Two reasons why our 2nd half for and against is 8 goals for, 24 against.

We are being figured out and out manoeuvred in the coaching box - the fact we had 12 interchanges left deep in the 4th while dogs had 2 - tells me game management and coaching is all gone to shit.

And we are lacking fitness/ didn’t work hard enough in the summer.

Either way it’s a shitshow

Everywhere Motlop went his opponent shadowed him. And Motlop doesn’t have the tank to get up the field and lose them on the way back and doesn’t have the explosiveness to shake his man around stoppage/ in traffic

All night dogs played a mix of man and zone defense …

Motlop didn’t seem to have a direct opponent in the 1st qtr and he’d be in the centre bounce for some and then drift to the wing and then forward from there all by his lonesome. After qtr time everywhere he went a dogs player followed him and then they’d switch from the wing to the forward position

Beveridge is a super smart tactician. He identified Motlop as the link from wing to forward and put a stop to it. From the ground Motlop felt like he was on fire in the 1st qtr. he seemed to be everywhere

I might be in the minority but I honestly thought we were pretty good last night. We just failed to capitalize in that 3rd quarter
when we were on top. Acres butchered 4 inside 50 entries but
we know what we get with him.
It doesn't feel like we are that far away. We ran the premiership favourites to within a few goals last week and we were pretty good again yesterday. We have key players underdone or missing.
I'm usually doom and gloom but I think we are going ok.
One positive is the form of Cerra. Sos looking like he belongs in defence. Kemp might just turn out to be a pretty good forward.
Looking forward to seeing what he can do when both Harry and Charlie play along side him.
One area of concern is still our lack of a crumbing forward. And defending from d50 stoppages still horrible. Tidy up those two areas and all of a sudden we find 2 or three goals.

Agree fellas. The problem is; it’s a continuing theme. We get figured out too easily after HT and our box doesn’t adjust.

We’re too slow… not just by foot, but also by mind and tactics in the box. It’s been like this forever

Gotta disagree on that one Braithy . We didn't get figured out , we just reverted to old habit of the long bomb and shot ourselves in the foot . Self inflicted misery .

I might be in the minority but I honestly thought we were pretty good last night. We just failed to capitalize in that 3rd quarter
when we were on top. Acres butchered 4 inside 50 entries but
we know what we get with him.
It doesn't feel like we are that far away. We ran the premiership favourites to within a few goals last week and we were pretty good again yesterday. We have key players underdone or missing.
I'm usually doom and gloom but I think we are going ok.
One positive is the form of Cerra. Sos looking like he belongs in defence. Kemp might just turn out to be a pretty good forward.
Looking forward to seeing what he can do when both Harry and Charlie play along side him.
One area of concern is still our lack of a crumbing forward. And defending from d50 stoppages still horrible. Tidy up those two areas and all of a sudden we find 2 or three goals.

Look a little deeper mick. Why are we long-bombing to contest?

Bcos there’s no run or overlap from behind and everyone upfield is marked bcos we send an extra to the stoppage, and they send that extra to defense. They collect the turnover and rebound hard.

The long bomb is bcos there’s no one on offer short and there’s no run and overlap from behind.


This is 100,000% a coaching issue and possible a player laziness (we’re not working for each other) issue.

Our culture sucks, basically.

Don't want to be argumentative but I have to disagree again . In the first half we did everything you mentioned and for some strange reason through no pressure we went back to the old long bomb . There were a heap of alternatives . That third quarter we frucked ourselves up . It was no brilliant tactic from Bevo . We shot ourselves in the foot . We handed victory to them .

I don’t have the numbers but the dogs - at least on the eye test - lifted their pressure after qtr time. We had much less time on the ball. They reduced our run and carry and overlap and sent an extra man in defence and used the rebound.

Agree we handed them victory, but the way I saw it was bcos coaching didn’t adjust to the dogs 2nd qtr adjustments.

We just keep trying to stuff a round peg into a square hole when it comes to our coaching and tactics

Voss was left to lament his side giving away eight free kicks for the quarter, including two holding the ball decisions, two marking infringements, a high tackle, a push in the back and a clear ruck infringement.

Blake Acres also put a rushed kick inside-50 out of bounds on the full in the forward pocket.

Even when they were leading on the scoreboard, the Blues looked in a hurry going forward and struggled to find an uncontested mark which may have allowed them to take a breath and better set up the ground ahead of them.

As important as Young was throughout the night, he fluffed a kick directed towards Charlie Curnow inside-50 which went to the advantage of opponent Rory Lobb.

Lobb took the intercept mark 20m from Carlton’s goal and seconds later the ball was in the hands of Sam Darcy who slotted the goal at the other end and put the Bulldogs in front for the first time in the game.

Veteran recruit Nick Haynes also had two kicks he would like to take back, which led to two other Bulldogs goals in the final five minutes.

After winning a big one-on-one contest against Aaron Naughton, Haynes kicked the ball down the line seemingly aiming for Patrick Cripps.

The ball well fell short of Cripps, who gave away a free kick in a tackle from behind on Bailey Williams after the Bulldog gathered the loose ball in front of him.

Williams played on with a handball to Sam Davidson, who kicked inside 50 where Naughton marked and put his side back in front with a tick over four minutes to play.

After another intercept mark moments later, Haynes attempted a 20m chip pass to Ollie Hollands which was cut off and ended up in James O’Donnell’s match-sealing major.

To be fair.
We could've really used Matt Kennedy the last 3 rounds, however when the players are all fit and in form he doesn't have a spot in the team.

Unfortunately these things happen, it just hurts more when we keep injury prone players on the list and we are not winning.

My concern is that we aren’t fit enough to run games out and hence we revert to kick and hope late in games. The trend this year is alarming.

My concern is that we aren’t fit enough to run games out and hence we revert to kick and hope late in games. The trend this year is alarming.

So, everything the players did was perfect? It was all coaching?

I've seen the replay. Fk. Go and have a look at the last 10 minutes and tell me if it was coaching or players at the very end.

Just look at the players and tell if they were playing like winners, without blaming the coach for their decision. They are accountable. I'm sick of letting players off the hook.

Its not just the realistic, or as you would like to call the "delusional positive" supporters who see those things that are obvious.

Here's someone from outside the boiling pot:



https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-round-3-chris-cavanagh-analyses-western-bulldogs-victory-over-carlton/news-story/92adc2afe3b973d55072d47d3ec09f19

How much did we lose by again?

4 frees in their F50 in the last quarter. There's heaps written and reported on the Butchering Blues. They can't hit a straight forward pass by foot and hand. That's what's taxing them.

Its a game of inches. Decision making better improve by an inch or two amongst the playing group.

We have too many players that panic, either perceived or actual

We are no good under pressure. Have a look at our past. We can’t save games, we can’t win games we should be winning, we can’t win games need to win, we give up huge leads in pressure games.

Under pressure we fold which is really sad.

As Sydney Blue would call them "soft cocks".

A big part of the problem is between their ears.