Western Bulldogs vs Swans gameday chat

[TheHood]

Thought Leo was excellent when it counted - agree!

Hard to pinpoint a BOG today. I thought Jude was excellent and I think he's playing even better than his 2003 season, but most likely won't get noticed because he's not slotting goals as much this year.

Think he kicked 20 odd in 2003 and I reckon he's on track to kick 6 this year (2 so far).

Jude would be leading our B & F this year. Hard to fathom I know, but Jude Bolton is our best player so far in 2005 and he's booted 2 goals total. Is it any wonder we're averaging 81 points a weekend?

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by barry
{re: Vogels} Everyone is getting ahead of themselves here, and while he looks good needs to have full game time for a few games before I'm on his bandwagon.

Yeah, I am kind of pumped about his games so far but I remember how pumped I was with LRT and Schneider in their first few games. I hope Vogels maintains or improves his form in his second year!

[Foreign Legion]

Originally posted by TheHood
Thought Leo was excellent when it counted - agree!

Hard to pinpoint a BOG today. I thought Jude was excellent and I think he's playing even better than his 2003 season, but most likely won't get noticed because he's not slotting goals as much this year.

Think he kicked 20 odd in 2003 and I reckon he's on track to kick 6 this year (2 so far).

Jude would be leading our B & F this year. Hard to fathom I know, but Jude Bolton is our best player so far in 2005 and he's booted 2 goals total. Is it any wonder we're averaging 81 points a weekend?

Might sound stupid but I reckon Jude would have a few Brownlow votes so far - might chuck a lazy $10 on him.

What I like about Bolton is that he persists and does the hard stuff - very underrated player, if only his disposal was a bit better....

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by Foreign Legion
very underrated player, if only his disposal was a bit better....

Yep. I think he is having a great season. I think he is on his feet much more than before and his disposal has 'improved'. Had another good game today. He and B2 have been the standouts for me so far this season.

[GoSouth33]

He was a real workhorse....he didn't stop running. And don't forget it was quite warm today.

[gossipcom]

I said to someone at the game today the only downside for Vogels is he deserves a bloody Rising Star Nomination but is ineligible because he wasn't under 21 @ Dec 31, 2004.

[dann]

Originally posted by barry

I reackon on day McVeigh will just click and have a 30 possession, 3 goal game, and realise he belongs in the AFL.

Yeah totally agree with this. I don't know if its just the level of competition...but in the reserves his disposal is impeccable. When he kicked 8 goals at TS a few weeks back he was nailing them from everywhere. Totally a confidence thing. I have been waiting for the 'big game' from McVeigh but i have this inkling that he might not produce ever. I hope I am wrong.

As I said last week - give JB the captaincy. A couple of times today his movement in tight was breathtaking- pausing, taking that one step out of traffic, switching his lines - almost Greg Williams like.

How did Nicksy get a run...? Even though his form has been woeful even in the reserves - I didn't think he was that bad today - and that means something considering my anti-nicks stance.

[liz]

Originally posted by dann

How did Nicksy get a run...? Even though his form has been woeful even in the reserves

I'm ambivalent about Nicks' inclusion in the senior team but he was arguably BOG in the reserves last week.

He played an important role down there today, especially with no Schaubs. His level head and experience was important at critical times. He is, though, as much chance to be a victim of 'horses for courses' as Schaubs was today.

[punter257]

yeah nicksy was very important today down in the backline. experience is golden on the last line. c bolts was excellent too.

i reckon the main positive over the past 3 weeks is that we have got the 4 points playing at about 60-70% and we all know that we can play MUCH better. We seem to play really good attacking footy in bursts, get a 4-5 goal lead and then let the opposition back in. Today when we were 20 points up, i just knew that the doggies would get the next few and they bloody well did.

i dont know what it is but we can never bury teams. no wonder our % isnt that flash. I am just waiting for us to click for more than one quarter. Im very pumped for next weeks game as i believe we play telstra dome alright and its a good chance for us to keep our winning ways going in melbourne

i thought one of the most pleasing aspects today was our defensive pressure around our forward line. our tackling was awesome and i cant remember the last time we have done this

and just a few little things
- someone tell bevan not to drag the ball in and take possession whilst on the deck
-get LRT to work on his timing when going for a mark/spoil
- keep persisting with buchanan. he goes alright, just needs to work on his disposal around goals. he does alot of really good 1 %ers
- give ROK some no doz or berocca or something. just cant seem to find the pill like he has done in the past. in saying that, good goal in the 1st qtr
-who is our ruck coach? whoever they are can they work with jolly about giving away free kicks all the time in the ruck contests
-keep letting goodsey run around the ground. a nightmare matchup for any opposition club
-sometimes we need to just kick the ball long to the square (magic, vogels, jolly if he's down there) instead of over finessing with the handball. make a contest and put the pressure on in the hotspot. our handballing skills at times are ordinary, although today was alot better.
- in the next few weeks we have ball, williams, davis and maxfield to come back in. experience is all good but some tough calls are gonna have to be made with who to leave out. i'd hate to see moore be the unlucky one. i think bevan is a likely omission

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Schneiderman
My thoughts for the day:

1. Bevan was HORRIBLE. He had a couple of nice tackles, but his disposal was atrocious by foot, and he takes FOREVER to make up his mind. That tacle where he coughed up a goal was possibly a two goal turnaround, as he had someone running through the square that he failed to see and hit with the ball.

2. Buchanan is very inconsistent. He does some nice things, but he spoiled a lot of good opportunities in the crumbing role today. I think its time to swap him for Schneider for a couple of weeks. Surely his form in the twos warrants that much.

3. Grant's injury did a lot for us. Although Bazza didn't dominate from then on, their backline lost their structure and Vogels probably benefitted the most.

4. Vogels is a true find. I am still tipping him to do great things for us. He has height, weight, experience, talent and brains. You cant ask for more from any player, and he should definately get moved to the senior list next year (if not ours then someone else will pick him up).

5. Jarred McVeigh still needs a lot of work. He didn't impress me greatly, although there was a couple of foot passes that had promise. The shot he had at goal in the end when it was critical was a bad miss. Still he will be needed to combat the Saints talent in the midfield so he gets another go.

Agree with all of that.

[liz]

http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/05/22/1116700591605.html

I think the picture at the top of this report is of the contest where Magic had the free paid against him. Looks awfully like Murphy is trying to restrict Mick from getting to the ball without really contesting it himself.

[OldE]

Originally posted by punter257
c bolts was excellent too.

I'm proud to say my friend and I jumped on the Craig Bolton bandwagon last week, before it became the hip new thing.

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by barry
Everyone is getting ahead of themselves here, and while he looks good needs to have full game time for a few games before I'm on his bandwagon.

LOL. Make sure Roos hears you. His quote from yesterday: "It's a bit easier to play a guy like that because you know he's clashed bodies with some big bodies. He's a very, very talented player, and I think we saw that today."

[Schneiderman]

Originally posted by punter257
-keep letting goodsey run around the ground. a nightmare matchup for any opposition club

As poor Wade Skipper found out. And then Rocket served it up to him for not sticking with him around the ground! Poor bugger.

[ScottH]

Originally posted by eirinn
I'm proud to say my friend and I jumped on the Craig Bolton bandwagon last week, before it became the hip new thing.

I reckon BoltonC has been our most consistent player this year, so far. I've been on the bandwagon since Rnd 1. He is probably the most underrated player. While everyone talks about Barry and Kennelly's run outta the back line, Bolton does a lot of running out of the back line and reads the play very well.