What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread

[More Bulldog]

surely stringer got the rising star...when does it come out

Split round so won't come out until next week

 

[Dogs Rule]

surely stringer got the rising star...when does it come out

Is he still eligible?

 

[themightydoggies]

he only played 9 games last year??

 

[Igloo]

he only played 9 games last year??

10, but still eligible.

 

[timtamWB]

He played 10 last year, but you have to have played 10 or under, so he's eligible.

 

[Trent85]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-unusual-suspects-helping-the-western-bulldogs-get-better-20140721-zvcle.html#ixzz38AB2Dsw9

The Bulldogs won't make the eight, and still have some gaps to fill. But they are evidence that teams can evolve throughout seasons and don't necessarily keep playing the way they played in round three, four or five. Sides that start the season needing to get better might just need time to make people see what it is they've been working on, particularly those that are feeding games to a large group of kids.

Ryan Griffen plays well all the time, Bob Murphy is as light-footed as ever and the Bulldogs are not a team of babies, but since round 13 their under-22s have made their team a better one. Jake Stringer has kicked nine goals, five against Essendon on Sunday, to be leading the goalkicking in that six-week period. Marcus Bontempelli sits second with nine goals, has kicked the ball inside 50 more times than any other player (28), and developed a habit of handling very big moments with very little fuss.

Jack Macrae followed his 43-possession game against Gold Coast with 32 more touches on Sunday, and is leading the club for disposals, kicks, marks and uncontested possession in the last six rounds. That he has held the spot McCartney indicated was vulnerable before the Geelong loss indicates his willingness to keep working on other things.

The form that made Tom Liberatore one of the competition's best young contested ball winners means you can remove the word "young" now. He's led the club for contested possessions, clearances and tackles since the Lions loss, with Mitch Wallis ranking fifth for tackles in that time.

It seems not that long ago that Luke Dahlhaus was the exciting baby Bulldog, the glimmer of hope. Don't let Bontempelli, Macrae and company make you forget about him: in the past six weeks he has led the club for score involvements and score assists, ranking third for tackles and scoreboard impact. Then there is Nathan Hrovat, Lachie Hunter, Jason Johannisen, with others still making their way in the club's VFL side ...

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-unusual-suspects-helping-the-western-bulldogs-get-better-20140721-zvcle.html#ixzz38AB2Dsw9

 

[Dogma84]

I wonder if the rate of development in the kids has even surprised Macca a bit

 

[cleveland]

I wonder if the rate of development in the kids has even surprised Macca a bit

Yep I reckon it has big time

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

I wonder if the rate of development in the kids has even surprised Macca a bit

I don't think so, even when we lost to Brisbane and Carlton he focused on the rate of development of the kids.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

I wonder if the rate of development in the kids has even surprised Macca a bit

I doubt it. Macca is the architect of their development. Say what you will of him as a game day coach, but he is widely acknowledged as a great teacher/developer of the yoof.

 

[lachy]

It's a strange things with development. Lots and lots of hard work that seems to take for ever. It begins to click and now it seems to have just happened.

Put the time and resources into quality players and it will happen as long as you don't take shortcuts, have kneejerk reactions to short term issues and above all be persistent, consistent and patient

 

[TedDougChris]

I wonder if the rate of development in the kids has even surprised Macca a bit

Not sure, but we as supporters need to be mindful of the experiences of the expansion teams - it takes a few seasons to get all the kids playing consistently... Although I think Macca clearly understands this and will manage it appropriately..

 

[BRG93]

http://www.sportsfan.com.au/falling...-bulldogs/tabid/91/newsid/138259/default.aspx

It's easy to forget about the Bulldogs sometimes. Victorian teams dominate the AFL competition to such an extent that one or two can slip through the cracks of public perception. For the better part of three seasons, it seems as though Dogs have gone about their business largely undisturbed.

This isn't a negative – quite the contrary, the Dogs haven't had to deal with messy break-ups with coaches like St Kilda and Melbourne, or the blowtorch now being applied to Richmond and North, or the constant rumour and speculation that haunts Essendon.

So we'd understand if rusted-on fans are feeling a little leery of the sudden dose of good cheer being poured out at Whitten Oval. For a club not used to the spotlight, effusive praise of players still in their teens and proclamations of coming greatness must be slightly disorientating.

Both major Victorian newspapers ran positive articles about the Dogs over the weekend. During Monday night's broadcast of On The Couch, Gerard Healy announced that he was more impressed with the Bulldogs than any of the weekend winners and suggested newcomers to the sport should be jumping on the bandwagon. Wayne Carey added his two cents on radio, salivating over the young talent now coming to the fore.

Supporters have a right to be wary of the good news. For one thing, more than a few false dawns have arrived and receded into the distance in the 60 years since the club won their only premiership. That sort of long-term famine tends to test faith and bind fans against outsiders. Plus, it wasn't so long ago that some of the same people now praising the Dogs were wondering how much more goodwill Brendan McCartney should be afforded.

McCartney has his critics as a match-day coach, but his reputation for working with youth and moulding young men into footballers and model citizens is almost without equal in the AFL. If the Bulldogs have flown under the radar, some of this might be explained by the commonly held assumption that all they really needed was time. Time and a good key forward.

It bears remembering that we're still yet to cross the halfway mark in McCartney's rebuild. The coach has previously urged that the Dogs need to be judged on their consistency within games and their ability to play the way they want, not in individual (or overall) wins and losses. The club may have lost 11 games so far this year but five of those have been by fewer than 14 points. The improvement is there for those who look for it, and the glimpses of hope the Bulldogs betrayed in 2013 are beginning to materialise. Fans might hate to hear it, but the groundswell of affection for the Dogs is becoming contagious.

It's hard not to admire the club from a distance. They've had to do it the hard way after three straight preliminary finals exits, bottoming out at an inopportune time with the expansion clubs still clogging up the drafts and hogging the top picks. They were forced to draw from the well again with picks they received for Brian Lake and Callan Ward, two players who'd still be in entrenched in their best 22 today. They haven't wallowed in the depths or tried to prolong the inevitable with silly spending. And they've made the hard calls when needed – like telling Daniel Cross that his spot needed to go to someone with a bigger part to play in the club's future.

Mostly though, they've recruited beautifully. In hindsight, the 2012 draft might as well be dubbed 'the time the Dogs schooled everybody'. Jake Stringer, Jack Macrae, Nathan Hrovat and Lachie Hunter in four moves – they couldn't have done any more with their opportunities. Add to that rookie list finds Luke Dalhaus and Jason Johannisen, a dose of good fortune in Tom Liberatore and the bold choice of raw 192cm midfielder Marcus Bontempelli over James Aish last November. Sharp recruiting is the only way to accelerate a rebuild and the Dogs haven't erred at the draft table for four years.

Plus, the Dogs have to be among the most likeable sides in the competition. Their list is as talented as it is inoffensive. They're not laden with divers, or head-duckers, or whingers or huge egos. They have an attractive game-plan, a working-class ethos and they play the game in a good spirit. At the top, McCartney is approachable, affable and respectful of his players, the opposition and the media.

Still, it's just as foolish now to pump up the Dogs as it was to knock them after the loss to Brisbane in round 12. Words don't matter, only actions, and the Dogs will be lucky to do better than equalling last year's 8-14 record with games against Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Sydney still to come. Defeating an opponent the calibre of North or Hawthorn would certainly crank the hype machine up a gear, but in the short term it would be meaningless at best and harmful at worst.

The media are often in a rush to declare the next big thing (some of the commentary regarding Port Adelaide earlier this year seems a tad hasty now) and many young sides have come undone after being subject to prematurely raised expectations. The Bulldogs still need time – another two years, realistically – before they start to peak. Until then, who could blame fans for wanting the club to remain under the radar?

 

[fronkalicious]

Thats a hell of an article. Love it.

 

[immortalmike]

Great article. But can we get a moratorium on the one and only premiership being mentioned in every article written about us. Firstly, it's wrong. It's either ten flags or none. If you can count your flags from when there were three teams in the league we can count ours from a more competitive league. Secondly, literally everyone knows that we won our only VFL flag in 54. It's just lazy and unimaginative to keep writing about it.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

I concise summing up of what most rational posters on this board have been saying for much of the past 18months. I smell a lurker...

 

[Scary_Foot_9]

I like the article but it refers to Marcus Bontempelli as a raw midfielder. Raw midfielders don't tear the TAC Cup apart and are considered top 10 material, he was at least partially cooked.

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Article on Honeychurch in this week's Knox Leader, about his draft experience and progression.

A few nice words from the man himself and the Eastern Ranges 'talent manager' or something, Anthony Parkin.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Hope this works, iPad hopeless for posting links

leader.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx?cid=6861

 

[Dogma84]

I doubt it. Macca is the architect of their development. Say what you will of him as a game day coach, but he is widely acknowledged as a great teacher/developer of the yoof.

No doubt he's the man with the plan. I just think the impact that our young blokes are having as a collective, has come a bit quicker than even BMac might have predicted.

 

[dogwatch]

Hope this works, iPad hopeless for posting links

leader.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx?cid=6861

no joy

 

[ThirdLegUp]

I found it, here ya GOOOO

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Good man. I should make that my profile picture.

 

[fargy]

no joy

Copy link into browser and it comes up in sport section

 

[dogwatch]

Copy link into browser and it comes up in sport section

No it doesn't, but no big deal. I can live without it.