What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread - Part 2

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Holy s**t I never knew that about Picko! :eek: so glad they will be able to live a relatively normal life


They are my favourite couple. Annie has some substance about her, unlike a lot of airhead WAGs.

I understand the Pickens live very close to the Whitten Oval so that Liam can get to and from home really quickly.

Picken is a real example for young men to aspire to.
 

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Surprised no one has mentioned Plough Wallace’s (The List Manager) summation of the Bulldogs list on SEN this afternoon.
Less than glowing, he said he’s just not buying our team. Said we are far too tall and have drafted players with big question marks over them as they all have had trouble cementing their place at their original clubs. Said the age demographic of our midfield is excellent and bodes well for our future but reiterated how we have too many talls on the list. “the dogs are bucking the trend of going smaller in the forward line illustrated by Richmond this year and the 2016 Bulldogs premiership team.”
Can’t really argue with him but knowing how utterly hopeless Plough’s list management decisions were in his final years with us and then with Richmond i’m very comfortable with him not rating us... in fact I almost think it’s a blessing.
Ox had us falling down the ladder and I didn’t hear what Plough’s prediction was for us.
I really like listening to Terry talk about footy, loved him as our coach too. I think after all it's his opinion and it's neither right or wrong. Sounds to me like he posed a few question marks on the list and I think that's fair enough. After last year we deserve the scrutiny.

Like you and few others I don't agree with him totally, although of course there are question marks over Trengove and Crosier. I'm happy we picked them though, seem a good fit for us.

I get the irony that we have too many talls. Since when could anyone say that about us? We might have a couple too many because let's face it although potential abounds, we need a few to start to develop into really good players. Perhaps we needed some options before we sort the wheat from the chaff?

I also think that Stringer and Crameri were not KP players but for some reason people think they are and we had to play them in those roles. They are not tall enough, do not mark the footy overhead a lot, but are excellent mid sized half forwards. We now have more genuine size talls not so much the in between size. That's good. Just need some quality now.

The furphy that the trend is small forwards for pressure. Rubbish. It was a product of the lists. Even so we still had Boyd and Cordy playing KP. Had Richmond had a quality tall forward to compliment Riewoldt then he would have played. Can't tell me if you have gun tall forwards that you wouldn't play them because you want an average small who can tackle and create pressure. It's rubbish.

I Like the shape of the list, I think the draft will be intersting, I'm pretty sure we'll go for mids, I think we'd like to get some speed in too.
 
Richmond and the Western Bulldogs have changed the AFL draft forever, writes David King
David King, Herald Sun
November 18, 2017 11:30am
Subscriber only
THE national draft has historically been the panacea for struggling clubs — the cellar dwellers who almost sought failure late in the season in return for first crack at top end talent.

But after the past two AFL seasons the logic is shifting.

The role of the player has become almost as important as the player’s talent itself.

Damien Hardwick and Luke Beveridge have devalued the worth of cumbersome, labouring second ruckmen and almost certainly committed the third tall forward position to a bygone era.

If Josh Caddy and Jacob Townsend can compete in the air then why draft the Todd Elton and Liam McBean types, who either make it as a one position player or become a complete bust.

In fact Hardwick should thank the failed Tiger forwards Elton and McBean for challenging the match committee to adopt different methods to maintain a scoring profile.

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Josh Caddy proved the perfect pick up for the Tigers. Picture: Alex Coppel
Expect next week’s draft to contain very few tall forwards who cannot put on pressure or perform another meaningful role, keeping in mind that a back-up ruckman is now a position being filled by extra midfield types such as Richmond’s Shaun Grigg or even Jack Watts at Melbourne this year.

I wouldn’t waste any picks on low possession talls that appear unlikely to become a primary focal point inside the forward 50.

Of this year’s crop, Oscar Allen from West Perth is a genuine target but Sam Mayes as a forward/ruck is a risk in my opinion based on the evolution of the game.

This is despite many pundits expecting Mayes to be selected inside the top 20.

Intercepting half-backs or key backs have become critical recently and this draft is loaded with these types.

Nick Coffield (Northern Knights) will be taken inside the top 25 and epitomises the future of the game as a 190cm, lightning-quick, goalkicking runner who could play across the half-back line at AFL level almost immediately.

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Ed Richards is another running, creative back man who will draw attention and a player I would desire at my football club.

Considering Jason Johannisen won the 2016 Norm Smith Medal and Bachar Houli went close this year, the importance of line-breakers has reached new levels.

The absence of Adelaide’s Brodie Smith in the last week of September was understated by all in the post Grand Final wash-up.

Outside the gun clearance players, elite running half-back flankers are the AFL’s most influential in terms of gaining territory and making an impact on the scoreboard.

Ignore that style of player and be lost in the football abyss in the coming seasons.

This year’s draft appears to have an abundance of midfield stocks, particularly at the top end, but the sprinkling of small pressure forwards is fascinating as the game’s territory evolution takes effect.

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Shaun Grigg was the perfect second ruck for Richmond. Picture: Getty Images
Locking the football in your team’s forward half is the new black and players in this year’s draft such as Lachlan Fogarty from the Western Jets elevate themselves to the top 10-15 selection zone when historically they’d be closer to pick 25-30, at minimum.

It’s a very good time to be a quick, pressuring, goalkicking small forward.

Take Dylan Moore from the Eastern Ranges. At 175cm I’m sure some will bypass him but given the impact of Caleb Daniel at the Bulldogs, the data from his TAC representative games is significant.

Moore is a data star of the future and the numbers don’t lie. He wins his own footy at the contest and everything he’s involved in has an impact on the scoreboard.

Rory Sloane was a data champion through his Eastern Ranges days, winning the best and fairest playing only half of his final year.

Clubs must cringe when they look back at Sloane being selected at pick 44 back in 2008. Don’t disregard the data!

I genuinely don’t know if Richmond’s plans for 2017 were mapped out as they unfolded or they made the best of what talent stocks they had on hand.

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Lachlan Fogarty is likely to be a high pick in the national draft. Picture: Ian Currie
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Dylan Moore in action at the AFL draft combine. Picture: Getty Images
But either way, they’ve changed the game forever, and in doing so altered longstanding recruitment philosophies.

Don’t underplay the copycat nature of AFL football as trends become everyone’s friends.

The most important question of all this week is to ask not whether an individual can play AFL football, but what role or position he will play AFL football for your club?

If an answer doesn’t spring to mind with authority then be wary of this player’s longevity or impact.

It is an exciting time for all AFL lovers and potential draftees and their families but the futuristic vision of your coach, football department and list management is critical for the types of players your clubs seek.

Alastair Clarkson mastered it years ago, while Hardwick and Beveridge made the most of the hands they were dealt.

What will your coach do?
 
He mentioned Sam Hayes is a huge risk as he is a forward/ruck prospect. Did he forget the role that Tom Boyd played on grand final day?
 
He mentioned Sam Hayes is a huge risk as he is a forward/ruck prospect. Did he forget the role that Tom Boyd played on grand final day?
No he said that Brisbane player Sam Mayes would be a risk as a forward/ruck, but at 187cm surely he fits Kingy's mould of a Grigg type second ruck. Talk about contradicting yourself!
 
This "forward lines going smaller" discussion of a trend is going beyond ridiculous.

Firstly we had Cordy, a structural tall (even if he didn't win a heap of it) play forward throughout the 2016 finals series. Then Richmond only played the one tall because every second tall they had on their list was simply a bad player.

In contrast Adelaide have played Jenkins, Walker, Lynch and McGovern, Sydney Franklin, Tippett (or another 2nd ruck) and Reid in the same forward line, and GWS playing Patton, Cameron and Lobb in the same team, and those three teams have been fantastic the last three years and easily could have won flags. It's not some league-wide trend that we can see working for every team. It's dumbasses in the media not looking beyond the teams that won the flag (two teams that had percentages of less than 120% in the home and away season mind you) making dumb statements.
 

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This "forward lines going smaller" discussion of a trend is going beyond ridiculous.

Firstly we had Cordy, a structural tall (even if he didn't win a heap of it) play forward throughout the 2016 finals series. Then Richmond only played the one tall because every second tall they had on their list was simply a bad player.

In contrast Adelaide have played Jenkins, Walker, Lynch and McGovern, Sydney Franklin, Tippett (or another 2nd ruck) and Reid in the same forward line, and GWS playing Patton, Cameron and Lobb in the same team, and those three teams have been fantastic the last three years and easily could have won flags. It's not some league-wide trend that we can see working for every team. It's dumbasses in the media not looking beyond the teams that won the flag (two teams that had percentages of less than 120% in the home and away season mind you) making dumb statements.

Had Adelaide won the flag the narrative would be "Tall forwards back in vogue!"

The AFL media is so results oriented that they predict the future of AFL tactics based on the results of a single game.
 
I dont want to be Captain Obvious but in the upcoming draft we would have to be very short odds of taking at least three mids
(maybe 2 and a medium forward). Don't bet on us taking any talls - and remember you heard it here first.

So Aaron Naughton at Pick 9.

Probably best not to listen to me on the subject of who we will draft in future.
 
New Western Bulldogs captain Easton Wood on the ‘little things’ that can make the Dogs big again
SAM EDMUND, Herald Sun
November 25, 2017 7:00pm
Subscriber only
IT MAY have been the biggest fall by a premier since 2009, but Easton Wood believes the little things can restore the Western Bulldogs to premiership-winning form.

The Dogs’ new captain, who praised Bob Murphy but vowed to lead the team his way, said he would help strip everything back at the kennel in a bid to recapture the magic of 2016.

The Bulldogs became the first team since Hawthorn eight years earlier to miss the finals 12 months after winning the flag, with allegations of excessive partying and a lack of hunger aimed at a club also beset by injuries.

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Easton Wood is all smiles with the premiership cup in 2016 — 2017 did not go well. Picture: Getty Images
But Wood said he and his teammates had wiped the slate clean as they embarked on another pre-season and believed the “knowing” that comes only after winning a premiership would hold them in good stead.

“We’re going to focus more on attention to detail stuff,” Wood told the Herald Sun.

“I think the little things, as much as they might not appear to be significant, they add up. At our best we get the little things right and that builds momentum and that overwhelms teams.

“But that also translates to stuff off the park, whether it’s picking up your towel in the locker room and keeping it tidy.

“I’m a believer in the little things. That’s my role as captain, to drive that stuff so that on game day it becomes second nature and you don’t have to remind guys.”

Tom Liberatore’s preparation and Jake Stringer’s private life became the storylines of a 2017 campaign that never got going, while Tom Boyd was unable to use his 2016 Grand Final heroics as a launching pad and later suffered from depression.

An interim premiership captain in 2016, Wood steps back into the leader’s hot seat with Murphy and Matthew Boyd having since retired, Travis Cloke’s recruitment deemed a failure and leading goalkicker of the last three years Stringer traded to Essendon for two second-round picks.

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The Bulldogs parted ways with Jake Stringer last month. Picture: Mark Stewart
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Stringer is now a Bomber. Picture: essendonfc.com.au
“I don’t know if I’m coming in at a delicate time, but certainly we underperformed last year so I guess at the moment it’s exciting that the slate has been wiped clean and we’ve got a new opportunity and a new season ahead of us,” Wood said.

“I think the only way I can do it (captaincy) is to do it my way. I was definitely fortunate to have learnt under Bob and he’s got some amazing qualities and did the job amazingly well. I’m aware I’ve got big shoes to fill there, but at the same time I don’t think it would be fair to the group to try and emulate what he did.

“It’s really special to be able to take the role. I absolutely love the club and I guess it’s where I’ve grown up having been drafted here as an 18-year-old.”

Asked if the side had this year lost the hunger and intensity that was its hallmark in breaking a 62-year premiership drought 12 months earlier, Wood said: “It’s hard to know. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing, but definitely we didn’t perform to the standard we wanted to.

“It was definitely disappointing. We’ve had injuries before and managed to cope with them, but probably what we lacked was that even contribution from No.1 down to No.22.

“When we’ve been at our best that was our trademark and we have to find a way to get back to that and get the boys back to playing their best footy.”

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Last season was a far cry from the 2016 premiership for Easton Wood and his teammates. Picture: Michael Klein
Wood said there had been little discussion about what went wrong this year.

“It’s definitely not searching (for answers). We’re a group who tries to focus as much as we can to be in the moment,” he said.

“That’s when you’re at your most effective, so it’s not looking too far back and at the same time not looking too far forward. The best thing about pre-season is you don’t have the pressure, there’s no games, no jostling for positions and no win-loss on the weekend, so it’s actually a time where you can just enjoy the hard work and getting fit.”

It will be a case of new Dogs and — potentially — new tricks at either end of the ground in 2018. A fit-again Marcus Adams and new recruits Jackson Trengove loom as valuable additions to a backline exposed by the competition’s power forwards this year. In the attacking half, new leadership group member Jack Redpath, youngster Josh Schache and Boyd could present match-up problems for rival defences.

Yet the nucleus of the side that shocked the competition in 2016 remains intact — a fact that Wood said shouldn’t be underestimated.

“There’s definitely that element of knowing in the group. That’s valuable,” he said.

“You feel that at different times on the field, probably particularly when you’re down. You know that if we just stick to what we know we’ll be a chance to get the game back on our terms.

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The Dogs traded for Brisbane forward Josh Schache. Picture: Nicole Garmston
“I know we didn’t play our best footy last season, but I think that was still present and we still fought it out. Things didn’t go our way and we could have done things better, but guys were trying right to the end.”

Strong relationships, a shared goal and team spirit were also at the top of Wood’s captaincy to-do list.

“Relationships are super important. You can’t ever give anyone feedback and hope for it to be successful if you don’t have a relationship,” he said.

“If you ask someone to do something their first question is why. If you’ve got a genuine relationship with someone and they know you’re coming from the angle that you want the best for them and the team, they’re more likely to jump on board.”

But while Richmond coach Damien Hardwick famously predicted a “quick bounce” ahead of the Tigers’ against-the-odds 2017 premiership, Wood was making no such prediction.

“In terms of what we can get to next year, we’ve never had a focus, even when we were successful in 2016, on winning the ultimate. Although that’s the goal every team has, our focus is always on how good can we be,” he said.

“We just need to be us. I think if we can gel together and find out what our best is, it will be more than enough.”

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Tom Liberatore had his “challenges” last season, but Wood says he can bounce back. Picture: AAP
EASTON WOOD ON ...

TOM LIBERATORE: “We all know that each player at different stages of their career have their challenges and Libba’s was last season. He obviously struggled to find the form he’s shown for years previous. That’s going to be his challenge — to get back. But the positive thing is he knows he’s capable, we’ve just got to support him and help him back there.”

JAKE STRINGER: “Players are pretty oblivious to what list management is doing so I guess there was that element of surprise (he was traded). I wish ‘Jakey’ all the best, hopefully he’s learned a few things from it and he can put his best foot forward.”

TOM BOYD: “Last year was a real challenge for him. I’ve never had to deal with any mental health issues so it’s really hard to see a mate go through that and you can only be there for them and hope they get the support to come out of it. It’s a long road with that stuff ... it might be something you have to deal with for the rest of your life. But hopefully Tommy has found a way; he certainly seems like he’s improved a lot and I really hope for his sake that he’s happy and that he can play some good footy.”

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Wood says Tom Boyd has improved since his mental health battle during the season. Picture: Getty Images
THE FORWARD LINE: “I’m completely unsure what it will be in Round 1 and it will probably be different again half way through the year. Jack Redpath coming back in and joining the leadership group is a fantastic addition; he’s got a really strong voice and trains as well as anyone. Josh Schache has got a lot of potential and hopefully we can get the best out of him down here because he looks like he’s gonna be a good player for a long time.”

THE BACKLINE: “Jackson Trengove ... I’d definitely be happy with him next to me down back. He’s a real fighter, which is something you need down there. Marcus Adams isn’t far from getting back and he’s definitely a force when he’s at full fitness. That’s why we call him ‘The Specimen’.”
 
Stripped down Stringer ready for fresh start
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...r/news-story/d8672510768c0d03b74642ee74553096

Jakey boy has apparently lost four kgs by putting in a bit of effort.

People only prepared to put in hard yards when they receive a giant foot up the arse are not the type of people we need. It shouldn't come to that and I'm glad we've moved on.
Keep in mind that it wasn't just his preperation and recovery that were shyte.

There were some issues others may have been involved in and others unique to Jake.
 
Keep in mind that it wasn't just his preperation and recovery that were shyte.

There were some issues others may have been involved in and others unique to Jake.
Exactly. Losing a bit of weight in November doesn't mean those issues are solved.
 
Stripped down Stringer ready for fresh start
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...r/news-story/d8672510768c0d03b74642ee74553096

Jakey boy has apparently lost four kgs by putting in a bit of effort.

People only prepared to put in hard yards when they receive a giant foot up the arse are not the type of people we need. It shouldn't come to that and I'm glad we've moved on.

It could be he lost muscle from not doing much over the break.

We will have to put up with these fluff pieces all summer!


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
I copied the piece below from the Fox sports AFL page


THE last two premiers have been fined by the AFL, after they failed to provide the league with up-to-date whereabouts of their players.
Richmond was fined a total of $7500, while the Western Bulldogs were fined $3,000.

Under AFL rules clubs will be sanctioned if they fail to provide accurate information as to where all their listed players are — at all times — for drug testing purposes.

The Tigers were fined $2,500 for not providing up to date whereabouts information for one of their players during the post-season travel period.

The additional $5,000 was from a suspended sanction arising from another breach in September.


The Bulldogs were also fined for failing to tell the AFL where one of their players were travelling post-season.
 
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