Bulldogs v Cats (Round 16 2007) - Player and Game Thread

[stefoid]

midfield just killed. geelong cleared it well, ran it through the guts well, spotted up targets with kicks well, and we didnt. by half time only boyd and then west who looked to be struggling with his groin were in the top 10 disposals.

sloppy short kicking and sloppy, weak handballs that hit feet or went wide.

looked to me like hahn did one of his (operated on) shoulders trying to mark yet another grub kick. hope thats not the end of him.

ray and eagleton got a fair bit of ball but didnt do a lot with it.
cooney was just missing.
akers disposal was great when he got the ball which wasnt enough.
harbrow looked lively but disposal was dodgy.
wight needs to work on his marking and attack the ball rather wait for it to drop into his hands.
harris did some good stuff and did some bad stuff

pros:
johno tried hard and did fairly well from his opportunities.
williams and everitt looked great

 

[Butane]

That was a well controlled report Stefoid. I'm absolutely furious, such an insipid effort. Thats all i have to say...with out swearing.

 

[St 07]

Like the eagles in the finals last year, we win the 3rd quarter convincingly but barely add a digit to the scoreboard...so frustrating

And hahn...poor bloke

 

[Spec_K]

Everitt is fantastic!

 

[Chicago1]

Boy, am I glad I didn't stay up to listen to the match. The review of the match on Sportal is shocking. I can't ever remember reading criticism like this: "Shell-shocked and at times panic-stricken, the Bulldogs, at times resembled boys against men in the opening half, were mercilessly dismantled by a Geelong outfit which played with confidence and selflessness."

 

[who let the dogs out]

Looks like Westy shouldn't have played.

Westy seems to be a bit aggravated lately. What was the scuffle today over? Didn't he end up with his shirt ripped up the last time he played (against Fremantle)?

 

[kookadog]

Everitt will be a bloody good player.

He's got the lot.

 

[lifelike_]

I fork out a small fortune tonight before and during the game for a couple of family members and they serve up that crap.

Right from the word go we looked disinterested and unwilling to work as a team. Whenever we did get it, we tried out best to stuff it up by overpossessing and missing targets 20 metres away. Decision making was by far the worst I've seen this year. Why give it off to someone under pressure when there's a free man 30 metres away? Because we don't back ourselves, that's why. What happened to the fearless team last year that took risks and played good football?

The midfield was smashed, Geelong won six of the first seven clearances and we never looked like getting back in it. Ablett, Bartel, Corey and Enright had 130 touches between them. Where was the accountability? Cooney failed to make an impact, West was very ordinary and Eagleton was very poor. The only one who played remotely well was Boyd, and he wasn't even that good.

ELEVEN players laid one tackle or less tonight. I'm amazed we laid the same amount of tackles as Geelong with all the chasing we had to do.

Work rate around the ground was as bad as I've seen. Saw McMahon refuse to smother in the third term, when all he had to do was put his hands over the ball and we may have caused a turnover.

Our forward pressure was abysmal. At one stage they had three more inside fiftys, yet managed ELEVEN more scoring shots. Also, kicking rainmakers to a contest where our tallest bloke is 5'11" is NOT going to end well.

We ask for these games to try and boost the profile of the club and they play like that.

 

[St 07]

Pro: Rocket moving Harris to fullfwd for a while. not long enough to have an impact unfortunately....but at least he knows what the people want.

 

[Tassie Bulldog]

Just watching a bit of the Fox replay (don't ask me why) and one thing struck me about our list.

Most of our team are either very bad or very good, there is no middle ground. We have far too many players that when they get beaten have absolutely no impact on the game - and I mean ZERO impact. If we are ever going to improve then we just can't afford to have a number of players who contribute absolutely nothing when things aren't going their way.

Look at blokes like Cross, Boyd and Morris who will still make some form of contribution even when they have an average one which is where some blokes can take note.