How to beat the Dogs

[danny-boy]

Good defence and pure luck won them the game at brooky. While I'm sure they can provide the solid defence again, pure luck isn't as easy to come by.

 

[BOZO]

Two weeks ago the Raiders showed everyone how to beat the dogs as they exposed weakness in their defense around the edges and thats where we have a lot of strike power . The dogs are goooooone !!!

 

[driftout]

Run straight and hard at their midfield defence with a bit of footwork before the line (Foran /Rose /Choc) with Brett on their shoulder (as shown by Utal/Hannant ... Rose will play for this reason (and obviously for the size factor); Use short passes up the guts(metaphorically speaking) to try and expose Kasiano/Pritchard/Eastwood (especially when they're all on the field at the same time ; Direct most attack to Reynolds who can sometimes miss tackles cold (eg Brett in round 10) and who can be tempted to race out of the line to put on a big hit and leave a gap (as he again did yet again against the Raiders ); put the ball dead when possible to negate Barba'a kick returns ; straight line for his kick returns ; when kicking for field position kick to Wright's wing (who has a relatively poor kick return and who keeps a high centre of gravity Attack Perret's wing (he has a propensity to race in and leave an overlap) and who is vulnerable to a good fend (hello Jorge) ; Block Inu's path (legally) when Inu is chasing a bomb (hello Steve) ; Rose is capable of a very quick play the ball which can get the big Dogs forwards going backwards and create a bit more attacking space ; be on alert for Barba's one on one strips (especially after a break has been made), as well as Barba's tactic of locking up the ball carrying arm of attackers about to score ; Bomb Barba (he had a shocker under the high ball against the Panthers in Round 1 in the wet, then looked safer in later rounds) , but the quality of most bombs has been poor; Hit him hard (legally) as soon as he takes a bomb and have a chaser behind him as well in case he drops it (as he did at Brookvale ); Be aware of the play where he stations himself behind an attacking scrum then races through to take an inside ball or follow a chip or grubber ; Inu can be baited ; play out the full 80 minutes as the Bulldogs are as fit as any team and frequently score in the final minutes ; Don't waste time or energy getting caught in a slanging match with Ennis ; grubber behind Wright ; dummy to kick behind Wright then run it instead when he is back-tracking ;

George was sorely missed last night . I wouldn't mind knowing the real reason why he didn't play .

 

[DSM5]

Toovs obviously thought that Vic and Lussick offered more value. Who's to disagree. In hindsight, Fat George may have bent their line back, but we'll never know. He'll be on the bench next week so we can judge.

 

[driftout]

I can't help but think that the reason wasn't football related. That try he set up against the Dogs in round 8 was still fresh in my mind (stepping past that paragon of virtue Ennis to set up Matai) and his lateral movements are better than Darcy's in my opinion .

 

[cliffhanger]

We'll beat them in the GF, thats if the team gets there (Dogs team that is)

 

[driftout]

It just seems that it's all falling into place all too easily for the Dogs ...no major injury concerns or citings, Croker and King with season ending injuries leaving the Raiders without a goalkicker and Souths exposed out wide on both sides now , Manly with so many disruptions and the Storm with young error prone wingers (Duffie's vertical leap is a big loss for them).

 

[driftout]

I can't help but think that the reason wasn't football related. That try he set up against the Dogs in round 8 was still fresh in my mind (stepping past that paragon of virtue Ennis to set up Matai) and his lateral movements are better than Darcy's in my opinion .

Maybe somebody can ask him on his facebook page why he has been named 18th man again for this weekend.

 

[Jason and Pals]

We were beaten by a Keating grubber and regather.. no excuses for that.

 

[driftout]

We were beaten by a Keating grubber and regather.. no excuses for that.

And we didn't shut down Chemical Josh .