We were all looking for good games this weekend with Hawks playing Bulldogs and Collingwood and Adelaide tipped as two good games but all four games ended up being boil overs and now all we have to look forward to is seeing Hawthorn play Geelong in the last weekend of September.
Hawthorn defeated Bulldogs by 51 points
Its official now! The Dogs are pretenders and Hawthorn are the only challengers to Geelong with their talented midfield and awesome forward line set up. Hawks do have some worries with injuries to Brown, Croad, Birchall, Ladson and Stokes but they do have a week off to refresh their bodies.
The Dogs like Adelaide and Kangaroos must go back to the drawing board. The Dogs have one last chance but like I have said before, finals is different than the regular season and these three teams imo lack a game plan and personal to make a difference and challenge the premiership.
Collingwood defeated Adelaide by 31 points
Neil Craig has a very poor finals record with only winning two games out of 8 in the last 4 or so years and one of those was a lucky win against Fremantle a few years ago. Neil Craig is a very strict coach who sticks to his game plan and that is why he has again fallen on his sword. Good to see they are doing an inquiry on their lack of final wins.
However lets save them some time and do it for them:
- No forward line, you need a genuine forward who can kick regular goals.
- No pace in the midfield. To break the cluster and flood, you have to run through the lines.
- No second game plan. The only reason Collingwood won this game is that they have a 2nd game plan and a coach who tried different things
Collingwood are the unofficial smoky of the finals. They play St Kilda and then winner plays Hawks and if they get through to the Grand Final, they have a record to challenge Geelong. Still a bit worried about their forward line with Cloke up and down and Rocca still missing.
Sydney defeated Kangaroos by 35 points
Well hands up if you still believe that West Sydney could manage a 2nd team in Sydney? Fat chance. Not even 20, 000 fans turned up which would be one of the lowest EVER for a finals game in the last 30 odd years.
Sydney are happy they have gotten this far and so they should be with their old list that really needs refreshing. Some of their young guns look exciting with Jack, Moore and Veszpremi showing good glimpses. imo Roos should not drop them and just let them perform and get some experience as they are the future.
Kangaroos have crashed out in the finals for the 2nd year in a row, what is their problem? Is it their list? Or is finishing 5th to 8th regarded as a good year? I personally think their list needs refreshing with N Thompson over the hill along with Rawlings, Simpson and they have consistent under performers in Wells and Harris. The 2008 draft is the year to rebuild so some hard decisions must be made imo.
Geelong defeated St Kilda by 58 points
Saints tried hard but unfortuntley you dont get a win just for effort. It was again obvious that the gap between 4th and 1st is HUGE. On the Channel 7 telecast they had an interview of Nick Riewoldt on how he wants to bring home a premiership to his club, after the game I think he would realise that his club has still a long way to go. Riewoldt needs to kick 8 goals a game to get his club anywhere and if he cannot against a first year player in Harry Talyor…. Good bye Saints.
Geelong look awesome, feel sorry for Primsall who was getting into some form and looking good but did a knee. Brynes and the other reserve Geelong players look to get a chance, injuries seem to be the only way Geelong look to crack at the moment with Johnson and Chapman looking like they have tight hamstrings.
Loading ...
September 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
i disagree
for starters the dogs aren’t pretenders, no team that wins as many games as they did in the first 16 rounds are pretenders. they have a few structural problems atm with a few key injuries, and doesnt that hurt any team? with the development of players like williams (if he stops getting injured) everrit and Minson (who is constantly being thrown up forward) over the off season, and the re-inclusion of players like wight and higgins (with a good pre-season under their belt) and possibly the recruit of another tall who can play forward or back, then next year it’ll be a whole different story.
the reason the dogs were so good is because they had few injuries and they had their structure right. bang, afew injuries happen and all of a sudden they’re tinkering around with their lineup and it doesnt do the team any good. i bet u if hawthorn lost franklin, mitchell and brown they would suffer considerably…
but the thing EVERYONE seems to forget is that before the season NO ONE rated the bulldogs AT ALL!!!! AND, not many people tipped them to even make the finals, so the fact that they came from no where, finished in the top 3, shouldnt people be saying “wow they did well this year but their not quite there yet” ??? i mean take the hawks for example, they were on fire last year and everyone thort wow they’ve done well, they crashed out of the finals though, and now, one year later they are in with a great chance to win the flag and i damn hope they do.
the adelaide game was a damn good one, u sure u were watching the rite game? the crows shouldnt have even come close to collingwood because of the fact that they had some KEY INJURIES. but they turned it on, and gave the fans a good showing after a lack lustre start and collingwood (who always should have won) almost lost the plot in the 2nd quarter.
the thing that makes me smile is that i look back to the fall of the Eagles, oh how their fans have forgotten. when they had the big 3 playing, (cousins, Judd, Kerr) life was good. Kerr got suspended, cousins likewise and judd was struggling with an injury, add hansen to the list and they lost a few games in a row last year. everyone said they were pretenders but oh no. we had INJURIES. all the fans said…and guess what? when the injuries/suspensions were overcome, they started to win some games again. unfortunately injuries became a factor again and guess what? they crashed out of the finals.
ignorance is bliss, especially when ur team cant even win a game this year
[Reply to Comment]
September 8th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The difference between the Eagles last year and the Bulldogs this year is that the Dogs did not have injuries to their ‘key players’ like Cooney and Griffen while the Eagles were missing their ‘key players’. Higgins and Williams are not star key players (like Judd, Cousins or even Mitchell, Hodge and Franklin) but rather handy players. Even West would not be a ‘key player’ anymore….
I think these injuries may have not helped but you cannot use that as an excuse for the Dogs dismal effort on the weekend and if they loose to Sydney.
Also the similarities between Adelaide and the Bulldogs is that they both lack quality tall targets up forward. While you can hide the problem in the regular season, you CANNOT in the finals and both teams have been exposed…
Jermayns last blog post..The truth about Why Moses’ wore a Veil
[Reply to Comment]
September 8th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Bulldogs were competitive for about half the first quarter. It took the Hawks the second half of that quarter to get going. For the Dogs, it was clear when they started missing handball targets and handballing to teammates under pressure after about 15 minutes that they would struggle for the rest of the night.
Let’s not forget too that Franklin was kicking them from anywhere (which he is unlikely to do every week).
Lake couldn’t go with either Franklin or Roughhead, the Dogs’ midfield was pretty abysmal after the first break and Hahn and Murphy couldn’t catch a cold. Eagleton was a turnover factory. Recent history says they can come back next Friday and have a good win, but it’s hard to see Lake managing Hall and a Kirk-led midfield should be too committed for a Cooney-led midfield.
FWIW, Higgins showed enormous courage to take a Guerra shirtfront which enabled Akker to goal seconds later. The (bottle) blonde bombshell didn’t even deign to acknowledge Higgins’ in his celebration — a very ordinary performance IMHO.
aussierulesblogs last blog post..The heritage of Dick Turpin
[Reply to Comment]
September 8th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Totally agree ‘aussierulesblog’ and that was imo the best thing that happened for the Dogs. Can you imagine him under the feet of a gorilla crashing the packs up forward with Hahn, Murphy and Gira as decoys? Surely the Hawks will let go off Boyle and the Dogs will be mad not to go after a ‘young’ key forward instead of ‘have-beens’ like Hudson, Aker, McDougall and Welsh…
btw thanks for your comment and look forward to reading more of your opinions
Jermayns last blog post..The truth about Why Moses’ wore a Veil
[Reply to Comment]
September 8th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I think your earlier comment re being exposed in the pressure of finals is spot on (at the risk of turning this thread into a mutual admiration society). Hudson especially and Welsh have been very good for the Dogs this year, but they’re no longer at Adelaide for a reason…
Welsh has helped to straighten them up and take some heat off Johnson. The retirement of the Smiling Assasin could be a blessing in disguise when it comes. He’s been the mainstay of the forward line for so long that the game plan is built around a smallish forward structure. I think that limits the effect that a Welsh type can have.
The other factor, which I think was highlighted on Friday night, is the results that midfielders see from their efforts. When Mitchell and co can pump forward to targets like Franklin, Roughhead and Williams, they see some result for their efforts. For the Dogs midfielders the pill was coming back out almost as fast as it (sometimes) went in. That must be dispiriting and almost forces them to look for higher risk options.
Pleased to find someone to have a chat with.
aussierulesblogs last blog post..Taking one for the team…
[Reply to Comment]
September 9th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Yeah agree that Welsh has been under used this year.
I really think people, fans and clubs under value the importance of key forwards, I know SunCity_Royal does not rate them but all premiership clubs have had them for the last 20 odd years.
A good example is WC, in 2005 they did not have Lynch but in 2006, he kicked 50 odd and they won the GF. This and last year Hanson went missing and they also struggled.
btw yes you better disagree with me about something
Jermayns last blog post..7 Things – Miley Cyrus
[Reply to Comment]
September 10th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
As good as Higgins was taking the shirtfront… he was very ordinary for the rest of the night – his injuries through the year have caught up with him, think next year is his go.
Tristan Heffernans last blog post..Heffernan’s Spray – Finals Footy Is Not The Time To Disappear
[Reply to Comment]
September 11th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Totally agree Tristan that he went missing but so did the rest of the club and playing a forward pocket is hard unless your playing under the feet of someone like Buddy.
Jermayns last blog post..The truth about Why Moses’ wore a Veil
[Reply to Comment]