Analysis Bulldogs 2020 - What to expect?

Jul 25, 2019
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Well Carlton have zero

Oh well I know you are trolling now. Bye
Their only good player, Johansen, hasn't shown up since 2016 grand final

JJ still got one more premiership medal than Fremantle will ever have in their entire miserable existence

Honestly, is this bay 13 ? I thought this thread would be a thoughtful and interesting discussion about one of the league's most enigmatic/hard to read teams,instead it's full of trollswithout anything meaningful to add but childish slurs.
 

GoldStandard

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Oh well I know you are trolling now. Bye

JJ still got one more premiership medal than Fremantle will ever have in their entire miserable existence

Honestly, is this bay 13 ? I thought this thread would be a thoughtful and interesting discussion about one of the league's most enigmatic/hard to read teams,instead it's full of trollswithout anything meaningful to add but childish slurs.
Same here, I thought this thread was for the discerning football fan.
 

Brass Dog

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Going to keep a keen eye out on that Tim English, If he develops and improves as hoped/expected in 2020, The Doggies will be a serious player, although Naughton will be a massive loss for them.

Naughton only did a MCL. He’s returning to the main training group soon so one would expect he’d be right for round 1. I’m also looking forward to seeing how English goes in 2020
 

lewdogs

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The thing I find interesting with the Dogs is that they have this crop of absolute gun players who all had very good seasons last year. MacRae, Dunkley and Bont were outstanding in 2019, Naughton aswell. I guess the obvious down guys were JJ and McLean who have previously been much better.

I guess what I'm wondering is where is the clear improvement coming from? Bottom line is they finished 7th last year, where is the improvement going to be to get them up to top 4?

I like the look of English, he'll be one to watch in 2020, and young Smith looks a good prospect although I'd be loathe to rely on a second year player. JJ and McLean hopefully will be better. But looking through the rest of their list, I don't know but it just looks pretty average to me.
 

Bulldog Joe

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The thing I find interesting with the Dogs is that they have this crop of absolute gun players who all had very good seasons last year. MacRae, Dunkley and Bont were outstanding in 2019, Naughton aswell. I guess the obvious down guys were JJ and McLean who have previously been much better.

I guess what I'm wondering is where is the clear improvement coming from? Bottom line is they finished 7th last year, where is the improvement going to be to get them up to top 4?

I like the look of English, he'll be one to watch in 2020, and young Smith looks a good prospect although I'd be loathe to rely on a second year player. JJ and McLean hopefully will be better. But looking through the rest of their list, I don't know but it just looks pretty average to me.
You don't see the addition of Keath and Bruce addressing some issues with talls?
 
Nov 29, 2018
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The thing I find interesting with the Dogs is that they have this crop of absolute gun players who all had very good seasons last year. MacRae, Dunkley and Bont were outstanding in 2019, Naughton aswell. I guess the obvious down guys were JJ and McLean who have previously been much better.

I guess what I'm wondering is where is the clear improvement coming from? Bottom line is they finished 7th last year, where is the improvement going to be to get them up to top 4?

I like the look of English, he'll be one to watch in 2020, and young Smith looks a good prospect although I'd be loathe to rely on a second year player. JJ and McLean hopefully will be better. But looking through the rest of their list, I don't know but it just looks pretty average to me.

We don't actually need to improve, we just need to go with what we were doing post bye. 4-7 became 8-3. We played 5 games against top 8 sides pre bye, 5 games post, so the fixture wasn't really easier we just changed how we were able to play.

Can also get some improvement from Lipinski, Bailey Dale, and Lewis Young to name a few.
 
Apr 30, 2019
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Top 4 team.
Having been at both games against the Giants at the end of 2019 and watched them most weeks on tv I see them needing to maintain intensity and they’ll be a very hard team to beat.
I hope to see the Giants and Bulldogs meet in the finals again in 2020.
One observation is there are a couple of Bulldogs who play for frees a little more than is necessary. This may hurt in finals when the umpires tend to put the whistle away, particularly when the heat is on and there’s a hint of ducking. I realise all teams have players who do this and think there’s a couple of Giants who can improve in this area too.
 

lewdogs

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You don't see the addition of Keath and Bruce addressing some issues with talls?
I really like Keath, expect him to be a great addition, but doesn't he have an injury at the moment? Might be a slow start for him. Personally I'm not a huge fan of Bruce and don't think he improves the side that much, but could definitely be wrong.
 
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Hawthorn did a similar thing with Sam Mitchell another player notorious for his skills, but not the most gifted
player athletically when they moved him to half back. Caleb Daniel has made the most of his football gifts
and he is a good footballer despite his diminutive size. I am glad he got drafted because he helps open the
eyes of the recruiters that all players don't have to be six foot tall. When i do best 22's he is usually on the
bench as i don't view him as a positional player or structural in anyway, but i admire his will to succeed and
his ability. They should bring back the tri-coloured helmet and ditch that stinky black one he has worn since
he was eight years old, could be marketing gold top seller at the Bulldog's shop.
Loved the old helmets.
imgres-1.jpg
 

Leon

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Am reasonably optimistic we will play finals again.

Our best last year saw us beat some top sides (Richmond, Giants, Geelong) but we also put in some shockers against struggling sides (Carlton, Gold Coast).

With the exception of the final against the Giants it was a promising end to 2019 so would be disappointed not to at least make the 8 again.
 

Tig017

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The thing I find interesting with the Dogs is that they have this crop of absolute gun players who all had very good seasons last year. MacRae, Dunkley and Bont were outstanding in 2019, Naughton aswell. I guess the obvious down guys were JJ and McLean who have previously been much better.

I guess what I'm wondering is where is the clear improvement coming from? Bottom line is they finished 7th last year, where is the improvement going to be to get them up to top 4?

I like the look of English, he'll be one to watch in 2020, and young Smith looks a good prospect although I'd be loathe to rely on a second year player. JJ and McLean hopefully will be better. But looking through the rest of their list, I don't know but it just looks pretty average to me.
Part of the reason they're getting hyped is their form in the final third of 2019. If they kept that up for most of the year, they finish 4th-6th.

Bailey Dale came into their side around that period and averaged like 3 goals a game. Pretty big difference when you consider just how bad their forward line has been for the past 3 years.
 

RichLeMonde

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Will have to finish higher than Collingwood, Brisbane and Geelong if they want a top 4 spot. I think they'll finish 5-6, win an EF, and scare the s**t out of someone in a SF. With some luck could beat a top 4 team that lost in the first week, like a Coll'wood, and make a prelim. 2021 will be a different story.
 

Bulldog Joe

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Will have to finish higher than Collingwood, Brisbane and Geelong if they want a top 4 spot. I think they'll finish 5-6, win an EF, and scare the s**t out of someone in a SF. With some luck could beat a top 4 team that lost in the first week, like a Coll'wood, and make a prelim. 2021 will be a different story.
What if they finish higher than Eichmond?
 

Virgin Dog

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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.
This is a very valid criticism of our current side. We have so many workhorses, but have lacked a bit of polish.

JJ and Bailey Dale are our glass cannon types - blow the game apart when left unchecked, but also prone to going entirely missing.

Bailey Smith has added a perfect mix of Grunt and Speed into the mix in our midfield, which should help long term. There's a few we've drafted in recent years who should make a difference too. Laitham Vandermeer has impressed many at VFL level, and looks a near clone of JJ at his best. Brad Lynch looked incredible at times during the back end of 2018, but went entirely missing in 2019. If we can get guys like that to force their way into the side, it makes us so much more threatening.

I can't see us going all the way if we entirely rely on guys like Dunkley, Hunter and Wallis getting the bulk of possessions. They are fantastic workhorses (particularly Dunkley and Hunter), but we need the finishers to really step up
 

Virgin Dog

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Top 4 team.
Having been at both games against the Giants at the end of 2019 and watched them most weeks on tv I see them needing to maintain intensity and they’ll be a very hard team to beat.
I hope to see the Giants and Bulldogs meet in the finals again in 2020.
One observation is there are a couple of Bulldogs who play for frees a little more than is necessary. This may hurt in finals when the umpires tend to put the whistle away, particularly when the heat is on and there’s a hint of ducking. I realise all teams have players who do this and think there’s a couple of Giants who can improve in this area too.
I think the GWS game exposed a serious issue with our side - the lack of experienced heads. We were more than 2 years younger on average than your boys, and missed Libba (basically the heart and soul of the side), and it really showed. Your boys completely exposed us and we had zero response to it. If we want to go anywhere in finals this year, that needs to change. Having Libba and Wallis back in the side would be a start, and hopefully having Bruce and Keath come in helps too.
 

RedWhite&Blue

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I’m thinking/hoping that the lesson that GWS dished out in the elimination final last year resonates with this young Bulldogs outfit and they learn from it. It could be the making of the team.
I think the form line ending last year will continue into this year and they will be a contender.
Addressed some key positional issues through trade (Bruce and Keath) and the draft (Weightman). I don’t necessarily think these new additions will be stars but structurally they will allow Bevo to play everyone in their best positions rather than plugging holes.
Would be disappointed if they don’t at least make a prelim.
 
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