Choked

[TempleKelvington]

Gee that one hurt me almost as much as the prelim....I was gutted after the game. I kept saying all night, we are not taking out chances and we need to be 2 or 3 goal further in front with the ball we had chances on goal.

I though our constant efforts to try and spot up a forward cost us also. I don't want them to blaze all the time either, but there were times when a long kick to the square was a better option.

So many silly mistakes....that cost us directly.
Hahn's poor pass to Tommy in the center....and I knew Tom would not be able to make it good.
Hall giving away Gilbee's shot.
Williams running through the mark....
Hahn's backward pass to Eagleton who then ended up 20 meters further out.
Gia...who played on from 30 out...but still should have either kicked it or got to the man over the top...either way should have been a goal.

Had we got that extra 2 goals in front....the game was ours even with a Stkilda rally.

I Have seen the saints a few times this year, and they have been blessed...Pies had them on toast but their kicking was worse than ours..and Sydney too should have got them.

We have 4 games that if we play with last nights intensity we should win......massive 4 weeks now....we need min of 3 wins from that lot.

 

[pumpter]

Last nights game answers the hypothetical question about whether Barry Hall in the 2009 prelim final line-up would have ensured victory against the Saints. Answer = No.

Good player, but needs to tone down the tough guy act. Getting the free kick reversed and losing a certain goal to Gilbee, was inexcusable, as was Tom Williams running through the mark. I just get the feeling that the old adage about always the bridesmaid and never the bride is appropriate about the Bullies.

 

[Fossie 32]

One of our most disappointing losses. Looking for positives though, at least it shows we can beat them, especially if we avoid stupid mistakes and tactics next time.

 

[larrikan]

I know how you feel and feel sorry for you guys...this is exactly what happened to Collingwood vs St Kilda. I was gutted and I am stunned that you lost last night too.

So let me add this after watching both games. Ross Lyon was at Sydney when everyone said they play ugly football. Well, guess who the new ugly is? St Kilda have reverted to the old Sydney game.

They choke the hell out of teams. They FORCE sides wide and back. You cannot kick long to a contest because they have numbers zoned back.

SO HOW TO YOU BEAT ST KILDA?

FFS MALTHOUSE AND EADE! move the ball fast into the forward line down the corridor. Put a defensive tag on Gilbert! At times, the Bulldogs proved it - Collingwood proved it BUT what did we do - play into their game style JUST LIKE SYDNEY USED TO DO. Where are you Demetriou telling us St Kilda games are ugly.

Don't blame the players - thats why you have a box full of coaching staff.

I hope clubs wake up sooner or later to Lyon and his imposters.

 

[_Mike_]

at least it shows we can beat them

how is that so, when they've won four of the last 5 that actually counted.

 

[Bad Santa]

Ross Lyon is a blight on the game of Australian Rules Football. No Rooey, so he reverts to a rubbish brand of football because he knows no better. Tiprat style.

Im so effing mad we lost that game! just about giving up for the year now. I believe we have everything needed to win a flag, except for that one elusive thing. Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Stkilda have it. I think its a mental thing, some kind of unseen steely resolve, a belief...I dont think it can be taught, but must be earned...are we earning it now? cos were running out of time.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I can't ever remember being so disappointed/frustrated/angry/upset after a match as I was tonight.

We did choke. If I was more optimistic, I would kid myself by saying the players will be hurting and they will learn from this, but I'm sure they won't.

There was that famous match in 2007 when Geelong lost to the Kangas and they drew a line in the sand and the rest is history.

Our side needs to do a similar thing right now.

It's time for them to wake from the slumber, end the crap, and realise that they are actually a very good football side, and if they don't seize the moment this year, they may never get another opportunity.

It was very disappointing but when Gia fluffed that pass to Johnno, I remember thinking, uh oh. Then when the Saints kicked the first of the two goals that won it for them, I only felt a sinking sense of inevitability, and I wasn't a bit surprised when they kicked the winner. Yes, there is a lack of belief in our team and they are not operating as cohesively as they should, but I think it will come. I hope it's this year.

And I hope a lot of people have torn strips off Barry - DON'T PUSH BLOKES' FACES! Jeez! he did it to three of them! Aaaagghh! (Mind u, they have such pushable faces)

 

[Missy Maxi]

It's all too bloody familiar. 2010 presents a real opportunity for someone to rise up. Geelong on the wane. St Kilda without it's undisputed star (and our nemesis). Who is going to put their hand up? Not the Doggies. That is an opportunity too good to be true, so we'll just stick to soldiering on and achieving some honourable so-close-but-yet-so-far results.

Just like 97 & 98 when we were good. Very good. But didn't have what it took. Now, armed with the hardware to finally make it happen, we've played 3 good sides in the first 6 rounds - and lost them all.

Yep! That sum it all up perfectly for me! That's exactly how I felt in '97. I felt so sick in those last few minutes last night. Please Dogs you have to be better than that. We just can't go through that again!

 

[Fossie 32]

how is that so, when they've won four of the last 5 that actually counted.

Yes but we only lost by 3 points this time and a few in the finals. If it was a few goals each time I would say you wouldn't have a great chance of winning next time but when its so close its just a bit of luck, or a mistake less and we win.

 

[_Mike_]

Yes but we only lost by 3 points this time and a few in the finals. If it was a few goals each time I would say you wouldn't have a great chance of winning next time but when its so close its just a bit of luck, or a mistake less and we win.

Thats the problem Fossie, they cant rely on "luck" to get them over the line against a team that has had the wood over them for a few years now. Whether its 3 or 30 points, at the end of the day it all comes back to missed opportunities and turnovers from a style of football they are not good at playing. (posession)

 

[karmafree]

I am so dissapointed, I could many things regarding the players specially those that went missing in the final quarter but I think the real culpable for tonigh is the coach.

How can Eade let a game like this go, why didn't we go long to our tall targets?

All other teams kick long when the games get difficult but Eade had our players spotting targets in a flodded forward line. How many times in the past we have lost games due to a last contested mark to the opposition?

Why didn't we kick from fifty?

We will never are going to win or even to get to a final if we don't play to win the games until the final siren and stop and rest/celebrate before the game is won.

Eade needs to have a good look at the way he is coaching our guys and the pressure he puts on them to finish the games strongly.

Although there's always a problem with out team sometimes we start to slow and get too far behind in the first quarter, other times we get tired to soon and get run over in the third or fourth quarter, I can't remember the last time I saw a game when the team had a strong four quarter win.

Frustration, dissapointment, sadness and fury are mixed feeling us Bulldogs supported are too used to suffer and unfortunately we are going through it again. Not to mention the sense embarrassment we experience everytime we get proven to be not good enough.

Once again all those expectations goes down the drain and it will be another year of almost but not quite.

I ask myself, was it the right thing to become a bulldog supporter many years ago? Will ge ever see in our lifetimes our team win another flag, at times like this I lose all hope.

Now I'll have a drink and I'll continue wandering offline about the meaning of life as a bulldog supporter.

Great post mate. I know your pain, and the tragedy is you have no choice in the matter. I'm a lifer with the Saints, my wife says why don't you barrack for another team. I nearly kill her for her ignorance. Turn to philosophy I recommend Senneca other wise it all becomes too much.

 

[fred cook]

One of our most disappointing losses. Looking for positives though, at least it shows we can beat them, especially if we avoid stupid mistakes and tactics next time.

I dont know about that Foss

We played very well nearly all night and they played average nearly all night

They still won

 

[Fossie 32]

Thats the problem Fossie, they cant rely on "luck" to get them over the line against a team that has had the wood over them for a few years now. Whether its 3 or 30 points, at the end of the day it all comes back to missed opportunities and turnovers from a style of football they are not good at playing. (posession)

No doubt you can't rely on luck, I just think if its that close you would only need to do things a bit better to beat them.... I agree with what you say but don't you think in such a low scoring game if we didn't for example make those few stupid mistakes we most likely would have won?

 

[Leon]

I've almost given up on being angry about losses like last night now.

I've missed less than 10 games in Melbourne since 1983 and have seen defeats just as bad and indeed worse than last night, been angry and filthy at them, questioned why I/we even bother, shed tears at times, and spent more anger, energy and emotion over them than I probably should have.

I have done every rant and said every angry cliche each time they have disappointed me, so maybe that's why I basically could not be bothered getting angry.

I know I'll be at the Melbourne game and every one after that too.

Last night at the final siren I just sat there and stared into space for about five minutes, inwardly seething.

All the past times when they have crushed me and I have gotten angry I rationalised obviously that they're my team and naturally you feel it when they disappoint you, but I think as of last night I reached a point that I could have done a long time ago.

And that is just accepting that what they did last night i.e lost again when they shouldnt have and made our hearts break, ultimately is what the club does, always has done and in all probability will do in future way more than they will make us smile.

It doesnt mean I dont love them, always have and always will, the club is like my second family, I simply cannot miss the games and paying money for membershiop and games and everything else is as natural as breathing to me.

It doesnt mean that I wont be ecstatic when we do win and enjoy the good times that they do give us.

It's just finding a way to cope. I felt like I simply I could not get any energy to be angry last night because it was just too much and would be too damaging to me.

After all these years of constant disappointment, heartbreak and emotional lows, is it wrong to finally just accept that they will disappoint me way more than they will please me?

Bloody hell.

Footscray Football Club - my drug of choice.

 

[karmafree]

LEON
To quote my main man "what is the use of lamenting ones misfortunes in life, when the whole of it is meant for tears" ...Seneca approximately cc 40AD. He was thinking of the hapless broken hearted football supporters of the future.

 

[Nath09]

I think the most dissapointing aspect of the game was that when we were challenged, and it was there for us to win we didn't have any players who could step up and execute under pressure.

I may be wrong, but although we had an identical win-loss ratio last year, it seems like it was games like this that we would have won. Similarly in both our other losses we faded away where it seems formerly we would've at least kept pushing. This year we've looked flat and unispired.

I've not given up hope, there are obviously reasons for this slump in form and I hope the club can pin-point what they are and work towards fixing them soon. Obviously injuries are hurting us and it seems some players are playing when they are not right (Higgins), or maybe even past it (Johnson, Aker). Perhaps it is taking longer to adjust to the new structure of our forward line than anticipated.

Time will tell if we can work through these things, but suffice it to say last nights effort was thorougly dissapointing.

 

[DognBones]

What really irks is that after recent games against StKilda, I've been telling everybody that we would beat them every time if Reiwoldt wasn't playing. Now I look rather silly and will take my medicine at work etc.
Fair dinkum, StKilda was absolute crap last night and still beat us, this without Reiwoldt and their best ball carrier Gram.

Also, Lenny Hayes killed us in the final quarter of the Prelim Final and so he did again this time. Can't we manage an effective tag?

One can ask what steps have been taken by Eade to address the reasons we didn't win the Prelim. On the existing evidence - Not Much!

 

[dogwatch]

Recant, all you supporters who labelled us chokers last week!

Tonight's win may have had a slice of luck (whoever lost would have been stiff) but it had a hell of a lot of guts and tenacity. It would have been so easy to lie down and let the Demons run away with it.

That's not choking in my book.

 

[GrandBlue]

Had Murphy not saved us with his cool calm disposal, we absolutely would have lost, choked and declared season over. All our players didn't care one bit about hitting targets, it was all about bombing/mungrelling it forward and hoping someone gets on to it.

I'm hardly surprised some people left, I nearly did myself.