Mdog, I believe that any dropped ball, unless it falls clearly behind the player losing possesion should be called as a knock on. Another pet hate of mine is the "flat pass". The rules clearly state that a pass is judged in relation to the direction of the player and not the ground " to a reciever BEHIND the player passing the ball. So if it floats forward due to momentum it's ok as long as it is passed in a rearward motion. With a "flat pass" the player is not passing it behind him and should be called forward.

I  rewatched the first 30 mins or so.

Marki's perception that we were excessively holding down Souths was wrong.

Sutton was blowing the pea out of the whistle determined to be the centre of attention with lots of 6-agains and penalties against us and Souths in the first 30.

A lot of the 6-agains against us were inside the 10 at our end, with souths getting lightening fast play the balls and no time at all to set our line.

We were the better side for the first 25 mins with a good mix of attacking plays.

What counted against us was - Burton tried a pass to Averillo which wasn't on, still relearning hiw to play 5/8, 1-2 of these per game.

Great kick from Burton  we drag the Souths fullback back into the in goal, the officials find a marginal offside.

Unforced drops from Jacko, Burton and Naden in quick succession shifted momentum.

Marginal penalty against  Flanno for hitting Cooks arm, first penalty of that type. A ref with any instinct for the game would understand why Flanno thought that the play was fair game, Flanno seemed square at marker.
I've seen players who were clearly not square get away with it.

Then the penalty against JMK for the sin bin, JMK might have been locked in, the penalty call itself was a lottery, the sin bin a total disgrace from a clueless ref with no instinct for the game.

Finally Naden dropped an intercept that he might have taken.

In summary, disgraceful refeering, some  poor dropped balls and bad luck. Wrestle had nothing at all to do with the momentum shift. 

Given past history, why the NRL thinks Sutton is a good option for a Dogs / Souths Good Friday game is beyond me.

We are officially LAST...... 16th place and don't desreve to be there.

Bloody Parra. Couldn't even beat the Tigers like they were meant to.

We dropped two winnable games early so maybe we do.

That TK is hard to take... they're all slitting their wrists and jumping off buildings. It is only round 6. Must be hard to be a Bulldogs supporter.

Seriously how long does the club give Barrett? .  The team are trying hard but don't seem to be any new strategy in attack . 

Pathetic.

IMO we are making progess, the attack is way better than recent years.

Defence and execution are costing us. These are things that coaching and practice can fix.

The game against the Storm was the only time we were out classed. Even then the Storm executed perfectly and made us pay for every error. Full credit to them, but they can't do that every week.

Mixed in with the good is the bad which is costing us games. IMO Gus and Baz are pinpointing what needs to be fixed.

We need a win to lift the teams confidence and improve our patience.
So what the team needs is genuine support from fans, not nervous nellies having a hissy fit and putting the boot in.

I say it again- pathetic.

Gus is apparently happy with Barrett.

Do fans commenting on our attack watch games?

The attack against Souths for the first 30 mins is in the top 5 of performances in recent years.
Backing up pretty good attack from the previous week.

In fact it is probably the best performances in attack back to back weeks for 8 years and against 2 fairly good defensive sides.

Replacing JMK as hooker and possibly moving Burton to the centres are the only options that will improve the attack next game.

Our defence is almost as bad as last year and way down on the average of the last 8 years.

Some players brought in to improve the attack weaken the defence e.g. TPJ and Duffty.

Replacing JMK is a start, I would even start Jacko off the bench as a middle. Burton is not a centre, leave him at ⅝ and Flanagan at ½.

I'm  not saying move him but Burton proved last that he is a gun centre.

He is relearning how to be a 5/8.

His positioning is mixed, his passing mixed and he takes 1-2 bad options per game costing us possession in good ball.

If we are patient he will come good, but if fans are impatient for some wins, Flanno and Wakeham are the best halves combination for the next few weeks. He can still kick in general play from the centres and his running and passing is currently more dangerous in the centres.

In the middle the issue is service from dummy-half and defence, we need another reliable high workrate defender in the middle, the options are Cook and Topine.

I would be tempted to start  Topine and have Wakeham play some dummy-half for the first 20 mins. Work over a group of defenders with repeated plays in the same area, that worked against Souths.

I am only expressing how I see it, everyone sees a different game.

Defence was pretty good when it was 13 on 13. We conceded 3 tries in that 10 minute period and had no ball. In the 2nd half our edges were completely fucked with the injuries before and during the game and we were gassed. But at some point you've got to stop making excuses and just win some footy games. We need to win at least 4 out of the next 6. 

What makes it worse is the sin binning was totally unjustified IMO.

The aim this season has to be to improve, winning is necessary to build confidence, but making the 8 from here is a long shot.

This season, particularly recent weeks we are starting games well. Then when the opposition siezes the momentum we find it hard to sieze it back.

Often dumb handling errors, poor decisions or bad missed tackles contribute to the momentum shift.

To win games we need to tidy up the errors and defend a bit better. Then with more ball we can post points.

A positive is Flanno, Burton,  Wakeham and Averillo are all improving.
Duffty, King and Vaughan have been good. TPJ good in attack.
Naden and Foxy are starting to play well, Tommo played well against Souths.

But on the edges we are sometimes too passive and up the middle players are clocking off in defence too often.
Tidy up the game, with more ball we should have more energy.

I can't guarantee anything, but turning the corner isn't impossible, we have the talent to compete with most sides.

Baz probably has 10 weeks, but he probably needs at least 3 wins. If Gus continues to back him, no problem. While Gus is more patient then most fans, he isn't afraid to make decisions.

We are definitely looking better than last year, and so we should with the new talent.  After 6 rounds Barrett should pretty well have his top 17 sorted. He now needs to pick and stick to allow combinations in attack and defence develop.

I have heard that Burton spent most of his junior footy in the halves, yes he does a cracker of a job in the centres but we need to be careful because if he doesn't want to be in the centres and is forced to play there, he'll be on the move out of Belmore, first opportunity.

I'm happy to keep him in the halves but the player is not bigger than the club or it all falls over. A bit like Mundine telling Bennett where he was going to play

I agree Mdog, they are not bigger than the team and while on contract they have to tow the line.

Looks like Burton is staying in the halves.
Only changes are logical, Schoupp for Burns, Wardell for Patolo.

Good chance to build combinations.

I hope Burton can improve his passing, should be getting plenty of practice.

Correct.
In 80mins of football, im sure you can find a couple or even 10 excuses why you couldn't win.

It's time players and coach stopped blaming everyone but themselves.

Agree.
His runs on the board are at left centre.
It's up to him to prove he is worthy of the 5/8th jumper

The players and coach are not blaming anyone else.

Fans are questioning the sin bin, it certainly shifted the momentum and maybe changed the result.

I think it's indicative of where we are at. Improving but not yet at a level where we can overcome setbacks.

This is what concerns me, the team we have on paper is almost a competent first grade side. They have played in other systems and are far from duds. We don't need improvement, what we need is for these players to understand and trust their new team mates, get off their lazy arses and play to their potential... you can only blame Barrett for so much after that it is committment from the players. If we get the spoon this year then that falls squarely on the players who were just taking the cash and not caring about the club, their team mates or the fans, which is exactly the same attitude displayed by Des and co when they were here. I think it is going to take a bit of time before we start getting players who are truly proud to pull on a Bulldogs jersey and will service the club accordingly. At the moment we are just a communal lounge where players come to make a bit of easy cash before thinking about their future while at the same time,  paying scant regard to ours.

This side has more attacking ability than we have had.

Flanagan has only been in the side a couple of weeks.

I understand why Baz started with Burton, Averillo and BBO, I might have done the same thing.
But Flanagan and Wakeham have added a lot to the side.

Defence wise, we can't expect Jacko to make all the tackles.
In the middle Baz need3 to think about how to improve  the defence.

On the edges players need to build combinations and work together.

Had we started in round 1 with this line up, we might be doing better now.

Mostly it looks to me like players are trying. The are making dumb mistakes which is probably a lack of patience and confidence. The lapses in defence are mostly  not working together and being too passive, again confidence is an issue.

Some wins will do wonders for our side. The first few wins are the hardest to earn.

In terms of the squad and coach, review it after round 10 and again after round 15.
The team has progessed and the cap is sorted.

Worst case, we need a new coach and a few more new players.
If he is available, Flanagan senior might be what we need, but no need to rush Baz out the door, give him a chance.

Flanno Sr…. No thanks!

Okay… bye now

Did you get a call from the dogs?

12 players unavailable, anyone who knows what a football is might get a run.

Covid is code for a bonding session with Dman pouring the drinks.

Can’t stand looking at Flanno’s fake white chops…. Must be the folks that live in the Shire!

Maybe Flanno went to the same place Dman got his butt lift

That comment about Dman reminded me of the good old days.

When we used to sing his praises, and celebrate his lack of virtue.