Preview 2024 Second Elimination Final: Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn, 6 September 2024, 7.40pm @ MCG

[moginie]

This thread has taken a bit of an Animal House turn. This time Chip Diller is right.

That's just before he gets flattened.

 

[flamin_heck]

Wingard would be neck and neck with Daisy for odds of getting subbed off injured

 

[RX Hawk]

Calm down people. It's a big loss surely but we have this covered. I am totally confident in Sam and the team to pull this. I would rest Day even another week if it is not 100%.
We will beat Dogs - repeat after me.

 

[Billyc]

He is as important to us as Bont is for them.

Big challenge becomes huge , if this season is anything to go by we are up for this

He’s not. He might be our best player but we are not anywhere near as reliant on him as they are on Bont, who is a top 3 player in the comp and their captain.

It hurts a lot though. If Treloar misses and it rains, that evens it out to a large degree and we are still playing on our home deck.

 

[reubski23]

We won a prelim with Hodge basically a traffic cone because of illness. Day is important, yes, but we can get it done without him. Let him focus on week 2 of finals.

Hodge didn’t play the 2012 preliminary final and we still won..

Day is fantastic - he isn’t hodge 2012 level let alone Bont 2024 level yet. Important cog to our wheel - but we are an extremely healthy list - if we are good enough we should still win

 

[Mrzohs]

You only have to look back to the GWS game to know we can compete with top Sides minus the great man W.Day.

Had 14 touches, 5 turnovers that day.
No impact vs Carlton the following week.

 

[reubski23]

Will day is our best player. Who is the best player for the dogs. The last time we played Day was instrumental in our win. The fact that the bont is a great player is irrelevant. It's like saying Hodge's importance is no where near as Gary Abletts. You know that statement is not true. It's what Day is to our team. His impact on our wins and his presence makes every other player stand taller

Hodge vs Gary Ablett Jr was a fair bit closer than Will Day vs Bont.

Not sure if you follow American football but it’s like comparing Tom Brady out for the patriots or Ben Rothesberger out for the Steelers. Both their teams best player but Brady was miles miles better than Ben therefore had a significantly greater impact if he was injured vs Ben being out for the Steelers.

Day is fantastic love him - I’m hoping in two years time he can be as good as Bont has been the last 8 years but let’s be serious. He is our best player but him being out is way way way less Mosul than Bont being out. We our system is largely player agnostic - which is why we are still probably 1-2 years away from winning a premiership.

 

[Flukey!]

The thing is with the way we play, the load is spread so we don't rely on a star to get us wins.
That's one of the strengths of our team.
Day is a loss no doubt, but it's not result defining.

 

[Slainte]

We last played Bullies in Rd 8. It was Day's second game after injury and he only had 12 touches. It was Dear's first game and Watson was sub with 42% game time. McKenzie (subbed) also had just 42% and Ambrosio 68%. Neither Chol nor Breust played. Both Gunston and Watson were off target.

A lot has happened since then.

 

[CHUBBSS]

Every dog will have its Day…

 

[The Generals Helmet]

I reckon we’d be favorite if it rains. Smalls will rip them apart

 

[TheFourPillars]

Hodge vs Gary Ablett Jr was a fair bit closer than Will Day vs Bont.

Not sure if you follow American football but it’s like comparing Tom Brady out for the patriots or Ben Rothesberger out for the Steelers. Both their teams best player but Brady was miles miles better than Ben therefore had a significantly greater impact if he was injured vs Ben being out for the Steelers.

Day is fantastic love him - I’m hoping in two years time he can be as good as Bont has been the last 8 years but let’s be serious. He is our best player but him being out is way way way less Mosul than Bont being out. We our system is largely player agnostic - which is why we are still probably 1-2 years away from winning a premiership.

I think u underestimate how good Day is. It's about his impact on the team. Tom Brady comparison only works for lethal no one else bont is great but he is not the goat

 

[StillAtLarge]

...
Hoping Treloar is out to even it up too

Well that’s shit news. Hopefully Treloar misses

C'mon guys. I hope no one misses through injury for both sides...in particular Treloar who's had enough shit luck with soft tissues over the journey.
Hope they all play and we smash 'em

 

[QuietB]

I think u underestimate how good Day is. It's about his impact on the team. Tom Brady comparison only works for lethal no one else bont is great but he is not the goat

Will Day is the next Bont

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Hodge didn’t play the 2012 preliminary final and we still won..

Day is fantastic - he isn’t hodge 2012 level let alone Bont 2024 level yet. Important cog to our wheel - but we are an extremely healthy list - if we are good enough we should still win

Ahh yup - this is what I get for surprising 2012 memories. Thought Hodge was crook and played.

 

[matey]

Think we are in a better position to cover Day than when we were 0-5. Croc and Frenchie have been rolling through the middle more and have a point of difference to the other mids.

Both are developing nicely especially in the conditioning area of handling hits/knocks. Will be an awesome experience for all the kids. Still another 6 days ffs!

 

[Bugs1977]

He’s obviously a massive player for us, but IMO Day had been down on form the previous month and somewhat looked hampered, it didn’t seem to slow us down.. the boys can do this without him, I know it. We lose some class and vision but we still have the grunt which is largely where our midfield dominates.

I was about to post the same thing. The team has an opportunity to show that they can cover the loss of who many arguably think is our best player. The reality is you can replace Will Day but I’m confident whomever comes in for him will play his role. We’ll be in this up to our eyeballs.

 

[KermitJagger]

Hodge vs Gary Ablett Jr was a fair bit closer than Will Day vs Bont.

Not sure if you follow American football but it’s like comparing Tom Brady out for the patriots or Ben Rothesberger out for the Steelers. Both their teams best player but Brady was miles miles better than Ben therefore had a significantly greater impact if he was injured vs Ben being out for the Steelers.

Day is fantastic love him - I’m hoping in two years time he can be as good as Bont has been the last 8 years but let’s be serious. He is our best player but him being out is way way way less Mosul than Bont being out. We our system is largely player agnostic - which is why we are still probably 1-2 years away from winning a premiership.

Terrible comparison, not just for the comparison of players but more the comparison of sports. The QB has about 10x the impact on a team than any single AFL player does.

 

[humid hawk]

Day was so important to us after our crappy start because he went a long way towards neutralising teams waltzing through our defensive side of the structure.

He positioned himself defensive side of the stoppage and either a) put a check on teams streaming out their front half b) won the hard ball himself or c) was used as the 2nd-3rd handball receiver who then pinpointed kicks in F50 or ran in a stream with other players towards goal.

Nashy will have his hands full with a check on Bont so perhaps we will see McKenzie take on more of Days role? He's had a good run of form, but the Doggies are a good outfit and their mids are certainly a class above our recent opponents.

Bont is always a danger but I reckon Ed Richards

20

Ed Richards

Age

25

Ht

188cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.4

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

2.5

3star

T

2.4

4star

MG

201.4

3star

D

11.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

5.3

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

2.5

3star

MG

198.3

3star

D

14.6

4star

K

9.8

4star

HB

4.8

4star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.6

4star

MG

232.4

4star

might be the biggest threat. He's playing bloody well this year.

All this in mind, I reckon we get up by 15. Go hawks!

 

[OhhhhhCyril]

Real shame that Day won’t get up, and I fully understand that we all recognise his importance to the team, however I feel we are better placed right now that we have ever been to cover him.
Big watch on box hill today, who’s gonna put their hand up.

I feel Sam will have a plan to ensure we get enough midfield rotation without Day.

 

[moginie]

we will see McKenzie take on more of Days role? He's had a good run of form, but the Doggies are a good outfit and their mids are certainly a class above our recent opponents.

Spot on. I thought I had seen this more and more as the season progressed. Mackenzie has improved very nicely this season to my eyes.

 

[HedgeFund]

Will went down early against Richmond (when we led 19 - 6).

After that we belted the Tigers and next week destroyed the Roos in his absence. Mackenzie stepped up.

The sky isn’t falling in people. We will be fine.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Last week without Day our CBA numbers were, as below, out of 36:

29 - Meek
29 - Worpel
28 - Newcombe
23 - Mackenzie
15 - Nash (subbed out)
7 - Chol
7 - Moore
6 - Maginess

Total Clearances | Centre Clearances (mids):
10 | 8 - Newcombe
7 | 2 - Mackenzie
6 | 1 - Nash
4 | 2 - Worpel
3 | 1 - Moore
2 | 1 - Maginess

Huge game coming up for Mackenzie, he's going to have to take up a prominent role this week against a much better side..

I think Moore will probably spend a little more time in the middle too, as I'm not sure Maginess will get the same amount of CBA's if he plays. Granted Nash going out early probably meant he got put in there when he otherwise wouldn't have been.

 

[KermitJagger]

Will went down early against Richmond (when we led 19 - 6).

After that we belted the Tigers and next week destroyed the Roos in his absence. Mackenzie stepped up.

The sky isn’t falling in people. We will be fine.

People are worried because a lot of our form changes were attributed to his return and not the game plan changes.

 

[Nugett]

I’m still tipping us to be competitive. It might be a game where Finn is kept in, just in case he either needs to tag either Bont or Richard’s.