Review Well played Bullies! Finals here we come.

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Bulldogs Legend

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 18, 2015
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I thought the game has evolved and intercept marking defenders are more valuable. Must be wrong, would refer Ryan over Barass, Mcovering, Howe etc. yes he spoiled well but this is all he can do. I would prefer someone who could take an intercept mark.
Not every player can be a McGovern and most great teams have role players
 

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Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 18, 2015
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Why are Wood and Bruce shagging 9 months out from finals without protection?? I’m being serious why would you put yourself in that position when you’re getting paid $700k a year to play footy and presumably finals?

They could’ve pulled the goalie at any other point!
Big Footy forum was down that night!
 

Bulldogs Legend

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 18, 2015
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10-5 after round 2 with a % of over 118%.

With 3 of those losses coming in a 12 day span against Richmond, port (in Adelaide) and Brisbane (in Brisbane).

Geelong being another loss that we had put away.

Beveridge is certifiably insane, and some of his selections this year have been a joke. But credit to him and the group for pulling together in tough circumstances.




On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
Nurse Ratshit has just given Bevo his medication but he is too smart for that he slipped it into Garry Lyons half time cool aid!
 

Bulldogs Legend

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 18, 2015
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I was at the JLT preseason community cup match against Brisbane - (possibly the worst game of football ever) but he was playing pretty well & did his ACL for the second time. Such a pointless way to do his knee. 'Oh well, that's probably the end of that,' I thought.

He's a handy player who gets better each game. Great lightning handball tonight, and then has the confidence to run round the mark and set up Hunter. You could do a lot worse. Some people on this board seem to forget that with list management, drafts and salary caps we can't have 22 Bonts running around.Getting the best out of your Roarkes wins you the Premiership as much as the superstars.
Could not agree more. Great clubs make the best of their worst players
 

Proffessor

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Jan 21, 2013
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It's great to win a game like this, as we have dropped such matches in the past and missed finals.

A truly sensational game from Libba, and also great to hear the commentators talking up just how good he is.
The man deserves a lot more kudos than he has received over recent years.

It is great to make the finals again, and another feather in Bevo's cap.
However to add a little perspective to the bipolar criticism adulation cycle he receives on this forum, we started the season with a list that was considered a virtual lock for finals, and a reasonable chance of a top 4 finish. Now we have scraped into either 7th or 8th.

Credit where it is due though, we have been tactically very sound in the latter part of the year, which helped us get over the line again tonight despite a reasonable number of players having slightly off nights.

Think some of the rave reviews for Gardner and Roarke Smith are going a bit far though. Yes we are all thankful that Gardner is no longer putting on slapstick comedy routines, but he still has a long way to go. Roarke has come a long way this year and deserves credit for his recent performances, but the way some people are pumping him up you would think he was one of the best on ground.

A real shame about the injuries to Wallis and Naughton, glad to hear that Mitch looks like he might still play and hope that Aaron's is a best case scenario.

Two solid weeks of goal kicking practice and who knows what we might achieve.

Go Dogs!
 
A few reflections ...

Pat Lipinski was very effective playing in close to the action. He gets exposed for lack of speed if he's in space. It's the main weakness in his game. He has good vision and good delivery and routinely gets 15-20 disposals a match.

By contrast Lachie Hunter likes the wide open spaces (actually he's good inside as well) and he used his running ability to great effect. I was glad they replayed that bit where he was involved twice in the build up to a goal, once backward of centre and then later passing it to English 25m out, after gut running half the length of the ground. His 35 possessions is equal to about 44 in a full length game.

Josh Bruce looks clumsy and inept at times but he has played an important role in recent games. He's improving each week as he gets used to that role which he might not have experienced much at St Kilda. He may have spilled a few marks today but he's getting to the right places and making an impact. And for those who are bagging his marking, he had 3 CMs - more than anyone else on either side.

Libba was outstanding - he's renowned as an inside player but his vision and ball use doesn't get the credit it deserves from the media (we know better of course :)). He missed the first two rounds but has played in every game since. He straightens us up so much. Hope he can last the next four games. If he ever gets retired from the midfield I reckon he'd make a great half back general - a cross between Matt Boyd and Caleb Daniel.

Congrats to Bevo for changing a few things tonight. I didn't think the move of Crozier forward worked but most of his in-game changes did. In any case it'll keep opposition coaches guessing - we've been very predictable for most of the year. I was pleased to see a hard tag on Daniel - it was good practice for what we might get in the finals. It also showed the footy world that he's not easily tagged out of a game, especially if Bevo reacts by shifting him further up the field as happened tonight.

It was easy to pick out the first four really good players tonight - Libba, Hunter, Bont and English - but after that there were just an even lot of role players and nobody really outstanding. Macrae, Dunkley, JJ and B Smith were all down on recent weeks which is encouraging in its own way because it means we have plenty of improvement in us. What I liked about tonight's game is that we had 22 (or thereabouts) who were genuine contributors even though most weren't starring. This is the same team dynamic that helped propel us to a flag in 2016. Less glamorous players like Roarke Smith, Duryea, Lipinski, Wood, Keath, Gardner and even Richards were all making useful contributions.

Finally there was something appealing about the way we paced the game. We had a poor first quarter and failed to make best use of the wind advantage. But after that we took control and played it on our terms. The win wasn't certain until about 3-4 minutes to go in the last quarter but what I liked was that we responded to the poor start, increased the defensive pressure, didn't panic, didn't lose composure and didn't lose concentration, even after injuries. That's a sign of a maturing side and just what you want to see heading into a finals series.
 

Mattdougie

Cancelled
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Jun 29, 2013
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Do you know how long it takes more or less to heal? More information MD given your experience. Appreciate it!

depends on the individual but As I said earlier if it’s cheek he should be close to playing unless it high up under the eye.

If it’s eye socket he won’t play again this year id think as they will worry about long term if he damages it again
 

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Why are Wood and Bruce shagging 9 months out from finals without protection?? I’m being serious why would you put yourself in that position when you’re getting paid $700k a year to play footy and presumably finals?

They could’ve pulled the goalie at any other point!

To be fair, we didn't know when finals were going to be this year...still a bold strategy by the lads tho
 
That illustrated a point I made earlier in the evening about lazy and unimaginative production compared to the likes of SBS sport.

The equation coming into the game was always binary. Win or draw and we play finals. Lose and Melbourne play finals. It had nothing at all to do with percentage.

That's all they had to say.
Using the live ladder was slovenly and inappropriate use of a technological trick. Flashing it up every time the lead change was inane and simply highlighted how poorly served we are by the Fox/Ch7 coverage.

At least they didnt tell us Scott Pendlebury played basketball....oh wait that will be tonight
 
Mar 15, 2012
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Bruce looks like he's slimmed down quite a bit. Seems to be moving a lot better and has a bit more spring in his jump. He's getting better every week.
I noticed that last night too. He looks to have been slimming down more and more each week, losing those covid break kgs. It's making a difference.
 

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