Early Thoughts: Semi Finals - Bulldogs vs Manly Saturday 20 September

[2144superman]

Jamie Lyon escapes ban with early guilty plea for a dangerous throw charge while Watmough will miss 1 - 2 weeks if he challenges it and fails.

 

[magdog]

We're in this right up to our eyeballs!

 

[Killara DogStat]

As mentioned in another thread last week not only do you have to worry about completion rates and winning the ruck but to bring back the bend over backwards defence which wins semi final football.

We also brought the off loads as we have the best forward pack so we should go straight up the middle causing damage etc and not just win 6-4. We smash melb and there so call Big 3 which are now on holidays for the kangaroo tour etc! Therefore now other teams will fear our attack from our forwards as we smashed Melb!

Now Finally the "Dogs of War" are back and let us continue that confidence all over the joint with this win over Melb bring the momentum to beat the beagles and the old chocolate soldiers and then who knows or cares in the GF!

Yes we must not underestimate Manly they have some great halves and they are playing the poor beat up kid under the raider while I hope the Des keeps our players well grounded and not listen to the media hype that they are busted and we are hot favourites!


At least if we can beat Manly Penrith will hopefully go in favourites despite not much final experiences!

Lastly, Yes good to hear all the dogs players cleared of judiciary and I even saw today two car flags one Bulldog Cabbie and then the dreaded Manly flag on another car!

Yes I have to find my CD with the "Simply the best" as I am getting pumped for Finals football it is hear! What a great weekend with not only the Dogs winning but the four sides I hate the most losing!

Bring on the beagles!

 

[Papa Emeritus]

Fully expect us to smash Manly by 20.

 

[JORDZILLA]

4 more sleeps

 

[jo_95]

As mentioned in another thread last week not only do you have to worry about completion rates and winning the ruck but to bring back the bend over backwards defence which wins semi final football.

We also brought the off loads as we have the best forward pack so we should go straight up the middle causing damage etc and not just win 6-4. We smash melb and there so call Big 3 which are now on holidays for the kangaroo tour etc! Therefore now other teams will fear our attack from our forwards as we smashed Melb!

Now Finally the "Dogs of War" are back and let us continue that confidence all over the joint with this win over Melb bring the momentum to beat the beagles and the old chocolate soldiers and then who knows or cares in the GF!

Yes we must not underestimate Manly they have some great halves and they are playing the poor beat up kid under the raider while I hope the Des keeps our players well grounded and not listen to the media hype that they are busted and we are hot favourites!


At least if we can beat Manly Penrith will hopefully go in favourites despite not much final experiences!

Lastly, Yes good to hear all the dogs players cleared of judiciary and I even saw today two car flags one Bulldog Cabbie and then the dreaded Manly flag on another car!

Yes I have to find my CD with the "Simply the best" as I am getting pumped for Finals football it is hear! What a great weekend with not only the Dogs winning but the four sides I hate the most losing!

Bring on the beagles!

10 of our points were scored off interceptions… Our attack still doesn't scare anyone.

 

[Cook]

I just hope we start well. Although belted by souths thought Manly were quite good early full of intensity. Our bench is way superior to there's so if we go with them I like us running over them. Manly had no ball last week so we can't underestimate them with evens share. Looking forward to big Klemmer and Pritchard when enter play.

 

[Kiraz Crazy]

10 of our points were scored off interceptions… Our attack still doesn't scare anyone.

Scoring 18 against melbourne, the best defenders of the decade, while in melbourne in a semi.. still a strong result.

 

[Fruitty Pebbles]

10 of our points were scored off interceptions… Our attack still doesn't scare anyone.

We scored those points coz our defence was in their face the whole time which resulted in them making poor decisions.

WE MADE THEM PLAY THEIR HAND which amounted to nothing but points for us, we got rewarded for ruthless defence.

 

[jo_95]

Scoring 18 against melbourne, the best defenders of the decade, while in melbourne in a semi.. still a strong result.

Definitely strong enough. I don't care if we only score one point as long as the opponents score 0. I just think anyone saying that people are scared of our attack are kidding themselves. We have the worst attack left alive in the comp. Fortunately our defence is as good if not better than anyone else's.

Also as good as Melbourne has been on defence and at home historically this year their defence was average at best. probably the worst of any team in the 8 and they only went 8-4 at home. We still have a loooooooong way to go. We haven't proven anything yet. Other than that we aren't anywhere near as bad as we were in that second half v the GC.

 

[jo_95]

We scored those points coz our defence was in their face the whole time which resulted in them making poor decisions.

WE MADE THEM PLAY THEIR HAND which amounted to nothing but points for us, we got rewarded for ruthless defence.

I never said the points shouldn't count nor that our defence isn't great.

Just that our attack is mediocre at best.

 

[Fruitty Pebbles]

Also scoring points while defending sounds awesome to me

 

[jo_95]

Also scoring points while defending sounds awesome to me

Like i said I couldn't care less how we put them on the board as long as we end up with more than Manly this weekend. I just don't think our attack is even close to scaring anyone. If we win the Premiership with the worst attack ever in the history of the NRL (which is definitely not the case) it still would count as a premiership.

 

[Fruitty Pebbles]

I never said the points shouldn't count nor that our defence isn't great.

Just that our attack is mediocre at best.

We play how we did against the storm we win the Comp.

I Agree our attack is sub par, but our defence ultimately scored more points than their attack 10-4.

 

[jo_95]

We play how we did against the storm we win the Comp.

I Agree our attack is sub par, but our defence ultimately scored more points than their attack 10-4.

Thats a big call… I think we have to be even better if we win the comp. We have some tough games ahead. Every game left will be tougher than the one before it. Roosters losing really helped us out a lot. Looking pretty nice over in our half of the bracket.

 

[Bakes]

Ben Cummins, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[mearsey]

Its funny , our mates over at Silverfails are conceding defeat already , sure they have no forwards - but look at their backline . The match played at Crookvale this year was telling , They threw it wide and short kicked behind our line - before we knew it they got 3 or 4 tries on us and it was game over , I think our backline has lifted since then , all except one - Mitch Brown . Think him and Jmoz have to work on their positions in defence .

Funny how the year is panning out , when we were winning the comp they were calling us pretenders - interesting .

 

[Ironhide07]

Pending injuries and suspensions we can't take a wounded eagle lightly. They could band together for all we know and try and ambush us with all the stuff going on there. Regardless of anything they have to play in a final and when they take the field that shit may fly right out the window so we need to be good, very good.

We will have alot more confidence especially with our attack and it seems to be at the perfect time to make a hard run but it's consistency that has let us down all most the year. We need to hit them hard and early, just the same as Melbourne. Rock them off any rythym and hope there halves are down on form like DCE last week.

 

[JORDZILLA]

ben cummins, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

gg

 

[JORDZILLA]

Updated Thread with the Team Line-Up