Analysis Bulldogs 2020 - What to expect?

Tig017

Team Captain
Sep 3, 2019
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7th in 2019 after a strong finish to the year, but a disappointing finals.

Have arguably the best midfield in the competition with Bontempelli, Macrae and Dunkley, but question marks up forward and in defence. Are the additions of Keath and Bruce enough to propel them into the top 4?
 
Feb 5, 2018
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Expecting top 4 from the Dogs. Anything less than a semi-final with the talent in this group will be looked back as a bit of a disappointment.
 
Jan 9, 2009
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I think the Bulldogs are building towards being contenders for the foreseeable future. Their 2016 flag could be akin to the Hawks 2008 triumph in that it featured a lot of young guns who in later years began a dynasty.

Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae and Josh Dunkley are a super trio in the midfield. Their young talent including the likes of Tim English, Aaron Naughton, Bailey Smith and Cody Weightman(Just to name those selected with high picks) with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to come in 2021 would be the envy of a lot of opposition coaches. Josh Bruce and Alex Keath are nice additions to help sure up their tall stocks. Guys like Wood, Johannisen, Crozier, Hunter, Duryea, Suckling, Daniel, Lipinski, Richards, Trengove, McLean are a nice core group to support the elite talent. In three or so seasons time, the midfield of English, Bont, Macrae, Dunkley and Smith is going to be lethal delivering it forward to Aaron Naughton.
 

Yojimbo

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Torn at the moment, I have one set up with Naughton up forward with Bruce and I have one with Naughton
down back with Keath in preparation for the arrival of Ugle-Hagan. Pity I can't whack English in a time
machine, but apparently he could win Mr Universe at the moment going off the "Training The House Down"
pre-season reports. That Elimination Final against GWS Giants was our lowest volume game for the year
and that would not have gone unnoticed by the rest of the competition. The last time we had the Round 14
"BYE" was in 2016 for those who put on the left sock first, for those sock neutral folks never mind.
 

Lsta062

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Jul 15, 2014
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Injury withstanding, I am expecting a top 4 finish from them in 2020. I think it's hard for them to miss with that midfield and confidence that they built on towards the end of the 2019 season. I expect a minimum of 15 wins.
 

My Tilly

Premium Gold
Jun 30, 2018
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They seem to lack some class. They are very much a workhorse unit and grind teams down with their bash and crash style led by a batch of contested ball winners in midfield.
Apart from Johanissen, there's not much x factor.

I look at GWS and they have a lot of them.
Richmond have Martin and Rioli.
West Coast have Kelly and Ryan.
Collingwood have DeGoey and Stephenson.

If anything, the Western Bulldogs remind me very much of the Fremantle Dockers from 5 years ago where you had four or more 190cm+ mids, a superstar in Fyfe (Bontempelli), one star forward in Pavlich and then a team made up of tough nuts.
Not sure they have enough potency to win another flag.
Top four, they should be a very good show in 2020.
 

Catsnlakers

Even Hank Moody is in awe of Geelong!
Oct 2, 2016
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I think it's hard for them to miss with that midfield and confidence that they built on towards the end of the 2019 season. I expect a minimum of 15 wins.
I agree with them making the finals, it’s hard to see them missing...But the confidence point is an interesting one, because whilst they ended the H&A in good form, they were absolutely bullied in that Elimination Final....It will be an interesting watch in how they deal with that. Overall I have them in the 6-8 bracket with 12-14 wins.
 

Lsta062

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I agree with them making the finals, it’s hard to see them missing...But the confidence point is an interesting one, because whilst they ended the H&A in good form, they were absolutely bullied in that Elimination Final....It will be an interesting watch in how they deal with that. Overall I have them in the 6-8 bracket with 12-14 wins.
I put that down to fatigue in trying to make finals. When a team isn’t used to winning a lot and they suddenly do, they may not be able to keep going for long. That’s what I think happened and I don’t think it’ll affect them all that much. I think they’ll gain more confidence from that end stretch than being demoralised by the EF
 

Bulldog Joe

Premiership Player
May 23, 2008
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Not much analysis contributed, but I am quite optimistic about our chances.

The development of Aaron Naughton provides the x factor with his marking power. If he gets the goalkicking anywhere near right we will be very hard to beat.

There is also the growth from development in Tim English and Bailey Smith has made a brilliant start to his career.

We have also recruited well in adding mature bodies in Keath and Bruce to complement the emerging talent.

I am expecting top 4 at a minimum, providing the injury gods look after us.
 

Yojimbo

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Absolutely dodged the media bullet after their limp finals exit against GWS.
That performance certainly went under the radar.
My exhaustive end of season revue showed the writing was on the wall against the Crows in Ballarat in the
last round of the year even though we won the game easily, did we really win the game easily. Cryptic
yes, but this is not the "How to stop the Tigers in 2020 thread".
 

Bazza97

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Nov 17, 2016
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I think they are a team that could potentially have a period of sustained success in the next five years. Top 4 is realistic in 2020 however even if it doesn't quite click this year, I'm expecting them to be very hard to beat in 2021. I reckon they will become a very good team in the near future, quite possibly as soon as this season. For mine, there's a lot to like.
 

Final Siren

Mr Squiggle
Aug 18, 2009
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The Dogs have been fielding shockingly young teams for two years, which means they should be getting bucketed, but instead they managed to roar into the finals before a let-down on the road against a Grand Finalist. Tons and tons of upside, very capable of Top 4 in 2020 and/or 2021.

Ironically people are overlooking them because of the shellacking they copped from GWS in the Elimination Final, when the only reason the Dogs were expected to do better is that they smashed the Giants by 10 goals a few weeks before. So they were victims of their own success.

But the Giants were better than people thought, going on to defeat both Brisbane & Collingwood away, and it's not unusual for young teams like the Bulldogs to fall in a heap occasionally.

Take that out and it was a pretty handy finish to the year!

R19: def Fremantle by 47pts (Docklands)
R20: lose to Brisbane by 18pts (Gabba)
R21: def Essendon by 104pts (Docklands)
R22: def GWS by 61pts (Sydney Showgrounds)
R23: def Adelaide by 34pts (Eureka)
 

Hawk_francais

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Based on the last 5 years, they'll either massively underperform or massively overperform, or do both within the same season. They don't seem to have a middle ground.
 

Brass Dog

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Feb 19, 2019
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The Dogs have been fielding shockingly young teams for two years, which means they should be getting bucketed, but instead they managed to roar into the finals before a let-down on the road against a Grand Finalist. Tons and tons of upside, very capable of Top 4 in 2020 and/or 2021.

Ironically people are overlooking them because of the shellacking they copped from GWS in the Elimination Final, when the only reason the Dogs were expected to do better is that they smashed the Giants by 10 goals a few weeks before. So they were victims of their own success.

But the Giants were better than people thought, going on to defeat both Brisbane & Collingwood away, and it's not unusual for young teams like the Bulldogs to fall in a heap occasionally.

Take that out and it was a pretty handy finish to the year!

R19: def Fremantle by 47pts (Docklands)
R20: lose to Brisbane by 18pts (Gabba)
R21: def Essendon by 104pts (Docklands)
R22: def GWS by 61pts (Sydney Showgrounds)
R23: def Adelaide by 34pts (Eureka)
Love your work Final Siren with the squiggle. I think the age of the 22 being put out is often overlooked. However, it has really accelerated their development. That coupled with the fact that our list is more balanced with the addition of 2 older KPP players at either end of the ground, I reckon we’re primed for 2020.
 

Yojimbo

Cancelled
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The "Elephant" in the room.
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
The Dogs have been fielding shockingly young teams for two years, which means they should be getting bucketed, but instead they managed to roar into the finals before a let-down on the road against a Grand Finalist. Tons and tons of upside, very capable of Top 4 in 2020 and/or 2021.

Ironically people are overlooking them because of the shellacking they copped from GWS in the Elimination Final, when the only reason the Dogs were expected to do better is that they smashed the Giants by 10 goals a few weeks before. So they were victims of their own success.

But the Giants were better than people thought, going on to defeat both Brisbane & Collingwood away, and it's not unusual for young teams like the Bulldogs to fall in a heap occasionally.

Take that out and it was a pretty handy finish to the year!

R19: def Fremantle by 47pts (Docklands)
R20: lose to Brisbane by 18pts (Gabba)
R21: def Essendon by 104pts (Docklands)
R22: def GWS by 61pts (Sydney Showgrounds)
R23: def Adelaide by 34pts (Eureka)
You may want to compare the two teams the GWS Giants fielded in Round 22 compared to the Elimination Final
in relation to young teams and ponder the experience added. Don't lose that mirror it comes in handy at times.
 
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