When Rocket Rodney Eade had a 2nd go at coaching, after coaching the very defensively-minded Swans, he was very determined to instill a more attacking game.
Must say, he succeeded.
He has taught the Scraggers the type of game that sends me back to the reminiscient times of the best of Robert Walls coached sides. Whether it be Fitzroy, Carlton or Richmond, Walls knew how to guide teams to play well in front of the ball. With the Scraggers we see just that. I've never seen so many midfielders & defenders run so far forward to place themselves in a position to have a shot at goal.
And they do it so well.
But who hangs back?
The Doggies continually get flogged on the rebound. Continually their key defenders get left one out, or even far away, from the opposition's key forwards.
The Doggies can run sides off their feet, but when the going gets tough, they have no idea how to play defensive footy. Of course, which counts them out in finals.
Their positional depth is as follows:
Of course, clearly we see a lack of natural defenders. Especially medium & smaller defenders.
Their challenge may seem be to transform a few of their midfielders into defenders, but they've already done that.
The real challenge will be to "bulk up" a few of their midfielders and for Eade to teach them how to play more defensive games.
For the Bulldogs, they seem to have too many talented players not to make the finals. They've got some very good juniors too.
The draw is challenging one for them. One might guess that they'll win enough games just to make the finals then, in the big games, go out in straight sets again.
Just an aside, if Eddie does get rid of Micky at season's end, if I was Smorgon, I'd get Micky signed immediately.
The current Bulldogs list of players, with a more defensively oriented coach, wouldn't be very far from a genuine premiership contender.
Maybe Rocket might change his game-plan this season???
BTW, nice to get these previews completed.
Must say, he succeeded.
He has taught the Scraggers the type of game that sends me back to the reminiscient times of the best of Robert Walls coached sides. Whether it be Fitzroy, Carlton or Richmond, Walls knew how to guide teams to play well in front of the ball. With the Scraggers we see just that. I've never seen so many midfielders & defenders run so far forward to place themselves in a position to have a shot at goal.
And they do it so well.
But who hangs back?
The Doggies continually get flogged on the rebound. Continually their key defenders get left one out, or even far away, from the opposition's key forwards.
The Doggies can run sides off their feet, but when the going gets tough, they have no idea how to play defensive footy. Of course, which counts them out in finals.
Their positional depth is as follows:
| B | Morris (26,190,87,1) | Hargrave (27,190,141,34) | |
| Everitt (20,193,17,4) | Tiller (22,191,16,7) | ||
| Wight (23,200,36,6) | |||
| HB | Ogle# (18,186,0,0) | Lake (27,195,122,13) | Gilbee (27,180,140,77) |
| Williams (22,196,36,6) | Callan (25,181,30,4) | ||
| O'Shea (19,192,0,0) | |||
| C | Griffen (22,188,75,34) | Cooney (23,186,112,113) | Giansiracusa (27,182,150,151) |
| Addison (21,186,30,3) | Ward (18,185,6,2) | Daniels# (18,182,0,0) | |
| White (19,185,0,0) | Wood (19,185,0,0) | ||
| Picken# (22,183,0,0) | |||
| HF | Murphy (26,186,151,128) | Grant (19,192,0,0) | Johnson (32,182,324,512) |
| Hill (20,186,19,16) | Jones (18,195,0,0) | Higgins (21,184,32,33) | |
| O'Keefe (19,185,0,0) | Stack (20,184,0,0) | ||
| F | Minson (23,199,66,32) | Welsh (30,188,189,343) | Akermanis (32,177,292,376) |
| Skipper (26,193,45,19) | Boumann (19,196,0,0) | Eagleton (30,180,236,199) | |
| Lynch (21,178,2,0) | |||
| R | Hudson (30,199,78,8) | Cross (25,187,110,19) | Boyd (26,184,115,34) |
| Cordy (18,202,0,0) | Hahn (27,188,137,111) | Harbrow (20,178,25,19) | |
| Roughead (18,200,0,0) | Reid (19,188,1,0) | ||
| Mulligan# (19,199,0,0) | |||
| Shaw# (20,198,0,0) |
Their challenge may seem be to transform a few of their midfielders into defenders, but they've already done that.
The real challenge will be to "bulk up" a few of their midfielders and for Eade to teach them how to play more defensive games.
For the Bulldogs, they seem to have too many talented players not to make the finals. They've got some very good juniors too.
The draw is challenging one for them. One might guess that they'll win enough games just to make the finals then, in the big games, go out in straight sets again.
Just an aside, if Eddie does get rid of Micky at season's end, if I was Smorgon, I'd get Micky signed immediately.
The current Bulldogs list of players, with a more defensively oriented coach, wouldn't be very far from a genuine premiership contender.
Maybe Rocket might change his game-plan this season???
BTW, nice to get these previews completed.
