What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread - Part 3

[weltschmerz]

West + Sweet decking people left, right and centre sounds alright

Which Dog will get fined the most in 2020, do you think?

 

[Virgin Dog]

Which Dog will get fined the most in 2020, do you think?

I'm actually thinking Naughton tbh - when you crash packs like he does and have that much aggression in the contest, you're bound to attract fines

 

[Bont2Bruce]

I know he's legitimate son of Scott West but I have hopes that Rhylee has more than a little bastard in him.

I was going to post to say the same thing, fully agree here.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

West + Sweet decking people left, right and centre sounds alright

Didn’t Sweet miss 3 games for decking someone in his first VFL game? He’s going to have to “adjust his defensive strategy” as Sam Mitchell would say

 

[Fossie 32]

Didn’t Sweet miss 3 games for decking someone in his first VFL game? He’s going to have to “adjust his defensive strategy” as Sam Mitchell would say

Just protecting his space

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Lol, tell me, which of the last 10 flags relied on a gun ruck to get them over the line?

English will be better but by no means the requirement for our success.

 

[TempletonTheRat]

Lol, tell me, which of the last 10 flags relied on a gun ruck to get them over the line?

English will be better but by no means the requirement for our success.

come on, Tom Boyd got us over the line.

 

[dogwatch]

From today's Letters to the Editor in the Canberra Times:



G'day Frank if you're reading this. Go Dogs!

 

[ossie_21]

From today's Letters to the Editor in the Canberra Times:

View attachment 800539

G'day Frank if you're reading this. Go Dogs!

That is a savage self-burn at the end

 

[weltschmerz]

Australian Football Hall of Famer Terry Wallace has listed the midfielders across the AFL who he believes will take a “quantum leap” in 2020.

These are the players who the former Hawthorn champion believes will go to another level next season.

Pat Lipinski (Western Bulldogs)
“As a running wingman, I think that he plays really good footy,” Wallace said.

Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs)
“I think he is going to be a genuine young star for the Bulldogs,” Wallace said.

 

[ossie_21]

Plough really not afraid to break the barriers with these calls

 

[perro_loco]

When your mental health battle was at its most crippling, what were the effects on you, physically or mentally?

There’s no ability to find joy in anything. To deal with it chronologically, anxiety was something that was very prevalent in my AFL career particularly because I put so much pressure on myself come game day. Over time, the best way to describe anxiety for me, is that it’s like a balloon. You’ve got a balloon with a certain amount of air, and that air represents the capacity that you have to deal with stress. What tends to happen is, when you come up to a moment that makes you feel anxious, you feel like you can’t take any more air in, and you’re just going to burst. Then what you do is you say, “I’m not going to do it. I’m going to avoid confronting the issue at all”.

And then what actually happens is you let a little bit of the air out, and then over time the air shrinks, and shrinks. If I get nervous speaking in front of a thousand people, if I avoid it, then in time I become nervous in front of 500, then 200, then talking to one person is crippling. That’s the general rule around avoidance, and anxiety. My issue is it went from being anxious around games, and then it was main training sessions, and then it was every training session.

Anxious just to go to them?

Constantly. Even to attend the club at times was a significant challenge for me. About everything to do with my football life in the end. I think it was stimulated from just wanting to be perfect all the time.

That’s impossible though.

It is. Chasing perfection isn’t real. I couldn’t stuff up a kick. What happens when you think about not wanting to stuff up a kick? You stuff it up. It’s this self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety.

A life of constant anxiety …

Constant. Over time it transitioned from just being anxious before the event, to the night before, and it would become really difficult to sleep. In 2017 before I had the worst bout of insomnia, we’d train on a Thursday and Wednesday night I’d really struggle to sleep, really struggle to sleep after training, or sleep Friday night, and then I had to try and play Saturday. By the time I got to a game I was so tired, and mentally fatigued, that I would have to use every ounce of energy I had to get through the game. I’d really struggle to concentrate.

Do anxiety and depression fuel each other?

It did for me. My first bouts of depression came after the anxiety had lead me to insomnia around games. Suddenly, it’s Saturday night, you’d played at 7.50pm, it’s 3am, and you haven’t slept yet. It’s quite common in AFL players. Suddenly, I hadn’t slept for three days. I’d just played one of the most gruelling sports in the world for 120 minutes, and I had to be up at 9am for recovery. I was just a wreck. It’s two or three days of just crippling tiredness and fatigue. It was just the physiological effect of the mental cycle I was in.

Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Exactly, and then I’d get injured. The body can’t handle no sleep. Sleep is the most important form of recovery, we’re told that since we’re 10 years old. That lack of ability to recover just accumulates over time. My body has always been quite resilient, but it couldn’t go through that. Not any longer.

Following the 2016 GF win - did your anxiousness disappear in anyway?

No, not really, it was an amazing time surrounding the grand final where in that month a series of seemingly impossible events were overcome that culminated in pandemonium. I have very fond memories of that time, but once the true elation of victory subsided, I do remember feeling very hollow. Funnily enough, although success aided me for a while, I think in reality it just acted as a distraction from what was really going on for me. So there was definitely joy attached to that period of time, but it was fleeting and the 12 months that followed would prove to be the hardest of my life.

So no sense of lasting relief, or achievement or happiness?

I think the enormity of what we achieved for our club and community was absolutely recognised. Internally we knew the depths of some of the challenges that we faced collectively, so to get there and achieve the ultimate in the game and overcome all that and be victorious on the last day of the year was exceptional. Because of this I think the strength of the relationship between the members of the club became so powerful, so that was a unique experience that is lasting.

You took time off in 2017 — you recognised the problem was so severe you needed to remove yourself. What did you hope to achieve?

Part of what we were trying to work out was what we needed to change. Then we needed to understand me, what I’d been through, and whether I could function normally with football in the equation. We decided I couldn’t. The actual break from football was two-and-a-half weeks, where I had no contact with anyone from the club. We took football out of the equation, and suddenly free up some space to work on my mental health. What we were trying to work out was, when was I actually happy? It was when I was 17, 18, when I had sport, school and family and real balance in my life.

And your balance was off?

I hadn’t had the balance right in a long time. That was part of it. The other thing was trying to work out how to be a little less hard on myself. Invariably with football, we shoot for the stars, and falling short is not something we deal with very well, particularly with me because I felt like I knew what people expected of me, and I wasn’t reaching their expectations. It might not have been realistic, but I still wanted to get there.

Being easy on yourself and meeting others’ expectations — is that possible?

I needed to work out how to do both. I wanted to do well, but I had to be OK with not being perfect. We did a lot of practice-based things that I wanted to put back in my life, like surfing, spending more time with family and friends, sorting out my sleep. We had a number of things that I needed to deal with in that time off to try and become level again.

When you would come out of a dark period, and you were feeling strong, did you think you would be able to beat it and it was in the past?

No. I’ll never forget the power the brain has over the body. One of the reasons that I’m able to talk about this so liberally is because it was so tangible to me. I couldn’t participate in life as I knew it for months and months. Then it becomes much easier for me to calibrate because it’s an injury of sorts; an illness. Something that has a massive effect on your wellbeing, your lifestyle, your friends, family, all your social interactions are implicated in the whole experience.

Are you better at managing things now?

I’m much more resistant to adversity. The way I look at resilience now is, when you’re going through a difficult time, what are the tools you have to help you pick yourself up, and deal with it? They can be mental tools, they can be a desire to not allow yourself to spiral down. From that regard, I picked up a lot of the skills in that time to say, “If things aren’t right, I know I can progressively and proactively change things quickly, and pivot much quicker than I used to, so that I don’t end up regressing a long way”.

How do you keep yourself mentally as healthy as you can be now? What have you learnt, and what are your daily rituals?

I’m a big ‘feel’ guy. Whatever feels right at the time. There are important interactions with people that I need to continue to have. I still see Lisa weekly, and to be honest it used to be an hour of “Tom”, but now it’s 15 minutes about what’s happening in my life, and 45 minutes about where I can best help people. What direction do I need to go. What mediums and platforms and situational stuff can I do, to most effectively, most morally, help people.

I would love to publish my story in book form, or a podcast and certainly in oral form through my public speaking which I love. I’m big on the fact that, yes, I can be an advocate for positive mental health, and I think I can make a big difference with my story, but ethically and morally from my own point of view, I need to do the due diligence behind the scenes to make sure that I’m not pushing messages that are either wrong, or dangerous.

Part of that evolving conversation with Lisa is always important. I make positive interactions on social media around messaging, around this space, and I feel good about myself because I know I’m making a difference. I know that I’m acting in a way that enables people to positively interacting with me.

I think that’s the checks and balances we all have to go through in regard to life, because to refer to my football career, what I couldn’t find was a sense of achievement outside the game. Where am I going? What am I doing outside of kicking the pig skin around that is positive? So I’ve found by acting in a way that makes a positive impact on the community I have a better appreciation for life.

Do you find you are isolating yourself anymore?

Not at all, but I still love my alone time. I don’t seek out alone time, but I utilise it when it’s there. It’s a different equation. That’s an important shift that’s happened over the years.

You still love footy, and you’re playing footy. Happy footy.

I’ll work out my love for the game again. The thing that has been misinterpreted with the end of my career is that I hate the game. Not true. That I hate the footy club, or the idea of being around a footy club. Also, not true. I love both those things. The many layers that come with the AFL was what got me, and the different elements of the game that you have to participate in at AFL level. That’s fine. Now that I can differentiate the two things, it’s great.

I’m still going to have to learn to love it again, to really just love the playing side of the game. I’ve had so many traumatic emotional relationships with the game in my past. Immediately, when I finished, I knew it was very important that I got involved on a community level with football. Call it my church, or my community hub, that’s really important to me. It’s an interaction with a different group of people, and I can learn a lot from different people within the community. I’ll be playing at St Kevin’s next year and played a little bit at Norwood this year. I’ll always be around football clubs in some way, shape or form.

Were you a happy kid?

I think so. I don’t remember being unhappy.

Are you happy now?

Definitely. It’s amazing what you can achieve in short periods of time when you’re really passionate about what you do. I’ve seen an amazing uplift in my productivity in the mental health space, but also in my life, because I love what I do. I love what I’m doing, I love the impact that I can have, and I don’t have the spectre of footy hanging over my shoulder anymore. It’s just a part of my life, not my whole life.

To those that are battling, what would you advise them?

You don’t have to do it alone and that as hard as it is to reach out when you are feeling vulnerable it’s so important. It took me a long time to address my issues and I was surrounded by great people. I think it’s the one thing we can get better at, and notoriously Australians are proud of the true Aussie spirit. The spirit of mateship is looking at your mate, and if you sense a change, ask him how they are going. It doesn’t have to be much.

The power of that is incredible, because you might start something where he considers that he’s not going well, or she might not be going well, whatever it is. The fact that we don’t tend to look out for each other as well as we can, or as well as we should, is one of the biggest things that I’ve been critical of.

We’re all going through the same things together, we all understand hardship and adversity in some way, shape or form, so with that in mind there is a certain responsibility to look after people when they are going through hard things. Be on the lookout for when those things might appear.

If you were in Year 12, knowing what you know, would you nominate for the draft again?

I’m not big on everything happens for a reason, but I think that circumstantially we become who we are because of the things we’ve experienced. I think that I wouldn’t be having the same impact on people that I’m having now if I didn’t go through the hard yards earlier. I wouldn’t change what I’m doing for anything. I’m very lucky that at 23, 24, I’ve found what I am truly passionate about, and worked out that at the very core of it, it’s people.

I love interacting with people, I love looking after people, helping people, people helping me. That’s what it’s all about, and it took me a long time to work out that’s at the core of what I want to do.

The 24-year-old Tom speaking to the 15-year-old Tom?

I don’t know if the 15-year-old me would have listened. There are certain tools we can give our youth, in this space in particular, that will hold them in better stead. We are extraordinarily critical of young people growing up today, and part of that is the fact that everything is documented. One of the messages I give to young people when I speak to them is, you live in a permanent world. For the first time ever; you can’t get away with anything.

Which is a hard way to grow up. But, it is reality. Societally, we need to be better at understanding that kids make mistakes. Perhaps some of those mistakes are more systematic of the things they’re going through, rather than them being bad kids, or bad people. From that regard, the fact that if I know more about some of these things, and the fact that anxiety, depression, mental health, life’s not that easy for a lot of it. That’s part of the beauty of it, and the struggle is the reason we keep going. If I’d known that when I was 15, that would have been helpful.

When did you get so wise?

Wise through suffering, I think. That is best thing that I’ve ever learnt about myself. Three years ago, I was an idiot. In three years’ time, I’m probably going to think the same thing about me now. The whole point of progression is that it’s fine to make mistakes, it’s fine to understand that the journey is the whole point. The destination is the end. Why are we running towards the destination? You have to enjoy the journey of life while it’s going on. I’ll tell you what, I’ve made plenty of blues and I’ll continue to make them, but you’ve got to try and learn along the way. That’s the whole point.

In your journey — when was the lowest you got?

I’d been having real issues with insomnia for a number of weeks. What they get you to do with insomnia is, firstly, they medicate you. Generally, it’s not enjoyable because some of the sleeping medication is so powerful that in the morning when you wake up you feel so bad, and so hungover from the effects of the medicine, that it’s not necessarily a better option than not sleeping. The other one they do is they get you to sit in the chair next to your bed. They’ll say, “Sit in the chair until you start dosing off. Get into bed, get out of bed. If you can’t sleep, just repeat that”. It’s part of just trying to bore your brain to sleep. I’d missed a couple of games playing for the Dogs because I had a calf, but essentially it all stemmed from not being able to sleep. I was sitting in my house in Albert Park, middle of winter, July blues, with no end of the season in sight. I was supposed to return back through the VFL that weekend after missing the last couple of games.

I couldn’t comprehend why I was feeling so terrible about myself. I looked across my life and I had a beautiful partner, who is now my fiance, Anna. She was the most supportive person going around. I had a new dog, a beautiful Labrador, an amazing family who did everything they possibly could to support me. I was living in a beautiful part of the world, getting paid a million dollars a year playing the dream job. Everyone in my life was telling me how good I had it, and I am absolutely, 100 per cent miserable.

What happened from there?

I’m sitting there, and I’m trying to work out what I’m going to do next, and there’s not a single positive thought going through my head. I’d worked out a couple of things. The first thing was that I couldn’t play on the weekend, it wasn’t going to be possible. My body wasn’t going to handle it. My mind couldn’t handle it either. I couldn’t go on that merry-go-round that I’d been going on. The second thing was that if I didn’t get help, and change some things, or something didn’t give, I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Who did you turn to?

I’d been seeing Lisa previously, and for the first time in my life I actually called her and specifically asked for help. I said, “Lisa, I can’t play on the weekend. I can’t do it.” Of course, her being her, one of the most amazing people in my life, she said, “How can I help?” That hour felt like an eternity, and I’ve never felt so terrible about myself, and unsure about my future. The one thing that I did was I actually made the effort, and made the decision, to get someone to help me get through that time. Not try and do it by myself. I can honestly say that if I didn’t, I don’t know what would have happened next. That was the last time where I felt so helpless that I couldn’t see anything good in any of my life. That was the hardest day of my life.

It’s a tough equation to try and find an answer to. You had a wonderful girlfriend that you’re now going to marry, a great house in a great country, physically healthy, earning well, playing a sport you wanted to as a kid, but couldn’t feel worse about yourself.

That’s the whole point, isn’t it?

It doesn’t discriminate.

No one is immune, and it’s not proportional to your life. Some of the most powerful, brilliant people in the world have had so many issues in this area. We lose people every year across entertainment, business, sport, politics, whatever it is. This stuff doesn’t see career. It’s all grey. I just want people to know that the choice that I made to actually open up and ask someone to help me, well, that’s the reason I am here happy and healthy and able to talk about it now, and they shouldn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed asking for help. It is brave, and it’s the right thing to do.


When you are at your lowest point, how do the conversations play out with Mum, Dad and Anna?

Differently with all. The ability to process information like this is dependent on how open you are. Anna had been through the whole ride with me, right there by my side. One of the biggest challenges with people who are in her position is that you feel very helpless. You’re doing everything you can, but it’s very important that those people who are second-hand suffering get support as well, because they’re feeling like they’re a part of the ‘not enough’ bit, which is not true, at all. They’re part of the ‘why it’s worth it’ bit. Telling her wasn’t difficult, and she was very understanding about me taking a break.

How were your parents?

Telling Mum was reasonably easy. I’d had conversations with her, and she’s an amazingly supportive lady. She’s always been right there beside me the whole way through. Again, that hopelessness fact is magnified because of her gap, and her distance, so she’s thinking “how can I possibly help without being overwhelming?”. That’s really challenging for the people around you.

Dad?

Telling my dad was an interesting experience, and the reason for that is for all his intent and care, and he was doing his upmost to support me, his life generally has been “if something is hard, put your head down and work harder.’’ One of the biggest challenges is when I walk in and speak to people of Dad’s generation, they find mental health hard to comprehend.

Dad, to his absolute credit, did everything possible to try and learn, try and understand, empathise, sympathise, and that was really important for me to see that. That was enough. He’s been one of my best mates in my whole life, so it’s important that he invested and tried to make the best fist of it that he could.

Have you got better at recognising people that need help?

Not necessarily, I think I have gotten better at being able to see things from other people’s perspective, which I was terrible at when I was younger. People can be very good at faking it, and I was very good, until I couldn’t. The responsibility on us as people is to treat people fairly, with respect, and with value. Sometimes, those people can’t find any value within themselves. I went through that at one stage.

If you treat people as though you’re not worth anything, well you may be contributing to some of it. It’s not always a direct correlation between people’s lives, and the way they feel, but ethically, morally, the response has to be to try and look after everyone. At least treat them as your equal.

One of the things that really resonated with me was when you talked about how you’ve always tried to live a life where you’re well mannered, really respectful of others, try and help others, but ‘because I wasn’t performing for two hours a week, I was getting treated like a terrible person’.

I don’t think that’s a melodramatic statement. It’s pretty accurate. You did your research Hame, but as you know, there’s been some pretty heinous stuff written and spoken about me at times.

Not just from people in the outer on social media.

No. Football is a microcosm of community. I don’t have any qualms about what people wrote in the media, because I understand now that it’s their job. At times, they tend to latch onto players, people, in general, which I don’t think is right. I don’t have the issue or the negative emotion towards those people, because they are often representing a greater story that is the mood, or the way that Australia functions.

It’s been a big ride so far. Thinking you wanted to be a footballer, going No.1 in the draft and becoming one, not enjoying it, winning a flag, and now at 24, all done. You’re not a professional footballer, you’re sitting on the floor with me, as happy as you’ve ever been, after going through hell.

My story has never been boring. In many cases, particularly in the AFL world, it’s very unique. For that, I make no apologies. Over time people have tried to put me in a box, because it’s easy to do. “He’s a highly paid footballer, he has nothing to worry about”. I didn’t want to be different, but because I was trying to work out who I was, I seemed to be. Now I can be myself all the time, act accordingly, participate in life accordingly, and it’s so satisfying not trying to squeeze everyone into a profile that doesn’t fit. That’s where I got my identity crisis from, to a degree. Now I have the option to choose.

When do you marry the girl from next door?

December 2020.

That’s something to look forward to.

Yes, it is. We’ve got a big year coming up. A renovation, a wedding, a couple of other family members who are in the same boat. It’s exciting. I’m going to have a big change in the work I’m doing, walking into a full calendar year. Anna’s going to experience the same thing, so we’ve got an enormous number of things on our plate, but all very good things.

And no skin folds.

Thank God for that — I’d fail.

(Laughs) It’s good to see you happy and smiling.

Thanks, Hame.

I really like this piece. I also want to share this one, on the same issue about depression. It is an interview with the exceptional Italy and Juventus goalkeep Buffon. It is in Italian, but it has English subtitles. It is truly remarkable to hear his insights. Here it is

I also love the way he speaks Italian and he way he uses different verb tenses to describe his past experiences of depression. An irrelevant aside, but nevertheless quite an insight.

GO DOGS!!!

 

[Mofra]

Lol, tell me, which of the last 10 flags relied on a gun ruck to get them over the line?

English will be better but by no means the requirement for our success.

Ottens?

English was painfully raw at the start of last year. His improvement was spectacular last year, he will become a genuine POD for us given his ball use is so good and his marking has improved to become a weapon.

 

[Flags_In_The_Bag]

G 12 years ago already? Frightening.

We won, then lost, then finally won that game in the last from memory.

Was there, gave me a headache that last quarter

 

[Hard Ball Get]

About 20 mins in a preview of the dogs season in Footyology podcast.

Whooshkaa Shows

player.whooshkaa.com

Spoke glowingly of our midfield.
Happy with Bailey Smith and the way the girls are getting around him.
Big improvement due to perfect recruiting.

Both have us there or there abouts.

 

[weltschmerz]

About 20 mins in a preview of the dogs season in Footyology podcast.

Whooshkaa Shows

player.whooshkaa.com

Spoke glowingly of our midfield.
Happy with Bailey Smith and the way the girls are getting around him.
Big improvement due to perfect recruiting.

Both have us there or there abouts.

Now I want to change my username to TheMulletFromMalvern.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Now I want to change my username to TheMulletFromMalvern.

From listening to this all last year I always think of him as East Malvern's Finest Mullet.

 

[DexterTan]

Restricted Content - The Mongrel Punt

Content from our archives commencing with the 2018 season is restricted to members only. Gotta look after the people that look after us. Want a peek?

themongrelpunt.com

Good read, although I would have thought Goal Conversion would have been in "Bad" or "Ugly".

Maybe the write-up is in the Members only section.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Restricted Content - The Mongrel Punt

Content from our archives commencing with the 2018 season is restricted to members only. Gotta look after the people that look after us. Want a peek?

themongrelpunt.com

Good read, although I would have thought Goal Conversion would have been in "Bad" or "Ugly".

Maybe the write-up is in the Members only section.

Lost me at the first sentence. Bont was good in 2018, maybe not his best but still good. I don't think our poor form should rest on his shoulders.
Skimmed the rest and stopped when they bagged Daniel off half back.

 

[BEaston]

Lost me at the first sentence. Bont was good in 2018, maybe not his best but still good. I don't think our poor form should rest on his shoulders.
Skimmed the rest and stopped when they bagged Daniel off half back.

Agreed, some pretty poor analysis in there but well written I guess.

 

[Virgin Dog]

Lost me at the first sentence. Bont was good in 2018, maybe not his best but still good. I don't think our poor form should rest on his shoulders.
Skimmed the rest and stopped when they bagged Daniel off half back.

It wasn't too bad to read, but geez there was some poor calls in there. My favourite was:

"The Dogs have plenty of players who hurt by foot. Hunter, Suckling, Daniel, Johannisen – it’s an embarrassment of riches, really."

Hunter.

I mean, technically he does hurt by foot, but it's definitely not the opposition that he's hurting with his kicking

 

[HahnPremium]

Very ordinary analysis.
Wants something more "meaty" from Bont. In finals.
Doesnt really quantify what meaty is.
I will.
Shrugging off Hodge in the final against hawthorn to mark.
Making space and having the skill and presence of mind to tap the footy on and reclaim it and nail the crucial goal in an absolute pressure cook situation against GWS.
Winning a b &f in a premiership year.
Enough meat?

 

[Mattdougie]

Restricted Content - The Mongrel Punt

Content from our archives commencing with the 2018 season is restricted to members only. Gotta look after the people that look after us. Want a peek?

themongrelpunt.com

Good read, although I would have thought Goal Conversion would have been in "Bad" or "Ugly".

Maybe the write-up is in the Members only section.

Pretty much spot on for most imo

Won’t be accepted in here but that just proves it’s even closer to the truth

 

[Virgin Dog]

Very ordinary analysis.
Wants something more "meaty" from Bont. In finals.
Doesnt really quantify what meaty is.
I will.
Shrugging off Hodge in the final against hawthorn to mark.
Making space and having the skill and presence of mind to tap the footy on and reclaim it and nail the crucial goal in an absolute pressure cook situation against GWS.
Winning a b &f in a premiership year.
Enough meat?

Also Bont was rated the best on ground by CD in the granny, and was among our best on the day according to a number of media pundits

 

[gangsta deluxe]

Pretty much spot on for most imo

Won’t be accepted in here but that just proves it’s even closer to the truth

How does it prove that? That seems like idiot’s logic to me.