Rating our list 2020 Josh Bruce 17

[azabob]

I endorse this objection to Sedat's summation because nothing is better on this forum than when Sedat is worked up sufficiently to use plain and scathing language about particular situations. And in this instance he's already delivered a solid start!

To add fuel to the fire, one might argue that having to relocate a partner and have a child just to keep a career going when already lacking family support could be considered extenuating circumstances, albeit those circumstances not being as usually recognisable as an excuse as death, cancer or mental illness etc. But, nonetheless I'm sure it would have taken some type of toll on him.

Wholeheartedly I agree that Bruce needs to get fit AF, and not be so tired that after training that he can't practice a bit of kicking, at goal and in the field because the way he put ball to boot this year was just about as disturbing as his chronic lack of timing in marking contests and his lack of awareness in game play.

You are giving Bruce a massive out with hublife as a potential excuse.

Hub life isn’t the reason he was putrid in the first 4 odd games of the season.

Honestly I can’t see him changing his behaviour in 2021 as he was rewarded week in week out and only missed one game.

So far his recruitment has been a failure.

[GVGjr]

You are giving Bruce a massive out with hublife as a potential excuse.

Hub life isn’t the reason he was putrid in the first 4 odd games of the season.

Honestly I can’t see him changing his behaviour in 2021 as he was rewarded week in week out and only missed one game.

So far his recruitment has been a failure.

Most professional footballers earning the sort of salary Bruce were been able to adjust to the new demands.
Is the issue just with Bruce or the fact that we played him all the way through the season with just one good game and maybe three serviceable ones? He should have been dropped regardless that there was just scratch matches for him

What is incentive for Bruce in 2021? He's still earning a good salary and the club accepted his mediocre form.

Hopefully his pride will be challenged and we will be prepared to drop him next season if he can't produce an acceptable level of football.

[SonofScray]

He's just put in one of the worst seasons of footy I've seen from a regular member of the senior squad. Statistically he'd sit in amongst some really mediocre footballers that have pulled on our jumper.

I think he is a capable footballer and was happy we brought him in. Hopefully the output this year has stung a little and we see a more professional approach to his footy in 2021. Seems a bloke that will benefit massively from improved fitness.

[Sedat]

I endorse this objection to Sedat's summation because nothing is better on this forum than when Sedat is worked up sufficiently to use plain and scathing language about particular situations. And in this instance he's already delivered a solid start!

As a 25 year veteran of marketing, PR and brand management, I very much enjoy cutting through the spin and BS when it comes to commentating on my passion projects, of which the Bulldogs is most definitely one.

Plain and scathing language is fine when it is honest and true. And if Bruce was honest with himself he'd know that the season he just produced was woefully inadequate for a professional and experienced sportsman of decent talent. He has shown more than sufficient ability in multiple seasons past, so he has it in him to really contribute at our club and make us a better team. But another stinking season like 2020 and it will almost be better for us to pay out the remainder of his contract and cut our losses on a dud investment.

On a smaller financial scale, Chris Mayne was in a similar situation after his first season at Collingwood. So was Liam Jones at Carlton. Both these players turned their careers around and became valuable players for their respective clubs. I really hope Bruce can do likewise - I'm not confident. Perhaps he should swap roles with English and ruck most of the game if he cannot provide anything of value as a key forward in 2021? Because if he can't get it done up forward he has severe limitations to be able to play anywhere else other than Footscray.

[Bulldog4life]

I have such low expectations of Bruce in 2021 that he will have to be utterly putrid not to exceed them. I've never seen a seasoned player with a proven on-field track record for a number of years get recruited to a club and be so consistently and utterly awful at his new club. There are big trade busts all the time, such as Beams and Hogan, but these have extenuating circumstances. With Bruce, it is almost as though he developed football amnesia during the first lockdown and completely forgot how to play the game.

We have blown a large hole in our salary cap for the next 3 years with him, and there is no chance whatsoever that another club will have the slightest interest, so he's our long-term problem and a large one at that. He owes the club and himself the biggest pre-season of his life to get his footy career back on track, because his 2020 form on the field is simply not acceptable

You could be talking about Steven May in his first season Sedat. Similar output. Hopefully Bruce can follow his lead.

[Mofra]

I thought he competed hard towards the back end of the season after a very poor first half. Certainly not a dominant no 1 KPF but at least a mature body to kick to. He'd want a much better 2021 though.

Worth noting that almost every KPF struggled in 2020, Tom Hawkins aside. Jeremy Cameron, Ben Brown two other notables.
Is modern football just not conducive to KPFs having a big impact?

[GVGjr]

I thought he competed hard towards the back end of the season after a very poor first half. Certainly not a dominant no 1 KPF but at least a mature body to kick to. He'd want a much better 2021 though.

Worth noting that almost every KPF struggled in 2020, Tom Hawkins aside. Jeremy Cameron, Ben Brown two other notables.
Is modern football just not conducive to KPFs having a big impact?

Isn't that also the absolute minimum you would expect from an experienced and highly paid player? I can't give him any credit for the way he performed during the season. Even when he had a chance to kick goals his set shot efforts were poor
I guess it's not his problem that we kept picking him regardless but if he's got any pride he must know he has to come good next season.

[Jeanette54]

I am going to go out on a limb here, and predict a much improved 2021 for Josh Bruce.

With an uninterrupted pre season I believe we will see a leaner, fitter version; fronting for the new season. Hopefully living away from the AFL co-vid "prison" existence will also have a positive effect on his performance.

He has had a year to settle in and showed his willingness to expend the effort late in the season. I think the results will start to show on the field pretty quickly next season.

[Sedat]

You could be talking about Steven May in his first season Sedat. Similar output. Hopefully Bruce can follow his lead.

May was out with soft tissue injuries multiple times in his first season at Melbourne off the back of not doing the work in pre-season. Bruce only missed 1 game all season as 'managed' (ironically Naughts kicked 6 goals as the lone forward target that game). I'm not sure the comparison is apples with apples.

He's got the big contract and we need an awful lot more from him than "competing hard". I hope he can raise his game accordingly in 2021.

[Danjul]

I am going to go out on a limb here, and predict a much improved 2021 for Josh Bruce.

With an uninterrupted pre season I believe we will see a leaner, fitter version; fronting for the new season. Hopefully living away from the AFL co-vid "prison" existence will also have a positive effect on his performance.

He has had a year to settle in and showed his willingness to expend the effort late in the season. I think the results will start to show on the field pretty quickly next season.

Sorry, cannot agree. In his last six games he averaged 7 possessions a game and kicked a total of 2 goals.

No other player in the history of the universe has been treated this softly.

His guaranteed selection made a mockery of everything professional sport stands for.

He should not have been in that finals team, just as Dunkley should not have been in the ruck.

These weak selection decisions are costly and the club is suffering.

[soupman]

I thought he competed hard towards the back end of the season after a very poor first half.

Isn't that also the absolute minimum you would expect from an experienced and highly paid player?

Completely agree. I understand being optimistic but saying his year was anything other than a disaster is way to rose coloured for mine. I've said it before but I am confident Fletcher Roberts at FF would have given us just as much as Josh Bruce did this year, North game anomaly aside.

[Go_Dogs]

Many rated Wingard as an A grade gun but showed very little of his talent. Perhaps a bullet dodged.

3rd in Hawks B&F.

[GVGjr]

3rd in Hawks B&F.

They would be happy enough with his 2020 season

[The Pie Man]

He clearly didn’t look senior fit once the season resumed (after looking in good nick against Port in the pre-season) but night games on the Goldy must be a forwards nightmare. No coincidence his best game of the year came under the roof at Marvel.

Still hold out hope he can contribute

[Vred]

Anyone seen the latest videos of Bruce from his Instagram? Whatever extra weight he was carrying during the season, it's already gone. He posted some pool-side video and his looking lean and very ripped.