Wet Weather

by Pembleton

We don't see much wet weather footy these days. The reasons for this are tha a large chunk of our games are at Sponsor Dome, Australia has been in drought for quite awhile, there are no longer games on suburban grounds with dodgy drainage, and the MCG now uses drop in cricket pitches, which means we don't even get a boggy centre at games played their after some rain like we used to. Despite all of this, lots and lots of rain can still conspire to make a good old wet weather game in Melbourne, and at Sunday's game against North, if you squint just right, and ignore the lack of mud, you might be able to pretend that its some time before 1998, and the Dogs are in a typical slog at Western Oval*.

The point of this blog is not to romanticise about the days when we would spend an afternoon watching 36 grown men mud wrestle for the football. As we don't usually see wet weather games, i thought it would be timely to brush up on some wet weather footy fundamentals.

-Clean ball handling stands out more because it is more rare.
-Good contested ball winners are more valuable because the ball spends more time in contested situations.
-Hard work takes on even more importance, because of the increase in contested situations.
-As the ball moves around the ground slower, there is more physicality. There will be pack after pack of large groups attacking the ball. Hardened bodies that have the stamina to keep going for the full game are important.

So what does this mean for our game vs North?

-Players such as Akermanis and Higgins have the clean ball handling that make them potential match winners.
-West and Boyd will have a lot of work to do in the absence of Cross.
-The speed and slickness of Lynch and Harbrow could be a big bonus, and conversely their smallness could be to our detriment if they struggle to create space.
-It's a good game to have Chris Grant's clean handling, good disposal and large body back in the team.
-Despite the potential positives, the wet will favour North. It is a game where they will have huge motivation to work as hard as possible because of Archer's 300th, and beyond that, they pride themselves on being consistently hard working. They are also a team that has more 'hard bodied' players than we do.

It will be tough for Footscray to overcome North Melbourne on Sunday if the bureau of meteorology forecast is accurate for the next few days. A game in the wet against the team with 'shinboner spirit' in the 'shinboner of the century's' 300th game could be a defining moment for the '07 Bulldogs.

PS. If this game ends up being played in perfect conditions, making this entry obsolete, then blame the BOM (Check that link for the latest weather forecast).

*Now Whitten Oval ofcourse, but I was pretending its the old days.