The Burnout

[bulldogtragic]

At what point can we say the plan isn't and/or will not work?

BMac has a record (I believe) worse than (or close to) Neeld and Peter Rhode. Not kicking him directly, but I think it's a fair question.

[bornadog]

At what point can we say the plan isn't and will not work?

BMac has a record (I believe) worse than Neeld and Peter Rhode. Not kicking him directly, but I think it's a fair question.

For me if we don't play finals next year, he has failed.

[chef]

For me if we don't play finals next year, he has failed.

Do you think our list is good enough to play finals next year?

[LostDoggy]

I too am feeling more and more deflated.

I am continually pissed off and frustrated about the following:
-The absolute goldmine of talent the expansion clubs have been given to drown in. Look through their lists and they have 10 players each that would be considered as "untouchable" as Dahlhaus and Liberatore are at our club. Guy's like Boyd, Patton, Cameron, O'Meara, martin, Dixon, Lynch, Thompson, Bennell, Swallow, Whitfield, Treloar etc. It's clicked just how hard it is going to be to win a Premiership this next decade, and even more worrying if these clubs can manage their list well (which the AFL will ensure they have the funds to do so) they could contunally replenish like Geelong has.
-The absolute pigheadedness and arrogance of the Essendon football club, James Hird and too many people associated with either.
-The debacle that is the MRP system, and the continual rule changes and modified interpretations that not only change round to round but quarter to quarter and sometimes contest to contest.
-The worshipping of the big clubs, and how they make the club so great with all their big events and what they stand for and crap like that.
-The TV commentators. How do we have so many professional idiots commentating on matches? Every single match has idiot commentator's getting names wrong, or being 10 seconds behind play, or showing a lack of understanding for one of the few rules that hasn't been changed in decades, or blatantly barracking for a side, or whingeing about something non stop (ie. throw ins)
-The TV coverage in general. Why can't they replay anything of interest but are happy to show Judd blowing his nose on the bench as play is happening or something stupid like that. And channel 7's pathetic SD coverage.



And on a more related note to us:
-How big clubs get the big games because they earn them, but we aren't ever given a chance to grow our exposure so that we can earn them.
-How we never luck out and get the high draft pick when the player we need is there. Just once can we have a top 5 draft pick that we can use on a KPP that we aren't reaching for. Unfortunately the drafts where that would have happened saw GC and GWS have the first 21 picks each leaving us with nothing.
-How whenever we play well it is always about how our opponents didn't, apart from when they just don't bother mentioning us. How many times can analysis shows (especially Footy Classified) promise to talk about us, then waffle on about how anything else, no matter how irrelevant, boring or non-footy related it is, and then at the end do the old "we are running out of time, what did you want to say about the bulldogs Hutchy?","They were good", "Ok and that's all that we have time for, here are the votes for the best defensive minded rising star under 6 foot this round as awarded by the coaches".
.

Awesome post Soupaman
Agree wholeheartedly , especially with the ones above

[chef]

I'm not burnt out, just pissed off.

We could be crap for the next 20 years and I'll still get excited about the next game coming up. Football is a roller coaster.

Bulldog til I die.

[jeemak]

At what point can we say the plan isn't and/or will not work?

BMac has a record (I believe) worse than (or close to) Neeld and Peter Rhode. Not kicking him directly, but I think it's a fair question.

Bmac - 16/53, 30%
Neeld - 5/33, 15%
Rhode - 9/45, 20%

Numbers sourced from footywire. Bmac has a 50% better record than Rhode, and a 100% better record than Neeld.

[jeemak]

Good post BTW Soup. Sums up a lot of how I'm feeling as well.

[bulldogtragic]

Bmac - 16/53, 30%
Neeld - 5/33, 15%
Rhode - 9/45, 20%

Numbers sourced from footywire. Bmac has a 50% better record than Rhode, and a 100% better record than Neeld.

My bad, I was going off old numbers, which were out too.

But he is in firmly in the same area as Peter Rhode, 20% - 30% , and if we lose more will be even closer.

[SonofScray]

The hardest part about this stint down the bottom for me has been that we've had to go back to the well again after feeling certain that under Eade we'd break the drought. We'd been promised so much in the general context of the AFL, premiership windows and a being a tall forward away from a flag etc. We did a lot of things right and just came up short. I'd almost have copped that, but then when it was our turn to cash on down the bottom, we get screwed by the introduction of the new Clubs. Moreso than any other Club.

So we've potentially out of alignment again in terms of the premiership cycle. Stuck in limbo.

Add to that a disgusting 2011 season, one of the most insipid displays of any sports Club ever, and an equally depressing follow up season and it rely hurt my faith in the Club.

New President, VFL team, Hoops and the back end of 2013 helped me suck it up and fanned the flames again but I am really sick and tired of our inability to compete beyond the level we set for ourselves. We rarely pick a fight. Rarely get emotive about the game. Everything is too neat and tidy. I want more moxy.

We have a lot to be proud of, I just wish we'd play to our identity a bit more, have it reflected in every aspect of the Club more often. Make me feel something.

[lemmon]

I feel the same but more about the game as a whole rather than just the Dogs. I used to watch every game on free to air across a weekend religiously, now I struggle to sit through a full Bulldogs game. Probably the worst thing is the losses don't hurt any more, when GC got that run on yesterday I found myself shocked at how unfazed I was by it all. I've been doing some work for the WRFL recently and found I much prefer to be watching a Divi 2 game on a Saturday rather than AFL footy.

[SonofScray]

I feel the same but more about the game as a whole rather than just the Dogs. I used to watch every game on free to air across a weekend religiously, now I struggle to sit through a full Bulldogs game. Probably the worst thing is the losses don't hurt any more, when GC got that run on yesterday I found myself shocked at how unfazed I was by it all. I've been doing some work for the WRFL recently and found I much prefer to be watching a Divi 2 game on a Saturday rather than AFL footy.

I won't watch footy at AFL level if we aren't involved. The League can FOAD as far as I am concerned. My only investment in the game is at local level and for our Club. If we could exist outside of the AFL, I'd be happy.

[GVGjr]

I'll buck the trend here. I still enjoy watching the Bulldogs play and I enjoy going to the footy. I don't love the AFL and only watch snippets of games on the tele but I have been that way for many years. It's not a recent thing.
I doubt I could go to another game to watch anyone else but the Dogs in fact I have been offered seats in super boxes a number of times and I consistently knock them back.

The reason why I think so many people are so flat is some of the following:
- The introduction of the new sides
- The impacts of the compromised drafts
- Losing players to FA
- All purpose venues
- The cost of going to the football
- Sunday games

For a long period of time our supporters stuck fat with a club that had a long history of under performing results. Anyone having a whinge now hasn't followed the Dogs for as long as I have or they have a significantly shorter memory span.
As supporters we would bounce back from losses and front up week after week and that was in a time when you stood out in the rain for the majority of the real winter games. You would exchange your views from the previous week and look forward to the game you were at. We were really committed.
We had real opposition teams in those days not manufactured ones where you honestly despised the opposition supporters that were packed into local venues with shitty amenities basic food options and bugger all cover to shelter yourself from the conditions.
This was an experience where munching into a Jam doughnut at one of the breaks and getting burns was actually a treat. All of your own club supporters that were standing nearby quickly became your mates in that us or them showdown between two clubs.
We still loved going to the footy even if we lost.

I could go on and on but lets fast forward to the last 5 years. In a time when the Bulldogs were starting to bottom out after yet another few failed attempts at playing in some grand finals the AFL started introducing 2 new teams to the competition. This was done to primarily satisfy the needs of the TV networks and get the best possible deals to help the AFL expand the game. Sure we benefited from it in some aspects but it came at a heavy cost as well which I think is what is turning many of our supporters away.

The timing of our bottoming out really sucked. Instead of having some early picks at the draft table and grabbing some big names (Patton, Boyd, Martin, O'Meara or Hogan etc etc) that we could really sell to the members we were forced away from the dining table taking significantly later picks than we deserved or needed. Sure we got some of it wrong but I'd bet London to a brick that a lot of our supporters would still be excited about our future if was had one or two guys I mentioned above on the development path at our club instead of two clubs with no history having multiple early draft picks and climbing up the ladder while we have to once again be patient.

We don't scrap with the AFL the way Peter Gordon did in the late 80's and mid 90's. That has been replaced with a conciliatory approach. We dress this up as being partners with the AFL but a lot of us think we are being followers.
We don't go to games crammed into local suburban venues and loving our club and hating theirs, we now sit in half empty all purpose built stadiums that have been built for comfort but in reality just lack atmosphere and distance our supporters from the club and each other. We don't talk to each other at the games, we sit there with ipads or iphones surfing the internet and are more focused on exchanging messages with people who aren't at the game. We don't have a reason to get to games early as seats are now in the majority allocated not grabbed early. Trips to the games by the train see families sitting together all glancing at the phone in silence rather than talking about the game like we all did back in the day.
By giving us so much in terms of conditions and options the AFL has actually taken the reason why we used to go to the games away from us. To me so many of our supporters want to be entertained more than seeing the club win a game. God help those who had to endure games at the Western Oval or Waverly Park compared to now. There were times when I thought I had lost a toe or two in the icy weather.
Perhaps we just have too many other options that are easier to deal with that just don't require the emotional outlay that Footy used demand of us. Despite all that I'm not going to take the easy option.

The reality is that there is no quick fix but while we continue to point the finger of blame at the coach, the club or the players I think it is just dragging down the will of so many of our supporters. We all need to be stronger than that.

For what it's worth, don't let the bastards wreck you from wanting to love the club. We don't have to accept losses on the field but I'm not leaving games of footy and letting someone else inserting a level of doubt that has me questioning if I love the club or not.

I'm a Western Bulldogs supporter and that won't change anytime soon.

[kruder]

I was trying to get 18holes in before the game but decided to play 9 and go home and watch the footy. I turned it off 8 minutes into the third quarter. Macca said in the presser that the Gold Coast lifted, that is absolute garbage. We fell off the cliff with no hint of leadership or skill from anyone.

Our boys simply don't believe. We worked our bums off yesterday yet were behind at halftime. We dominated the Dons apart from the first 10mins, yet posted another loss.

It's amazing how inefficient we are with the ball, they all go into their shells and prefer to handball. Our team seriously lacks leadership and skill.I was out of my seat when Griff hit Murph lace out with a 50m bullet pass. I can't remember another like it all year yet Hawthorn does it every quarter.

I still do believe in the next few weeks we will finally field our best team for a season and hopefully the ball will start rolling. Hopefully...

[always right]

Soupaman said it all. Brilliant post.....dare I say post of the season.

I just hope there are enough bulldog supporters who are still up for the fight for a little while longer. I'm concerned......not about my commitment but that there are fewer and fewer like me. Thank god my children are still rabid supporters.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

The hardest part about this stint down the bottom for me has been that we've had to go back to the well again after feeling certain that under Eade we'd break the drought. We'd been promised so much in the general context of the AFL, premiership windows and a being a tall forward away from a flag etc. We did a lot of things right and just came up short. I'd almost have copped that, but then when it was our turn to cash on down the bottom, we get screwed by the introduction of the new Clubs. Moreso than any other Club.

So we've potentially out of alignment again in terms of the premiership cycle. Stuck in limbo.

Add to that a disgusting 2011 season, one of the most insipid displays of any sports Club ever, and an equally depressing follow up season and it rely hurt my faith in the Club.

New President, VFL team, Hoops and the back end of 2013 helped me suck it up and fanned the flames again but I am really sick and tired of our inability to compete beyond the level we set for ourselves. We rarely pick a fight. Rarely get emotive about the game. Everything is too neat and tidy. I want more moxy.

We have a lot to be proud of, I just wish we'd play to our identity a bit more, have it reflected in every aspect of the Club more often. Make me feel something.

Our poor list is a major concern. We are still too reliant on our more experienced players such as Griffen Murphy Morris and Picken with Liberatore Dahlhaus Roughead and Macrae being good draft selections but for the most part our recruiting has been only average. Crameri should become a handy player providing we can find a couple of key forwards which is proving a tall order for our Club. Our recruiting has been dominated by bringing in too many similar types such as Goodes Pearce Howard and Fuller all with limited ability.
The huge draft concessions granted to GWS and Gold Coast Stars further restricts our ability to compete on an equal playing field.