Autopsy Toothless Bulldogs overcome Norf in a game not for the ages

[geoffjennings79]

No chance. We play at our home ground in the reverse fixture.

Just an observation yesterday, nearly every game there is a person (most often, but not exclusively a younger person), tossing the coin. I like that aspect, whether they've won a competition or overcome/still battling personal adversity, it's a way for mere mortals to be directly engaged with at least the captains of each team. And those same captains, across the board, and regardless of who the guest coin tosser supports, are polite and acknowledge them.
No guest coin tosser yesterday. Not potting anyone for it, it just appeared something was missing. Pity, as it's something our game usually does well, acknowledging fans who after all are a large part of the fabric of the sport.

Anyhoo, no biggie.

 

[Dazb86]

I was pretty harsh on the selection of Lobb especially as a KPD.

He was very very good yesterday.

 

[DueWest]

Sanders grinds my gears the way he plays. He takes possession, then handballs to someone in a similar or worse position forcing them to make the play rather than doing it himself.
A good example is a passage of play where Libba won the ball and handballed it 10m forward to Sanders on his own. Sanders looked around, saw no one near him to lay it off to so waited for 35year old Libba to sprint past for the handball receive. As a player I would be filthy that Sanders doesn’t make the play. He plays hot potato and makes it someone else’s job to create the play. He plays like a coach in a training drill handballing it to the player and watching them take the game on or execute a play.

He’s young and doesn’t have the strength or power to take the game on yet, think of Horne Francis year 1 at Norf who struggled for many reasons. Therefore handball and safe option is what he is taking and maybe being coached to do so also.

On the plus side he is a 19yo who is consistently getting it 16+ times a game we haven’t had many of those come through

 

[dogwatch]

This idea that Weightman "plays" for free kicks is strange to me. He annoys opposition fans/players, so they want to take his head off. He's very crafty at tapping the ball forward or attacking the ball. He's gotten free kicks in the past in a dodgy manner by ducking/lifting shoulder/bending knees, granted, but I don't see how any of the free kicks yesterday were controversial. Other players would have also gotten those frees if they were tackled high or shoved in the back off the ball.

The game review in the HS called them "dubious". Just gunning for clicks. I don't see how Jackson Archer laying a high tackle is anything but Jackson Archer laying a high tackle...

Provided umpires don't lose their heads and continue to pay the free kicks that are there (as they were yesterday), this can only work to our advantage. Players playing because they dislike an opposition player rather than playing to ... win the game.

No doubt he did play for kicks early in his career. Not diving as such but either taking action to make it likely he got high contact (like Selwood did successfully for over a decade) or putting a lot of mayo on any incidental high contact that he did get. He still does the latter a bit.

I think he has eliminated most of it from his game - he probably got some stern advice from the coaches. But a reputation like that is hard to get rid of.

As long as umpires pay it when it's there and don't pay it when it's not, then there's no problem. But umpires are human too (yes, it's true!) and may get influenced by a player's reputation, or the crowd baying for blood.

 

[Dazb86]

Sanders grinds my gears the way he plays. He takes possession, then handballs to someone in a similar or worse position forcing them to make the play rather than doing it himself.
A good example is a passage of play where Libba won the ball and handballed it 10m forward to Sanders on his own. Sanders looked around, saw no one near him to lay it off to so waited for 35year old Libba to sprint past for the handball receive. As a player I would be filthy that Sanders doesn’t make the play. He plays hot potato and makes it someone else’s job to create the play. He plays like a coach in a training drill handballing it to the player and watching them take the game on or execute a play.

He actually has a decent kick on him. Just looks to go backwards every time he gets the ball. It's a little concerning.

 

[maddog37]

Sanders is a gun imho. Joel Selwoodish.

 

[lachy]

Finally got a chance to watch yesterday's game after some local footy commitments.

Gee some really harsh calls on quite a few players here. JUH was fine, dropped a couple of marks he should have taken but was the best of the 3 talls yesterday. The so called spray he gave to Flea was both warranted and far from personal. If he wasn't having a shot he kicked it too close goal line.

Gallagher had quite a few quality link ups with good skills and applied good pressure. Too many here focus on his one or two genuine errors a game.

Sanders played his role well. Will eventually replace Libba but is progressing well as an understudy.

Williams has put 2 genuine best 22 games together, hope that continues.

Lobb was good in the air but just as impressed with his ground ball and one on one contesting. We need to give this some time to play out.

English played the usual English game, ordinary in the ruck yet we did pretty much break even when he was up against Xeri.

We were a bit rusty after the bye, Darcy and Naughts moreso after longer lay off's. We have had a shocking fixture with byes this season.

Twice after we have had a week off we have had to play a team who played the week before.

3 times we have played teams after a bye, the only one we were really smashed in was against a team who had their second bye and we had none.

Yesterday was a game we collect the four points and head to Adelaide next week for an 8 point game



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[Sentinel]

But the flogs idolised Lindsay Thomas lol

Somewhat ironically (given a few posts earlier in this thread about criticism of Jamarra), I recall certain North fans used to call 'racism' when opposition fans pointed out Thomas' style of play.

 

[Anja_Nees]

Kane Cornes = broken clock.

You know what they say about broken clocks.

They should be replaced.

 

[HK_Bulldog]

It’s Sanders first year so I’ll give him a pass but I was hoping for more from a Pick 6. I can tell he wants to use his feet and take the game on but he usually reverts to instinct and plays like a trampoline. (Balls that go to him just get redirected to the closest teammate.) His defensive game is good and he gets the ball so he’s worth his spot on that basis. It’s year 1 so hopefully he develops and improves.

Freijah is a real find. Thought he stepped it up another level on the weekend. I love it when players play with intent and ownership.

 

[Leon]

Kane Cornes = broken clock.

You know what they say about broken clocks.

Anja_Nees maddog37 synchrodogcal


You’ve all launched from 50 and it’s sailed through post height!

 

[JohnnySteel]

It’s Sanders first year so I’ll give him a pass but I was hoping for more from a Pick 6. I can tell he wants to use his feet and take the game on but he usually reverts to instinct and plays like a trampoline. (Balls that go to him just get redirected to the closest teammate.) His defensive game is good and he gets the ball so he’s worth his spot on that basis. It’s year 1 so hopefully he develops and improves.

Freijah is a real find. Thought he stepped it up another level on the weekend. I love it when players play with intent and ownership.

Definitely think Sanders will start taking the game on more as he grows in confidence. It’s slowly coming out.

He is trying to do the team first thing and not taking risks, Some of his early turnovers in his first few games seemed to have rocked him and since then he is giving it off as soon as he gets it.

Confident he’ll have a better inside and outside attacking mix to his game as he did in juniors in time.




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[VogonProsthetnic]

Thought Sanders was pretty good this week. 21 disposals and he set up a lot of good play.

Our defence has improved a lot this season - which was just as well this week as we committed some horrible clangers in bad spots.

We seem obsessed with the inside kick when under pressure and other teams are expecting.

Our field and goal kicking was very poor Notth rattled us a bit. Sometimes you just need the safe option.

 

[ossie_21]

Thought Sanders was pretty good this week. 21 disposals and he set up a lot of good play.

Our defence has improved a lot this season - which was just as well this week as we committed some horrible clangers in bad spots.

We seem obsessed with the inside kick when under pressure and other teams are expecting.

Our field and goal kicking was very poor Notth rattled us a bit. Sometimes you just need the safe option.

Sanders is tracking fine. Hasn’t had any “wow” moments just yet, but then again Jack Macrae has played close to 250 games and hasn’t really had any either.

GWS prelim doesn’t count as the “wow” moment I mean, he just goes about his business, has collected a tonne of the footy but doesn’t generally show in a highlights package for a fend off 5 players, gather and burst out of the middle and slot on from 55 etc.

Our standards are far too high considering we have the generational Bont and the privilege of watching him every week.

 

[dogwatch]

...

We seem obsessed with the inside kick when under pressure and other teams are expecting.

Our field and goal kicking was very poor Notth rattled us a bit. Sometimes you just need the safe option.

These are two key points of difference for us compared to last year.

This year we have been switching play more, playing the diagonals, taking the corridor, using handballs and foot speed to break the lines, etc. It's nothing revolutionary or innovative. Other clubs like Collingwood have been doing it highly effectively for the last couple of years. We were just late in adapting. I'm assuming some of the new coaching arrivals have had some influence here.

The result is that we are now a high scoring side again. We have a great percentage which might be critical come the end of August. Yes, occasionally it goes wrong and we concede goals on the turnover but overall it has been a big net positive. You can see it's a coaching instruction because players are often looking infield for the their first choice target (sometimes uneasily) rather than automatically directing play up the wings.

It's probably still a work in progress and will need further fine-tuning, but it has made us a much more attractive side to watch and it helps us capitalise on our strengths up forward.

Do we need the safe option sometimes? Certainly. I agree it won't always come off and we do need to give players licence to decide when to make that play and when not to make it. But last year (and in the early rounds this year) we were boringly and predictably playing up the boundary line and only coming inboard when we got to the f50. That was far too easy to defend. It led to all that angst about the quality of our entries i50.

 

[stefoid]

Sanders is a gun imho. Joel Selwoodish.

Could just be confidence. I saw that vision of him runnig off harmes and kicking a running goal in practice. Then when the real stuff starts and he has the chance to kick a running goal he avoids it.

Any mid that can get a regular gig in his first year generally goes on to have a great career though.

 

[TiAn_]

Pre draft I wasn’t totally sold on Sanders at that pick, but I still think he’ll be very good. It’s just he’s going to be a Macrae type of good, not a Bont type of good.

 

[Shacf501]

Went this week with the wifey and left a bit dispapointed tha we didnt go on and win by 8-10 goals when we were 38 points up. I still think we dont take the game on enough, especiallyl through the corridor. However, a win is a win and we shall take it.

I have been a harsh critic of lobb but his intesity yesterday was first class and fingers crossed he accepts this new role and puts in like he did more consistently. The difference being is he is allowed to play from behind in the backline and isn't worried about copping a whack int he back of the head cosistently and is allowed to use his reach to spoil rather than getting pushed under the ball up forward.

My bigegst concern from our current line up, and its nothing against these three players, but when you have sanders, vandemeer and mcrae all up forward we just dont look like it. They are not natural forwards and most of the time dont look dangerous and very rarely look like kicking a goal. i know Mcrae kicked 3 a few weeks ago but relaistically he doesnt look it and the other two dont either.

 

[VogonProsthetnic]

These are two key points of difference for us compared to last year.

This year we have been switching play more, playing the diagonals, taking the corridor, using handballs and foot speed to break the lines, etc. It's nothing revolutionary or innovative. Other clubs like Collingwood have been doing it highly effectively for the last couple of years. We were just late in adapting. I'm assuming some of the new coaching arrivals have had some influence here.

The result is that we are now a high scoring side again. We have a great percentage which might be critical come the end of August. Yes, occasionally it goes wrong and we concede goals on the turnover but overall it has been a big net positive. You can see it's a coaching instruction because players are often looking infield for the their first choice target (sometimes uneasily) rather than automatically directing play up the wings.

It's probably still a work in progress and will need further fine-tuning, but it has made us a much more attractive side to watch and it helps us capitalise on our strengths up forward.

Do we need the safe option sometimes? Certainly. I agree it won't always come off and we do need to give players licence to decide when to make that play and when not to make it. But last year (and in the early rounds this year) we were boringly and predictably playing up the boundary line and only coming inboard when we got to the f50. That was far too easy to defend. It led to all that angst about the quality of our entries i50.

I’m all for spreading to field wide but on Saturday we did a lot 10-15 m low reward kicks - to stationary players in a direction which was impossible defend. North defended very well which upset our movement - sometimes you just have accept that the opposition are intent making it difficult and go down the line.

Teams like Collingwood and Geelong are set up to only really score on turn over - taking risky low reward kicks just play into their hands.

 

[Mofra]

Probably a bit late in the season but should we get Tim English on a decent cycle of Dianabol to give him aggression? Or maybe confiscate his phone and get him to read a book?

Just get him to drive around Melbourne during peak hour. That should get him there eventually

 

[lachy]

Pre draft I wasn’t totally sold on Sanders at that pick, but I still think he’ll be very good. It’s just he’s going to be a Macrae type of good, not a Bont type of good.

Macrae had been and still is now fit a severely underrated player

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[lachy]

It’s Sanders first year so I’ll give him a pass but I was hoping for more from a Pick 6. I can tell he wants to use his feet and take the game on but he usually reverts to instinct and plays like a trampoline. (Balls that go to him just get redirected to the closest teammate.) His defensive game is good and he gets the ball so he’s worth his spot on that basis. It’s year 1 so hopefully he develops and improves.

Freijah is a real find. Thought he stepped it up another level on the weekend. I love it when players play with intent and ownership.

Accepting that this is an opinion, but the draft has been in place now for well in excess of 30 years so who as a pick 6 has performed better than Sanders in their first yea

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[lachy]

I’m all for spreading to field wide but on Saturday we did a lot 10-15 m low reward kicks - to stationary players in a direction which was impossible defend. North defended very well which upset our movement - sometimes you just have accept that the opposition are intent making it difficult and go down the line.

Teams like Collingwood and Geelong are set up to only really score on turn over - taking risky low reward kicks just play into their hands.

I would argue we moved the ball well most times, we need to improve on poorly executed turnovers that always cost us dearly. Most are basic skill errors, nothing more nothing less

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[weltschmerz]

Accepting that this is an opinion, but the draft has been in place now for well in excess of 30 years so who as a pick 6 has performed better than Sanders in their first yea

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Pick 6 is oddly cursed. On average plays far fewer games than 5 and 7.



Macrae’s the best pick 6 of the last couple of decades, and comparing his first season to Sanders, there are similarities. Macrae averaged one more disposal, Sanders two more tackles. Sanders ahead in clearances, time on ground % both quite low.

A good first season also doesn’t have to mean a great career ahead. Jaidyn Stephenson was another pick 6. Had a very good first year.

 

[perro_loco]

O'Donnell is turning into a reliable defender. Looking forward to seeing him take more grabs and run with the ball.

JOD, Freija, Gallagher and Sanders have been excellent recruits. The upside is amazing. Great from the recruiters. Freijah is my fav