Review Rnd9 : Review/Rant/Roast megathread

[Mutt]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

I'll bite

Rewind to about 3 mins into the second.

Both of theses guys were 'around' the ball, I hesitate to use the phrase "going for it".

Rather than want the ball, make it their own and win it, they both let it bounce and watched it go out of bounds.

Inexcusable.

Higgins was decent enough tonight, showed a bit.

Gia, I cannot watch him. I know he kicks a few, but for mine, his forward pressure is not there. For a forward, its almost as important as what you do when you don't have the ball as when you do; and when he doesn't have it, he is non existent.

He was hunched over quite a bit tonight. Is he carrying an injury?

No - just the bloody forward line pretty much on his own!

 

[Ant_]

I dont see how Gia gets a belting when Sherman ran around like a headless chook all day and nobody says boo.

Sherman was one of our poorer players tonight

 

[gs17]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

I'll bite

Rewind to about 3 mins into the second.

Both of theses guys were 'around' the ball, I hesitate to use the phrase "going for it".

Rather than want the ball, make it their own and win it, they both let it bounce and watched it go out of bounds.

Inexcusable.

Higgins was decent enough tonight, showed a bit.

Gia, I cannot watch him. I know he kicks a few, but for mine, his forward pressure is not there. For a forward, its almost as important as what you do when you don't have the ball as when you do; and when he doesn't have it, he is non existent.

He was hunched over quite a bit tonight. Is he carrying an injury?

Gia called Higgins out of that one so that was his fault. But who will kick the goals if these two aren't there?

 

[ManOfClay]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

I'll bite

Good for you. You have basic comprehension skills and were able to read the thread and relate it to yourself. Keep plugging away and one day you might be able to form a reasonable judgement

Any more armchair critics to come?


For the record- rewind to those two being our best forwards tonight. And nailing the goals we needed.

 

[adam10]

We gave the premiers of last year a real shot and if we had of converted our chances we could have won. The signs are all pointing in the right direction. The midfield was excellent, Minson and Roughead were monster in the ruck and Wallis and Libba out-played Jimmy and Selwood. They are competing with the best and more importantly matching it with the best.

Forward line was always going to be a huge issue but tonight Jones and Roughead really presented well and had of the kicking been better they would have, mind you SHOULD have had 5 goals between them. I'm willing to stay patient enough with the two and see how they progress as long as we can squeeze goals from Missy/Gia/Dickson. We also need to introduce Tom Hill sooner rather then later.

Bit stiff on Daniel Pearce, what our main problem was Geelong kept attacking through the corridor and often had an open forward line and Motlop got around the back, yes too easy but Motlop is very,very quick. I'm willing to give Pearce another go against Sydney next week.

Zephy is exciting, but not yet, Austin played very well.

Changes V Sydney:

Out: Vezspa(Injured), Skinner
IN: Howard, Cordy

 

[tonydean]

I dont know - as a forward, particularly a small forward, you have to commit to where the ball should go, in order to give the midfielders something to aim at, and if it isnt put to your advantage then you can be horribly out of position.

I dont see how Gia gets a belting when Sherman ran around like a headless chook all day and nobody says boo.

I agree. Sherman was terrible tonight, and I wouldn't give him a game next week based on tonight.

 

[_Mike_]

Think it was his softness in the contest. Didn't think he was bad from what I saw.

Frustrating is more the word for Gia.

 

[Mutt]

I agree. Sherman was terrible tonight, and I wouldn't give him a game next week based on tonight.

Sherman is our worst player with the ball in traffic - when under pressure just dishes off to anyone at all no matter what problems he creates for them. Just wants to hand the problem indescriminately off to someone else. Can't see the coach puting up with those kind of heartless efforts for too long.

 

[tonydean]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

Good for you. You have basic comprehension skills and were able to read the thread and relate it to yourself. Keep plugging away and one day you might be able to form a reasonable judgement

Any more armchair critics to come?


For the record- rewind to those two being our best forwards tonight. And nailing the goals we needed.

Exactly

 

[Ant_]

Skinner is very raw, needs to find self belief and it will click. Not sure if he is ready for the big time yet.

Jones played his best game for the year but missed easy goals. Same with Roughy, thought it was his best game up forward but had to kick those goals from in front.

Watching Panos last Sunday kicking for goal, you have all the confidence he will kick it from anywhere. Is it just height that's keeping him out? We had Pods in our hands for years and never gave him a shot.

 

[Snake Livermore]

My rant is the post match coverage by Channeel Seven. 40 minutes of coverage that didnt have one interview with anyone form the Bulldogs.

There were interviews with Chapman, Hawkins, Scott .... and agin for his post match media conference. They also included recorded interviews with Lenny Hayes and Guy McKenna.

Very ordinary consideration for dogs supporters who were waiting to see something from the Bulldogs.

Same thing happened in the Collingwood game. Maybe because we lost? Lets see what happens when we win one.

Good effort by the lads. Started slow and then ran out of puff at the end, so maybe Darwin/6 day break had something to do with that. Pearce will be better for the experience, but can't help thinking if him and Skinner were replaced by two experienced heads in the last quarter we might've won.

Good signs. Roughie and Jones will be fine, the goals will come. I thought our midfield struggled to get outside ball as well. Maybe we just don't set up for that, but Geelong kicked a lot more goals on the run than we did. Are we too focussed on the contest?

 

[_Mike_]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

Good for you. You have basic comprehension skills and were able to read the thread and relate it to yourself. Keep plugging away and one day you might be able to form a reasonable judgement

Any more armchair critics to come?


For the record- rewind to those two being our best forwards tonight. And nailing the goals we needed.

for the record, because opinions differ to your own it does not make yours superior nor give you the right to belittle someone who feels differently

 

[SonOfScray]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

Higgins is improving. Nailed most of his chances and getting involved in parts of the ground where we need him. I am glad he is playing forward instead of having terrible form force him to get cheap touches across half back. He is building some form doing the job we need him to do. Cannot knock his efforts of late.

Gia is still being effective on the scoreboard.Will not take that away from him, however my observation is and has been in recent weeks that he is really labouring. Has some good involvements when the ball is to his advantage, has some very poor involvements when it is a more even, contested situation. Got a feeling his body is really restricting him but the class he has as a forward is still enough for him to have an impact which is greater than any alternatives we have.

 

[adam10]

I want to see us play with the 3 ruck-men and Jones and have a continuous rotation through the forward line so if one thing isn't working we can change things up. I really like Skinner as he gives energy but he's just getting bumped off it to easy.

Tom Hill, we can only pray he gains momentum in the VFL to get a call up.

 

[Ant_]

Good signs. Roughie and Jones will be fine, the goals will come. I thought our midfield struggled to get outside ball as well. Maybe we just don't set up for that, but Geelong kicked a lot more goals on the run than we did. Are we too focussed on the contest?

We rushed the ball unnecessarily at times in the first quarter by hand. Was almost like the team was still in awe of the Geelong team of the past. From the 2nd onwards I thought they took more control.

To come off a 6 day break and smash Geelong in the contested ball was impressive.

 

[Morris Major]

Geez we were hard at it, very happy to see.

Can't believe how poor Jones' kicking is, it's not even VFL standard. If our big boys kick straight who knows how we'd go.

Sherman was very ordinary, Gia was OK, and we went to ground way way easily in 1-on-1 contests.

Zeph shoegate was almost the highlight of the night, hilarious stuff.

 

[tonydean]

I remember a night game at Etihad against the pies about 5 or 6 years ago. Luke Darcy was marking everything coming at him in the forward line. I think he had 6 set shots from no more than 30 out, all within 45 degree angles. He kicked 1.5 or something, and cost us the game. At the time, he played about 200 games. Roughead has played about 25 or there abouts. Chris Grant at his best missed goals from the same places. It happens. What I like is the fact they (Jones and Roughead) got those chances tonight, from those positions. If they keep getting the ball in those positions, they will start kicking them. The goal Jones did kick tonight, was a beautiful kick. It's all getting there

 

[Igloo]

If Roughy and Jones were having shots from 45 out rather than 20m, I reckon they'd nail them more often. A very definitive "stabbing" motion when they kick from short range.

 

[TMoney22]

Yep i think Sherman needs a different role, he is an offensive player so i think he needs to stay half forward and not ush up too much. He and Dickson have some nice speed to compliment Gia and Higgins.

Your can't complain with small/mid forwards kicking 3 goals each. I don't care if Gia runs under the ball or what ever he does, if he's kicking goals no one can complain, thats what his role is. Remember Brad Johnson used to do the ame thing as does Stevie Johnson, some people should just settle down and think about it.

Top effort, we do the hard things well, in time we'll finished it off easier

 

[SonOfScray]

Sherman was very poor, just didn't get involved at all. That being said he is playing a more robust style of footy these days which is obviously the tuition of Mac shining through. Hopefully he can deliver for us.

 

[dogupya]

I really wish we could fast forward 2 -3 years.

When we draft the outside polish to match the intensity at the contest we will a very, very hard team to beat. The demise of Cooney is a cruel, cruel blow.

.A decimated backline
.A whole bunch of kids asked to play like men every week (and doing it amazingly well)
.A raw forward line that is making me rage laugh at how bad they are and good they can be (they showed so much promise, got their hands on the ball and at the same time lost us that game)

What I loved the most tonight was watching all our boys doubled over ready to spew from how hard they worked. Sure our structure got opened up a little on the way out, but that was more from our atrocious kicking rather than applicaton.

All in all, with our injuries and list deficiancies, I am so chuffed at what I am seeing. A solid game style under BMac which emphasises the TEAM over individual, a cancer that has crippled our club for a generation. Get a bit more polish into that team and who knows......

 

[adam10]

Pearce Lake Hargrave
Howard Austin Murphy
Wallis Boyd Dalhaus
Dickson Jones Cooney
Higgins Roughead Gia

Minson Griffen Picken

Cordy, Cross, Libba | Sherman

Grant, Skinner, DJ

I'd like to see something like that next week, see how Sherman responds to being the sub. Really wouldn't mind Easton Wood and Patty Vez at 100% after the bye.

 

[Ant_]

Good post dogupya.

 

[Sharkey66]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

I'll bite

Rewind to about 3 mins into the second.

Both of theses guys were 'around' the ball, I hesitate to use the phrase "going for it".

Rather than want the ball, make it their own and win it, they both let it bounce and watched it go out of bounds.

Inexcusable.

Higgins was decent enough tonight, showed a bit.

Gia, I cannot watch him. I know he kicks a few, but for mine, his forward pressure is not there. For a forward, its almost as important as what you do when you don't have the ball as when you do; and when he doesn't have it, he is non existent.

He was hunched over quite a bit tonight. Is he carrying an injury?

No just the weight of his forward line teamates while he is carrying them.

Seriously, the job of a forward is to kick goals they both kicked 3 , same as the 2 best opposition scores.
6 goals out of 11, more than half, thought they did their job. just needed some support, (maybe a real forward from the match committee).
Both have kicked multiple goals in their last few matches.
Plenty of time to give kids like Zephi gametime when the season is unwinnable.

 

[ManOfClay]

Re: The senseless bashing of Higgins and Gia thread- post Cats game.

Gia is still being effective on the scoreboard.Will not take that away from him, however my observation is and has been in recent weeks that he is really labouring. Has some good involvements when the ball is to his advantage, has some very poor involvements when it is a more even, contested situation. Got a feeling his body is really restricting him but the class he has as a forward is still enough for him to have an impact which is greater than any alternatives we have.

This is what we need more of. This isn't senseless bashing.

He did the job tonight but there were certainly negatives. But from others posting you'd think he had played the worst game in history.