2024 - A season of lowered expectations?

I was feeling buoyant back over the summer. I felt the stars were lining up for us. Bailey Smith's injury was the first downer but Riley Sanders emergence countered that somewhat.

Then we had the horrible performance v Melbourne to launch our season. Same old story. Monstered by the usual suspects.

We bounced back for a convincing win against the Suns then did whar good sides do against weak opposition and pulverised West Coast for a percentage boosting win.

Our performance against Geelong was on the back of two incredible contributions from Bont and Libba. But, for me, it was not a convincing team performance. We had too many who did not do enough.

And then Essendon. We were next level bog ordinary in the second half. Rudderless. Who stepped up? Not many.

So all I can see is a mid table finish this year. We will beat most of the teams below us and have the occasional win against teams just above us. But that's it. After last years appalling losses to Hawthorn and West Coast I can't even believe we will win every game against our less favoured opposition.

It's a sad reality that we are just not that good. We cannot nail goals under pressure - ser shots and snaps - at psychologicaly important times in games. We consistently give up goals in the last minutes of quarters. Our field kicking is poor. Our forwards don't lead to the ball enough and they are not helped by those delivering inside 50 anyway.

I would play English as a midfielder who can give a chop out in the ruck. Give Lobb and Darcy the bulk of the ruck role.

We must find a role for Daniel. He is a creator and too good to be lost to us. O'Donnel must play and so must Sanders. They will be 200 game players.

Am I frustrated? You betcha. The most I am expecting this year is
9 - 11 wins. Another wasted year looms. But then again, it's always darkest before the dawn. Lazarus did it. Can we tread his path and send the Saints downstairs?

No one ever said following the Bulldogs was an easy row to hoe.

Thoughts?

I can't think of a mentally weaker or more fragile Bulldogs team in all my years. With a couple of exceptions they are a soft team. I can't see a premiership among this lot and Bevo looks clueless in the coaches box. It's a bit of a mess.

If we exclude Bont, Libba and Jones I think the next tier of senior players just don't seem to be up for the fight when things get tough.
I'm referring to Treloar, Naughton, Williams, Dale, English to name a few. Many others are not sure of their place in the side; Macrae, Daniel and most of the fringe players.

To me this team has a Rhode years feel about it. A small handful of senior players doing most of the heavy lifting. The rest either playing with uncertainty or lack of spirit and the coach seemingly not sure which reign to pull or not able to get the best out of his players.

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Originally Posted by The Doctor

I can't think of a mentally weaker or more fragile team Bulldogs team in all my years. With a couple of exceptions they are a soft team. I can't see a premiership among this lot and Bevo looks clueless in the coaches box. It's a bit of a mess.

If we exclude Bont, Libba and Jones I think the next tier of senior players just don't seem to be for the fight when things get tough.
I'm referring to Treloar, Naughton, Williams, Dale, English to name a few. Many others are not sure of their place in the side; Macrae, Daniel and most of the fringe players.

To me this team has a Rhode years feel about it. A small handful of senior players doing most of the heavy lifting. The rest either playing with uncertainty or lack of spirit and the coach seemingly not sure which reign to pull or not able to get the best out of his players.

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Well summarised. I've always thought there's a void of leadership after the few you mentioned. We haven't had enough of the next wave of players step up. I don't see it in this group either. There's enough talent but not enough determination. That last point begs the question of whether coaching influences this or whether we've just happened to recruit players with the same type of mentality.

Round 1 was a kick in the guts as a supporter but then things seemed to get back on track, Gold Coast had started off pretty well under Hardwick and usually start most seasons strong but then fade away so that as a very good result, West Coast we had to smash them and we did, yeah easy target but we did what was required, so expectations were definitely back on track after a very positive summer with change and everything else that was going on.

Geelong, yeah wasn't a horrible result as we could have won, looking at their team on paper beforehand they just looked a strong side overall which i thought we'd struggle against and it panned out that way plus the fact that they own us even though we beat them late last season so all in all, not horrible by any stretch.

Then it was like a hard reality kicked in friday night and those expectations were smashed with a typical get beaten out of the middle, our big guns weren't at their best so the team just falls flat type of performance and like The Doctor stated, we are mentally weaker than the most other sides in the comp, an undermanned Bombers was a disaster and worse than round 1 imo.

So yeah, now as it seems we just shuffle back to the middle of the pack, we are not a crap bottom 4 side but we are also not a strong top 6 side, almost a bit like Essendon over the years being in no mans land, just there abouts, mediocre.

At the start of the season i'm thinking top 8 possibly even top 4 if things go right with injuries etc, right now, anywhere from 12th to 8th, can still make it....just, but making up the numbers.

Even though I am getting on in years I begin each season with a childlike hope that the new season will be a great season. My overriding feeling is sheer disappointment. I feel sorry for Bont and Libba they play their hearts out every week the losses must weigh on them like they do on us