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

[TedDougChris]

Caleb has an obvious issue. Does Battle?

True, but not all players who slip in the draft are duds. Having said that, the reverse is also not true - in both senses... High draft picks are not always good, nor are low draft picks always brilliant - just because Caleb is. But dismissing who people have drafted because 'if he was any good someone would have picked him earlier' - isn't good analysis either...

As with all things draft related, time will be the obvious best judge....

 

[Dav1d]

Caleb has an obvious issue. Does Battle?

I honestly never rated his ball use to team mates, his eyes would light up around goal & he'd take shots that he'd be better to pass off. Some might say Stringer does that but I think Stringer is excellent at setting up teammates (not as selfish as the media make him out to be)

 

[CaptainMurphy]

I honestly never rated his ball use to team mates, his eyes would light up around goal & he'd take shots that he'd be better to pass off. Some might say Stringer does that but I think Stringer is excellent at setting up teammates (not as selfish as the media make him out to be)

30 seconds left in the prelim is evidence of that

 

[Reptilia]

30 seconds left in the prelim is evidence of that

Same as at the end of the grand final when he passed it to Picken who scored the sealer.

 

[Doggstats]

Caleb has an obvious issue. Does Battle?

I'd say him having to finish year 12 next year is a pretty obvious issue. Not such a big issue in the long run, but you'd rather get a player who can train and play %100 from day 1.

 

[LittleG]

Surprised Battle got drafted by the Saints. They also took Hannan too, so 2 medium forwards on a team with 4 medium forwards. Although you could argue that Roo is a wing or de facto true kpf.
Saints must not have faith in McCartin overcoming his concussion issues, otherwise you wouldn't load up with such similar players.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Surprised Battle got drafted by the Saints. They also took Hannan too, so 2 medium forwards on a team with 4 medium forwards. Although you could argue that Roo is a wing or de facto true kpf.
Saints must not have faith in McCartin overcoming his concussion issues, otherwise you wouldn't load up with such similar players.

Melbourne took Hannan

 

[Hard Ball Get]

I'd say him having to finish year 12 next year is a pretty obvious issue. Not such a big issue in the long run, but you'd rather get a player who can train and play %100 from day 1.

I can assure you that, that is irrelevant.

 

[MJ_Dogs]

Caleb Daniel says "Hi"......

My point was related to players highly rated in the media that slide. Caleb wasn't touted as a first rounder so he didn't really slide. Battle was and he slid to end of the second round

 

[TedDougChris]

My point was related to players highly rated in the media that slide. Caleb wasn't touted as a first rounder so he didn't really slide. Battle was and he slid to end of the second round

Fair point, but the media 'experts' also tipped us to bow out in every single final we played...

Grundy slid a few years back and he is almost the prototype modern ruckman. I just feel you cannot (at this early stage) judge players on where they were drafted - just look at gaps in the list and were they addressed ?

 

[ABitWoofy]

McCartney on pure footy discussing our drafting strategy

https://audioboom.com/posts/5344187-jason-mccartney-on-the-run-home

 

[ScragCity]

Battle will be crap. No ceiling imo

 

[Doggy Dan]

Battle will be crap. No ceiling imo

Is no ceiling a good or a bad thing? I'm confused with the ceiling analogies, regardless it's a f*cken roof!

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Is no ceiling a good or a bad thing? I'm confused with the ceiling analogies, regardless it's a f*cken roof!

Yeah it didn't make sense. If you've got no ceiling then the sky's the limit. He meant low ceiling I think.

 

[ScragCity]

Is no ceiling a good or a bad thing? I'm confused with the ceiling analogies, regardless it's a f*cken roof!

Oops i meant low as in no room for improvement.

 

[ScragCity]

Is no ceiling a good or a bad thing? I'm confused with the ceiling analogies, regardless it's a f*cken roof!

Nah its ceiling. Roof and ceiling arent synonymous

 

[TempleKelvington]

Can't think of too many other 21 year olds who can take a draftee under their wing and impart as much knowledge as Bont can. What a legend.

He's a premiership player.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

And Libba!

#partyboi
#pingaz
#looseunit
#cooked****s

You forgot
#Asian team of the Century Ruckman

 

[TempleKelvington]

My point was related to players highly rated in the media that slide. Caleb wasn't touted as a first rounder so he didn't really slide. Battle was and he slid to end of the second round

Well not true Templekelvington was talking him up way before the draft as a player that should be top 10. So he was a slider.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Jack Macrae reveals how he overcame the injury odds to experience the ‘greatest day of my life’

GLENN McFARLANE, Herald Sun
December 4, 2016 12:00pm
Subscriber only

FOR all the improbables associated with the Western Bulldogs’ “miracle” first premiership in 62 years, one of the least referenced but also one of the most important was the performance of Jack Macrae over the last month.

For all intents and purposes, Macrae might well have been sitting in the grandstands instead of averaging 30 disposals in each of the Bulldogs’ finals, as well as kicking the goal that propelled the Bulldogs into the Grand Final.

The fact he wasn’t is both a testimony to his resilience and a credit to the Western Bulldogs’ medical and conditioning team.

Such was the severity of the hamstring tendon tear the smooth midfielder suffered on a bleak night against Geelong in Round 19 — the same evening Tom Liberatore injured his ankle — that he was considered the least likely of the wounded Dogs to return for the finals.

The medical staff hadn’t ruled a line through him, but it is understood they were more than pessimistic about his chances of him playing again in 2016 after looking at the scans the morning after.

It was meant to be an eight-to-10 week injury. Aided by the bye after Round 23, he managed to resume — in Perth of all places — one day under the six-week bracket, and he went on to be one of the club’s best players of the finals.

Yet for all that, the understated Bulldog star still doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

He doesn’t often get recognised around the streets of Melbourne, didn’t get pestered by well-meaning Aussie tourists when he was on a recent four-week trip to the United States with his girlfriend, and loves flying under the radar.

“I don’t get recognised anywhere at all, and that’s how I like it,” Macrae said this week as he resumed training with the first-to-fourth-year Bulldogs players.

“I love playing footy, but I don’t do it for the fame. I don’t go out of my way to seek attention.”

Macrae with teammates Josh Dunkley, Liam Picken and Toby McLean start the Grand Final celebrations. Picture: Getty Images
That might change given he is now an AFL premiership player — at 22 — coming off such a remarkable finals series against the odds.

“It was the greatest day of my life, and I am sure so many of the other boys would say the same thing,” Macrae said of the Grand Final win.

“I have only watched the game back once, and you remember little moments here and there. I remember ‘Picko’ (Liam Picken) playing the game of his life and remember Moz’s (Dale Morris) tackle against Buddy (Franklin) and Tom Boyd’s goal.

“It was at that moment I thought we were going to win the match.”

But as much as the on-field moments are great memories, what resonates with him was how the win touched the wider community.

“As soon as we won, I’ll never forget seeing people like (club doctors) Jake Landsberger and ‘Zimmer’ (Gary Zimmerman) and the fans who had been to every best-and-fairest count and AGM, and who had been waiting since 1954 to see it happen,” he said.

“It’s only my fourth season and it was the best day of my life, so I can only imagine what it meant to the older players, staff and the fans who had been waiting such a long time.”

Macrae is well aware how tight the timeline was in overcoming his injury, understanding any hiccup might well have cost him the cherished premiership medal.

On that night at Geelong, he first thought that the slight cramp on the right side of his body was an inconvenience rather than a serious issue.

Liam Picken (pictured) showed his class during the finals, says Macrae.
He tried to play on but couldn’t.

“I finally got bit by the injury bug,” Macrae recalled this week.

“I really hadn’t missed a game of footy throughout my whole career, even in the juniors.

“I played on for a couple of minutes that night, but when I pushed off, I just felt a sharp pain and I knew something was wrong.

“That night I was up icing it all night. I was praying it was going to be a two-week injury and it wasn’t going to be a serious one.”

The gravity of the situation came when the scans revealed a tear in his upper right hamstring tendon.

Macrae admits to being “shattered”.

“The medical staff were great, but they told me the aim was to push for the first week of the finals, but that was probably pushing it,” he said.

He knew some doubted he would play again in 2016.

Bulldogs assistant coach Steven King said Macrae’s injury had been considered the most serious in terms of the players coming back for the first final.

“Jack was probably the biggest risk because it was a tendon,” King said.

“We were really confident with the amount of work he had put in with his rehabilitation, but it was a soft-tissue injury, and with tendons you can never be too sure.

“With all due respect to Jack, you wouldn’t have him in the extroverted, aggressive in-your-face types. But, gee he is resilient. I consider him one of the toughest players in the club.”

A complicating factor in Macrae’s return for the elimination final was that it took place in Perth on a Thursday, which came after Jack Fitzpatrick kicked a late goal for Hawthorn to help them win the Round 23 game against Collingwood.

Macrae, a Hawks fan as a kid, was cursing them as he knew it would mean a trip across the country.

Young Bulldogs star Jack Macrae doesn’t mind flying under the radar. Picture: Michael Klein
But a strong session on the weekend before the first final convinced him and the medical team that he was ready to play.

“I was a bit rusty that night, but I was confident,” Macrae said. “If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t have played, because I wouldn’t have wanted to put the team at risk.”

Macrae was solid against the Eagles then backed it up with 39 disposals in the semi-final win over Hawthorn.

“That win over Hawthorn gave us the belief that we could go on with it,” he said.

Then came the preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney, when Macrae showed composure to kick the winning goal.

“I thought there was a little less time to go (when I kicked it),” he said.

“I don’t kick many goals, so it was good to be on the end of that one.”

It was only Macrae’s 19th goal — and his first since Round 1.

“The emotion in the rooms after the (GWS) game was incredible,” he said. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the rooms.”

Macrae travelled to the Grand Final the following week as he usually does with Easton Wood, trying to keep things as normal as possible.

By the end of the day, things were never going to be normal again for the young Bulldog, after his 33-disposal effort.

But he is far from satisfied.

He is looking to the future, and the need to work harder to hopefully attain more success.

“At the end of the season when we had our last catch-up, Bevo’s message was to go and enjoy what we had accomplished but to look after ourselves over the break,” he said. “We don’t want to be just here for the one year. We know as great as this year was, if we let it slip and we don’t work as hard, it won’t happen again.”

 

[threenewpadlocks]

It was meant to be an eight-to-10 week injury. Aided by the bye after Round 23, he managed to resume

Fantastic article but I've posted about this in the main board as well and it's what I've quoted that irks me.

The first week of finals was always going to be played 6 weeks after the weekend of footy in which Macrae injured himself, so how does a post Round 23 bye or lack thereof impacts Macrae's ability to rehab and get fit in 6 weeks one way or another? The only impact it makes is that if a 2nd bye came before that weekend of footy Macrae would have missed one more home-and-away game which in the end makes no difference to our ladder position.

It's commentary like that which tries to downplay the impact and success of the flag ("well maybe they wouldn't have won the flag without the R23 bye because they wouldn't have had Macrae etc. returning"), which really, really pisses me off because it's based on unsound and incorrect reasoning and logic.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Fantastic article but I've posted about this in the main board as well and it's what I've quoted that irks me.

The first week of finals was always going to be played 6 weeks after the weekend of footy in which Macrae injured himself, so how does a post Round 23 bye or lack thereof impacts Macrae's ability to rehab and get fit in 6 weeks one way or another? The only impact it makes is that if a 2nd bye came before that weekend of footy Macrae would have missed one more home-and-away game which in the end makes no difference to our ladder position.

It's commentary like that which tries to downplay the impact and success of the flag ("well maybe they wouldn't have won the flag without the R23 bye because they wouldn't have had Macrae etc. returning"), which really, really pisses me off because it's based on unsound and incorrect reasoning and logic.

Hey nothing they say will ever change the fact we are premiers for 2016. What is important is that we back it up in 2017.

 

[compact72]

Jack Macrae reveals how he overcame the injury odds to experience the ‘greatest day of my life’

GLENN McFARLANE, Herald Sun
December 4, 2016 12:00pm
Subscriber only

FOR all the improbables associated with the Western Bulldogs’ “miracle” first premiership in 62 years, one of the least referenced but also one of the most important was the performance of Jack Macrae over the last month.

For all intents and purposes, Macrae might well have been sitting in the grandstands instead of averaging 30 disposals in each of the Bulldogs’ finals, as well as kicking the goal that propelled the Bulldogs into the Grand Final.

The fact he wasn’t is both a testimony to his resilience and a credit to the Western Bulldogs’ medical and conditioning team.

Such was the severity of the hamstring tendon tear the smooth midfielder suffered on a bleak night against Geelong in Round 19 — the same evening Tom Liberatore injured his ankle — that he was considered the least likely of the wounded Dogs to return for the finals.

The medical staff hadn’t ruled a line through him, but it is understood they were more than pessimistic about his chances of him playing again in 2016 after looking at the scans the morning after.

It was meant to be an eight-to-10 week injury. Aided by the bye after Round 23, he managed to resume — in Perth of all places — one day under the six-week bracket, and he went on to be one of the club’s best players of the finals.

Yet for all that, the understated Bulldog star still doesn’t get the attention he deserves.

He doesn’t often get recognised around the streets of Melbourne, didn’t get pestered by well-meaning Aussie tourists when he was on a recent four-week trip to the United States with his girlfriend, and loves flying under the radar.

“I don’t get recognised anywhere at all, and that’s how I like it,” Macrae said this week as he resumed training with the first-to-fourth-year Bulldogs players.

“I love playing footy, but I don’t do it for the fame. I don’t go out of my way to seek attention.”

Macrae with teammates Josh Dunkley, Liam Picken and Toby McLean start the Grand Final celebrations. Picture: Getty Images
That might change given he is now an AFL premiership player — at 22 — coming off such a remarkable finals series against the odds.

“It was the greatest day of my life, and I am sure so many of the other boys would say the same thing,” Macrae said of the Grand Final win.

“I have only watched the game back once, and you remember little moments here and there. I remember ‘Picko’ (Liam Picken) playing the game of his life and remember Moz’s (Dale Morris) tackle against Buddy (Franklin) and Tom Boyd’s goal.

“It was at that moment I thought we were going to win the match.”

But as much as the on-field moments are great memories, what resonates with him was how the win touched the wider community.

“As soon as we won, I’ll never forget seeing people like (club doctors) Jake Landsberger and ‘Zimmer’ (Gary Zimmerman) and the fans who had been to every best-and-fairest count and AGM, and who had been waiting since 1954 to see it happen,” he said.

“It’s only my fourth season and it was the best day of my life, so I can only imagine what it meant to the older players, staff and the fans who had been waiting such a long time.”

Macrae is well aware how tight the timeline was in overcoming his injury, understanding any hiccup might well have cost him the cherished premiership medal.

On that night at Geelong, he first thought that the slight cramp on the right side of his body was an inconvenience rather than a serious issue.

Liam Picken (pictured) showed his class during the finals, says Macrae.
He tried to play on but couldn’t.

“I finally got bit by the injury bug,” Macrae recalled this week.

“I really hadn’t missed a game of footy throughout my whole career, even in the juniors.

“I played on for a couple of minutes that night, but when I pushed off, I just felt a sharp pain and I knew something was wrong.

“That night I was up icing it all night. I was praying it was going to be a two-week injury and it wasn’t going to be a serious one.”

The gravity of the situation came when the scans revealed a tear in his upper right hamstring tendon.

Macrae admits to being “shattered”.

“The medical staff were great, but they told me the aim was to push for the first week of the finals, but that was probably pushing it,” he said.

He knew some doubted he would play again in 2016.

Bulldogs assistant coach Steven King said Macrae’s injury had been considered the most serious in terms of the players coming back for the first final.

“Jack was probably the biggest risk because it was a tendon,” King said.

“We were really confident with the amount of work he had put in with his rehabilitation, but it was a soft-tissue injury, and with tendons you can never be too sure.

“With all due respect to Jack, you wouldn’t have him in the extroverted, aggressive in-your-face types. But, gee he is resilient. I consider him one of the toughest players in the club.”

A complicating factor in Macrae’s return for the elimination final was that it took place in Perth on a Thursday, which came after Jack Fitzpatrick kicked a late goal for Hawthorn to help them win the Round 23 game against Collingwood.

Macrae, a Hawks fan as a kid, was cursing them as he knew it would mean a trip across the country.

Young Bulldogs star Jack Macrae doesn’t mind flying under the radar. Picture: Michael Klein
But a strong session on the weekend before the first final convinced him and the medical team that he was ready to play.

“I was a bit rusty that night, but I was confident,” Macrae said. “If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t have played, because I wouldn’t have wanted to put the team at risk.”

Macrae was solid against the Eagles then backed it up with 39 disposals in the semi-final win over Hawthorn.

“That win over Hawthorn gave us the belief that we could go on with it,” he said.

Then came the preliminary final against Greater Western Sydney, when Macrae showed composure to kick the winning goal.

“I thought there was a little less time to go (when I kicked it),” he said.

“I don’t kick many goals, so it was good to be on the end of that one.”

It was only Macrae’s 19th goal — and his first since Round 1.

“The emotion in the rooms after the (GWS) game was incredible,” he said. “I don’t think there was a dry eye in the rooms.”

Macrae travelled to the Grand Final the following week as he usually does with Easton Wood, trying to keep things as normal as possible.

By the end of the day, things were never going to be normal again for the young Bulldog, after his 33-disposal effort.

But he is far from satisfied.

He is looking to the future, and the need to work harder to hopefully attain more success.

“At the end of the season when we had our last catch-up, Bevo’s message was to go and enjoy what we had accomplished but to look after ourselves over the break,” he said. “We don’t want to be just here for the one year. We know as great as this year was, if we let it slip and we don’t work as hard, it won’t happen again.”

******* love macrae. Love that he doesn't want the attention and he prefers it that way. Fantastic article and so underrated

 

[bobby2]

Fantastic article but I've posted about this in the main board as well and it's what I've quoted that irks me.

The first week of finals was always going to be played 6 weeks after the weekend of footy in which Macrae injured himself, so how does a post Round 23 bye or lack thereof impacts Macrae's ability to rehab and get fit in 6 weeks one way or another? The only impact it makes is that if a 2nd bye came before that weekend of footy Macrae would have missed one more home-and-away game which in the end makes no difference to our ladder position.

It's commentary like that which tries to downplay the impact and success of the flag ("well maybe they wouldn't have won the flag without the R23 bye because they wouldn't have had Macrae etc. returning"), which really, really pisses me off because it's based on unsound and incorrect reasoning and logic.

I suppose they might be comparing to previous years though, where there wasn't a second bye or a pre-finals bye. It's pretty stupid anyway though- you could just as easily say that other premiers might not have won in earlier years if there had been a pre-finals bye. It's just a useless sliding doors comment. There was a pre-finals bye this year. Every club knew about it in advance. It's not like it was just introduced to favour our club over others (unlike a certain academy in the Riverina).

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Jason Johannisen admits his ball use could have been better in Western Bulldogs’ Grand Final win

JON ANDERSON, Herald Sun
December 4, 2016 10:00am
Subscriber only

NORM Smith medallist Jason Johannisen watched a replay of the Western Bulldogs’ historic Grand Final win for the first time last week and admitted there was one thing he’d change about the game – his ball use.

“My kicking and a couple of decisions still haunt me but I have pre-season to work on that,” Johannisen said.

“A couple of times I kicked to two-on-ones and just didn’t quite see the Sydney defender dropping off, pulling the trigger a bit early.

“Sometimes it’s a matter of just slowing down a little bit before I kick.”

Johannisen, 24 last month, took off a week after the Grand Final, heading overseas and missing a lot of the hype that went with the history-making moment.

But he returned home to Perth last week and sat down to watch the game.

“That’s when it really sunk in for me,” he said of the Bulldogs’ triumph.

Grand Final day was the moment the South African-born kid with a good story became an AFL legend as the least experienced (64 games) winner of the Norm Smith medal since Andrew McLeod in 1997.

And with such fame comes opportunity, “JJ” recently being appointed a Jetstar “Big Hero” – a Little Athletics program in which five kids across the country will each train under a mentor such as Johannisen (littlejetstars.com.au).

Western Bulldogs star Jason Johannisen with some of the Little Athletics youngsters at Williamstown. Picture: Mark Dadswell
Johannisen’s breath-taking sprinting abilities were honed in Perth at Little Aths between the ages of 11-16 before Australian Rules became a genuine career option.

“Little Aths was, and is, a great platform to get to elite level in whatever sport you are aspiring to,” said Johannisen, who last summer did some learning of his own under the tutelage of former Australian national 100m champion Josh Ross.

“I feel honoured and privileged to be part of Jetstar’s program. I guess kids look up to some of us who are lucky enough to achieve something.

“I have rarely been caught holding the ball, in fact I’d like to say no-one has got me yet in terms of being run down from behind. But there are a few elite speed players, Lewis Jetta, Cyril Rioli, Bradley Hill, and at the Bulldogs’ Lin Jong would be right behind me over 100m.

“I reckon Lin could get me over 20m. I’m not so good over longer distances, a bit of a one-trick pony. I guess I can argue being able to sprint looks better.”