- Jun 18, 2011
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- AFL Club
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- Footscray
It was October 15 2014, still less than 3 years ago, that Griff was traded. Since then, we have been on the ride of our lives. Once derided as "irrelevant", Bevo's Bulldogs have changed the game. No longer is there an aura around the best teams in the competition. At the highest level, with the administrative emphasis on financial equality, so little separates the good from the best. Our game is 44 people running around for 2 hours with a ball than answers only to the Footy Gods. There's a lot of variables.
Belief was what 2016 was all about. I still sometimes have trouble believing it, but Belief won us a Premiership. What is this so called "Belief"? It's the difference between our team being good and being the best. Since Bev took over our best footy has been as good as anyone's. When we're on we can be unstoppable. It's all based on manic pressure, forcing the opposition into turnovers in their defensive half is how this team wins games. We can dominate time spent in forward half and with so much opportunity we could have scored much more heavily last year. We were very unlucky to finish 7th, we played plenty of top 4 footy.
I don't think there's a stat for it but last year we regularly forced kicks out on the full from kick-ins. In '15 and well into '16 Jakey was beasting around making 3 blokes fall over simultaneously. Dicko has been our most consistent forward kicking 90 goals for '15-'16 and efficient medium forwards like him are gold. But at some point last year we developed the "Chaos Theory". Instead of just swarming the opposition when they have the ball, do it when have possession too. This only works when we have Belief and it's the problem with our attack at the moment.
The forward line is too disorganized expecting the chaos ball which requires swarming the drop of the footy. This means when Belief isn't there Tory, Jake etc. struggle get enough space to offer options when we slow the ball down. We need more organization to get the forward line going again. Too often do we see the wrong option. Forwards need space to demand the ball. Resting midfielders need to get out of the way and not impact initial marking contest. Why are we kicking to Libba in the pocket with 2 defenders on him? Shouldn't happen.
Friday night was called by Bevo one of the worst games under his charge. No doubt it's concerning that "Belief" continues to be so elusive but it hasn't been too far away. The media dubbed our win over the Saints as our best game of the year so far. We won that game because we're a better side not because of Belief.
The Giants game was the best we've played all year. Giants were lucky to be in the game whilst playing good footy. Lost by 2 points to the AFL team, away, kicking 9.19. If we were remotely efficient we would have won comfortably. Belief was there that night.
"Premiership hangover" can be more eloquently described by a quote from Oscar Wilde “There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”. As a fan, last year was the pinnacle of sporting experience. When I was 16 if you asked me what my goal in life was it would be "see the dogs win a flag". To end a generation of drought with such a dramatic, inspiring and truly heartwarming performance will likely never be seen again (despite what some may assume, Dees? Saints? Roos???). For the week before the Grand Final it seemed the center of the universe by some quirk of fate decided to visit Footscray and turned our young Dogs into The Beatles. As a player that's got to play with your mind when going through the long hard slog of a new season. Where to now?
Another quote from a more eloquent poet. "Stick it right up 'em". I say it's time to believe in something else. Before the season started I thought maybe it would be "do it for Bob" or something along those lines, but no. It's time to do some sticking. Time to show who's boss. It's our turn now and put the Blues to the sword. No 3 goals down at quarter time.BS. Stick it right up 'em.
It's hard to not get dragged down by all the media doom, shame and scandal that is the AFL week. It seems this week Tadgh Kennelly thinks we've lost our identity. Cheers for that Tadgh. Just look back and see how far we've come and just how good we can be when Belief is there.
Belief was what 2016 was all about. I still sometimes have trouble believing it, but Belief won us a Premiership. What is this so called "Belief"? It's the difference between our team being good and being the best. Since Bev took over our best footy has been as good as anyone's. When we're on we can be unstoppable. It's all based on manic pressure, forcing the opposition into turnovers in their defensive half is how this team wins games. We can dominate time spent in forward half and with so much opportunity we could have scored much more heavily last year. We were very unlucky to finish 7th, we played plenty of top 4 footy.
I don't think there's a stat for it but last year we regularly forced kicks out on the full from kick-ins. In '15 and well into '16 Jakey was beasting around making 3 blokes fall over simultaneously. Dicko has been our most consistent forward kicking 90 goals for '15-'16 and efficient medium forwards like him are gold. But at some point last year we developed the "Chaos Theory". Instead of just swarming the opposition when they have the ball, do it when have possession too. This only works when we have Belief and it's the problem with our attack at the moment.
The forward line is too disorganized expecting the chaos ball which requires swarming the drop of the footy. This means when Belief isn't there Tory, Jake etc. struggle get enough space to offer options when we slow the ball down. We need more organization to get the forward line going again. Too often do we see the wrong option. Forwards need space to demand the ball. Resting midfielders need to get out of the way and not impact initial marking contest. Why are we kicking to Libba in the pocket with 2 defenders on him? Shouldn't happen.
Friday night was called by Bevo one of the worst games under his charge. No doubt it's concerning that "Belief" continues to be so elusive but it hasn't been too far away. The media dubbed our win over the Saints as our best game of the year so far. We won that game because we're a better side not because of Belief.
The Giants game was the best we've played all year. Giants were lucky to be in the game whilst playing good footy. Lost by 2 points to the AFL team, away, kicking 9.19. If we were remotely efficient we would have won comfortably. Belief was there that night.
"Premiership hangover" can be more eloquently described by a quote from Oscar Wilde “There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”. As a fan, last year was the pinnacle of sporting experience. When I was 16 if you asked me what my goal in life was it would be "see the dogs win a flag". To end a generation of drought with such a dramatic, inspiring and truly heartwarming performance will likely never be seen again (despite what some may assume, Dees? Saints? Roos???). For the week before the Grand Final it seemed the center of the universe by some quirk of fate decided to visit Footscray and turned our young Dogs into The Beatles. As a player that's got to play with your mind when going through the long hard slog of a new season. Where to now?
Another quote from a more eloquent poet. "Stick it right up 'em". I say it's time to believe in something else. Before the season started I thought maybe it would be "do it for Bob" or something along those lines, but no. It's time to do some sticking. Time to show who's boss. It's our turn now and put the Blues to the sword. No 3 goals down at quarter time.BS. Stick it right up 'em.
It's hard to not get dragged down by all the media doom, shame and scandal that is the AFL week. It seems this week Tadgh Kennelly thinks we've lost our identity. Cheers for that Tadgh. Just look back and see how far we've come and just how good we can be when Belief is there.
