Autopsy Post 2021 Grand Final Western Bulldogs game review, the good the bad and the ugly, come talk about it here!

[Doggy Dan]

Garbage. No other team could have got near them tonight.

We ran out of gas after a month on the road.

Team has obvious deficiencies but I'm bloody proud of the fight we showed this month.

Garbage? What you are saying is trash! They had a week off, they are professional sportsman and they absolutely gave up the last 45 minutes. Not much to be proud of today.

 

[Chicago1]

I needs a hug.

 

[doggy heaven]

I’m way too emotional so will post tomorrow.

Except to say Petracca had 40. 40!!! In a ******* GF, along with two goals.

JFC maybe tag someone every once in a while.

Yep bad reflection on the coaching panel. Hell even get physical and play tempo footy.

 

[_STREET_]

Proof the AFL hates us

 

[Unorth]

Suppose that goes one of two ways with how the team responds. But now we know Melbourne are the benchmark, and have to figure out how we're going to top that ourselves.

Martin just didn't have one more game left in him.

Fretting over which of Cordy or Gardner plays shows just how dire that position is for us.

In a certain sense I don't think MD is entirely wrong when he (suddenly appears) to s**t on our defense. Keath and Duryea are elite at actually defending. That's it. I know the run and drive out of the backline is part of Bev's identity as a coach but we need to be able to better deal with losing centre clearances. You won't want to plan for failure but there has to be a contingency there. Our general midfield dominance throughout the season helped a lot in keeping our score against low. Keath needs a partner in crime like May has with Lever. Getting Crozier back in form would help a lot also.

Anyway. I think Roarke can hold his head high. He's gone from a melt-inducing selection to finding a real niche for himself on this team. Good on him.

 

[BIG_BONTS]

A lot of players really embarrassed themselves tonight, and have done their reputation as an AFL footballer irreputable damage.

Can see some of them at Deer Park next year.

Easy on Deer Park mate

 

[mambavino]

We’ve gone from what was absolutely a winning position to a losing position in the space of 10 minutes. That killed us, and there was absolutely things we could do at the centre bounce set up to limit that damage. You can support the lads and also be pretty bloody unhappy with that outcome. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

[Oliver G]

Great effort to make the GF, but that last 1.5 quarters was down to much more than losing the ruck battle.

I hope this doesn't sound negative but I'm generally interested as to what you think it was if it wasn't primarily the ruck and centre set up?

We just let them walk it out of the centre almost identical to what happened in the R21 Essendon game.

I also reckon our forward entries were generally poor especially in the first quarter.

 

[ossie_21]

We choked, no doubt about it.

We had a hand on the cup and Bont was set for the Norm smith after taking control of the 2nd quarter.

3 goals in 2 minutes was a disaster, how the * it got worse from there is inexcusable.

I just don’t know what else to say, we absolutely stopped and then embarrassed ourselves. 12+ goal loss has now set us back a few years from what could have been a dynasty.

 

[Dogs Rule]

Proof the AFL hates us

Look we were preordained in 2016, Melbourne in 2021. That ends next year. The drought is over. The concessions and free ride are gone.

 

[Bazzas Lovechild]

Doubt English will have much trade currency now anyway. His exposed form is poor over a long period. May as well hang on to him and hope a miracle happens.

 

[Oliver G]

We choked, no doubt about it.

We had a hand on the cup and Bont was set for the Norm smith after taking control of the 2nd quarter.

3 goals in 2 minutes was a disaster, how the fu** it got worse from there is inexcusable.

I just don’t know what else to say, we absolutely stopped and then embarrassed ourselves. 12+ goal loss has now set us back a few years from what could have been a dynasty.

And they say I'm bad.

 

[doggy heaven]

I mostly put that at the feet of the coaches TBH.

Absolutely. Embarrassing coaching performance and 4 or 5 who need to go

 

[Dogs Rule]

We choked, no doubt about it.

We had a hand on the cup and Bont was set for the Norm smith after taking control of the 2nd quarter.

3 goals in 2 minutes was a disaster, how the fu** it got worse from there is inexcusable.

I just don’t know what else to say, we absolutely stopped and then embarrassed ourselves. 12+ goal loss has now set us back a few years from what could have been a dynasty.

There are two ways this goes. It either burns and spurs us on or it kills us. It should burn all summer and we should come out possessed next year.

 

[AltonaBoy]

I hope this doesn't sound negative but I'm generally interested as to what you think it was if it wasn't primarily the ruck and centre set up?

We just let them walk it out of the centre almost identical to what happened in the R21 Essendon game.

I also reckon our forward entries were generally poor especially in the first quarter.

Exactly. Once any team gets a hold of the ball they just run out of the centre with no competition. We have mids who use the ball well but they are slow as f***. Libba has knee issues but wtf is with the other guys. Jump on a f***ken treadmill. That’s how we lost the Sydney game and also how we lost the Essendon game.

 

[Mattdougie]

The deficiencies some have spoken about all year bit us on the a$$ tonight. Wonder where the told you so crew will Be?

You will not be in flags with a below average backline that only functions when the midfield dominate.

Anyway, good base to build on. Let’s see what trade week holds for us

 

[Mofra]

Anyway. I think Roarke can hold his head high. He's gone from a melt-inducing selection to finding a real niche for himself on this team. Good on him.

He was in our best couple of players tonight. The last month has been the best football he's played.

 

[Triple Baileys]

Congrats to the Dees, clearly the best side not just on the day but across the season.

We really lost this in a short period in the third quarter when their mids went beserk repeatedly at the centre bounces. The blow out in the 4th quarter was just us essentially conceding a game that was clearly lost.

I think we were too attacking in our centre bounce set up when they turned it on. We should have at least been making them kick quickly around the corner and the like. Instead, all our mids seemed to get forward of the play, leaving them to rush the ball in numbers their way. With some rinse and repeat, coupled with some mediocre ruck work on our part, game over.

Something to work on for next season and during the recruiting period over the next 3 to 6 months.

 

[Struggle]

If you're throwing English out based on tonight, you better be sending about 5 or 6 others with him

 

[Mutt]

Doubt English will have much trade currency now anyway. His exposed form is poor over a long period. May as well hang on to him and hope a miracle happens.

That's just not how the AFL player market works...but whatever...

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Im still trying to figure out if we made any changes in the centre of the ground when Petracca and Oliver took over the game with that blistering final 10 minutes of the 3rd. All I recall and Im not going to ever view it again is that we had Libba on the defensive side and the rest of our mids at or around the ruck mans feet. Once the ball was knocked wide of the centre circle which was clearly a deliberate process on Melbournes behalf. Well...we know the rest.

Anyways, Petracca and Oliver were both phenomenally aggressive and just way too good for us from that point on. Im not sure that any coaching move by Beveridge would've had an effect. I dont know if we finally run out of puff or it all just got a little too hard for our mids, but those two in particular just tore us a new arse. From then on it was just an avalanche that completely buried our defence.

Im not going to freak out and call for the heads of all and sundry at the club. Apparently there are worse things in the world than losing a grand final to a red hot and very complete side. Its just that right now Im struggling to think of anything. Perhaps in a few months...

 

[stefcep]

Yes, I'm not sure what other level he has to his game.

More strength and aggression.

I hope this doesn't sound negative but I'm generally interested as to what you think it was if it wasn't primarily the ruck and centre set up?

We just let them walk it out of the centre almost identical to what happened in the R21 Essendon game.

I also reckon our forward entries were generally poor especially in the first quarter.

IMO all of that starts and ends with the coaching box.

 

[Hobdog]

It was an embarrassment, we leaked 14 goals in a row.

If I wasn’t so lazy I’d go out in the dark and take down my flags and bunting in the garden.

It is embarrassing and no positivity about the future or anything else can detract from the fact that we were controlling a game of football in our half before shitting the bed and conceding 15 goals or whatever it was. What a bloody mess.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Peter Wallis]

I think tonight highlighted that Wood's days are surely over, lost his pace & Fritsch embarrassed him.
Martin is a stop gap short term fix but we desperately need a younger & fitter option, English aint it.
Cordy was again exposed 1 on 1 & I'm not sure Gardner is any better.
Not sure where we will get Ruckman & intercepting defender from in the short term given our lack of trade & draft pick options this year.
Hopefully Richards can have a decent run at it next year and add some pace to our side.

 

[TheBont]

I just had some post game Belgian waffles with maple syrup and coffee so I’m feeling better now.
Bad luck to the boys. An admirable feat to even get to the granny. Centre bounces killed us so I hope next season we can finally address it somehow.

On to next season.
#COYS