Bulldogs' Boyd finally makes AFL return

Poor match from Boyd. Needs to clean up his look too. He played like someone who can't be bothered shaving or going to the barber.

How is English going? I haven't watched many Dogs games, will get a look at him today. I was kind of hoping Freo would have picked him but we got lucky with Darcy so our rucks looking pretty good for the future.

Way better option than Redpath for the Doggies and can give young Tim English a good chop out in the ruck when needed. All Doggies fans would wanna see from him is to be aggressive. Attack the contest, compete, from there his confidence will come then he’ll start taking big grabs and kick goals, and do what the Dogs are paying him to do. We all know he’s capable we’ve seen it on the biggest stage in football, all he needs is confidence and that will come from doing the little things.

The Bulldogs put that contract in front of Boyd in the full knowledge that he was not a finished product and still had plenty of developing to do. It was a bird in the bush purchase and always on the more speculative side. What's this "if Boyd isn't serous" guff? Are you questioning the genuiness of his mental health struggles?

Anon,as always unwavering pure sporting commentary. While Boyds GF performance can't be overlooked I tend to agree with your comments even as a biased doggies fan. My GF votes were 5.Macrae, 4 Morris, 3 Picken, 2 Boyd, 1 JJ. Now,while Morris and Pickens performances were also brilliant they're not going to get contract extensions based on that game,so in the same context Boyd should need to continue to improve and impress to earn the money he's being paid. I look forward to seeing how his career unfolds,but he shouldn't get a free pass for one game in a professional sporting environment if we want to be a serious professional club.

All he has to do is be the 2nd best forward in the competition? Well why didn't somebody let him know earlier?

I produced at work this week, this month, this year. I get paid. Boyd hasn't produced for 1.5 years now. He's on about $45,000 per game. On $11,250 per 30 minute quarter by my calculations (assuming he plays all 22 games which he doesn't). Time to earn his keep. If he's not serious then he's free to walk from the game. Don't collect pay cheques for not doing anything for a long period of time. Be a lifter not a leaner. TIme to show that he's committed to Western. If not, stop taking the money and stop clogging up cap space.

He has his chance still to earn his keep. Only 1.25 years out of the game where he hasn't produced. Still a chance to make up for lost time. If Boyd isn't serious about being an AFL player he's free to walk into the Western head office Monday morning and ask for his $7 million contract to be terminated effective immediately. I think it's wrong for Boyd to expect Western to pay his mega-salary while he figures out whether he wants to play footy for a living or not. It's not fair. Western signed that huge contract in good faith.

A rather silly comment. He has paid his way with a significant contribution to our premiership. You are flat out writing a coherent sentence. Try re reading what you write and see if it makes any sense.

Not "harsh but fair", but something "as usual". Reactionary and sloppy more likes. Actual Bulldogs fans with any perspective would see the Boyd deal as an investment for the future. Sure there were risks involved, but it was a bold move to secure an elusive, high demand key forward from other Melburnian rivals. The Bulldogs are paying overs for 25-30 y.o. Boyd, not 22-24 y.o. Boyd, but hoping they'd get a bit in that time (I think they'd be taking key role in a premiership). The lenient comment is just weird.

It is an interesting discussion point Kurt. On one hand I'd certainly take our flag and 2 decent career games from Boyd at $7m. That doesn't mean we can't expect some more value on top of that. Another point is for a small club like ours we need to make sure we don't overly look back at one success and be satisfied.. Living in the past is a dangerous business to get ourselves involved in,the premiership was great but our survival in a national competition should never be taken for granted. Small clubs like ours will always face challenges and we must always be facing them honestly and head on.

This is a really interesting question. $7M for two good games over 7 years is, on one level, incredibly bad value. But on another level I reckon if you said to long suffering fans of clubs who've gone a long time without a premiership (e.g. Melbourne, Fremantle, St Kilda) "would you be ok with your club massively overpaying one player for 7 years of mostly rubbish football, if that player is instrumental in winning you a premiership?" I think most people would probably say yes! I know it's not as a simple as that, but as a thought exercise it's quite interesting.

All big Tom has to do is take 4-5 big grabs and kick 3 goals average a game and he has done his job. Some reason like Sandi who is still resting up forward regularly but they cannot mark it. Forget this mindset 'bringing the ball to ground bring the crumbers into the game'. the back men are the spoilers . Focus Mark and kick goals.

Harsh but fair as always Anon. Cheers mate

Sounds like a bit of dis-respect towards Tom Boyd to me?

Harsh but fair as always Anon. Would be nice to see Boyd repaying the faith. $7m is an awful lot of money for two good games,even if they were big finals.

IAP,if Roughead is to succeed it will need to be in the ruck. He's good at taking marks around the ground but he doesn't win enough hit outs,he's certainly been hampered by the third man up rule.English does seem a better option. I think he's to slow for defence and has never offered much as a consistent forward.

It's probably the only game he's ever produced in. You need more than that from someone on $7 million over 7 years. He's taking up a lot of cap space. He's on a long term contract to produce otherwise they would have paid him big for two years not seven. At the moment he's placing the burden on his much lower paid teammates.

yeah, he's prob. entitled to dine out on that for some time yet.

You mean other than being instrumental in winning them a premiership pay back?