Training 2024 Preseason reports and discussion

[RoughysMullet]

Hardwick was good as a forward but our small defender situation is a real worry without him there- defence looked lost at ground level- that McNeil bloke kicked a couple of easy ones -worried we won’t be able to contain opposition small forwards…

 

[TheFourPillars]

Anyone else watch today's match and consider the fact that last year the coaching panel repeatedly dropped Scrimmers for Bramble?

What the hell was going on with that selection philosophy?

Dont go there mate. The Scrimshaw of this year and he was one of our best today and scrim last year were miles apart. Try to be a little more objective

 

[threesixpio]

All this discussion re pork rolls got me hankering for one. Went to the local Bakery where they where $7.20 a year ago now, $12. Didn't even kiss me first!

Get this thread back on track pronto. For example we could be discussing how Ollie Swines is going in his preseason training.

 

[The hands of stone]

Dont go there mate. The Scrimshaw of this year and he was one of our best today and scrim last year were miles apart. Try to be a little more objective

We need to see what we saw today, weekly throughout the whole season

 

[kazzooka]

We sent a player to stop the opposition player causing the most damage.
Praccy match or not, that's good coaching.
You don't tag the best player, you tag the one causing problems

Correct. In round 1 Bulldogs aren't giving Sanders that much time in the guts with Bont, libba, etc.. all playing. Today they gave him the oppurtunity to be close to the action instead of stuck on a flank half the time. Just like we did hustwaite. Nash, Worple, Newcombe and eventually Day will push Hustwaite back a few pegs so he won't win as much ball.

 

[hawkheart]

Hardwick was good as a forward but our small defender situation is a real worry without him there- defence looked lost at ground level- that McNeil bloke kicked a couple of easy ones -worried we won’t be able to contain opposition small forwards…

I reckon they're hoping Seamus takes that small forward-minding role.

 

[The hands of stone]

Decent crowd for a praccy game I must say .

You can really read as much or as little as you want into these games . Both sides had periods of dominance , drop offs and lapse in intensity. Really what you expect .
Naughton was the clear difference in the game if there was one.

In general I liked what I saw . Bar the two periods of lack of intent. We have more skilled players across the field now . Tick

• Mass was great . Beautiful by foot and looks a perfect match for club and player.
• Hustwaite looks like he will force his way in . Think he will be more of distributor to our dynamic players rather then super damaging himself .
• forwardline was a bit disjointed but looked way more dangerous with the addition of Ginninvan/Watson . They look like they will compliment each other so nicely .
• our young guys look physically stronger and more capable now

Highlight was the Weddle, Mckenzie to Dear combo . Brilliant stuff and Dear looks raw but really nice hands .

That Sanders is a belter for the Dogs . They looked to me anyway to be going a bit harder than us, not that it matters .

 

[The Spirit of Cricket]

We need to see what we saw today, weekly throughout the whole season

he really impressed me today. if he brings this intensity every game it will go a long way to covering our KPD issues.

I've seen a few comments say that their talls got on top of us but at the game i didn't really feel that way. around the ground Naughton took heaps of contested grabs so that's true but up forward i can hardly remember our backline being outmarked in a pack/high ball situation. i thought they covered each other well in that situation. however it may have looked different on broadcast

i thought the issue was our ground ball defense, which was to be honest, putrid. if they went inside 50 and we didn't intercept it, it was almost a guaranteed shot on goal for WB.

 

[Mr Lizard]

BOG for mine was BBQ Pork Banh Mi from French Baguette; thank you for the tip Spirit, much appreciated.

 

[RoughysMullet]

Anyone else watch today's match and consider the fact that last year the coaching panel repeatedly dropped Scrimmers for Bramble?

What the hell was going on with that selection philosophy?

Yep thought that it was really strange that Scrimmers was in the dog house for a period- think it started mainly because he was underdone and needed a rocket to find some form…

Mitchell was always a Bramble fan having plucked him onto the list from the VFL but unfortunately after showing some signs early - he just wasn’t up to it…

 

[kazzooka]

Hardwick was good as a forward but our small defender situation is a real worry without him there- defence looked lost at ground level- that McNeil bloke kicked a couple of easy ones -worried we won’t be able to contain opposition small forwards…

Not having Mitchell or B. Macdonald there as well made that harder as they'd be the ones on McNeil.

 

[Cleavy]

sounds like we need to still figure out the best way to disrupt the opposition's momentum. can't have teams kicking 5-7 unanswered goals against us on a regular basis.

 

[The Spirit of Cricket]

BOG for mine was BBQ Pork Banh Mi from French Baguette; thank you for the tip Spirit, much appreciated.

i hope the asking price of AUD $10 didn't cause your descent into eternal poverty...

 

[Mr Lizard]

i hope the asking price of AUD $10 didn't cause your descent into eternal poverty...

It's been Madame Saigon on Brunswick St the last few weeks, think they're $12 or $13 there...

non-Banh Mi related:
-hated seeing Cholly running up the race, much relief he was back out there again
-only noticed Easy Ethan a couple of times, two deep kicks both nicely owned I'm in charge for a mark and a spoil.
-Western Bulldogs volunteering on the coffee machine well under the pump. I nearly got kicked out of the line 'for being condescending' because I pointed out that now he had poured chocolate dust all over, it was no longer the latte I ordered.
-first time attending Whitten oval. I walked around for years thinking I went to a game there, but I realised today I never have before; weird tricks of memory.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Judd2Sewell]

sounds like we need to still figure out the best way to disrupt the opposition's momentum. can't have teams kicking 5-7 unanswered goals against us on a regular basis.

Been an issue for years, I'm not sure what our problem is. They had a large run of goals twice and both times we needed the quarter breaks to slow them down.

My uneducated guess would be we are simply unable to slow the game down once we do get our hands on it.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

For a skinny beanpole Hustwaite can really stick a tackle. He puts his body behind it each time, he has a good tackling technique.

 

[dermott]

I just finished watching the replay on Kayo. Obviously it is unwise to jump to conclusions on the basis of one practice match so I will confine my comments to today’s game and not make any predictions as a lot will change over the course of the season.
However, we were comprehensively beaten pretty much across every line, outmarked and beaten in the contests for most of the day and the scoreboard could have been a lot worse. The highlights for me were Scrimshaw, Cam McKenzie, D’Ambrosio and Hustwaite, all of whom were very impressive. There were a few others who went OK but those four reached or exceeded my expectations.

No doubt there is a lot of upside in this team but on the basis of this game we have a fair way to go.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Dont go there mate. The Scrimshaw of this year and he was one of our best today and scrim last year were miles apart. Try to be a little more objective

Even on his worst day Scrimmers is a better player than a peak Bramble.

I still find the non selection of Scrimmers last year perplexing.

He's a supremely talented player entering his prime years yet the coaching panel repeatedly selected a good VFL standard battler ahead of him.

 

[Dewnior]

Darcy is going to be a frickin star and an upgrade on English.

 

[Tony3163]

Even on his worst day Scrimmers is a better player than a peak Bramble.

I still find the non selection of Scrimmers last year perplexing.

He's a supremely talented player entering his prime years yet the coaching panel repeatedly selected a good VFL standard battler ahead of him.

Scrimshaw issues were discussed several times in 2023. Take your blinkers off. In any event, Bramble and Scrimshaw weren’t competing for the same role in 2023.

 

[The hands of stone]

Been an issue for years, I'm not sure what our problem is. They had a large run of goals twice and both times we needed the quarter breaks to slow them down.

My uneducated guess would be we are simply unable to slow the game down once we do get our hands on it.

I would give it some actual games to see . Its not the type of thing you would roll out in a praccy , if youve been working on it.

 

[Mr Lizard]

Hustwaite gets the ball, takes the tackle, then dishes to an open player's hands, like, a lot of times.

I'll be amazed if he isn't in the round one side.

 

[SSSSSS]

Darcy is going to be a frickin star and an upgrade on English.

He is going to be an absolute monster in his prime. Incredible athlete.

 

[matey]

Just felt that our hardnuts in the middle in terms of physicality with Newk, Nash and Worps took it easy a bit today given its only Feb. Doggies ball movement would not have been allowed/as easy under normal circumstances if it was for four points. Having said this we were sloppy at times …… but it’s only February. It’s amazing how much the game can change from winning a 50/50 contest or hard ball!