Autopsy Review - Dogs win back to back games to once again become flag favourites

[doggies ftw]

Thought Lobb played well up forward, what I will say is that they started their run in the 2nd when Lobb was in the ruck and he clearly rucked poorly so much that we actually rushed to get English back on with a shorter rest (though the rut had set in).

I get Lobb is better than Cordy there and it's why he recruited him, but I kind od see why Freo actually preferred Logue in there last year.

Disagree entirely there, Lobb rucked 3 CBs in their run of 7 (first being after they kicked their first of 7) the first CBA he won cleanly and we won the clearance, the 2nd was a 50/50 they scraped the clearance from which ended up in a crap goal with Bruce and Crozier making a shambles in defence and the 3rd was a clear win to Ryan they took it forward but for no result as we cleared it.

The first half of the run was all off half back and the last 3 goals that actually came from centre clearances were all off Timmy rucking. To be honest Bont has a lot to answer for in that run of goals because if he kicks his routine set shot it’s probably 3 maybe 4 goals to 1 in the run and we settle it down, instead it’s 7-0.

It’s a massive stretch to write any of that run off on Lobb

 

[doggies ftw]

I think this is only a part of it. Injuries have also played a big part as well as losing some depth to elsewhere.

The biggest issue for me is the absolute number of national draft selections. In 2020 we only took Jamarra and Bedendo (pick 55). In 2021 only Darcy, Arthur Jones (pick 44) and Cleary (pick 61). I’d much rather have given Milesi and extra crack in the 3rd/4th round both years versus carrying Butler/Martin on the list in 2022, Hannan/McComb in 2023.

Yeah it’s been frustrating how reluctant we are to back the recruiting team, again we probably know where that reluctance stems… but in saying that I’ll cop the ‘20 draft as a bit of a write off Marra aside, but from memory being Covid effected no one really went deep in that draft anyway. ‘21 is not having an effect on us currently as it was one season ago - we took one gun KPP, our 2nd pick literally played tonight and our 3rd is just about next in line. So if only taking 3 best 22 or fringe players in pretty much the last draft we had (not including ‘22 as we shouldn’t be expecting them to perform yet), is the root cause of our problems, Well, that’s a stretch.

Edit: Yep anyone who thinks us burning a draft for Marra in ‘20 is the cause of us not being able to refresh our list needs to take a look at this - AFL Draft Report Card: Magpies recover from trade nightmare, Roos’ shock call stuns rivals

Apart from Swans (Gulden,
McDonald, Campbell) I’d say we’re honestly getting more onfield benefit from that draft than any other club right now. Stinker of a draft for everyone.

Then look at ‘21 AFL Draft 2021 - Every club's draft haul rated

There’s no clubs overly benefiting from these drafts in their current 22s, and we’ve got two of the best players from them. Maybe these drafts will be an issue for us in a few years, but saying oh the team is stale right now because we wasted two drafts on Marra/Darcy is such a cop out, no the team is stale because we’ve spent 8 years on Rourke Smith, we give players like Hayes/McComb half a decade and we draft the whitest bloke we can find at Footscray every single year

 

[Munnez]

We really struggled tonight to kick the very gettable goals. If we could flip the ledger on kicking a higher percentage of them, would allow us too put games to bed.



Th eternal Bulldogs Struggle!!

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

Great fighting win, season back on track.
I had a look at the game day thread at half time, it’s actually quite sad there are so many sad and lonely people out there.

That's why i never visit it

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

A lot of them were very adamant that they would smack us.

I thought that when he was at Gold Coast, as they are my 2nd side, he is even worse with that jumper on

 

[Oliver G]

As always...

 

[Marbyriver]

How good is winning at the G? Sitting with the dogs supporters at the city end, us against the big melb clubs - unreal. Happy with that, english, richards bont, so bloody good.

 

[Nat Fyfe]

Macrae spent a large amount on the bench today, including the last 8 minutes of the match. Not sure if he is carrying some sort of injury but it's worth keeping an eye on. It should also be noted that he is spending more time forward. He's average just over 70% midfield time this year compared to 80% last year.

Now as always…

Centre Bounce Attendance
23 - Bontempelli, English
19 - Treloar
18 - Liberatore
15 - Macrae
9 - B. Smith
5 - Lobb

I get the impression the Bont + Libba + Treloar combination works better than any involving Macrae and Smith, both in terms of clearance numbers and scoring from centre bounce, but I have no idea if the stats actually back this up. Injury would explain a lot for Macrae, but equally likely there's a bit of confusion as to what to do with him and where his best role (from a team needs perspective) actually is

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

I actually thought Buckley was a little biased in the our favour. I think he likes the top end of our list and would jump at the chance to coach us.

Id love him as an assistant, love listening to that bloke talk footy, even when he coached the Pies.

 

[BrisDog]

Thats fair enough, I didn't notice it too much.

I'm going to be honest, the Hudson/Dunstall combination is the only commentary team I like (and I like Bucks too who was with them today). Only guys who have any professionalism and respect for their craft with Bennett from channel 7.

When there is the likes of JB, BT, Darcy, Ling, Dermie, King, Dwayne, Kelli Underwood, Garry Lyon, Johnathon Brown, give me todays crew any time

Dunstall is a fantastic commentor.

Dermie has gone a bit weird but is a nice bloke.

 

[the conch]

I agree about the style thing. I think it’s really concerning that we get burned out the back. We never just run goals in off half back turnovers like other teams do to us.

I also agree that mccomb and to a lesser extent (but not by much) Hannan are probably not gonna be that. I thought Riley looked good and have hope for him. Oskar has shown some encouraging signs and maybe the first year players begin to show something later in the year too.

A lot of draft capital went into two guys for two years there. This is a super important draft upcoming.

On the plus side: as much as we feel guilty for our win because there was considerable time where our weaknesses were on show, look at Richmond- they were obliterated around the footy and only controlled play for 15 minutes. Their hot streak coincided with scintillating execution and they had several goals where they turned quarter chances into goals. On the other end we missed like 5 sodas in the goal square and still had too much for them

And Tiger fans would not be happy with Taranto and Hooper … their boom recruits ..

 

[BrisDog]

Bailey Williams was very good, defending and attacking, to my eye. I hope he has turned the corner.

 

[gordo2016]

Id love him as an assistant, love listening to that bloke talk footy, even when he coached the Pies.

Bucks is a breath of fresh air in the box, offers great insight.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Yeah I can’t stand the bloke but he should not miss a game for that, standard football incident in a contest. Hopefully Keath pulls up alright because he was in bad shape

I have to say Lynch’s expression said “oh no!” - he tried to bump and Keath came in low.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Just watched Hardwick’s presser. I think he’s coming apart at the seams. Seems unhinged.

He certainly looks old and grizzled - but don’t we all

 

[Claudonious]

If the alternate selection choice is West, I can sort of see the logic as he's less likely to go completely missing or be a liability in structure, as West has in a few of his games at AFL level, even if his ceiling is much higher.

I suppose we have to accept we have Weightman, Garcia, R. Smith and Vandermeer out, all of who could theoretically play that high half-forward role.

He will be first out when players come back from injury or form.


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Golden_6]

McComb's pressure game was ranked 10th, equal with B. Smith (tackle attempts, tackles, tackle efficiency, pressure acts, pressure points...

View attachment 1654280

Good to see Arthur Jones high up on the PA and PP list. That sort of work will keep him in the side moving forward.

 

[Munnez]

Shai Bolton is unbelievable, JJ did well, but he pulses when they need him most and turns games, did it twice tonight



imagine we had someone like him

Think that Arty could play a similar role long term. He just needs some gym time to become that more elusive small that steps through at pace and can break the tackle. Fingers crossed for his continued development.

 

[ScragCity]

Just watched Hardwick’s presser. I think he’s coming apart at the seams. Seems unhinged.

I thought he seemed incredibly twitchy/fidgety. Has he always been like that? Not trying to insinuate anything; it was a genuine observation.

 

[Munnez]

The Richmond board thread is quite enjoyable. They're now at the bargaining stage, ready for the club to speak out against umpire corruption in the hope that the obvious corruption against them changes. They have almost a bigger collective victim complex than North fans 



They brought in two contested to gun mids how could they be failing without an umpiring conspiracy to hold them back from their rightful place at the top.

 

[The Inbetweener]

Both of our last wins have really come down to lifting our intensity (and a masterclass from Bont) which is a credit to the team. I thought it really could have blown out at half time.

Still concerning how we are unable to retain the ball in F50 and how much score we are leaking from D50.

Still plenty of positives though - Naughton’s straight kicking and Caleb’s best game in ages were pleasing.

 

[Anja_Nees]

I thought he seemed incredibly twitchy/fidgety. Has he always been like that? Not trying to insinuate anything; it was a genuine observation.

The part where he challenged the journo on the Keath injury was bizarre.

 

[TiAn_]

Hope this team is committed to grinding out wins like that because it’s going to take a lot of hard work to compensate for how easily teams score against us from transition, exits out the front of stoppages and when we completely go into our shells for those 15 minute stretches.

 

[Shadesof54]

Some of the kicking for goal was pretty forgettable and cost us dearly, buy we should give credit to McCrae, his set shot kick for goal was sublime ,where did that come from ?

 

[grassman75]

Shoulder into Keath’s head. Maybe two weeks, a commentator said.

It's Tom Lynch. More likely Keath will get suspended for being in his way