Review Well played Bullies! Finals here we come.

[Royale]

Liberatore. Simply one of the best individual performances I've ever seen in a footy match. Incredible. Simply awesome.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Phew, what a relief that’s over.

Not the most attractive game of footy but it was probably the closest to a full 4qtr effort we’ve seen all season.
Was surprised with how well drilled Freo are. They play a similar style to Geelong but without the obvious experience and polish, so for now they’ll have teams eventually get on top of them as we did last night.

Few stand outs... Libba was BOG for me. Was involved in everything and had 41 pressure acts, which is off the charts. Will have a big say in how we go next week.
Bont was excellent. He’s getting better and more consistent as the season goes.
There was a stat that popped up in the corner of the screen during the game that said he has been the No 1 ranked player in the comp since Rd 10. Makes sense, he’s been huge lately.

Hunter was outstanding too. Looks like the outside noise effecting his footy is well and truly behind him.

Bruce improved again on recent outings. Took a few big grabs and looked a little more composed than he had all year.
Hopefully Naughts gets up as it seems as a pair they’re working better than that have all year.

Daniel getting tagged scares me. We looked bog ordinary when we had to exit def 50 with long balls early in the game. We adapted with extra numbers at the drop, but it didn’t look good for a while.
Apart from another late goal, similar to last weeks, he was just another bare bum in the shower when he ventured fwd. Wasn’t excited by anything he did. Hopefully he can shake a potential tag next week so we can continue to utilise his elite traits.
The flip side to a defensive tag in your backline is that it reshapes the oppositions fwd line (hence defenders rarely getting tagged). Will be interesting to see what Saints/Pies do next week as it probably effected Freo in how productive they were inside 50.

As a whole I think there’s plenty of room for individual improvement from last nights game so as long as we come prepared in the first final, we should be pretty confident we can get up.


As far as our season goes, a 10 and 7 finish isn’t a bad effort considering we were horseshit for the first 2 rounds. That’s 10 and 5 record after Rd 2 and a 13 and 9 win/loss normal season record.
Considering we haven’t actually played too well for large parts of this season, as supporters we would have to be pretty upbeat with where we are at and how we look going in to next season.

I have re watched a few of our late season games from last season over the last week or so and the one big difference I noticed is the higher energy and intensity we played with last season. Imo it has a lot to do with how this current season has played out with the ability to train as we normally would not being there, players potentially not in the best physical condition for the same reasons and the season playing out in a much shorter period.
I think having a normal season next year with regular training schedules allowing full match sim work, a fitter playing group and regular games at our home ground, I’m really confident that we improve again on the last two seasons with a top 4 push and the double chance being pretty likely.

For now, just happy we’re playing finals. Hopefully we go beyond the first week!!

 

[immortalmike]

Not every player can be a McGovern and most great teams have role players

I don't want him to be McGovern. I just want him to hit a target by foot 15 m away under no pressure. I'm okay with a mistake or two, hell I love Zaine and JJ but you can't be an AFL footballer and mess that kick up 9 times out of 10.

 

[Fossie 32]

 

[doggies ftw]

I don't want him to be McGovern. I just want him to hit a target by foot 15 m away under no pressure. I'm okay with a mistake or two, hell I love Zaine and JJ but you can't be an AFL footballer and mess that kick up 9 times out of 10.

I think Zaine cops it a bit because when he gets it wrong it looks soooo bad, but generally I’m quite happy for him to have the ball coming out of defence, super dependable off either foot. If the whole team played with Zaines self belief we’d be a *ing good side.

he probably needs to realise he doesn’t need to try and takeforwards on inside 50 though, it comes off more often than not but with the new interpretation on HTB id prefer him to play the percentages and just knock it on or take the first option a bit more, outside of the defensive 50 go nuts.

Interestingly Gardener is only 8 months younger than Zaine

 

[Fossie 32]

I hope Gardner comes good but he only had 3 possies so not sure why people are saying he is doing much better?

 

[immortalmike]

I think Zaine cops it a bit because when he gets it wrong it looks soooo bad, but generally I’m quite happy for him to have the ball coming out of defence, super dependable off either foot. If the whole team played with Zaines self belief we’d be a f*n good side.

he probably needs to realise he doesn’t need to try and takeforwards on inside 50 though, it comes off more often than not but with the new interpretation on HTB id prefer him to play the percentages and just knock it on or take the first option a bit more, outside of the defensive 50 go nuts.

Interestingly Gardener is only 8 months younger than Zaine

It wasn't a criticism of Zaine at all. Love the bloke but he's just an example of someone who makes his one or two mistakes a game trying to bite off a bit more than he should.

 

[Dogsman16]

I hope Gardner comes good but he only had 3 possies so not sure why people are saying he is doing muh better?

Because defensively he's getting better and doing a decent job of halving nearly every contest.

 

[Igloo]

I hope Gardner comes good but he only had 3 possies so not sure why people are saying he is doing muh better?

I thought he was good. Hogan got a little bit of the ball up the ground, but every time it was in a dangerous position Gardner had him well covered. I don't care if he doesn't touch the ball, I just want him stopping key forwards kicking goals.

 

[immortalmike]

I thought he was good. Hogan got a little bit of the ball up the ground, but every time it was in a dangerous position Gardner had him well covered. I don't care if he doesn't touch the ball, I just want him stopping key forwards kicking goals.

I get that opinion but honestly I think that he was more lucky Fremantle sucked at kicking to his opponent especially with our mids dominating. I guess we'll see how he goes in finals.

 

[Igloo]

I get that opinion but honestly I think that he was more lucky Fremantle sucked at kicking to his opponent especially with our mids dominating. I guess we'll see how he goes in finals.

That's the thing I guess. Just need more exposure. Ryan himself for playing at the top level, the coaches to see how he goes, and at the bottom of the ladder of importance, us supporters to form an opinion on him.
I think he's chugging along alright.

 

[immortalmike]

That's the thing I guess. Just need more exposure. Ryan himself for playing at the top level, the coaches to see how he goes, and at the bottom of the ladder of importance, us supporters to form an opinion on him.
I think he's chugging along alright.

I think we can both agree that he's going far better now than a few weeks ago.

 

[adogsfan5]

I hope Gardner comes good but he only had 3 possies so not sure why people are saying he is doing much better?

Just about Halved every one on one contest with a fist. Has genuine springs. Lobb is a very tall man and Gardy was able to fist the footy away from him a few times from behind. If he’s getting a fist in the air most times and not conceding marks, it’s a win. No need for him to touch the footy.

 

[bresker]

Gardner was the reason Keath went forward. In fairness Lobb is a pretty awful forward, he doesn’t require much respect. He’s a marshmallow giant.

That’s not to take away from Gardner’s performance. He performed his role perfectly.

 

[lachy]

Just about Halved every one on one contest with a fist. Has genuine springs. Lobb is a very tall man and Gardy was able to fist the footy away from him a few times from behind. If he’s getting a fist in the air most times and not conceding marks, it’s a win. No need for him to touch the footy.

We have many rebounding intercepting high possession defenders. For a good backline balance it is nice to have one who defends.

I am still not sure Gardner will be this player, but I am getting more confident when the ball is heading in his direction when he is one on one and the ball is in genuine dispute. A good spoil can save a goal as much as a mark or possession, and each goal the opposition do not score is one less we have to, to win

 

[True Dog]

Not as much love for the Big Chill as I thought he'd get after his performance yesterday. Thought his centre bounce stuff was much better than previous weeks, he just needs to find a way to half ruck contests around the ground (gets shifted way to easy). That said his running and marking and disposal are a thing of beauty, the short kick over the top to Bont was something special I haven't seen a ruckman do for a long time (90% of rucks couldn't bounce a ball let alone pick it off the deck one handed)

 

[Norm De Guerre]

That’s a summing up?! Picking out 3 random posts? When in actual fact, most of the posts show they’re mostly not fans of their coach and didn’t think they deserved finals anyway, and/or would likely have been smashed if they made it. And a couple of posts looking forward to us playing finals. But, you know, run with your “alternative facts”.

Hang on a second, for somebody questioning the dubious benefits of others going to the Dees board directly after our win you seem awfully current on their reaction to said win.

 

[doggies ftw]

We have many rebounding intercepting high possession defenders. For a good backline balance it is nice to have one who defends.

I am still not sure Gardner will be this player, but I am getting more confident when the ball is heading in his direction when he is one on one and the ball is in genuine dispute. A good spoil can save a goal as much as a mark or possession, and each goal the opposition do not score is one less we have to, to win

I agree with that but my problem with Gardener is I don’t think he’s good enough at negating for that to be his one trick. I feel he’d cop a bath from nearly every teams number 1 forward. He probably has a decent match up in most sides but is it worth a spot in the side to lock down on a 2nd or 3rd tall forward? You can get the same defense on those types from a Wood or Young while providing a hell of a lot more offensively.

I feel he’s a bit of a poor mans Cordy and there’s only room for one, and Zaine quite easily has him pipped in every facet of the game currently.

If he can get to the stage where he can be a viable option on the oppos number 1 forward then there’s room for him IMO

 

[Libba39]

I hope Gardner comes good but he only had 3 possies so not sure why people are saying he is doing much better?

Only 5 less posessions than Mundy! Lol.

 

[adogsfan5]

Any update on Naughts??

 

[sashdog]

Love the tenacity of Taylor Dureya. He’s got great foot skills too.
I’m confident he beats the opposition’s dangerous small forward.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Any update on Naughts??

having surgery tomorrow

 

[Bulldog Brent]

having surgery tomorrow

Why not today?!

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Love the tenacity of Taylor Dureya. He’s got great foot skills too.
I’m confident he beats the opposition’s dangerous small forward.

Been excellent since he came across and has been an important addition the past few weeks.

Wasn’t really sold on him when we picked him up, thought he’d be solid depth but didn’t think he’d be a big contributor. Happy that I was wrong about him, easily best 22.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Why not today?!

just repeating what I heard