Which player needs most improvement

[Kiraz Crazy]

Just some food for thought:

Lets debate which player in the current bulldogs roster who also played last year more then 10 first grade games, needs to improve the most. And why.

 

[Harby]

Josh Reynolds needs more experience.. although one cannot be blamed for a lack of exp.

no one really needs to improve.. we fell 1 game short of a premiership. A tiny bit of luck and we would have been crowned champions

 

[Trendsetter]

Grahams biting technique needs improving.

 

[Paint.]

Josh Reynolds' defensive reads; Tolman needs a bit more bite; Pritchard improved his consistency, was one of our most solid players last season, but didn't have much of that spark that he was renowned for. If he can incorporate that back into his game, while remaining consistent, he would be so much better; Eastwood could be fitter, more agile; T Rex needs to be more consistent, and needs to work on his fitness; Josh Jackson and Dale Finucane will improve with experience; Ennis, Reynolds, Payne need to be more disciplined.

Our team could do a whole lot of improving, which is scary.

 

[Guardog]

Josh Reynolds will benefit from that 2012 season and will be a better player. But for mine, Beastwood was not at his best last year until the end of the season where he performed well. He can really learn a lot from James Graham's work ethic. (exclude all biting techniques of course.)

 

[Kiraz Crazy]

hahaha way too many biting jokes on the forums

 

[silva]

ennis and the no7

 

[CroydonDog]

Ennis needs to be more consistant - a leader the rest of the side looks up to.

Probably that and Eastwood - the Beast needs to have the ability to play close to 80 minutes if need be. This is a pre-requisite for any backrower IMO.

 

[bulldogsfan_88]

Josh Reynolds' defensive reads; Tolman needs a bit more bite; Pritchard improved his consistency, was one of our most solid players last season, but didn't have much of that spark that he was renowned for. If he can incorporate that back into his game, while remaining consistent, he would be so much better; Eastwood could be fitter, more agile; T Rex needs to be more consistent, and needs to work on his fitness; Josh Jackson and Dale Finucane will improve with experience; Ennis, Reynolds, Payne need to be more disciplined.

Our team could do a whole lot of improving, which is scary.

Don't mind this as long as you don't mean it literally

 

[Big Nick]

Keating needs to improve offensively. Needs to steer the team around the park and generally lay on more attacking plays. We don't need a second 5/8.
Reynolds needs to improve defensively. Both him and Keating are targeted in defence. Keating handles it well Renolds will have to improve in this regard. On current form, easily the best 5/8 at the club.

 

[captain dropbut]

keating needs to be able to pull the big plays a bit more like he grubber to himself in the finals

hodgkinson needs to improve his body

inu turner need work on kicking i see duel kickers depending on location

pritchard needs more assasian

as mention ennis payne renoylds need less penalties

 

[SoulCrusher]

Keating or Hodko.

 

[Big_Dawg]

Reynolds hands down

 

[jimmy_the_greek]

Ennis and Payne - Giving away penalties. Although, I do feel they are targeted as well due to reputation, you just know they hold on a little bit longer and the whistle will be blown.
Reynolds - Sometimes reads the defense wrong and rushes up, although now with the shoulder charge gone he will probably eliminate this anyway.
Graham - For some reason runs with his head down, and in most cases falls into players, you would think there are coins on the ground or something. Other than that, he has been our best buy in years.
Inu and Pritchard - Need to work on ball control, my heart goes into my throat when I see them grabbing the ball with one hand, especially on a crucial set of 6.

I think Keating has improved tremendously under Des, and I am taking in the injury that Ennis was carrying during the season into consideration, which caused him to have that patchy start.

 

[Dognacious]

Just some food for thought:

Lets debate which player in the current bulldogs roster who also played last year more then 10 first grade games, needs to improve the most. And why.

OK so if you think this is a threadworthy question, why havent you come up with a suggestion of your own?

We made the GF and were minor premiers. No particular player comes to mind for improvement needed. They will all likely improve some a second year under Des.

 

[Mr Invisible]

Keating - needs to take more control of the side.

 

[Izzy Forreal]

No particular player needs to improve; as Dognacious said we were minor premiers and made the grand final so our guys know what they're about.

In some games their short passing go forward style combined with a take no prisoners defence was good enough to beat anyone. However, at times our forward pack went missing mentally. I know that its unreasonable to expect them to be on song all the time but I'd like to see them adopt a dominant mindset and dictate the pattern of play.

 

[Paint.]

No particular player needs to improve; as Dognacious said we were minor premiers and made the grand final so our guys know what they're about.

In some games their short passing go forward style combined with a take no prisoners defence was good enough to beat anyone. However, at times our forward pack went missing mentally. I know that its unreasonable to expect them to be on song all the time but I'd like to see them adopt a dominant mindset and dictate the pattern of play.

Yes. As a whole, I think our forward pack can improve, a lot. While the passing game is brilliant, soon other teams will start copying it (just look towards the end of last season, you had the Broncos, Eagles, etc, trying to copy the exact same moves). However, no one got it as perfectly as us. We were, however, missing another element in our play. Our forwards just aren't tough enough offensively. When we're down and out, defeated mentally, we need the type of forward, the O'Meleys and Masons and Petero's of the League world, who will scream for the ball and just take a 15-20 metre hit up. We lacked that last season, even though we had guys like Graham, Pritchard and Eastwood who have shown in the past that they are capable of that.

 

[Malla]

Split between Ben Barba and Josh Jackson.

What Storm did to Barba in the GF last season is only a taste of what is to come week to week for Barba in 2013. They essentially almost took him out of the game completely which led to us only scoring 4 points. He'll get that every week. Other teams will mimic what the Storm did. He must improve and must ensure he is 100% comfortable under the high ball.

Josh Jackson is another who I feel needs to improve his game immensely. Reason being we've signed another international back rower. It's a log jam in there next year. Josh has incredible potential and I think is an 80 minute player for us. He's gotta take it to that next level if he wants to remain in the starting squad and I hope he does. We're a much better team with him there. Effective running and effective tackles. Very rarely does he miss a tackle and he'll hold down that lock position and do all the clean up work, ala Grimaldi, Stagg etc (he's of that mould) with big Franky and Tony on either edge.

 

[dogie]

^ I think barba stopped himself I'm not too sure how Melbourne really shut him down?

Even if they did, it's pretty damn hard to do. He is a quick as lightening as just has the instinct that 99% of players don't.