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Tuesday seemed to be the start of a new era down at Whitten Oval with the Western Bulldogs unveiling their new logo and launching their 2015 campaign #BeMoreBulldog.
It’s hard to believe that was only five days ago, given what has happened since then.
Days later captain Ryan Griffen dropped a bombshell, requesting a trade to Greater Western Sydney, where former Bulldogs assistant coach Leon Cameron is at the helm, which forced the club to hold emergency meetings.
Those meetings culminated in a press conference on Friday morning to announce the resignation of coach Brendan McCartney, despite having two years left to run on his contract.
Despite president Peter Gordon stating it was not a crisis and the players did not run the club, recent actions would state otherwise.
For a captain of the club to say there was a breakdown in communication between the players and coach is one thing. But for the captain himself to take a full season to inform the appropriate people that he wasn’t comfortable with the captaincy points to a communication problem at both ends of the stick.
According to reports, both Griffen and McCartney agreed that there were things to work on but that things would be put in place to help. Both parties walked out in agreement that it could still work.
Move forward a couple of weeks, and before McCartney even has a chance to prove himself he is under the pump after Griffen announces his intention to be traded.
My first thought was it may be an intentional trade, as the Bulldogs have been rather vocal in their attempt to upgrade their first round pick to hopefully grab that somewhat elusive key forward they’ve never had.
Later on, it’s become apparent that it was just a ploy, as it has now been reported GWS had approached Ryan during the season regarding a potential move to the expansion club.
So why wouldn’t Ryan just approach the club and ask for a trade? Only Ryan knows that, but considering he is single-handedly responsible for the coach’s resignation, one has to consider what his motivation really was.
Either way, despite the Bulldogs stating they fully expect Ryan Griffen to see out the final year of his contract, surely the bridge has been burnt and it is now up to the Bulldogs to get the best trade they can for him.
Who knows, they may get that elusive key position forward out of the trade. But for that to happen the Bulldogs must swallow their pride, something captain Griffen failed to do.
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