Doogs

[LostDoggy]

The beauty of the McDougall deal is that all we really gave up to get him was a spot on the list, and slightly downgraded draft picks, which were still used as intended by Scott Clayton. We can afford for Doogs to be a wildcard/speculator in some ways. All we gave up for Doogs is Adam Morgan, who, since he was delisted, was finished at the club anyway.

Spot on. Doogs has a bit to do to shake his soft image from his Eagles days but generally if a club is chasing you they have you in their plans. That can only help his confidence.

[mjp]

They were probably going to delist him anyway.

Don't think so. Believe he was offered a contract extension in fact.

Eagles fans will say a number of things:

1/.He has a poor attitude.
2/.He does not attack the ball hard enough.
3/.He has no physical presence in a contest.
(Read 'He is soft' for the last two.)
4/.He is a star at training, but does not perform under pressure.

They also say:
1/.He is much better than Staker.
2/.He has not been given much of a go in either 2005 or 2006.

I watched a lot of him before moving to Melbourne - mainly because if you dont watch the Eagles and Dockers you dont watch footy (I moved at the end of 2004), though also because he played at Perth with a friend of mine who I went to see many times in 2003.

Now, as I have sworn off being critical of Doogs, I wont say that those calling him names are right. What I will say though is that when the Eagles were literally SCREAMING out for a forward in 2005/2006 they did not have faith in Doogs to do the job. This is perhaps because the coaches there are stupid, but I dont think anyone believes that to be the case. It is more likely because they had seen him do the wrong thing so many times that they had forgotten (and allowed him to forget) that he still knew how to do the right thing at least some of the times.

His performances for Perth last year (didn't see them, stats alert) worry me because in a poor team he really was not able to take charge of too many games. So the reality is he is probably somewhere (on the high side) in the middle between what the Eagles fans think we got and what we hope we got...and that will have him in the best few tall players at our club.

[southerncross]

Terrific post MJP.

Lets hope the opportunity presented to Doogs by Eade and the club is enough to inspire him to extract the digit and for him to start trying to make the most of it.
We need a key forward who is capable of taking contested marks and he fits the bill perfectly particularly given the price we paid but Eade proved last year with Davidson that potential means jack if you don't perform. It's up to him as long as the injury ghods keep smiling.

[LostDoggy]

Don't think so. Believe he was offered a contract extension in fact.

Eagles fans will say a number of things:

1/.He has a poor attitude.
2/.He does not attack the ball hard enough.
3/.He has no physical presence in a contest.
(Read 'He is soft' for the last two.)
4/.He is a star at training, but does not perform under pressure.

They also say:
1/.He is much better than Staker.
2/.He has not been given much of a go in either 2005 or 2006.

I watched a lot of him before moving to Melbourne - mainly because if you dont watch the Eagles and Dockers you dont watch footy (I moved at the end of 2004), though also because he played at Perth with a friend of mine who I went to see many times in 2003.

Now, as I have sworn off being critical of Doogs, I wont say that those calling him names are right. What I will say though is that when the Eagles were literally SCREAMING out for a forward in 2005/2006 they did not have faith in Doogs to do the job. This is perhaps because the coaches there are stupid, but I dont think anyone believes that to be the case. It is more likely because they had seen him do the wrong thing so many times that they had forgotten (and allowed him to forget) that he still knew how to do the right thing at least some of the times.

His performances for Perth last year (didn't see them, stats alert) worry me because in a poor team he really was not able to take charge of too many games. So the reality is he is probably somewhere (on the high side) in the middle between what the Eagles fans think we got and what we hope we got...and that will have him in the best few tall players at our club.

Hello MJP. Excellent commentary. Reading between the lines here, it would seem that you do think Doogs is soft. The question is, do you think he can he overcome this? On your reading of the present situation, does it appear that a leopard can't change its spots and that under pressure his weaknesses will be exposed again, or do you see it as a case of an injection of confidence at a new club will make a difference and lead to a player who can find his strengths and play to them? When I think of Bandy I think of someone who did well for a year, but ultimately struggled, especially with injury.