Preview Season 2022 - Us and Them

[Foxman98]

Our midfield is actually one of our weaknesses. If we don't have Bont in there organising we give up a lot of cheap goals i.e Libba in the grand final and last 3 rounds.
Ruck really isn't as important of a position as everyone is making out and Tim as a foward pinch hitting before naughts killed him was doing very well and not as bad as everyone is making out.
Keath is severly underrated as is the Tim O'Brien

22

Tim O'brien

Age

30

Ht

193cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.1

3star

K

6.7

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.9

4star

MG

163.8

3star

D

5.9

1star

K

4.4

2star

HB

1.4

1star

M

2.6

3star

T

2.1

3star

MG

119.4

2star

D

7.2

2star

K

3.6

2star

HB

3.6

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

MG

307.0

5star

pick up he will have an Allir Allir type impact intercept wise and unlike Allir can use the pill its then down to Gards or Schach to fill that 2nd lockdown role.

Our other glaring issue is our small forwards flying and not crumbing but is one they can work on at training.

 

[weltschmerz]

Our midfield is actually one of our weaknesses. If we don't have Bont in there organising we give up a lot of cheap goals i.e Libba in the grand final and last 3 rounds.

Yeah, fingers crossed our new coach will help with the defensive attributes in our midfield. We have fantastic players but need a bit more of that.

 

[perro_loco]

I still have flashbacks to the last 10 minutes of the third quarter of the Grand Final.

Who or what is responsible for that (apart from Melbourne's awesome trio of midfielders) and what are we going to do to make sure it never happens again?

If we don't have an answer to that we will not be any better than second best. But maybe a few rungs below that.

I reckon Beov and his team of coaches are still having nightmares about that. They will find a way to approach that issue. The players will be the same I reckon. 2022 looks like it will be a good year. GO DOGS!!!

 

[St 07]

Don't sleep on Crozier. He's going to come back absolutely firing. Would it be robbing Peter if "Horse" ran the right wing, if Crozier is in cutting edge form and can fill his place in the backline? He and Dale link up very well already and it would continue that.

Granted, Crozier can't do what Williams does in defence offensively. But Crozier is far nastier.

 

[ossie_21]

With the first game being a Wednesday night, a lot of people are unhappy and don’t see the point in it. I agree with that, but it’s done and sooking does nothing. We just need to have the same mindset as the end of last season.

Anyone, anywhere, anytime.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

The good thing about playing the tankers round one, is both teams have a healthy list, we haven’t travelled 4000 Kim before playing them, Bevo and the boys will be filthy and Melbourne still seem to be celebrating.

 

[Leon]

Aside from it being on a Wednesday night (dafuq??) I’m looking forward to it

 

[Mr. Walker]

Ruck really isn't as important of a position as everyone is making out

I don’t agree with this. If you think about it, I feel people will agree that ruck is like the double base in an orchestra- generally you don’t notice it but if it is not there doing its thing the performance of the whole group seems off.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

I still have flashbacks to the last 10 minutes of the third quarter of the Grand Final.

Who or what is responsible for that (apart from Melbourne's awesome trio of midfielders) and what are we going to do to make sure it never happens again?

If we don't have an answer to that we will not be any better than second best. But maybe a few rungs below that.

We won’t be doing a Contiki tour of hotel quarantine for a month prior would be a start

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

I have a strong feeing that we will have an answer to that from our new midfield coach who has worked with Ross Lyon.

A bloke who can cast a stern, fresh, defensive eye on our allegedly star midfield may well be our best recruit this year.

Yep it’s about being more defensive in our midfield which is understandable when we have such a good one

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

I think people are forgetting we only just beat Brisbane in a 50/50 game. There is more improvement to come from them. Melbourne, Brisbane and us should be a level above the rest. I expect Richmond to bounce back as well.

Brisbane at home had everything going for them and should have won comfortably if they were a serious top 4 side

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

I can’t see us losing this year

i can see the demons being the Dit’s of 2017

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Brisbane at home had everything going for them and should have won comfortably if they were a serious top 4 side

They did have some best 22 players out though.

 

[Leon]

I still have flashbacks to the last 10 minutes of the third quarter of the Grand Final.

Who or what is responsible for that (apart from Melbourne's awesome trio of midfielders) and what are we going to do to make sure it never happens again?

If we don't have an answer to that we will not be any better than second best. But maybe a few rungs below that.

I haven’t watched the GF since it happened (and like you, also have Vietnam War style PTSD whenever I think about it)


But I re-watched the Preliminary Final the other day.

The manner which we snuffed out Port’s mini comeback in the 3rd quarter was sensational.

We weren‘t worried about scoring, just kept forcing stoppages until Port had ran out of steam.

Granted it was different circumstances to the GF - we only led by 3 goals in the GF and we’re well ahead in the PF - but man did we need a similar period of play in the GF in the 3rd (obviously)

Again I haven’t watched the game but I’d be interested to know if there was any directive from our coaches to slow down in the 3rd - we obviously needed to, but was it a case of us never trying to implement it, or was there a direction to slow it down but we just couldn’t because Melbourne were so red hot?

Who the hell knows.

 

[Foxman98]

I don’t agree with this. If you think about it, I feel people will agree that ruck is like the double base in an orchestra- generally you don’t notice it but if it is not there doing its thing the performance of the whole group seems off.

Outside of Gawn which top 8 side has a genuinely good ruckman? Lycett/Stanley/McInereny/Hickey/Mumford/Draper. There are a couple of decent ones there but no one spectacular you just need a competitor

 

[Optimistic Dog]

In most seasons there are at least 2 changes to the 8 last season was an exception with 4 the Pies, St Kilda, WCE and the tigers dropping out and GWS, Swans, Dees and the Bombers coming in. The only locks are Dees, Dogs and Lions and probably Port. I think the cats will and at least one of the bombers, Swans or GWS will miss the 8.

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

I keep hearing that Libba is on one knee.
If Libba goes down we are a totally different team so we need to start grooming someone to play his role.
He's the best in the business and very hard to replace.
Cast your minds back to 2020 and Libba dragged the whole team into the finals on his back...

 

[weltschmerz]

I keep hearing that Libba is on one knee.
If Libba goes down we are a totally different team so we need to start grooming someone to play his role.
He's the best in the business and very hard to replace.
Cast your minds back to 2020 and Libba dragged the whole team into the finals on his back...

Riley Garcia's a bit smaller but I really rate him as that real on-ball terrier.

 

[dergert]

Riley Garcia's a bit smaller but I really rate him as that real on-ball terrier.

If Robbie McComb can emulate what he does in the VFL, he'll be handy.

Massive ask and no way near Libba's level though

 

[Libbaaaa]

I keep hearing that Libba is on one knee.
If Libba goes down we are a totally different team so we need to start grooming someone to play his role.
He's the best in the business and very hard to replace.
Cast your minds back to 2020 and Libba dragged the whole team into the finals on his back...

We need different mid structures that don't have Libba so that we are more versatile when things aren't going our way (like in the Granny). Problem is if you haven't got Libba in the guts where does he go?

 

[bobs head soup]

I keep hearing that Libba is on one knee.
If Libba goes down we are a totally different team so we need to start grooming someone to play his role.
He's the best in the business and very hard to replace.
Cast your minds back to 2020 and Libba dragged the whole team into the finals on his back...

The player who has struggled for midfield minutes over the past 2 seasons who is cherry ripe to take on the Libba role is surely Dunkley

 

[Fossie 32]

Cody played with a foot injury so maybe an improver?

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

They did have some best 22 players out though.

They did but I put them in the same category as Geelong their home ground advantage makes them look a better side than they would otherwise be

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

Whenever Liber does go I’ll be sad. He’s probably the first player I can remember their career from start to finish.

 

[dogwatch]

Whenever Liber does go I’ll be sad. He’s probably the first player I can remember their career from start to finish.

Ben Cavarra and Will Hayes say hi (to name but a couple).

But I do get your point … Libba is more than just a sometime player for the Dogs. He represents so much of the club.