Dog and Pony show, or, Hey, Danny Dumile!
As the disaster that is the Geelong Football Club 2006 rolls on, and the players, staff, members and citizens of Geelong are left searching for answers, it may be worth looking outside for ideas; or at least for temporary relief. Daniel Dumile, this one’s for you.
The Western Bulldogs defeated Hawthorn by 21 points on the weekend, improving their season record to 6 wins, 4 losses. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but upon closer inspection, their record is respectable at the very least.
Of their 4 losses, they have only been truly out of the contest once; their 77 point thrashing at the hands of Adelaide, which was played at AAMI stadium and has been their only defeat by more than 6 goals. Their other three losses are to St.Kilda, Sydney at the SCG and Collingwood. As I said, respectable; I mean it’s not like they’ve lost to Richmond at home or anything. So they’ve beaten who they’ve been expected to beat and been close to everyone else. More interesting than their results, however, is their style of play, the skill it requires and the confidence they have in it. They are, in a sense, the anti-Geelong. So, how do they do it? Let’s break it down, Clint Eastwood-style:
THE GOOD
The Coach: The appointment of Rocket Eade last year, after the disastrous Peter Rhodes Era, was the catalyst for the current Western revival, and after watching ‘The Godfather’ last night, I will never understand the Rhodes appointment. You see, the past three Bulldogs coaches are like Vito Corleone’s three sons; Terry Wallace is the power hungry Sonny, Rhodes the feeble Fredo, and Eade the young and sharp, Michael. Even though Fredo was the elder brother, everyone knew he was a screw-up, and when Sonny died, Vito trusted the running of the Family to Michael. Rhodes’ coaching record in two seasons was 8-35-1. Never hire a Fredo.
The Fitness: More and more the game has become about hard running; it seems whoever can outrun their opponent wins, something I witnessed firsthand on Saturday. Hard running provides numbers at the contest, options for you team-mates and pressure on the opposition. And it requires extremely high levels of fitness.
The Skills: The gulf between well skilled and poorly skilled players is something I struggle to understand about the AFL. It appears to be the easiest thing to work on and to improve, yet skill errors are still one the main reasons for teams losing, or at least dropping their heads and getting blown out. Maybe in the 80’s, when players had jobs outside the AFL, their work commitments prevented them from training and practising as often as required. No such excuses these days. And besides, Couchy and his mates used to park their garbage truck at the end of my Court and punt plastic bottles into the back, and he won a Brownlow. I’m guessing they were payed by the hour.
The Corridor: Whenever possible the Dogs go right up the middle, but not with a kick; they run through the middle. Remember those first Docker teams, playing on at all costs, drawing a man then handballing over the top, running the ball forward rather than kicking it? Sound familiar? It should, it’s what the Doggies are doing. Those early Docker teams had the right idea but just couldn’t take it to its most effective end. They would often get tangled up at half-back, seemingly handpassing it around in circles, before it inevitably became unstuck. These days, with switching play and creating space a common and accepted occurrence, the Dogs can chip it sideways in defence until one their players ‘breaks a line’, in which case they generally bring it through the middle, which gives them more options to pass to, or an easier shot for goal.
The Run: Because of the coach, due to their fitness, owing to the game plan and made possible by their skills, the Doggies constantly run ahead of the play. The idea is simple; to have more players around the ball than the opposition. This allows Bulldog players to carry the ball and give it up once they are challenged. It is why they kick so many goals on the run, it is why they kick so many goals, period (they are the 2nd highest scorer this season, behind Collingwood). This style of play shows confidence in your team-mates ability to win the ball, his decision making with the ball and his skills in disposing of the ball.
THE BAD
The Turnover/Rebound: As outlined in the previous paragraph, running ahead of the ball can be a good thing; however, there is a flipside to that coin. Because players run ahead of the play, if an error in judgement or skill occurs, the opposition now has the numbers going the other way and the ball can end up sailing over your full-back’s head faster than you can say Daniel Giansiracusa.
The Lack of Size: When everything is up and running big guys seem like a waste of space; not quick enough and not skilled enough. However, as seen most tellingly against St.Kilda, the Bulldogs lack of size can be exploited by a strong, tall forward line.
The Long Term: This is more of an unknown, than a bad. Historically, a one-on-one, defensive, physical style of play, coupled with a power forward, has stood up in September. The Dockers, pioneers of the run/possession style of game, ending up imploding to such a state that they haven’t been right since, or you could argue, at all.
The Poser: Every team has one player like this; the one who gets away with pushing in the back, who always gets the handpass in the goal square, the one with copious amounts of fake tan, the one who hasn’t done anything all day and then manages to kick a back breaking goal in the last quarter followed by an over the top celebration and some convoluted salute to the crowd… Matthew Robbins, this is a fuck you.
THE UGLY
The Injuries: Darcy gone again, Murphy out for the year, Giansiracusa and Mitch Hahn have hammy problems and Will Minson is doing his best Steven King impersonation. Not to mention other lesser lights such as Tim Walsh, Shane Birss and Tom Williams.
The Ruck: To be fair, he’s probably the 3rd option, but Peter Street? Peter fucking Street? Trading for him was probably the final nail in the coffin of Fredo Rhodes.
The Oldies: As good as they are, one wonders how much more West, Grant, Smith, Johnson and probably Darcy have left in them. Those five players have been the core of the Bulldogs for a long time and will leave a fair hole when they eventually finish up.
One of the signs of a good coach is adapting your game plan to suit your personnel and this is something Rocket Eade has done very well. However, the Doggies have yet to beat anyone above them on the ladder and until they do there will be questions about their style of play and their lack of a key position forward. Hey, speaking of key forwards, do you think the Bulldogs would be interested in a chest-marking, pub-owning, slightly Fluffy, full-forward? No? Damn, if only Fredo was still around.
As the disaster that is the Geelong Football Club 2006 rolls on, and the players, staff, members and citizens of Geelong are left searching for answers, it may be worth looking outside for ideas; or at least for temporary relief. Daniel Dumile, this one’s for you.
The Western Bulldogs defeated Hawthorn by 21 points on the weekend, improving their season record to 6 wins, 4 losses. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but upon closer inspection, their record is respectable at the very least.
Of their 4 losses, they have only been truly out of the contest once; their 77 point thrashing at the hands of Adelaide, which was played at AAMI stadium and has been their only defeat by more than 6 goals. Their other three losses are to St.Kilda, Sydney at the SCG and Collingwood. As I said, respectable; I mean it’s not like they’ve lost to Richmond at home or anything. So they’ve beaten who they’ve been expected to beat and been close to everyone else. More interesting than their results, however, is their style of play, the skill it requires and the confidence they have in it. They are, in a sense, the anti-Geelong. So, how do they do it? Let’s break it down, Clint Eastwood-style:
THE GOOD
The Coach: The appointment of Rocket Eade last year, after the disastrous Peter Rhodes Era, was the catalyst for the current Western revival, and after watching ‘The Godfather’ last night, I will never understand the Rhodes appointment. You see, the past three Bulldogs coaches are like Vito Corleone’s three sons; Terry Wallace is the power hungry Sonny, Rhodes the feeble Fredo, and Eade the young and sharp, Michael. Even though Fredo was the elder brother, everyone knew he was a screw-up, and when Sonny died, Vito trusted the running of the Family to Michael. Rhodes’ coaching record in two seasons was 8-35-1. Never hire a Fredo.
The Fitness: More and more the game has become about hard running; it seems whoever can outrun their opponent wins, something I witnessed firsthand on Saturday. Hard running provides numbers at the contest, options for you team-mates and pressure on the opposition. And it requires extremely high levels of fitness.
The Skills: The gulf between well skilled and poorly skilled players is something I struggle to understand about the AFL. It appears to be the easiest thing to work on and to improve, yet skill errors are still one the main reasons for teams losing, or at least dropping their heads and getting blown out. Maybe in the 80’s, when players had jobs outside the AFL, their work commitments prevented them from training and practising as often as required. No such excuses these days. And besides, Couchy and his mates used to park their garbage truck at the end of my Court and punt plastic bottles into the back, and he won a Brownlow. I’m guessing they were payed by the hour.
The Corridor: Whenever possible the Dogs go right up the middle, but not with a kick; they run through the middle. Remember those first Docker teams, playing on at all costs, drawing a man then handballing over the top, running the ball forward rather than kicking it? Sound familiar? It should, it’s what the Doggies are doing. Those early Docker teams had the right idea but just couldn’t take it to its most effective end. They would often get tangled up at half-back, seemingly handpassing it around in circles, before it inevitably became unstuck. These days, with switching play and creating space a common and accepted occurrence, the Dogs can chip it sideways in defence until one their players ‘breaks a line’, in which case they generally bring it through the middle, which gives them more options to pass to, or an easier shot for goal.
The Run: Because of the coach, due to their fitness, owing to the game plan and made possible by their skills, the Doggies constantly run ahead of the play. The idea is simple; to have more players around the ball than the opposition. This allows Bulldog players to carry the ball and give it up once they are challenged. It is why they kick so many goals on the run, it is why they kick so many goals, period (they are the 2nd highest scorer this season, behind Collingwood). This style of play shows confidence in your team-mates ability to win the ball, his decision making with the ball and his skills in disposing of the ball.
THE BAD
The Turnover/Rebound: As outlined in the previous paragraph, running ahead of the ball can be a good thing; however, there is a flipside to that coin. Because players run ahead of the play, if an error in judgement or skill occurs, the opposition now has the numbers going the other way and the ball can end up sailing over your full-back’s head faster than you can say Daniel Giansiracusa.
The Lack of Size: When everything is up and running big guys seem like a waste of space; not quick enough and not skilled enough. However, as seen most tellingly against St.Kilda, the Bulldogs lack of size can be exploited by a strong, tall forward line.
The Long Term: This is more of an unknown, than a bad. Historically, a one-on-one, defensive, physical style of play, coupled with a power forward, has stood up in September. The Dockers, pioneers of the run/possession style of game, ending up imploding to such a state that they haven’t been right since, or you could argue, at all.
The Poser: Every team has one player like this; the one who gets away with pushing in the back, who always gets the handpass in the goal square, the one with copious amounts of fake tan, the one who hasn’t done anything all day and then manages to kick a back breaking goal in the last quarter followed by an over the top celebration and some convoluted salute to the crowd… Matthew Robbins, this is a fuck you.
THE UGLY
The Injuries: Darcy gone again, Murphy out for the year, Giansiracusa and Mitch Hahn have hammy problems and Will Minson is doing his best Steven King impersonation. Not to mention other lesser lights such as Tim Walsh, Shane Birss and Tom Williams.
The Ruck: To be fair, he’s probably the 3rd option, but Peter Street? Peter fucking Street? Trading for him was probably the final nail in the coffin of Fredo Rhodes.
The Oldies: As good as they are, one wonders how much more West, Grant, Smith, Johnson and probably Darcy have left in them. Those five players have been the core of the Bulldogs for a long time and will leave a fair hole when they eventually finish up.
One of the signs of a good coach is adapting your game plan to suit your personnel and this is something Rocket Eade has done very well. However, the Doggies have yet to beat anyone above them on the ladder and until they do there will be questions about their style of play and their lack of a key position forward. Hey, speaking of key forwards, do you think the Bulldogs would be interested in a chest-marking, pub-owning, slightly Fluffy, full-forward? No? Damn, if only Fredo was still around.
posted by the captain at 4:01 pm
4 Comments:
frickin awesome captain! thanks for the shoutout and the blog mate, you nailed the doggies fine, mediocre and shit points...and made it funny! i think rocket will have to have a look at this, maybe you can get a job on the coaching staff? sorry to see geelong loose they had the game and lost! what type of chitlands is that. have a beer for me next time you drink and dip you glass to the cats.
Anytime, especially if you keep using words like 'chitlands'.
Looks nice! Awesome content. Good job guys.
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Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
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