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  1. #1
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    Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Interesting piece from Rohan Connolly https://footyology.com.au/shouldnt-t...th-themselves/

    SHOULDN’T THE DOGS BE ANGRIER WITH THEMSELVES?

    Rarely does a week of an AFL season go by now without at least one if not more clubs and coaches being put under the microscope, sometimes after just one bad loss, let alone several.

    This week, there’s multiple candidates. Melbourne, for instance, a preliminary finalist of last year, currently a miserable 1-4, second last on the ladder, and facing Richmond on Wednesday night after a four-day turnaround.

    Similarly, much better was expected from North Melbourne this season after a promising 2018 and an off-season recruiting spree landed a clutch of established senior players. Instead, the Roos are last, also 1-4, with frustrated fans turning on coach Brad Scott.

    One club, though, seems to be avoiding much blowback, even from its own, after a particularly ignominious defeat at the weekend. And perhaps that in itself is actually part of its problem.

    Nothing will alter the iconic status of the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 premiership win, breaking a drought of 62 years, and won in the unlikeliest of circumstances, from seventh spot on the ladder (creating history) and after four successive cut-throat finals wins, two of them on the road.

    But you can’t help but think this is also a club which should be a lot dirtier with itself about what’s followed that historic victory. Which, to be frank, is plenty of the sort of mediocrity it appeared to have shrugged off once and for all in September less than three years ago.

    The Bulldogs’ loss to Carlton, a team which had won just three of its previous 36 games, was a stinker. By a margin of 44 points, and with the Dogs by the end seemingly unable to hit the side of the barn such was the scale of their kicking yips with 7.15.

    That was a third loss in a row, and a second straight home loss after having gone down to everyone’s wooden spoon favourite Gold Coast in round three.

    That makes it just 21 wins from 49 games since that glorious grand final win over Sydney, the Bulldogs last year becoming only the second team in the past 40 years to miss the finals two seasons in a row after winning a premiership.

    It’s been a remarkable downturn, yet one which hasn’t attracted anything like the sort of forensic analysis you would expect were the club concerned, say, Collingwood, Hawthorn or Geelong.

    Why is that the case? Well, at the risk of incurring the wrath of the Bulldog faithful, it’s hard not to conclude it’s because an entire club, however sub-consciously, is still pretty sated by that 2016 triumph. Because other possible explanations simply don’t stack up.

    Doggies fans (understandably) bristle when it’s suggested they got lucky with the 2016 flag. The first year of the pre-finals bye did enable them to regain a clutch of key players who’d been out injured for their first knock-out final in Perth.

    This, however, was also a side good enough to have won 15 home and away games, the most ever by a team finishing that low on the ladder. It was also a list which had to endure an at-times shocking run with injuries that season yet still managed to prevail.

    No premiership team should ever have to re-state its credentials. But you can’t have it both ways. If 2016 was built on a lot more than one outstanding month of football, where has it been since? And if injuries haven’t been kind over the past couple of years (and they haven’t) why wasn’t that enough to stop Luke Beveridge’s men then?

    The demise certainly hasn’t had anything to do with age. Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd and now Liam Picken may not be around anymore, but a lot of others involved still are.

    The Dogs’ flag team was one of the youngest of the game’s modern era. There’s still 14 of the premiership 22 on the list, and exactly half of the senior and rookie list of 44 from 2016 remain at the club. In terms of games’ experience, the 2019 list is ranked mid-table in the AFL.

    There’s been some list decisions since 2016 worthy of scrutiny. The recruitment of Travis Cloke, for one. The trading out of an All-Australian Jake Stringer, currently playing excellent football for Essendon. The trading in of Josh Schache for two draft picks and restricted free agent Jackson Trengove on a three-year deal, neither of whom played last Sunday.

    Some off-field talent has been lost, too, the club’s list and recruiting managers from the premiership year, Jason McCartney and Simon Dalrymple, both having departed at the beginning of last year for GWS and Sydney respectively. But it’s not like, either in the offices, or on the field, there’s been a complete changing of the guard.

    Beveridge has alluded several times since the premiership to players not having handled the heights of their win well. It’s more than just supposition. How many who were part of the flag are better players, if at all, now than they were then?

    As for raw numbers, well, scoring, an issue even in 2016, is still a major achilles heel. But a tell-tale sign is contested ball, a great measure of hunger. The Dogs were a clear No.1 on the differentials in 2016. That ranking slipped to eighth in 2017, then 16th last year. They’re currently mid-table again, but still a long way from their standards of three years ago.

    On Sunday, the Bulldogs just pipped Carlton for contested ball, but were smashed 26-42 at the clearances, having gone into the game ranked No.1 in that category and the Blues a lowly 14th.

    Any momentum built on two good wins to start this season against Sydney and Hawthorn has been well and truly extinguished by what’s come since, particularly losses to two opponents almost universally tipped pre-season to fill the bottom two spots on this year’s ladder.

    Saturday night in Perth against Fremantle will be the Western Bulldogs’ 50th game since the famous grand final win. How many performances among that half-century have even remotely approached the sort of levels they reached in September 2016? Four, maybe five?

    Safe to say not many. Which is fine if history does indeed judge the 2016 flag as a glorious but fleeting moment in the club’s history. But having broken the drought, shouldn’t the Bulldogs have aspired to more? And if they have, shouldn’t a whole club be a lot angrier than it seems to be about the ensuing mediocrity?

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  3. #2
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Didn't he read woof Sunday night?
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

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  5. #3
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    I'd like to know what domain Connolly has sought out to gauge the level of supporter anger and frustration.
    I mean Sunday was very heated here, and the other forum resembled a dumpster fire.

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  7. #4
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by bulldogtragic View Post
    he read woof Sunday night?
    Corrected for accuracy
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

  8. #5
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    "On Sunday, the Bulldogs just pipped Carlton for contested ball, but were smashed 26-42 at the clearances, having gone into the game ranked No.1 in that category and the Blues a lowly 14th."

    I know this was discussed on the game thread, but this really does stand out. I did believe we were at risk of losing from not taking our chances but was so confident that we would win the clearances and midfield battle. That we were so severely beaten in this area of the game and that we made the decisions to give Libba and Macrae more forward time and give midfield time to Gowers and Williams is difficult to comprehend (and Bevo did try and explain it in the presser).

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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by angelopetraglia View Post
    "On Sunday, the Bulldogs just pipped Carlton for contested ball, but were smashed 26-42 at the clearances, having gone into the game ranked No.1 in that category and the Blues a lowly 14th."

    I know this was discussed on the game thread, but this really does stand out. I did believe we were at risk of losing from not taking our chances but was so confident that we would win the clearances and midfield battle. That we were so severely beaten in this area of the game and that we made the decisions to give Libba and Macrae more forward time and give midfield time to Gowers and Williams is difficult to comprehend (and Bevo did try and explain it in the presser).
    This was a big error made by the coaches and cost us the game.
    FFC: Established 1883

    Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.

  10. #7
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by bornadog View Post
    Corrected for accuracy
    Sorry, you've lost me. He finishes saying we should've (fans as well as club) been angrier Sunday night. I'd guess and say most fans were pretty angry to some degree. I mean what's he want, riots in the streets to make it clear we've had a gut full of a lot of things like goal kicking, etc, etc. I don't get where he's coming from.
    Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023

  11. #8
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by angelopetraglia View Post
    "On Sunday, the Bulldogs just pipped Carlton for contested ball, but were smashed 26-42 at the clearances, having gone into the game ranked No.1 in that category and the Blues a lowly 14th."

    I know this was discussed on the game thread, but this really does stand out. I did believe we were at risk of losing from not taking our chances but was so confident that we would win the clearances and midfield battle. That we were so severely beaten in this area of the game and that we made the decisions to give Libba and Macrae more forward time and give midfield time to Gowers and Williams is difficult to comprehend (and Bevo did try and explain it in the presser).
    I watched the presser last night. It was absolutely pathetic.

    He may as well have said "We have no respect for Carlton so we debuted two players AND decided to trial a few flankers in the middle for when we need them there in the future. And Cripps and SPS had 25 at half time, but we were only a few goals down, so we thought it wasn't that big an issue, and if we keep doing what we are trying to do, we'll get back into the game".

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  13. #9
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ozza View Post
    I watched the presser last night. It was absolutely pathetic.

    He may as well have said "We have no respect for Carlton so we debuted two players AND decided to trial a few flankers in the middle for when we need them there in the future. And Cripps and SPS had 25 at half time, but we were only a few goals down, so we thought it wasn't that big an issue, and if we keep doing what we are trying to do, we'll get back into the game".
    I watched it too. Pathetic is exactly the word I would use. My take away was he was saying "yeah we lost but we're a better team than them so it doesn't matter".

    Luke may not have any connection with reality any more, but there's every chance we'll finish in the same grouping as Carlton, so if we're better than then it's by fine margins. Certainly not something to post yourself on the back over.
    Western Bulldogs: We exist to win premierships

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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    A premiership buys you an awful lot of goodwill but Bevo is churning through the goodwill much quicker than expected. His first 2 years were outstanding in just about every aspect, but he has barely put a foot right since then. He's not terminal but the next 2 months are absolutely critical to his future at the kennel IMO. If we curl our toes in that time I reckon this will be his last season as our coach.

    The time to shake up the coaching panel was this pre-season, not next year. By keeping the same coaches together (for the 4th year now), Bevo is backing himself in to improve the on-field results in 2019, and I reckon Bains/Gordon have been overly generous in giving him so much rope.
    "Look at me mate. Look at me. I'm flyin'"

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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sedat View Post
    A premiership buys you an awful lot of goodwill but Bevo is churning through the goodwill much quicker than expected. His first 2 years were outstanding in just about every aspect, but he has barely put a foot right since then. He's not terminal but the next 2 months are absolutely critical to his future at the kennel IMO. If we curl our toes in that time I reckon this will be his last season as our coach.

    The time to shake up the coaching panel was this pre-season, not next year. By keeping the same coaches together (for the 4th year now), Bevo is backing himself in to improve the on-field results in 2019, and I reckon Bains/Gordon have been overly generous in giving him so much rope.
    100%

    Make no mistake, no company in the world would have had 2 years like we have had without major change. All we can presume is that they thought it was Stringers, Dahlhaus, Rougheads and injures at fault. If Clarko can be tamed Bevo can be.

    GVGjr was warning us going into 2017 about a lot of this and we are in 2019 and are club continues to make the same mistakes its unbelievable. Id keep Bevo for sure but changes have to be made and if he doesn't like it then he can go coach somewhere else.

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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by bulldogtragic View Post
    Sorry, you've lost me. He finishes saying we should've (fans as well as club) been angrier Sunday night. I'd guess and say most fans were pretty angry to some degree. I mean what's he want, riots in the streets to make it clear we've had a gut full of a lot of things like goal kicking, etc, etc. I don't get where he's coming from.
    I had a bit of a two and fro on Twitter with him .I find it ironic the media want our club to get over the 16 flag , yet they continually reference it . I’m not sure what he wants ? Pitch fork and torch on the Whitten Oval . Pretty heated on forums Sunday night

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  19. #13
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sedat View Post
    A premiership buys you an awful lot of goodwill but Bevo is churning through the goodwill much quicker than expected. His first 2 years were outstanding in just about every aspect, but he has barely put a foot right since then. He's not terminal but the next 2 months are absolutely critical to his future at the kennel IMO. If we curl our toes in that time I reckon this will be his last season as our coach.

    The time to shake up the coaching panel was this pre-season, not next year. By keeping the same coaches together (for the 4th year now), Bevo is backing himself in to improve the on-field results in 2019, and I reckon Bains/Gordon have been overly generous in giving him so much rope.
    Agree with all your comments but would like to add that Chris Grant as Head of Football needs to step up to the plate and demand more of the Coaches and players. We are facing 3 years in the doldrums after winning a Premiership which is unacceptable.I also question the quality of our list. Too many of our smaller brigade lack kicking skills and our two best big men in English and Naughton are relatively inexperienced.

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  21. #14
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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    I think the point of the article is the complacency of club officials to not address issues we all are aware of through coaching, strategy and drafting.

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    Re: Shouldn't the Dogs be angrier with themselves?

    I agree we’ve not had the blow torch we deserve. Let’s face it, we’ve shown little more than glimpses of good footy in over 2 seasons! We can’t keep at it.

    It’s pretty soul destroying.

    There’s probably a load of reasons. List, coaches, mindset... but I welcome the media getting stuck in.

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