YESTERDAY, Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade and his assistants would have given their team a debriefing after the 10-goal loss to league leader Geelong.
The Saturday afternoon clash was billed as a blockbuster as both teams had lost just the one game. Were the Bulldogs, the new boys on the block, going to be pretenders or contenders? In the end, they were a bit of both. The scores were level at half-time, but the Bulldogs were blasted in the second half.
For the Bulldogs, the reality check comes at a good time. With six games before the finals, they now have time to work on some of their weaknesses, which were exposed by the very best.
Areas of concern would have included:
Adapting to the conditions
There was a three-goal breeze blowing south at Skilled Stadium. The Dogs kicked with the wind at their backs in the opening term and they blew it. They continually bombed the ball into their forward line. Leading forwards were ignored, and time and again the ball sailed over heads. It was wasteful and dumb. It played into the hands of veteran Cats defenders Darren Milburn and Matthew Scarlett. They were not made to be accountable because their opponents' leads were ignored, so the Geelong duo were happy to go kick chasing. Between them they had 64 disposals — incredible.Geelong did the opposite to the Dogs. The Cats continually looked for teammates on the lead and, with their precise foot passing, hit their targets.
The Cats took 24 marks inside their forward 50, to the Bulldogs' four. That is a damning statistic.
Selfish
Too many Dogs went for personal glory instead of doing the team thing. Geelong had 23 score assists, their opponents had seven. Six minutes into the game two senior Bulldogs let their team down. Jason Akermanis, under pressure near the boundary, should have passed to skipper Brad Johnson. But no, he went for the low-percentage shot at goal and missed. Johnson was disappointed, but he shouldn't have carried on throwing his arms into the air to show his displeasure. I've seen these two ignore each other too often.Contrast that with the Cats' two leading goalkickers, Cam Mooney and Steve Johnson.
They have a personal bet on who delivers the most assists to his teammates. On Saturday, Mooney and Johnson had two score assists each. Akermanis and Brad Johnson had none.
Intensity
The great thing about the Cats is that they just keep on keeping on. Rodney Eade's men couldn't sustain the intensity for four quarters. They fell away in the second half. Akermanis went from eight disposals in the first half to three in the second; Matthew Boyd went 14/5; Ryan Hargrave 15/6; Daniel Giansiracusa 11/5; and Adam Cooney 15/10.Forward-line pressure
A huge swing in modern football has been the importance of forwards pressuring and tackling defenders. Stopping easy rebound has become so important. Again, Geelong with 16 effective forward-line tackles, showed the Bulldogs, who could tally only six , how it should be done. A worry for the Dogs was the lumbering Will Minson. When the ball hit the deck, Minson couldn't lay a hand on the swift Cat defenders.Gut running
Watch the ball kicked into Geelong's defensive half and you will see a swarm of blue-and-white-hooped jumpers sweeping back to help out. No thinking about "will I or won't I go?"It's automatic for the Geelong midfielders, led by Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood. And once a Geelong player gains possession they spread out in all directions to be used as receivers as the Cats go forward. Again the Cats had more than 200 handballs for the game. No other team in the history of the game has flicked the ball around as the reigning premier does.
To do this you have to be super fit and prepared to bust a gut with your running.
Not enough Doggies could or would do this.
In general
Eade would also be concerned about his ruckmen being beaten in the hit-outs and that, apart from Lindsay Gilbee, his defenders were shy about kicking in.The lack of body strength of Andrejs Everitt, Farren Ray and Jarrod Harbrow also showed up.
On their biggest occasion, it was disappointing that not one Bulldog would be considered in the best six on the field.
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