ht

194cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.5

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

10.3

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

4.8

5star

CL

4.4

5star

D

18.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

8.8

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

4.1

5star

CL

4.0

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

6.2

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

1.8

4star

(WB)
1 Michael Sellwood (WB)
1 Josh Ward (HAW)

 

[BEaston]

Haha Bevo had to sneak one in for Mick

 

[Sentinel]

Coaches Votes

Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs​

10 Jai Newcombe (HAW)
7 Jarman Impey (HAW)
6 Bailey Dale (WB)
5 Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
1 Michael Sellwood (WB)
1 Josh Ward (HAW)

10, 10, 9, 10, 0, 10

Newcombe's coaches votes in his last 6 games against us

 

[Bald]

10, 10, 9, 10, 0, 10

Newcombe's coaches votes in his last 6 games against us

Ha what a loser he got ZERO against us once?

 

[Sentinel]

Ha what a loser he got ZERO against us once?

And a measley 4 coaches votes in the game before the 6 I mentioned.

 

[Bald]

And a measley 4 coaches votes in the game before the 6 I mentioned.

Can we delist him for them?

 

[Unorth]

10, 10, 9, 10, 0, 10

Newcombe's coaches votes in his last 6 games against us

Funny since we won, but we were also very lucky and obviously weren’t well prepared for the game. Nearly lost exactly how we usually do, save for incredibly bad goalkicking from the Hawks. While we to our credit didn’t roll over and most importantly took our chances (both of which we have a history of not doing)

If we play them in a final this year our preparation would still have to be drastically different, they would be incredibly unlikely to kick that poorly again. Wouldn’t want to try running that game back and hoping for another win.

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

Was really good to have Weightman back. You could feel a bit of excitement from Dogs supporters when he got the ball.

Didn’t seem to be short of a gallop either, so barring something coming to light this week might be able to chalk up a W for the decision to skip VFL.

If anything he looked quicker than I remember! He had a couple of chase downs where he really exploded. Great to see!

 

[Shacf501]

Was really good to have Weightman back. You could feel a bit of excitement from Dogs supporters when he got the ball.

Didn’t seem to be short of a gallop either, so barring something coming to light this week might be able to chalk up a W for the decision to skip VFL.

he only had it a dozen times but he is composed when he gets it. Makes a massive difference!

 

[fargy]

The Lewis non holding the ball call wasn’t the only unlucky one (although it was a horrible call), Weightman was stiff not to have a shot 10 metres out with a tackle on Battle.

 

[Doggy]

The Lewis non holding the ball call wasn’t the only unlucky one (although it was a horrible call), Weightman was stiff not to have a shot 10 metres out with a tackle on Battle.

Stop it, the Dawks were robbed. They are out in social media telling us so. The best was some girl complaining that Lewis and Sellwood bullied poor widdle Sicily and Watson. Apparently they deserved many 50m penalties but she was not saying the umpiring cost them the game, all while saying it did

 

[Angak]

View attachment 2632522

We do have quite a few naturally soft players, which is why players like Sellwood stand out.

In no particular order, I'd say English, Sanders, Lobb and Freijah all have a bit of a soft underbelly.