Training Preseason 22-23

[Dogs_R_Us]

Cooney won his Brownlow in 2008.

Ok thanks, didn’t remember.

 

[Inside The Kennel]

BIG DEFENDERS REPORT CARD

What we know so far:

Our key (or good-sized) defenders over preseason are: Bruce, Jones, Keath, Raak, Gardner, O'Brien

The first three in red have been given the roles in all match simulation on our best three forwards. They are all over 30. This means incredible maturity and experience, it also suggests a degree of vulnerability.

We therefore have Raak waiting in the wings. He has served his apprenticeship and has been serviceable as a defender on Khamis throughout the pre-season. If one of the three red players are injured, he will surely come into calculations.

Our players in blue have been on light duties due to injury. O'Brien seems a little further away from resuming than Gardner and that also aligns with his place in the pecking order. He offers good depth if required. Gardner was a top-ten finisher in the B&F and when fit would be expected to be part of the preferred three tall defender structure.

So, in summary, much will depend on form and injury. With our three red players on the wrong mature end of the ledger, we can expect that at any given time, one of them will be challenged with injury or form. Thankfully, we have Gardner, while Raak and O'Brien offer additional cover.

We may also mention Darcy and Khamis who may be used at either end of the ground, depending on need, form and opponent.

We have weaponry!!!!

 

[CarnTheScray]

If Jones and Bruce/Gardner can cement themselves as the key defenders, it allows Keath to play the intercepting role like he was at Adelaide. We made him a lockdown defender out of necessity.

That would be a solid backline.

 

[dogwatch]

BIG DEFENDERS REPORT CARD

What we know so far:

Our key (or good-sized) defenders over preseason are: Bruce, Jones, Keath, Raak, Gardner, O'Brien

The first three in red have been given the roles in all match simulation on our best three forwards. They are all over 30. This means incredible maturity and experience, it also suggests a degree of vulnerability.

We therefore have Raak waiting in the wings. He has served his apprenticeship and has been serviceable as a defender on Khamis throughout the pre-season. If one of the three red players are injured, he will surely come into calculations.

Our players in blue have been on light duties due to injury. O'Brien seems a little further away from resuming than Gardner and that also aligns with his place in the pecking order. He offers good depth if required. Gardner was a top-ten finisher in the B&F and when fit would be expected to be part of the preferred three tall defender structure.

So, in summary, much will depend on form and injury. With our three red players on the wrong mature end of the ledger, we can expect that at any given time, one of them will be challenged with injury or form. Thankfully, we have Gardner, while Raak and O'Brien offer additional cover.

We may also mention Darcy and Khamis who may be used at either end of the ground, depending on need, form and opponent.

We have weaponry!!!!

ITK you seem upbeat about Raak as a KPD. My concern with him has been his twiglike physique but I gather he’s a determined young fella so he would be doing all he can to fix that. IIRC he’s also only about 190-192cm.

Has he bulked up at all? Is he easily brushed aside by mature KPFs? I love his work ethic but I’m concerned he’s a few cms/kgs short of what we need.

 

[ScragCity]

Jones, Keath and Bruce sounds like a seriously solid key defensive trio to me. I would feel safe as hell with those guys back there. I'd also still feel good about it if you replaced Bruce with Gardner. It's certainly the best we've had since the Lake/Morris era.

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

BIG DEFENDERS REPORT CARD

What we know so far:

Our key (or good-sized) defenders over preseason are: Bruce, Jones, Keath, Raak, Gardner, O'Brien

The first three in red have been given the roles in all match simulation on our best three forwards. They are all over 30. This means incredible maturity and experience, it also suggests a degree of vulnerability.

We therefore have Raak waiting in the wings. He has served his apprenticeship and has been serviceable as a defender on Khamis throughout the pre-season. If one of the three red players are injured, he will surely come into calculations.

Our players in blue have been on light duties due to injury. O'Brien seems a little further away from resuming than Gardner and that also aligns with his place in the pecking order. He offers good depth if required. Gardner was a top-ten finisher in the B&F and when fit would be expected to be part of the preferred three tall defender structure.

So, in summary, much will depend on form and injury. With our three red players on the wrong mature end of the ledger, we can expect that at any given time, one of them will be challenged with injury or form. Thankfully, we have Gardner, while Raak and O'Brien offer additional cover.

We may also mention Darcy and Khamis who may be used at either end of the ground, depending on need, form and opponent.

We have weaponry!!!!

O’Brien was so poor last year. I’d be disappointed to see him get games if that’s his level. I didn’t see much of him at the Hawks so I don’t know if he was just in a serious slump, much like Keath, or whether he is just not very good.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

We may have a chance this year if common sense has returned to the coaching box. Great news!1

Now if only common sense could reach this forum

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

If we are stopping the backing off the mark tactic , Brendon Lade has been worth every penny.

LOL yeah that was in his job description

 

[bobs head soup]

Jones, Keath and Bruce sounds like a seriously solid key defensive trio to me. I would feel safe as hell with those guys back there. I'd also still feel good about it if you replaced Bruce with Gardner. It's certainly the best we've had since the Lake/Morris era.

I feel ike Gardner should be in the best 3 tall defender mix. Jones , Keath and Bruce collectively looks a bit lumbering to me. Gardner adds a bit of legspeed.

Liking the overall versatility of our talls though.

I've got Gardner, Jones and Keath as starting backs,
Naughton, Lobb and Jamarra as starting forwards,
And Bruce, Khamis, Darcy, Raak and O'Brien as versatile depth options for either end (and Cleary and Busslinger for the back end).

That's some good tall depth.

 

[Inside The Kennel]

ITK you seem upbeat about Raak as a KPD. My concern with him has been his twiglike physique but I gather he’s a determined young fella so he would be doing all he can to fix that. IIRC he’s also only about 190-192cm.

Has he bulked up at all? Is he easily brushed aside by mature KPFs? I love his work ethic but I’m concerned he’s a few cms/kgs short of what we need.

Raak has increased his bulk. He still has a little way to go, but we will see him feature at some point. Reads the ball beautifully and has great nous. Size is his biggest enemy, as he is a bit of an inbetweener.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Love this, fitness is the only thing holding Westy back - if he can run all day this year he’s going to do big things whether forward or midfield.

How good an influence is our captain though? The blokes genuinely a living AFL saint - just the aura around him, people just gravitate to him and he has probably had more of an influence on so many young blokes careers at the club than anyone else. Marra last year West this year, I’d suggest Dunks wouldn’t be half the player he currently is if he didn’t shadow the great man over the past 8 years.

And people still question his leadership on here?

Who questioned it where are they I will fight them!

I agree it’s the best thing I heard about the West Bont pre season hook up. Westy has all the talent but needed to improve his running particularly defensively when the ball isn’t close. Great signs

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Today's Training Session Observations:
A spirited intra-club match at full tilt with umpires. The temperature was matched by the heat that our players brought, with slick movement, aggressive tackling and intense guarding of the mark. I have said it before during this pre-season, but this has been the best quality footy I have seen in my years of watching pre-Christmas footy.

*To see VIDEOS from training today, click the link at the bottom of the summary, which will take you to my Bulldog youtube channel. Be sure to click subscribe (PLEASE) so you can have ongoing free access and alerts:

1. Libba was best on ground in our intra-club match. His clearance work was off the charts.
2. Bedendo played forward and was phenomenal. He took a mark of the year contender and another three contested marks in the 30 minute match simulation. He kicked two goals in that time and missed two others (narrowly) from within 15 metres out, which would have been the cherry on top of a first-class performance.
3. Richards' run and carry was again elite. Metres gained would have been the most on the field.
4. For the respective teams, the midfield for most centre bounces was: Sweet/Bontempelli/Daniel/Weightman Vs English/Liberatore/Macrael/Garcia
5. Our wings were Vandermeer and Baker Vs Bailey Smith and McNeil
6. Hannan's aerobic capacity is next level. He moved from contest to contest with intensity and strength. Rohan Smith could be heard repeatedly lauding his efforts.
7. We loaded up with our forwards on the "white team", with Naughton/Lobb/Ugle-Hagan directly matching up against what appears to be our preferred defensive structure of Jones/Bruce/Keath respectively. All six players had an impact and was an enthralling battle. Lobb covered more territory than one would expect and took a few lead-up marks. Ugle-Hagan looks more nimble and kicked a classy goal from deep in the pocket. Naughton was given a great workout on Jones, with Liam narrowly taking the chocolates. Keath found a lot of the footy and Bruce looks at home in defence.
8. Bont continued his silky form on the track, with an uncanny ability to control time and space, the highlight being a shimmy to evade three opponents and launch a long shot for goal, that narrowly missed.
9. Bailey Dale was vocal and some of his drilling passes were like precision darts.
10. Garcia was dominant and looked Libba-like
11. Khamis was again at full forward and took several marks. He reads the ball so well in the air and finished with a nice goal also.
12. Daniel looks like he is firming for a midfield role. One handball to Weightman in heavy traffic over his head was like Hunter to Picken in the 2016 GF. Bevo was applauding on the sidelines and seems like he loves CD.
13. Darcy, Treloar and Gardner did repeated run throughs again. Treloar then did some extended kicking and must be close to a return. West and Roarke sat out the session, while Busslinger and Gallagher ran slower laps.
14. Charlie Clarke was spirited and looks like a find.
15. McLean was in the thick of the action and rotated onto the wing. His hands were clean and composure elite. As good as a new recruit following his absence last season.
16. Tyler Brown kicked a goal and had a few involvements. Other noticable newcomers include Poulter (quiet) and Joel Garner (not the West Indian cricketer).
17. Matt Spangher was again our most vocal coach. He was urging the players to "stay in the moment" and was instructional and assertive throughout. Like what I've seen from him this year.
18. Sweet went head to head with English. Tim was again dominant around the ground, while Sweet's tapwork was impressive.
19. Bailey Smith and Vandermeer combined well. Laith feeding Smith on several occasions to allow Bailey to run and deliver deep to our dangerous talls.
20. Bevo was stalking the boundary like a hyena and looks like a man with his eye on the prize.
*We have over 31,000 members currently. If you're not one of them, buy yourself and a family member a Christmas membership to be part of what I predict will be our Premiership year!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM0H1em3LEnlDiEZVr0TqOw

Love your work mate will definitely subscribe

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

AFL and VFL flags both in the bag by the sound of it!

Good man Fossie I reckon you are on the money

 

[Inside The Kennel]

Love your work mate will definitely subscribe

Great its FREE and takes 3 seconds to be a BULLDOG CHANNEL life member https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM0H1em3LEnlDiEZVr0TqOw

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Great its FREE and takes 3 seconds to be a BULLDOG CHANNEL life member https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM0H1em3LEnlDiEZVr0TqOw

All done you now have 352 subscribers

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

He expends so much energy with his manic style that it is understandable that he sometimes doesn't hit them right. With hard work, experience and increased composure I am confident that the best of Baz is yet to come.

Exactly right. Players like him that go at a 100% speed will always have disposal issues but they are so damaging that you have to take the good with the bad.Adz had similar criticism at the Pies.

 

[dogwatch]

Exactly right. Players like him that go at a 100% speed will always have disposal issues but they are so damaging that you have to take the good with the bad.Adz had similar criticism at the Pies.

Disagree. His poor disposal resulting in rebounds hurt us this year. Being fast can’t be a cop out for poor disposal.

He needs to learn how to deliver. When he does he will realise his potential and could become a top 5 player. One lace out delivery is worth at least four sprayed i50s. Watch Bont.

We could do with some more of the damaging Baz we saw in the 2021 finals. With the adverse publicity of whitepowdergate now behind him I think there are reasons to be hopeful about 2023.

 

[doggies ftw]

I feel ike Gardner should be in the best 3 tall defender mix. Jones , Keath and Bruce collectively looks a bit lumbering to me. Gardner adds a bit of legspeed.

Liking the overall versatility of our talls though.

I've got Gardner, Jones and Keath as starting backs,
Naughton, Lobb and Jamarra as starting forwards,
And Bruce, Khamis, Darcy, Raak and O'Brien as versatile depth options for either end (and Cleary and Busslinger for the back end).

That's some good tall depth.

I agree on Jones, Bruce & Keath - I don’t think there’s many forward lines that will have match ups for all 3 tbh, plus I can think of quite a few good forwards that none of those would be suited for - ie the Jeremy Cameron, Curnow, real athletic types.

I feel 2 of the above & Gardner is a much better mix. Either way it’s a far cry from some of the line ups we were rolling out last year. It’s funny on paper we’ve only added Jones & Lobb, but when you throw in Keath & Bruce finding form & fitness, Marras body transformation, Buku looking ready etc our talls across the board are dramatically improved on last year

 

[TiAn_]

Disagree. His poor disposal resulting in rebounds hurt us this year. Being fast can’t be a cop out for poor disposal.

He needs to learn how to deliver. When he does he will realise his potential and could become a top 5 player. One lace out delivery is worth at least four sprayed i50s. Watch Bont.

We could do with some more of the damaging Baz we saw in the 2021 finals. With the adverse publicity of whitepowdergate now behind him I think there are reasons to be hopeful about 2023.

It also doesn’t explain his shanks when not at top speed

 

[adogsfan5]

The good thing about Bruce is that he has a huge engine and is pretty strong one on one. He doesn’t need to be explosive off the mark to play on the likes of Hawkins, Walker, Mckay, Wright, Gawn, Dixon etc. I guess Jones can play on these types too.
Just need him to be able to read the game in a different position and not fly for the same ball as our other backs (which happens a lot with us). I think it’s a good move with his voice and leadership as well.

 

[ScragCity]

 

[hatescaptcha]

It’s great to have 4 solid key defenders to choose from as there is always one that’s injured at some point.

Plus a developing Busslinger.

Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Dogman 1]

Any news on how Luke cleary is going? Impressed me in his games last year.

 

[Inside The Kennel]

Any news on how Luke cleary is going? Impressed me in his games last year.

Has been in the rehab group. May have had a setback, as I didn't see him running laps on Wednesday. He had told me last week that he would be resuming with the main group after Xmas. His arms and upper body have clearly seen some iron over the off-season.

 

[Inside The Kennel]

Bedendo has firmed as my smokey for a Round One guernsey. He has impressed beyond expectations over summer and is a very challenging match-up, given his leap, size and agility.