Preview Changes for the Prelim v Port Adelaide - Sat @7:40

[Royale]

We have some levers we can pull. Schache can go back as a spare and so can Naughton if they really get ahold of us. Will need to manufacture goals another way but what else is new. Hopefully our mids can get it going on the scoreboard.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[immortalmike]

A forward line as functional? Our 2016 forward line wasn’t strong. Look at some of the games during the season (that Norf one in particular). I’d take the current one any day without hesitation. This one has Naughton and various others that can take a mark….

Our defence then was amazing so I take your other point.

It was settled and functional especially in finals.
The current team's was during the year but without Bruce and Flea it is anything but.

 

[The 4th Horseman]

And not half the actual leader Boyd was. Don't confuse talent with leadership.

Ridiculous comment. Bont has both in spades and you know it.

 

[bresker]

We have a solid nucleus of players who have won a premiership & played in multiple finals and who are coming into the peak of their careers.

 

[ScottyDogg]

All silliness aside. I am genuinely worried about our tall defenders without the angry PE teacher. Last time 2 meter Peter kicked 7. Gardner and Cordy scare the crap out of me.

Hope our mids absolutely smash theirs to compensate.

I totally agree with your nervousness about our tall defenders but their major threats are smalls not talls. Marshall and Ladhams don’t worry me in the slightest and Dixon isn’t particularly quick, we can double and triple team him.

We actually match up really well against their dangerous smalls.

We also have Schache as a decent tall interceptor and English will be freed up to drop back if need be.

As was the case last week, I am more worried about our ability to kick a winning score.

If we can get through and bring back Weightman and Keath…..look out.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

It was settled and functional especially in finals.
The current team's was during the year but without Bruce and Flea it is anything but.

Dude you’re making that comment in retrospect on the basis of four consecutive finals won in an unprecedented series. At the same time you’re looking forward and assuming we are cooked here (don’t know the reason, maybe you are protecting yourself psychologically - something I well understand).

There are more significant factors against us here so I agree to some extent but really don’t agree in the forward line comment.

That forward line was the weakness of that team, it wasn’t good at all.

In the eyes of the footballing world we were more cooked then but if we get up here it will be, to me at least, more of an achievement.

To be honest though, that gws team had far less weakness than this port team. They lose and it’ll be about them and not us in many ways, make no mistake.

 

[Zgope1]

Really? Naughton was the only tall to take a mark inside our forward 50 last week.

Our rebound was one of the keys to our flag can't agree it's better now as was our forward pressure.

Again hopefully our midfield is switched on. Otherwise it'll be a long night.

We’ve been a prodigious marks inside 50 team this year. And Naughton is the biggest reason for it. Along with Macrae’s exquisite i50 kicking. We won last week despite losing i50s comfortably.



English perennially draws a crowd when you kick it on his head. We have much more scope to cause chaos with this squad than with Zaine as the CHF.

with the amount of entries port should have to defend we’ll get our looks at it.

Dale, Williams and Daniel this year are so much better than what JJ provided that year as far as foot skills go.

We won by re inventing the game in 2016. We halved the ruck. We played a territory lock in game. Yeh we defended beautifully but our best backs weren’t the big guys.

this time we have a beefed up version of it. The pressure in the forward line comes with more leg speed and running power.

The targets are more legitimate.

the superstars are more mature.

the opposition is fine. Our opposition back then was ridiculous.

not saying we should be favourite but this squad should go in deserving to believe in themselves. And they deserve to have us believe they’ll fight til their last breath because they’ve earned that

 

[SupercededMan]

Who else thinks this is a career defining game for Cordy ? Been on the list for 7 years really needs to stand up and be counted.

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/295260/season-review-zaine-cordy

This end-of-season 2017 review gives him a decent report card. Second only to Easton Wood for intercepts, disposal efficiency of 84% (second highest at the club), top 20 in WHOLE of AFL for 1%ers ...

And he kickstarted our 2016 GF by snagging the opening goal from close to the boundary line.

In my opinion he's already stood up.

 

[LardDog]

You are REALLY looking forward to the game

Yes I really am looking forward to it that much

 

[immortalmike]

Ridiculous comment. Bont has both in spades and you know it.

No I don't because it's not true. Yet. Hopefully he gets there.

Dude you’re making that comment in retrospect on the basis of four consecutive finals won in an unprecedented series. At the same time you’re looking forward and assuming we are cooked here (don’t know the reason, maybe you are protecting yourself psychologically - something I well understand).

There are more significant factors against us here so I agree to some extent but really don’t agree in the forward line comment.

That forward line was the weakness of that team, it wasn’t good at all.

In the eyes of the footballing world we were more cooked then but if we get up here it will be, to me at least, more of an achievement.

To be honest though, that gws team had far less weakness than this port team. They lose and it’ll be about them and not us in many ways, make no mistake.

I'm not making the call in retrospect. I'm making it based on the last four games including two finals. We were scoring far more freely back then and our forwardline was generating more scoring shots. These are pretty inarguable.

I'm making the argument we're cooked because of the toll of travel, covid and injury. These were not things we had to deal with in 2016. I guess time will tell but it's a defensible argument so please don't dismiss it as psychological self protection.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

So you’re including a sample of four consecutive wins (all finals) against 2 finals and 2 season games?

If we win here it’ll be every bit as ludicrous as 2016 but I don’t think it is far less likely. I wasn’t confident going into the gws game and I could probably trawl it up but I bet you weren’t either.

we had underdone players coming back in 2016 who all shone. If stef does that here…

 

[Merlins Revenge]

Watched AFL 360 and a few stats caught my eye

The Mids Boundary Battle

Throw-ins v Top 8 teams

Bulldogs +8+55 points
Port -2, -7 points

Disposals v Port round 23: 334 disposals (Season low!)

Bont: 15
Macrae: 29
Libba: 17
Dunks: 17
Treloar: 22
Hunter: 22

We only lost that game by 2 points. Naughton marks that ball at the death, of Smith takes 1-2 more steps before he kicks and nails it, we win. Could have gone either way.

Port:

Wines: 34 disposals and a goal
Boak: 31 disposals and 2.3. Could have kicked 5!
Gray: 25 disposals, 2 goals

Naughton only kicked 1. Allir had 8 marks. We also got obliterated in the ruck 51-18 in terms of hitouts, which contributed to us losing the clearances 35-28 and stoppages 26-19.

My point is this: Yes, we had an amazing start to the game. However, our midfield teleported from the ground after that and were replaced with witches hats. Look at the disposal numbers. Port’s midfield couldn’t have played much better. What, is Boak going to kick 5.0 this game and Wines going to rack up 50?

Martin back definitely helps our clearance and stoppage work. This lessens the impact of Wines and Boak. If it rains (Seems like it will) the more stoppage work there will be. As noted above, we are a fantastic stoppage team against the top 8. Port aren’t.

The other factor not many in the media are talking about is Dunks influence as a tagger. He shut our Parish after game time, and did the same to Neale. I’m not sure of the exact stats, but the difference was clear. He will go to Wines. Even if he can tag him slightly out of the contest, it’ll go a long way to victory.

I’m usually a pessimist, but not this week. Not this team. Not this year.

2021. Yield to none!

 

[SupercededMan]

I was there that glorious day. The rain bucketed down.

 

[ScottyDogg]

We’re going to be horrifically undersized in defence.

Port:
Dixon - 200cm
Ladhams - 202cm
Marshall - 198cm

WB:
Gardner - 197cm
Cordy - 193cm
Wood - 186cm

When you add Port’a dangerous smalls into the mix, the only way we can win this game is by dominating the midfield and starving them of opportunities. We do have Schache to throw back to give us some extra height if needed, he could cover Ladhams or Marshall.

I think we match up against their smalls really well with Williams, Duryea, Dale, Daniel and Wood.

Their talls aren’t particularly worrying and I would actually suggest that the four talls we have back their have plenty of height:

 

[ScottyDogg]

We’ve been dealt this hand. Who cares. We’ve covered Keath before and we can do it again.

It’s a great point. Keath sat out almost the entire Dees game and we got the win.

 

[Dogs Rule]

Yep and that 2016 GWS team was stronger than the 2021 Port team. Our 2021 team is stronger than our 2016 team.

Yep and David King said it best today.

'There's just something about them (us)'

Cant believe I'm agreeing with King...

In 2016, the theme was 'Why not us?' and in the next 36 hours we'll hear how Port should win, Port are at home, Dixon will do this or that, Port's small forwards and so on, but 'why not us?'

Who's to say we can't ambush them and get it done like 2016. Nothing is beyond us. The last fortnight would have been enormous for belief. We were top two for 20 rounds. We have the talent, we're hardened, in form. We can do this.

 

[Angak]

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/295260/season-review-zaine-cordy

This end-of-season 2017 review gives him a decent report card. Second only to Easton Wood for intercepts, disposal efficiency of 84% (second highest at the club), top 20 in WHOLE of AFL for 1%ers ...

And he kickstarted our 2016 GF by snagging the opening goal from close to the boundary line.

In my opinion he's already stood up.

Respectfully disagree. He should be regular 22 and key part of our back 6 at this stage of his career. He had some moments in his early years mainly playing bit part roles i.e defensive forward.

 

[mal68au]

Bont: 15
Macrae: 29
Libba: 17
Dunks: 17
Treloar: 22
Hunter: 22

I think Martin helps this obviously. But it's also hard to look at these numbers and those performances and not wonder if the training was loaded up at the time. We looked slow and tired

 

[Dogs Rule]

Really? Naughton was the only tall to take a mark inside our forward 50 last week.

Our rebound was one of the keys to our flag can't agree it's better now as was our forward pressure.

Again hopefully our midfield is switched on. Otherwise it'll be a long night.

Come on Mike, I know you favour the pessimistic side of things (you probably call it realistic), but it's a Prelim. One step away from a Grand Final. Enjoy it. Two steps closer than we've been the last few years already and just one step from the big one.

Feels different to 2016 for obvious reasons, but I'm going to sit back and watch us get to work. I have huge faith in this side. Been a hell of a year, no reason we can get it done Saturday night.

 

[The 4th Horseman]

No I don't because it's not true. Yet. Hopefully he gets there.

Bont has led by example on and off the field. In fact, he has been a better leader on the field than what Boyd was during 2011-2013. You simply cannot deny that. I'd call you delusional but I might be branded as unprofessional if current trends are anything to go by so I'll refrain from that. Respectfully disagree with your assessment of our current leader, however.

 

[Brian Perrin]

We have some levers we can pull. Schache can go back as a spare and so can Naughton if they really get ahold of us. Will need to manufacture goals another way but what else is new. Hopefully our mids can get it going on the scoreboard.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

And you roll Dunks or Adz into the middle with Bont forward when you do

We will beat them, but might kick 8.43.91 to do it with Bont and Naughts kicking career high 2.10 each


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[Merlins Revenge]

I think Martin helps this obviously. But it's also hard to look at these numbers and those performances and not wonder if the training was loaded up at the time. We looked slow and tired

In a recent Easton Wood interview on 360 he actually alluded to that being the case.

 

[immortalmike]

So you’re including a sample of four consecutive wins (all finals) against 2 finals and 2 season games?

If we win here it’ll be every bit as ludicrous as 2016 but I don’t think it is far less likely. I wasn’t confident going into the gws game and I could probably trawl it up but I bet you weren’t either.

we had underdone players coming back in 2016 who all shone. If stef does that here…

Yes because those were the few games all year that we had a settled line up.

I think it'd be more ludicrous actually. And of course I wasn't confident when am I ever. Don't waste your time bro.

One thing however I was confident of was our ability to score. Something that I have no confidence of at the moment. Add that to an inability to defend the high ball with Keath our it spells trouble unless the one line that is definitely better fires and fires big.

Steph in would be massive if he wasn't 34 and coming off barely playing all year. In him I live in hope.

 

[SupercededMan]

That forward line was the weakness of that team, it wasn’t good at all.

Huh?

Picken (player of the AFL Finals), Dickson (oh, dog, I wish we had someone so accurate - Schache? - a kick for goal now), Boyd, Clay Smith, The Package ...

Whilst lacking a traditional FF, it was frigging awesome.

 

[adogsfan5]

I’m with Kingy. The Martin inclusion is not only good for structure but it would give everyone such a lift.