Bevo and our efforts

[Axe Man]

Actually three bad games. But that is not the reason, I was looking at his use by date (31 next season) and trying to give younger players a go.

We fielded the second youngest side in the league on the weekend, I don't think we need to be too eager to push everyone over 30 out the door. And I reiterate one bad game that he can take responsibility for - we were absolutely slaughtered in the middle against Collingwood and GWS - Ablett, Lockett and Carey together couldn't have salvaged those games.

[bornadog]

We fielded the second youngest side in the league on the weekend, I don't think we need to be too eager to push everyone over 30 out the door. And I reiterate one bad game that he can take responsibility for - we were absolutely slaughtered in the middle against Collingwood and GWS - Ablett, Lockett and Carey together couldn't have salvaged those games.

If he is playing well, then fine keep him going.

[jeemak]

We fielded the second youngest side in the league on the weekend, I don't think we need to be too eager to push everyone over 30 out the door. And I reiterate one bad game that he can take responsibility for - we were absolutely slaughtered in the middle against Collingwood and GWS - Ablett, Lockett and Carey together couldn't have salvaged those games.

Many good thoughts and perspectives in this thread, well done Woofers. I haven't had the motivation to post much since Sunday's disappointment, but have enjoyed reading as always.

On the point of fielding the second youngest team in the competition, it annoys me that this far from our flag and our clear direction to go with youth mostly since the middle of 2017 we still find ourselves fielding such a young and inexperienced team. That we would start the season by exacerbating this by playing Gardner alongside Keath, leaving Cordy and Trengove out at the same time Wood is on the sidelines seems baffling to me, especially when an older head like Duryea is also out injured.

I guess on reflection my question is, did Bevo and the rest of the MC really think this would fly? Given what we've seen with our midfield recently, and a forward/ half forward line that doesn't have the best track record in limiting transition to ease pressure on defence, was going in with such an inexperienced combination of players (largely inexperience in playing together) an obviously silly thing to do? Yes it was.

So why did we do it? I said in a thread prior to the game or during it, or something, it seems the flag on the season has already been raised and we don't think we can make a meaningful run at the premiership. I can't think of any other reason for us not playing with a structure that is going to give us the best chance of winning.

[Sedat]

We fielded the second youngest side in the league on the weekend, I don't think we need to be too eager to push everyone over 30 out the door. And I reiterate one bad game that he can take responsibility for - we were absolutely slaughtered in the middle against Collingwood and GWS - Ablett, Lockett and Carey together couldn't have salvaged those games.

It's almost as though we believe that, since 2017, being young is more important than being the best we can be, and that our youth will somehow shield us from criticism.

Maybe our list management should be brought into question, offering Trengove a 4 year deal and not bothering to play him. Likewise Schache. Both these players (and Young) are missing out to a player picked up in the mid season draft off no pre-season with the club last year.

It's either poor list management or poor selection.

[bornadog]

On the point of fielding the second youngest team in the competition, it annoys me that this far from our flag and our clear direction to go with youth mostly since the middle of 2017 we still find ourselves fielding such a young and inexperienced team.

We have actually lost alot of experience since the flag and in my opinion Sedat is on the money, poor list management, but I would also say poor recruiting as well in certain roles like Ruck and midfielders.

It's either poor list management or poor selection.

On list management, well there have been some mistakes over the years when we lose good players like Hamling, Roughead, Dahl and others.

Here is a list of players with less than 20 games:

There are 16 players - far too many for my liking as not many up and coming stars.

	Games	Age
Smith, Roarke R	17	23yr 9mth
Young, Lewis	15	21yr 5mth
Hayes, Will	9	25yr
Lynch, Bradley	9	22yr 11mth
Young, Lachie R	6	21yr 2mth
Greene, Fergus	5	22yr 5mth
Gardner, Ryan R	4	23yr
West, Rhylee	3	19yr 11mth
Cavarra, Ben	1	24yr 5mth
Vandermeer, Laitham	1	21yr 4mth
Butler, Louis	0	18yr 9mth
Garcia, Riley	0	19yr 4mth
Khamis, Buku R	0	20yr 2mth
Porter, Callum	0	21yr 3mth
Sweet, Jordon R	0	22yr 4mth
Weightman, Cody	0	19yr 5mth

Which players are you confident will make it. Some of these blokes have been on the list along time. Roarke, Lynch, Greene, Porter.

So we find we end upon fielding a young team because the older players are either injured, or there are no ready replacements in the 100 to 150 bracket.

[mjp]

We have both liked our chances each year especially the last two years and so have many others have as well.

Thanks for such a thorough reply - I do appreciate it.

I 100% have liked our chances the last two years - and I am not trying to back away from that. I guess - and I have said this repeatedly - that what so many people see as a 'talented' squad (and they are not "WRONG") is really an 'unproven' squad. We have a lot of players in our 'best 30' who have flashed a bit of this and a bit of that over the past 2-3 seasons without ever nailing down a spot. Why not? Well, maybe it is because they are just young and struggling with inconsistent form - it happens to a lot of young players who eventually establish themselves and become consistent performers. At the same time, there are countless tales of players who have 'shown a bit' but could never put 3-4 games together (let alone 3-4 seasons) in order to become 'good average footballers'.

I *STILL* think our running players - Bont, Macrae, Dunks, Smith, Lipinski, Hunter - are enough to give most teams fits. BUT. Our forward line is very dependent on Naughton and Lloyd for goals. Our backline is very dependent on JJ and Daniel for run (though good on Williams for having a go at it the last couple of games) and Crozier for intercepting...our strength is 100% in our mids...our depth is in our mids (Liber et al) and outside of that, well, we are grasping...

Generally, if you can win the midfield you can win the game and we did a lot of that in 2019. And I thought we would do it again in 2020. But what we are seeing right now is other teams are bringing some really 'oomph' to contests against us and we aren't having it our own way through the centre...AND, from there, our 'other lines' are not good enough to win the day. Will they be one day? Maybe...but the grasping for solutions which we are all seeing at selection has got to be a sign that the MC is worried about the same stuff...

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It's almost as though we believe that, since 2017, being young is more important than being the best we can be, and that our youth will somehow shield us from criticism.

Maybe our list management should be brought into question, offering Trengove a 4 year deal and not bothering to play him. Likewise Schache. Both these players (and Young) are missing out to a player picked up in the mid season draft off no pre-season with the club last year.

It's either poor list management or poor selection.

I've grown pretty tired of Bevo trotting out the "our list has changed" line. Does he realise that he's the one who changes it? We were one of the youngest sides in the comp when we won the Premiership, then we got younger, and younger ... and 4 years on, we're still fielding one of the youngest sides in the comp. WTF is the philosophy behind it?

It's almost as if he changes his mind on the direction of our list every few months. Beginning of the year we're talking about challenging for the Premiership after recruiting Bruce and Keath, next minute we're talking about how we're a young group that's changed from last year.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I've grown pretty tired of Bevo trotting out the "our list has changed" line. Does he realise that he's the one who changes it? We were one of the youngest sides in the comp when we won the Premiership, then we got younger, and younger ... and 4 years on, we're still fielding one of the youngest sides in the comp. WTF is the philosophy behind it?

It's almost as if he changes his mind on the direction of our list every few months. Beginning of the year we're talking about challenging for the Premiership after recruiting Bruce and Keath, next minute we're talking about how we're a young group that's changed from last year.

THIS! It's like every offseason we recruit to fill certain holes in the list. Then we see the Round 1 lineup and it's just counter to those recruiting decisions. I mean we signed Trengove to a bloody 3 or 4 year contract and refuse to play him. We went and got Bruce and Keath yet now stop playing Schache, Young and Cordy. We went and got pressure forwards in Cavarra and Weightman yet play Gowers and Dale. We've recruited some experience to compliment out ver young list yet Hunter gets suspended, Wood goes out injured and then we go drop Cordy and play first gamers instead. It baffles the mind. We just keep trotting out the same old midfielders and 1000 HBFers and expect it'll eventually work??

[bornadog]

We just keep trotting out the same old midfielders and 1000 HBFers and expect it'll eventually work??

Who should come on then?

Libba recovering from injury

McLean has been out of form?

Anyone else?

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Who should come on then?

Libba recovering from injury

McLean has been out of form?

Anyone else?

I think the problem is we lack depth in there. I can't think of anyone who could come in a replace the poor performing mids. We have too many HBFers who are too uncontested to go in there

[The Pie Man]

Who should come on then?

Libba recovering from injury

McLean has been out of form?

Anyone else?

Seem to remember last year that each time he got an opportunity in the midfield he played well - 23 disposals vs Geelong (5th most for us) then injured the following week early against Melbourne.

[bornadog]

I think the problem is we lack depth in there. I can't think of anyone who could come in a replace the poor performing mids. We have too many HBFers who are too uncontested to go in there

This is my point, we haven't recruited well enough in this area. To me recruitment is under the spotlight with the make up of our list

[bulldogsthru&thru]

This is my point, we haven't recruited well enough in this area. To me recruitment is under the spotlight with the make up of our list

Our core mids are excellent but we have no coverage in the event of injury or poor performance. This is in stark contrast to our premiership year when we had loads of players who could go through there. Unfortunately we haven't replaced them.

[bornadog]

Our core mids are excellent but we have no coverage in the event of injury or poor performance. This is in stark contrast to our premiership year when we had loads of players who could go through there. Unfortunately we haven't replaced them.

Maybe we need to do more like the 2016 year and rotate a number of players through the midfield

Bont
Dunks
Macrae
Libba
Mclean
Smith
Jong
Daniel

[Grantysghost]

Maybe we need to do more like the 2016 year and rotate a number of players through the midfield

Bont
Dunks
Macrae
Libba
Mclean
Smith
Jong
Daniel

Have we played Caleb in the midfield before ? His delivery into forward 50 would be a nice contrast to some of our current mids loopy efforts.