WallyStringhaus
Club Legend
- Aug 27, 2015
- 1,150
- 5,280
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
I am under no illusions that we find ourselves in a predicament at the moment but things can and will turn around very quickly.
Consider the following when judging this team;
We won a Premiership with a team with a total games experience of 1807. The last team to make a Grand Final with that much inexperience was the Dees in 2000 and they got beaten by 10 goals. Our boys took on a finals hardened team with 2500 games worth of experience, multiple Premiership players and outworked them on the biggest stage of all.
Look at the teams that were around us on the Ladder in 2013/2014;
Melbourne – Round 1, 2018 – 1851 Games experience
St.Kilda – Round 1, 2018 – 1801 Games experience
Carlton – Round 1, 2018 – 1832 Games experience
Gold Coast – Round 1, 2018 – 1762 Games experience
None of these teams have even played a final yet, let alone won the whole bloody thing! Why? Because history shows us that lists with that much experience sit around the mid to lower rungs of the ladder and are pushing to make the finals. We realistically should be lumped in with these teams but we managed to break the mould thanks to a very gifted senior coach and a playing group that ‘bought in’ and played some breathtaking footy at the most important time of the year. We broke the freaking system guys and we should always keep that in perspective.
In Round 1 our boys had played a collective 1510 games. With 500 less than what GWS had on the park is it any wonder we got belted? Same with yesterday, The Eagles had 12 guys with over 120 games played, we had 5 (One of which was in his 2nd game with us). It’s not a level playing field at the moment and the scoreboard is reflecting it.
The Contested Ball:
This is obviously the area where we have seen the biggest drop off but again, when looked at with a bit of perspective it’s easy to see why. Yesterday there were 11 players who had 3 CP’s or less…9 of them had a red, white and blue jumper on. Compare this with the finals series from 2016;
Vs WCE – 10 players under 4 CP’s – 4 Dogs (including injured Jong) and 6 Eagles
Vs Hawks – 8 players under 4 CP’s – 2 Dogs and 6 Hawks
Vs GWS – 6 players under 4 CP’s – 1 Dog and 5 Giants
Vs Swans – 7 players under 4 CP’s – 3 Dogs and 4 Swans
Our bottom end clearly isn’t holding as well due to a mix of inexperience or playing blokes to cover injuries who are just not up to it.
We are really missing some competitive beasts at the moment, if we look at the top end of the CP scale during that September run it becomes clear what we are missing;
Liber – 12, 12, 9, 15
Clay – 12, 9, 10, 8
Moyd – 9, 4, 5, 11
Picken – 9, 13, 11, 10
Toyd – 8, 9, 9, 9
These guys are proving not that easy to replace and nor should they, they are all gun footballers. I have confidence that Wallis can come in and fill a void but until Liam, Clay, Tom, Marcus and Dale get back to full health we will be up against it for a while.
Lots of people like to compare us to the Hawks of 2008 but I see us more like the Hawks of 2017. They lost some top end experience (Lewis/Mitchell, Murphy/Boyd), had some bad runs with injury and lost 3 of their first 6 games by over 75 points to sit 17th on the ladder with a % of 65. By the end of the year they sat a game and a half out of the finals and hit this season full of promise. We saw at the end of 2014 how quickly fortunes can change…it will change again. Bevo is a very smart man, he is sorting the wheat from the chaff at the moment to see who is up to it and who is not. I’d suggest that guys like Webb, Dale and Williams who have been on the fringe for a while, along with players such as Daniel, Biggs, Wallis, Red, Boyd and Dahl who should be on top of their games by now would want to lift and lift big time...Enjoy the ride fellas!
Consider the following when judging this team;
We won a Premiership with a team with a total games experience of 1807. The last team to make a Grand Final with that much inexperience was the Dees in 2000 and they got beaten by 10 goals. Our boys took on a finals hardened team with 2500 games worth of experience, multiple Premiership players and outworked them on the biggest stage of all.
Look at the teams that were around us on the Ladder in 2013/2014;
Melbourne – Round 1, 2018 – 1851 Games experience
St.Kilda – Round 1, 2018 – 1801 Games experience
Carlton – Round 1, 2018 – 1832 Games experience
Gold Coast – Round 1, 2018 – 1762 Games experience
None of these teams have even played a final yet, let alone won the whole bloody thing! Why? Because history shows us that lists with that much experience sit around the mid to lower rungs of the ladder and are pushing to make the finals. We realistically should be lumped in with these teams but we managed to break the mould thanks to a very gifted senior coach and a playing group that ‘bought in’ and played some breathtaking footy at the most important time of the year. We broke the freaking system guys and we should always keep that in perspective.
In Round 1 our boys had played a collective 1510 games. With 500 less than what GWS had on the park is it any wonder we got belted? Same with yesterday, The Eagles had 12 guys with over 120 games played, we had 5 (One of which was in his 2nd game with us). It’s not a level playing field at the moment and the scoreboard is reflecting it.
The Contested Ball:
This is obviously the area where we have seen the biggest drop off but again, when looked at with a bit of perspective it’s easy to see why. Yesterday there were 11 players who had 3 CP’s or less…9 of them had a red, white and blue jumper on. Compare this with the finals series from 2016;
Vs WCE – 10 players under 4 CP’s – 4 Dogs (including injured Jong) and 6 Eagles
Vs Hawks – 8 players under 4 CP’s – 2 Dogs and 6 Hawks
Vs GWS – 6 players under 4 CP’s – 1 Dog and 5 Giants
Vs Swans – 7 players under 4 CP’s – 3 Dogs and 4 Swans
Our bottom end clearly isn’t holding as well due to a mix of inexperience or playing blokes to cover injuries who are just not up to it.
We are really missing some competitive beasts at the moment, if we look at the top end of the CP scale during that September run it becomes clear what we are missing;
Liber – 12, 12, 9, 15
Clay – 12, 9, 10, 8
Moyd – 9, 4, 5, 11
Picken – 9, 13, 11, 10
Toyd – 8, 9, 9, 9
These guys are proving not that easy to replace and nor should they, they are all gun footballers. I have confidence that Wallis can come in and fill a void but until Liam, Clay, Tom, Marcus and Dale get back to full health we will be up against it for a while.
Lots of people like to compare us to the Hawks of 2008 but I see us more like the Hawks of 2017. They lost some top end experience (Lewis/Mitchell, Murphy/Boyd), had some bad runs with injury and lost 3 of their first 6 games by over 75 points to sit 17th on the ladder with a % of 65. By the end of the year they sat a game and a half out of the finals and hit this season full of promise. We saw at the end of 2014 how quickly fortunes can change…it will change again. Bevo is a very smart man, he is sorting the wheat from the chaff at the moment to see who is up to it and who is not. I’d suggest that guys like Webb, Dale and Williams who have been on the fringe for a while, along with players such as Daniel, Biggs, Wallis, Red, Boyd and Dahl who should be on top of their games by now would want to lift and lift big time...Enjoy the ride fellas!
