This could be our best pick up for the season... Brinn Little a 196cm defender from GC Academy.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 4500979874

Cricket is the game requiring more mental applications than any other.
Khwajha showed what happens when you are not tuned in.
An absolute shocker in the field. And then nicking one he leaves every day of the year.

Watching Labuschagne construct an innings is a treat for any Test match fan.
Especially since he has now toned down his idiosyncrasies, he is mesmerising. And so technically spot on.
He’s not #1 in the world without reason, technically as good as it gets
He is #1 but is still improving... particularly with technical aspects of his stroke play.
I think he has clearly matured. He is no longer a Smith prototype, he is his own man. He has retained his energy but a lot of the mannerisms and yelling has been reigned in.

So few players know how to build a Test innings in this day
In contrast to Marnus, Warner has NEVER learnt to build an innings. Hence his 200 or bust record.

John Plattens nephew Justin has resigned as ElizabethFC A grade coach to take on reserves midfield coaching role under Matt Gallarello.

Dutchy wrote:Media seem to have gone very quiet again on the pitch doctoring

Jadeja & Axar - both lefties seem to be doing just fine

Absolutely... batting on a road.
Just wait til our guys come out and make it look like a minefield again.

Who said he'd be in the starting 22

Just a hunch. 8)

Sure had a breakout season last year; hoping he continues in that vein.

And doing plenty to impress on the training track. Will be used as a key forward.
Jezz McLennan is burning up the track.
Nietschke to do some work in the midfield.
Liddy on the up and up after his injury scare before Christmas.
Of the locals, look out for stronger and fitter Luca Whitlum, Carpenter and Dudley.

David is cooked.
Regardless of whether he is currently in our best XI, he should never have been part of the tour party. 5 days before the group left, he stated he was exhausted. 4 tests in 6 weeks tour of India is hardly the place to send someone who is already exhausted.
I believe the selectors were irresponsible towards a players well being, in sending him, and then playing him.
He is cooked. Send him home.

We will lose... because their #8 thru #11 will add runs.

But we are 6 out, all out

Doggies squad for the first trial

https://cdfc.com.au/newsitem/189

Plenty of new faces as you’d imagine

Chisholm Liddy Larkin Carroll J.McLennan M.Lochowiak Munn and Little named in the league

Spaan L.McLennan McGrath Pickering Hall named in the reserves.

Good to see Barreau and Linke back from injury.

Add Nietschke as coming back from his woes. Didn't finish our the season last year, but got some valuable game time after nearly 3 seasons out.
Expected to run through the mids a bit this season.

One other additional name I am not familiar with: Jack Henke. Is he one of our juniors from last year?
Thanks

There is a pretty full list to choose from atm. Fish and Hosko are only noticeable outs, but both played in the internal last week and probably being managed.

Jack Henke played with the Alfie Jenner- led Nuriootpa premiership side last year. Had a great Country Championship and played a couple of games at Reserves level where he impressed, despite not training a lot with the squad.

Still no Lange named in the trial squads.
The only Senior player not to play in at least one of the first two trials... I doubt that has ever occurred before. Normally roll into trials with anywhwere between 8 and 12 injuries.

Great news on Pres. Not an ACL, but severe bone bruising. Will be back Round 3.

Nick is in the twos tomorrow, which means all players get at least one run in trials. Amazing.

Not playing tomorrow:
Presbury
McCormack
Munn
Carpenter
Larkins

Wyatt Ryan and Ryan Pickering get a chance to impress at league due to Billy's absence.
Pearce gets another chance to impress with Hugo out.

At 3 quarter time, I was sure we would be run down by a bunch of professionals who have the advantage of a world class Fitnese guru.
Just goes to show what can happen with a full on commitment towards each other (as opposed to playing to get promoted).

NO stars in this group. No longer are we relying on the same 4 players every week. Every player is finding ways to contribute. Lange got 4, but their are a few targete up fwd now. The back six again, did such a great job against a dangerous attack. Chisholm, probably our highest rated recruit sacrificed his game to keep a lid on Crouch. Fish, now playing as a forward, had such a great impact (including a goal of the round candidate) and Harry Grant is clearly a different beast this year... a game high 8 clearances against AFL mids, despite us being smashed in ruck.

A sign of the Dogs persistence and desire was they managed to get so close despite a 33 to 46 deficit in Inside 50s.

The reserves proved this is a trait for the entire squad, winning despite an amazing 27 to 49 Inside 50 count against them.

Sure, we have collected some handy inclusions this season, but the mindset and work ethic across the whole playing group is probably the greatest change in 2023.

Again led by a great defensive unit. Jezza was the outstanding Doggie, repelling many attacks and setting up plenty of movement, all while keeping Slimming down to 3 ineffective possessions.
Harry Grant had a great first half, and Chisholms battle with Wilson was enthralling.

Interesting contest between one of the seasons over achievers and one of the seasons under achievers.
Form says the Dogs, but on paper the Eagles look better, and should be fired up... another loss at this stage would put their season in peril.

Presbury a big out for the Dogs which counters Knight as an out for the Eagles.
Our forwards must cash in on the work down the field for us to win. A couple of them would be on notice after their poor (non) efforts last week.

Dogs to keep their unbeaten home streak going and win by 10 points

The only games we have lost this year have been when we have been wearing the old 'V' style jumpers... sometimes we have played in those matches like we did during our prior time of wearing them (particularly 1973 onwards ;) ). As we are not wearing them this week, we will hopefully keep our unbeaten run of this season in the hoops jumpers.
Having said that, I do love the look of the 'V' style jumper.
Also having said that, I will be happy if we stay within 5 goals of the Bays this week. Our last five quarters of football have been disappointing. However, if we can get those out of the system and play like we did against North, the Ravens and Sturt, you never know....

Reckon its less about the V style guernsey, and more about the fact that we wear them on away ovals.
Looks to me that our game style is well-rehearsed on the expansive Elizabeth Oval, but is a work in progress on smaller decks, where the pressure that has been applied has broken us down.
We will have as good a line up as we can put on the park, with Prez and Hosko likely to be back in the frame, but its a tough ask against a very talented Glenelg team.

Great work rate and terrific defence against the multi faceted Bays fwd line.
Teams are not scoring match winning tallies against us... we are just not able to generate any worthwhile scores up our end.
Some decent mid size lads up front, but clearly lack a big tall and a small live wire.

Great work rate and terrific defence against the multi faceted Bays fwd line.
Teams are not scoring match winning tallies against us... we are just not able to generate any worthwhile scores up our end.
Some decent mid size lads up front, but clearly lack a big tall and a small live wire.

Fletcher Carroll is that small live wire we need.. knocking the door down in the ressies and should be rewarded..

Pearce has been given a good run at it but looks like he could benefit from gaining a bit of confidence in the 2’s…maybe young Lowowiak can offer a bit more X factor up forward..

Again one quarter cost us.. and when we dominated in the second quarter we just didn’t get scoreboard reward. Still more than happy with progress - we are tracking ok for the next couple of years if we can keep the group together..
Yes, for Pearce to get 3 disposals in each of the last two games, unfortunately is not currently up to standard. Additionally we've been getting plenty of inside 50s, and he's losing a majority of 1 v 1s.

Pearce has had 3 possessions in each of the last FOUR games.
Agree, Grace has not had a great impact either but he always creates a contest. It frustrates me how often the opposition start their attacks through an easy mark for Pearces immediate opponent.

Whilst Pickering is not quite a threat in ruck at league level, it does allow McCormack and Munn to both play up front which does give us marking power up front. I would expect Fletcher Carroll to debut and Anzac to regain his spot. Pearce needed to head back to the ressies, with two more outs: maybe Launer, or Barreau who really hasn't returned to his 2021 form after missing all last year.

Well one thing we know is that Boyd will give you first look and also be damaging from stoppages…
Will be interested with selection for us today - it seems Pearce is out but not named as injured or in ressies…hoping my boy Carroll gets a deserved run

He would have except for a late bout of covid.
Lange is also a late out with a calf issue.

Ins from last week... Cowham, Pickering and Anzac
Outs... Lange (inj) Pearce and Launer (both in ressies)

Dogs 8.8(56)
Legs 7.9(51)

Take the two points and move on.

We were awful.
Except for part of the third quarter.

4 goals in 8 minutes... made the other 100 minutes a painful watch.
Continue to keep teams down to a score that should result in solid Ws but struggling with any method up forward. Today we relied on cameos from Marcus and Luca.
Schiller and Grant best two by the proverbial.

Long time since we have had wins in all 4 grades against nwd.
Heading the SHL table which is great news looking ahead.

The lottery that is playing AFL Reserve sides is against the Dogs tomorrow.
Play them in the opening 4 or 5 rounds and it's a W... play them atm and it's unlikely.
The teams currently 4 thru 8 are all a chance of making finals.
It's a travesty that for those teams, the results against the AFL Reserve teams (and how strong they are when you play them) ultimately determines whether you make Finals or not.

Vital win in context of making finals.
Solid team performance. For the first time in a long time, I have no one (IMO) who I would be looking at dropping from the 21. Every player had an impact.
Once again, loving our defensive unit. Eagles were one point away from their lowest score ever.

Vital win in context of making finals.
Solid team performance. For the first time in a kong time, I have no one (IMO) who I would be looking at dropping from the 21. Every player had an impact.
Once again, loving our defensive unit. Eagles were one point away from their lowest score ever.
I thought Dudley to defence was a good move, had an influence. Might prove a career "reignition".
Agree.
Played the last 2 or 3 ressie games in defence, and won plenty of the ball, something that he wasn't doing up forward.

Exactly Steve, deserved his promotion after some solid efforts in the ressies defence over the last 2-3 weeks. If he isn’t the cleanest handler of the footy at the club then he’s in the GF, along with (I would imagine) one of the highest disposal efficiencies in the team… very high footy IQ to boot..
Whilst on the Dudz appreciation theme, there was a moment a couple of weeks ago where he changed his mind as to his target during the ball drop; freakish innate abilities.

Vital win in context of making finals.
Solid team performance. For the first time in a kong time, I have no one (IMO) who I would be looking at dropping from the 21. Every player had an impact.
Once again, loving our defensive unit. Eagles were one point away from their lowest score ever.
I thought Dudley to defence was a good move, had an influence. Might prove a career "reignition".
Agree.
Played the last 2 or 3 ressie games in defence, and won plenty of the ball, something that he wasn't doing up forward.

Won by committee... Grace BOG at halftime, lucky to touch it in second half. Lange unsighted in 3 quarters, then came alight. So many lads drifted in and out woth no one lasting 4 quarters, as shown by the highest disposals being 20.
East was best with a huge effort up fwd, despite lack of matches under his belt this season. McCormack and Munn great around the ground and Larkins and Liddy continue to develop nicely.

And yes Hazy... I also relied on the callers of the stream. That pair would be a lot of fun at parties, and their 50% accuracy on calling players was not a good look.

Long time since we won three on the bounce.
Now would be a good time to break that record.

Clearly a work in progress this season, but a Finals appearance would be a fair goal from here.

Karma bus?
Ie....Massive change of fortune/skill set/concentration since that stumping...whilst his opposite number has stepped up.
Carey does not usually attract controversy and has clearly not coped well with the fallout since this episode.
Always been a quiet achiever, the spotlight has burnt him.

5 dropped catches, although Smiths was a tough one.
Warner, Marsh and Murphy (off his own bowling) didn't really cost us.
Carers error hurt us big time.

Harry Brook is a very good talent. It remains to be seen if his pursuit of the Bazball gameplan stops him progressing to be the star he could be.

Handy start with the bat. Just need our lads to buckle down and have a couple go big.

Agree re the flat decks.

It's our batsmen who have been awful this series. Had 4 of the top 10 ranked bats and not one tonned up twice.

2 all for the series and we retain the Ashes. But fair call to say the Poms have been the better team, particularly since Wood and Woakes came in and Carey clocked out.

Harry Grant another 3 votes for the Medal? He is going to poll well.

Munns first half was outstanding, and McCormack worked hard all game.
Billy Iles, Hosko and Jezza set up plenty from defence.

All 4 grades won today. Things are certainly turning around at the Club.

Huge last quarter, which is a surprise over an Afl squad. Our defence (yet again) kept Ports lead within reach and then all our role players stepped up. Guys like East, Lange and Linke (his best game since his long absence from football) looked likely, and kicked straight down the stretch.
Harry Grant will get more MM votes, he will take some beating for the Medal.
Schiller continues to inspire, and Billy Isles was excellent again.
Dudleys last half showed why some pundits rate him so highly and McCormack came back from an awful first 40 minutes to trouble the vaunted Port rucks. Although he seemed to benefit from frees at the ruck contests, which Port would surely need the umpires panel to explain.

So nice to win a finals berth on own merits and hopefully build on the momentum next week.

So proud of our developing team who, underpinned by a handful of veterans, are a relatively young and inexperienced group. We’ve gained so much out of the last 3 weeks, anything from here is just a bonus. Grace saved his best game for the year for the big stage (who was it that questioned his place in the team earlier in he week?) Grant was as industrious as ever, McCormack was super competitive in the ruck and contributed much more effectively when the ball hit the deck than his much more experienced opponent. Billy and Jez repelled numerous forward entries and rebounded brilliantly. Dudley again displayed footy nous beyond his years and Linke stepped up when we needed someone to run hard and present. Got out of my man flu sickbed to ensure my run of attending all Dogs major round games since 79 remained intact and am bloody glad I did! Funny isn’t it.. we got used to winning for fun in the noughties.. but today brought me just as much pride and pleasure.. and it was an elimination final FFS! That’s the beauty of following a club in the SANFL I guess…
Gunna say I was on the Grace bandwagon before it left the station.
One that surprised me hugely was Dahms... I knew he would provide the contest, but how much drive did he give, and his turnover count was right down.
Grace was superb. Even with a match winning point from 60m out where he was never scoring major.

18 contested marks? Wow, that's been our Achilles Heel for a decade.

Hard pressed to nominate someone to drop out of East is available next week.

Take the win but why it take us till the last quarter to lift our level. Great response after last week.
I would respectfully suggest that it was more a case that the Dogs couldn't sustain their effort against a better quality unit.
Sturt clearly like to retain possession, and rarely kick to contests. The Dogs played man on man all over the ground and tried to make it about contested football. But the tickets were spent by three quarter and the mistakes crept in, whilst Sturts run and carry finally broke free.

The Dogs can be happy with their season, but the Finals games highlighted that some of the kids are not quite there yet, and also showed we are in need of 3 or 4 quality players.

8 BOG's, is this a record?

What surely is a record is 5 BOGs in a row....just WOW.

Harry sets the blueprint for so many others. Hes not tall, hes not quick, but his preparation for this season was amazing. He played a fair bit at Ressies level last year, and whilst he was injured early, his disposal was an issue for him at League level.
Always had plenty of stamina, but he spent a lot of time studying the game in the off-season, looking at where he should run and how he could be more effective. I think so many players and Clubs concentrate on team setups and all-in fitness programmes, but this attention to individual development is an eye-opener.

Agree - try it for one year for the 1st week and see, although I would make it a neutral venue, give it to one of the clubs that doesn't make the finals. eg this year a double header at Woodville, Richmond, Prospect or the Parade would be huge IMO.
Surely the teams that make the finals deserve the gate takings.

Sproules defection is really sad for all of us who love SANFL. 25yo force in our comp, and he heads off to a lesser comp.

Certainly in disarray. Leading into the Cup, its been a dogs breakfast, giving a whole heap of guys a chance to prove themselves worthy of a spot on the squad, but all this has done has shown up our lack of depth, and in the meantime robbed some of our core players of opportunities to get into some sort of form.
With the WC around the corner, Warner is the only player who would be happy with his form.
Conversely, Green has surely put himself out of contention. His progress in the last 6 months has been alarming.

Which is way too slow. Batting for himself like Hunt.

Bit harsh. Steve Smith did run a ball centuries for years for Australia at No.3. Agree Hunt was way too slow. McSweeney similar style to Drew. Difference was we don’t have an Ashton Turner type to score 80 off 40 balls.

Actually Jake L was the only batsman who looked like he could provide that knock. A short stint, but he pulled out a couple of cracking shots.

Chased with a lot better method than when we were set a similar total 6 months ago in the Final.

Thornton was horrible.

This innings proves Marnus must be in the squad. As much as he and Smith play similar roles, we have to play both because our middle order is absolutely pitiful. Carey has only passed 20 once in this batch of 8 games, Green shouldn't even be selected in the 15. Maxwell is a risk selection and Hardie Stoinis and Inglis hardly inspire.

Grace has never played reserves in his 3 years of SANFL.

Oh sorry....thought he got dropped at one point this season. My mistake, not in the loop as i once was.

I would still guess that its a fair chance that he lives at 'that' Prospect house.


In WHUFCs defence fans had Grace on the chopping block midway thru the season.

I don’t believe grace has missed a game in his time at the club.

Tough one who would you prefer to lose Grace or Lange ??

It's fair to say neither has fulfilled their potential despite both being around 25 years of age.
Grace always looks like he could tear a game apart, but apart from his excellent Elimination Final effort, he didn't actually hit his straps averaging 8 possessions a game.
Lange also doesn't win much of the football but has the ability to turn a game on its head in 20 minutes. A genuine match winner.
I reckon he has actually impacted on results more than Grace, so I would prefer to keep him.

Andrew Moore and Aaron Young outs for North.

Have they said where they are going??

Crystal Brook players saying Campbell Coombe is a done deal to them this year.

I don't know where they are going, but Andrew Moore is 32 and Aaron Young 31, and both had injury interrupted years so I would be surprised if they went to another SANFL club.
I have heard the Campbell Combe rumour for some time but there has been no announcement as yet.
With Cameron Craig and Jesse White already announcing their retirements, North will be fielding a much younger side next year.
There should be room in the Salary Cap for some quality recruiting.

Thats the positive right there.
The negative is the SANFL will continue to be poorer for the loss of these types of quality players.

southernbulldog wrote:Northerner are you certain that will be the case ?

Yep, no guarantee they will play for us, but they won't be playing against us.

And happy to report that Grace, Munn and Lange will be here in 2024.

First round of Shield cricket and Bancroft (ahead of Edwards and Neser) would have the biggest smile of anyone, with a perfect start in the audition for the Aussies upcoming vacant openers spot.
And if you haven't checked out his short leg catch of Sutherland yet, make sure you do.

Carey is done and dusted.
And not just in ODI.

Has not been comfortable since he made a decision to stump Bairstow.
The spotlight has not suited him.

Inglis must play ASAP

Centrals unveiled a prospective recruit who was at the Presentation Night. 23yo Jake Gasper, a goal scoring 183cm fwd from Pt Melbourne in the VFL.
In a nice twist, the last potential recruit to attend a Presentation night to check out the Club was Harry Grant in 2020.

Must win tonight, if we are going to have any impact in this tournament.

Surprisingly, it's not our aging group that's the issue. The underperformers are lads who all should be hitting their prime.
GREEN who doesn't deserve to be in the squad let alone the XI.
CAREY suffering from a potentially career destroying case of Post Bairstow Stress Disorder
CUMMINS been a long time since he has bowled that unplayable jaffa he was capable of
ZAMPA his form has tapered drastically in 2023.

Looks like Green out Stoinis in, out of form replacing out of form :D
At least Stoinis makes his 12 off fewer balls than Green does!

Carey also dropped. He and Green have certainly been given more than enough chances.

Australia win the toss and elect to bowl.

Zampa would be the worst fielder in an Australian side in many years. The Tufnell of Oz

Recently had a look at the museum in the Clubrooms, as well as the photos kept in the Peter Vivian Room under the grandstand.
Well worth a look.
A great initiative which I was unaware of was that patrons could become a "Friend of the Museum" for $20 a year which supports the work done by the Heritage Committee. This also includes receiving copies of an excellent Bi-annual magazine which includes brilliant articles on a range of topics and personalities. All the inside info on everything from players of the pre 1964 era to the SANFLW premiership.
A call through to Kirsty at the Club will get you in the door.
Thank me later!