Bulldogs By the Numbers

[merantau]

It was a shame Macca got rid of Lake.

Thanks for the heads up re that. Spending time overseas means I miss out on a lot of the back stories re trades.

[merantau]

From '05 to "08 Cameron Wight played 36 gamed in the #37. At 200cm and 97kg he had size on his side and played some good games for us.

[merantau]

From '05 to "08 Cameron Wight played 36 gamed in the #37. At 200cm and 97kg he had size on his side and played some good games for us.

There is a back story to his career which he shared with the public in 2016.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/...23-grmjdl.html

[merantau]

From '94 to '97 Daniel Hargraves played 38 games and kicked 62 goals in the #37. He had bucket loads of talent. He went to Freo where he played 3 games in 2 years before heading to the SANFL where he won the Ken Farmer medal for the comp's leading goal kicker. I remember he kicked 12 in a Reserves final at the "G".

[merantau]

From '85 to '89 Angelo Petraglia played 49 games for us in the #38. He played 5 games at North before being de-listed. 1985 saw him at Port Melbourne. He came to us at the end of the season and played in Rd 17 and 18.

He was a regular over the next two seasons and a regular goal kicker. He was a solid "in and under" rover with plenty of pace and a good left foot.He knew how to snag a goal too. His 49 games with us saw him boot 56 goals. His career was cut short by a knee injury. Good player.

[Twodogs]

I think that Ian Rickman wore #37 too. Chops was one of those "could have been anything" types. He kicked 6 from a half forward flank on Keith Greig (who was no slouch) the last time we ever played at Arden street against North.

Then he went to Williamstown and played in a premiership while kicking plenty of goals from a HFF. I remember when Terry Wheeler took on the coaching job at Footscray he was really keen to get Chops back to the club. From memory Rickman started training with us but did his knee during the preseason. A massive shame because Chops was a terrific player.

[merantau]

Indeed he was. I was at Arden St for that match too. He was a booming kick.

[merantau]

Dale Morris played 253 games for us in the #38. A much loved and respected footballer he was and will always be a Bulldog hero. Possibly the most complete defender we have ever had in that he could hold his own against the biggest, stongest forwards and was agile and quick enough to play on smaller opponents too. His toughness and ability to overcome injury were legendary. He was well known for his tackling and his 2nd and third efforts. He saved the day for us on countless occasions during his 15 year career during which he came back from some horrific injuries.

Notes from Wikipedia.

Morris spent four years playing for Werribee Football Club in the Victorian Football League before being added to the Bulldogs' rookie list in the 2004 Rookie Draft. He quickly cemented his place in the Western Bulldogs' lineup, impressing many with his pace and consistency as a defender, and finished with 17 games for season 2005. He was elevated to the senior list at the end of 2005.

Morris was selected in the back pocket of the 2008 All-Australian team.

Morris played in guernsey number 38 for the duration of his career.

In Round 21, 2011, against the Essendon Bombers, Morris suffered a broken tibia in his lower right leg which prematurely ended his season. Morris returned to play one quarter in a Development Match game in Round 6, 2012, but suffered a stress fracture in the same leg which he broke in horrific circumstances in 2011. The injury sidelined Morris for the rest of the season.

Morris made his return to AFL in Round 1, 2013. In what was overall a successful campaign for Morris, he provided defensive solidity to the Bulldog's back line, and also managed to play all 22 games for the season.

In 2016, Morris was part of the Western Bulldogs premiership team that ended their long-standing premiership drought of 62 years. After the game, it was revealed that Morris had played the entire finals series with a fractured vertebrae.

Morris is known for his quick recovery from injury. He suffered a partial tear in his ACL in 2018 yet came back to play the back-end of the 2018 season. In 2019, he suffered another ACL, and was out of action until Round 19, where he rupture his ACL for the third time in 18 months. Prior to the 2019 final series, Morris announced his retirement after 253 games.

[merantau]

Dale Morris executes a trademark tackle.

https://youtu.be/XksWfbV4Z4E

[merantau]

From '61 to '65 Barry Ion played 40 games in the #38. He played on the half back flank in our '61 GF team.

[merantau]

In his debut season, 1986, Tony Liberatore played 4 games in the #60 jumper. He took over #39 the next season. It took him four years to establish himself in the team but when he did he made a statement with his football and went and won the Brownlow Medal.

He played 283 games in a storied career spread over 16 years.He won the B&F in 1991 and was selected in the Bulldogs Team of the Century. A Bulldog champion, much loved and respected for his unstinting efforts on behalf of his teamates and the Club.

Notes from Wikipedia.

Liberatore played junior football for Brunswick City. He was recruited by North Melbourne, where he played both under-19s and reserve grade football. After winning the Morrish Medal in 1984, he called Hawthorn, St Kilda and Footscray in the hope of playing senior football. Mick Malthouse, who was Footscray coach at the time, invited Liberatore to train but made no guarantees that he would get a game. At his first training session with the club, Liberatore was teased by full-forward Simon Beasley, who said that due to his lack of height he would have been better off training to be a jockey at the nearby Flemington Racecourse. Although Liberatore made his senior level debut in 1986, he mainly played in the reserves that season, winning the VFL reserves' Gardiner Medal in both 1986 and 1988. He was a member of the team that won the 1988 VFL reserves premiership.

Standing at 163 cm, Liberatore played only 18 senior games until the 1990 season, when he played 19 games and won the Brownlow Medal for the best and fairest senior AFL player.

Liberatore played a total of 283 senior games for Footscray/Western Bulldogs in a career that included 13 finals, life membership of the club, and selection on the interchange bench in the club's Team of the Century.

Liberatore was noted for his ability to read the play and his prolific tackling. Throughout his senior career, he made 1,225 tackles in his careerNote; an average of 4.39 per game. In 1992 he became the first VFL/AFL player to exceed 100 tackles in a season, and then exceeded 100 tackles each season until 1996. His season tally of 142 tackles in 1994 stood as the VFL/AFL record until 2006, when James McDonald bettered it by one.

[bornadog]

Dale Morris executes a trademark tackle.

https://youtu.be/XksWfbV4Z4E

I nominate Dale for best #38

[merantau]

Libber 1990 Brownlow Medal acceptance speech.
https://youtu.be/LIQB9-9PVok

[merantau]

I nominate Dale for best #38

Seconded.

[bornadog]

Seconded.

#Libba senior takes #39 - Brownlow medalist and in team of the century.