Round 6: Bulldogs vs Saints

[Mazza]

Our biggest test of the year coming off 2 losses in a row up against a team who has been steamrolling all in their path. The boys are certainly lacking in confidence, skills and run and will have to make a big turn around from their poor effort against Carlton to get back on the winner's list this Sunday.

Upsides: Cooney should be back for us, he may not be 100% as yet but he just brings another dimension to the team, even if just distracting the opposition from our other midfielders. Murphy didn't look great last Sunday but will be better for the run and hopefully will be back to his old self this week. Perhaps if Rocket could play him in the forward line where he plays his best footy that could be helpful also. We also have Aker coming back in to add some bite to our forward line which has looked fairly weak for most of the year. I sure hope the boys have been practising their goalkicking!

Downsides: Kozchitzke could be back this week if his hammy is all healed putting more pressure on our ruck and forward division. If he's not ready yet we should have a bit of an advantage in terms of rucking with King likely to also miss with a hamstring injury.

Changes: A change of attitude is definitely a must for the boys this week. A return to the basics of tackling pressure and actually hitting targets by foot and hand are a must if we're to get up and win. I would like to see Timmy Callan return to the team this week to add a bit more muscle and composure, perhaps at the expense of Callan Ward. With Aker and Coons coming back that would mean 3 players have to make way so Grant is likely to be sent back to the VFL. It's hard to find a third player to be dropped from the team, Tom Williams complained of ankle soreness after the game but we may need his height trying to battle the tall threats of the Saints. It's likely that Tim will have to wait a bit longer for a return with just the two changes likely this week.

Can We Win?: When we play our best footy I have no doubt that we can beat anyone in the competition. However I'm yet to see the boys get close to their best footy so far this season. We need Murph to stand up a kick a bag and Minson to hold his marks and kick truly when given an opportunity in the forward line. A break out game by Cooney and some Griffen magic would be nice too. Few tipsters will have us winning this week but this is just the kind of game that the boys like to win, when no one thinks we can we seem to lift. I still have nice memories of the way we dealt with the Saints last year. The Saints are due for a loss and we're just the team that can inflict it, but it's likely to be a heartstopper, Its time to make a statement, Dogs by 9 points.

Carn the Dogs!

[barkingspider]

good one Maz. well written and i hope you are right about the 9 points in our favor but like i say it's a tall order. confidence, belief and drive like they had last year and they'll be up there again.
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it's OUR turn for a premiership and i reckon 2009 is gonna be it

[Lisbon]

[Mazza]

Teams with extended benches

[4GIVME]

i think we will get a win. We need to prove we are a contender. Also dissapointing to see o'Keefe continuelly overlooked dispite his brilliant form in the two's.
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[DoggyOutWest]

I'm so disheartened after watching that.

Minson was worse than unproductive, he butchered the ball almost every time he went near it. Gia floated around like a little butterfly all game, Johnson is carrying an injury and should be rested whether he wants to or not...

Just pathetic Dogs. F*cking bullsh*t performance.
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Validus Occasus mos orior oriri ortus iterum!! - The Mighty West shall rise again!!

[Mazza]

Tell me about it! start rant

Not a great feeling waking up on a monday morning, knowing that the AFL community are looking at us right now and thinking that we're a joke and a bunch of pretenders. Although its even worse reading articles and actually thinking you know what, they've got a point, we are ****!

It seems as if every other serious team in the comp has improved since last year, yet we seem to be going backwards. We can't even be competitive with the top teams in the comp i.e. Carlton and the Saints and we struggle against the average i.e. Roos and West Coast.

I think the worst feeling though is that we've pretty much got our best team out there. We don't have a hero waiting in the wings to save us. Yes we've has some issues with murph and coon but the bottom line is the rest aren't pulling their weight. And even though we've now lost 3 in a row, there still won't be tough decisions made. No one will be dropped to make a statement, none of the hardworkers down at Willi will be rewarded for effort. We will persist because we can't do anything else, or don't have the courage.

I'm actually not too happy with Eade's statement either, 'We hung in there' we got completely outplayed in all facets of the game. The scoreline flattered us in the end because we managed a few cheap goals in the last quarter and the Saints had it in the bag. We shouldn't be 'hanging in' with the best teams in the comp, we should be competitive, pushing them. The saints kicked somewhere around 20 behinds, imagine if they could kick straight!

If we serve up the same crap against the Crows next week we may as well write off the season as another failure because without a top four spot we don't have a chance of making the GF. Is it impossible to play more that one good season for these boys?

end rant

[barkingspider]

good rant Maz but when you consider the pies loss of 88 points, our loss wasn't that bad in comparison. still a loss though

well, they beat the crows by 32 on their home ground. i'll take it. that's gotta count for something and if they can do that then they should be able to beat melbourne next week.

the big test will be in round 9 against the cats
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it's OUR turn for a premiership and i reckon 2009 is gonna be it