bornadog
19-06-2015, 06:07 PM
by Gary Lyon (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/its-time-for-the-western-dogs-to-make-a-noise-20150619-ghs7k8.html):D
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The Western Bulldogs have a gilt-edged opportunity to put together a season that will defy popular opinion and see them compete on the game's most important stage for the first time in 12 years. (Get your facts right GARY)
At present 11th on the ladder with a 5-5 win-loss ratio, they return to Etihad Stadium on Saturday night well rested after the bye, opposed to the 17th-placed Brisbane Lions. It is the start of a second half of the season that has, all of a sudden, opened up for them. For a side that is working so desperately to establish itself as a genuine contender that can compete with any side in the competition, on and off the field, it is an opportunity that just can't be passed up.
President Peter Gordon rightfully rails against any suggestion the Dogs are the league's poor cousin. He is investing time, and dollars, in a club that is obviously extraordinarily important to him.
He gives the Dogs a voice in a football conversation that can be dominated by the likes of Hawthorn, Collingwood and a raft of powerful, cashed-up interstate clubs.
But without on-field support, that voice can be quickly drowned out, attributed to the yappy, annoying little brother who is desperate to play with the big boys, but when things get really serious, they are pushed aside and ignored.
Under new coach Luke Beveridge, the annoying little brother has grown up, and is not so easily pushed aside. The Dogs have had wins against top-eight sides West Coast, Sydney, Richmond, GWS and Adelaide and pushed Fremantle all the way.
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/s/a/p/7/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.ghs7k8.png/1434685345888.jpg
Marcus Bontempelli in action against the West Coast Eagles in round one, 2015. Photo: Getty Images
Yet they have dropped games to St Kilda after leading by close to 10 goals at half-time and were one of Melbourne's three victims for the year.
And therein lies the cautionary tail for Beveridge and his young charges. In the remaining 12 games of the season, the Dogs play only two sides inside the top eight.
And while they are at the stage where looking too far ahead is fraught with danger, the reality is that there is a very real opportunity for those responsible for what takes place on the field to support the passion, momentum and enthusiasm that has been generated off the field.
Do the Dogs, though, truly believe they belong in this year's finals equation? They need to look no further than Port Adelaide for inspiration. Like the Dogs, Port were unloved and unwanted at the end of the 2012 season. Matthew Primus departed during that year and they finished 14th on the ladder, playing to empty stadiums with banners covering row after row of vacant seating to save embarrassment.
The coaching job was hardly the most coveted, and the future looked decidedly bleak. Enter Ken Hinkley, low profile and previously overlooked as a coaching prospect, and an instant transformation came over the entire football club. After 10 rounds of the 2013 season, Hinckley's first as coach, Port were five wins and five losses.
For some, that was indication enough that things were starting to change and, along with David Koch and Keith Thomas, the club was back on track.
Sound familiar? After 10 rounds of football under new coach Beveridge, an appointment that no one saw coming, the Dogs are 5-5. . There is a buoyant sense of optimism around the club, and for some, a relief that the club appears to be back on track and relevant.
The question that the players and their coach have to answer though, is are they satisfied with producing surprising upsets against more fancied and credentialled opponents, which will keep the critics at bay, but along the way dropping other games that they have at their mercy?
Have they got a ruthless streak in them that ensures they remain in the race for the finals series by narrowing the gap between their best and worst? They play Brisbane, St.Kilda, Carlton and the Gold Coast in the next month – 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th on the ladder.
If you want to be taken seriously, then you seize opportunity when it presents itself. You prove that the messaging coming out of your club is not manufactured or hyperbole. You don't give the critics or analysts an opportunity to explain any drop-off in the second half of the year as natural attrition for a young and developing group.
You do as Port Adelaide did in the second half of Hinckley's first year as coach. After winning their first five games, they dropped their next five, and everyone expected this ride, as fun and as exhilarating as it was, had come to an end. But they, both coach and players, had a far greater belief in what they were capable of. They were too proud to just fall away and reassume the lowly position on the ladder that most had them pegged for.
They found a way to finish what they had started. They made the finals when no one thought they would. They won a final against Collingwood, when no one thought they would. And, in the process, they became respected, admired and genuinely feared.
Will we be saying the same about the Western Bulldogs when we put this season to bed? Why can't they be the 2013 version of Port Adelaide in 2015?
They have the talent. Do they truly believe, though?
The next month may give us the answer.
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/s/a/l/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.ghs7k8.png/1434685345888.jpg
The Western Bulldogs have a gilt-edged opportunity to put together a season that will defy popular opinion and see them compete on the game's most important stage for the first time in 12 years. (Get your facts right GARY)
At present 11th on the ladder with a 5-5 win-loss ratio, they return to Etihad Stadium on Saturday night well rested after the bye, opposed to the 17th-placed Brisbane Lions. It is the start of a second half of the season that has, all of a sudden, opened up for them. For a side that is working so desperately to establish itself as a genuine contender that can compete with any side in the competition, on and off the field, it is an opportunity that just can't be passed up.
President Peter Gordon rightfully rails against any suggestion the Dogs are the league's poor cousin. He is investing time, and dollars, in a club that is obviously extraordinarily important to him.
He gives the Dogs a voice in a football conversation that can be dominated by the likes of Hawthorn, Collingwood and a raft of powerful, cashed-up interstate clubs.
But without on-field support, that voice can be quickly drowned out, attributed to the yappy, annoying little brother who is desperate to play with the big boys, but when things get really serious, they are pushed aside and ignored.
Under new coach Luke Beveridge, the annoying little brother has grown up, and is not so easily pushed aside. The Dogs have had wins against top-eight sides West Coast, Sydney, Richmond, GWS and Adelaide and pushed Fremantle all the way.
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/s/a/p/7/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.ghs7k8.png/1434685345888.jpg
Marcus Bontempelli in action against the West Coast Eagles in round one, 2015. Photo: Getty Images
Yet they have dropped games to St Kilda after leading by close to 10 goals at half-time and were one of Melbourne's three victims for the year.
And therein lies the cautionary tail for Beveridge and his young charges. In the remaining 12 games of the season, the Dogs play only two sides inside the top eight.
And while they are at the stage where looking too far ahead is fraught with danger, the reality is that there is a very real opportunity for those responsible for what takes place on the field to support the passion, momentum and enthusiasm that has been generated off the field.
Do the Dogs, though, truly believe they belong in this year's finals equation? They need to look no further than Port Adelaide for inspiration. Like the Dogs, Port were unloved and unwanted at the end of the 2012 season. Matthew Primus departed during that year and they finished 14th on the ladder, playing to empty stadiums with banners covering row after row of vacant seating to save embarrassment.
The coaching job was hardly the most coveted, and the future looked decidedly bleak. Enter Ken Hinkley, low profile and previously overlooked as a coaching prospect, and an instant transformation came over the entire football club. After 10 rounds of the 2013 season, Hinckley's first as coach, Port were five wins and five losses.
For some, that was indication enough that things were starting to change and, along with David Koch and Keith Thomas, the club was back on track.
Sound familiar? After 10 rounds of football under new coach Beveridge, an appointment that no one saw coming, the Dogs are 5-5. . There is a buoyant sense of optimism around the club, and for some, a relief that the club appears to be back on track and relevant.
The question that the players and their coach have to answer though, is are they satisfied with producing surprising upsets against more fancied and credentialled opponents, which will keep the critics at bay, but along the way dropping other games that they have at their mercy?
Have they got a ruthless streak in them that ensures they remain in the race for the finals series by narrowing the gap between their best and worst? They play Brisbane, St.Kilda, Carlton and the Gold Coast in the next month – 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th on the ladder.
If you want to be taken seriously, then you seize opportunity when it presents itself. You prove that the messaging coming out of your club is not manufactured or hyperbole. You don't give the critics or analysts an opportunity to explain any drop-off in the second half of the year as natural attrition for a young and developing group.
You do as Port Adelaide did in the second half of Hinckley's first year as coach. After winning their first five games, they dropped their next five, and everyone expected this ride, as fun and as exhilarating as it was, had come to an end. But they, both coach and players, had a far greater belief in what they were capable of. They were too proud to just fall away and reassume the lowly position on the ladder that most had them pegged for.
They found a way to finish what they had started. They made the finals when no one thought they would. They won a final against Collingwood, when no one thought they would. And, in the process, they became respected, admired and genuinely feared.
Will we be saying the same about the Western Bulldogs when we put this season to bed? Why can't they be the 2013 version of Port Adelaide in 2015?
They have the talent. Do they truly believe, though?
The next month may give us the answer.