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A disastrous finish to last season, an overhaul of the football department and rumours of instability among the hierarchy have the Western Bulldogs entering 2008 as an unpredictable quantity.
The `Dogs began 2007 with huge expectations, after overcoming a swathe of serious injuries the previous year to make their first finals series in six seasons, on the back of an exciting brand of fast-paced football.
But after being well in the finals hunt after 15 rounds last season, they crashed badly in the final seven weeks, drawing one game and losing the other six by an average margin of more than 10 goals.
It prompted club president David Smorgon to label the football department as almost “dysfunctional”, with the `Dogs subsequently appointing ex-Adelaide recruiting chief James Fantasia to the new position of football manager.
There was an almost complete changeover of coaching staff, with Matthew Drain, Chris Bond and, Sean Wellman all leaving, while Peter Dean, Brad Gotch and part-timers John Barnes and David Schwarz signed on.
The changes extended to the playing list and the way players have been prepared for the season.
The most obvious difference is the arrival of experienced ex-Adelaide pair Ben Hudson and Scott Welsh, who should help fix two of the `Dogs’ deficiencies.
Hudson will slot straight in as the club’s No.1 ruckman, while Welsh, the Crows’ top goalkicker in recent years, will help lift some of the scoring load from undersized full-forward Brad Johnson.
Hudson’s arrival should also allow the Bulldogs to add some much-needed height up forward, with fellow big man Will Minson and other talls tipped to spend more time in attack.
And Eade, who is confident the club can make the finals, said their training regimen had also been altered to make them into a bigger, stronger side.
“We set down the areas we need to focus on, which was having a bigger pre-season, getting more miles in the legs, get some more weight, our recruiting with trades, which we think we’ve achieved, and we’re doing a leadership program,” Eade said.
“There’s a whole range of things we’ve put into place and at the moment we’re obviously pretty pleased with where we are.”
Another important difference is that most of the squad are fully fit, whereas last season many of them were coming off surgery.
“Last year we had six or seven players that didn’t do anything before Christmas,” Eade said.
“This year we’ve probably only had one or two, so from that aspect we’re way ahead of where we were, plus the fact we started earlier hopefully we’ve got a bigger fitness base.”
Two vital players, key forward Robert Murphy and solidly-built utility Mitch Hahn, both struggled with form last season, coming back from knee reconstructions and also picked up injuries during the year.
“People say you play within 12 months, but it really takes two years to get over a knee reconstruction, it takes two years to get back to what you were,” Eade said.
“Obviously Murph and Mitch last year were a bit up and down … they’ve both had very good pre-seasons, so I think they’ll add a fair bit to us.”
Eade said the Bulldogs would “tweak” their gameplan, which has been based on fast running and precision passing.
The addition of some height and strength, particularly with Hudson’s recruitment, would add to the versatility of their strategies, he said.
The Bulldogs have lost a wealth of experience from their playing list, with former captains Chris Grant and Luke Darcy having retired, along with Brett Montgomery and Matthew Robbins.
But Eade believes the club still has plenty of leadership quality in veterans Brad Johnson, Scott West and Jason Akermanis, while he expects the spate of retirements to give Murphy, Hahn, Daniel Giansiracusa, Lindsay Gilbee and Ryan Hargrave a chance to take on more responsibility.
Eade also brushed off rumours of a testy relationship between himself and chief executive Campbell Rose, or that his own job is on shaky ground.
“When that first came out we were bemused about where that came from, (there were rumours that) Campbell was leaving, David (Smorgon) was leaving, I was leaving,” he said.
“It was a source of amusement early on, but I suppose when it keeps going unfortunately people believe what they want to believe.
“But Campbell, David and I have had a few meetings and we’re fine, we’re very unified, very strong where we’re going.
“The player group is very unified, there’s nothing in it.”
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Coach: Rodney Eade
Captain: Brad Johnson
Last five years: 16-14-9-6-13.
Premierships: One (1954).
Star five: Brad Johnson, Adam Cooney, Scott West, Lindsay Gilbee, Daniel Cross.
One to watch: Ben Hudson – With Luke Darcy forced to retire after struggling to return from a couple of knee reconstructions, the Bulldogs were crying out for a ready-made ruckman. And that’s exactly what they got with Hudson, the late-blooming Crows big man.
Ins: Jarrod Boumann (Dandenong U18), Tim Callan (Geelong), Jarrad Grant (Dandenong U18), Jarrod Harbrow (rookie elevation), Ben Hudson (Adelaide), Guy O’Keefe (Geelong U18), Sam Reid (Zillmere, Qld), Callan Ward (Western U18), Scott Welsh (Adelaide), Easton Wood (Geelong Grammmar).
Outs: Travis Baird (delisted), Luke Darcy (retired), Cameron Faulkner (delisted), Chris Grant (retired), Damian McCormack (delisted), Jordan McMahon (Richmond), Brett Montgomery (retired), Sam Power (Kangaroos), Matthew Robbins (retired), Tim Walsh (delisted).
Best line-up:
B: Ryan Hargrave, Brian Lake, Dale Morris
HB: Ryan Griffen, Andrejs Everitt, Lindsay Gilbee
C: Shaun Higgins, Scott West, Matthew Boyd
HF: Nathan Eagleton, Robert Murphy, Daniel Giansiracusa
F: Scott Welsh, Brad Johnson, Jason Akermanis
R: Ben Hudson, Adam Cooney, Daniel Cross
I: Mitch Hahn, Peter Street, Farren Ray, Tom Williams
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