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  1. #1
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    Are we rebuilding?

    I would have thought this an impossible question when we won the flag with an incredibly young list but our team today had an average of 63 games and our age average was 23 years one month. Compare this with teams accepted to be rebuilding:

    Brisbane 24 years 1 month and 77 games
    North 96 games and 25 years 5 months
    St Kilda 24 yrs 10 mths, 82.9 games

    Eagles ave was 100 games, 25 yrs 3mthd

    Horrible though today was, our age profile is of a team that gets shellacked every week. We are playing Naughton instead of Roberts, Richards instead of Biggs, English ahead of Boyd, Webb instead of Wallis - normally this happens when a coach decides he must build a future rather than cling to a past and “get games into the kids.” Has this all been forced on us by injury or is the guard already changing, with all the pain this will bring?
    www.bulldogtragician.com A blog about being a lifelong fan of the Dogs and our quixotic attempt to replicate 1954. AND WE DID
    Author of "The Mighty West: the Bulldogs journey from daydream believers to premiership heroes"
    Twitter @bulldogstragic

  2. #2
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    I think it's a convenient truth that our team is so young. Teams re-building don't sign guys like Trengove to 4-year contracts, or seek out guys to fill immediate needs like we did with Crozier.

    I do think we're up our own arse at the selection table, and giving a lot of conditional efforts on field.
    - I'm a visionary - Only here to confirm my biases -

  3. #3
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    We have to be, nothing else makes sense. We've dismantled everything we did 25 games ago and replaced it with nothing. We're also picking a team each week with what seems like the express purpose of getting belted.

    There must be a young player in the pick 1-3 range of the draft we're desperate to get.
    Western Bulldogs: We exist to win premierships

  4. #4
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    When we’re not playing Boyd, Dickson, Adams, Wallis, Smith, Morris, Liberatore, Picken, Redpath and Biggs we probably are. When a critical mass of them are playing, no.
    Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.

  5. #5
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    To be fair - Adams, Morris, Smith, Picken and Libba re injured. I think we underestimate the impact injuries have had on our team. Every team has injuries, but we have been exposed early.

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  7. #6
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    You'd think so...You'd also think that a rebuilding side that spent a lot on bringing in two blue-chip key forward prospects would play and develop them in the seniors...rather than running them around as ruckmen in the seconds.

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  9. #7
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    We fielded a side that was 10 players different to GF side. We are in s different place now.
    http://journals.worldnomads.com/merantau
    "It's not about the destination - it's about the trip."

  10. #8
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    Quote Originally Posted by FrediKanoute View Post
    To be fair - Adams, Morris, Smith, Picken and Libba re injured. I think we underestimate the impact injuries have had on our team. Every team has injuries, but we have been exposed early.
    Definitely injuries have been awful - I’m just curious why, in those circumstances of an injury depleted backline we’d choose to play Naughtin and Richards instead of Fletcher and Biggs - whatever their deficiencies they are premiership players. That doesn’t give you a free pass forever, and neither were great against GWS, but to choose inexperienced 18 yr olds rather than them seems like a deliberate choice to go with youth.
    www.bulldogtragician.com A blog about being a lifelong fan of the Dogs and our quixotic attempt to replicate 1954. AND WE DID
    Author of "The Mighty West: the Bulldogs journey from daydream believers to premiership heroes"
    Twitter @bulldogstragic

  11. #9
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    We must be because that's the only thing that makes any sense. Maybe I'm wrong expecting it to make sense though.
    Have you been reading those Roddy Doyle books again, Dougal!?


    I have, yeah Ted, you big gobshite

  12. #10
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    We aren't in rebuilding phase because we would have recruited and drafted differently and to be honest, I think it's next to impossible to categorize the style of football we are playing or the manner we are approaching the season and selection with.

    We appear to believe we are selecting our inform team and even though we all know it's unbalanced we think that is still the right formula. Clearly it isn't.

    We have been picked apart by opposition teams after the 2016 season and it would appear it wasn't a complicated formula to unravel.
    We hardly tag or mark an opposition player and we certainly don't get stuck in. The men of mayhem defense is a thing of the past and our famed handball club isn't the force it once was. Back in 2016 we stood for both of these styles but not now, there isn't really one thing we can say is working for us.

    Our skill level is poor and shuffling players around isn't working.

    Are we a good team out of luck or have we simply been worked out and don't have the answers yet to counter opposition teams?
    Western Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"

  13. #11
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    The second half of 2017, and what we’ve seen so far, certainly make the question of what we achieved in 2016 and how we did it, even more interesting.

    To the question of are we rebuilding, maybe the mixed signals are themselves of concern. It’s like we don’t have a strong clear message from the club either via selections, game style or other ways which shows us where the club thinks it’s at, where we want to be, and how we’ll get there.
    www.bulldogtragician.com A blog about being a lifelong fan of the Dogs and our quixotic attempt to replicate 1954. AND WE DID
    Author of "The Mighty West: the Bulldogs journey from daydream believers to premiership heroes"
    Twitter @bulldogstragic

  14. #12
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    Good post. Based upon what we have offered so far I would say yes we are in rebuild mode now. There does not seem to be much of a game plan or an ability to respond when things are not going our way. I remember the year we finished last and then selected cooney as number 1 in the draft. We did not win many games that year but as I recall it, you could not in many of those games question our tenacity. The team at present are playing in a most unbulldog like manner. Losing is one thing, it is the manner in which we are losing that is disheartening.

  15. #13
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    Quote Originally Posted by GVGjr View Post
    We aren't in rebuilding phase because we would have recruited and drafted differently and to be honest, I think it's next to impossible to categorize the style of football we are playing or the manner we are approaching the season and selection with.

    We appear to believe we are selecting our inform team and even though we all know it's unbalanced we think that is still the right formula. Clearly it isn't.

    We have been picked apart by opposition teams after the 2016 season and it would appear it wasn't a complicated formula to unravel.
    We hardly tag or mark an opposition player and we certainly don't get stuck in. The men of mayhem defense is a thing of the past and our famed handball club isn't the force it once was. Back in 2016 we stood for both of these styles but not now, there isn't really one thing we can say is working for us.

    Our skill level is poor and shuffling players around isn't working.

    Are we a good team out of luck or have we simply been worked out and don't have the answers yet to counter opposition teams?
    For me these aren't the questions we should be asking. I hate to ask the question because we all love Bevo but has he lost the players? I see a team that lacks effort, hunger, fight, intensity, a want to work hard for your team mate & a genuine care for each other.

    I don't care that PG or the Bont says everything is rosy because we can all see it with our own eyes, something is clearly wrong!

    We are the easiest team to score against atm & thats because we refuse to work. There are free men everywhere in transition! We epitomised blue collar 25 games ago but now we have no idea what that means.

  16. #14
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    Nope, we're decomposing.
    BORDERLINE FLYING

  17. #15
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    Re: Are we rebuilding?

    Quote Originally Posted by GVGjr View Post

    Our skill level is poor and shuffling players around isn't working.

    Are we a good team out of luck or have we simply been worked out and don't have the answers yet to counter opposition teams?
    We've been worked out it seems, and based on what we've dished up its fairly easy to play against us. You simply wait for an unforced turnover or a kick to the hot spot, back yourselves to win the ball and then run hard in transition and score many, easy goals.

    I'm not sure we're rebuilding. We can't afford the luxury to come out and say/do that, however based on the sides we've put on the park it's what I'd call a 'refresh'. We're giving ourselves a chance to have a look at quite a few players who may or may not be there at seasons end similar to what we did in 2015 with Ayce and a couple of others. Players like Williams, HC and Webb are really playing for their careers this year as despite still being young, they need to establish themselves as consistent senior footballers.

    Putting aide selection and structure, we have some definicines with our game plan we need to work on. Bombing it to 30m out didn't work very well in the first half yesterday. In the second half we managed to lock the ball in our F50 a bit better and create some opportunities with repeat entries, but again our inability to lower the eyes or have a moving target and space to move the ball into wasn't there.

    Finally, our defensive transition is shot. I lost count of the times Lycett was matched on Daniel in transition. We have 3 key defenders playing!!! Why is the smallest man in the competition on Lycett??? We can't cover exit kicks once we turn the ball over and our inability to manage the opposition run and spread is a real concern. We need to run smarter, position ourselves better and turning the ball over in less dangerous areas would help too.

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