Round 12 Discussion

[Alec]

So that Fotuakia guy from the Titans, he was born in NZ, but how long has he been in QLD? Seems like he's their best rookie so far, has had 2 200m games in a row, seems like a mini-Haas.

 

[Super Freak]

So that Fotuakia guy from the Titans, he was born in NZ, but how long has he been in QLD? Seems like he's their best rookie so far, has had 2 200m games in a row, seems like a mini-Haas.

He went to Keebra Park so I would imagine he was in QLD before 13.

 

[Jedhead]

So that Fotuakia guy from the Titans, he was born in NZ, but how long has he been in QLD? Seems like he's their best rookie so far, has had 2 200m games in a row, seems like a mini-Haas.

Im sure i read somewhere that he's good mates with Dave Fifita.

 

[Big Pete]

There wasn't a lot to like about the Bulldogs performance. They could barely get through a set in the opening stanza and once they started controlling the ball, they didn't do a lot with it. They really only have two options:

1) Give it to Foran down a fringe who will either hit the first or third receiver.

2) Give it to Jackson who will take it to the line and either play short or out the back.

Where are all the other plays? Where is Marshall King to create space for his halves? Where is Meaney to push around the ruck? Where is Cogger to give ball to Hopoate and Reimis? Last year the Bulldogs most potent edge was on their right and now they rarely if ever receive any good ball.

The starting pack was lousy. That was where the game was won and lost and outside of Tolman and Jackson, the pack can hang their heads in shame. Even with Tolman, I thought it was insanity to take him off with ten minutes remaining. That's when you want your senior players on the field, to be there to guide the team in those dying minutes. As luck would have it, the moment he came off, the Bulldogs were stripped of possession then they gave away a dumb penalty. I didn't actually mind the effort from Elliott, Ogden needed to recognise it was on and just stay out of it. That's one of those attention to details you'd expect Tolman to account for. In fairness to Pay, I'd imagine the free interchange from the eye gouge messed his plans up. Still, Tolman was only on for 20 minutes in his second stint, his biggest strength is his capacity to get through the minutes, I don't know why you'd take him off then.

I touched on Marshall-King's attack, but his defence was even worse. Jeremy is clearly worried about the size of his opposites because he compromises his technique for power. The problem is his recklessness makes it easier for his opposites to gain an advantage through the ruck and he struggles to identify which role he should be playing in the tackle. I'm not sure what Pay is telling Ogden but how hard is it to get him to run hard and tackle hard for 15-20 minutes? I thought he was invisible for the opening stanza and the work that he did get through wasn't much to write home about.

I couldn't believe the decision to play Adam Elliott on the right edge. I can understand giving Adam a shot off the bench as a middle forward because he does come up with a lot of coach pleasing plays, but he just doesn't have the athleticism required on the fringe and that showed. I always appreciate players who get by on attitude more than skill, so I admire his play but there were times where he made poor choices with his technique and gave the Raiders a nice roll-on. I like a good legs tackle as much as anyone, but it's a no-no in the modern game. Again, I actually liked his attitude and thought he outplayed Faitala-Mariner, but he was miscast in that role.

The bench was an improvement, which is to say they were fine. I thought there was a noticeable difference on the left fringe with Martin. Rhyse didn't do anything fancy, he just ran with intent and it made a difference in the ruck. Their best set of the game came through a break he orchestrated when he put Foran through some space. I thought Fualalo and Sue were solid, but they're both fairly one dimensional hard runners of the football. They even have a very similar body-type. It wasn't always that way with Fualalo who had some decent skills in his game before it was coached out of him.

Foran didn't play well, but I put a lot of it down to having too much food on his plate. The Raiders had numbers on him the entire night and he just stuck too much to a gameplan. On the flipside Montoya made a stack of metres running against a rookie, but I think Foran needed to call more plays like the one he did for the Cogger try. If you're struggling to create anything down a particular part of the field, you need to look elsewhere. The job wouldn't be so hard if Cogger and Marshall-King could take some of the initiative but it seems like they're running with Foran playing as the dominant half which for whatever reason most clubs do these days.

Essentially the Bulldogs are an unimaginative team that value getting through their sets more than actually playing football. That grinding style can work, but you need to have the intensity and attention to detail to make it count. The Bulldogs weaknesses in the forwards cost them and they lost a game they should have won comfortably.