Bulldogs vs Hawks week 1 of the finals

[BenF]

Well, we are now guaranteed top 3, so this match is looking extremely likely. Franklin and Roughead are the key. They kicked 12 goals between against the Pies out of 17. Not saying there aren't any other options, but they are the keys.

Morris to Franklin and a fit Williams to Roughead

 

[Spectre]

If were to win the match we need Williams

Amen. He is our 'great white hope'...only, one prays, a more successful variant. On an unrelated subject, watching late-night boxing docos = time well spent.

 

[BWFC]

Morris can play on Buddy and Lake on Roughhead. Morris did well on Hall today and I think on his day he can contain Buddy. As long as Lake and Morris don't get smashed theres no reason why we can't win the game by beating them in the midfield and out scoring them.

 

[MrDOK]

If you think you will be playing the same quality Hawk side in the finals as you did in Tassie, I think you are in for a nasty shock.

I was there and the Dogs played great. No doubt.

But as a hawk man, and having not missed a game in Tassie, you could tell within the first 5 minutes that the Hawks were as flat as a tack that day.

Picture facing last night's Hawks instead. Slightly different unit.

Sewell, Bateman and Crawf still yet to run into form after long lay offs and Osbourne to replace Stokes. Young cant get in the side and playing twos. Starting to gather steam.

Im sure the dogs fans can mount similar points of view regarding your side but I just think the above comment is really simplistic and needed perspective.

If memory serves me correct, within the first 5 minutes, the Hawks were up by 2 goals.

 

[54Dogs]

Nobody ever mentions what the Hawks forward line would look like if Buddy or the Nut are injured. Tim Boyle????

Heaven forbid this happens in round 22

 

[Bodicifer]

I like Morris on Franklin...if TW doesn't come up then Morro will take him. Franklin isn't a big pack mark, he does most of his work on the lead where the human glove is best.

The Hawks will be a different side to what we pumped in Tassie but I reckon where we can still beat them again is our pace. I would like to play at the G first final with the room on the wings to run our guts out.

 

[lindsay_bulldogs]

I like Morris on Franklin...if TW doesn't come up then Morro will take him. Franklin isn't a big pack mark, he does most of his work on the lead where the human glove is best.

The Hawks will be a different side to what we pumped in Tassie but I reckon where we can still beat them again is our pace. I would like to play at the G first final with the room on the wings to run our guts out.

I think Morris and a few others would have to rotate a bit on him. Maybe a double tag team. No real match up without Williams.

 

[wian]

Well, we are now guaranteed top 3

why is the media saying that we are gurenteed of a top 3 finish?

If the swans, hawks and kangas win all of their 4 remainding games, and we lose all our games, we could still end up 5th ?? Unless i am missing something?

cheers

 

[54Dogs]

why is the media saying that we are gurenteed of a top 3 finish?

If the swans, hawks and kangas win all of their 4 remainding games, and we lose all our games, we could still end up 5th ?? Unless i am missing something?

cheers

Swans could mathematically put us to 4th if they win all 4 and we lose all 4 but they play the Pies in Melb and the Cats. You would also hope we win 1 of our last 4 games.

North can't catch us as they are 4 games and 25% behind, not possible.

We will finish 2nd or 3rd.

 

[The_Bulldogs_Bite]

I like Morris on Franklin...if TW doesn't come up then Morro will take him. Franklin isn't a big pack mark, he does most of his work on the lead where the human glove is best.

Whilst you're right in that Franklin doesn't take big pack marks ala Jonathan Brown/Nick Riewoldt, he's still very strong. He manhandled Fletcher earlier in the year and I've seen him out-muscle opponents a number of time. He doesn't get off the ground, but uses his strength to push them to the side or nudge them under the ball. He actually does this pretty well.

Morris is a great player but I think we're hoping more than anything if he goes to Buddy. Williams is the perfect match-up; he's quick, he's strong & he's capable of running the lines and testing out Franklin's defense. For mine, Morris would be overpowered by strength (understandably!) and may even struggle to keep up with Buddy on the lead.

Lake on Roughead is a good option for us but a lot depends on Tommy. If he comes up, then our match-ups look pretty good across the backline.

 

[wian]

Swans could mathematically put us to 4th if they win all 4 and we lose all 4 but they play the Pies in Melb and the Cats. You would also hope we win 1 of our last 4 games.

North can't catch us as they are 4 games and 25% behind, not possible.

We will finish 2nd or 3rd.

yeah, north cant catch us with their percentage, but the swans still can, although not likely as they most probably will lose to the cats and pies, but you never know - we wouldnt want to finish 4th, believe me

cheers

 

[The_Bulldogs_Bite]

I think Morris and a few others would have to rotate a bit on him. Maybe a double tag team. No real match up without Williams.

Yep.

Callan is pretty good at being the third man up, so he's somebody I would definitely instruct to help out whoever's on Franklin. Gilbee's capable too, though he is a lot more attacking, so he's not always going to be in the positions to help out. Callan or Hargrave are usually around the mark though, so hopefully we can execute a plan to nullify Franklin without letting one of their other forwards roam free.

At the end of the day though, the midfield has to be up & running, pushing back to help out the defense and running in waves to break the cluster & deliver to our dangerous leading forwards.

It'll be a very exciting and long anticipated match, that's for certain.

 

[kirbatron]

whoever loses our game will play geelong in the prelim ...

(providing a semi final win)

 

[sgbn77]

If the Hawks don't match your intensity in the first final, you'll win by a country mile. You guys are great at hard running and creating the extra players as an option, something which Hawks lacked massively last time in Tassie. Put simply, you bullied us out of it when we had it, and you ran harder when you had it.

Saying that, power forwards never kick bags down in Tassie, perhaps due to the swirly wind. Secondly, you'd assume, because its a final, the Hawks will match your intensity. But who will maintain it longer?

I am confident that we didn't have the personnel available last time (wouldn't have changed the result!!), but that all things being equal, both teams should be complimented by almost full lists. With that happening, we'll take you on, and it'll be a cracker.

Will the multi-pronged forward line win the day, or will the twin towers create havoc?

Do you guys think it'll be an MCG final despite who finishes 2nd? The MCC have banked a hell of a lot during the years of interstate dominance.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

whoever loses our game will play geelong in the prelim ...

(providing a semi final win)

I know, it is extremely high stakes

The first final is the all important one. I am not saying that whoever wins the first final will win the GF, but whoever loses the first final is really up against it.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

Will the multi-pronged forward line win the day, or will the twin towers create havoc?

It might depend on the availability of Williams. He has been injured a lot recently so we really really need him fit and firing for the final series. Our tall backs have really struggled in recent weeks and IMO our backline is our achilles heel.

The result of our match might even come down to how accurate Buddy is on the day. Chances are he will have 10 shots at goal. Will it be 8.2 or 2.8? That could make all the difference to the result.

In a perfect world our midfield would be at their absolute best so the ball will be in the middle or our forward line most of the time. If your midfield is on top, I don't fancy our chances.

 

[Bodicifer]

Will be the battle of the midfields for sure. Our midfield and run is our strength and delivery to Franklin, Roughhead and Williams is the Hawks strength. For us to win we would need to have 4 quarters of midfield intensity on blokes like Mitchell, Bateman and Hodge. Very hard to do but that's what we need to do to hinder the supply to Buddy and co.

 

[kookadog]

This will most likely be a night game won't it,

for me it'll come down to picking up Hodge, restricting franklin and smart delivery into the forward line.

 

[MR SHOWTIME]

who here knows about tickets when are they available.

 

[Astro_]

who here knows about tickets when are they available.

Monday-Tuesday (1st-2nd September) before the actual game they go on sale to competing members.

Wednesday (3rd September) remaining tixs go on sale to the public.

 

[The Boy From Brasil]

This will most likely be a night game won't it,

for me it'll come down to picking up Hodge, restricting franklin and smart delivery into the forward line.

and Mitchell, and Bateman is in red hot form at the moment too.

Interesting to see how many tags we have, and how many we have free flowing. I hope we don't overdo the tags, and back guys like Cooney, Griff etc to do the job and have a blinding finals series.

There is no doubt that our burst midfielders and our pace is our strength. That is the one area where we outdo both Hawthorn and Geelong. If we capitalise on this strength enough then it may compensate for the areas where we struggle(eg backline).

 

[kookadog]

Don't play Cooney on Hodge. We need someone extremely disciplined and accountable. Probably Boyd.

 

[sgbn77]

Play Cooney on Mitchell. Mitch hasn't "picked up" an opponent in years, and they usually both get 45 possessions each!

 

[gs17]

Don't play Cooney on Hodge. We need someone extremely disciplined and accountable. Probably Boyd.

Boyd will go with Mitchell IMO, maybe Cross on Hodge. It really depends on where Hodge lines up.

 

[langers1971]

One good thing about this finals match up that hasn't been mentioned much, is that one of these 2 teams is guaranteed a home preliminary final, something that Hawthorn haven't been in since 2001, and the dogs since 1992.
Both sets of supporters should be rapt with that, of course, as mentioned earlier though, the loser of this game would be on a collision course with Geelong in the other Prelim final - not a good prospect.