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Bulldogs Debate Page

Hounddog said:
I am not sure that the Storm are the major threat.

It is mandatory to defend well and have a low error rate against the Storm and Broncos. But get both into a grind and they might not go the distance.

Raiders, Fins and Warriors are plenty of threat.

The trick for us will be to determine our best 17 and build combinations.

I would add Preston and Hughes to the 17 that played the Eels, probably leaving out Hopoi and Marhoney or Sexton.

I like the idea of Marhoney or Sexton being 18th man.

Wing I would be tempted to replace Montoya with Sua.

Salmon might be in the mix, especially if Hayward plays hooker.

Injuries might impact on our top 17 and they also might for the other contenders.

Lots of aspects of our attack were very good against the Eels and the defence was generally very good.

I'll be more confident if we see more of the same against Souths.
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Raiders, Fins and Warriors were poor last year. All missed the finals. We didn’t. That experience is so important in big games. Melbourne were in the GF and their whole team is very experienced in big games.

Come finals time Raiders, Warriors and Fins are likely to struggle under pressure.
 
Micko said:
Raiders, Fins and Warriors were poor last year. All missed the finals. We didn’t. That experience is so important in big games. Melbourne were in the GF and their whole team is very experienced in big games.

Come finals time Raiders, Warriors and Fins are likely to struggle under pressure.
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Fins have come out from no where now flogging teams . Against us I will say the jury is out if they can beat a full strength Bulldogs in the dry packed house but possible . Bostock is a gun winger . Honestly they could go a long way now from here .
 
Fins beating us was a combination of us being poor and them being good.

That game convinced me that they work hard in defence and play physical putting their bodies on the line.

I don’t think that they have come from nowhere.

If we play them in the semis, that is the game we need to win to win the comp.
 
Just good to get a win.

Some dumb penalties particularly from Turpin and we couldn't buy a refs call in the second half.

Great performance from Kiks, Sexton very good. Preston good.

Kiraz not 100% after the injury.
 
Wilson and Turpin didn't do much to increase the chances of future selection.

Without all of the penalties, we would have won easily.

Salmon instead of Turpin and we should have been a lot better.
 
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Good to get the win and stay on top of table .Take it as a 4 point win with the bye next week . South's were definitely let back into the game . Sexton was good .
Playing the Panfers in two weeks with the full team barring origin injuries. Should be a great game .
 
Lucky to get that win. We copped some terrible calls and the weather killed off any chance of us putting on a big score. Just happy to get away with the two points.

Looking forward to the team line up for the Panthers game.
 
I agree with Cirro, we started very well and considering the players we had out, it was a good first 20 mins.

The Fins might have peaked early, we need to improve, but still 10 weeks to do that.
 
Our right edge defence definitely looks shaky at times without Critter.

That is another reason why we probably can't win a finals match without him.

Next time he is out I hope Cirro tries something different.
 
That first souffs try was on the end of a bumbling knock-on-athon and their second off a suspect forward pass. The souffs resurgence was brought on none other than Adam Gee, the same ref that got the chooks home with a howler. And the nrLOL get upset when the fans attack the mediocracy of their officials.
 
Cirro pinpointed the issues, when we were leading 18-0 we declined a kick at goal then produced a lame set.

The lighting break gave Souths a much needed rest and reset.

They got back into the game off a string of penalties, some of which were justified.

Our right edge defence became shaky in the last 20 minutes.

The ref was ordinary, but there is some stuff we need to fix.

Our first 20 minutes was excellent.

We need to be more focused and ruthless.

Some of the penalties were sloppy.

I am still expecting to go deep into the semis,

Our lack of execution and the ref cost us for and against nothing else. Worth it to learn some lessons.
 
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Round 4 against the Sharks was our best 80 minute performance.
Both games against Parra 80 minute performances.

Many other games we have started slow, or hit some flat patches, but we have been able to win most of them.

The come back against Canberra is by far our best 40 mins, with the next week against the Chooks also excellent.

Worst habits, back to back penalties, dropping the ball in the wet.

Overall I am very happy with the season so far, and we have opportunities to improve. Which I am sure our coaching staff are on to.

Injuries/depth/suspensions we might be pretty close to full strength by round 20.

A few teams are on the cusp of waving the white flag.

We don't play many of them, we have a pretty tough draw from here on, but that is good preparation for the semis.
 
I lost my shit when we didn’t take the two. 20-0 at that time of the game was perfect. It gives them almost no hope. And we reset and just keep marching downfield.
 
Hounddog said:
Round 4 against the Sharks was our best 80 minute performance.
Both games against Parra 80 minute performances.

Many other games we have started slow, or hit some flat patches, but we have been able to win most of them.

The come back against Canberra is by far our best 40 mins, with the next week against the Chooks also excellent.

Worst habits, back to back penalties, dropping the ball in the wet.

Overall I am very happy with the season so far, and we have opportunities to improve. Which I am sure our coaching staff are on to.

Injuries/depth/suspensions we might be pretty close to full strength by round 20.

A few teams are on the cusp of waving the white flag.

We don't play many of them, we have a pretty tough draw from here on, but that is good preparation for the semis.
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Very happy with how we have played so far. I said when the draw was released we have an easy start to the year. Agreed that from here on in it’s a bit tougher.

Our defence is the best in the competition. But we have mostly played easy beats. As good as it is we still can improve. It all comes down to not giving away penalty’s or dropping the ball. It’s not rocket science.

I’m still not confident we can win the whole thing. But we can beat any team if we control field position. Burto is so important
 
Reserve grade this week Hughes and Jones starting at prop, Morrin at lock. Underhill on the bench.

Underhill must be returning from injury.

Jones and/or Underhill making an NRL debut this season would not surprise.

Smith back in the centres. Next time Critter is out I hope we try Smith in the centres and a young debut outside back / utility on the bench.

I think Smith might be solid in defence at right centre.

So next time we have players out for SOO, try a few young guys.
 
NSW discipline, defence and execution below par.

QLD energetic, but the game is going with penalties and posession.
 
Goal kicking was telling in the end. I think Leui played poorly, Burton would have been better in the wet.
 
I agree on Luai, but he did do 2 good kicks for trys.

In the wet NSW tried to play too fancy at times.

9-0 penalties at one stage was hard to overcome. Like the Dogs against Souths some penalties were wrong, some were harsh and some were dumb.

Lomax elbowing a tackler in the face at the play the ball was extremely dumb.

Players can control the dumb penalties, I have no problem with giving away smart penalties to stop the opposition scoring, but doing dumb things due to a lack of discipline is a bad way to concede penalties.

Not sure why King didn't get more minutes.
 
Burto's defence is improving under Cirro. I agree with Mase, when Burto defends well enough to be an option at lock, his chances of playing SOO in multiple positions improves.

Not far off winning the 6 spot or a spot on the bench.

His attack is also improving.

Cirro and the coaching team are improving many of our players in attack and defence.

Players have noticed, and many players want to move to the Dogs. Fitsgibbon's son is apparently one of them.
 
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