The Bulldogs 2024 style of play & Game plan ..

[Psycho Doggie]

Turns out I was wrong . . We won't get killed through the middle

So long as we are judged to be onside, we are strangling teams with our line speed. If we can cut our errors even further, teams are going to struggle to get the ball outside of their own half, like Tigers in the 2nd half today. As impressive as the big hits are, we don't need them, we just need blokes like Curran, Mann, Mahoney, Hayward, Salmon, Morrin continuing to swamp the other team. Our big boys King, Hughes, and Kiks contribute pretty well to it as well.

I recall Mahoney often seemed to get caught out while rushing up in defense last season, would bounce off a tackle and there was no one there in support, or would get stranded. Now we know why, he was trying to stick to the plan, but the 2023 team wasn't on board. Now we've got blokes putting into it and the outcomes are awesome.

 

[D0GMATIC]

So long as we are judged to be onside, we are strangling teams with our line speed. If we can cut our errors even further, teams are going to struggle to get the ball outside of their own half, like Tigers in the 2nd half today. As impressive as the big hits are, we don't need them, we just need blokes like Curran, Mann, Mahoney, Hayward, Salmon, Morrin continuing to swamp the other team. Our big boys King, Hughes, and Kiks contribute pretty well to it as well.

I recall Mahoney often seemed to get caught out while rushing up in defense last season, would bounce off a tackle and there was no one there in support, or would get stranded. Now we know why, he was trying to stick to the plan, but the 2023 team wasn't on board. Now we've got blokes putting into it and the outcomes are awesome.

And we are doing it with what I would have considered an undersized bench. We are just killing them with intensity in defence, not with big hits,but we are Relentless now, up quick and in numbers. And our backing up is on fire, I can't remember if it was a kick or a break they made, but near our line it was their guy with the ball and about 8 bulldogs jersey's in the picture.

 

[Psycho Doggie]

And we are doing it with what I would have considered an undersized bench. We are just killing them with intensity in defence, not with big hits,but we are Relentless now, up quick and in numbers. And our backing up is on fire, I can't remember if it was a kick or a break they made, but near our line it was their guy with the ball and about 8 bulldogs jersey's in the picture.

CC is going against conventional wisdom with his bench, and most of us having been scratching our heads about it all season. Instinctively we want 3 big middles on there, or 2 and an edge forward who can play middle. Such is our fitness and our effectiveness in defense that we don't need that, instead we have a couple of blokes like Hayward and Morrin, one big guy, and a reserve for injuries. The players have clearly had it made known to them what the expectations are, most of them are going to play long minutes, and Kiks is leading the way, for a big guy it is insane that he plays 80 minutes most weeks, and consistently shows the fitness to put pressure on kickers and kick returners all game long.

 

[alwaysthesun]

Ciraldo essentially created the blueprint on defence for the six again game.. he's a smart operator.

 

[Grunthos]

I can remember we won a premiership with an undersized "small-mobile-pack" as it was called.
It goes to show, it's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog...

 

[Achilles]

CC is doing well with the current team he has.

Dogs will be a top 4 team once you add a decent halfback and a few more forwards in the near future.

 

[Bringbackbaa]

Article in todays herald boys saying we actually lead the comp in limiting the metres opposition teams make per game and we have the 4th best defence in the comp.
CC has done an enormous job to work with what we’ve got.
The Minister for defence is back!
Big test this week tho against the chocolate soldiers.
Let’s see how we go.

QUOTE="D0GMATIC, post: 5033250,

member: 27371"]
And we are doing it with what I would have considered an undersized bench. We are just killing them with intensity in defence, not with big hits,but we are Relentless now, up quick and in numbers. And our backing up is on fire, I can't remember if it was a kick or a break they made, but near our line it was their guy with the ball and about 8 bulldogs jersey's in the picture.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Benno Bulldog]

Our attack was woeful in the first half… we missed a try with Kiraz. If we had scored early might have changed things but Preston is a try machine often first points. Burton takes time to settle into his role.

 

[luke.thmpsn]

Ciraldo essentially created the blueprint on defence for the six again game.. he's a smart operator.

That's what I think is going on. The rules keep speeding the game up but most teams still have a big pack. Guess who doesn't?

Storm. They just have Big Nasty and a bunch of smaller workers. Bellamy isn't dumb.

Look at the big pack teams. Eels are struggling. Raiders can only win every second week.

I really think Ciraldo is onto something.

 

[bcmf]

That's what I think is going on. The rules keep speeding the game up but most teams still have a big pack. Guess who doesn't?

Storm. They just have Big Nasty and a bunch of smaller workers. Bellamy isn't dumb.

Look at the big pack teams. Eels are struggling. Raiders can only win every second week.

I really think Ciraldo is onto something.

It’s getting that way. Good observation. But let’s wait until rd 26, I really don’t think we have the gas tank to keep doing this. It’s funny I used to make fun of tolman, but in fact tolman is exactly the type of dude we need right now