Welcome to the Bulldogs: Bailey Smith

[Hotdog60]

We used know how to wear a mullet in my day bloody amateurs.

[Happy Days]

When he gets a normal haircut it’s absolutely over for everyone else.

[EasternWest]

Watch every teenage kid rock this in the next month.

Wrong post.

[EasternWest]

Baz has had a trim...

[Mantis]

How are we rating Bailey's year so far?

Increased his numbers, runs hard, big TOG, but are we getting the most out of him?

[GVGjr]

How are we rating Bailey's year so far?

Increased his numbers, runs hard, big TOG, but are we getting the most out of him?

Goal kicking aside he's been very impressive, I'm not sure we can get a lot more from him without running him into the ground.
Do you have some suggestions where we might be be able to get a bit more out of him.

[Swoop]

It's a real hard one to judge isn't it? What is his best position? How does he compliment our other midfielders?

One of the issues with Bailey is that he has more versatility than some of our other midfielders such as Dunkley, Libba and Macrae. Ultimately his best position for his own development is as an inside midfielder who has the ability to win the inside football and be damaging on the outside. No different to other explosive mids in the Dusty/Petracca mould (not a comparison for talent just player type). I really like his Round 1 game where he played predominantly as a genuine midfielder.

Conversely, the best thing for the team is to combine his time elsewhere to allow Dunkley, Macrae and Libba minutes through the midfield.

It seems like we've settled on a high half forward role which allows him to spend plenty of time on the ground. He can push up the field and still be damaging in the forward half of the ground with stints through the midfield when needed.

His development has definitely put pressure on our other mids. As the season goes on there will be increasing pressure on others around him. I wouldn't mind seeing Macrae spending a few minutes through the wing and Dunkley forward to have a better balance for Bailey.

Early on he was wasteful with the footy but I think the past few weeks have been slowly correcting themselves. If he is to be successful in the role, he needs to be a bit more damaging but he is young and it is part of his development. He still has been one of our best performing players this year, he just needs to keep working on his game and ironing out a few areas.

Can any of our mids go elsewhere to allow for his development?

[azabob]

It's a real hard one to judge isn't it? What is his best position? How does he compliment our other midfielders?

One of the issues with Bailey is that he has more versatility than some of our other midfielders such as Dunkley, Libba and Macrae. Ultimately his best position for his own development is as an inside midfielder who has the ability to win the inside football and be damaging on the outside. No different to other explosive mids in the Dusty/Petracca mould (not a comparison for talent just player type). I really like his Round 1 game where he played predominantly as a genuine midfielder.

Conversely, the best thing for the team is to combine his time elsewhere to allow Dunkley, Macrae and Libba minutes through the midfield.

It seems like we've settled on a high half forward role which allows him to spend plenty of time on the ground. He can push up the field and still be damaging in the forward half of the ground with stints through the midfield when needed.

His development has definitely put pressure on our other mids. As the season goes on there will be increasing pressure on others around him. I wouldn't mind seeing Macrae spending a few minutes through the wing and Dunkley forward to have a better balance for Bailey.

Early on he was wasteful with the footy but I think the past few weeks have been slowly correcting themselves. If he is to be successful in the role, he needs to be a bit more damaging but he is young and it is part of his development. He still has been one of our best performing players this year, he just needs to keep working on his game and ironing out a few areas.

Can any of our mids go elsewhere to allow for his development?

I think the obvious choice is Treloar. I'm a Treloar fan for everything he can bring to the table but he has been too inconsistent this year.

[bornadog]

I think the obvious choice is Treloar. I'm a Treloar fan for everything he can bring to the table but he has been too inconsistent this year.

On Treloar, I think he has been very consistent this year. He is getting about the same number of disposals each week.

On Smith - the one area that I believe is still a flaw is his wild kicking when he decides to just belt the ball forward to no one in particular. He is getting better each week, but I would like him to hit more targets.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

His disposal lets him down, but he's still growing his game.

I'd actually like us to make him our #1 mid and really encourage him to take us on his shoulders. His game is quite well rounded in that he can win contested ball but he can also break away from stoppage - the rest of our mids can really only do one or the other.

As Swoop said, he's flexible, but I think it's time others accommodate to him and not the other way around.

Give him the keys.

[Mantis]

Goal kicking aside he's been very impressive, I'm not sure we can get a lot more from him without running him into the ground.
Do you have some suggestions where we might be be able to get a bit more out of him.

Like others have mentioned we need to get him into the midfield more as he has a big POD, with others being a bit too vanilla... really noticed his lack of impact against Port when he played 60% game time as a forward.

His ball use needs to improve... and I'd like to see more variety in his game when he takes possession. Too much pin the ears back and take on the tackler rather than to perhaps look to hand the ball off to a team-mate in a better position. Obviously we want him to play to his strengths, but not to the detriment of our ball movement.

[EasternWest]

His disposal lets him down, but he's still growing his game.

I'd actually like us to make him our #1 mid and really encourage him to take us on his shoulders. His game is quite well rounded in that he can win contested ball but he can also break away from stoppage - the rest of our mids can really only do one or the other.

As Swoop said, he's flexible, but I think it's time others accommodate to him and not the other way around.

Give him the keys.

Spot on.

He's so young, yet carries a massive load for us every week.

He's only going to get better too. Just a freakishly good player.

[Mantis]

His disposal lets him down, but he's still growing his game.

I'd actually like us to make him our #1 mid and really encourage him to take us on his shoulders. His game is quite well rounded in that he can win contested ball but he can also break away from stoppage - the rest of our mids can really only do one or the other.

As Swoop said, he's flexible, but I think it's time others accommodate to him and not the other way around.

Give him the keys.

In front of Bontempelli? I know Bont hasn't been himself this year, but he's in the best 2-3 players in the comp when he's up & going so it's a stretch to think Smith takes the #1 spot.

[boydogs]

Smith isn't the problem, like with most Bulldog sides in living memory it's our talls letting us down

[Bulldog Joe]

Smith isn't the problem, like with most Bulldog sides in living memory it's our talls letting us down

Against Port Adelaide there were very few talls to let us down. When Ed Richards is playing on the tallest opposition forward you are going to be in a lot of trouble with the ball in the air.