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Every team has had a couple of hit outs in the pre-season and it’s still only February, but there was one team of the 18 that produced very little in their matches and look set to be nailed close to the bottom of the ladder, if not last.
That is the Western Bulldogs.
The grand finalists of 2012, the Swans and the Hawks, were a long way from full strength and blooded youngsters and new players, who pleased their coaches – like Angus Litherland, who played in defence for Hawthorn, and ex Cat, Jonathon Simpkin – while Sydney’s mature age recruit, Dean Towers, produced moments which indicated he deserved to be the Premiers’ first pick in last year’s draft.
Meanwhile, the Demons should be delighted with their first showing against North Melbourne, where they were pipped by just two points.
The result isn’t important, but the performance of their 17 year old recruit, the key forward, Jesse Hogan, was. He proved he’s ready to play at AFL level and would do well, but he’s not eligible until 2014.
He was a highlight along with other talented youngsters, Jack Viney and Jimmy Toumpas, who played well in the second outing against Richmond.
The Demons recruited a number of players from other clubs and the ex-Magpie, Chris Dawes and the former Cat, Shannon Byrnes, had their moments and no doubt long suffering Demon supporters would have left the Docklands thinking there’s plenty to work with and the future is looking reasonably bright.
Unfortunately though for the Bulldogs, there’s seem little if any light at the end of the tunnel at the moment.
They won as usual plenty of contested footy in their two matches with those hard bodied inside midfielders of which they have too many and not enough of anything else required to fill a football field.
Their coach, Brendan McCartney, is all about winning the hard ball and getting first possession out of the centre. That’s his game plan.
But what happens next?
I’m not sure and I don’t think I would be the only one.
You almost get the impression that even though clubs pride themselves on winning contested footy that they are almost willing to concede it when they play the Bulldogs, because they would be confident, the Dogs wouldn’t hurt them enough to put pressure on the scoreboard.
Their skill level was terrible in those opening round matches in the pre-season Cup. There seemed to be little work, if any, to address that issue, which was a real problem last season.
They lack outside runners, other than Ryan Griffen. But he can’t do it all.
Their top ten draft pick, Jackson McCrae, was recruited as an outside midfielder, but they need more than him.
Their forward line is nonexistent and the back half is being rebuilt and will take time.
In my opinion, there is no evidence to suggest that the Dogs have tried to come up with a better forward structure. It looks like one of their best players, Robert Murphy, may play there, but he’s played his best footy as a rebounding defender and seems better suited there in a side so bereft of talent and experience.
They used Dylan Addison as a leading small forward, but I’m not convinced he’s the answer.
Luke Dalhaus is seen as a cult figure at the Whitten Oval and the next player most likely as he’s been given Club great, Brad Johnson’s, old number 6.
But his finishing skills appear to be a work in progress.
McCartney constantly talks about getting the defensive aspects right and winning that hard footy from contests and then scoring will take care of itself.
I have an easy answer for that: You need method to score and there was little of that last year, particularly in the second half of the season where they endured numerous thrashings, and again last week, when opposition defenders often took easy uncontested marks in their defensive 50.
The Bulldogs have said that they are rebuilding and have publicly stated not to expect much this year, but this team continues to struggle financially and has one of the lowest membership bases.
It needs to sell hope every year, but that task is looking pretty tough this season and Mccartney has said it takes years to build a premiership model.
He always uses the example of Geelong, where he was an assistant for many years and was part of the coaching hierarchy, when the cats won flags in 2007 and 2009.
He is convinced Geelong should become what he’s describing operation Mcacrtney, the Bulldogs way by adding so many former players to his coaching staff like Matthew Scarlett, Cam Mooney, Ben Graham and Stephen King.
Scarlett is one of the greats of the game and will no doubt be a terrific mentor to the young defenders, but you get the sense that wonderful Geelong era has finished and the game has moved on.
The Bulldogs have a few more matches before their Home and Away campaign begins late next month, and they play Hawthorn this Friday, so let’s see.
If they can show some signs they might be heading in the right direction otherwise come the end of August, they could be where they are on the pre season Cup ladder after the first round … on the bottom.
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