Game Day JLT R1- Bulldogs vs Hawks @Mars

[Cadillac]

Was at the game and I too thought Williams and Biggs were in our best, unfortunately you don’t get the whole picture when watching it on TV.

FWIW that mark that honeychurch dropped in front of goal wasn’t his fault, that wasn’t the right kick from wood who was kicking to a smaller target.

Williams needs to seriously work on his fitness if he wants to cement a spot in the side. It’s no coincidence that he makes costly mistakes later in quarters when he is fatigued and out of gas. He made some serious errors when he had it in his hands yesterday. It will cost us big time if he does that when the real stuff starts.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Was at the game and I too thought Williams and Biggs were in our best, unfortunately you don’t get the whole picture when watching it on TV.

FWIW that mark that honeychurch dropped in front of goal wasn’t his fault, that wasn’t the right kick from wood who was kicking to a smaller target.

Right kick, wrong execution

 

[ossie_21]

That 40m odd kick from JJ to Schache who barely had to break stride was pure silk

 

[JAMES_B_101]

What intrigues me is we bought Crozier across from Fremantle. There he played predominantly forward half. We take him and say mate, you’ll be playing half back. Yesterday he basically replaced Wood. Wood went forward and looked lost.

Why would we not just play Crozier forward where he was solid enough for Freo and leave Wood back who is our most experienced back?

Thing is with Crozier, he played forward mostly at Freo but was never able to find consistency playing that role so asked for a trade. I think his skills are really well suited to half back and if he develops consistency there then that's great for us and for his career. I don't think the answer is moving Crozier back to the role he struggled to find consistency in at his previous club. I hope we play him half back and give him a great license to run off and use his long kicking all over the ground. We can throw Wood back and drop a back to the VFL or something. Want to see Crozier playing great footy at half back and locking down his spot there. Crozier/Richards combo to me is now starting to look great moving forward off half back.

 

[Dogsman16]

Unpopular Opinion time!

The problem with guys such as Dunkley, Honeychurch, Wallis and to a lesser extent Clay Smith is that they tease you as forwards. Sometimes they might kick 2 - 3 goals and it gives you hope but for the next 2-3 games they might not kick a goal. And the problem is that none of them (except for maybe Wallis which Is debatable) are IMO in the top 6 inside mids at the club (I have Bont, Macrae, Libba, Dahl, McLean and someone like Jong as the top 6) so really all of those guys are going to spend a very large chunk of game time up forward.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of picking too many of these types and would prefer playing specialist goal kickers in those roles (Dickson, Picken, Redpath, Dale) all of whom find the goal on a more regular basis.

Also get wood out of the forward line. Murphy, Boyd gone and JJ spending more time up the ground, I don’t like Wood forward.

 

[King Harold]

Unpopular Opinion time!

The problem with guys such as Dunkley, Honeychurch, Wallis and to a lesser extent Clay Smith is that they tease you as forwards. Sometimes they might kick 2 - 3 goals and it gives you hope but for the next 2-3 games they might not kick a goal. And the problem is that none of them (except for maybe Wallis which Is debatable) are IMO in the top 6 inside mids at the club (I have Bont, Macrae, Libba, Dahl, McLean and someone like Jong as the top 6) so really all of those guys are going to spend a very large chunk of game time up forward.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of picking too many of these types and would prefer playing specialist goal kickers in those roles (Dickson, Picken, Redpath, Dale) all of whom find the goal on a more regular basis.

Also get wood out of the forward line. Murphy, Boyd gone and JJ spending more time up the ground, I don’t like Wood forward.

If Wood ends up making even a reasonable forward , I will swim fron Docklands to Williamstown !

 

[ossie_21]

JLT is a good time to trial some things, but if anyone is attempting to justify moving a player who is in the top 2/3 in the league for defensive intercept marking, there’s rocks in the head.

 

[X_box_X]

Who says we will lose ?

I like your belief. It sounds familiar.

 

[maddog37]

How many of our forwards are explosive, athletic and are known for their high marking?

 

[ScragCity]

How many of our forwards are explosive, athletic and are known for their high marking?

Honeychurch

 

[maddog37]

Honeychurch

Honeychurch should be blacklisted for his haircut alone.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

Wood will play back and only occasionally further up the ground.

Watch the post match press conference. Unless Gia is totally bullshitting, they totally expect Wood forward. That’s not to say he won’t go back from time to time to help but it looks like they’ve earmarked him for regular forward time this season.

 

[Next Waiting]

Watch the post match press conference. Unless Gia is totally bullshitting, they totally expect Wood forward. That’s not to say he won’t go back from time to time to help but it looks like they’ve earmarked him for regular forward time this season.

Let's call it misdirection.

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

All about ball use.
Crozier actually played a whole season at half back for them. I thought I’d anything yesterday he looked polished with ball in hand.

Adams is a good long kick - nervous short kick
Naughton is just an ok kick and the one big area he needs to improve
Biggs and Williams were criticised for turning it over yesterday

So having a running kicker in the back half appeals. ESP with jj moving out.
Wood going fwd probably has u questioning the crozier move but just question the wood move and think they would work well together down back

That’s fair, you make a good point. I get the appeal of Wood forward. Can leap and take marks, is solid by foot (set up Honey beautifully yesterday only for him to butcher it) and you know that Wood will do his best to pressure. The thing Wood lacks is genuine forward craft which will come with time.

Just wondering because Crozier already has that forward craft. He has the marking ability. But he also probably provides a little more dash out of the backline. With JJ not back anymore we kinda need that back there.

It’s a pretty big jigsaw puzzle our side at the minute.

 

[go you pups]

Unpopular Opinion time!

The problem with guys such as Dunkley, Honeychurch, Wallis and to a lesser extent Clay Smith is that they tease you as forwards. Sometimes they might kick 2 - 3 goals and it gives you hope but for the next 2-3 games they might not kick a goal. And the problem is that none of them (except for maybe Wallis which Is debatable) are IMO in the top 6 inside mids at the club (I have Bont, Macrae, Libba, Dahl, McLean and someone like Jong as the top 6) so really all of those guys are going to spend a very large chunk of game time up forward.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of picking too many of these types and would prefer playing specialist goal kickers in those roles (Dickson, Picken, Redpath, Dale) all of whom find the goal on a more regular basis.

Also get wood out of the forward line. Murphy, Boyd gone and JJ spending more time up the ground, I don’t like Wood forward.

Correct on Honeychurch and Wallis, disagree on Dunkley, he's a barometer up there, keep him out of the ruck FFS, can recall a few games he's had as a high half forward and made an impact, Collingwood 2016, Hawthorn SF 2016 and against Brisbane last year, he was one of the few who got us out of the rut we were in at half time that day.

Smith is serviceable there at least, when the game is tight and congested and we're locking it into our forward half then that's when we'd need him.

 

[Golden_6]

A lot of us assumed that Trengove would be playing KPD but the club clearly sees him as a ruck/forward.

Where does that leave Boyd? I don’t think we can play Boyd, Trengove and Roughy together in the forward half. Not to mention Schache too.

 

[True Dog]

Don’t get the negativity around Wood playing forward, we spent the whole summer surmising who will make the transition from the back line and when we try something we can it. I like it, I think he will develop quickly, saw glimpses yesterday. Also think some should go back and watch some of the good stuff Williams did yesterday that resulted in goals..

 

[The Original Swooper]

Round 1 selection is going to be extremely hard. With all but 2 not doing themselves any disfavours for consideration in JLT 1. There are a host of players I’d expect to see in JLT 2 putting their hands up also.

Crozier, Trengove showed they are likely R1 participants. Naughty showed plenty, but we saw Young open his account in similar fashion. So 2 or 3 newbies quite possible. Considering Adams and Dunks are virtual recruits for 2018, that’s at least a quarter of the team likely to front up to start the season. Schache not out of the equation either.

Jong has missed a lot of footy, but I think his day has passed But I’ll cut him slack as 1st game back. He still seems to Hb to blokes who are under the pump.
Honeychurch has the attitude, but lacks the skill sets. He’s well down the queue as a mid, and don’t see him as a small forward.

Boyd & Red need a run. Wally and Smith need a hit out. Young seems to have been forgotten whilst the shiny new toy called Naughty takes the limelight. If Young is not selected for JLT2 he’s out of the equation. English I feel is VFL bound for most of the season to develop his craft. Williams needs to get better value from his disposal, as most else about his game coming along fine. Biggs, Williams and Crozier ( with Wood) may not all fit into a team. Dickson and Moz are probably certs, and Lippy could be in the mix if selected and plays well ( I’d prefer him to Honey) Webb will remain with Honey as depth.

Early stages, but a resurgence is seeming possible.

 

[Libba39]

A lot of us assumed that Trengove would be playing KPD but the club clearly sees him as a ruck/forward.

Where does that leave Boyd? I don’t think we can play Boyd, Trengove and Roughy together in the forward half. Not to mention Schache too.

I still think Trengove should go back. McEvoy should have clunked a few more marks insude 50 yesterday but for a touch of the pre-season fumbles. Roughy was also too strong for our smaller guys. Put Trengove in defence, along with Adams who can run, and maybe Naughton, and the backline starts to shape up.
Oh, and Wood should be down there too. Play him in his best spot which is the backline. He doesn't have the skills to snap goals or kick the from the boundary.
This is my backline for rnd 1:

FB: Wood Adams Williams
HB: Crozier Trengove Johanissen
INT: Naughton

Biggs misses out.

This leaves Boyd as Ruck-fwd swapping with Roughy, and with Trengove to roll thru as well.

 

[Roogal]

So there were a few free events around the city however not many Melbourne based bulldog people drove up for the game . Great day , I wonder why .

I think that that is a question that the AFL need to look at with the whole pre-season structure. Perhaps footy is becoming a little like the cricket with too many other things going on (tests, one day games, Sheffield Shield, T20 and BBL). Cricket is certainly feeling the pinch on the tests and one day games. Over the last few weeks the public have been smashed with AFLW and AFLX and now we have three weeks of JLT. Perhaps people becoming a little blase or not really committed to backing these other (JLT and AFLX) competitions? The support is there for the AFLW but would it be there if people were being slugged $24 to watch a AFLW game?

Only the AFL will be able to answer those questions.

 

[the dog's kennel]

Dahlhaus stays forward this year for mine, his forward pressure is invaluable

I agree - his pressure is incredible. I also feel like his constant fumbling when handling the ball places a firm ceiling on what he can do in the midfield. But in the forward line that isn't such a problem. The only problem is that Dunkley is also a high pressure, fumbly contest animal like Dahl. But unlike Dahl, Dunkley can take a mark. So you'd probably want him in the forward line too. Not sure if both together will work. Either way - too many contest beasts is a good problem to have!

For mine there isn't nearly enough McLean talk in this thread. As far as I'm concerned he showed plenty of signs that he is ready to take another step up. I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes the media favourite in our side this year.

Macrae seemed to have a little more composure too. Maybe that's just a JLT thing. But he feels like a senior player to me now.

 

[ScragCity]

I agree - his pressure is incredible. I also feel like his constant fumbling when handling the ball places a firm ceiling on what he can do in the midfield. But in the forward line that isn't such a problem. The only problem is that Dunkley is also a high pressure, fumbly contest animal like Dahl. But unlike Dahl, Dunkley can take a mark. So you'd probably want him in the forward line too. Not sure if both together will work. Either way - too many contest beasts is a good problem to have!

For mine there isn't nearly enough McLean talk in this thread. As far as I'm concerned he showed plenty of signs that he is ready to take another step up. I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes the media favourite in our side this year.

Macrae seemed to have a little more composure too. Maybe that's just a JLT thing. But he feels like a senior player to me now.

McLean is the real deal. Will be interesting to see just how good he can get. He's managed to fly under the radar for a long time but his second half of the season last year was immense.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

A lot of us assumed that Trengove would be playing KPD but the club clearly sees him as a ruck/forward.

Where does that leave Boyd? I don’t think we can play Boyd, Trengove and Roughy together in the forward half. Not to mention Schache too.

I reckon 2 out of Roughly, Trengove and Boyd play then the third fights it out with Red and Schache for a spot.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

But unlike Dahl, Dunkley can take a mark.

Dahl is actually a very good mark for his size. Was a more prominent feature of his game earlier on

 

[Randomthoughts]

I think that that is a question that the AFL need to look at with the whole pre-season structure. Perhaps footy is becoming a little like the cricket with too many other things going on (tests, one day games, Sheffield Shield, T20 and BBL). Cricket is certainly feeling the pinch on the tests and one day games. Over the last few weeks the public have been smashed with AFLW and AFLX and now we have three weeks of JLT. Perhaps people becoming a little blase or not really committed to backing these other (JLT and AFLX) competitions? The support is there for the AFLW but would it be there if people were being slugged $24 to watch a AFLW game?

Only the AFL will be able to answer those questions.

I certainly agree that the non member admission cost was way to high however this was the very first JLT game with both teams presenting with strong line ups .
Be interesting to see what the Moe crowd size is like .