Review Dogs 93 def Saints 36

[dergert]

You're a rather silly human being

Was tongue in cheek. Sorry that sarcasm doesn't have a font.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Was tongue in cheek. Sorry that sarcasm doesn't have a font.

 

[ThirdLegUp]

I like the Bulldogs.

ME TOO!

Group hug everyone!

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Haven't read the thread but I'm assuming player stuff has been done to death - I'm going to highlight something a bit different that I noticed at the ground: the differing approaches to football between the two sides.

Frankly, in my opinion, St Kilda went into tonight's game with a negative, prehistoric philosophy on football. Now, I don't pay enough attention to them to know whether this is common or just for tonight, but it was on show in very ugly ways against us. They were all about matchups in a throwback to the one-on-one era. They looked at the opposition and said, "How do we counter them?" rather than, "How do we win this game? How do we want to play?"

A couple of times Stringer went into the centre bounce and, despite him being a long way from a complete midfielder at this stage, the Saints players shat themselves. They were disorganised and essentially forced Steven to go onto him because they were worried about his speed. The same thing happened over and over again in both defence and stoppage situations in particular; they were too busy stressing about who should man up who and had absolutely no set structure. They let us structure however we wanted and then adjusted themselves based on who was the better matchup for the player. In short, they spent the entire game trying to play against us rather than trying to play their own style. It was passive football at its worst.

Compare that to us. We had a system from start to finish, even though our execution was regularly poor. Whenever a player went off, somebody else filled the role immediately. Biggs on Riewoldt? Who cares - he's where he needs to be, it makes no difference that Riewoldt is the guy closest to him. Really aggressive, cocky football, and it won us the game. Whenever their links broke down they had nothing. They didn't know where the support was. They turned it over and that was that. When our links broke down, we regularly created something out of nothing, or at least gave it a red hot go, because we knew where our teammates should be based on the "game plan"/structure.

TL;DR: I absolutely love Luke Beveridge and I adore the confidence we have in our own game and structure.

 

[dergert]

MBoyd rested next week?

 

[Eastdog]

Great game again for our team tonight. Three players who stood out for me were Libba, Daniel and Hunter. JJ did a lot of great things and played another great game. Adams looked very good and Morris is just a champ and defensive we looked very good. Good to see T Boyd get a few as that will get his confidence up. Our goal kicking is a bit of a concern so we want to improve that. Had a great seat tonight Level 1 Aisle 48 and was mainly surrounds by our faithful up right near our cheer squad.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

Anyone who thinks St Kilda's development is ahead or even the equal of ours is kidding themselves.

 

[dergert]

Also does anyone else find Chris connolly's special comments irritating? It's like I sometimes get the feeling he hates us then he comes out and defends us.

 

[SonOfScray]

No surprises at the frequency of which Tom Boyd was molested tonight given we were playing St Kilda. Eat a bag of big ones you pissants.

 

[bresker]

Also does anyone else find Chris connolly's special comments irritating? It's like I sometimes get the feeling he hates us then he comes out and defends us.

He was awful on the radio, just wanted to talk about the Saints. Barely mentioned us. Gave us no credit.

My favourite part was when he said the Saints needed to create more stoppages so that they could put their contested ball midfielders to work. What game was he watching?

And he bagged the umpires all night like some old wizened geezer in the pub.

I never paid any attention to him before but the man is an idiot

 

[FoochPackage]

Just watching the replay. Bontempellis 1st quarter (bar that brain fade where he passed) was sensational. Was in everything.

Overall i gove us a 7/10 tonight.

Big challenge of our game style next week.

Cant wait!

 

[Doggies1972]

Whoo hoo, I just got rookied on BF after a win against Nick's salty tear tobogganist riders, after cleaning up with a 27.5 start. Some day's its just great to be a doggies supporter.

 

[Super Hans]

JJ, Adams, Libba, Daniel. Well done.

Good win, I hope Bev has a stern word to Dahl and Suckling about playing like millionaires (insert Boyd joke). Those dribble kicks were disgusting.

 

[dergert]

He was awful on the radio, just wanted to talk about the Saints. Barely mentioned us. Gave us no credit.

My favourite part was when he said the Saints needed to create more stoppages so that they could put their contested ball midfielders to work. What game was he watching?

And he bagged the umpires all night like some old wizened geezer in the pub.

I never paid any attention to him before but the man is an idiot

"saints defenders have played great tonight".. With all their turnovers. Also my absolute favourite is his pot shots at Marcus Adams saying he isn't good enough yet. Did you happen to hear his call last week against freo? Apparently Adams was not good enough to go with pavlich....

 

[bresker]

Frankly, in my opinion, St Kilda went into tonight's game with a negative, prehistoric philosophy on football. Now, I don't pay enough attention to them to know whether this is common or just for tonight, but it was on show in very ugly ways against us. They were all about matchups in a throwback to the one-on-one era. They looked at the opposition and said, "How do we counter them?" rather than, "How do we win this game? How do we want to play?"

Richardson is dead-set terrified of us. He saw the ass-reaming we handed to his troops last year before Clay did his knee and has since decided the only way he can counter us is by ugly footy.

Unfortunately for him, we can not only beat him with the style and flair, now we can absolutely bash the bejesus out of him in whatever matchups he chooses.

 

[ThirdLegUp]

JJ, Adams, Libba, Daniel. Well done.

Good win, I hope Bev has a stern word to Dahl and Suckling about playing like millionaires (insert Boyd joke). Those dribble kicks were disgusting.

I don't understand that shit myself. The ball is shaped like an egg, if it comes off the boot you have a percentage of it going straight... why then would you throw more dice into the mix by allowing it to bounce not once but TWICE hoping it goes right. Those type shots are ONLY for boundry style shots which actually have better percentage going with the roll then trying to kick backward at full gallop and not have the ball float in the running direction.

Really poor, they do that because they have no confidence kicking it straight off the boot. At 30 out as Dahl was, At AFL level that shit is not on.

 

[The Inbetweener]

MBoyd rested next week?

Carlton and Brisbane the next two weeks after the Hawks might be a better option

 

[wian]

McLean was everywhere tonight. Really rate him as a player

 

[Mingo]

St Kilda knob behind me kept saying "That was worth a million dollars" whenever Toyd stuffed up. I took great pleasure in very loudly and very obnoxiously saying to the old man when he kicked his 3rd goal "Boyd only needs one more goal to level with St Kilda." He went quiet for the remainder of their thumping...

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[Snake Livermore]

He was awful on the radio, just wanted to talk about the Saints. Barely mentioned us. Gave us no credit.

My favourite part was when he said the Saints needed to create more stoppages so that they could put their contested ball midfielders to work. What game was he watching?

And he bagged the umpires all night like some old wizened geezer in the pub.

I never paid any attention to him before but the man is an idiot

It beggars belief that Chris Connolly was a senior AFL coach in the last ten years. He has all the insight of your bozo uncle who took too much acid in his younger years ruining all chance of critical thought, but won't shut up anyway.

The only way I can reconcile what comes out of his mouth with the game I'm watching is that he types out (hunt and peck style) his inanities before the game, has a few nerve settlers, and then reads them out one by one regardless of what is happening on the field.

 

[Merlins Revenge]

I went to the game today, and while we didn't play particularly well, it was never close. Our bad games are 57 point wins? I'll take that every day of the week. Specifically, I thought:

• Adams was an absolute star. As mentioned previously, it was like watching Lake at his best. Isn't it refreshing to have him there deep in defensive 50, knowing he'll either mark it or spoil? Huge upgrade on Talia, absolutely huge. I mean, what forward can't he play on? I'd back him in against either Gunston or Breust next week. General Adams, I salute you.
• Morris took a fair few intercept marks today as well. When he, Wood and Adams are intercepting and dishing off to a JJ/Biggs/Murphy/Boyd we just look scintillating. Opposition forwards will starve to death this year, mark my words.
• Roughy. Isn't it interesting what confidence and playing in one position can do? Beat an in-form Hickey, made him look second rate. This is a ruck man who amassed 56 hit outs (25 of which were to advantage against the Power). We finally have a ruck man who can leap and tap to advantage a centre bounces, and compete very well at stoppages. Nice, isn't it?
• Stringer was well-held, but we still found ways to score. Not sure how many individual goal-kickers we had, but the Saints had absolutely no idea where the goals would come from next. Very 2008-2009 like, except now we have a a key forward.
• Might only be a basis of 2 games, but Libba has kicked a goal in each (should have been 2 against Freo, but he fluffed a very gettable set shot). Bev turns every mid we have into goal kickers. Wallis, Libba, Picken, Bont, the list goes on and on. Remember back in 2014, everyone was all about "The only thing Libba is lacking to make him truly great is kicking goals". Well ladies and gents, his Batman utility belt just got another new weapon.

I wasn't confident going into this game at all, but I now realise how foolish I was. Hawks will be a huge ask, but we're capable of pulling it off, especially at Etihad. Sucking to star and Stringer to kick 6. GO DOGS!

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Reckon we actually played some arrogant football today. Over-possessed the ball at times (for Toyd's first goal from that free kick, came after Hunter bloody kicked the ball deep in or forward line rather than over-possessing it by sideways movement which we did a fair lot, I thought to myself thank god he has a bit of sense, pretty much for the entire game we were over-possessing it and unnecessarily taking indirect avenues to goal) and also we obviously went for a few dribble kicks etc. We switched the ball too often, and looked to give off an extra handball at times when the first bloke could have been the one kicking it. (Guys, Roughy was taking contested marks around the round, just bloody kick it to him).

Came away from the game thinking - gee, or offensive efficiency or "clinical" way of kicking goals in the forward half was a bit meh, needs improvement, but I'll be buggered if we aren't the best defensive team so far this year. And by defence I don't just mean intercept possessions and defending the goal (like Adams beasting it), I mean the whole aspect of it - limiting your opponent's ball movement, right from the word go, through sticking your tackles and having systematic pressure. Watching other games this week... other teams just don't stick their tackles as much as we do, let alone apply constant pressure which forces turnovers and poor decision making through "perceived" pressure. Efficiency in front of goal - poor - all aspects of defending - elite.

Not getting a lot of love is Roughy. Hickey came into this game into form - had 25 hitouts to advantage last week no less - and Roughy just didn't beat him in the ruck. but beat him around the ground as well. For a bloke who had a poor pre-season and only played because theoretically our two first choice rucks before the season begun in Campbell and Minson were injured, he's done an awesome job.

And also - depth. DEPTH!!! We've got to find a way to get Dickson into the team (Dunkley probably to get a rest)... and Dale kicked 7 for Footscray. Depth!!!!

 

[SonOfScray]

St Kilda knob behind me kept saying "That was worth a million dollars" whenever Toyd stuffed up. I took great pleasure in very loudly and very obnoxiously saying to the old man when he kicked his 3rd goal "Boyd only needs one more goal to level with St Kilda." He went quiet for the remainder of their thumping...

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Could have asked him how he looks at himself in the mirror knowing he supports a club that harbours sexual deviants and dwarf assaulting arsonists.

 

[JAMES_B_101]

Normally like typing up a good essay after these sorts of wins, but Assignments have a hold on me
That Champion Data link above tells me something tremendous. Wood and Dunkley are down in the lower scores there but by no means had bad games. Wood on a usual stellar day is up there but was a tad off early; still put in the regulation saving intercepts. And Dunkley exhibited ridiculous marking ability today.
JJ's intercept had me frothed too

But theirs one player I'd just like to take my hat off tonight
Koby Stevens is tonights unsung hero for mine. Was tremendous
Some games he plays a standout but on nights like tonight, talk about Macrae going about his business, the Shark was all about doing it quietly.
What he brings to the team I believe can't be questioned, in my opinion his top rate work would be up in best 10 players at some other clubs but we have so many outstanding players that he's probably around 10-15+, but boy do I appreciate it.
His stoppage work is up to the high standard our team is going with, But one particular vision from a replay was telling; He plays the excellent role where any of our capable players have gone in for the initial hardball but on the occasion it spills out, he readily goes in hard for the second scrap and gets it out to other waiting players. Also easily capable of being the first to go in, Did everything else well tonight
Keep at it Koby, setting the standard for the players outside the best 15

Not only that but he is also in ripping shape, despite injuries. I also admire how he closes down space so quickly around stoppages to tackle and he tackles with real intent. It is underrated how he, Bont and Macrae don't always dive in for the ball first but in their roles they are firstly perfectly capable of winning the hard ball but also they use their length to disrupt opposition handballs in tight and wrap up opposition players trying to escape congestion with the pill. The other two are credited more for their work outside of the stoppages but inside Stevens' work is as good if not better, his tackles hurt more, his closing speed puts opposition under severe pressure and he willingly hands it off to those guys who are our ball users. He seems to finally understand his role in the team and where he sits and appears a lot more confident in himself. Played a great game tonight and if he keeps up this form he will finish high in the B+F.

 

[Super Hans]

It's great that Billings is the Aints best kid but wouldn't be in the top 10 of our young kids. Luke Dunstan is shit, too.

Such a bland team down at Seaford. Just hate that they try and make it a scrap, can't wait for next week. Big test.