Training 2024 Pre-season training

[Bulldogs Legend]

I thought the the trade was fine given the Croft situation, and Sanders in isolation is a fantastic talent.

The only issue is that he will be playing for tassie in 4 years time.

I read that article about his dad being 'football royalty' in tassie and it just underlined it. His family will be in his ear and the AFL will be writing blank cheques for these lads, particualrly Sanders given his professionalism and obvious leadership qualities. Lets get real.

So he needs to hit the ground running (tick) and become a top 3 mid at the club in that time, and we need to extract a kings ransom for him when he does go. none of this "one 1st rounder following your current 1st rounder" bullshit. If the compo is calculated on the contract, we call the AFLs bluff and offer him 1mil+ for 7 years or similar.

Yeah nah Tassie is where you retire too

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Seems a pretty good bloke, Lobb. Couldn't stand him at GWS, but that was largely because it felt like they were going to steal something we had been waiting for for so long.

On SM-G990E using BigFooty.com mobile app

It’s mandatory to hate everyone and everything about GWS. serving up shitty cider in the 2nd half of the Prelim is not something you can ever forgive.
You are right though he doesn’t seem such a bad bloke now he is with us

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Yes you are overestimation Harmes. his form dropped at Melbourne from being a regular solid contributor to not getting a game. My mum and brother are Melbourne supporters and vouch for this.

Can he turn it around. Yes as you say he is still young and a fresh start can do that. I'm sure he will play round 1 and play well early, most do. His challenge will be to maintain that form for the whole year. Lets hope so, yet as the year progresses, he may be fringe 20 to 25 range.

He was op about his mental issues last year and hopefully that is behind him now as he can play a vital role for us

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

It's a great time of year. Every list is chock full of AA candidates. Problem players have turned it around. New arrivals have plugged all the holes in the list. Everyone is training the house down and the pundits are writing up every team as if they are likely finalists. It sells papers and gets plenty of clicks.

Then Round 1 arrives and reality sets in for all but a very small handful of clubs.

I'm hopeful, as I am every year, but that's about as far as it goes.

We are going to crush everyone and everything on our way to the 2024 Premiership!

 

[Graeme Cook]

Overestimating the goals but he should be a very significant upgrade on Baker/Poulter on a wing and is more than capable of taking minutes in the middle/being thrown to lock someone down

Very good get for essentially nothing

Even though our last 5 rounds was disappointing Poulter was standout with his 2 way running and this pre season this year has been outstanding a certainly for round 1.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Early days but there is going to be a few unlucky players come round 1.

 

[X_box_X]

Early days but there is going to be a few unlucky players come round 1.

Oliver will be one of them.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

Even though our last 5 rounds was disappointing Poulter was standout with his 2 way running and this pre season this year has been outstanding a certainly for round 1.

I wouldn't say he was a standout, just that he was good enough to cement his spot on a position that we'd had been playing musical chairs with and we'd also seen Baker's form slowly decline over the course of the year. He still got very lost and played a bit kamakaze, his kicking inside 50 was a nice point of difference but there were plenty of times that the opposition were able to move the ball well because he was running around a bit cluelessly.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

We weren’t going to beat GWS at Marvel either. They would have carved us up in a indoor track.

Also, I don't understand the idea that we're selling off some sort of home ground advantage. We have far more familiarity with the stadium (as opposed to Docklands, where our opposition and their players have played numerous times in their careers), and have much more one-sided, closer-to-the-action fan support than the opposition than at Docklands, while the opposition had extra travel tacked on.

Hawthorn have traditionally enjoyed a home ground advantage at Launceston for that reason.

Sure we have some players that maybe haven't played a heap at Ballarat, but keep in mind that opposition teams often have half a team that have never played there!

 

[NthBondiDoggies]

Can anyone give us an update on the wings.

We started last year with Trelor or Smith on a wing - both stars but didn’t really become star wingers. Though Smith played some great games where did provide the width and run we missed. Trelor was good also but better inside. Both are more valuable in the guts.

Bevo knows this and so rotated Baker - who had some great games but was just that bit off in driving the play and while he kicked goals was not great at hitting up our forwards. He seems to have fallen out of favour?

Williams was steady but kept dropping back to defence and some sweeping across the HBF - is really professionally doing what the team wants but is a natural contested player as a defender or originally inside - is so like Red just not quite as good - less speed and in the air and so didn’t really stamp himself on the wing position - again kicking goals but not consistently setting up and often kicking too late and then too high and deep. Only Bont and to a lesser extent Trelor lowered their eyes at speed to advantage leading forwards. Is he playing the pre-season on the wing or HBF?

So not settled all year we finished last year with Poulter coming along nicely and starting to use his traits with more confidence. Is he showing any signs of continuing this improvement.

This year Bedendo and Freijah come into the mix - both have size and run - how are they going to - would be great to not just be serviceable but have a weapon there.

There is also talk of Gags but mostly as an inside mid.

O’Driscoll was brought in for his speed but seems the thinking is small forwards where Charlie and Artie still have questions - besides has been killed by Williams and needs to get some bulk on him.

I like Daniel playing there and his does start a fair few CBs in that position but then seems to float inside rather than spread outside.

He has arguably the best tank in the team with record level beep and we see at the game he is the one always back first. He his height gets exposed and teams will try and suck him into one on one defence but if he has run it doesn’t matter and is the smartest kick in the team.

Then there is the mystery man - McNugget? Still not quite sure where he fits but Bevo has string belief in him so???

 

[stefoid]

Yeah, the wings. Biggest mystery for the team. So many average options.

Daniel? I mean, his ability to read the play and disposal <40m cant be questioned, but has zero aerial ability. Has had more midfield time recently, which is a plus. What is that really lets him down? Ability to cover the ground at speed perhaps with those little legs?

 

[doggies ftw]

I was quite vocal in not being a Poulter fan last year, he definitely improved towards end of the year though. The reports from preseason have been promising especially around his disposal, I mostly hate his loopy short kicks when he obviously has a penetrating leg when he wants to - sounds like he’s been working on lower and harder kicks which would be a massive improvement.

Sounds like he’s in line for round one so I hope he takes his chance - don’t have massive faith in that happening but we’ll see

 

[Tandy]

Really impressed by Weightman. Gives a bit of an insight to him as a person and professional.
Came across really likeable. And bigger than I thought! Great content by the WB media team.

 

[Frewy]

I was quite vocal in not being a Poulter fan last year, he definitely improved towards end of the year though. The reports from preseason have been promising especially around his disposal, I mostly hate his loopy short kicks when he obviously has a penetrating leg when he wants to - sounds like he’s been working on lower and harder kicks which would be a massive improvement.

Sounds like he’s in line for round one so I hope he takes his chance - don’t have massive faith in that happening but we’ll see

I hope he can hold down a spot in the 22 this year permanently. He's a good size at 194 cm and if he can take that wing/mid rotation role and make it his own then we should see less magnet rotation this year.

When I looked at our side before trade period I was extremely worried about how many best 22 locks we had to improve our bottom six. I'd be feeling a lot better if I could put Poulter, Coffield, Harmes and Sanders on that board to start the season, even with the Smith ACL I'd probably consider that a slight upgrade or at worse evens because it looked like we were going backwards.

 

[ScragCity]

Bramble will cover both wings. Kid can run.

 

[NthBondiDoggies]

I hope he can hold down a spot in the 22 this year permanently. He's a good size at 194 cm and if he can take that wing/mid rotation role and make it his own then we should see less magnet rotation this year.

When I looked at our side before trade period I was extremely worried about how many best 22 locks we had to improve our bottom six. I'd be feeling a lot better if I could put Poulter, Coffield, Harmes and Sanders on that board to start the season, even with the Smith ACL I'd probably consider that a slight upgrade or at worse evens because it looked like we were going backwards.

Agree

Over the off season we lost Smith who didn’t have a great season last year but is a star.

But we also add to our Best 22

Internally likely:

• Darcy - if fit our game he could be a big add
• Khamis (he improved out of sight in the VFL from exciting to very consistent) though may be him or Coff
• VDM as a defender (JJ seems like a recruit)
• West and Daniel playing inside
• Artie is he can be more consistent

High potential:

• Gags is really showing something
• García if he can stay fit
• Bedendo if he can stay fit

Externally:

Mid: Harmes, Sanders
Def: Coffield, Bramble
Forward: no best 22 unless you count Harmes as a forward. Clarke was added last year and may come through.

So each line should get better:

Forwards: Darcy, Artie/Clarke, Bedendo
Mid: Harmes, Sanders, Garcia
Backs: Coffield, Khamis, Bramble, VDM

Next year we get:

Forwards: Clarke, ODriscoll, Croft
Mid: Gags, Freijah and hopefully Smith
Def: Busslinger, Cleary

 

[Northernsoul74]

Bramble will cover both wings. Kid can run.

Is he training yet?

 

[grassman75]

What a ******* joke. They play games there already. They say they want to represent Western Victoria, hence embracing the name Western Bulldogs. Do they realise Victoria goes further west than Ballarat?

Gee even I got to see a training session in the pouring rain.

stiff

Maybe they’ll come down to Hamo one day mate

 

[grassman75]

Surely the Big Pineapple would be the place to go

Nah, it’s s**t

 

[willofwest]

Is training on this Friday at Whitten Oval?

 

[Bulldogs85]

For anyone that lives down that way this may interest you

 

[doggiesin08]

Who are we giving credit for the improved content from the club this pre-season? Could this possibly be driven by our president, you know the one who works for one of the largest content publishes in the world, or is this too big of a leap?

 

[ScragCity]

Who are we giving credit for the improved content from the club this pre-season? Could this possibly be driven by our president, you know the one who works for one of the largest content publishes in the world, or is this too big of a leap?

Where was she in the previous years when our content was non-existent? Did she just wake up from a coma this preseason?

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Where was she in the previous years when our content was non-existent? Did she just wake up from a coma this preseason?

I dunno, looking at our content vs other clubs and it seems like we're still asleep at the wheel.

 

[DueWest]

For anyone that lives down that way this may interest you

Maybe Kane Cornes can go and interview Bevo