Darcy had 13 disposals, 8 marks and a goal last week against Redman, playing in the forward pocket for a team that was well beaten. Redman had 18 disposals in a dominant side, but I thought Redman lost that battle by some margin.

Yeah he was ok but didn’t cement his spot. Harmes and Vandermeer the same. Brambles the same.

I think Lyon’s excuse the Saints came off a 5 day break was plausible, particularly when they had a high quality, hard game against the Giants, compared to a 6 day break for the Dogs in a bruise-free, low quality game against the Bombers. Essendon weren’t good last week. The Dogs were horrid. Last night gives some vindication to Bevo for his selections, because Macrae has been sparked the last two weeks by his demotion and now Dale the same. Buku has been a better player and the backline more balanced since James O’Donnell was selected. Dale was exceptional last night. Interesting they went with Ed Richards in the midfield in Libber’s spot. He didn’t play very well but he gave the midfield a different look. Lobb played the best game I’ve ever seen him play at any of his clubs. He was decent last night. Maybe Libber and Jamarra aren’t automatic selections anymore? 😊 I think Brambles should be first out for Libber, Daniel needs to bide his time a bit longer, or perhaps Harmes goes out. Can’t see how they play Naughton, Jamarra, Darcy and Lobb in the same team, so I guess Lobb is the unlucky one.

Lost me when you spouted your same old jealous vitriol about the 2016 brilliant flag “the umpires had their say”. Literally stopped reading the article there and then. Pot Shot Cornes has a friend. 😊

Yeah, … nahh.

Yeah probably – out of sight, out of mind.

Sub-par in the sense that many clubs have a better ruckman: in order of best – Gawn, Marshall, English (AA last year … but still proving himself), Jackson, Darcy, Grundy, Witts, Briggs,
O’Brien, Xerri, Cameron, Nankervis, Soldo, McInerny, Stanley, De Koning, then others. I mean lets get real, Tristan Xerri beat Stanley yesterday in a losing side.

👍 I’ve liked Durham’s game the last two seasons too. Developing nicely.

I think you might be getting carried away there. 😊 There’s no way Bont wasn’t carrying an injury. Looked like a groin by the way he was moving.

😂

Excellent analysis on the Bulldogs Tim. I 100% agree with all your thoughts on that subject. The only thing I would say about Macrae, Daniel, Dale and others is that it’s the coach’s job to get the best out of them. Sometimes that means a kick-up the backside by dropping, or subbing them, but always the coach must be giving them confidence and belief. Dale is a skilful player who should be an asset in our backline but seems low on confidence. Macrae was one of best on Friday night. I’ve always thought Daniel was a liability defensively, and that his best position is wing or half-forward but that he needs to learn to tackle aggressively. The form of English is very concerning – he’s only beaten Ned Moyle and Bailey Williams and he’s been thrashed by sub par ruckmen in Rhys Stanley, Sam Draper and an ageing Todd Goldstein. The form and impact of Naughton is also worrying. The selection of Brambles ahead of Dale is a poor one and overlooks that Brambles doesn’t work hard enough for the team defensively. Both teams were horrible in the first half on Friday night and then the Bombers realised the Bulldogs were off, so gained confidence. You’re right, the media will be out for Bevo’s blood and deservedly so, but I think we can all safely ignore any shallow, vindictive analysis from Pot Shot Cornes.

I thought he did a decent job last night – yeah much more suited to the third tall role with O’Donnell providing the physicality. A couple of times Buku was exposed but due to teammates laziness in not running back in defence (e.g. Brambles) and uncertainly trying to cover two at once, so not his fault.

True but we have plenty in the backline who do that – Richards, Dale, JJ.

Both teams were woeful in the first half and bereft of confidence, until Essendon smelt blood. Dogs in all sorts of trouble with skill errors, poor decisions and lack of effort. Bont moved and played like he had a groin injury. English has only beaten Ned Moyle and Bailey williams (Eagles) this year, and deserves to be dropped after shamefully unphysical, uncompetitive performances against Rhys Stanley and Todd Goldstein / Sam Draper. Lachie Brambles laziness and lack of pride defensively caused Buku to try and cover two opponents, resulting in an easy goal. Gallagher and Sanders both quiet. Vandermere quiet … again. Naughton constantly ran under the ball and contributed little. Lots of gettable goals missed by various players, missing golden chances to apply scoreboard pressure. The heat will come for Bevo now. Pot Shot Cornes must be salivating.

Bont is like Pavlich, capable of being great anywhere. Macrae is good but he’s never going to be as good as Bont onball. James O’Donell will be fine as our CHB.

We’re in deep trouble IF we lose tonight. The blowtorch will be firmly turned on to whoever loses and whoever wins will get zero credit and ignored. I think you’re harsh on Macrae, but he didn’t cope well with being moved to Half Forward Flank last year. He needs to be part of our onball rotation off the bench. I think he still has the capacity to be a very good, consistent onballer and I’d prefer him to Treloar because Macrae runs both ways and tackles effectively. Daniel is an option up forward perhaps, because he is a good finisher and clever. But Daniel needs to quickly develop a hunger for tackling (he could take some inspiration from Libber). Buku is no Easton Wood. Wood was as tough as they come.

I think Ed Richards, Jones, Dale, O’Donnell and Duryea are all decent defensively and apply good pressure physically on their opponents. JJ and Daniel are both soft physically but offer good offensive pressure – I don’t think we can afford to have them both in the backline and I’d probably prefer JJ ahead of Daniel because of his explosive run (although JJ’s decision-making is ordinary). Not sure about Bramble yet, he might be ok. Buku worries me even though he takes some good intercept marks – no physicality. Premiership teams require physical, unrelenting players. Our 2016 flag included Dale Morris, Easton Wood, Matthew Boyd and Shane Biggs – all blokes that could be relied upon to halt a freight train. Thank goodness Darcy’s body is holding up and we no longer have to play Lobb up the other end. And thank goodness Bevo has finally recognised the value of Rhiley West’s role playing contribution on the forward flank. I still like Macrae, I think he runs hard both ways, tackles, uses the ball exceptionally well – we need to make room for him in our rotation of onballers. I’d prefer him ahead of Treloar.

Yeah he looked smooth against Geelong but has zero physicality. Doesn’t use his body to exert any pressure. He’ll need to change that if he wants to be part of a winning side in the future.

It says a lot of the media that Beveridge had to publicly identify and explain Naughton’s role change. It was obvious to the naked eye, yet media ‘experts’ who present themselves as ‘expert analysts’ such as Kane Cornes, weren’t astute enough to see what most people watching closely could see. Caleb Daniel is another strange case to me that the media seem to constantly overlook – yes he has been excellent offensively in the past with his elite decision-making and kicking, but even in his All Australian year he was a liability defensively. He can’t spoil a mark or stick a tackle. Smart opposition coaches have always looked to exploit this by going through his opponent. I don’t comprehend why footy analysts don’t criticise the shallow, thoughtless so-called experts in the media like Kane Cornes for daft analysis. To Cornes’ credit a couple of days ago, I heard him acknowledge maybe there was merit in Beveridge’s comments last year that our list wasn’t as good as some in the media were saying. And it’s the reason you’ve highlighted Dem. We don’t apply enough collective defensive pressure. Some blokes are too easy to walk around or step-through tackles. Some blokes counter-attack superbly but get exposed the other way when their opponents burst forward behind them into space. Fellas like Treloar, JJ, Kamis and Daniel tackle like they are carefully nurturing their grandmother to the ground. I love Bevo, but a lot of this is coaching and some of it is list-management. Lobb and Treloar’s acquisition has caused problems. Great to see O’Donnell back in the side this week. He’s exactly the sort of hard nut we need to help rectify team balance.

I think you’re over-reacting, but agree Finlayson seems to be being made a scapegoat and easy fall guy, whereas the AFL couldn’t afford to punish Clarko or North. I think the fairest thing to do would be to give Finlayson a fine and suspended sentence (like Clarko), but fire a warning across the AFL playing fraternity that next person to offend with homophobic slurs will be treated severely. They need to introduce a transparent penalty system for these sorts of offences so that the players know the consequences and so that the consequences are consistent.

I loved Sam Darcy’s targeted, pre-meditated attack on Pot-Shot-Kane, straight to his face. Comparing him to Piers Morgan was a low blow. 😂

Couple of thoughts on the article (good article Tim): [1] I think most midfields want 5-6 players rotating through those three onball positions and Macrae can easily be our 3rd or 4th best midfielder. (Treloar has been in great form offensively but continually fails to apply much pressure defensively with his running or tackling or aggression.) Caleb Daniel rarely sticks a tackle and is exposed defensively. Latham Vandermeer has had one good game in his last ten. Caleb Poulter is yet to convince. Oskar Baker has been solid since returning to the side a couple of weeks ago but is by no means an automatic selection. When/if Bailey Smith returns, then the question needs to be asked again. [2] I agree that Adelaide need to dispense with Crouch. Or alternatively keep him there and move Rory Laird back to the backline. At least one of Rankine or Rachele should be played onball permanently (swapping with each other) to give their onball brigade speed and star quality. Rachele has gone backwards this year and needs to be injected into the midfield more. So I’d leave Dawson in their permanently, supported by Crouch and Rankine / Rachele.

According to Melbourne FC’s club doctor (the only person who would actually know) 1/3rd of Melbourne’s playing group are frequent users of illicit drugs and another 1/3rd are infrequent users (see other article on Roar site). I had no idea drug use was so prevalent. Melbourne might be worse than other clubs but this indicates it’s widespread. If the AFL has admitted that 100 players have tested positive and Melbourne’s doctor is saying 2/3rds of their club have been users, then about 1/4 of the 100 across the AFL are at Melbourne FC. As BT would say … Wowee!! 😱

Last night was the first time I’ve ever seen Mason Cox grind-out a battling, gutsy, competitive, useful ruck contribution. It’s taken him a long time to learn. Well done. (But he’s still a dud and w*anker.) And well done Frampton too.

Yeah I know … I think its unlikely that 1st or 2nd year young players (in 2020) would arrive with existing drug dependencies.