Review Round 13, 2024 - Western Bulldogs vs. Brisbane Lions

Who were your five best players against the Western Bulldogs?


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Bit too simplistic a viewpoint for mine. Like kids will bolt through their draft year, the same can happen on their overage year.
Agreed but I've been reminded this view many number of times before MSD and how its just reject shop central etc.

I'm thinking we continue to build on that narrative and instead of potting the fellow posters and arguing we should turn that to a positive message, rejoice and celebrate the success of our 100+ pick players 🙂
 
Never really thought about it before but was I curious as to where the Zorko name originated. Slovenia apparently where his grand parents emigrated from. Probably common knowledge round here though.
I kind of remember him saying before , family from Croatia . They do share a border.
All slavic to ,right.
We did a small group tour with Intrepid "The Balkins adventure", stunning.
Gees that was 5 years ago.
funny story from the Croation tour leader we had in Osijek to Serbia.
Said to us who do I look like, an Australian actor?
Reckons he looked like Eric Banner, kind of did , but no one guessed it.
So he was claiming Eric as their own, Eric being from Croation background.
We said what about Bernard Tomic , he's Croation.
Pretty quickly said Oh no , we don't claim him , he's an Aussie. :D
Was Hilarious at the time , some good banter.
 

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I kind of remember him saying before , family from Croatia . They do share a border.
All slavic to ,right.
We did a small group tour with Intrepid "The Balkins adventure", stunning.
Gees that was 5 years ago.
funny story from the Croation tour leader we had in Osijek to Serbia.
Said to us who do I look like, an Australian actor?
Reckons he looked like Eric Banner, kind of did , but no one guessed it.
So he was claiming Eric as their own, Eric being from Croation background.
We said what about Bernard Tomic , he's Croation.
Pretty quickly said Oh no , we don't claim him , he's an Aussie. :D
Was Hilarious at the time , some good banter.

Poor Bernard. I remember when he was a kid phenom saying he was going to win multiple slams. Didn't really pan out that way!

I found the info on Dayne from a 2016 interview

 
Agreed but I've been reminded this view many number of times before MSD and how its just reject shop central etc.

I'm thinking we continue to build on that narrative and instead of potting the fellow posters and arguing we should turn that to a positive message, rejoice and celebrate the success of our 100+ pick players 🙂
Was I potting? I just disagreed with your POV. Maybe you were talking about someone else - I tend to gloss over a lot of posts these days.

But yeah, everyone loves the underdog - how good if we hit 3 from 3 on this one.
 
Was I potting? I just disagreed with your POV. Maybe you were talking about someone else - I tend to gloss over a lot of posts these days.

But yeah, everyone loves the underdog - how good if we hit 3 from 3 on this one.
No, not you. I was just referring to the general sentiment at that time that MSD is a crapshoot but I was on the other end of the scale carrying stupidly high hopes into it. I'd say it was done in the right spirit to temper my excitement as MSD track record shows there is very few who've carried on to become good players. I think John Noble was about to play his 100th and he's the top performer so far I believe.

Yeah it'll be amazing if we hit 3 out of 3. We won't be welcome in MSD anymore haha.
 
One of the coaches thought Zorko was 2nd BOG??? And only 1 gave Berry votes?

Western Bulldogs v Brisbane
10 Lachie Neale (BL)
6 Eric Hipwood (BL)
4 Dayne Zorko (BL)
3 Jarrod Berry (BL)
3 Hugh McCluggage (BL)
2 Harris Andrews (BL)
1 Oscar McInerney (BL)
1 Cameron Rayner (BL)
 
One of the coaches thought Zorko was 2nd BOG??? And only 1 gave Berry votes?

Western Bulldogs v Brisbane
10 Lachie Neale (BL)
6 Eric Hipwood (BL)
4 Dayne Zorko (BL)
3 Jarrod Berry (BL)
3 Hugh McCluggage (BL)
2 Harris Andrews (BL)
1 Oscar McInerney (BL)
1 Cameron Rayner (BL)

I'm guessing:-

Fages: Neale 5, Hipwood 4, Berry 3, Andrews 2, Rayner 1

Bevo: Neale 5, Zorko 4, Clug 3, Hipwood 2, Oscar 1

Reckon Bevo would have been peeved about Berry doing a number on Bont, so donuts for Berry from him

Zoko's 4 votes seems like a bit of a pisstake so I reckon that was Bevo

Besides, everyone knows Berry and Rayner are Fages' "pets";)
 
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Thought about Brennan while I was typing that post. Like Rayner he was supremely gifted but just never had the consistency
Ah Jarrod Brennan, him and Travis Johnstone the only 2 players whose middle name was "Bloody"'. I remember him doing this amazing reverse blind turn on the boundary, completely bamboozling everybody then kicking out on the full from 5 metres out.
 
Ah Jarrod Brennan, him and Travis Johnstone the only 2 players whose middle name was "Bloody"'. I remember him doing this amazing reverse blind turn on the boundary, completely bamboozling everybody then kicking out on the full from 5 metres out.


I liked Trav.

I thought his abilities were pretty badly handled by Vossy.
 

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Most of this has been touched on by everyone here and/or in the game thread but I wanted to pull a few loose threads together because I think we saw some things we have not seen from this group before.

The club has received much praise in the last few days for (a) coming up with the right plans to beat the Dogs, who I have rated pretty highly (and are pretty high up in the premiership metrics as was outlined in the preview thread) and (b) the execution of those plans by the players.

What I have not seen discussed however is a small detail Fages dropped into his prematch interview on Fox. He mentioned he had sat down with the leadership group earlier in the week, about addressing the long runs of consecutive goals we'd conceded at various stages during the season so far.

A number of us have been pretty blunt with our feedback about the lack of on-field leadership through the first half of the season, and rightly so. Carlton's run on, virtually the whole game against Freo, 3 quarters against Collingwood. The Geelong, GWS and Hawthorn games, all for different reasons. This has also been an issue in previous years.

But on Friday night, we saw it in spades. Obviously Neale got a truckload of the ball, but it was more than that. Andrews and Dunkley did what they always do, but the rest of the leadership group really surprised me, in a positive way.

Tricky set shots at crucial junctures of the game, both nailed by Rayner and Neale, halting Bulldog momentum, the latter set up by a strong and important contested ball win by Starce.

The play of the night by McCluggage when his ability to break a tackle deep in defence saved a certain goal, then followed up and received a handball from Kai. That leads to a Hipwood goal at the other end and it's a graphic 2 goal turnaround - what would have been a 15 point lead became 27 (and 33 only seconds later).

Berry was outstanding in his role on Bont. Libba tried to rough him up at stages but on no occasion did he take the bait, in fact he won several free kicks for his troubles. We won that battle comprehensively, strategically, physically and mentally.

McInerney was influential in ruck and also around the ground, against a quality opponent. Equally important he was a strong physical presence for his midfield (and he needs to start seeing it as his midfield).

Even Charlie, while certainly limited on the stat sheet, I felt maintained a constant effort throughout and never really noticed him cracking the sh!ts as he's been known to. It's a small step in the right direction, and it's an important guide for someone like Kai, who also didn't have his best night (lots of "almost" moments), that your effort and attitude need not depend on your performance. It might not be your night but you might still get your moment.

That's our entire leadership group spoken for. How often could we say that about any performance we've had under Fagan with respect to on-field in-game leadership?

And other guys jumped on as a result. We had Joe, perhaps recognising Kai was struggling a bit, handballing to him in the goal square when Joe could have easily kicked the goal himself. In fact I don't think any of our guys took a shot for the whole game where passing it off would have been a better option. And Hipwood's game was littered with big moments he absolutely seized and made the most of.

All these moments are what Fages talked about in preseason. About how we got a lot of them wrong in the Grand Final. Friday night's game is how it looks when our leaders play as leaders and we seize our moments. You get a score worm where the opposition only manage consecutive goals twice all night, but more importantly the vibe is poles apart from what we've experienced at stages this year.

So the benchmark has been well and truly set. The challenge now is to consistently replicate that when those big moments arise in future games.
 
Most of this has been touched on by everyone here and/or in the game thread but I wanted to pull a few loose threads together because I think we saw some things we have not seen from this group before.

The club has received much praise in the last few days for (a) coming up with the right plans to beat the Dogs, who I have rated pretty highly (and are pretty high up in the premiership metrics as was outlined in the preview thread) and (b) the execution of those plans by the players.

What I have not seen discussed however is a small detail Fages dropped into his prematch interview on Fox. He mentioned he had sat down with the leadership group earlier in the week, about addressing the long runs of consecutive goals we'd conceded at various stages during the season so far.

A number of us have been pretty blunt with our feedback about the lack of on-field leadership through the first half of the season, and rightly so. Carlton's run on, virtually the whole game against Freo, 3 quarters against Collingwood. The Geelong, GWS and Hawthorn games, all for different reasons. This has also been an issue in previous years.

But on Friday night, we saw it in spades. Obviously Neale got a truckload of the ball, but it was more than that. Andrews and Dunkley did what they always do, but the rest of the leadership group really surprised me, in a positive way.

Tricky set shots at crucial junctures of the game, both nailed by Rayner and Neale, halting Bulldog momentum, the latter set up by a strong and important contested ball win by Starce.

The play of the night by McCluggage when his ability to break a tackle deep in defence saved a certain goal, then followed up and received a handball from Kai. That leads to a Hipwood goal at the other end and it's a graphic 2 goal turnaround - what would have been a 15 point lead became 27 (and 33 only seconds later).

Berry was outstanding in his role on Bont. Libba tried to rough him up at stages but on no occasion did he take the bait, in fact he won several free kicks for his troubles. We won that battle comprehensively, strategically, physically and mentally.

McInerney was influential in ruck and also around the ground, against a quality opponent. Equally important he was a strong physical presence for his midfield (and he needs to start seeing it as his midfield).

Even Charlie, while certainly limited on the stat sheet, I felt maintained a constant effort throughout and never really noticed him cracking the sh!ts as he's been known to. It's a small step in the right direction, and it's an important guide for someone like Kai, who also didn't have his best night (lots of "almost" moments), that your effort and attitude need not depend on your performance. It might not be your night but you might still get your moment.

That's our entire leadership group spoken for. How often could we say that about any performance we've had under Fagan with respect to on-field in-game leadership?

And other guys jumped on as a result. We had Joe, perhaps recognising Kai was struggling a bit, handballing to him in the goal square when Joe could have easily kicked the goal himself. In fact I don't think any of our guys took a shot for the whole game where passing it off would have been a better option. And Hipwood's game was littered with big moments he absolutely seized and made the most of.

All these moments are what Fages talked about in preseason. About how we got a lot of them wrong in the Grand Final. Friday night's game is how it looks when our leaders play as leaders and we seize our moments. You get a score worm where the opposition only manage consecutive goals twice all night, but more importantly the vibe is poles apart from what we've experienced at stages this year.

So the benchmark has been well and truly set. The challenge now is to consistently replicate that when those big moments arise in future games.
To Joes credit he is one who I think identifies which teammates are struggling and does things to bring them into the game to lift their confidence; handball to Kai as you said and also late when he was about have a shot from 50 and instead passed to a struggling Charlie who then missed it but you could tel he was trying to do Charlie a favour. It’s not lost on me that Joe is very good at this and has high EQ
 
Most of this has been touched on by everyone here and/or in the game thread but I wanted to pull a few loose threads together because I think we saw some things we have not seen from this group before.

The club has received much praise in the last few days for (a) coming up with the right plans to beat the Dogs, who I have rated pretty highly (and are pretty high up in the premiership metrics as was outlined in the preview thread) and (b) the execution of those plans by the players.

What I have not seen discussed however is a small detail Fages dropped into his prematch interview on Fox. He mentioned he had sat down with the leadership group earlier in the week, about addressing the long runs of consecutive goals we'd conceded at various stages during the season so far.

A number of us have been pretty blunt with our feedback about the lack of on-field leadership through the first half of the season, and rightly so. Carlton's run on, virtually the whole game against Freo, 3 quarters against Collingwood. The Geelong, GWS and Hawthorn games, all for different reasons. This has also been an issue in previous years.

But on Friday night, we saw it in spades. Obviously Neale got a truckload of the ball, but it was more than that. Andrews and Dunkley did what they always do, but the rest of the leadership group really surprised me, in a positive way.

Tricky set shots at crucial junctures of the game, both nailed by Rayner and Neale, halting Bulldog momentum, the latter set up by a strong and important contested ball win by Starce.

The play of the night by McCluggage when his ability to break a tackle deep in defence saved a certain goal, then followed up and received a handball from Kai. That leads to a Hipwood goal at the other end and it's a graphic 2 goal turnaround - what would have been a 15 point lead became 27 (and 33 only seconds later).

Berry was outstanding in his role on Bont. Libba tried to rough him up at stages but on no occasion did he take the bait, in fact he won several free kicks for his troubles. We won that battle comprehensively, strategically, physically and mentally.

McInerney was influential in ruck and also around the ground, against a quality opponent. Equally important he was a strong physical presence for his midfield (and he needs to start seeing it as his midfield).

Even Charlie, while certainly limited on the stat sheet, I felt maintained a constant effort throughout and never really noticed him cracking the sh!ts as he's been known to. It's a small step in the right direction, and it's an important guide for someone like Kai, who also didn't have his best night (lots of "almost" moments), that your effort and attitude need not depend on your performance. It might not be your night but you might still get your moment.

That's our entire leadership group spoken for. How often could we say that about any performance we've had under Fagan with respect to on-field in-game leadership?

And other guys jumped on as a result. We had Joe, perhaps recognising Kai was struggling a bit, handballing to him in the goal square when Joe could have easily kicked the goal himself. In fact I don't think any of our guys took a shot for the whole game where passing it off would have been a better option. And Hipwood's game was littered with big moments he absolutely seized and made the most of.

All these moments are what Fages talked about in preseason. About how we got a lot of them wrong in the Grand Final. Friday night's game is how it looks when our leaders play as leaders and we seize our moments. You get a score worm where the opposition only manage consecutive goals twice all night, but more importantly the vibe is poles apart from what we've experienced at stages this year.

So the benchmark has been well and truly set. The challenge now is to consistently replicate that when those big moments arise in future games.

I also think Oscar going after West after the McKenna HTB was standing up for a teammate low in confidence and helping him out
 
I also think Oscar going after West after the McKenna HTB was standing up for a teammate low in confidence and helping him out
Oscar is always one to come in and remonstrate for his team mates. Definitely has a bit of a protective streak for his little mates
 
Oscar is always one to come in and remonstrate for his team mates. Definitely has a bit of a protective streak for his little mates
Oscar’s reasoning in one of the post match interviews was priceless too, not sure if it was on Fox or Seven. I record both to get all the various interviews but he even had a laugh at himself at him being the tough man. Very personable is Big O.

Another that has caught my eye with O; if you watch his interviews, they are quite funny because he doesn’t know what to do with his gangling arms and is constantly moving them around in a very awkward fashion. I picked it up about 3 or 4 interviews ago and last Friday’s was a crack up re his arms.
 
Oscar’s reasoning in one of the post match interviews was priceless too, not sure if it was on Fox or Seven. I record both to get all the various interviews but he even had a laugh at himself at him being the tough man. Very personable is Big O.

Another that has caught my eye with O; if you watch his interviews, they are quite funny because he doesn’t know what to do with his gangling arms and is constantly moving them around in a very awkward fashion. I picked it up about 3 or 4 interviews ago and last Friday’s was a crack up re his arms.

It was Roaming Brian on Seven where he basically said it was all fake tough stuff. Had a good laugh at himself.
 

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Review Round 13, 2024 - Western Bulldogs vs. Brisbane Lions

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