Review Dogs down Blues 79-59

[Zgope1]

My favourite development about this year- we’ve subtracted dunkley and won several games with a key mid out.

We used to have to dominate the midfield to win. And also to defend.

Our defence is much better with Jones plus way more running power in the side all over the field.

Lobb is doing his role supporting everyone he’s supposed to. The average footy fan that I hear sledging him every week at the ground doesn’t see how much of a glue guy he actually is.

 

[doggies ftw]

My favourite development about this year- we’ve subtracted dunkley and won several games with a key mid out.

We used to have to dominate the midfield to win. And also to defend.

Our defence is much better with Jones plus way more running power in the side all over the field.

Lobb is doing his role supporting everyone he’s supposed to. The average footy fan that I hear sledging him every week at the ground doesn’t see how much of a glue guy he actually is.

Yep we’re still really yet to be tested against great sides since our round 1/2 debacle. But not dominating the midfield but still kicking a winning score and a red hot defence is very bloody refreshing considering how reliant we’ve been on this midfield domination practically for the last dozen or so years. We do have 3 of the top 5 ranked players in the league currently, in our midfield, so maybe that’s a concern as we probably can’t rely on them to contribute as much as they have been - but we did notch up a pretty comfortable win against decent opposition with 2/3rds of them well down on the weekend so another step forward.

We’ve answered a lot of big questions, ie - our defence in general, our defensive talls, our wings & bottom 6, our ruck/ruck support, our growing ability to arrest back momentum and find ways to score.

The main glaring one still open is our connection with the forward line and the 3 talls in general (although they all are contributing weekly, but still a lot of room for improvement) but I feel a lot more comfortable having the base we now have, with a reasonable sample size of ~2 months, and only the one major issue to fix. Rather than trying to put out 6 different spot fires every week.

 

[bobs head soup]

Just watched the game back. Although it was an ugly watch, it was pretty fascinating tactically.

In a way, Voss is playing a very Bevo game style, with a high emphasis on getting numbers to clearances and contests, winning the territory battle and locking the ball forward.

Rather than doubling down and out-Bevoing a Bevo wannabe, Bevo decided to play a more defensive gamestyle we hate against us (especially the 2021/22 us).

The first sign this was gonna be a Bevo 4D chess kind of game was the selection and move forward of O'Donnell.

I reckon the logic behind this seemingly crazy move was that Lobb as a defensive winger was key to our tactical game, but picking an obvious key forward replacement (Khamis) telegraphed our intent.

Peak 4D Bevo to pick a complete rookie who has played tall defender for the role to make the key Lobb move less predictable.

Using a big body to congest Carlton's moves forward, forcing them to wide, low percentage entries was great coaching and fun to watch in an ugly kind of way.

 

[BrunswickDog]

Just watched the game back. Although it was an ugly watch, it was pretty fascinating tactically.

In a way, Voss is playing a very Bevo game style, with a high emphasis on getting numbers to clearances and contests, winning the territory battle and locking the ball forward.

Rather than doubling down and out-Bevoing a Bevo wannabe, Bevo decided to play a more defensive gamestyle we hate against us (especially the 2021/22 us).

The first sign this was gonna be a Bevo 4D chess kind of game was the selection and move forward of O'Donnell.

I reckon the logic behind this seemingly crazy move was that Lobb as a defensive winger was key to our tactical game, but picking an obvious key forward replacement (Khamis) telegraphed our intent.

Peak 4D Bevo to pick a complete rookie who has played tall defender for the role to make the key Lobb move less predictable.

Using a big body to congest Carlton's moves forward, forcing them to wide, low percentage entries was great coaching and fun to watch in an ugly kind of way.

In the game against Carlton last year, they made all of the boundary line shots as well as the helicopter snaps and shots as well

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

A lot was made of Carlton’s wastefulness, but we we were very wasteful as well, especially in the second half.

Naughton and Scott both missed sitters from 20m out and Dureya should have done better at the end.

Kicked more points than the Blues.

Hope Bevo shows these in the review as we are not going to beat top 4 teams missing sittters.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

In the game against Carlton last year, they made all of the boundary line shots as well as the helicopter snaps and shots as well

Difference last year, we had no Jones and a half fit Keath.

Having decent tall defenders makes a huge difference.

 

[_Mike_]

The Dogs scored 5 majors in the last quarter, guess who had a hand in 3 of them...

 

[Dogs 13]

I think it was Libba 9, Baz 8, Walsh 8, young 7

Lewy didn’t even get a vote from his coach

 

[The Inbetweener]

Yep we’re still really yet to be tested against great sides since our round 1/2 debacle. But not dominating the midfield but still kicking a winning score and a red hot defence is very bloody refreshing considering how reliant we’ve been on this midfield domination practically for the last dozen or so years. We do have 3 of the top 5 ranked players in the league currently, in our midfield, so maybe that’s a concern as we probably can’t rely on them to contribute as much as they have been - but we did notch up a pretty comfortable win against decent opposition with 2/3rds of them well down on the weekend so another step forward.

We’ve answered a lot of big questions, ie - our defence in general, our defensive talls, our wings & bottom 6, our ruck/ruck support, our growing ability to arrest back momentum and find ways to score.

The main glaring one still open is our connection with the forward line and the 3 talls in general (although they all are contributing weekly, but still a lot of room for improvement) but I feel a lot more comfortable having the base we now have, with a reasonable sample size of ~2 months, and only the one major issue to fix. Rather than trying to put out 6 different spot fires every week.

Not sure about not being tested against great sides. We’ve played four of the top 5 teams on the ladder

 

[doggies ftw]

Not sure about not being tested against great sides. We’ve four of the top 5 teams on the ladder

Fair point, more referring to post round 1/2 though as obviously a lot has changed from round 3. 1/4 overall is not great but I’d love to see how Melb/Saints match ups would play out right now - Brissy was a really good scalp and I still just fail to rate Port very highly in hindsight that performance looks okay and a real shame we didn’t clinch it in an 8 point game.

Point being that there’s some big challenges to come and honestly it’s just very hard to place us right now. Are we good, very good, great, avg, shit - I have genuinely no idea at this stage

 

[The Inbetweener]

Fair point, more referring to post round 1/2 though as obviously a lot has changed from round 3. 1/4 overall is not great but I’d love to see how Melb/Saints match ups would play out right now - Brissy was a really good scalp and I still just fail to rate Port very highly in hindsight that performance looks okay and a real shame we didn’t clinch it in an 8 point game.

Point being that there’s some big challenges to come and honestly it’s just very hard to place us right now. Are we good, very good, great, avg, s**t - I have genuinely no idea at this stage

Agree mate, next month will be fascinating and give us a great idea.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

I don’t know what everyone is talking about Re the real test coming, look at our run home compared to other current top 8 sides, it’s pretty damn good.

 

[Wetdog]

Fair point, more referring to post round 1/2 though as obviously a lot has changed from round 3. 1/4 overall is not great but I’d love to see how Melb/Saints match ups would play out right now - Brissy was a really good scalp and I still just fail to rate Port very highly in hindsight that performance looks okay and a real shame we didn’t clinch it in an 8 point game.

Point being that there’s some big challenges to come and honestly it’s just very hard to place us right now. Are we good, very good, great, avg, s**t - I have genuinely no idea at this stage

At the moment we are a 6 to 10 placed team IMO.

Improvements are required on our transition into the forward line and conversion. If we improve in this area, we may be in top 4 contention.

There is still a lot of work to do. We are 1-3 (2-3 if you count Carlton) against current final 8 teams.

It would be nice to see us take another big scalp! I will keep myself in check until then.

It is nice to see how honest we are as a team though, we are beating the teams that we should be beating.

 

[_Mike_]

I don’t know what everyone is talking about Re the real test coming, look at our run home compared to other current top 8 sides, it’s pretty damn good.

Adelaide @ Mars
Suns @ TIO
Geelong @ Marvel
Port @ Marvel
North @ Marvel

We have a good chance of coming away with 3-4 wins from that mix. Adelaide I see as a danger game, Suns at TIO is winnable so is North and Port at Marvel. Geelong game could go either way given our history.

 

[gangsta deluxe]

We have 5 out of 13 games remaining against current top 8 sides. 3 of those games are against sides currently below us in the top 8.

As far as my brief analysis goes, this is the single best run home of ANY current top 8 side. edit: except the saints who seem to have a slightly easier run

We are one game and percentage off second. We have absolutely no ****ing excuse not to finish in the 4.

 

[dergert]

Arty will have to deal with a player locking down on him next...

 

[Dogs Rule]

If Arty doesn't get a Rising Star nom soon I will tear down AFL house.

 

[doggies ftw]

We have 5 out of 13 games remaining against current top 8 sides. 3 of those games are against sides currently below us in the top 8.

As far as my brief analysis goes, this is the single best run home of ANY current top 8 side. edit: except the saints who seem to have a slightly easier run

We are one game and percentage off second. We have absolutely no ******* excuse not to finish in the 4.

Agree, our draw is seriously open now - yet to play Norf & WCE, got Hawks again, Freo again at Etihad. Don’t play Melbourne/Brisbane again, Pies once at Marvel, Port at Marvel, Swans away but they suck - only downside is Geelong twice. As you said, no excuse to not make top 4 from here really

 

[Next Waiting]

I thought Gards was pretty solid too. Adept at getting a paw in there in somewhere, pretty physical and impacts at speed. Does tend to make the earn it.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

I thought Gards was pretty solid too. Adept at getting a paw in there in somewhere, pretty physical and impacts at speed. Does tend to make the earn it.

Yes very good against Curnow. His kicking wasn’t bad also.

Unlike Keath and Bruce he didn’t fumble below the knees.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

Next two games actually as difficult as any of our remaining games.

Crows and Suns ran Collingwood and Melbourne to the wire and are serious top 8 chances.

We don’t get them at Marvel either.

Win the next two and we probably will finish top 4 IMO.

 

[Nat Fyfe]

Next two games actually as difficult as any of our remaining games.

Crows and Suns ran Collingwood and Melbourne to the wire and are serious top 8 chances.

We don’t get them at Marvel either.

Win the next two and we probably will finish top 4 IMO.

Every year there’s a side that makes top 4 from outside the 8 the previous year. I reckon Adelaide are as good a chance as any to be that team. Beating them this week would be huge

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

They beat us last year at Mars by a solitary point, and they have improved, but then so have we.

 

[dogwatch]

I finally got to review the game. A few observations - some of which differed from what I'd been reading here:

• I didn't think the umps were that bad. However I admit it's always easier to say that a couple of days later when you ended up winning.
• I didn't think the commentators were horribly biased toward Carlton. The broadcast team always wants whoever is losing to stage a comeback so the game can be more exciting. Since it was also Carlton making the comeback - the team that had been under the blowtorch during the week - I thought the coverage was about right. From what I'd read here I had been expecting them to hardly mention our side in their analysis but that wasn't the case.
• We're moving the ball faster and more creatively than last year and even the beginning of this year. This in turn is making our forward entries a little easier because we are catching opponents out of position and the f50 is not always crowded with 30 players in it. Who would have guessed swift ball movement could improve the whole side's performance? And why did it take us so long to get back to that style of play? Richards, Arty, Bont, Daniel and JJ have been a big part of that but Baz and Baker have been getting in on the act too.
• Arty was good with those flashes of brilliance in the 4thQ but throughout the game he was always zipping into the frame at the last instant to lay a tackle or make sure the Carlton disposal was rushed. I'm not sure the average fan (apart from this learned board of course) appreciates how much difference it makes if you can prevent those easy midfield disposals. The pressure he applies is invaluable. I hope it's infectious.
• Marra was better than I had expected. He could have easily had 3-4 goals but he was also doing some good work up the ground. Has good vision and lovely soft delivery over about 25-30m. 2 GAs.
• Williams and Daniel were two others who barely got a mention here on Saturday but I thought both were really good. Williams is back to his career best form and is providing some of that B-Grade depth I was lamenting we didn't have.
• Last week I criticised Bailey Smith's lack of awareness for not tucking the ball under his arm and going for a run when he had a couple of metres on his GWS opponent on the wing. His "nothing" kick resulted in a quick Giants' rebound. The same situation arose against Carlton late in the game and guess what ... he pinned his ears back and went for a run and a bounce. I'm guessing that piece of video from last round got some scrutiny during the week. Anyway, well done Baz. That's how experience improves your footy. You've got to make a few mistakes to get better.
• Liam Jones has been superb all year in defence. For once I'm going to have a bit of confidence that we can deal with Geelong's tall forwards when we take them on in a few weeks. The biggest difference in this side from 2022 has been the improved defence. Some of that is from continued growth in Ed Richards
  20

  Ed Richards

  Age

  25

  Ht

  188cm

  Wt

  89kg

  Pos.

  D/M

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  12.4

  3star

  K

  7.2

  3star

  HB

  5.2

  4star

  M

  2.5

  3star

  T

  2.4

  4star

  MG

  201.4

  3star

  D

  11.3

  3star

  K

  6.0

  2star

  HB

  5.3

  3star

  M

  1.5

  2star

  T

  2.5

  3star

  MG

  198.3

  3star

  D

  14.6

  4star

  K

  9.8

  4star

  HB

  4.8

  4star

  M

  4.8

  5star

  T

  2.6

  4star

  MG

  232.4

  4star

  but a lot of it is due to Liam Jones
  19

  Liam Jones

  Age

  33

  Ht

  199cm

  Wt

  98kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  9.4

  2star

  K

  6.5

  3star

  HB

  2.9

  3star

  M

  4.3

  4star

  T

  2.0

  4star

  MG

  134.5

  2star

  D

  7.6

  2star

  K

  6.1

  3star

  HB

  1.4

  1star

  M

  4.1

  4star

  T

  1.4

  2star

  MG

  116.3

  2star

  D

  9.4

  3star

  K

  7.4

  3star

  HB

  2.0

  2star

  M

  4.0

  4star

  T

  2.2

  4star

  . We have conceded the fourth fewest points in the league.

 

[BeMoreBont]

They are obviously different types of players, however I feel genuinely safe when Ed is in a position to impact a contest. It's the same feeling I had when Morris was in the side.

He's a robot. Does not make a mistake. Genuine star of the competition now.

Libba is just incredible to watch live. The amount of times the ball is in dispute, surrounded by a group of players and he's the first/only one willing to borrow in and get the footy. Will never get tired of seeing it.