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  1. #1
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    Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era



    The Bulldogs loss to Sydney has brought them back to the pack of the battle for finals, but with the depth of talent available to Luke Beveridge, have he and the club missed their window?

    Luke Beveridge's Western Bulldogs have been accused of squandering a top-four list as the premiership coach is forced into another rejig of his besieged backline.

    The Dogs could be out of the eight by the end of the round after coughing up an inexplicable loss to Sydney despite dominating hit-outs, inside-50s and clearances as Tim English, Aaron Naughton and Marcus Bontempelli ran amok.

    Josh Bruce (19 disposals, eight marks) looks set to replace James O'Donnell (concussion) after a strong VFL hitout against Sydney on Friday afternoon, while Rory Lobb (15 disposals, 10 hit-outs) should replace Sam Darcy.

    Darcy stayed in Sydney on Thursday night to be assessed after the corked quad bled heavily and was in a knee brace and on crutches out of extra precaution.

    The Dogs said his only injury was the corked quad, which saw him subbed out in the third quarter.

    He is likely to miss multiple weeks in his latest setback this season alone after a hole in his lung and broken jaw this year and a foot stress fracture that saw his debut delayed last season.

    Bailey Smith will have recovered from a flu that saw him missing against Sydney by Monday, when the players return to Whitten Oval, and will play against the Dons.

    But his diminishing returns pushed to half forward are representative of a team that is not quite as good as the sum of its parts.

    The club's chief executive Ameet Bains said on July 1 the club had the makings of a top-four list, adamant it was stacked with talent.

    Yeah we do. They haven't all played consistently at the level but if you look at the nucleus of that team Tim, Marcus, a few other players, they are going as well as anyone in the competition. You build a side around that.

    But leading analyst David King wondered after the loss whether the Dogs were frittering away their talent in a year where they would have to replicate their 2016 heroics to win the flag.

    Let's cut to the chase. They have got one of the games greatest players for the last decade in their team, they are well supported forward of centre with good talls, got a good system, been around the mark for a couple of years now,? he told FoxFooty.

    Are they frittering away a great list? A great opportunity because they could find themselves out of the eight after round 18. You wouldn't have thought that would have been the case.

    They are hard to win and they bucked the trend in 2016 but the only way to win them is finish top four and they haven?t done that and how they haven?t done that no one knows?

    They are well led by the captain. Their midfield is super strong, they have a high handball game which seems to work and they can't defend. Without Liam Jones down there they looked a little rudderless. I don't have the answer and I don't know if Luke has the answer of their hierarchy but this is a top four list at minimum.
    Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    With the talent we’ve had in Bevo’s tenure it’s a fair argument. Never finished top 4. Only ever won finals in two of finals campaigns going straight out on most occasions. Choked top 4 in 2021. Choked the GF later on. Choked in the EF last last. Was third on the live ladder in the first quarter vs GCS. Now face choking again and missing finals altogether. Lost Stringer, Dahl, Hunter, Adams, Dunkley and feels like Smith could be next, and forced out others getting multi year deals elsewhere like Roughy, Campbell, Lippa, Young and soon Sweet & Buku. Stuck with philosophies that haven’t really worked.

    We’ve had a great amount of talent. I agree with King. I don’t know how we have not had ongoing success. And I think the trend line is to go into a leaner period as retirements start kicking in (Keath, Bruce, Duryea and later Libba, Macrae, Treloar and Bont winds down. While our development struggles with guys like West & Garcia and skills font improve like goal kicking. Assuming we keep our big name players too.

    It it what it is. We live by the sword of Bevo and we die by it too.
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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  5. #3
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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Bloody hell King always wants to whack us. Yes we have a top 4 list but with injuries to key players we have hit a bump in the road. Don’t write us off as when it clicks we are a super outfit what served it upto the inform Pies with a couple of our leaders out of the back 6.

    We will be ok but once again we don’t need to sell headlines.
    BB.

    Looking forward - Naughton, Darcy and JUH. It will be the envy of everyone.

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by Bumper Bulldogs View Post
    Bloody hell King always wants to whack us. Yes we have a top 4 list but with injuries to key players we have hit a bump in the road. Don’t write us off as when it clicks we are a super outfit what served it upto the inform Pies with a couple of our leaders out of the back 6.

    We will be ok but once again we don’t need to sell headlines.
    Love your positive posts
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by bornadog View Post
    Love your positive posts
    Would you like someone walking down the street smiling for no reason?
    I find it freaky!

    Kidding of course positive is good

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by bornadog View Post
    Love your positive posts
    Honestly I think we really are a top 4 side. We can mix it with anyone. The only concern I have is between the ears of the 22 each week
    BB.

    Looking forward - Naughton, Darcy and JUH. It will be the envy of everyone.

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by Bumper Bulldogs View Post
    Honestly I think we really are a top 4 side. We can mix it with anyone. The only concern I have is between the ears of the 22 each week
    You're right we have a strong list, where we might differ is the impact on what injuries are having to our results.
    Essentially I think it's a reasonable question for the media to be asking about our performances.
    Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by bulldogtragic View Post
    With the talent we’ve had in Bevo’s tenure it’s a fair argument. Never finished top 4. Only ever won finals in two of finals campaigns going straight out on most occasions. Choked top 4 in 2021. Choked the GF later on. Choked in the EF last last. Was third on the live ladder in the first quarter vs GCS. Now face choking again and missing finals altogether. Lost Stringer, Dahl, Hunter, Adams, Dunkley and feels like Smith could be next, and forced out others getting multi year deals elsewhere like Roughy, Campbell, Lippa, Young and soon Sweet & Buku. Stuck with philosophies that haven’t really worked.
    The concern is that while we have had 2 GF runs on top of never finishing in the top four at the end of the H&A season we haven't won a single final in any other year outside of those 2 GF runs.

    The list is strong enough so is it our game day strategy? Are we not fit enough? or do we have too many players that can't perform well enough at the pointy end of the season?

    This is what the media is speculating on.
    Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by GVGjr View Post
    The concern is that while we have had 2 GF runs on top of never finishing in the top four at the end of the H&A season we haven't won a single final in any other year outside of those 2 GF runs.

    The list is strong enough so is it our game day strategy? Are we not fit enough? or do we have too many players that can't perform well enough at the pointy end of the season?

    This is what the media is speculating on.
    And they are absolutely fair questions. With the talent we have had we should’ve won more, including finals. Getting those answers, fixing them and improving is how we go about achieving success. I find it odd that there’s not more self reflection on how to improve and that any critical media is negative. Some of it is BS. But we have not had the success we should have this era. We can try to work out why and correct it. Or just think things will turn around because that’s would we would love to see happen. Even if it’s somewhat divorced from reality.
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by Bumper Bulldogs View Post
    Honestly I think we really are a top 4 side. We can mix it with anyone. The only concern I have is between the ears of the 22 each week
    We are right now 9th. Two wins and over 20% of off fourth spot.

    Why aren’t we top four now?
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    We lack depth, have no wings, lack specialist small to mid-sized forwards and can't get our best defence on the park yet we apparently should be a top four lock.

    Each year I hear the same thing, and then at the same time see the list of deficiencies across the list trotted out. And at the end of it all we blame the coach.

    Our issues may include the coach but the constant overlooking of our clear deficiencies in personnel drives me nuts.
    Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by jeemak View Post
    We lack depth, have no wings, lack specialist small to mid-sized forwards and can't get our best defence on the park yet we apparently should be a top four lock.

    Each year I hear the same thing, and then at the same time see the list of deficiencies across the list trotted out. And at the end of it all we blame the coach.

    Our issues may include the coach but the constant overlooking of our clear deficiencies in personnel drives me nuts.
    But isn't the coach at least partly responsible for the clear deficiencies in our list?
    "It's over. It's all over."

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by EasternWest View Post
    But isn't the coach at least partly responsible for the clear deficiencies in our list?
    Surely yes. It's a team. Players and coaches are responsible for outcomes.

  22. #14
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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by EasternWest View Post
    But isn't the coach at least partly responsible for the clear deficiencies in our list?
    Probably. The list manager might be as well, right?

    But my point isn't about whose fault it is, my point is everyone can identify what is wrong with the list but ignores it and just says we should be top four because we have some promising forwards and Naughton, some midfielders who on paper are great but can't really defend or choose not to, and some defenders who can hit targets unless they decide to shit themselves.

    But we should be a lock for top four.
    Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.

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    Re: Western Bulldogs accused of wasting golden era

    Quote Originally Posted by jeemak View Post
    We lack depth, have no wings, lack specialist small to mid-sized forwards and can't get our best defence on the park yet we apparently should be a top four lock.

    Each year I hear the same thing, and then at the same time see the list of deficiencies across the list trotted out. And at the end of it all we blame the coach.

    Our issues may include the coach but the constant overlooking of our clear deficiencies in personnel drives me nuts.
    This. Whilst we have top end talent our list lacks quality depth. Is there similar scrutiny of other clubs? I mean Sydney have had talent to burn but have not won a flag. They too have arguably had imbalanced lists. You not only need that top end talent but also quality depth across the board. On top of that you need also need players that have different skill sets. I don’t believe we have or have had both over the years. What we do have now is a cord of very talented KP youngsters- the key is to now build on this and create a window of opportunity whilst Bont, Treloar, Dale etc are still near the top of their game.

    I get the article but it is flawed as it doesn’t take a deep dive into our list over the years to understand that our list hasn’t been as good as people think. The coach does need to take responsibility for some of our list inadequacies. Hopefully we can take advantage of our current talented KP depth.

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