There's video of the quoted interview on the dogs website now. I found it better watching it for some reason.
Josh Dunkley | 'Excited about what we can do'… https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/837749
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There's video of the quoted interview on the dogs website now. I found it better watching it for some reason.
Josh Dunkley | 'Excited about what we can do'… https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/837749
Agreed.
It's amazing how differently words comes across as text versus aurally.
Interesting the talk about having to work hard to get into the midfield. Is it generic footy talk or is there a hint that he wasn't played there as much because others prepared better whether that be through choice or forced reasons like injury......
Leather poisoning this year Josh!
Yeah, that's pleasing to the extent it's really the bare-minimum de-escalation required after what went down.
Everyone's being grown-up, we'll be professional about it, he'll be professional about it, then at season's end if Power spies a favourable offer we're thanking Dunkley for his service ... not necessarily because we're suddenly inclined to shed him - if he magically commits to a change of heart and staying I'm sure we'd happily keep him - but after having the prospect of more money, more responsibility and both a suitor and his oily agent both cooing sweet nothings, you really think he's just going to forget about it all?
May 2021 see Dunks earn back that respect and as much workload as he craves while we flog him like a rented mule.
I've said it before but if I were Dunks I'd be pretty annoyed with my agent. Now the dust has settled I'd be asking him some difficult questions mostly based around "why shouldn't I be kicking your arse to the kerb?" and "how exactly do you justify taking a % of my contract when you've made me look a fool in the media?"
Then Liam Pickering gave Josh bad advice. Player manager jobs just don't involve seeing the $$ and acting accordingly and coincidentally giving themselves a bonus as well. One of the aspects of his job is advising his client and while he was obliged to inform Josh that Essendon had made an offer his advice should have been "however we signed a 3 year contract last year and we should stick to it" if Josh said that he wanted to still go for it then Pickering's next port of call should have been Sam Power's office to see what way the wind was blowing.
Instead they tried to ambush us. This shouldn't have been a situation where the first we knew about it was when the media started talking about it. Pickering has been fairly unprofessional and it's backfired on Josh. It's not Pickering who has to walk back into preseason training in January. Maybe I'm being naive expecting a manager to show a little bit of professionalism but if I was Josh Dunkley I'd be ropeable with him. Like I say it's not Pickering who has to remake relationships at the club.
You know TD I actually think the most likely person to be pragmatic about the situation in this instance would have been Pickering, and I seriously doubt his advice would have been to pump the media with information. Instead, I reckon much of how this unfolded was out of his control and was the result of other influences - like Josh's dad - getting involved.
The reason I take this point of view is that if nothing else player managers who have stood the test of time are a bit like politicians who have. They're cynical pragmatists, who know that any deal can turn bad in an instant and the best way to look incompetent is to have your own filthy paw prints on those that do.
Sure he has his big clients that provide the cream, though Pickering's business at 5% margin is a volume one and doing something that jeopardises future opportunities to attract and retain players in large volumes is the last thing on his mind when in essence he'd only be earning an additional ~$20K p.a. in doing so.
I would be staggered if we didn’t know about Essendons interest in Dunkley and Dunkleys in Essendon before the media.
TD, I reckon Pickering did a wind test to see which way it was blowing. It was blowing the wrong way so they changed tact and went public.
DUNKLEY TRADE REQUEST CAME AS A “HUGE SURPRISE” TO BULLDOGS
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says Josh Dunkley’s trade request came as a “huge surprise” to the entire club.
Dunkley, who has two years to run on his Bulldogs contract, had his heart set on a move to Essendon only for the deal to fall through on the final day of the trade period.
Beveridge has sat down with Dunkley since his failed trade to the Bombers in a bid to clear the air before the start of the 2021 pre-season.
“It was a surprise and when Dunks and I caught up last week, I talked to him about the two sides of it,” Beveridge told SEN Breakfast.
“Josh and I are very close, I’ve spent a lot of time with him talking about life as much as footy. I feel like I’ve spent more time than most of our players talking to him about key aspects of his game.
“There’s a personal connection between him and I. I had to contain my emotions and try to put it in some sort of perspective.
“We’ve invested a lot in Josh over the last five years, he’s blossomed as a player, he’s definitely applied himself, he’s a professional but our program has really helped him get to where he’s got to.
“For all the different reasons and the weight of the reasons as to why he might consider the move to another club, my discussion with him was that it doesn’t matter, all that matters to me and to our club is that he’s with us.
“If there’s any tension there, then we need to discuss it, but he reassured me that things are fine. It was a huge surprise for all of us.
“We look forward to him being a key contributor next year.”
Dunkley, 23, has played 78 games for the Bulldogs and was part of the club’s drought-breaking 2016 premiership.
More signs of $$$$$ and Pickering greed.
I Don't see the big deal! I've changed jobs just about every 2-3 years for 20 years!