Is our future bright?

[JJHunter]

Griffen will hurt short term, but losing a 21 year old future captain hurts more, and losing Harbrow hurts a hell of a lot more than Highins Jones Tutt combined. I'd even throw post 2008 Cooney in as well .

You must rate Harbrow very very high as a footballer.

Opinions are opinions but the fabric of the club hurts far more when all those guys leave in the manner they did - you see ward leaving for coin and Harbrow family/coin are not surprising.

But when your captain, Brownlow medalist and three other handy types leave after all being offered contracts or being in contract it says a far deal greater more about the club than when the other two left under more reasonable circumstance.
So maybe look at impacts beyond the on field- u also need to look at impacts at what vacuum is left behind and this offseason event leaves us with a massively young list - second in Comp for avg games played.
So have the opinion u want but you are being very dismissive of what's just gone down.
a number of sides had players go to expansion clubs but not sure any can say they had happen to them what happened to us this offseason.

 

[immortalmike]

The only issue I have is that Ward was playing in a stronger side at a comparable age and had a significant groin injury, but I think Macrae just pips him performance wise

Personally I think Macrae's second year is better and more consistent than anything Ward has ever produced. He also suits our current side far better. No brainer for me.

 

[Butane]

Agree. We need a player like Macrae way more than a player like Ward right now. 2 years after gaining Macrae I'd expect GWS to throw in a sweetener with Ward if they wanted to do a swap.

 

[Proffessor]

You must rate Harbrow very very high as a footballer.

Opinions are opinions but the fabric of the club hurts far more when all those guys leave in the manner they did - you see ward leaving for coin and Harbrow family/coin are not surprising.

But when your captain, Brownlow medalist and three other handy types leave after all being offered contracts or being in contract it says a far deal greater more about the club than when the other two left under more reasonable circumstance.
So maybe look at impacts beyond the on field- u also need to look at impacts at what vacuum is left behind and this offseason event leaves us with a massively young list - second in Comp for avg games played.
So have the opinion u want but you are being very dismissive of what's just gone down.
a number of sides had players go to expansion clubs but not sure any can say they had happen to them what happened to us this offseason.

I agree that the recent departures of Griffen, Cooney, and company says more about the state of the club than the Ward and Harbrow departures, but disagree that the latter were more reasonable departures.

I have more respect for players who leave for football reasons (to save their careers from being put to sleep by a bad coach), than those that leave for short term cash rewards. Ward in particular could have been a highly respected western suburbs celebratory who would have been well looked after financially by the Dogs in the long term. His loss as much as ours.

I haven't seen a lot of Harbrow since he left the club, but in my opinion he was not a huge loss. While he played a few outstanding games for us, he was regularly exposed defensively, and far too many of this dashes from defence resulted in the ball coming straight back for opposition goals. Far too often he took one bounce (or dodge) too many and ended up kicking it over the head of our leading forwards straight to their opponents. The disappointing thing is that we showed so much faith, and put so much time into developing him, but got so little return.

That's football, you win some you lose some. Let's focus on doing better now rather than worrying about past mistakes that we can't change.

 

[paul scholes]

You must rate Harbrow very very high as a footballer.

Opinions are opinions but the fabric of the club hurts far more when all those guys leave in the manner they did - you see ward leaving for coin and Harbrow family/coin are not surprising.

But when your captain, Brownlow medalist and three other handy types leave after all being offered contracts or being in contract it says a far deal greater more about the club than when the other two left under more reasonable circumstance.
So maybe look at impacts beyond the on field- u also need to look at impacts at what vacuum is left behind and this offseason event leaves us with a massively young list - second in Comp for avg games played.
So have the opinion u want but you are being very dismissive of what's just gone down.
a number of sides had players go to expansion clubs but not sure any can say they had happen to them what happened to us this offseason.

Okay let's call a spade a spade here. It's going to hurt us short term , no doubt.
Cooney is nowhere near the player he was in 2008, Tutt is an unproven player at the level. Jones is extremely inconsistent at the level, and Higgins left for more money ( as did Ward and Harbrow )
Yes Griffen's a big loss, but his best footy is probably only got 12 more months . I'm not dismissive of what went down, but it's time the decks were cleared and we have a blank canvas .

 

[paul scholes]

Personally I think Macrae's second year is better and more consistent than anything Ward has ever produced. He also suits our current side far better. No brainer for me.

Probably right , but Ward would have had less senior games and less midfield time in a better side in 09. He's gone and I'm happy with Macrae to be honest

 

[Scenester]

It seems as though I'm the only person who thinks this, but I have a feeling that next year will be a 1997 type season, where no one expects anything of the Bulldogs, but they go very, very well. And, I don't think this every year! Not at all. Usually, I'm pretty realistic in my expectations, in life, and for the Bulldogs. It's best to have positive expectations at this time of year anyway, but .... feel free to move this post to the 'red faces' thread after five or six rounds, if they haven't had a win yet!

 

[TempletonTheRat]

It seems as though I'm the only person who thinks this, but I have a feeling that next year will be a 1997 type season, where no one expects anything of the Bulldogs, but they go very, very well. And, I don't think this every year! Not at all. Usually, I'm pretty realistic in my expectations, in life, and for the Bulldogs. It's best to have positive expectations at this time of year anyway, but .... feel free to move this post to the 'red faces' thread after five or six rounds, if they haven't had a win yet!

I hope you are right

... although my memories of 97 PF are not ones I like to dwell on

 

[Scenester]

I hope you are right

... although my memories of 97 PF are not ones I like to dwell on

The season itself was incredible .... there was just one bad quarter .... one very bad quarter!

 

[BrockBlitz]

Pretty excited about watching a fair few dogs games next year. Love the core group of young blokes you've accumulated. They are all good to watch, much like the younger gen at port. The Griff boyd exchange I think is a win for you, might have been overs but it got you where you needed to be.

Any news of the Bont ? easily my fav young player, ashamedly I like him even more than ollie

 

[Testekill]

The season itself was incredible .... there was just one bad quarter .... one very bad quarter!

We have our own Jarman now.

 

[VitalDread]

We have our own Jarman now.

If he becomes half of what his uncles are
We will have a 100+ player

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Pretty excited about watching a fair few dogs games next year. Love the core group of young blokes you've accumulated. They are all good to watch, much like the younger gen at port. The Griff boyd exchange I think is a win for you, might have been overs but it got you where you needed to be.

Any news of the Bont ? easily my fav young player, ashamedly I like him even more than ollie

He's practically doubled in size. I don't know how he's doing it (I know it's not peptides, we can't afford them ), but he's positively monstrous. Hasn't lost any of his mobility/tricks, either.

It's exciting just having so many boys that knew each other from their U/18 days - Boyd and Honeychurch are inseparable, and Hrovat, Stringer, Macrae, Bontempelli etc all played with or against each other at that level. Even our recruit from Sydney, Shane Biggs, has walked in and been greeted by familiar faces in Tory Dickson, Lin Jong and Tom Campbell. We've lost a generation of players that came through together, but we're building another one. Hopefully they don't exit in the same manner

 

[Some Idiot]

You must rate Harbrow very very high as a footballer.

Opinions are opinions but the fabric of the club hurts far more when all those guys leave in the manner they did - you see ward leaving for coin and Harbrow family/coin are not surprising.

But when your captain, Brownlow medalist and three other handy types leave after all being offered contracts or being in contract it says a far deal greater more about the club than when the other two left under more reasonable circumstance.
So maybe look at impacts beyond the on field- u also need to look at impacts at what vacuum is left behind and this offseason event leaves us with a massively young list - second in Comp for avg games played.
So have the opinion u want but you are being very dismissive of what's just gone down.
a number of sides had players go to expansion clubs but not sure any can say they had happen to them what happened to us this offseason.

There's nothing reasonable about leaving for coin, despite the public opinion swaying that way.

 

[Yojimbo]

There's nothing reasonable about leaving for coin, despite the public opinion swaying that way.

Unless of course they are coming to the Bulldogs, i have a funny feeling
i read similar comments to yours on the GWS site.

 

[immortalmike]

Unless of course they are coming to the Bulldogs, i have a funny feeling
i read similar comments to yours on the GWS site.

Boyd wanted to come home. Nothing unreasonable about that. He just came to us because of the contract. He didn't leave for the money.

 

[Yojimbo]

Boyd wanted to come home. Nothing unreasonable about that. He just came to us because of the contract. He didn't leave for the money.

So you would be comfortable if we picked up a number one draft pick and
he broke contract after one year to go home because another club came
up with a deal that was too good to be true. Your spiderman mask has
twisted obscuring your vision somewhat.
Tom Boyd- 9 games 55 touches 23 marks 8 goals 3 behinds.
Joe Daniher- 21 games 237 touches 28 goals 20 behinds.
I wonder if Joe is being upgraded to the penthouse suite?
I am happy to get Tom Boyd and hope now that he has come to a club
with little competition for the key forwards he can feel more at ease with
his position in the best twenty two and play some quality football in time.
I am still in therapy over the off-season and my therapist says i must
stop typing now as my common sense is tingling.

 

[Beasley]

It seems as though I'm the only person who thinks this, but I have a feeling that next year will be a 1997 type season, where no one expects anything of the Bulldogs, but they go very, very well. And, I don't think this every year! Not at all. Usually, I'm pretty realistic in my expectations, in life, and for the Bulldogs. It's best to have positive expectations at this time of year anyway, but .... feel free to move this post to the 'red faces' thread after five or six rounds, if they haven't had a win yet!

We have a tough opening 5 games with West Coast, Richmond, Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney.

 

[Dazb86]

We have a tough opening 5 games with West Coast, Richmond, Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney.

If we can win 2 of those I'll be pretty happy. West Coast are hard to get a read on for next year, ditto Richmond and Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney should be reasonably strong.

I think next year we'll only start as favourites against 2 other sides.

 

[House_of_Dahl]

Boyd and Honeychurch are inseparable

This brings a funny mental image - Honey holding onto Tom's shins like a toddler.

 

[immortalmike]

So you would be comfortable if we picked up a number one draft pick and
he broke contract after one year to go home because another club came
up with a deal that was too good to be true. Your spiderman mask has
twisted obscuring your vision somewhat.
Tom Boyd- 9 games 55 touches 23 marks 8 goals 3 behinds.
Joe Daniher- 21 games 237 touches 28 goals 20 behinds.
I wonder if Joe is being upgraded to the penthouse suite?
I am happy to get Tom Boyd and hope now that he has come to a club
with little competition for the key forwards he can feel more at ease with
his position in the best twenty two and play some quality football in time.
I am still in therapy over the off-season and my therapist says i must
stop typing now as my common sense is tingling.

Firstly, that isn't a spiderman mask. Secondly, don't use my sig against me and especially don't use it incorrectly. And thirdly, I said it wasn't unreasonable for a kid to be homesick, we just gave him an out. SI was saying that a situation such as Ward's was far harder to take than say Harbrow's. At no stage did either of us say that we'd be comfortable or happy for a player to leave in similar circumstances to Boyd, just that it'd be more understandable than if it was soley about the money.

Next time actually read the posts before popping off, it would save us both the time and energy.

 

[JJHunter]

If we can win 2 of those I'll be pretty happy. West Coast are hard to get a read on for next year, ditto Richmond and Hawthorn, Adelaide and Sydney should be reasonably strong.

I think next year we'll only start as favourites against 2 other sides.

Hahahahaha
If we can get within 4 goals in two of those games I'll be happy

 

[Next Waiting]

Firstly, that isn't a spiderman mask. Secondly, don't use my sig against me and especially don't use it incorrectly. And thirdly, I said it wasn't unreasonable for a kid to be homesick, we just gave him an out. SI was saying that a situation such as Ward's was far harder to take than say Harbrow's. At no stage did either of us say that we'd be comfortable or happy for a player to leave in similar circumstances to Boyd, just that it'd be more understandable than if it was soley about the money.

Next time actually read the posts before popping off, it would save us both the time and energy.

Rookie mistake. Clearly a gimp mask. It's not your vision that's twisted.....

 

[immortalmike]

Rookie mistake. Clearly a gimp mask. It's not your vision that's twisted.....

No my gimp mask is....wait a second!

 

[bullish23]

Our future is pretty much dependent on Boyd. Thats the simple reality. It was a massive gamble to give up 3 top ten draft picks (which we would have ended up with) and put a rookie on a long term million dollar contract.

If he turns out at least Jono Brown good, we clearly are going to be ok. The others i.e. Bonts, Stringer, Macrae, Dahl, Hunter etc will stay for less then market value because we will be successful.

If boyd turms out to be say Kosi like, then we are in for many years of low table finishes, innuendo and potential disharmony.

I just hope the recuruiting staff have not gambled and are very confident in Boyd's ability. Then we will call it a masterstroke.