Some fun in bleak times - Bulldogs "teams of..."

footscray1973

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Listing all our indigenous players earlier today got me thinking about something I've wanted to post for years, and I actually found a file I've parked for a rainy (or pandemic) day!

So for a bit of fun, to lighten the mood, trigger old memories, and maybe make younger posters aware of past players forgotten in the mists of time, here are some composite teams with common backgrounds.

My (very fluid) rules:

Try to pick players who played well as Bulldogs, regardless of careers elsewhere (compromised in some cases by talent pool available).
Try to pick them in their pre-eminent position, if possible, or at least a position they occupied regularly in their career.
Bypass previosu rules on nothing more than my own whims.

#1 - Sandgroper Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

1593503640176.png


And my team:

B Wira Hamling Southern
HB Johannisen Rance R.Hargrave
C Daniels Featherby Ray
HF Sewell Naughton Hardie
F Penberthy Beasley Duperouzel
R Purser Williams Buhagiar
I/C Blair Quill Winmar Curley

Hardie played a few games with us forward, and a lot at the Bears.
Murray Rance (father of Alex) was a very capable swingman, and if he'd stayed a Dog, with Foster we would have had scary flexibility.
Southern, Hargrave, Penberthy and Blair give this team a very hard edge.
A very strong side on all lines, chock full of talent.
Lots of talent missed out - mainly on lack of Bulldog games played, Tim English could probably squeeze onto the bench, but side is already
very tall.
 

footscray1973

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May 17, 2004
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#2 - Croweater Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

1593504493124.png


And my team:

B Dent Lake Williams
HB Cox Young Koster
C Eagleton Griffen McMahon
HF Daniel Cousins Maylin
F Minson Welsh Huppatz
R Darcy Cooney McGuinness
I/C Waye Dayman Corcoran Tiller

Strong rucks, killer on-ball brigade, drops off a bit after that, with some glaring weaknesses.
Les Dayman (1930s) and Tom Waye came across in the era when VFL clubs were plundering other states.
Dayman is a grandfather of Craig McDermott.
 

footscray1973

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#3 - Apple Islander Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

1593504767992.png


And my team:

B Darley Jones Harrison
HB McGowan J.Rawlings Mansfield
C Towns S.Atkins Martin
HF Hudson Bartlett Davies
F Rait Cook Sherman
R Street S.MacPherson R.MacPherson
I/C Minton-Connell Williams Wiggins R.Rawlings

Lots of goal-kicking power, backline solid rather than exceptional, slow midfield.
Some hard heads (MacPherson brothers, Bartlett, McGowan).
3 interchange over 190cms, team moves like treacle!
Don't think Roy and Jade are related, unless anyone knows?
Rait the second greatest full forward in Tasmanian football history, but not tall enough to
edge out Cook for the key post.

Edit: obviously coached by Rocket Eade and Paul Wlliams!
 
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footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
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Pepperland
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Footscray
#4 - NT/Qld/ACT/NSW Allies Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

1593505227222.png



And my team:

B Harbrow Murrie Toohey
HB Addison Williams Anderson
C McLean Low Suckling
HF Bowden Coleman Duffy
F Wood Bruce Akermanis
R Bristow M.West Cross
I/C Djerrkura Minogue Hanson Young

Another team with great top-end talent, but drops away dramatically.
Again some hard heads (Murrie, Toohey, Addison, Coleman).
With Coleman and Bruce taking key defenders, Bill Wood would kick bags!
 
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footscray1973

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Nice effort.
You know you’re scratching when you have to include players like Tiller as an interchange.
... or Senator Hanson Young!

Tasmanian Mark Williams got on the bench as there were only 22 players too. North stitched us up throwing him into the
Dempsey trade. His knees were shot before he left Arden Street, not sure how he ever got a game tbh.

Omitting Tiller means bringing in Scott Bassett or Christian Howard!
(Was almost tempted to name Sachse and Riley as emergencies - those 2 should have had much longer careers with us, for very
different reasons. :( )
 
Oct 4, 2004
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Tasmanian Mark Williams got on the bench as there were only 22 players too. North stitched us up throwing him into the
Dempsey trade. His knees were shot before he left Arden Street, not sure how he ever got a game tbh.

Omitting Tiller means bringing in Scott Bassett or Christian Howard!
(Was almost tempted to name Sachse and Riley as emergencies - those 2 should have had much longer careers with us, for very
different reasons. :( )

Any chance getting a multicultural list together. Have to include players such as Kretiuk, Kolyniuk, Georgiadis, Z.Tzatsris, Grigic, Sedat Sir, Romero, Liber x 2 , Delre, Dimattina, etc etc
 
Tasmanian Mark Williams got on the bench as there were only 22 players too. North stitched us up throwing him into the
Dempsey trade. His knees were shot before he left Arden Street, not sure how he ever got a game tbh.

Omitting Tiller means bringing in Scott Bassett or Christian Howard!
(Was almost tempted to name Sachse and Riley as emergencies - those 2 should have had much longer careers with us, for very
different reasons. :( )
Sachse was pretty good wasnt he? Don't know Penberthy
 

footscray1973

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Any chance getting a multicultural list together. Have to include players such as Kretiuk, Kolyniuk, Georgiadis, Z.Tzatsris, Grigic, Sedat Sir, Romero, Liber x 2 , Delre, Dimattina, etc etc

Wow, set me a tough ask there! Being a child of post-war immigrants I'm loathe to classify people, but I've had a go based purely on my interpretation of surnames, without knowing many heritages (I excluded Luke Beveridge and Ed Richards even though they have known Greek antecedents). I also included a couple of my personal favourites, and tried to get a cross-section of nationalities, and eras, even if their career was fleeting!

B Zeno Tzatzaris Kevin Delmenico Richard Radziminski
HB Steve Kretiuk Lukas Markovic Jason Johannisen
C Steve Kolyniuk Jason Akermanis Tom Liberatore
HF Daniel Giansiracusa Robert Groenewegen Jose Romero
F John Georgiades Danny Del-re Tony Buhagiar
R Ilija Grgic Marcus Bontempelli Tony Liberatore
I/C Murray Zeuschner Paul Dimattina Algy Vosilaitis Charlie Pagnoccolo
Emer Sedat Sir Lin Jong Con Gorozidis Matt Byrachevski

Unlucky:
Allen Jakovich
Alby Smedts
Angelo Petraglia (how many Italian rovers can 1 team have?!)
Adam Contessa
Kym Koster
Ivan Rasmussen
Patrick Lipinski
Michael Talia
Bruce Duperouzel
Harry Skreja
Trevor Zeltner
Patrick Veszpremi
Jack DiNatale (see Petraglia!)
Joe De Medici (see DiNatale!)
Niels Becker
Robbert Klomp
Brenton Vilcins
Michael Svilar
Harry Frei
Angelo Tantsis
Mike Pokrovsky
Sam Phillipou
Tad Joniec
Frank Lesiputty
Charlie Zinnick (the only VFA-era rep!)
John Cuzzupe
Ben Cavarra

* apologies to any of these players who doesn't consider themselves multicultural, or any posters who take offense!

Edit: Kolyniuk started his career (wearing #59 if you don't mind) as a 16yo wingman, and Tom L just got squeezed to the wing because the old man was less adaptable!
 

footscray1973

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May 17, 2004
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While I'm at it, here's an indigenous side:

(a few liberties here, including Thorne, Tweedie and Berto who never played senior games, to make up numbers,
and get some height!)


B Harbrow Tweedie Berto

HB Koops Hamling McLean

C Djerrkura Stewart Goodes

HF Thorpe Jones West

F Bamblett Winmar Hill

R Skinner Stevens Krakoeur

I/C Stack Faulkner Lynch Thorne

Winmar could play FF, and even did for us in 1999 at Optus in one game, where he was one out out in the square first quarter.
Skinner ruck purely because of his leap!
Lots of skill, but would get pummeled in a physical game, or in wet weather.
 
Oct 4, 2004
5,410
8,759
Essendon
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Wow, set me a tough ask there! Being a child of post-war immigrants I'm loathe to classify people, but I've had a go based purely on my interpretation of surnames, without knowing many heritages (I excluded Luke Beveridge and Ed Richards even though they have known Greek antecedents). I also included a couple of my personal favourites, and tried to get a cross-section of nationalities, and eras, even if their career was fleeting!

B Zeno Tzatzaris Kevin Delmenico Richard Radziminski
HB Steve Kretiuk Lukas Markovic Jason Johannisen
C Steve Kolyniuk Jason Akermanis Tom Liberatore
HF Daniel Giansiracusa Robert Groenewegen Jose Romero
F John Georgiades Danny Del-re Tony Buhagiar
R Ilija Grgic Marcus Bontempelli Tony Liberatore
I/C Murray Zeuschner Paul Dimattina Algy Vosilaitis Charlie Pagnoccolo
Emer Sedat Sir Lin Jong Con Gorozidis Matt Byrachevski

Unlucky:
Allen Jakovich
Alby Smedts
Angelo Petraglia (how many Italian rovers can 1 team have?!)
Adam Contessa
Kym Koster
Ivan Rasmussen
Patrick Lipinski
Michael Talia
Bruce Duperouzel
Harry Skreja
Trevor Zeltner
Patrick Veszpremi
Jack DiNatale (see Petraglia!)
Joe De Medici (see DiNatale!)
Niels Becker
Robbert Klomp
Brenton Vilcins
Michael Svilar
Harry Frei
Angelo Tantsis
Mike Pokrovsky
Sam Phillipou
Tad Joniec
Frank Lesiputty
Charlie Zinnick (the only VFA-era rep!)
John Cuzzupe
Ben Cavarra

* apologies to any of these players who doesn't consider themselves multicultural, or any posters who take offense!

Edit: Kolyniuk started his career (wearing #59 if you don't mind) as a 16yo wingman, and Tom L just got squeezed to the wing because the old man was less adaptable!

Awesome job and I'm sure no one will be offended you have done this in the right spirit.

Some names there that I had forgotten.
 

footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
9,431
Pepperland
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
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Footscray

footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
9,431
Pepperland
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Footscray
Just on Sachse, he was a very handy player for North Adelaide and South Australia, probably too short to play CHB for us as he had at North, but a tough player.

1593516708955.png
 
Listing all our indigenous players earlier today got me thinking about something I've wanted to post for years, and I actually found a file I've parked for a rainy (or pandemic) day!

So for a bit of fun, to lighten the mood, trigger old memories, and maybe make younger posters aware of past players forgotten in the mists of time, here are some composite teams with common backgrounds.

My (very fluid) rules:

Try to pick players who played well as Bulldogs, regardless of careers elsewhere (compromised in some cases by talent pool available).
Try to pick them in their pre-eminent position, if possible, or at least a position they occupied regularly in their career.
Bypass previosu rules on nothing more than my own whims.

#1 - Sandgroper Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

View attachment 903339

And my team:

B Wira Hamling Southern
HB Johannisen Rance R.Hargrave
C Daniels Featherby Ray
HF Sewell Naughton Hardie
F Penberthy Beasley Duperouzel
R Purser Williams Buhagiar
I/C Blair Quill Winmar Curley

Hardie played a few games with us forward, and a lot at the Bears.
Murray Rance (father of Alex) was a very capable swingman, and if he'd stayed a Dog, with Foster we would have had scary flexibility.
Southern, Hargrave, Penberthy and Blair give this team a very hard edge.
A very strong side on all lines, chock full of talent.
Lots of talent missed out - mainly on lack of Bulldog games played, Tim English could probably squeeze onto the bench, but side is already
very tall.

Purser was elite. B&F winner in his second year.

Allen Daniels was a machine in our 1985 run. Came over late and such a shame he got injured and went home after just his second year. Super aggressive.
 
Wow, set me a tough ask there! Being a child of post-war immigrants I'm loathe to classify people, but I've had a go based purely on my interpretation of surnames, without knowing many heritages (I excluded Luke Beveridge and Ed Richards even though they have known Greek antecedents). I also included a couple of my personal favourites, and tried to get a cross-section of nationalities, and eras, even if their career was fleeting!

B Zeno Tzatzaris Kevin Delmenico Richard Radziminski
HB Steve Kretiuk Lukas Markovic Jason Johannisen
C Steve Kolyniuk Jason Akermanis Tom Liberatore
HF Daniel Giansiracusa Robert Groenewegen Jose Romero
F John Georgiades Danny Del-re Tony Buhagiar
R Ilija Grgic Marcus Bontempelli Tony Liberatore
I/C Murray Zeuschner Paul Dimattina Algy Vosilaitis Charlie Pagnoccolo
Emer Sedat Sir Lin Jong Con Gorozidis Matt Byrachevski

Unlucky:
Allen Jakovich
Alby Smedts
Angelo Petraglia (how many Italian rovers can 1 team have?!)
Adam Contessa
Kym Koster
Ivan Rasmussen
Patrick Lipinski
Michael Talia
Bruce Duperouzel
Harry Skreja
Trevor Zeltner
Patrick Veszpremi
Jack DiNatale (see Petraglia!)
Joe De Medici (see DiNatale!)
Niels Becker
Robbert Klomp
Brenton Vilcins
Michael Svilar
Harry Frei
Angelo Tantsis
Mike Pokrovsky
Sam Phillipou
Tad Joniec
Frank Lesiputty
Charlie Zinnick (the only VFA-era rep!)
John Cuzzupe
Ben Cavarra

* apologies to any of these players who doesn't consider themselves multicultural, or any posters who take offense!

Edit: Kolyniuk started his career (wearing #59 if you don't mind) as a 16yo wingman, and Tom L just got squeezed to the wing because the old man was less adaptable!
Awesome!

A commentators nightmare. Sir, Jong, Smedts, Klomp and Frei stand out for their monosyllabicism.

Harry Skreja the best-named to play for the pre-WB Footscray FC.

One question - wouldn't Irishman Stuart Magee qualify? He was a staunch player who became captain of the club late in his career.
 
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footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
9,431
Pepperland
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Footscray
I've now got myself thinking of teams with all sorts of selection criteria, but probably the only person they will entertain is me(!), so I'll post one more.

Bulldog Lefties (I know I've missed a few on the way through, in a bit of a hurry!), but hopefully picked up the obvious ones.

Selection list:

1593518408072.png
1593518428501.png


B Harbrow Salmon McGhie
HB Jillard Foster Hunter
C Macrae West Eagleton
HF Morrison Rance Brown
F McGuinness Naughton Liberatore Jnr
R Darcy Bont Liberatore Snr
I/C Smith Gallagher Georgiades Hudson

Too much talent to leave out! Hudson on the bench so Darcy can push forward.
Hunter HBF as there are too many midfielders, and who to leave out?
Maybe leave Gags out, Hunter to the bench and Matty Mansfield or Ben Harrison to HBF?

Unlucky:
Mansfield
Harrison
McGowan
Suckling
Murrie
Petraglia
Crameri
Bruce and Keath just not enough games - yet.
 
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footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
9,431
Pepperland
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Footscray
Awesome!

A commentators nightmare. Sir, Jong, Smedts, Klomp and Frei stand out for their monsyllabicism.

Harry Skreja the best-named to play for the pre-WB Footscray FC.

One question - wouldn't Irishman Stuart Magee qualify? He was a staunch player who became captain of the club late in his career.

One of the many combinations I'm tossing around is a team of players born o/s, but there's too many I'm not sure about, only definites would be
Magee, Romero and JJ!

My father worked with Stuey many years ago, said he was a top bloke. There's a great photo in the rooms after a game, I think with EJ, where Magee
is barely covering his bits with a towel, and nothing else!

You're right though, Magee should be in that team, maybe vice captain to Bont! (I inadvertently went the non-Anglo-Saxon angle, apologies.)
 
You've got it way too easy. How about bald players? (Have to have been bald while playing senior footy for the Dogs)

I'll kick it off ... Eagleton on the wing.

OK, now it's over to you.

B: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲
HB: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲
C: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲 Eagleton
HF: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲
F: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲

R: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲

Int: 👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲👨‍🦲
 
One of the many combinations I'm tossing around is a team of players born o/s, but there's too many I'm not sure about, only definites would be
Magee, Romero and JJ!

My father worked with Stuey many years ago, said he was a top bloke. There's a great photo in the rooms after a game, I think with EJ, where Magee
is barely covering his bits with a towel, and nothing else!

You're right though, Magee should be in that team, maybe vice captain to Bont! (I inadvertently went the non-Anglo-Saxon angle, apologies.)
Not sure Stuey would appreciate being implicitly labelled Anglo-Saxon. That's Irishist!
 

footscray1973

Premiership Player
May 17, 2004
4,998
9,431
Pepperland
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Not sure Stuey would appreciate being implicitly labelled Anglo-Saxon. That's Irishist!

Got me there again! I'm a bit of a stickler for those things myself, obviously the strain of composing ultimately meaningless composite sides has taken its toll! :) I will retire for the night, and fitfully dream of composing teams of Bulldogs with matching middle names, or perhaps of those who sported a mullet during their career. Or maybe all those born on Thursdays. So many combinations, and so little time!
 
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#4 - NT/Qld/ACT/NSW Allies Bulldogs (sorted by # of games played):

View attachment 903359


And my team:

B Harbrow Murrie Toohey
HB Addison Williams Anderson
C McLean Low Suckling
HF Bowden Coleman Duffy
F Wood Bruce Akermanis
R Bristow M.West Cross
I/C Djerrkura Minogue Hanson Young

Good work. You've missed Hahn in your team though.

Ben Hudson moved to Queensland from Victoria at the age of 8 (younger than what Aker did) before coming down to play for Werribee when he was 22. I think he should also be included which would greatly strengthen the ruck.

Lloyd (Deniliquin) and Duryea (Corowa) are also from NSW, as was the great Ed Barlow (Tathra).
 
Jan 1, 2015
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I've now got myself thinking of teams with all sorts of selection criteria, but probably the only person they will entertain is me(!), so I'll post one more.

Bulldog Lefties (I know I've missed a few on the way through, in a bit of a hurry!), but hopefully picked up the obvious ones.

Selection list:

View attachment 903565 View attachment 903566

B Harbrow Salmon McGhie
HB Jillard Foster Hunter
C Macrae West Eagleton
HF Morrison Rance Brown
F McGuinness Naughton Liberatore Jnr
R Darcy Bont Liberatore Snr
I/C Smith Gallagher Georgiades Hudson

Too much talent to leave out! Hudson on the bench so Darcy can push forward.
Hunter HBF as there are too many midfielders, and who to leave out?
Maybe leave Gags out, Hunter to the bench and Matty Mansfield or Ben Harrison to HBF?

Unlucky:
Mansfield
Harrison
McGowan
Suckling
Murrie
Petraglia
Crameri
Bruce and Keath just not enough games - yet.

I've now got myself thinking of teams with all sorts of selection criteria, but probably the only person they will entertain is me(!), so I'll post one more.

Bulldog Lefties (I know I've missed a few on the way through, in a bit of a hurry!), but hopefully picked up the obvious ones.

Selection list:

View attachment 903565 View attachment 903566

B Harbrow Salmon McGhie
HB Jillard Foster Hunter
C Macrae West Eagleton
HF Morrison Rance Brown
F McGuinness Naughton Liberatore Jnr
R Darcy Bont Liberatore Snr
I/C Smith Gallagher Georgiades Hudson

Too much talent to leave out! Hudson on the bench so Darcy can push forward.
Hunter HBF as there are too many midfielders, and who to leave out?
Maybe leave Gags out, Hunter to the bench and Matty Mansfield or Ben Harrison to HBF?

Unlucky:
Mansfield
Harrison
McGowan
Suckling
Murrie
Petraglia
Crameri
Bruce and Keath just not enough games - yet.

Hudson in Ruck, Darcy full forward Naughts to full back to eliminate Salmon at full back and bring Harrison into team. Or cheat and bring in Leon Cameron cos who would notice?


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