Ryan Gardner is a good footballer - post your apologies here

[Virgin Dog]

Wanted to take the opportunity to really emphasise the point I've been making for weeks now - Ryan Gardner has been improving with every week, and the decision to persist with him each week is a great call by the MC. His kicking is becoming outstanding, as highlighted by his 100% disposal efficiency and 0 turnovers tonight (compared to Keath's 75% and 1).

That launch out of defence to a running Hayes (Roarke?) on the wing was a thing of beauty, and something probably only Williams could have replicated.

Feel free to share your apologies below for anyone who has continued to call Gardner a spud in the last 3 weeks.

 

[1961grandfinal]

Everyone wants him to succeed but it does seem that the club did not look outside the VFL team for the mid season draft. Remember Dean Wallis being a similar choice by Sheedy who kept giving him games much to the chagrin of their supporters.
Self belief and competence can grow when you know that the coach has confidence in your belief to make it. He needs an ISO season with Tim at the piggery with a weekly visit from the good dr with the roids.

 

[DelRe]

On the other hand he only had 7 disposals and Darling could easily have won the game for them had he kicked straight or at least not straight into Gardner (not sure if that helps or hinders your argument).

Overall though, I’d still rather keep Cordy when Wood is fit again.

If we could find a way to get Jong and Suckling back in though we could develop probably our largest contingent of whipping boys in one side for a while (when you throw in Bruce and Hayes).

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

Wanted to take the opportunity to really emphasise the point I've been making for weeks now - Ryan Gardner has been improving with every week, and the decision to persist with him each week is a great call by the MC. His kicking is becoming outstanding, as highlighted by his 100% disposal efficiency and 0 turnovers tonight (compared to Keath's 75% and 1).

That launch out of defence to a running Hayes (Roarke?) on the wing was a thing of beauty, and something probably only Williams could have replicated.

Feel free to share your apologies below for anyone who has continued to call Gardner a spud in the last 3 weeks.

Im not one to ever bag one of our players on here, cant think of a time i have done it, i have questioned selection but without the so called spud call, Ryan had traits for bevo to persist with and with confidence it will come off well.

 

[Virgin Dog]

Im not one to ever bag one of our players on here, cant think of a time i have done it, i have questioned selection but without the so called spud call, Ryan had traits for bevo to persist with and with confidence it will come off well.

He had me pulling my hair out earlier in the year, but I changed my tune over a month ago. Just been annoying seeing how many vocal posters have still been bagging him out every week despite him having 3 consecutive good games. I can guarantee there will be multiple people naming him among the changes for the Hawks game..

 

[weltschmerz]

I didn't think he had it in him to play at an AFL standard and I'm glad to see him improving. We need a mobile KPD and if we can find that player on our list (like we found the tough winger we needed in Vandermeer), awesome.

 

[dogwatch]

Dear Ryan,

The OP has asked us to say sorry. Fair enough too, so here we go ...



I'm sorry we didn't pick up Jake Riccardi in the Mid Season Draft. Geez we could use a bloke who has no trouble finding the goals right now.



Naah, sorry for the little joke. We love you Gardy. Honest.
Well "love" might be a bit strong, but we're definitely starting to like the cut of your jib.

I'm sorry there are people who will blame you for whatever goes wrong on the field, even on those occasions when you weren't at fault. I'm sorry there are people who start sticking the boot in as soon as the ball is bounced and only look for your errors without noticing the good stuff you do, the same people who ignore it when more famous names than yours are making a bigger hash of it than you are. I'm sorry life is full of such double standards. We're probably all guilty of it at times.

I'm especially sorry you struggled with nerves and confidence or whatever it was in those early games but isn't it great to have a coach who'll back you in and give you a decent set of games to build your self-belief, let you find the pace of the game and help you back your footy judgement?

Can you just do us a favour mate? Can you let some of your teammates know how good that feels please? Blokes like Ben Cavarra and Josh Schache must be wondering how it feels.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing you in the RW&B for a long time to come. You're only 23 after all. We had a 250 gamer called Dale Morris and he didn't debut until he was 22. Your best footy years are still in front of you. Keep at it, work hard and there'll be plenty of rewards in store. Maybe even a flag. After all, Fletcher Roberts got one, why not you?

Hey, we might even come to love you.

Yours in eternal optimism
dogwatch

PS: I'm looking forward to you smashing Jake Riccardi next time we play those plastic pissants. Go Dogs!

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

He had me pulling my hair out earlier in the year, but I changed my tune over a month ago. Just been annoying seeing how many vocal posters have still been bagging him out every week despite him having 3 consecutive good games. I can guarantee there will be multiple people naming him among the changes for the Hawks game..

I have no doubt about it.

 

[Boyd oh Boyd]

I got on the Gardner bandwagon ironically but it's pretty unironic now. I didn't think he was ever as bad as he was made out to be and always managed to do one or two good things to give me some hope. Not enough to think he was good, but just alright. The nerves seem well and truly gone and those one or two things are turning into 5 or 6 a game. I think he's starting to find his feet and I'm very proud of him and whoever made the decision to stick with him. Early days but I think he'll do fine.

 

[Bulldogs85]

I have to put my hand up and say I showed a lot of hate towards him and also didn’t have any faith in him. But he made me eat my words the last few weeks the kid has played well

 

[Mofra]

Last two weeks he's been good - he has genuine closing sped and he had a couple of nice kicks last night.

By all account he'd get super-nervous before games so hopefully composure was the missing ingredient. He gets a few more games, another pre-season, and continues to settle and improve.

There was a time where a guy who got games off the rookie list was celebrated. Hopefully we get back to that with Ryan.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

He could be our Zac Dawson. Remember how zac vs Rocca in his first game and got destroyed so Clarkson banished him. Things can change, not always, but they can.

 

[ScragCity]

It goes to show that the blokes who train with them and watch every scratch match might know something we don't when it comes to which players might be worth persisting with.

 

[Virgin Dog]

It goes to show that the blokes who train with them and watch every scratch match might know something we don't when it comes to which players might be worth persisting with.

Don't be silly, Fergus Greene is our Lord and saviour, and the fact him and Sweet aren't playing is only because Bevo has established himself as glorious dictator

 

[BEaston]

I don't like bagging our players, but I really don't think he's been good the last 3 weeks at all.

Last night was his best game but it's still a below average game for a standard AFL player. He gives away stupid frees (3 last night), is too worried about where his man is so he gets into awkward positions in contests and lacks intensity around the ground. I somewhat understand why he came in to the side when Cordy went down (would have preferred Young) but I don't really get why he has to be developing in the seniors when he's not really ready.

His kicking has been very good which is a positive.

Wish him the best though and hope he develops into a good player for us.

 

[bresker]

I think I said I'd crawl through a barrel of broken glass & stick matchsticks in Bev's shit if he makes it as a player.

I'm not buying the barrel yet, but I'm googling barrel manufacturers.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

Sorry I just cannot see it. He may have done some reasonably lockdown jobs. Lewis Young has played a couple of really good games two that comes to mind are his first game against the blues a couple of seasons ago and in the second last round against GWS last season. I just to not see that ability in Ryan.

 

[inyourfacedunk]

I've been getting a bit of a Hamling vibe from him over the last two weeks.

 

[AFDogs]

Me and the old man watched him pretty carefully last night (a bit of an inside joke - we like to pay extra attention to Gards and Gowers because of the way Bulldogs supporters treat them).

He played well. Used the footy well. Went in when he needed to. Darling had no impact apart from a couple sh*tty frees.

No complaints here. Well done Gardner. Improving every week.

 

[Doggy Dan]

Now to get him decent haircut. Reminds me of Alfalfa from The Little Rascals at the moment sans the cow lick. It’s man bun, mullet or bouffant these days!

 

[ExRoyboy]

He has definitely been better the last couple of weeks and last night looked much better. I still think he lacks composure a bit and for a defender that can be disastrous but we need tall defenders and so given his age, he is definitely worth persisting with.
With Easton out of the team for a few games there is no way he gets dropped but I also would still prefer Cordy in the team when Easton is due back.

But I’m glad that he has started to improve his confidence and maybe is starting to feel more like he belongs out there, that will go a long way to making him more self assured when he gets the ball. I do think that sometimes he is let down by others and then gets blamed for a goal that he couldn’t do much about when he is the last man standing so to speak and we have made a terrible turnover up field and he is trying to hold back a dam wall from busting. Or like last night when he attempted to spoil out of bounds, the ball somehow stayed in due to a lucky bounce and then Cordy forgets where his man is and it results in a goal with Gardner chasing Darling desperately trying to stop him getting the ball to Waterman.

So yes, he is definitely improving and well done to him. I still don’t think he is in our best 22 but we need good backups and he is getting better with each game.

On another note, I’ve been calling for English to be given a spell for weeks now. He has looked so tired or injured or something. Well last night he had some spark back and he looked a totally different player, taking contested marks, jumping hard at the ball, that running with the flight attempt could have been almost mark of the year if he held it, huge courage that I hadn’t seen in over a month and a half. We probably don’t win last night without his effort in the last quarter. So well done Tim, you showed plenty of toughness, courage and heart last night. More of that effort every week and I’ll be much happier.

 

[Yojimbo]

His skin must be thick constitution quite hardy,
Such is the stream of abuse directed at Gardy,
Milestone games start at fifty for most men,
But i think Gardy deserves a banner for getting to ten.


*(Presumption made that he gets to ten on eight now)

I made a "Clara Hughes" poem for the great man last week such is the warmth and affection i have for the great man, attempting
to follow in the footsteps of Joel Hamling is a difficult task especially when you are pushing against the wind while having the
majority of the board fling their bodily waste in your general direction. I promised you a great banner for your tenth game and i
have engaged the services of the great banner writer grassman75 (One of your biggest fans) to help provide a fitting tribute to
the special event and yes "Against all odds" while be pumping through the speakers and there will be tears. I may even have
some cake or serve some humble pie as your career sprouts wings and you learn to fly, love you Gardy.

 

[Smiley Boy]

Nah he's no good

 

[W W Biscuit]

Ryan plays for the Bulldogs, so that automatically makes him a legend in my eyes. I'm sure that he is absolutely busting a clacker to do his best, and the MC are obviously impressed with his attitude. Yesterday, I saw signs of a player who is starting to believe that he really belongs at the top level. He played well. He's certainly got some tools that we need - I'm really hoping that he makes it.

 

[ScottyDogg]

Played a real solid game last night. Quite a few moments where he thought his way through it and showed some aggression too.