Autopsy The Good (lol!) The Bad and the Beveridge.

[Libbaaaa]

How about weightman goes out until he learns to play like a small play Lobb Darcy Naughton jamarra Clarke and west that forward line actually, and have the smalls in the middle full forward and chf, play the talls as forward pockets and high half forwards so there are 2 seperated focal points going forward instead of the traditional one, just a thought

I miss Cody from 2021. Yes he would still sit on someones head (Hi Maxy) but he earned his spot in the side by being a forward 50 menace.

 

[doggies ftw]

I miss Cody from 2021. Yes he would still sit on someone’s head (Hi Maxy) but he earned his spot in the side by being a forward 50 menace.

Clearly this is not being expected from him though? If he’s being instructed to play one way and he’s not doing that, then surely he’d have been dropped by now? Basically when it comes to Cody either were incompetent in setting & demanding non-negotiables and are continuing to give him a free ride on not meeting them. Or we’re incompetent in what we’re asking from him? Either way…

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Fleas not a small forward. He’s a medium, Bailey Fritch/Jamie Elliott type marking fwd who happens to be ok at ground level.

How is it 5 years in to his career and some supporters still don’t know what type of footballer he is??

 

[Frewy]

I miss Cody from 2021. Yes he would still sit on someones head (Hi Maxy) but he earned his spot in the side by being a forward 50 menace.

Poor guy hasn't had any room to move since Rd 21, 2022, I'm surprised he hasn't got claustrophobia with JUH, Naughton and Lobb/Darcy all playing in the same forward line.

 

[Timewillcome]

How about weightman goes out until he learns to play like a small play Lobb Darcy Naughton jamarra Clarke and west that forward line actually looks dangerous, and have the smalls in the middle full forward and chf, play the talls as forward pockets and high half forwards so there are 2 seperated focal points going forward instead of the traditional one, just a thought

This is the problem with Cody isnt it. West has been more effective around goal so far this season with practice games included than Weightman, purely because he stays down and provides an option when the ball comes to ground. Cody flying for the ball should only be an option when the others are not in range to make the contest.

Its be a problem for a year or two, nothing changes.

 

[doggies ftw]

My favourite twist so far is now Cody, whose our only elite set shot, has finally joined the party and is now spraying em. Awesome

 

[Mofra]

I miss Cody from 2021. Yes he would still sit on someones head (Hi Maxy) but he earned his spot in the side by being a forward 50 menace.

2021 Bailey Smith is more than welcome to come back too.

 

[BulldogMuscle]

2021 Bailey Smith is more than welcome to come back too.

Just how about the whole 2021 team and gameplan up until about round 18 and Bruce’s ACL?

 

[Anja_Nees]

Just how about the whole 2021 team and gameplan up until about round 18 and Bruce’s ACL?

The game plan from EF to Prelim was pretty solid too.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Just how about the whole 2021 team and gameplan up until about round 18 and Bruce’s ACL?

How we play hasn’t changed much since 2021. It’s the execution that’s turned to s**t. We’re a shell of the team, psychologically, that played out that season.

 

[Mr. Walker]

Fleas not a small forward. He’s a medium, Bailey Fritch/Jamie Elliott type marking fwd who happens to be ok at ground level.

How is it 5 years in to his career and some supporters still don’t know what type of footballer he is??

It doesn't matter what type of player he is - you will never find "spoiling your teammates marking attempts" in the position KPIs. That is my complaint against Cody

 

[BulldogMuscle]

How we play hasn’t changed much since 2021. It’s the execution that’s turned to s**t. We’re a shell of the team, psychologically, that played out that season.

Maybe if the way we play hasn't changed in 3 years that in and of itself is a major problem? Collingwood seem to be playing their 2023 style right now and they are being found out big time. Competition changes and adapts quicker than what people realize.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Maybe if the way we play hasn't changed in 3 years that in and of itself is a major problem? Collingwood seem to be playing their 2023 style right now and they are being found out big time. Competition changes and adapts quicker than what people realize.

It doesn’t change that quickly.

Brisbane playing similar the last 4+ years, the Dees too since their flag year, the Tigers have played almost the same style since their first flag last decade and that was 8 years ago and a change of coach. Geelong similar for almost all of Scott’s coaching stint. Port another.

All have had varying periods of succcessful seasons, some just without winning a flag.

The difference is how they execute their football. The pies will be there a bouts come the end of the year and that’s playing the same way they did in Rd’s 1 and 2 and all of last year. They’ll just get it together eventually.

Teams can’t just change how they play season to season as their so much that goes in to developing a decent system. Changing it every year will see your team drop to the bottom of the ladder pretty quickly.

I said it back in 2022. Our biggest issue is we don’t execute our good football for long enough periods in games, and it’s becoming clearer now for most supporters it’s because we’re a mentally piss weak team and drop our bundle when things don’t go our way. The sooner that’s sorted out, the sooner we can get back to playing good football. As it stands, it may need to come by way of appointing a new coach.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

It doesn't matter what type of player he is - you will never find "spoiling your teammates marking attempts" in the position KPIs. That is my complaint against Cody

It kind of does when supporters want him to play as a small forward when he’s not a small forward.

All flying for the same mark isn’t how forwards are meant to go about it, I agree. I suspect our coaches like our forwards to play with a bit of freedom, but at times it creates chaos inside 50.

 

[Thunderoad]

Fleas not a small forward. He’s a medium, Bailey Fritch/Jamie Elliott type marking fwd who happens to be ok at ground level.

How is it 5 years in to his career and some supporters still don’t know what type of footballer he is??

Agree with your categorisation of Cody but I don't think he can play like that in a forward structure with three talls.

Either he modifies his game to fit the current structure, as good professionals should be able to do, or we change the structure to accommodate his natural game.

The coaching staff and Cody himself, seem to be reluctant to do either of those things.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Fleas not a small forward. He’s a medium, Bailey Fritch/Jamie Elliott type marking fwd who happens to be ok at ground level.

How is it 5 years in to his career and some supporters still don’t know what type of footballer he is??

Anybody paying attention shouldn't need a beady eyed dolt like David King to point this out.

Cody's problem is that like the other marking talls with perhaps the exception of Naughton he isn't great at applying pressure when the ball is in the oppositions hands. This leaves a big load on the shoulders of the two guys playing the role of small forwards and the mids who need to quickly shift position to provide coverage. Thus leaving us wide open to being sidelined in a game of checkers that we're supposed to be playing.

It's all well and good to have 4 genuine marking targets in the forward line at once, that is until the ball is streaming out of our forward half with ease. As it has for the last few years. In my view it goes a long way to explaining why teams have little trouble getting run-ons of consecutive goals. We are a terrible defensive team whether it's our opponents coming out of our forward line, out of the centre or deep in our own defence. Where only Jones and Richards can be relied upon to guard their direct opponent effectively.

Im not sure who's in charge of stoppages and defensive setups at the club but he needs to be loaded into a cannon and fired into Uranus.

 

[redmania]

Same same and rinse and repeat. For the talent we have we consistently underperform because of coaching and structure. We are outsmarted on the training ground and in the box game day. It's only some individual brilliance that we win.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Cody isn't either a running-toward-the-goal-in-open-space nor is he a natural reader of the ball off packs (further diminished by the fact that he often flies, rather than tries to read the ball off packs) as well. Even when he has good games, it's beacuse he's successful at leading up at the ball and timing leads.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Fleas not a small forward. He’s a medium, Bailey Fritch/Jamie Elliott type marking fwd who happens to be ok at ground level.

How is it 5 years in to his career and some supporters still don’t know what type of footballer he is??

He's a medium forward who had an elite pressure game in 2021, where has that disappeared too?

 

[doggies ftw]

Yeah Cody was an absolute terrier when he came into the side, did not let up on the opposition just chased and chased and chased. Thats what his early success was built on and the marks & goals followed.

He’s a pretty smart, humble dude. Zero ego - I can’t see him not playing the role he’s instructed to play tbh. Something doesn’t add up

 

[scratchie]

Melbourne v Bulldogs RD1 - Observations

What happened to Bontempelli?
At half-time leading Dream Team player on the ground with 70 points. 3QT score at 72, finishes game with 90.
My Bontempelli on one leg scores more than 20 dream team points in a half of footy.

Tim English - Needs to find some aggression. He was soft, hesitant, indecisive and fumbling. The body language is so tentative I want to hit him. It's an invitation for Gawn to dominate. Compare that to Grundy the previous week. Grundy was no more effective than English early in the Swans v Demons game. But he kept pushing and bumping Gawn, he got in his way at every opportunity, did whatever he could to disrupt him. By the end Gawn tired, second guessed himself and virtually gave up. Now Grundy got lucky. His dominance of Gawn was over-stated but there is no doubt he got into Gawn's head and reduced his effectiveness.
Now did our coaches review Grundy's performance against Gawn? Did they have a plan for how Tim would approach the most important match-up in this game? There is no evidence to show that they did. Tim played it the way he has always played it against Gawn - meekly and mildly.

McNeil - Firstly, he has got the most out of himself. He puts his best foot forward. It's not his fault that he does not possess AFL level qualities. It's also not his fault that he is repeatedly given games that he should not be given.
Beveridge's defense will be that he does not have a better deep forward small option than McNeil and he is right. McNeil has shown more than the alternatives. But Mc Neil has no further upside, he has no weapons: He is neither particularly quick, nor elusive. He is not elite at crumbing, not a sharp- shooter, his pressure output is average, and physically he is pushed aside. Where on earth is the upside? There is not one. McNeil will never be selected in an AFL premiership side. So what is the point? Playing McNeil is negligent.

Give Arthur Jones those games. He may or may not make it, but he does have the attributes. We can all accept 6 to 12 crap games from him because the upside is self-evident. McNeil's 12-14 possessions do nothing for us, even when they were to come without clangers. If Arthur has 12-14 possessions it will change the game. This is the height of idiocy from Beveridge.

And if Arthur needs a spell in the VFL, don't go back to McNeil give Bendendo or Clarke or try someone from left field - there is nothing to lose. Stop doing the same crap that doesn't work expecting a different result. I remember early in Beveridge's tenure - he gave Ace Cordy 6 consecutive crap games to prove himself. He couldn't and we moved him on. McNeil has had his chances, move on.

Vandermeer
He gets games because we lack pace. He can be aggressive and impactful. But he just does not get enough of the ball and is error prone like McNeil. I wouldn't entirely give up on him but he needs to go back into the reserves and consistently improve his output. He is a 10-13 possession player - it's just not enough. He needs to go back to the VFL and become a 25-possession player at that level before he plays another senior game. Then, maybe the positives might outweigh the negatives.

Gallagher
I was pleasantly surprised. Watching him go onto the ball late in the game he showed a bit. Had the gait of something between M.Boyd and L.Picken. Plucky, has a nice awareness in traffic you can't teach.

Brambles - just nice

West - nice game from limited opportunities. His delivery to forward targets whilst under pressure has been a feature during the preseason and this game. I was surprised he too wasn't given at least a brief run in the middle. He has shown that he is stronger in the core than he has been and is able to shrug tacklers.

Naughton
Sometimes an opponent has the better of you. May is to Naughton, what Rampe is to Stringer and what McVeigh was to Brad Johnson

Brad Johnson

Age

47

Ht

182cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.7

5star

K

14.1

5star

HB

5.6

4star

M

5.9

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

1.5

5star

No current season stats available

D

12.8

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

2.6

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

1.2

3star

G

0.6

3star

. Beveridge must know this but there is no plan B. I don't know why you wouldn't do something to help Naughton disrupt May. Could you play Naughton as a false wingman who coasts into the forward catching May unawares or running him ragged around the middle of the ground and catching him out of position by charging into an open forward line. Or as other have said, maybe you just play him in defense for this game.
Whatever, do something FFS.

BEST: U-HAGAN, BRAMBLES, JJ, RICHARDS, LIBER, WEST, GALLAGHER

WORST: BEVERIDGE AND MATCH DAY COACHES

As bad as we were, if English nails those two easy opportunities early in the 3rd Q and Bont does not go missing - we may have seen a grand stand finish to this game. But every time we threatened one of our players would commit a terrible clanger.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

He's a medium forward who had an elite pressure game in 2021, where has that disappeared too?

I don’t disagree. He’s just not playing to that level at the moment.

Can also be said about the rest of the team.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Anybody paying attention shouldn't need a beady eyed dolt like David King to point this out.

Cody's problem is that like the other marking talls with perhaps the exception of Naughton he isn't great at applying pressure when the ball is in the oppositions hands. This leaves a big load on the shoulders of the two guys playing the role of small forwards and the mids who need to quickly shift position to provide coverage. Thus leaving us wide open to being sidelined in a game of checkers that we're supposed to be playing.

It's all well and good to have 4 genuine marking targets in the forward line at once, that is until the ball is streaming out of our forward half with ease. As it has for the last few years. In my view it goes a long way to explaining why teams have little trouble getting run-ons of consecutive goals. We are a terrible defensive team whether it's our opponents coming out of our forward line, out of the centre or deep in our own defence. Where only Jones and Richards can be relied upon to guard their direct opponent effectively.

Im not sure who's in charge of stoppages and defensive setups at the club but he needs to be loaded into a cannon and fired into Uranus.

Cody’s capable at ground level, it’s just not his MO.

There’s no excuse for any of our forwards outside of Marra and Lobb to not apply any ground level pressure as they all have done so in the past and can do it.

Why doesn’t it happen? Could be various reasons, but I reckon it’s tied in with how the rest of the team plays, which is lazy if things don’t go their way.

 

[yebach]

I don’t disagree. He’s just not playing to that level at the moment.

Can also be said about the rest of the team.

Serious question Charlie.

Do you think he's lost the players?

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Serious question Charlie.

Do you think he's lost the players?

Losing if not lost. And I don’t mean losing as in they want him out, it’s about the effectiveness of his messaging and the player buy in. They just don’t seem to react to the coach/es in a positive way. We can see it with the lack of intensity and lack of drive in games.

Writing was on the wall two seasons back. I can’t see it turning round now if Rd 1 is what was delivered after so many changes and promises were made in the off season. It just doesn’t play out like that if everything is going well.