Where does the improvement come from in 2024?

[bulldogtragic]

Keath is cooked
Duryea is cooked
TOB?s body isn?t up to it
Baker is fringe
VDM while regularly selected isn?t consistent and can?t be relied upon

JJ is another year on
Liam Jones is another year on
Lobb is another year on
Libba is another year on
Treloar is a year on

Macrae is a shadow of himself
Smith might not be around or at best can?t be certain to improve

Khamis will kick nearly 40 in the VFL but will be out
Sweet is the dominant VFL ruck but will be out

With no debuts this year, we don?t know what Buss, Clarke or Gags can do

Naughton still can?t kick bags or more than 50 a season
JUH struggles from 35m out now

Ed & Dale probably can?t get better, same for English is he stays on

Who knows where Daniel plays

Weightman is becoming quite inconsistent

You wouldn?t bet the farm on Poulter or Williams dominating next year

Effort seems conditional generally



Darcy is a bright light but his body hasn?t yet been shown to be durable

JOD looks good, but is a second year player

Bont is Bont, but Ward shows you need to tag him hard



So how do we find improvement to get back into the finals and not fall further down the ladder? I?m not readily seeing how this gets better before it gets much worse.

[angelopetraglia]

Keath is cooked
Duryea is cooked
TOB?s body isn?t up to it
Baker is fringe
VDM while regularly selected isn?t consistent and can?t be relied upon

JJ is another year on
Liam Jones is another year on
Lobb is another year on
Libba is another year on
Treloar is a year on

Macrae is a shadow of himself
Smith might not be around or at best can?t be certain to improve

Khamis will kick nearly 40 in the VFL but will be out
Sweet is the dominant VFL ruck but will be out

With no debuts this year, we don?t know what Buss, Clarke or Gags can do

Naughton still can?t kick bags or more than 50 a season
JUH struggles from 35m out now

Ed & Dale probably can?t get better, same for English is he stays on

Who knows where Daniel plays

Weightman is becoming quite inconsistent

You wouldn?t bet the farm on Poulter or Williams dominating next year

Effort seems conditional generally



Darcy is a bright light but his body hasn?t yet been shown to be durable

JOD looks good, but is a second year player

Bont is Bont, but Ward shows you need to tag him hard



So how do we find improvement to get back into the finals and not fall further down the ladder? I?m not readily seeing how this gets better before it gets much worse.

That is definitely a glass is half empty analysis. A strawman. Maybe we need to do a steelman view to balance it.

[bulldogtragic]

That is definitely a glass is half empty analysis. A strawman. Maybe we need to do a steelman view to balance it.

Feel free to counter these points. I’m listening.

[angelopetraglia]

Steelman view below

Keath is cooked Yes. Looks like it. Can he recpature his 2021 form?
Duryea is cooked Hard to mount any argument against this
TOB?s body isn?t up to itMaybe one more year post knee op he can get better
Baker is fringe He showed some positive elements in a few games. Has a penetrating kick.
VDM while regularly selected isn?t consistent and can?t be relied upon Has the athletic attrbutes to play the game. Pace and running ability. He has not had a solid run at it with constant injuries. With a solid preseason we may see an improvement.

JJ is another year on Yes. But he showed this year he still has it. Just needs his body to coperate.
Liam Jones is another year on Yes. But he proved he has some good footy left.
Lobb is another year on Only 30. Still young for a big man. Look at Max Gawn. His last game was a great way to finish.
Libba is another year on Has showed zero signs of slowing down. Probably his best year.
Treloar is a year on Great sign that his body held up for most of the season. Played some great footy at times.

Macrae is a shadow of himself Had a poor year. But super consistent in the years and years prior. Was he carrying something? Can he get back to his prior form?
Smith might not be around or at best can?t be certain to improve Had an interrupted preseason. Full pre-season in our brand new facility, who knows how good he can be.

Khamis will kick nearly 40 in the VFL but will be out Agree
Sweet is the dominant VFL ruck but will be out Agree

With no debuts this year, we don?t know what Buss, Clarke or Gags can do Hard to judge as we did not see the at senior level, but all showed something in the VFL

Naughton still can?t kick bags or more than 50 a season The way we gave our forward line service this year we didn't exactly give him a great chance. He fights for every ball in the air and on the ground. Best football is still ahead of him. Probably the best contested mark in the game.
JUH struggles from 35m out now He is 21. Can be anything. Has not even gone close to his potential yet. Massive upside

Ed & Dale probably can?t get better, same for English is he stays on Dale didn't have his best year. Can he recapture his AA form? Ed can and will get better. English is still young for a ruckman. Look at the Gawn progression.

Who knows where Daniel plays He is versaitle! Good asset to have.

Weightman is becoming quite inconsistent 11 tackles in his last game. If he can bring that pressure every week we would look like a different team. Also, one of the most accurate shots on goal in the history of the game. Still young with plenty of upside.

You wouldn?t bet the farm on Poulter or Williams dominating next year No. But who knows what Poulter's upside is with a full AFL preseason. He showed plenty of promosing sides.

Effort seems conditional generally Lots of upside with consitent effort.



Darcy is a bright light but his body hasn?t yet been shown to be durable He hasn't stopped growing. He has showed enough that he has the assets to be a superstar. He has to get some luck with his body, surely.

JOD looks good, but is a second year player JOD was amazing. What a first year. What can he do with a full AFL preseason.

Bont is Bont, but Ward shows you need to tag him hard Bont could win he Bronwlow. An absolute star of the game still in his absolute prime.



So how do we find improvement to get back into the finals and not fall further down the ladder? I?m not readily seeing how this gets better before it gets much worse.

[GVGjr]

From a player perspective there is still a lot to get excited about but there real improvement should come from a restructured football department.

I look at the way that Ugle-Hagan improved his marking this year and if there is no doubt further improvement he can make and he will be a hell of a player for opposition teams to counter going forward. He can be a 40 goal a season forward next year.

Darcy is going to be a heck of a player for us and after two wretched years managing injuries and disruptions to his career I'm very bullish of his ability to come in and be a solid player for us.

Weightman had an up and down season and we just need to find a couple of games more where he performs at the higher end and his 34 goal season could easily be a 40 goal season.

We got nothing from new draftees Busslinger, Clarke and Gallagher but that will change next year and they'll add some depth to our squad.

O'Donnell finished the season strongly and after a full pre-season I can see him being a regular defender for us and his ability to intercept a real weapon for us.

Poulter makes a few errors but acquitted himself pretty well. To me there is some upside there.

I think we will see better versions of English and Lobb in 2024.

There is a still a bit to get excited about especially if Naughton and Richards can kick it up a bit next season.
The challenge comes for us to find a way of solving the rubik cube that is Bailey Smith and if we can achieve that it will be a huge boost for the side.

[angelopetraglia]

Weightman is another who also had an injury interrupted start to the season. Makes it really difficult to find your best footy.

[angelopetraglia]

Treloar also had ankle surgery and had an interrupted preseason. If you factor that disruption in, he had one heck of a season. He can get better with a full preseason.

[angelopetraglia]

Another positive for improvement. We have extra weeks to prepare than all the teams who made finals. That is a massive advantage. Four teams from the outside the finals made the finals this year.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

A new game plan.

[macca]

From a player perspective there is still a lot to get excited about but there real improvement should come from a restructured football department.

I want to see improvement on the non-player side of things:
1. get in some assistant that is going to challenge Bevo and some of the sh!$%!t tactics used . Get in a Leppitsch type of coach. Have a game plan that makes it harder to get out of the forward line.

2. overhaul the strengthening and conditioning. Why are so many of our players getting soft tissue injuries ?
Its a big concern our younger players are injured more often than not.

3. Young player development : I want to see more upside in our younger players and ingrain in them some aggression and intensity

4. Goal kicking especially under fatigue, maybe that should be point 1, priority 1.

5. tackling and some ferocity. Maybe the new high tackle do not sling rule has changed how hard players go in for tackles? Something has dropped off with the team's intensity this year. Too many games bad starts or let other teams start a 5 goal run.

6. Stop this swinging players around in different positions. Get them settled in one position of their strength and work at it all season. I want to see West more in the midfield. If Libba gets injured for a month, we are totally screwed.

I am not going to comment anymore on list management apart from we need to cut deep this year, at least 8 fringe players need to be cut, and 2 leaving ( Buku and SweeT). Richmond finished 9th in 2009 the year they pickedup Martin , but they let go a whole heap of players. They bottomed out for 2 years. IT was the building blocks to their next preimership(s)

[Danjul]

2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023. Five poor seasons that collectively revealed what not to do. (and don?t give me that rubbish that 8th is a great result)

Saturday August 25 2023 7:30pm. Geelong showed us what to do.

A makeshift team had us on the ropes for an hour. Unable to deliver a knock out blow they faded as many hoped.

In that hour they displayed positioning and synchronised movement that made old players look young and young players look experienced. We need our coaching staff to display some humility and learn a little about how the game has evolved.

If they can?t bear to learn from Geelong then review how West Coast got ahead so quickly the week before.

Time for egos to be set aside and some genuine thinking to be done.

Maybe that will give us a basis for getting out of the hole the club has been enthusiastically digging.

Personally I don?t expect it to happen. That?s what I learnt from those 5 years.

[hujsh]

It can't be individuals that propel the team forward. We had multiple players have maybe career best years but that alone didn't do much. The TEAM has to improve and the individual performances will flow from that.

[Danjul]

Wightman is another who also had an injury interrupted start to the season. Makes it really difficult to find your best footy.

Weightman got a total of 3 goals in 4 consecutive games at the end of the season, GWS to West Coast.

He got 15 in 4 games in the middle. Port to Collingwood. He found his best footy. He lost it again.

(His problem was game plan not injury.)

[GVGjr]

I want to see improvement on the non-player side of things:
1. get in some assistant that is going to challenge Bevo and some of the sh!$%!t tactics used . Get in a Leppitsch type of coach. Have a game plan that makes it harder to get out of the forward line.

2. overhaul the strengthening and conditioning. Why are so many of our players getting soft tissue injuries ?
Its a big concern our younger players are injured more often than not.

3. Young player development : I want to see more upside in our younger players and ingrain in them some aggression and intensity

4. Goal kicking especially under fatigue, maybe that should be point 1, priority 1.

5. tackling and some ferocity. Maybe the new high tackle do not sling rule has changed how hard players go in for tackles? Something has dropped off with the team's intensity this year. Too many games bad starts or let other teams start a 5 goal run.

6. Stop this swinging players around in different positions. Get them settled in one position of their strength and work at it all season. I want to see West more in the midfield. If Libba gets injured for a month, we are totally screwed.

I am not going to comment anymore on list management apart from we need to cut deep this year, at least 8 fringe players need to be cut, and 2 leaving ( Buku and SweeT). Richmond finished 9th in 2009 the year they pickedup Martin , but they let go a whole heap of players. They bottomed out for 2 years. IT was the building blocks to their next preimership(s)

I'd like to challenge a few of those points Macca but I see where you are coming from.

1) Our assistant coaches would be challenging Bevo and that is part of the reason why we have them in place but the buck stops with the coach. They suggest and he decides what will be implemented. I don't think it's as easy as saying bring a Leppa in and it changes that dynamic.

2) It looked like a few of the clubs had an advantage in the strength and conditioning area. I know some have dismissed the Skinner Reserve experience and how it might have impacted the playing list but I saw first hand how many players were rotating through the rehab group through a lot of the pre-season and I'd say we lost a lot of momentum there.

3) Player development is a key area and I agree the challenge is more with our younger group. Not having a home ground for the players rotating through at Footscray can't have helped us despite Footscrays impressive late season run.

4) It's not just fatigue, we miss very gettable goals early in quarters and in games. Definitely an area we need to fix and we shouldn't be shy about bringing in someone from outside of the club if it's going to help. This is a technique challenge.

5) Our tackling could improve but I don't think it's a technique based challenge for us.

6) Moving players around needs to happen but you can't be a midfielder at Footscray for a number of weeks racking up possessions and come in and play on a forward flank and expect the same form outline.

I'll add that selection integrity needs to improve, it's one of the areas we have struggled with for a few seasons now.

[jeemak]

It's really hard to nominate specific coaching elements that will make us better. We need to be a resourced as thoroughly as we can be in the footy department and back that to give the players the best opportunity to thrive.

As for the players, they need to be accountable and stop being so ****ing soft and flaky. Their bullshit has cost people their jobs and will continue to do so until the club settles.

The game plan and the messaging was good enough for ten rounds after round two. They played to it with intent and our indicators and results were excellent.

It boggles the mind to think anything else other than player intent and commitment changed. Just like in previous seasons where we showed good results could be achieved. They need hard truths, they need to own their performance. Bevo backs them in and they shit all over it, sometimes, and then don't. I want them to be managed way more closely, given hard and direct feedback - it's time they grew up and stopped being unaccountable for their bullshit fluctuations in game, week to week.

Cody has eleven tackles last night after a really shit effort that cost us a goal. Do you really think it was coaching that made him be soft as butter in the fist instance, and do you really think it was coaching that made him tackle better afterwards?

Marra literally doesn't try for a few quarters, but then steps up. Must have been bad coaching in the first instance, and then good coaching in the last right? It's bullshit, it's up to him and his effort - he's the only person who can control that.

Does coaching make players choose to run back after a few goals against, or is it up to the players from the get go?

It's time to work these ****ing guys harder and more ruthlessly. They've had it their way, it's not worked, and it's now time to sort them out.