What happened to the Bulldogs?

[AndrewP6]

and that's why you keep coming back for more.....I liken supporting the bulldogs to my golf game.....moments of genius interrupting long periods of frustration......that though is the reason I keep playing golf!

Not me, I hate the things!

[azabob]

The president also has to be political in what he says so that he doesn't put off people from renewing their memberships. Our supporters are so fickle.

Agree supporters are fickle, but do the fickle ones wait to see how we perform anyway?

[Grantysghost]

Because you, like the rest of us are members of the Bulldog tribe. No matter how bad they do, how many times they disappoint, how much frustration they dish up, how many good players they lose and coaches you like they sack you will remain a member of the tribe.

So true - 30 years member me and will never stop going while I'm able. Shame not all of our supporters are as loyal as the woofers.
Surely If we can sit through two years of Peter Rohde we can sit through anything people!

Having said that I do believe raising questions on our direction is a healthy and functional part of being a member of the club. I dont feel Smorgon lied to us with the refresh line, I believe it was a clever way of saying we're in for some tough times. I think three years as cellar dwellars is about right. I keep whinging to my friends about 2005. If we had of stayed down another year to make it three down the bottom, we may have snatched a Pendlebury or Murphy! Cooney, Griffen, Pendlebury in 2009/10 may have been a different story..oh to dream. Time will come soon enough to begin dreaming again....

[SonofScray]

The point of my post was really that none of us are prepared to stand up and do it better, so who are we to knock em?

No one is above feedback. I disagree with the idea that you have to have a level of expertise to give it. The Club doesn't have to accept it or act on it, but fans have every right to discuss it, present observations and to want better. It is important to have an element of dissent within any group, someone has to play devil's advocate.

I know you aren't taking the extreme view here but it isn't a great outcome if the type of conditions you are putting on feedback and dissent become the norm. Its disempowering.

If I don't like something, I'll say it. In as many channels as I need to. Noone would want their Club to be worse off, all feedback from members at its heart is an attempt to improve our position.

[Sedat]

Agreed. Unfortunately we barely have a player with decent foot skills.

Layers need to be added, no doubt, but that takes time and cattle.

So then why was the senior coach the only casualty in our footy dept last season if our list management stunk and our recuiting was poor? Surely the head of football operations and the recuiter would have and should have been held into account.

[chef]

So then why was the senior coach the only casualty in our footy dept last season if our list management stunk and our recuiting was poor? Surely the head of football operations and the recuiter would have and should have been held into account.

He's doing his wonderful work at the GC now.

[LostDoggy]

The president also has to be political in what he says so that he doesn't put off people from renewing their memberships. Our supporters are so fickle.

Again, it all comes down to the club being forced to make shorter term decisions. Essendon or Collingwood, on the other hand, can afford to take the time to do it right. If the supporters can get behind the club and say, “We want you to make damned sure you're doing the right thing, and are on the right track, and stand up for what is right for us when wheeling and dealing, etc. but we are prepared to wait, so PLEASE plan for the future” then we'd be in a much better position. But instead, fans everywhere are calling for heads to roll. It's premature, and it's that mentality, rather than some mythical “losing culture” amongst the coaching and playing group, that keeps us from ever getting close to a premiership.

No one is above feedback. I disagree with the idea that you have to have a level of expertise to give it. The Club doesn't have to accept it or act on it, but fans have every right to discuss it, present observations and to want better. It is important to have an element of dissent within any group, someone has to play devil's advocate.

I know you aren't taking the extreme view here but it isn't a great outcome if the type of conditions you are putting on feedback and dissent become the norm. Its disempowering.

If I don't like something, I'll say it. In as many channels as I need to. Noone would want their Club to be worse off, all feedback from members at its heart is an attempt to improve our position.

I get what you mean, about it being disempowering, and on that I'll concede some ground. I don't want them not to listen to the fans. I just want the fans to have some measure of perspective when ranting and raving about sacking the president.

One of my favourite sayings is, “You have the right to an opinion, but the responsibility to ensure you've educated that opinion” if you want to be taken seriously.

I have no doubt in my mind that the club views many of its fans as a feral, uneducated mass. We are to blame for that as much as the club.