The Western Bulldogs’ match against Hawthorn on Sunday will either make or break their season. Win, and they’ll have responded in the manner any side worthy of a top four finish would after losing by 123 points. Lose, and any claim they had to being contenders this year will be gone.
And with that, coach Rodney Eade’s chances of a new contract will also be lost.
Making the top eight would still be a realistic possibility, of course. But president David Smorgon set the bar high when he said the “pass mark” for Season 2011 was a grand final appearance. While falling a touch short of that might’ve been forgivable, a major drop off won’t be.
Action will need to be taken and sacking Eade would appear to be necessary. If the losses continue to mount it might happen sooner than we all think.
But let’s back up for a second and take a look at where the team’s at.
The Dogs have three wins and five losses. The wins came against Gold Coast, Brisbane and Richmond. They were all at Etihad Stadium. Many of the losses, however, were competitive efforts against good teams – Collingwood, Fremantle in Perth, Sydney in Canberra.
The sort of losses that, while disappointing, are a little forgivable. A little more “acceptable” than, say, a 123-point loss.
Two weeks ago I wrote that the Sydney game should serve as a wake-up call for the playing group. I was wrong to suggest that. The loss to the Swans mirrored the losses to the Pies and Dockers beforehand – the result was too close, there were too many excuses to hide behind.
Now, at least, there is nowhere to hide. There’s no way of explaining away the kind of loss West Coast inflicted last weekend.
“The players are aware they have let you, the club, themselves and the jumper down,” Smorgon wrote on the club website this week, taking the extraordinary step of apologising to fans.
The media have got stuck in, too. For once it wasn’t St Kilda copping it from every analyst on Monday night’s TV shows. Instead it was the boys at the Kennel.
To be fair, to an extent you can understand why the club might be struggling to live up to its potential. One of the reasons why I have so much time for the Dogs is that they have the All-Australian full back (Brian Lake), plus another All-Australian at full forward (Barry Hall).
Something clearly isn’t right with Lake this year, given the time he’s spending in the VFL, and it appears only partially injury-related. Hall, meanwhile, has been out the past few weeks.
Without the presence of two players so critical to the team’s structure, you can forgive some kind of negative impact. Take two All-Australians out of any team and there’s going to be an issue.
But the problems are bigger than the absence of Lake and Hall.
Consistency within the playing group is a huge issue. Some players can dominate one week and look terribly below-par the next. Lindsay Gilbee kicked six goals against the Tigers two weeks ago. Against the Eagles his possession tally only just matched his goal tally from a week earlier, leading to him being dropped this week.
The young crop of players supposed to be driving this side’s improvement either haven’t stepped up or are only stepping up in patches. Tom Liberatore is obviously an exception.
So we’re back to where we were two weeks ago. Waiting for the Dogs to show some fight.
Only this time, the stakes are definitely higher.
Lose, and the Rodney Eade era at the Western Bulldogs may be remarkably close to an end.
Multicultural round was changed in 2018 showing that the AFL have not been as committed to multiculturalism as they should be.
Collingwood led by a point with minutes to go, Kyle Langford had the chance to be the hero with a set shot, however, he missed, and we saw the first draw of the season.
Former Adelaide captain Rory Sloane has been forced into immediate retirement by the threat of further eye damage. Sloane, 34, had a second bout…
The MRO handed the Bulldogs player a one-game suspension for rough conduct after his shepherd on Fremantle opponent Brandon Walker.
Not often you see Marcus Bontempelli miss a chance like this!
We’re taking a look at one player from each team that needs to make a difference this week, starting with the ANZAC Day games.
