Where are the Western Bulldogs at?

[PowerfulPies2023]

Serious question. In before the Whitten Oval or whatever the damn it's called nowadays. Or the Western Suburbs. Not being a smart ass but I like the Doggies and feel the finals would have been better if they were in it. Imagine a final at the G, Blues vs Dogs? As it turns out the Blues-Swans final was pretty damn good and it drew a great crowd. I'm also thankful that the Blue Baggers K.O'D the Dees and I feel they did us Pies a big favor. Melbourne were very dangerous. I think the Doggies had it in them style wise to get the Blues had they met in the finals. But you wouldn't know it with the way they finished the year. Losing to the Hawks but the West Coast Eagles? Unforgivable. They did it to themselves yet again and have a knack for failing away. Losing top 4 at the end of aeason 2021 ( yet still made the grand final ) and last year giving up a 41 point lead in a final at Freo. I just feel with the likes of Bont, Libba, English, Treloar, Weightman and Hagan they should be producing a lot more. Aaron Naughton

33

Aaron Naughton

Age

24

Ht

196cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.7

3star

M

4.9

5star

T

1.8

4star

G

0.8

4star

D

6.3

1star

K

4.0

1star

HB

2.3

2star

M

2.5

3star

T

0.8

1star

G

0.5

4star

D

12.8

4star

K

8.8

4star

HB

4.0

3star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.2

3star

G

0.0

1star

just misses far too many chances for a key forward. He's showed glimpses and potential but now it's time to deliver.

Kind of having a crack at the Bullies but with good reason. After winning the flag in 2016 and making the finals in 2020, and another GF in 2021 they showed that they are good enough to not just contend but win a flag. They should be serious contenders with some of the players they have. They've underachieved majorly the last couple of seasons.

What's next for the Bulldogs? IMO they should be a top 4 club at the very least.

 

[Colonial]

The pound.

 

[Danw0w]

Overrated

 

[NetworkNerd]

Under salary cap pressure I would think

They have re-signed Naughton, can they fit in all of Smith, JUH and English next year? Then have to worry about Bontempelli the year after

 

[Toump Ass]

Pretty wild to think after making the grand final they've had JUH break out, Tim English transform from "baby giraffe on ice skates" into the best ruckman in the AFL, had a career best year from Libba... and they still can't even make the eight.

On the other hand, they lost Dunkley, Hunter (who had a great year at the Dees), and Jack Macrae disappeared too.

Think Bevo's gonna have to do his best work to get them back on track this year.

 

[adammania9]

Comically overrated for years because of their abundance of ball winning midfielders who can only try and win one football on the ground. They got the very best out of a very average defence in 2021 which allowed them to have a good H&A season until the end and a great finals series. Look at their back 6, their small forward stocks, their wing options and tell me they should be in premiership contention.

Dunkley walked out because the playing group isn’t serious. Every player besides Bontempelli, Naughton and JUH should have been on the table if it meant keeping Dunkley.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

417 Barkly Street.

 

[bobs head soup]

Our coaching division has been a shambles since 2021, by all reports being addressed over the offseason.

No doubt we've got issues, but still won more games than lost in each of the past 5 seasons.

Players yet to peak include Naughton, English, Jamarra, Smith, Weightman, Richards, Darcy, West, O'Donnell and a few in development.

Our worst loss last year after R2 was 21 points and beat 3 of 4 Prelim finalists.

Admittedly, wheels fell off badly in closing rounds

We're not far away.

 

[brmi]

Hopefully we can get a senior assistant with the balls to pull Bevo into line (seems no one has been able to since the highs of 2016) and make some game day moves.

2023 was a terrible year for us and easily the least enjoyable season of footy I've watched. It might be a blessing and a trigger for the club to have a look at themselves and get their s**t together.

Honestly think we can and will win the flag next year.

 

[TedDougChris]

It's not really that difficult to figure out.

We have no structure in defence or up forward. We have (largely) a one paced midfield with minimal defensive focus. We don't have spread, speed or kicking talent. So our ball movement needs to be perfect as we aren't great at transitioning from defence. We also can't kick. We aren't a great tackling team (in terms of sticking them and making them stick).

We're fine if we win it in and around the contest, but concede heavily if we don't (see defensive structure).

Bevo thinks he's the smartest in the room and refuses to have a Plan B. He also heavily plays favourites and gives McComb 27 games in a row where he doesn't hit a single target. (Have I mentioned that we can't kick yet).

Our depth has been impacted by having to pay heavily for JUH, Darcy, Croft (nice problem to have), which means we have minimal picks in the past few years in the 20 40 pick range, where we could pick up role specific players. So our list profile is heavily biased towards talent, but not depth. We also can't kick...

 

[South of the Yarra]

Damn good list, not sure about the coach.

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

Bottom 4 or premiers next year.

No in between. Toughest team to pick

 

[HTPunter]

Comically overrated for years because of their abundance of ball winning midfielders who can only try and win one football on the ground. They got the very best out of a very average defence in 2021 which allowed them to have a good H&A season until the end and a great finals series. Look at their back 6, their small forward stocks, their wing options and tell me they should be in premiership contention.

Dunkley walked out because the playing group isn’t serious. Every player besides Bontempelli, Naughton and JUH should have been on the table if it meant keeping Dunkley.

Plus some of their ball winners could be more accurately described as ball sharers.

If Daniel, Treloar & Macrae flick it to each other for 6 disposals before it gets kicked, it’s still just stats whoring

 

[HTPunter]

Bottom 4 or premiers next year.

No in between. Toughest team to pick

I wouldn’t go that far but yes bottom 5 or so with a sacked coach, or top 4 bounce are both very possible

 

[HTPunter]

Their defence is hanging by a thread, staying together through what will be a 33 year old Liam Jones

19

Liam Jones

Age

33

Ht

199cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.0

4star

MG

134.5

2star

D

7.6

2star

K

6.1

3star

HB

1.4

1star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.4

2star

MG

116.3

2star

D

9.4

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

in 2024.

Positives are
1) he’s had a year out of AFL
2) he’s got the right body type and athleticism for an extended career

But if he goes down, O’Donnell/Darcy are a way off, and Keath/Gardner are cooked/average.

Duryea is a solid back pocket too and is likely in his last season.

Questions over the backline. Maybe Naughton back is the answer.

 

[Snarls Barkley]

Talented list with a coach, with past success, that has lost his way

Susceptible defensive unit whose team plays a system that leaves them vulnerable on too many occasions

 

[kozi]

Dunkley walked out because the playing group isn’t serious. Every player besides Bontempelli, Naughton and JUH should have been on the table if it meant keeping Dunkley.

Can't play Dunkley and Libba in the same midfield and Libba came with the furniture

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

Would be in premiership contention if their coach wasn’t so arrogant and admitted he has it wrong with Nwughton playing forward and switched him to defence to cover what is clearly a massive hole.

JUH is the best forward prospect under 25, they have Lobb and Darcy ready to step up. Naughton is a below average key forward, but would be an AA quality back, yet Bevo persists with him fwd.

A spine of the quality plays top 4..
Jones
Naughton
Bont
Jamarra
Lobb/ Darcy

 

[My Tilly]

They need to get the list as fit as they have ever been. The talent is all there but if they could somehow look at how Collingwood took their fitness levels to another level, the Dogs have the goods to win the flag next year.

 

[Doc1763]

As far as I'm aware, they're at the corner of Barkly and Gordon Streets.
That's about it at the moment.

 

[CarnTheScray]

We haven’t even replaced any of our coaching staff yet and we’re already a third of the way through October. Pencil in for bottom 6 finish.

 

[CarnTheScray]

Bottom 4 or premiers next year.

No in between. Toughest team to pick

The way things are currently going, bottom 4.

Clearly nobody wants to work under our board and with our coach. We have about 4 positions to fill that we haven’t yet, meanwhile every other club has nearly finalised their changes.

If this team had a complement coaching division, and changed the look of the field (Naughton back, or moving someone like Smith on for a top pick in order to bring in needed youth that fills a need, playing younger players over Keath and Gardner etc) I think we would be premiership contenders. But none of that is actually happening so the answer is bottom 6.

 

[Dazb86]

Currently?

Got a coach under extreme pressure that's reportedly hard to work with that needs 3 assistants replaced. Everyone we've approached have told us to GAGF'd

So we're going well.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Get more defensive stocks and a new senior coach and they'll be top 4 next few years. If not forget about it.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Their coach is the biggest issue IMO. Naughton should be moved to defense it's by far their biggest deficiency, They have an amazing crop of players that are being underutilized.