The downfall of the Bulldogs... and a way back

If Barrett knows what’s wrong with the bulldogs attack it’s time to fix it. Being held to NIL in three games is a disaster for the new head coach.

It will be a while before Bazzler lives the furniture scandal down.

I think Napa lost his mojo after he let “Big Papi” out of the cage. His career has never been the same since. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, but Napa went MIA following that incident and never recovered.

Perhaps if he is a success Barrett might be able to afford better quality garden furniture FT? :laughing:

Don't you mean "given the poultry area"? :laughing:

Didn't Manly already conduct an autopsy on Barrett in 2018 Hard Yards? Like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz he was missing a heart and like the Scarecrow he was missing a brain, but they failed to produce a death certificate. So no now he wanders the hallowed fields of the NRL like Frankenstein's monster looking for garden furniture. :laughing: https://surryhillstimes.com/barrettsfurniture/

Yes I agree Tolman's defence in the middle is badly missed. Guess we all got frustrated with his 4th tackle hit ups, but surely the coach could have changed that and he did so much defence work that he didn't get a lot of credit for. I'm sure Josh Jackson would have been sorry to see him go - it has made his life much harder without a reliable hard worker like Tolman. It's early days, but Barret may not rate defence as highly as he should (As Warren Ryan said "Defence wins games") Some of the Mounties forwards looked good and Mick Potter has that team going well and they would have been just as many new combinations to get used to as first grade.

The Roosters don’t have much choice given the paltry area of juniors they are allocated. Really, they should be congratulated for the amount and quality of work they put into junior development instead of being criticised. Development doesn’t stop at 16 (the age Sam Walker came to the club from QLD….and I’m sure an entire state can handle losing one kid) – it is only really the beginning. Some Roosters juniors come from other areas of Sydney, some from country areas, interstate and overseas sometimes too. The word “poach” is often used, but footballers aren’t poached; they are offered a contract and they choose to take it or not. No-one forces them to sign. If a club wants to retain a player and feels there is room for them in their system, they can make an offer. If they love the club or they’re confident of an eventual first grade berth, they would most likely stay. But as you yourself say, there is not room for every kid in every club. I’ve got no idea how many of their juniors that come from other places would’ve made it or not elsewhwere. I know there have been a few that have come to the Roosters that were not wanted elsewhere and were given a shot. Some made it, some didn’t.

Nice article - I should have said that earlier Yeah, Mason Cerruto was another one for me. I went to heaps of ISP games in 2018. He was a big, tall, fast fullback that broke tackles for fun. In the semi final series he ran for 200+ metres every game Again, big difference between reserve and first grade but when we’re struggling for players with any attacking impetus how can he not get a shot? His game would have been suited to wing as well. Tall, big bodied, good carries, good in the air. What’s the point of having a reserve grade if it’s impossible for players to earn a crack at first grade? Josh Cleeland is a heart breaker for me. His game had it all and he played at a time when we were struggling for halves. Reynolds had left, Mbye had moved to fullback, Foran was constantly injured and didn’t play many more than 10 games. We were running with Matt Frawley in the halves. You can’t tell me that Cleeland wasn’t / isn’t a better player than Frawley...but still not a single game The scary part is we’ve been “rebuilding” for four years and we still don’t seem any closer to a competitive squad and there doesn’t seem a turnaround in sight... 24-0 worse than the second worse team in the comp says it all One of the best things about being a Bulldogs supporter is that we’ve regularly been in the eight and playing in and winning grand finals. When the bad times have hit, they’ve never lasted long and we’ve bounced back quickly We declined quickly after 2006 and git the spoon in 2008. By 2009 we were within a game of the minor premiership and within a game of the grand final. By 2012 we won the MP and were in the GF Late 80s / early 90s we lost lots of gun players that makes the recent player losses look like a garage sale (Mortimers, Tunks, Kelly, Dunn, Gillespie, Langmack, Farrar, Potter, Alchin, Thomas, Currie, Hagan, Sargent) and had some lean seasons (still made the semis in 91). We bounced back and won MPs in 93 and 94, grand final appearance in 94 and premiership in 95 But this at the moment seems clueless with no dawn in sight...

For me it’s the lack of sting in the middle that’s been the biggest disappointment. Napa was slightly better but he’s still only run for 150 metres across three games. He’s 191cm, 113kg, on 650k. He’s supposed to be our pack leader We’re playing off the back of poor sets. As a result, there’s a lack of genuine attacking opportunities or even being deep enough to put assertive kicks into the corner to put pressure on the opposition coming out of their own end. We don’t build pressure anywhere on the field, our opposition start their sets well upfield Hopefully Thompson makes a difference when he comes back but he didn’t set the world on fire last year, albeit in incredibly difficult circumstances Ofahiki Ogden and Renouf Atoni have also been disappointing. I’m used to seeing these guys playing ISP / Canterbury Cup and absolutely ripping in. Obviously there’s a big difference to NRL but they seem to be role playing and playing well within themselves. Either of them are bending the line in the slightest and that should be their forte We miss Tolman terribly. He’s copped a lot of stick from Dogs fans but having a prop that can play 60-65 minutes, run 150 metres and make 30-40 tackles a game like clockwork allows the other guys the opportunities to play shorter stints and rip in. We don’t have a big minutes, big man in the prop rotation Jackson is playing 80 minutes as 13 and I think (as always) he’s doing a great job. He’s making 60 tackles a game, running more than blokes 10-15kg bigger than him and getting a bit of ball playing back into his game. What worries me is that we have the 15 players off contract, including guys on big money in Hoppa and Napa, so we have a fabled “war chest”. But if you look at the players off contract for 2022, there are few quality middle third players coming onto the market. So we need to either find the next generation or some of the guys mentioned above need to develop and quickly... both of which seems unlikely So this “rebuild” which is now four years and three coaches deep doesn’t look like ending any time soon Webby - you talk about the club needing to develop players and I couldn’t agree more. I think back to the ISP winning team from 2018. That team had guys like Mason Cerruto, Morgan Harper, Josh Cleeland, Zac Woolford and Rhyse Martin who all looked like they could be NRL quality Only Martin got a chance, looked good and got hoiked before he could establish himself. The NRL side was struggling, we had a dominant side at the next level down with good players in positions we were struggling with - namely halves and hooker and none of them could even get a toe in On top of that the big sell off had begun and still none of these guys could get a chance. Maybe none of them were the answer but sometimes it seems harder to get out of the top 30 than it is to get into it There’s a line in the Simpsons where Ned Flanders beatnik parents are talking about raising Ned “we’ve tried nothin man and we’re fresh out of ideas” - it sums up the Bulldogs plight brilliantly

As an outsider (from a care factor perspective), and not really paying a great deal of attention, looking in I find it strange/interesting that most Manly supporters have/are blaming their (once saviour) coach, and the Doggies supporters are more focused on the players, and in particular their new recruits. Again, and from a distance, I think Des is a good coach, but not a great coach unless he's using future years caps, and Barrett is a good halves coach, but nothing more. I don't/didn't ever think Des was "Mr Miracle Coach/Saviour" when he went back to Manly, and I could probably argue Barrett has already done more than I expected by bringing some talent to the Dogs, outside of their new HB. The way I see it is Des didn't go from "hero", because he never was/has been to "zero", as the game just doesn't change that quickly. He just has to work with a team that's currently within its cap, and that cap is incredibly/one of the most lobsided. As for the Doggies, they've actually recruited well, except for their coach, and ironically, maybe because of their new coach, but if they're going to stick with Barrett then their "assistant coach" should have rein over the 1-5, 8-17, and their talent scout should have a say in their 9.

Great article Webby; good job. Maybe try a ‘ pull no punches’ first sentence next time.

I think they’re going to have a couple examiners on standby to perform the autopsies.

I think the current issues at the Dogs stems from all that infighting they had with the board, members and club. I think the back office was a mess and the impacts take a while to run through onto the field. Parra went through similar, and looks like the Broncos are about to.

I've always been a fan of Lewis. Can't understand why he's not in the team

The difference between a title winning outfit and one which makes the odd GF can come down to the retention of a single player at times I suspect. Along with the retention comes a good run with injuries and other factors. That player at the Dogs could well be Ben Barba. Hasler had Brett Stewart for his entire tenure at Manly and I doubt if he wins any titles without him. Barba had the potential to be that sort of player at the Dogs but it went pear shaped. As for the future, have a look 5 years down the track and some clubs who are real plodders now could well be challenging for a title and some high flyers could be languishing. Barrett is now considered a real plodder in the coaching stakes but with some good recruitment who knows how his career ends up.