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.
Clinton Downing
Guest
Griffen won't go anywhere he has already knocked back Essendon when they pushed hard for him. Short memory's about the dogs, 4 finals series in 5 years prior to Eade's departure after an average 2011. This lead to lots of picks between 10-15 which are still decent picks but the club failed regulary with the likes of Everitt, Howard, too higher price for Cordy and so on. Eade traded away even the kitchen sink in his time at the club to get the deal done and that has come back to bite the club in the butt. Cooney's knee is shot and the dogs lost him at 23, how good could he have been? You cant reaplce talent like that. The last 3 years Wallis, Libba, Smith, Talia, Stringer, McCrae, Hrovath have all been very good draft selections based on proven junior talent. Prior to these boys the dogs recruiting was poor and even with top picks were 50/50, Cooney, Griffen, Higgins being worthy picks and Williams, Ray and Grant not worth it. The dogs have a good list of 18-21 year olds and the key now to long term success is the developement of Cordy, Jones and Roughead. If they all come on by 2015 this team will be back in the 8. As for Melbourne how many more top 5 picks can you have in a 5 plus year stretch and still be so bad. They are now getting things right and so they should and Hogan looks a gem as will Stringer be for the dogs. The so called poorer clubs are getting better with drafting in recent years but when clubs have 10 scouts as compared to 3-4 on the road watching junior talent that also has an impact on clubs ability to snare that late draft gems which the likes of Collingwood continually get.
Dylan Sargent
Roar Rookie
Great article Dan. Really interesting that you mentioned McCartney's focus on winning clearances as Plan A, B and C, as this is completely borne out in their season statistics. Last year the Bulldogs averaged the fifth most clearances per game , 13th most inside 50s and were dead last in converting inside 50s to goals. These stats underscore the two major problems for the Bulldogs mentioned in your article, namely the lack of a functional forward structure and the poor quality of delivery from their midfield. They have also been hurt by Adam Cooney's knees breaking down much earlier than expected, as he really gave them an explosive inside-outside midfielder to pair with Griffen's outside run and delivery when healthy. If you were a Bulldogs fan, you would have to be worried that McCartney suggests that the scoring will take care of itself provided the players get the fundamentals right. The Geelong teams during McCartney's time as assistant played some of the most free-flowing and entertaining football of the modern era. Even those teams had a definable game plan, albeit one that that was based more on a set of core principles than a regimented style of play (e.g. Collingwood under Mick Malthouse or St Kilda and Fremantle under Ross Lyon). The talent in the Geelong playing group made the looser game plan a strength because it gave their more brilliant individuals (e.g. Stevie J, Ablett, Scarlett) scope to improvise when they saw opportunities that no-one else would. Translating the same approach to a far less talented Bulldogs team is only likely to further expose the playing groups' lack of skills.
hawker
Guest
Trengove, Grimes, Howe and Hogan are all at the start of their careers relatively. Griffin is going into his 9th season. Honestly he'll be lucky to play another final within 5 years at the bulldogs. He has any ambition to win a flag he must consider leaving
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Seano, I can easily Griffen getting resigned for overs at the Doggies, in a similar situation to Boak at Port, where he arguably was overpaid to stay due to their general lack of talent.
Big Boss
Guest
When are they going to dump that idiotic name, at least give the fans something this year.
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Note that late in the tenure of Paul Roos, journalists such as the one above were foretelling of Sydney's demise, and those calling for Mark Thompson's head in 2006. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but too many of these people jump to conclusions without presenting any evidence just to be big-noted. The Dogs have drafted well, of course it's going to be a matter of time before they mature into a top eight side. Let's hope they go all the way on this climb.
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
So every good player playing in a bottom 10 should flock to the more successful clubs? This is the attitude that is wrong with the AFL world. Imagine if Melbourne's promising core of Trengove, Grimes, Howe and Hogan decided to pack up and go to Hawthorn because there isn't any foreseeable success. If Geelong's dual/triple premiership heroes such as Enright, Ablett, Corey, Scarlett, etc. decided to toss it in after their horrid 2006 season and go to West Coast. Moloney is a different story. He was a Melbourne reject because his head wasn't in it.
TomC
Roar Guru
When is he eligible, Seano? I reckon he'd be a great pickup for a lot of teams.
Heath
Guest
While, I agree the Bulldogs showed nothing and will more then likely languish at the bottom of the table this year, this piece and the comments following are evidence of a poor trend in Australian journalism. I remember these same conversations being raised before about the Bulldogs before their last run up the ladder. It is also regularly said abut other teams that are in the 'rebuilding' phase. Football is a continually changing game and im pretty sure no one here knows the in workings of an AFL side. The draft is a luck game, unfortunately the club is paying for the mistakes of the past, which were ultimately done to win us a flag during our last charge up the ladder, where we fell annoyingly short.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Haha, I won't be doing a team-by-team one, but I sense a full preview on the Monday before Rd 1. I can't wait for you to tell me how I've got all 18 positions wrong, and the reasons why!
Cameron Rose
Expert
Good call Seano, Griffen is an out-and-out gun, top 15-20 in the comp, possibly even top ten in the right circumstances. Sometimes it's about what surrounds you, can you imagine how devatating he'd be in the current Hawthorn line-up? His real year of maturity was the last year the Dogs played in a Prelim (his finals series was superb), so it's just a shame that his prime hasn't coincided with his team.
Lroy
Guest
Makes you wonder about the efficacy of the draft doesnt it... Dogs and Dees dont seem to be going anywhere.. none of their alleged "Number 1" draft picks have done much, and I suspect both these clubs overlooked Jack Darling, possibly TWICE. In this day and age you get punished if you screw up your draft picks. The first thing both those clubs should do is pay top dollar and hire some recruiting guys who worked for the Swans, Crows or Eagles, all those clubs have rebuilt their lists and should be top 4 this year... they must be doing something right.
TomC
Roar Guru
Ah, Cameron. Never backwards in coming forwards. Looking forward to your season preview so I can try and tear it down. Great fun.
TomC
Roar Guru
It was meant to be a comment about their team in 2012, rather than 2013, but reading it again I see why it was confusing. As you say, it looks like the cleanout has begun.
Seano
Guest
If I was Ryan Griffen I would be looking for a free agent deal soon, he is absolute A grade but his career is going nowhere at the dogs, I know it's different circumstances but look at Maloney with the lions this year to have a blinder. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
LK
Guest
I don't disagree with your post but Djerrkura retired last year and Sherman was delisted.
Redb
Roar Guru
I was at the fisrt NAB Cup game and the Doggies weren't really in the hunt in either game. The NAB Cup is usually when the bottom teams shine (see Port, Giants, Suns, Lions). It is a worry as the Bulldog's success years seem well behind them and it will be a long climb back to the top 8 let alone the top 4..
Dave
Guest
The first pick they had they used on Jesse Stringer, who is a forward.
Cameron Rose
Guest
I had the Dogs finishing last before this round of the Nab Cup, I have them last after it, and I'll continue to have them last for the foreseeable future. Their list is in a terrible position and it will be the best part of a decade until they can fire again. The Dogs draw also isn't friendly, playing all of GC, GWS and Port only once, with each of those matches interstate. #last -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
Dave
Guest
The Sherman pick up was with Eade, and they have now cut him. The new regime is dealing with a lot of mistakes made before they arrived.