Autopsy "The Flu Game" - Bulldogs dismantle Freo

[The Slitherin' Snake]

Smith would compliment our current midfield set up so beautifully. We can afford to lose English over Smith i think

 

[Libbaaaa]

Smith’s ceiling is higher but he hasn’t shown it since 2021.

If you got finals ‘21 Smith consistently you’d have one of the best mids in the league, but Richards is consistent, a better kick and less of an off field distraction. I know who I’m more worried about retaining.

If any player replicated Smith’s semi and prelim from 2021 on a consistent basis they would be one of the greatest player of all time. I’ve said it numerous times but those two games cloud our judgement of him, they are more outliers than his actual ceiling.

 

[geoffjennings79]

Smith would compliment our current midfield set up so beautifully. We can afford to lose English over Smith i think

Or... Smith into midfield, English to wing, Darcy and Lobb rotating ruck/deep forward?!
Win, win, win! We'll have the tallest wingman in league history, lose nothing in pace against some of the current wing incumbents, and Wing Tim can still pinch hit in the ruck, or just contest throw ins on the wing side he's occupying.

I've suggested this to Bevo directly, but he doesn't return my calls/texts/snail mail/carrier pigeon efforts...

 

[MrChristo]

Can't say how often this happens because that would require sobriety and research.

That (the full version) is one of the best posts I've ever seen. (Not unsubstantiated).

This particular line sums up my life better than I ever could.

Ps. I enjoy researching...often while desobering...

 

[Anja_Nees]

If any player replicated Smith’s semi and prelim from 2021 on a consistent basis they would be one of the greatest player of all time. I’ve said it numerous times but those two games cloud our judgement of him, they are more outliers than his actual ceiling.

They were obviously great but even before that he was just much better in 2021 than in the next two years.

His disposal was more crisp and he had his mojo. I think we were generally thrilled with how he was progressing. 2022 and 2023 he slid back a fair way.

 

[Chicago1]

Does anyone know what cough mixture bont took to get over his flu? Or was it good old Vic's vapour rub. Starting to get a bit of a sniffle. All help greatly appreciated.

I started to develop a sore throat yesterday. Today I'm coughing and congested. I hadn't been out in the cold for that long in years. The worst part was the hour it took my friend to get to Marvel after the game from Kensington. He got caught up in traffic and detours. How I've suffered for this club in 48 years!

On SM-A135F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[_Mike_]

Smith would compliment our current midfield set up so beautifully. We can afford to lose English over Smith i think

Wont disagree, although rumors circulating that Smith is all but gone

 

[fargy]

They were obviously great but even before that he was just much better in 2021 than in the next two years.

His disposal was more crisp and he had his mojo. I think we were generally thrilled with how he was progressing. 2022 and 2023 he slid back a fair way.

Feel like it all went to crap with the headbutt, thought he was great at the start of 2022.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Re: Smith, has he ever shown the line breaking clearance ability from centre bounce that Richards has?

 

[Next Waiting]

Re: Smith, has he ever shown the line breaking clearance ability from centre bounce that Richards has?

No

 

[fargy]

Watching back…
I remember being frustrated that when we played them in WA they piled on some late ones to push the margin out. I think we topped that, four goals in the last three minutes.

 

[weltschmerz]

Feel like it all went to crap with the headbutt, thought he was great at the start of 2022.

He got nine Brownlow votes in the first nine rounds of 2022. Missed one of those matches, and in the eight he played up to r9, he polled in six of them.

 

[The Slitherin' Snake]

He got nine Brownlow votes in the first nine rounds of 2022. Missed one of those matches, and in the eight he played up to r9, he polled in six of them.

He's being seriously underrated on this forum. I hope we can keep him

 

[BrisDog]

Feel like it all went to crap with the headbutt, thought he was great at the start of 2022.

He also lost us that game in that act
in my opinion.

 

[maddog37]

He's being seriously underrated on this forum. I hope we can keep him

Seems a forlorn hope sadly.

 

[dogwatch]

He got nine Brownlow votes in the first nine rounds of 2022. Missed one of those matches, and in the eight he played up to r9, he polled in six of them.

Correct. If he hadn't hit those twin speed humps resulting in four weeks out (the headbutt and the video of him brandishing the little sack of white stuff) he was on track to be a top 20, maybe top 10 player at the age of 21.

If whichever club he is at can get him to sort himself out (he's a complex individual) then he could easily be top 10 in the AFL by the age of 25-26.

It's probably too late to fix now, but we should never be losing these players to other clubs. Furthermore, it's almost inevitable that we won't get what he's worth.

 

[grassman75]

Heard yesterday that the club has shipped him off to Europe to get him away and take away the distraction of him being here unsigned as it’s affecting the club.

Highly unlikely he stays. Now we have the dickheads talking about Bont putting contract talks on hold

 

[Next Waiting]

It's probably too late to fix now, but we should never be losing these players to other clubs. Furthermore, it's almost inevitable that we won't get what he's worth.

The question I ask myself in relation to this player is did we do our due diligence on what was going on with this player upstairs before we drafted him.

How good are the indicators and predictors we use/refer to/rely on during the initial stages of assessment prior to drafting? Have we improved this aspect of the assessment process?

 

[Libbaaaa]

Correct. If he hadn't hit those twin speed humps resulting in four weeks out (the headbutt and the video of him brandishing the little sack of white stuff) he was on track to be a top 20, maybe top 10 player at the age of 21.

If whichever club he is at can get him to sort himself out (he's a complex individual) then he could easily be top 10 in the AFL by the age of 25-26.

It's probably too late to fix now, but we should never be losing these players to other clubs. Furthermore, it's almost inevitable that we won't get what he's worth.

I’m probably bias but I don’t see a world where he ever would have cracked top 10 in the league.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Heard yesterday that the club has shipped him off to Europe to get him away and take away the distraction of him being here unsigned as it’s affecting the club.

Highly unlikely he stays. Now we have the dickheads talking about Bont putting contract talks on hold

That sounds like rubbish. He's only gone for three weeks. Coincides with the bye for the others anyway.

If Bont wins the Brownlow he'll deserve a bigger pay rise.

 

[hutchy31]

I’m probably bias but I don’t see a world where he ever would have cracked top 10 in the league.

I don’t think that’s bias, I agree with you.

He’s a great player and I’ll be disappointed if/when he goes, but he’s not a good enough kick to be a top 10 player imo. If you’re going to be spoken of in the top echelon of AFL players you’d need to be good at disposing of the ball by foot, and if you’re not you’d need to be an absolute midfield beast (Dangerfield, Cripps) to qualify.

It is a horrendous time to lose a player of his age and potential though. Richards breaking through as a mid softens the blow, but it’s still not a good look to lose Dunkley and Smith within a couple of years of each other.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

I’m probably bias but I don’t see a world where he ever would have cracked top 10 in the league.

At a peak he was probably about the 50th best player in the league and about the 5th best "young" (1st-4th ish year player) in the league.

But that was more or less a peak and not consistent - and the issue was that not only did he not sustain that level (which for a young player should be considered below expectations because getting older generally means getting better), he rapidly declined, and went from being a 2nd ish best midfielder (3-4th best player) in an average team as a 20-21 year old to about the 16th or 18th best player in a team.

In recent years the floor for future performance for a player that had such a brilliant start (ie of the 30-odd players who were that good as such a young player in the last 10 years or so) is probably Dylan Shiel, whose best years at GWS were a year or two before he was actually traded and really only the stimulus of his first year at a new club had him playing well. Injuries have ruined him a bit but even accounting for that his form is disappointing to a fast start.

Chad Wingard is probably the other one - he was excellent in his second and fourth year at port as a 20 and 22 year old. Many were projecting him as a top 10 player, and he declined marginally thereafter, but not as rapid as Smith, but was still a good player at the Hawks (without being the young star at Port).

Basically every other player who was good and young kept improving - Max Holmes is another good example of that type of player.

There's a few GC and GWS players in that list but that's probably due to being given more opportunity to gather stats among other young players early on so the fact they didn't kick on as they got older is probably more due to the statistical abberation of their earliest performances rather than fading away (e.g. David Swallow).

 

[dogwatch]

I’m probably bias but I don’t see a world where he ever would have cracked top 10 in the league.

I'm not going to take you all on, but many here may have forgotten how good his 2021 finals series was, and how good the first half of 2022 was, including two games with 40+ disposals. He had 9 Brownlow votes from his first 8 games of the season. Then he got just one vote for the rest of the year.

If he'd not been rubbed out but instead had averaged one Brownlow vote per game for the rest of the year he probably would have been in the top half dozen in the Brownlow count and would have earned an AA blazer.

Good enough to be in the argument for top 10 in the league in my book.

I agree that in the season and a half after that enforced break he was nowhere near as good and that's what most of us would remember. He should have been getting better and better over the period not worse.

That's also why I say there are big rewards for anyone who can unlock that ability. A new club environment can do that. He's just approaching his peak years. I'm pretty sure it's all above the shoulders.

 

[Fossie 32]

Speaking of above the shoulders I was just listening to the Salty Bulldog podcast and they commented that Bramble could be a confidence player which was what I was thinking Same with a lot of players I guess but good to see he actually does have the ability. I liked their comment about Bonti. Something like. ‘You can call a 30 possession 3 goal performance different things but Bonti just calls them Saturdays.’

 

[grassman75]

That sounds like rubbish. He's only gone for three weeks. Coincides with the bye for the others anyway.

If Bont wins the Brownlow he'll deserve a bigger pay rise.

Can’t reveal my source. But if you knew who it was you wouldn’t be saying it’s rubbish