Review Dees v the Scraggers (Western Bulldogs): the Good, the Bad & the Fugly - woof !!! Rd14 2013

[Topkent]

Good- there was a piece of play with about 2-3 mins to go where the bulldogs rebounded an one of there blokes was runnin out of the back 50, the closest player was Sylvia and he had probably 25 Mtrs on him , even though he would have been stuffed col absolutely gut ran and even though the bulldogs bloke kicked before he got him , he would have closed the gap to about 5 Mtrs in a short space of time .

He might not have impacted offensively but he worked hard .
If we can get that from col a 3 vote game is around the corner for him

 

[jhong]

Sylvia also ran a fair way to block the bloke chasing Blease (highlite goal) when he could of cracked it for not recieving a handball. Can't say Sylvia isn't working his bum off for the team ,a good sign IMO

 

[LouisCK]

Good:

Trengove might just be one of the best tacklers in the comp at the moment. There are parts of his game we all want to see improve, but the pressure side is something he has down pat. Hits hard and sticks the tackle almost every time, loves to bury blokes into the turf too.

Watts - best game for the club, looked ominous at times. His combination of skill and athleticism is something most defenders can't deal with.

Frawley/McDonald/Garland - The boys are back. Played the way we know they can as a unit, stopped everything, provided heaps of dash. Garland's decking of Griffen was great.

Gawn - moves like a midfielder. Needs to be developed properly (needs a bigger tank) while managing injury risk. I really want this kid to make it as a number 1 ruck, he's got something.

Jesse Hogan - ok he didn't play, but its a pretty massive luxury that we can safely say we'll be alright for top class tall forwards no matter what happens to Mitch Clark's foot.

Chris Dawes - gives us everything we wanted from him.

Bad - Midfield is such a massive hole for us, really needs to be addressed as our talls are imo as good as most teams with better depth than most. Our midfield is really that far off it. Guys like Evans, Nicholson, Rodan etc try hard but ideally won't be in our midfield if we're going to improve a lot.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Bad - Midfield is such a massive hole for us, really needs to be addressed as our talls are imo as good as most teams with better depth than most. Our midfield is really that far off it. Guys like Evans, Nicholson, Rodan etc try hard but ideally won't be in our midfield if we're going to improve a lot.

What annoys me is that all the pieces are there. Trengove, Toumpas, Blease, Viney, Grimes and Sylvia all have the potential to be very good midfielders on a weekly basis. N Jones already is, but could be even better in a good side. And then there's people like Jordie McKenzie, Tapscott, Nicholson, Barry, Kent, Taggert, Terlich, Bail, Evan, Strauss and Jones whom all have a role to play, be it depth, serious improvement, tagging, etc, unless they're delisted. Most teams would kill to have the talent there; the first 7 listed are all top 20 (or equivalent in the case of Viney) picks. And then throw in an Aish too. What we're lacking for is the development still. Which is why I'd throw anything at getting another midfielder in a similar vein to Dawes and Clark (not only for skill, but leadership/passion) to help galvanise that group.

Still beggars belief that we traded Gysberts away for Pedersen...

 

[LouisCK]

Gys doesn't look good even now, but Pederson was a bad target.

 

[davey_magik]

A little OT here but since Dawes has come into the side I think he has been great. Runs all day and keeps presenting, he isn't the most naturally gifted player (He's not a dud but he'll always be B tier rather than A) but he also seems to have a fair bit of leadership on the field, and most importantly as a forward so far he has been kicking straight.

Sylvias effort on Saturday night was there I thought, he chased and tackled a number of times, just struggled to get near it. Watts/Frawley bog for me, Watts would have definitely had it if he didn't whiff that shot on the run then take the wrong option a few minutes later trying to handball (Should have gone further outside rather than back inside). Frawley was a rock down back but the dogs don't exactly have the scariest forwardline. The run on they got at the end was basically down to our midfield disappearing, if you rewatch the last quarter they win just about every clearance after the 10 min mark of the last.

 

[fushy]

We getting a changes thread?

 

[raven echo]

We getting a changes thread?

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/changes-vs-sydney-r15-2013.1015828/#post-28936662

 

[JMan5]

Great game guys. First win for coach Neil Craig in only his second AFL game. It's only one game but is this the turnaround that Melbourne needs. The first 3 quarters were awesome but the only bad thing is that the Bulldogs got back into the game. Anyway, a wins a win!

 

[LouisCK]

Minson dominated in the last, I think we can live with that. Gawn showed he's got what it takes to be a number one ruck (and, unfathomably, Fitzpatrick showed a bit too), he just doesn't have the tank to take on someone like Minson all day.

With Clark back, my ideal forward/tall set up for next season is:

HF: Howe Dawes Watts
FF: Hogan Clark Sylvia

With Gawn swapping with Clark. If Jamar can get back to his best then he can take Gawn's spot. We also be rotating Watts, Sylvia and Howe with Blease, Trengove and Tapscott through the middle imo.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Minson dominated in the last, I think we can live with that. Gawn showed he's got what it takes to be a number one ruck (and, unfathomably, Fitzpatrick showed a bit too), he just doesn't have the tank to take on someone like Minson all day.

With Clark back, my ideal forward/tall set up for next season is:

HF: Howe Dawes Watts
FF: Hogan Clark Sylvia

With Gawn swapping with Clark. If Jamar can get back to his best then he can take Gawn's spot. We also be rotating Watts, Sylvia and Howe with Blease, Trengove and Tapscott through the middle imo.

We can get away with that because Hogan, Clark and Watts are all capable of putting pressure on much smaller men and getting 3 tackles a game.

I'd rather stick Sylvia and Howe on the wings as those 'rotational mid/fwds' and have two pressure players like Tappy and Blease, etc.

 

[stretcharmstrong]

Good- there was a piece of play with about 2-3 mins to go where the bulldogs rebounded an one of there blokes was runnin out of the back 50, the closest player was Sylvia and he had probably 25 Mtrs on him , even though he would have been stuffed col absolutely gut ran and even though the bulldogs bloke kicked before he got him , he would have closed the gap to about 5 Mtrs in a short space of time .

He might not have impacted offensively but he worked hard .
If we can get that from col a 3 vote game is around the corner for him

I noticed that exact effort from col too. He and Davey, both much maligned for lack of defensive effort over the last couple of years, both chased and ran hard all night without too much reward for thier efforts.

 

[CoDkiller]

For anyone that went last night geez our fans were so loud and passionate amd really getting behind The boys. Best cheer of the whole night was d-rods goal ... I honestly reckon the crowd sounded 35k strong. Well done to us .. We're awesome lol

I wasn't aware we had fans sitting on level 2 until Saturday night Never heard them vocal before, and for that very reason i don't buy a reserved seat. Purchased an upgrade one game and felt like I was at the ballet

 

[ramastar]

The Ugly: It's been talked about. We all know what the ugly was.
The Bad: Only getting to watch the second half of the game and missing out on seeing Watts score most of his goals

The Good:

• Finding a pub in Bathurst (NRL Heartland) to watch the second half of the game on. The whole pub got into it when they saw me yelling, jumping up and down and pulling my hair out in the 4th quarter. The local AFL team Bathurst Bushrangers was there too. Great night
• David Rodans goal. F-me that was great. Best goal I've seen this year by a Demon. Though Blease's goal was close
• WINNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **** yeah! Go DEES! The absolute pressure release of winning, such a great feeling. I'm still smileing about it now.

 

[Higgs Boson]

These things have no doubt been remarked upon before, but a couple of my highlights for the game:

- Garland smoking Griffen with one of the most ornery hip and shoulders you'd see, gadzooks I love that man
- the way when Jack Watts took his match saving mark in defence he got up and demanded the ball, because he knows how well he uses it
- Jack Watts generally
- Howe full stop
- Rodan easily best game in red and blue, what a goal
- Blease's goal
- Clisby looked at home, nice
- No Mark Neeld, **** we look so much better without trying to implement his "gameplan"

 

[Higgs Boson]

Minson dominated in the last, I think we can live with that. Gawn showed he's got what it takes to be a number one ruck (and, unfathomably, Fitzpatrick showed a bit too), he just doesn't have the tank to take on someone like Minson all day.

With Clark back, my ideal forward/tall set up for next season is:

HF: Howe Dawes Watts
FF: Hogan Clark Sylvia

With Gawn swapping with Clark. If Jamar can get back to his best then he can take Gawn's spot. We also be rotating Watts, Sylvia and Howe with Blease, Trengove and Tapscott through the middle imo.

Zomg what a forward line drools

 

[LBJ6]

Zomg what a forward line drools

Imagine if Jurrah didn't go off the rails...

 

[LouisCK]

Or if Wonna was still about

 

[Topkent]

It would probably be arguably the best in the business and would certainly rival our best of the last 50 yrs

 

[LouisCK]

Our late 90's forward line was ludicrous:

Yze Schwarz Lyon
Farmer Neitz <insert random here>
And our mid 90's could have been epic if not for Jako retiring/getting fat, Lyon doing his back and Schwarz doing his knee.

 

[Topkent]

Our late 90's forward line was ludicrous:

Yze Schwarz Lyon
Farmer Neitz <insert random here>
And our mid 90's could have been epic if not for Jako retiring/getting fat, Lyon doing his back and Schwarz doing his knee.

But that late 90's team schwarz had already had 2? Knee recos an Lyons back was stuffed .. And yze didn't hit his peak till around 01-04 if I remember right

The names on paper were better in the late 90's but the actual out put of this one could be so much better

Clark watts hogan Howe and Dawes in 3 years ... Drool

 

[LouisCK]

Clark only has two contracted years after this one. Horrible thought but we may never get to see him and Hogan in their prime together.

 

[catman 71]

The Good-Good to see your team have another win, after all the crap you have copped for the last few months.
-Jack Watts played a good game. Hope he keeps it up.
-Melbourne SAVING a game and running into space to force the turnover.

The Bad-Giving up a big three-quarter-time lead and almost losing.

The Fugly-The fact that, if Melbourne keep putting up these performances, the thrashing I was expecting Geelong to give you might now not happen.

 

[Klyntonius]

Good
- Everyone in general pulled their weight, we looked like a team.
- Running in waves (copyright [user]tasmanlvr[/user])
- Watts game - from the confidence to back himself, the improved 1%'s to going out of his way to give credit to those up field. It was the most impressive and complete game I've seen from him.
- Fitzy's improvement - getting the extended opportunity to sink or swim at the top level and he's showing there's a bit of buoyancy there after all.
- Tickets to the Presidents lunch. Good experience.
- Tom Liberatore - not good for us but he tore it to bits.

Bad
- Lynden Dunn - did some good things but also had some brain explosions in particular took the easy way out a couple of times in the last quarter.

Fugly
- Final 15 minute fadeout. Thought we'd broken them with the three goal reply to their two goals.
- Being scheduled up against the Wallabies and Lions. It's hard enough to get people interested in seeing the Dees and the Dogs.