Autopsy Rolled over to Freo after leading by 41 at qtr time, what's wrong @ the kennel?

[Oliver G]

I thought Roarke did alright considering.

He stands up in big games unlike some of our others.

Thought he started slow but one was one of the few that was very good in the second half.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Treloar arriving at the end when we already outnumbered them 4 to 2 in the dumb skirmish was akin to the last clown piling out of the clown car - all whilst Bevo is in the background tearing his hair out and Fremantle take the ball out of the +3 contest and hit the lead for the first time. Utterly comical.

Its a fine line, but its not one that you want 3 of your most senior midfielders to cross when the game is absolutely in the balance and the umpires are going to look to get the ball back into play as quickly as possible. Things may've been different if The Bont, Dunkley and Treloar were on the field of play contesting the ball or at least filling holes and not leaving the defenders on the back foot and exposed. Let alone Richards being 100 metres away from goal.

I dont think it would be an exaggeration to know what was going through Richards' mind at this point. It would've been. 'Oh *! Oh *! Oh *!!!!'

Looking at this image in insolation. I'd bet anything that Williams had left his man to make his way over to the fracas. Only to be left in no mans land with the ball sailing over his head and exposing Cordy to an unwindable two on one contest where the ball was coming in lace out.

It was a colossal error of judgement by all involved. One that perfectly encapsulated the 3 previous qtrs of at times inept buffoonery.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Grand Final pain still lingers as another Perth collapse bites Dogs

The elimination final loss to Fremantle comes barely 12 months after giving up a significant lead in the Grand Final at the same venue

www.afl.com.au

''WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge admits he's not sure if his side ever got over the trauma from last year's Grand Final defeat after its disappointing season ended at the hands of Fremantle on Saturday night.''

I was willing to give Bevo the benefit of the doubt, I'm not in the 4 walls, I don't know what happens behind the scenes, but this right here, is not even excusable anymore.

Fans across BigFooty, Woof and WB-Discord were saying before this season started that the club simply ignoring the trauma from the grand final was a mistake, it has been mentioned in this thread several times over the last 24 hours, and now not even 24 hours later our head coach is going ''hmm yeah maybe we should of maybe addressed that 70+ POINT THRASHING IN A GRAND FINAL THAT MAYBE HAD SOME LINGERING DAMAGE TO THE TEAMS PSYCH''

He is incompetent. Straight up incompetent and there is no excusing the fact that the HEAD COACH couldn't get our team right mentally, that's his ******* job afterall.

President and CEO need to step in here and do something about this, the lack of reviewing from our grand final should be a sackable offense, this entire season now falls on Bevo's shoulders for me, and I can very much see why our other assistant coaches all walked away so late in the pre-season.

And yet, look at other teams that experienced GF defeats and then really sank for the next year/s. (Except Geelong ) It shouldn’t have been that unexpected. How many have since changed coach?

Season	Premier	Runner Up	Score
2021	Melbourne	Western Bulldogs	21.14 (140) d 10.6 (66)
2020	Richmond	Geelong	12.9 (81) d 7.8 (50)
2019	Richmond	GWS Giants	17.12 (114) d 3.7 (25)
2018	West Coast Eagles	Collingwood	11.13 (79) d. 11.8 (74)
2017	Richmond	Adelaide	16.12 (108) d. 8.12 (60)
2016	Western Bulldogs	Sydney	13.11 (89) d. 10.7 (67)
2015	Hawthorn	West Coast Eagles	16.11 (107) d. 8.13 (61)
2014	Hawthorn	Sydney	21.11 (137) d. 11.8 (74)
2013	Hawthorn	Fremantle	11.11 (77) d. 8.14 (62)

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Meanwhile you hardly ever see guys like Macrae or Hunter directing team mates. We missed Libba badly imo, he's basically our spiritual vice captain.

They are both allegedly very vocal onfield. Hunter has been called an onfield coach.

 

[Custard Guts]

Cursed image.

 

[_STREET_]

Sack the coach

 

[ScragCity]

As a neutral the loss of Libba was huge, plenty to look forward to for the dogs. Elite talent on the list

When a North Melbourne supporter gives you a consolatory pat on the back you know you ****ed up bad.

 

[HK_Bulldog]

Serious question, does JUH need an eye test? The way he constantly runs under the ball makes me think his vision is a bit off.

Sent from my SM-A725F using Tapatalk

He’s not strong enough yet. Gets pushed under the ball by defenders. Happened to Darcy all night as well.

 

[Whoyagot]

The criticisms of Bontempelli are ridiculous. He can't do it all himself. He's one bloke. He does everything a human could to inspire the team and get us over the line.

People comparing his leadership to Hodge forgetting about Mitchell, Roughead, Burgoyne, McEvoy, etc lol

 

[Some Idiot]

Reflecting on the game I think one of the biggest disappointments is that their defensive system simply worked far better than ours (After Quarter time of course). Whether that's due to personnel or gameplan isn't clear - I suspect it is a bit of both. Given our defensive system has been easy to penetrate for teams once they get a bit of momentum going all year - it will be key to address this - Improving tactics and adding key personnel should be a part of our off season strategy.

 

[grassman75]

My goodness, calm down everyone!

Our attacking best is clearly up there with the best in the comp, but our game style hasn’t evolved enough from last year and we have become a bit predictable. We can’t win it every year, and we just weren’t good enough.

We can’t doubt the players’ efforts. They busted a gut, and fell short. It’s because teams have done the analysis on us and run to the places our game plan is vulnerable to.

Things are never as good or as bad as they seem on the outline, the margin for perfection is so slim. The coach will know what needs to change, and they will make changes. It will be in playing group and

Some observations from me:

• we have looked poor on the HBF and wings all year. Hunter, Crozier, Williams, Daniel, and to a degree Treloar isn’t effective in attack in recent times, and is very weak defensively.
• forward line has more or less been effective, but we have a tendency to have mr fixits in important roles too often (West, Roarke Smith, JJ, Darcy, to name a few). That could be forced, or by design, but I think it isn’t the hallmark of a consistent champion team.
• clearly deficient in KPB roles against a monster, but frankly the speed at which the ball comes as teams pick us apart on the wings means they seldom stand a chance. Gardner and Cordy have probably out performed in reality
• Bont, McCrae, Libba combo still effective but in reality it is beginning to be an ageing group. Dunkley, Treloar and Smith rotating through is not consistently effective yet

We virtually had a clean list, but weren’t good enough this year. That’s OK, it happens. I know it’s frustrating, but that’s footy. We can’t doubt the players’ or coaches’ effort, we were just the 9th best team in the comp in what has been a year with extraordinary top 8 team quality (I would include Carlton in that before they soiled the bed).

There are some names to consider if they’re in what we need anymore or can achieve heights of past glories: there are clearly about 10-12 on our list that need to be recycled out, which can’t happen in one season. I would export a bit of a rebuild to start now so we can have another tilt in 3-4 years before our current middle aged stars become too old

3-4 years is too long. Our window is now. This year was poor but we still played a final. I'm happy we made it as it's valuable experience for the likes of JUH and Darcy.

I agree with what a lot are saying re: Bevo and his lack of Plan B. For a coach who is so hellbent on having players who are flexible, he really doesn't use that flexibility on game day. I know it's easy to say from the outside as I reckon he's carrying a knee niggle but Naughton should have gone back even for a short period to open up the fwd line and get him into the game.

I still think Bevo is the right coach, he's just got to take a step back and listen to others and not be such a stubborn bastard

 

[Al dente]

Player Ratings

LOL VDM and supersub McComb

 

[D Mitchell]

...

Again he has looked like our most dangerous forward since the Melbourne win.

Since the Melbourne win, he's played 5 games including last night and scored goals in 2 of them, a total of 3. In the last 4 games, he's kicked 1 goal and none for 2 weeks. The much criticised Vandermeer has similarly kicked 1, none for 3 weeks although played in 4 games. The despaired of Bruce 1, none for 3 weeks although played 3 games. Johannisen has kicked 3 but has only played in 2 games. The preferred (to Vandermeer) West didn't goal in his last 3 games. Weightman has scored 9 goals including 2 bags of 3. Naughton 7 including 2 bags of 3. On those stats alone, he is our least dangerous forward with the possible exception of West. What is it that leads you to conclude that Ugle-Hagan has looked like our most dangerous forward ?

 

[Fossie 32]

Player Ratings

LOL VDM and supersub McComb

Gards rated 3rd best

 

[cecil]

Since the Melbourne win, he's played 5 games including last night and scored goals in 2 of them, a total of 3. In the last 4 games, he's kicked 1 goal and none for 2 weeks. The much criticised Vandermeer has similarly kicked 1, none for 3 weeks although played in 4 games. The despaired of Bruce 1, none for 3 weeks although played 3 games. Johannisen has kicked 3 but has only played in 2 games. The preferred (to Vandermeer) West didn't goal in his last 3 games. Weightman has scored 9 goals including 2 bags of 3. Naughton 7 including 2 bags of 3. On those stats alone, he is our least dangerous forward with the possible exception of West. What is it that leads you to conclude that Ugle-Hagan has looked like our most dangerous forward ?

Eyes that don't see colour

 

[Philthy1]

Player Ratings

LOL VDM and supersub McComb

JUH, Weightman, Darcy and Naughton all with low ratings as well. That’s the entire forward line. No wonder we scored 18 points in three quarters

 

[doggy heaven]

The criticisms of Bontempelli are ridiculous. He can't do it all himself. He's one bloke. He does everything a human could to inspire the team and get us over the line.

The point everybody misses l think is even though Bont is our best player does not make him our best option as a captain. Selwood and Cotchin arent the best players at their clubs but are outstanding leaders (begrudgingly written). We just dont have the hard edge they have

 

[D Mitchell]

JUH, Weightman, Darcy and Naughton all with low ratings as well. That’s the entire forward line. No wonder we scored 18 points in three quarters

2 goals between those 4. 2 shots more. A goal or 2 from the 2 talls would have got us over the line.

 

[ScragCity]

The point everybody misses l think is even though Bont is our best player does not make him our best option as a captain. Selwood and Cotchin arent the best players at their clubs but are outstanding leaders (begrudgingly written). We just dont have the hard edge they have

He is quite easily our best option as captain. There's no one on our list who would be half the captain that he is. I get that we all want to tilt at windmills right now, but Bont is the only part of our team and club that I can safely say isn't failing us. As for Cotchin, is he even still the Captain?

 

[grassman75]

Cursed image.

Looks like me telling my kids to go the * to bed

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Part of the problem with losing Duryea but not picking another defender is that it made it so inflexible to a) either play a loose man to protect the lead or b) get Richards to the wing or half-forward because they were clearly making an effort to isolate him deep in defence and put in work to stop him.

That's Bevo's stubbornness at play. Everyone has a role, we pick bad players because he plays "the role" and then when things don't go our way, we lack flexibility to change roles and do things different. Who gives a stuff that we don't normally float a loose in defence. Being 41 points up in a final is when you make the game miserable and you do.

Freo had the balls to pick Amiss for a 2nd game. We should have had the balls to pick someone like Cleary who could have done the same. Or pick Scott instead of Vandermeer who we could have floated to defence as Scott has done relatively often in his career.

 

[The Inbetweener]

Do people have this as a worse loss than our 2019 and 2020 elimination final losses?

All 3 extremely disappointing for different reasons. Although we probably had more chance of going deeper in 19 and 20, it has to be this year given how much we were up by. Biggest finals comeback in 29 years…

 

[Gift]

Part of the problem with losing Duryea but not picking another defender is that it made it so inflexible to a) either play a loose man to protect the lead or b) get Richards to the wing or half-forward because they were clearly making an effort to isolate him deep in defence and put in work to stop him.

That's Bevo's stubbornness at play. Everyone has a role, we pick bad players because he plays "the role" and then when things don't go our way, we lack flexibility to change roles and do things different. Who gives a stuff that we don't normally float a loose in defence. Being 41 points up in a final is when you make the game miserable and you do.

Freo had the balls to pick Amiss for a 2nd game. We should have had the balls to pick someone like Cleary who could have done the same. Or pick Scott instead of Vandermeer who we could have floated to defence as Scott has done relatively often in his career.

Bailey Williams went back for Duryea and Mclean took his wing position.

Walters was just too good on the lead on counters and was able to get into better positions than Richards.

I agree with your loose man strategy. Our midfield was clearly winning, but we needed an extra back there to slow the game in the last quarter and a half since Freo were trying to fast play to open up their forward line.

I personally would have moved Sam Darcy into defence on Amiss half way through the third quarter when he was clearly getting beat by Cox. Then move one of Dale/Richards/Williams on the wing to play loose in defence or potentially free up Cordy so that English didnt have to follow Sean Darcy into our defence so that he remains a marking option in the midfield instead of us bombing long to no one.

Or we could have just played Schache forward instead of one of Darcy/Ugle Hagan or West/Scott/Mcneil instead of Vandermeer which would have got the win.

All hindsight talking though.

 

[glenashley]

Usual story.

If you told me last week we'd go down by 2 goals to the Dockers, I'd probably say 'fair result'.

It's just the nature of these loses that is so infuriating!

 

[Wetdog]

I don’t think we should throw the baby (Bevo) out with the bath water yet.

Beveridge needs a rest, and we need to get an elite group of football coaches around him.

Look at Sydney. John Longmire has support and assistance from Dean Cox

Dean Cox

Age

42

Ht

203cm

Wt

107kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.9

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.3

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

0.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

13.0

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.0

1star

, Jarred McVeigh, Don Pyke and Tom Harley as head of footy. We need this calibre of people to support and challenge Beveridge.

If we can find the right personnel in the footy department, and hit refresh on Beveridge, find a decent ruckman and backman, then I’m happy to back him in if he is committed for the next 24 months.

But if we have another 12 months of this rubbish, I’m happy to say farewell to Beveridge. Maybe it would benefit both parties if he headed down Moorabbin way.

Beveridge’s record is obviously excellent in the context our history, but expectations should be high given our list.