Autopsy Round 13... cats 16.4 def Dogs 5.13

[go you pups]

The glaring issue was how many targets we actually refused to not hit up and just bombed the ball in to the cats talls

If you go back and watch the pies and blues they kicked around the cats players and spread them until they found an option.

This run and gun style we play doesn't work against big teams so does Bev have a plan B or are we so one dimensional we can't change?

Our forwards moved far too high upfield causing us structural problems

IMO if our midfield broke even or won the battle in there then that wouldn't have been an issue and we may have had a stay at home forward or two to use as a regular target and we may not have been regularly outmarked.


I'm concerned about the lack of plan B, but I was moreso concerned about no one shutting Danger down, it's like Beveridge and the rucks all over again from last year, yet it's showing no respect to dominant midfielders now.

I was very concerned earlier in the year when Beveridge refused to play tall, but he's playing a taller team currently and structurally it held up well for 5 games, this being the first loss with it (in that Redpath, Campbell and Roughead have all played together).

IMO decision making, unaccountability and poor skills were our main issues tonight.

 

[Dogs Rule]

I would love it if we banned sideways and backwards kicks (especially behind centre) as well as those cute, dinky little nothing kicks that Macrae has a tendency towards.

If we're going to do backwards, sideways kicks, do them in our forward line, don't put us under the hammer by conceding 20, 30, 40 metres. We can get away with it against crap teams, but not the good ones.

I would also instruct Suckling to take the kick outs as much as possible and to boot it straight down the middle and into the centre. Would much rather make a mistake in the centre than 20 metres out after three little chip kicks and four handballs.

 

[TimlinOfficial]

All the negatives of the game have been covered so I'll just add one tidbit positive:

Suckling. The amount of press-cutting kicks he pulled off tonight was outstanding. He had 26 disposals at an unbelievable 92% effectiveness and a beautiful, trademark goal from outside 50 under pressure. What a recruiting gem.

Daniel fantastic again, Williams showed a lot of dare and dash (miss you Bob ) and having Adams back was helpful (still seriously unbelievable that this guy was not on a list before this season.

Oh well, a week off and then we refresh with some welcome additions from the injury room. Go Dogs

 

[samass03]

2015 a virtually fully fit Hawthorne team lost to WCE by 6 goals in first week of finals went on to win the flag and beat west coast by 8 goals

2014 Sydney (most would argue best 2-3 side in the Comp at the time) lost the Grand Final by 10 goals

2013 Hawthorne lost to Richmond by 9 goals in home and away season went on to win the flag

2012 Sydney lost by 7 goals to Geelong in home and away season but went on to win the flag

2011 Collingwood lost by 16 goals against Geelong in rd 23 but still made it to the grand final

2010 st kild lost by 11 goals to Carlton went on to make the grand final

Losing by big margins is part of the game look back over any good team they will have a blowout each year!

Please be logical don't throw the baby out with the bath water, yeah we lost. I think a classy outfit finally pushed our injury plagued YOUNG list to breaking point the week after a hard fought win interstate, our conversion rate was bad but I don't know if Geelong can kick that straight again...

Gee wiz if you offered me 9-4 at the bye at the start of the year I would have taken it, especially with the injuries we've fallen victim to! Can't wait for our next shot at Geelong how good would it be to finally smash them as our bogey team leading into finals!

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Well that was a deflating loss.

Not making any excuses because we were flat and well below standard. One thing about the cats they know how to set themselves for a big game, helps that they still carry a lot of premiership experience in that team.

Just a couple of observations, we have played Adelaide, West Coast and Port Adelaide away three very tough wins and have lost players each game.

We have added first year players to replace a lot of them in Williams, Daniels, Adams, and Dunkley. Geelong had only one first year player, the rest were much older than our guys with the exception of Morris, Picken and Boyd.

Port Adelaide was a tough game, they were flat today as well. Our kids are tired and need a rest.

In the game itself, we kept bombing it into the attacking fifty which didn't work against Geelongs tall defence. We can't get a good shot at goal because we are too slow getting it down there, and Geelong had already structured up.

We get players back after the bye and we get a chance to play the cats again. I am just going to wipe this game from my memory.

 

[crownie]

All the negatives of the game have been covered so I'll just add one tidbit positive:

Suckling. The amount of press-cutting kicks he pulled off tonight was outstanding. He had 26 disposals at an unbelievable 92% effectiveness and a beautiful, trademark goal from outside 50 under pressure. What a recruiting gem.

Daniel fantastic again, Williams showed a lot of dare and dash (miss you Bob ) and having Adams back was helpful (still seriously unbelievable that this guy was not on a list before this season.

Oh well, a week off and then we refresh with some welcome additions from the injury room. Go Dogs

only one who look composed in the first quarter, you can tell he has played in grand finals before.

will be critical in finals for us.

 

[JTCWBFC]

Bev said we changed the rucks off the bench in the third. This is how we fit Boyd redpath and the two rucks in the team.

Dickson Redpath Stringer
Honey Boyd Daniel

When Boyd or redpath is off, push a ruck forward. It can work.

I get sick to ****ing death of seeing Dunkley and picken one out against 2 or 3 tall defenders.

Unfortunately the small scg may not be the place to try it so maybe the week after.

 

[Pugz89]

At the quarter time break, Bevo had them all in the huddle for the whole break, line coaches didn't have their mini meetings from what i saw. When we dished up the second quarter effort after the qtr time huddle, i knew we were cooked. We can't handle physical pressure, we can give it but soon as it's dished up, we fall in a heap. We also seem to struggle with expectation a little i think. Both of these will improve as the team grows.

As for the effort, you can't say the lads were tired 5 minutes into the game. Purely mental, and going into the bye, it can go either way i reckon. I hope they stew over it, and use it as motivation for the Sydney game. If we somehow win that, we're back in the hunt for top 4 but geez our % took a hammering tonight.

I hope Boyd is back sooner rather than later and Bevo uses this break to focus on our forward connections, because it's becoming a deadset joke.

Finally, while i'm pretty shattered about the result, we're still a work in progress. This year was supposed to be our break out year to push for finals, the fact we're pushing for top 4 with 1/4 of our list in the stands at times is a testament to the work that the club is putting in. It's a rollercoaster but we're still on the tracks.

Carn the 'Scray!

 

[TempleKelvington]

We lacked our usual manic pressure, we still made similar skill/decision errors we have made all year and of course we can't kick gaols. The difference was our pressure was not there to keep us in the game and make things tough for the Cats and we ended up making them look better than they are.

The effort was simply not there, and we can't say that often about this team. We have had some tough games, we have a lot out so maybe it just caught up on us this week.

 

[L_W_P]

Oh, and Fletcher Roberts is ******* shit. I've never had such little faith in a bloke with ball in hand. Doesn't win the wrestles, doesn't judge the ball well.

Sorry to intrude but have faith in this kid.

Played his whole junior career as a CHF and backup ruckman and was pretty good. Has only started playing as a defender at AFL level.

I know he has been there a couple of years but Id imagine it takes a while to become a top defender when you are learning at the elite level and in a defence as complicated as yours. Not exactly a "stick with your man" role he has to play.

Anyway bad luck last night. Only 2 less scoring shots so the chances were there, just needed the composure to hit those targets early on.

Im not gonna say im the Dogs biggest fan but **** me I do not want to see the Cats win another one... Hope you guys can put it together and shock them on prelim weekend

 

[Fossie 32]

No he hasn't mate

Dickson has been poor and is only playing on last year at the moment and if you think he has been serviceable your now just proving your just picking whatever I say and trying to use it against me.

Dickson is only good as a small forward in the 50, outside of it he is on of the worst footballers I've ever seen take and AFL ground. Inside the 50 he is dangerous and last year was dead eye. He has lost that now so let's see elit he can recover, I have my doubts but he has credit still

It isn't his choice he is playing outside the 50 is it? Maybe if he was playing the same role he would do better.

 

[Dazb86]

Pretty poor effort last night. Couldn't handle the cats pressure.

 

[Super Hans]

It's very embarrassing for Geelong fans to come and wish us luck and people just to put on the whole 'you dont know what its like being a bulldogs fan!' shit. Makes us all look like we're full of bitchy excuses.

 

[dergert]

Off night. Reserve judgement if we lose to teams we should beat like Richmond etc. I expect nothing less then us to come out firing against Sydney.

 

[grassman75]

Disagree

Geelongs goalkicking was off the charts tonight

Danger, Hawkins x2, Murdoch etc all nailed goals with very low probability, that definitely helped their cause

This seems to happen to most teams against us. I reckon I have read "they won't be that accurate again" at least 5 or 6 times this year alone. Teams seem to "accurate up" against us for some reason

IIIRC we hit the post 3, maybe 4 times....couldn't do that if you tried

 

[grassman75]

10 pages in and we are still discussing Jong. I think its time to take a break from this board...

It's almost as good a the Macca thread.......

 

[grassman75]

Every time we bomb the ball in long -

I misread that as "every time we bomb the ball in JONG".......

 

[ButterMill]

It's very embarrassing for Geelong fans to come and wish us luck and people just to put on the whole 'you dont know what its like being a bulldogs fan!' shit. Makes us all look like we're full of bitchy excuses.

Just wanted to pop in to give a compliment, the Doggies fans I was surrounded by were really polite all game. On the way home, crammed on a western suburbs train, they were a delight. Measured about the loss, hopeful about the season, appreciative of the Cats performance.

Much appreciated.

Also Doggies have killer merchandise. Loved some of the gear I saw, especially the beanie with snow on it and the baseball like jackets.

 

[Cadillac]

We can bitch all we want. End of the day we are a young side who was outplayed, outclassed and outmatched. It's going to happen.

But the thing is, it's going to happen more than it should when we have 5-6 blokes in the side who don't have an opposite foot or are shit scared to kick the football. We just lacked way too much class last night. I said it last night but I want to say it again. I realise we don't have anyone in the reserves who can play the role. But what has Dunkley proven to be a predominant forward at AFL level? I love his inside grunt but he lacks the class to be used up forward for 80% of the game. I just don't understand the move at all.

Although I was happy with Jongs game, he had a bloody good crack. Along with him, Dunkley, Macrae, Hunter and Picken. That's 4 blokes off the top of my head who aren't AFL standard for kicking skills. In a game where Geelong have set up to make us cut them up with precision kicks. How can we do it with those blokes butchering the footy?

*Edit* I also want to add Wallis to that list of below standard kicking skills. Blokes a beautiful set shot at goal, but when he's under pressure his field kicking turns to water. And it's been noticeable for a very long time.

 

[The Inbetweener]

All the reasons we lost have already been discussed so I won't go into it. But I'm hopeful this was just a down day.

With the injuries we have we can cover against the OK teams but I think it's evident we can't cover against the really good teams.

What that means now is that we now don't have to many games we can drop. Geelong in Geelong is probably a lose, North later in the year a 50/50.

If we want top 4 we simply have to beat Sydney next week. If we don't we will be in the bottom half of the 8 and take our chances.

 

[BRWB]

Our forwards moved far too high upfield causing us structural problems

IMO if our midfield broke even or won the battle in there then that wouldn't have been an issue and we may have had a stay at home forward or two to use as a regular target and we may not have been regularly outmarked.


I'm concerned about the lack of plan B, but I was moreso concerned about no one shutting Danger down, it's like Beveridge and the rucks all over again from last year, yet it's showing no respect to dominant midfielders now.

I was very concerned earlier in the year when Beveridge refused to play tall, but he's playing a taller team currently and structurally it held up well for 5 games, this being the first loss with it (in that Redpath, Campbell and Roughead have all played together).

IMO decision making, unaccountability and poor skills were our main issues tonight.

What also concerns me is mental strength. Were we just down or is it a pattern? I love Boyd since his move to the backline. But when the game was hot he did some ordinary work giving away frees and turnovers. He then racks them up as the heat goes out of the game, gets his 30 and people rave about his game. He has done that throughout his career IMO. He is a leader of the club and sets that example. Don't like it. Never have. When the game gets hot we too many players who follow Boyd's lead and tighten up or go missing in IMO. Similarly I love Picken but fair dinkum his ball use is ordinary at times.

Redpath's kick in the first was atrocious and nearly set the pattern. He was out marked regularly. A better key forward doesn't allow this to happen by a - leading and/or b - contesting in the air better IMO.

Bont gets a free pass but surely he played the worst game of his life by some distance last night. Daniel's first half was equally atrocious. Wallis had four possies to half time I think. Hunter's regulation two misses were all too easy to predict. Is he the worst set shot at our club??

It's hard to comment on structure but last week we do hit up precision passing. This week it's the Norf game all over again. Bomb it long and get outmarked. I thought Redpath fixes that????? And yet even late in the game we see Stringer calling Bont to kick it over the back and we see three Geelong players crush it with String non competitive.

Yeah we have injuries but in all honesty I struggle to see us going deep in finals if we are required to play some blokes. Honey, Fletch, Biggs in particular leap out as just good ordinary depth who can go ok against most teams but when it steps up they are the the ones who are really found wanting. Dunkley isn't really ready. I worry about Redpath but he's built a few credits and seems to be all we have anyway with Boyd's injury/form.

On a positive note, Bailey Williams is a jet - he should be among our first picked IMO. Every game he has played he has displayed more execution, composure and smarts than 90% of our list.

On a similar note doesn't Suckling stand out like dog's balls in our team? At Hawthorn he is role player one of many - at our club he is a key player. Composure, vision and execution. Great pick up (I can accept his one shinned kick that cost us a later goal when the rest of his work is so brilliant).

Also kudos to Macrae yes he is limited but like a more creative version of D Cross he goes and goes again. Hunter was ok sans the set shots. But it's hard to find 4 quarter efforts.

And is seven possessions from Rough enough?? Is 6 enough from Red? What's going on with Dickson - been ordinary nearly all year - is 9 touches and zero goals enough?

We have some work to do.

 

[King Harold]

Hard to disagree. I'm not a Jong hater but as a team we don't play well when he plays and he seems to have a negative effect on players around him.

I've read tripe on this board many times , but this ones rolled gold.
So our other midfielders couldn't run ,chase and we're all largely uncompetitive,because Jong was playing.
Give me a break !

 

[BRWB]

I've read tripe on this board many times , but this ones rolled gold.
So our other midfielders couldn't run ,chase and we're all largely uncompetitive,because Jong was playing.
Give me a break !

Jong was far from our worst last night IMO. He has been shocking in a few games with his fumbling and also going missing for big chunks - last night wasn't one of them IMO.

I don't think he is clean or consistent enough in heat to be much better than depth. Interesting to see how he goes the rest of the year and what happens then.

 

[Doggies_13]

Bev said we changed the rucks off the bench in the third. This is how we fit Boyd redpath and the two rucks in the team.

Dickson Redpath Stringer
Honey Boyd Daniel

When Boyd or redpath is off, push a ruck forward. It can work.

I get sick to ******* death of seeing Dunkley and picken one out against 2 or 3 tall defenders.

Unfortunately the small scg may not be the place to try it so maybe the week after.

If that's the case I believe that's bad coaching by Bev up to half time I thought roughy was nearly bog for us and the only one to look like taking a grab and we sit him on the bench cause Campbell was having a stinker makes no sense to me

 

[murphy2bedabest]

First things first, we were saying during the week that we need to beat either the cats or swans for a chance at top 4.

Well we just need to beat the swans, something that would hold no fear for this group. We have done it before.

Cats last night were just too good, simple as that, they were cleaner, pressured us better, got better inside F50 that resulted in a 20-6 marks Inside F50, really the only stat we got smashed at.

I have left after every loss this season thinking that we will beat them next time, last night I'm not 100% sure we will beat the cats next time, but we will learn from last nights game.

The positive is we still have time this year. Watching bevo's presser last night he wants Boyd to be 100% fit before he comes back, we need him this is was I was saying during the week.

What last night showed me is if we can get things 100% heading into finals there isn't a side we can't beat, even Chris Scott said that last night.

JJ and wood back means we have to make a big call on Williams, it also frees up suckling.

Stevens, Dahlhaus and even Clay puts pressure on guys like jong Dunkley and honeychurch and means bonti can play more outside.

Boyd needs game time, he needs time to work with Redpath Dickson stinger and the other forwards.

This also allows the freedom to play stringer more up the ground if needed, without the worry of needing him to be that F50 target.