2019 Round 1: Western Bulldogs v Sydney Swans @ Marvel Stadium

[Blood Fever]

I'd replace one of Grundy or Melican with COR to provide a bit more run. I'd replace Mills in defence with Thurlow to play the role he was recruited to play.

On yesterday's evidence, there are a few from the midfield that you could drop to move Mills into the onball brigade but I'd start by moving Papley to play predominantly as a forward (with short bursts onball as a relief midfielder, something I think will benefit his development and help the team, but mean he spends more of the game in the forward line, adding crumbing power and pressure). Then I'd drop one of the "medium forwards/half-forwards to enable this switch - Hayward, Blakey or Dawson. No comments on which one at this stage. We don't have enough evidence of their current "form" and all are talented and young. I'd like them all to get more opportunities. My observations are based purely on team balance, rather than the abilities of the individuals.

Melican has been out for ages. Need to cut him some slack and persevere with him. His best is very good. Reg has been fantastic but Melican should be in front of him in the queue.

[stellation]

Thought Lloyd signed for four years

He did.

[Auntie.Gerald]

For me I am absolutely amazed our midfield can not adjust and respond to what’s before them??

If this was a boxing match we were completed left hanging like amateurs !!!

our issue , above all , was not dominating the midfield contest !!!

We at the swans like the contest in tight when fighting for the ball on a throw in or centre clearance - this works well for Parker, Kennedy and or Heeney in close qtrs muscling over their opposite player

The Bulldogs know this

They proved it when we played them in the GF 2016

So what do u do when you fight a heavy handed heavy bodied boxer ? You stand on the outside and pick ur moments !!!!!

the doggies did this perfectly.....pealing back from the contest with a player south or north of the scramble and then the bulldogs player in tight paddles the ball / tunnel balls / punches it out north or south when we rush in to tackle

This leaves us in tight in numbers and looking like absolute amateur idiots because the ball has rushed out of scramble and the doggies have possession on the outside with players flooding forward away from our players

It is simply embarrassing that we can not adjust and see this

There is not always enough time to handball traditionally these days in the - sometimes the punch along the ground is the quickest exit and catches out the in tight heavy opposition midfielders like ours

If ur the opposition Do anything u can to get it away from Kennedy and Parker getting their hands on the ball and letting them clear

Make sure they don’t get the ball

[0918330512]

We still just bomb the ball on the top of our forward's heads. Bomb to Buddy one out against three. Same old same old predictable game plan. Nothing much has changed. The players in the exit meetings apparently identified the game plan as being a problem.

Care to source/validate that claim?

So I can see players deserting a sinking ship sooner rather than later. Probably why Lloyd only took a two year deal.

4

Enough doomsday prepping with unsubstantiated conjecture please. The ship is buoyant yet

[liz]

Melican has been out for ages. Need to cut him some slack and persevere with him. His best is very good. Reg has been fantastic but Melican should be in front of him in the queue.

He has, and he looks rusty. That doesn't mean he can't rub off that rust in the NEAFL for a few weeks.

I have no particularly strong preference between the two. If we're looking towards the future then that sits with Melican rather than Reg. I think Reg is probably (still) capable of playing at a more consistent level than Melican. All my comments were based more on overall balance - ie picking the best team rather than picking the best 22 players.

[wolftone57]

Care to source/validate that claim?


4

Enough doomsday prepping with unsubstantiated conjecture please. The ship is buoyant yet

Tom Harley said there were some very honest assessments of the game plan. Including players assessments. He also added change is inevitable in the game anyway.

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[Bexl]

Melican has been out for ages. Need to cut him some slack and persevere with him. His best is very good. Reg has been fantastic but Melican should be in front of him in the queue.

Agree he has been out for a long time but I don't see why he is not in the 2's to get back to his best.We have other options ,COR Thurlow for a start. Seem the coaches want to play him even though his 3 games have been poor so far including JLT.

[Ludwig]

Our 2 best contested midfielders, Kennedy and Parker, are not good defenders, particularly Kennedy, so we are really at a disadvantage when we don't win the contested possession. We can't survive constantly playing in our defensive 50. It's the same problem as last year.

I had Thurlow and COR virtually locked for this game and was surprised they didn't make the cut. I'd be inclined to drop Melican instead of Reg and wait until Melican shows form in the reserves.

We shouldn't jump to conclusions after only 1 game, but the fact that we look the same as last year is not encouraging.

If things don't change we may have to try something more dramatic, like playing Reid and Aliir in defence and bring McCartin into the forward line, leaving out both Reg and Melican. This should add more speed to the team.

I also didn't have Clarke in my 1st round side, but thought he earned a shot given his good JLT. Ronke should come in to replace him.

Dawson looked shaky, but I think we have to play him in the seniors and build his confidence. We know he can play at a very high level in the reserves, so not point in sending him back. Maybe he should spend more time in the forward line.

The team overall looked sluggish, often giving up on contests around the ground. The Bulldogs got more players to contests and came out winners when the dust settled. There's not an easy cure for this except to go harder.

[ScottH]

Well, that was a fun night.
Go killed for speed and skill.
Started taking risks in the 2nd half which paid off until we turned it over leading to Bonts goal. Then we lost the momentum.

[jono2707]

And here I was hoping we'd left the mindless long bombing into the forward line back in last year. Obviously not.

To say our delivery in to the inside 50 still needs work is an understatement.

[aardvark]

I thought Sam Reid was a positive. I hope he can play a full season.

[Kafka's Ghost]

Melican is clearly struggling for form after his long time out, and agree with the Lloyd comment above. His disposal and decisions aren’t really that great a lot of the time. As for positives, Parker worked into the game to dominate the last quarter, Reid also showed how valuable he is, Buddy will be better for the run and our fight was impressive.