Autopsy Western Bulldogs 2023 season review

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Doggy said:
Trading our only young midfielder is a disaster
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Totally agree having lost Dunkley and Lipinski, our only other younger midfielders in 2021. When Libba, Treloar and Macrae move on and Bont slows who is going to take the mantle.

Should only go if he’s causing trouble. Unfortunately there seems to be momentum behind it.
 
Libbaaaa said:
Cody for me is such a frustrating player. I’d love to know what his mandate for success is from the coaching staff. For me I don’t care about the big grabs and goals, I want forwards pressure 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The few times he stays down and doesn’t fly as the 7th man up he is always dangerous.
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I thought Cody had a fine season for a small forward. It’s always difficult to maintain consistency in that role no matter how good you are.

He was number 5 in the league for goals per game for small forwards (behind Cameron, Bruest, Elliot & Rankine) and increased his tackles by almost 1 per game. He had 11 tackles on Saturday night.

Keep in mind he also had an interrupted preseason and a slow start to the year due to persistent groin issues. I could easily see him pushing 45-50 goals next season.
 
Golden_6 said:
I thought Cody had a fine season for a small forward. It’s always difficult to maintain consistency in that role no matter how good you are.

He was number 5 in the league for goals per game for small forwards (behind Cameron, Bruest, Elliot & Rankine) and increased his tackles by almost 1 per game. He had 11 tackles on Saturday night.

Keep in mind he also had an interrupted preseason and a slow start to the year due to persistent groin issues. I could easily see him pushing 45-50 goals next season.
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I personally think Cody had very poor season compared to his talent level. That game in Darwin where he went back to old acting habits was terrible, he didn’t put his head over the footy in many instances late in the season. He flew way too many times against our talls and missed heaps of crumbs that went begging. He also missed plenty of tackles. He has been poorly coached and developed. He is a good set shot, and enthusiastic but seems ego centric and still self focused. Has much improvement left in him, very bright future if he works on many aspects of his game.
 
Golden_6 said:
I thought Cody had a fine season for a small forward. It’s always difficult to maintain consistency in that role no matter how good you are.

He was number 5 in the league for goals per game for small forwards (behind Cameron, Bruest, Elliot & Rankine) and increased his tackles by almost 1 per game. He had 11 tackles on Saturday night.

Keep in mind he also had an interrupted preseason and a slow start to the year due to persistent groin issues. I could easily see him pushing 45-50 goals next season.
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Overall Cody had a reasonable year but his consistency was poor. O.k, 11 tackles vs the Cats and only 1 the week before against the West Coast when we needed him. Yet his is not just on Cody, its the inconsistency of effort from most of the team which was disheartening.
 
9. WESTERN BULLDOGS (12-11, 108.7%)

Three word analysis


Major reset required

What went right

Marcus Bontempelli couldn’t have done much more for his side this season, often carrying his team on his back and rescuing it to win several matches. The Dogs skipper will be right in the mix for this year’s Brownlow Medal, with Josh Dunkley’s move to Brisbane allowing Bontempelli to dominate as an inside midfielder this season and average career-high contested possessions, tackles and clearances. Tim English is also a big chance to earn a maiden All-Australian blazer as the starting ruck. The No. 1 rated ruck in the AFL, he averaged the most disposals, inside 50s, intercepts and marks of any ruck, while he also averaged career-high hit-outs-to-advantage. Tom Liberatore also had a career-best year in his 12th season on the Bulldogs’ list. Elsewhere, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Ed Richards emerged in career-best seasons, while the acquisition of Oskar Baker was worthwhile. Overall, the Dogs were among the league’s top four teams for clearances, contested possessions and inside 50s as they reignited their contest and territory game.

What went wrong

For such a talent-laden list, how was this team prior to Round 24 scrapping for eighth spot when it really should’ve been among the big boys contending for a home qualifying final and, subsequently, premiership cup? With three weeks left, the Bulldogs lost games to bottom-three teams Hawthorn and West Coast — defeats that ultimately cost them a spot in September. But the reality is the Dogs only won three games against top-eight sides this season, so they’re ninth-placed finish is probably accurate. Two 50-point losses against Melbourne and St Kilda to start the season set a bad tone, while six of their defeats were by two goals or less. While they won so much of the ball, they ranked 10th for offence, suggesting there’s an overuse and/or a connection issue. And for a team last year lauded for its ball movement, the Dogs had big issues in this area in 2023, ranking 15th for defensive 50 to inside 50 conversion and 16th for kick rating. They were hit hard by injury, especially down back with Sam Darcy, Ryan Gardner, Jason Johannisen, Liam Jones and Alex Keath all missing big chunks of the season. And the fact they were ranked 18th in the competition for defensive one-on-one contest win rate suggests they still have big issues down back. Individually, Jack Macrae was well below his best this season, the acquisition of Rory Lobb seemed to cause more problems than solutions and, amid trade links to Geelong, Bailey Smith struggled to have the same influence he had last year.

What they need


Considering the numbers and Liam Jones’ age, possibly another key defender — although there’s hope last year’s top pick Jedd Busslinger will be able to have an impact in 2024 with a full pre-season. But it seems midfield depth might be on the agenda, which is remarkable considering a few years ago when Adam Treloar joined the Dogs, the footy world was wondering how they were going to fit so many on-ballers into a starting 22. The Dogs should also be big players in the draft. They have Picks 10 and, as it stands, 17, so they could make a play for Gold Coast’s Pick 4. That would make sense because the Dogs should also be asked to match a first-round bid on athletic 200cm father-son prospect Jordan Croft, whose dad Matthew played 186 games for the club. Croft is speedy and agile, yet also an accurate kick in front of goal. Ideally for the Dogs, they pick up a smaller/hybrid type with one natural pick and Croft with another.

What time is it on the premiership clock?

9pm: Well, 9pm according to the playing list on paper. But because the Dogs have become such an untrustworthy team, it’s a 9pm given without confidence. Going by the messaging out of the club, Luke Beveridge is regarded as the right man to maximise the Dogs’ list. Now more coaching experience will likely be hunted in a bid to bolster Beveridge’s support and change the mix around him. It happened with great success at Richmond under Damien Hardwick at the close of 2016 and it looks set to be the approach the Dogs take into 2024. It needs to work.

Season grade

D+

— Ben Waterworth
 
From purely a player perspective:

Positives:
West cementing a spot in the side
JOD a lot of questions about him early but absolutely rapid improvement
Bont what more could be said
English phenomenal
Treloar proving a lot of the naysayers wrong
JUH ran out of legs late but was superb
Libba amazing as always
Ed Richards future star, 300 gamer for the club
Liam Jones amazing recruit
Weightman once he finds Toby Greene-like consistency will be a gem

Negatives:
...lol where do we begin
Bailey Smith fall from grace
Dale had a down year
Lobb didn't find his feet til the last 2-3 rounds
Macrae first down year in a long time he will bounce back
Keath/Gardiner struggled
Role players not good enough (McNeill, Scott, Crozier, McLean, Duryeah etc.)
Naughton's goal kicking hasn't improved
VDM struggled for the most part
TOB failed recruit
Didn't play any of our kids
 
AFDogs said:
From purely a player perspective:

Positives:
West cementing a spot in the side
JOD a lot of questions about him early but absolutely rapid improvement
Bont what more could be said
English phenomenal
Treloar proving a lot of the naysayers wrong
JUH ran out of legs late but was superb
Libba amazing as always
Ed Richards future star, 300 gamer for the club
Liam Jones amazing recruit
Weightman once he finds Toby Greene-like consistency will be a gem

Negatives:
...lol where do we begin
Bailey Smith fall from grace
Dale had a down year
Lobb didn't find his feet til the last 2-3 rounds
Macrae first down year in a long time he will bounce back
Keath/Gardiner struggled
Role players not good enough (McNeill, Scott, Crozier, McLean, Duryeah etc.)
Naughton's goal kicking hasn't improved
VDM struggled for the most part
TOB failed recruit
Didn't play any of our kids
Click to expand...
Wouldn't be against the ideal of placing Bailey Dale on the wing next season

Reduce a bit of pressure of him with his kicking
The last few games just looked a bit shakey
 

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VitalDread said:
Wouldn't be against the ideal of placing Bailey Dale on the wing next season

Reduce a bit of pressure of him with his kicking
The last few games just looked a bit shakey
Click to expand...

JJ/Richards good enough to play his role might see Dale to a wing or forward.

However if he can replicate his 2021 form down back he will be a great asset for us.
 
AFDogs said:
JJ/Richards good enough to play his role might see Dale to a wing or forward.

However if he can replicate his 2021 form down back he will be a great asset for us.
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Dale cannot play forward, he was moved out of forward line for a reason, we already struggle to hold ball inside 50, that would be much worse with Dale there as he is a no pressure small. He is cruising now he got a long term 5 year deal, it was terrible list call to give him that contract.
 
if you take out the 2016 premiership then he prob would def get the sack now.
i dont think hes our next coach to take us to glory. we need a change, however considering what he has done for our club we prob owe him another year
 
maddog37 said:
What I would like to see is some transparency.

I don’t feel part of the clubs inner circle in any way. We are largely kept in the dark about what our actual game plan is or what the expectations are for our players.

Tell us what type of role we are setting for Cody or B Smith.

Give us some idea about what we consider non negotiables for our players.

Tell us why we don’t tag.

Supporters have been shut off. While the media are pests they are also the conduit to supporters in many ways.

Running this clandestine Bevo paranoia campaign is totally disengaging.
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Good idea but we can't even attend training because of the secret game plans that we supposedly practice at training and take into our games.
 
The Season

1. Poor pre-season. Having an amateurish pre-season didn't help as we got off to a bad start with two bad losses and a hammering of our percentage.

2. A good recovery. Up to round 10 of the season, produced some good wins against, what was then, good opposition.

3. The rot sets in. Remainder of the season saw us defeated by a couple of very good sides but with too many losses to some very poor sides. The wins came from the Roos, Dockers, Bombers, Tigers, and Cats VFL side. See the trend there? Not one of those wins was remarkable except for the Tigers win. Watching that game again, it was quite apparent that the poor things that had become our trademark were addressed and it was the only game where our game, structure, and execution were as good as we could do.

A Year of Errors.

1. The lack of courage to do full and independent reviews of the 21 and 22 seasons is indefensible.

2. Loss of Dunkley and the falls of Smith and Macrae were massive. Meant Bont, Libba, and Treloar to some extent, had huge workloads and it has amazed me that all of them lasted out the season.

3. Lack of due diligence on Lobb. Whether he told porkies about his crook ankle or the medical staff just had NFI about it, is speculative. However, his early season operation held him back for most of the year and his output backs up that fact.

4. Goal conversion was terrible. Naughton, Jamarra, and Bont at times, missed crucial goals which had disastrous outcomes. The misses were often turning points of quite a few games which brings me to the next point.

5. Inability to defend a leading score. The side has two Achilles Heels, and this one is the most damning. There was absolutely no effort to adjust the team structure to stop the opposition from scoring heavily for long periods against us. This problem is nothing new. It came to the fore in the 21 GF and it was the single, only reason why that game was lost. Fast forward to now, and still this is the only reason why many games are still being lost.

6. The kick ins, the other Achilles Heel. This has been a problem for a long time. Dale was the scapegoat for a poor system. Everyone will remember his extended carry but the root cause of that was that he had no one to kick to. I think it happened again a game or so ago. Perhaps this problem is behind the sacking of Rohan Smith.

7. Team selection. The bottom six to eight players are not AFL standard, but they have been given extended runs of games. Yet others players never got a decent chance of proving themselves. In particular, Gardner, McComb and McNeil should never been given more that 3 games each.

That's about the year as I saw it. What happens from here? Who knows? But is has to be something radical. If not, we're in for more of the same mediocrity.
 
IMO, we are a coaching change away from top 4 contention, and an off-season or two from a premiership…If the club acts accordingly.

We are so close yet so far. So many points through the season where we were a bee’s dick away from being entrenched in the top 4, and we would blow up the chance, with our poor selection, coaching and fitness, and reliance on (barely) a handful of players to drag us across the line.

Yet after all those TERRIBLE losses, Round 1 & 2, the loss to Gold Coast, the loss to Hawthorn and WEST COAST…we still ended up on 12 wins. Just fixing maybe one of the discussed issues would see us win two more games at a minimum.

I hope the club has the balls to act, because this could be the greatest wasted opportunity in our history if they don’t.
 
VitalDread said:
Wouldn't be against the ideal of placing Bailey Dale on the wing next season

Reduce a bit of pressure of him with his kicking
The last few games just looked a bit shakey
Click to expand...
Agree VD ,
was thinking the same last night after our fate became clear.

I assume his tank this stage of his career could cope ?
 
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