Areas for improvement.

[Alan79]

Since we're getting to the business end of the season and we're playing with pretty much our best roster at the moment we've all had time to see where we think the team can or must improve.

I think the last 6 games have shown that our backs really lack the confidence to attack a high ball when defending. It seems like it's pretty much all our backs who are setting themselves to take bombs after they bounce lately (it gave me the shits seeing the backs let so many high balls bounce last week). Perrett does attack the high ball at times but i think we might be better off switching Inu to the wing outside Morris as he's great in the air and probably offers better support play too. Browne doesn't seem to get all that involved out there either so i wouldn't mind seeing him switched to the centre position to see what he offers when he sees more ball. Lafai definitely has talent but i don't think he looks to set Perrett up very often and he doesn't seem to fit into the defensive structure that well either. Kick defense is one area that can keep killing us in games if we don't sort it out soon.

The other thing that concerns me a little is that we barely use our 4th bench player. And when it's someone like Halatau i wonder why. Our bench has three forwards with plenty of size who offer similar things (big guys with solid defense who run reasonably aggressively). Halatau is a bit smaller, has great pace runs superb lines and is a good support player. He can add impact in vastly different ways. I'd like to see Des give Pritchard, Eastwood and Williams the orders to attack one edge of the field hard for 20 minutes then bring on Halatau where those defenders were tired and see him create havoc with his added agility and acceleration. Using him for 10 minutes at the end of a game seems a massive waste of that bench spot. It's not often that i criticize Haslers strategy but i think Halatau could be a weapon if used properly off the bench but Hasler seems to just want behemoths out there.

Aside from that i think we are improving a little each week. We haven't seen as much of the tip on plays we were making last year but i think that might be strategic (I've seen it emerge in ten minute patches to get us back into tight games). Our short kicking game is seeing more repeat sets and we are gradually improving in the oppositions 20m zone due to the fact that we spend more time there.

I'd like to hear where others think we need to improve.

 

[Dognacious]

I dont overthink it like you, with the best side on the paddock we are starting to go well. Vs Roosters improvement would have been gained from a) not losing Graham before halftime b) Reynolds creativity may have created more points than Romelo who i thought had an ordinary game. Reynolds covers a lot of ground in defence too. c) out wide we missed Morris' defence which may have prevented a try at least. Lafai has talent but hes no Morris yet.

The Roosters replacements did a fine job replacing their origin players.

 

[Bob dog]

Taking the high ball has been a long term problem for us.
When we run out of ideas and can't break the line we tended to just hit the ball up, easy meat for the roosters defence, we needed to keep turning the ball in and test the edges more.
As Hasler said, the Roosters ran harder and were obviously hungrier for the win, which means we were down mentally.

 

[Harby]

other teams seem to dominate us in tackles, slowing down the play the ball and getting us onto our backs, while we just tackle and get up straight away allowing them to make quick and easy metres

 

[Nano]

other teams seem to dominate us in tackles, slowing down the play the ball and getting us onto our backs, while we just tackle and get up straight away allowing them to make quick and easy metres

We can't do it, referees come down hard on us for trying to slow the play the ball down while other teams are pretty much free to do it against us.

 

[Bakes]

Attitude, start all games with the same mind frame and intensity we had against Manly and we will blow most teams away.

 

[likeadoggy]

appoint Graham as captain

 

[coreyhart]

Correct Bobdog - As Hasler said, the Roosters ran harder and were obviously hungrier for the win, which means we were down mentally.

Taking the high ball has been a long term problem for us.
When we run out of ideas and can't break the line we tended to just hit the ball up, easy meat for the roosters defence, we needed to keep turning the ball in and test the edges more.
As Hasler said, the Roosters ran harder and were obviously hungrier for the win, which means we were down mentally.

 

[coreyhart]

You are 100% right there Bakes if we can replicate our START that we had against Manly we are the real deal ..... It's all about attitude and effort.

Attitude, start all games with the same mind frame and intensity we had against Manly and we will blow most teams away.

 

[HITM3N]

We can't do it, referees come down hard on us for trying to slow the play the ball down while other teams are pretty much free to do it against us.

This is why NRL is Ridged. If the Bulldogs make a tackle and sit on them for just 3 to 5 seconds the opposition team gets the penalty. But when other teams do it it's Ok for them to do. It's happen to the bulldogs a lot this season.

 

[HITM3N]

I just think if the outside backs for e.g. Centres and Wings, if they stay in their position and they don't come off their line our defence will be Good. But half the Tries the opposition team score off are off the edges.

 

[OTTO]

I just think if the outside backs for e.g. Centres and Wings, if they stay in their position and they don't come off their line our defence will be Good. But half the Tries the opposition team score off are off the edges.

Can work great but the timing is all out. Halligan & Haz done it for years. Unfortunately Perretts let more in than he has stopped this year.

 

[steve1700]

I dont overthink it like you, with the best side on the paddock we are starting to go well. Vs Roosters improvement would have been gained from a) not losing Graham before halftime b) Reynolds creativity may have created more points than Romelo who i thought had an ordinary game. Reynolds covers a lot of ground in defence too. c) out wide we missed Morris' defence which may have prevented a try at least. Lafai has talent but hes no Morris yet.

The Roosters replacements did a fine job replacing their origin players.

Yeah morris defence is what we missed a lot of points were scored from his side of the field, reynolds creativity was also missed. To top it off we did a lot of defending we had the ball once in the fist 7 minutes just from the kick off and defending like that has to hurt was the same against manly.

 

[The DoggFather]

We have the 4th worst defence after the Eels, Tigers and Warriors.

Btw 5th best Attack.

 

[Bob dog]

Was the Dragons line ball defence divided into two halves last night, their lateral shift covered quite well and maybe its something we could look at.

 

[colebran]

Since we're getting to the business end of the season and we're playing with pretty much our best roster at the moment we've all had time to see where we think the team can or must improve.

I think the last 6 games have shown that our backs really lack the confidence to attack a high ball when defending. It seems like it's pretty much all our backs who are setting themselves to take bombs after they bounce lately (it gave me the shits seeing the backs let so many high balls bounce last week). Perrett does attack the high ball at times but i think we might be better off switching Inu to the wing outside Morris as he's great in the air and probably offers better support play too. Browne doesn't seem to get all that involved out there either so i wouldn't mind seeing him switched to the centre position to see what he offers when he sees more ball. Lafai definitely has talent but i don't think he looks to set Perrett up very often and he doesn't seem to fit into the defensive structure that well either. Kick defense is one area that can keep killing us in games if we don't sort it out soon.

The other thing that concerns me a little is that we barely use our 4th bench player. And when it's someone like Halatau i wonder why. Our bench has three forwards with plenty of size who offer similar things (big guys with solid defense who run reasonably aggressively). Halatau is a bit smaller, has great pace runs superb lines and is a good support player. He can add impact in vastly different ways. I'd like to see Des give Pritchard, Eastwood and Williams the orders to attack one edge of the field hard for 20 minutes then bring on Halatau where those defenders were tired and see him create havoc with his added agility and acceleration. Using him for 10 minutes at the end of a game seems a massive waste of that bench spot. It's not often that i criticize Haslers strategy but i think Halatau could be a weapon if used properly off the bench but Hasler seems to just want behemoths out there.

Aside from that i think we are improving a little each week. We haven't seen as much of the tip on plays we were making last year but i think that might be strategic (I've seen it emerge in ten minute patches to get us back into tight games). Our short kicking game is seeing more repeat sets and we are gradually improving in the oppositions 20m zone due to the fact that we spend more time there.

I'd like to hear where others think we need to improve.

Tackle better and score more tries

 

[adamski007]

There are 2 sets of rules in every game now, not just with the bulldogs - One side will be offside for most of the set and lay all over them and nothing happens then the other side tries the same thing to be able to compete and get penalised over and over through out the game - it's getting to the point where it's absolutely ridiculous and so obvious now and tbh ruining most games.

The refereeing is an absolute disgrace and now riddled with inconsistency through out. A lot of people are saying they are starting to lose interest in watching the games because of this.

 

[Bob dog]

When Barba first went to fullback he couldn't catch a high ball, now he's one of the best, he's gotta coach Mitch Brown and Perrett the correct way to improve their kick defence until they the best in the comp, we cannot take chances on this.

 

[Raikkonen]

Hi guys, first time poster here!

Something that has frustrated me several times this year is our attack close the opposition line. Firstly, we all stand very, very flat. Our sets close to the line seem to consist mainly of hit-ups from forwards who have only taken a few steps before getting the ball.

Occasionally we spread it through the back line with some decoy runners or sweeping plays, but most of the time it looks like we are just throwing it to a forward, hoping for the best, and waiting until we can go for the cross-field chip.

Compare this with Melbourne who have a deeply-set back line running onto the ball at pace close to the line.

I'm not saying Melbourne's structures are right for the Bulldogs, but we look quite organised in attack close to the line, and almost look like we panic a little.

 

[Bad Billy]

Hi guys, first time poster here!

Something that has frustrated me several times this year is our attack close the opposition line. Firstly, we all stand very, very flat. Our sets close to the line seem to consist mainly of hit-ups from forwards who have only taken a few steps before getting the ball.

Occasionally we spread it through the back line with some decoy runners or sweeping plays, but most of the time it looks like we are just throwing it to a forward, hoping for the best, and waiting until we can go for the cross-field chip.

Compare this with Melbourne who have a deeply-set back line running onto the ball at pace close to the line.

I'm not saying Melbourne's structures are right for the Bulldogs, but we look quite organised in attack close to the line, and almost look like we panic a little.

You've got to play to your strengths, our strength is in our forwards, that's why we play flat near the line. When a forward hits the line and we get that ball out the back we're very dangerous. What does frustrate me when we're close to the line, is our last tackle options, we almost exclusively cross-kick to the corners. We need to be more patient, roll it in goal and get repeat sets. No team will be able to keep us out, after 3 back to back sets with our forwards smashing it up the middle. (Provided we don't drop the fucking ball !)