Honest reflection and the path forward

[Danjul]

I’m by and large happy with the backline making due without our lead horse, but Daniel is seriously just going right now. All the flair from his game is gone and he’s making routine, costly mistakes seemingly every time he isn’t going down the line. Plus we gotta do *something* in response to that horrible performance at selection.

I’m guessing you want to play Sweet, which, sure. Draper is maybe the least skilled player I’ve ever seen and an actual idiot but he will run Martin all the way into the ground. Time to see what Sweet has got.

EDIT - I just checked the VFL stats and saw that Sweet got bodied by “Fraser Thurlow”, who it seems was delisted by Essendon in 2014 without playing a game. Maybe we stick with Martin.

I’m not expecting much from Sweet until he gets half a dozen consecutive games in the firsts. I’ve heard this and similar applied to others.

When I looked at the AFL website I see that he was the third best for Footscray with 93 points. For comparison Khamis had 72. When I looked on Woof Footscray thread I found a comment that said Sweet was OK and the Opposing ruckman was doing better when Khamis was in the ruck ( to be expected). I get the impression that Sweet’s game was also following Covid and concussion.

I think we must get games into Sweet and rest him on the forward line to take the second backman away from Naughton. We are putting games into others when their potential upside is minimal. I would also like to see Khamis tried in the forward line, apparently he has played well there recently.

[bornadog]

Happy Days or Jordan Sweet?!?!

Touche

[jeemak]

Happy Days or Jordan Sweet?!?!

Happy Days IS Jordan Sweet!

[mjp]

As critical as people want to be of Bevo (media included), you cannot knock what he has done and will continue to do.

I think Bevo is awesome and we are incredibly lucky to have him.

I get frustrated with his team selection decisions and seeming insistence that it is better to be 'clever' than just simply win, but he is a brilliant coach.

No 'Dogs supporter would deny this mate...

[Grantysghost]

I think Bevo is awesome and we are incredibly lucky to have him.

I get frustrated with his team selection decisions and seeming insistence that it is better to be 'clever' than just simply win, but he is a brilliant coach.

No 'Dogs supporter would deny this mate...

From your experience MJP can you see some signs of fatigue/over work? Maybe with the new assistants he's taken on more than his fair share.
He looks cooked to me, like he needs a month off in Noosa.

[GVGjr]

I think Bevo is awesome and we are incredibly lucky to have him.

I get frustrated with his team selection decisions and seeming insistence that it is better to be 'clever' than just simply win, but he is a brilliant coach.

No 'Dogs supporter would deny this mate...

That's pretty much as I see it, Bevo frustrates me on a few things but unless I was getting a Longmire I don't think I'd take the risk of losing him.

[Rocco Jones]

I think Bevo is awesome and we are incredibly lucky to have him.

I get frustrated with his team selection decisions and seeming insistence that it is better to be 'clever' than just simply win, but he is a brilliant coach.

No 'Dogs supporter would deny this mate...

Yep, my read as well.

[Scraggers]

I think Bevo is awesome and we are incredibly lucky to have him.

I get frustrated with his team selection decisions and seeming insistence that it is better to be 'clever' than just simply win, but he is a brilliant coach.

No 'Dogs supporter would deny this mate...

From an outsider looking in, does Bevo have one voice? the final voice? the only voice? when it comes to team selections? How much say does he have with recruiting? I am assuming he would salivate with the ability to have at his fingertips a Grundy style ruck or a Alex Silvani type backman. And like others, I'm hoping we haven't sold the farm to get JUH and Darcy (only time will tell if this was a master stroke or a catastrophic fail.

I have only met Bevo twice. The first time I met him was in 2017; he told me how much it hurt our team to lose Hamling. I'm sure it would be the exact same conversation about Marcus Adams right now too.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

That's pretty much as I see it, Bevo frustrates me on a few things but unless I was getting a Longmire I don't think I'd take the risk of losing him.

What about if it was Clarko?

I've been a harsh critic of Bevo, but I can't deny his two results of a GF and a Premiership. Upon him signing on with us at the start we'd take that every minute of the day.

I've also met him multiple times and had a few conversations with him, he's a really likeable 1-on-1 guy.

Despite all that, I think it's worth investigating if he's the best man to take us forward given some of the signs have been concerning at best. I defended him in R1 but that, coupled with this demeanor of late, does have me wondering if he's spent.

[jeemak]

What about if it was Clarko?

I've been a harsh critic of Bevo, but I can't deny his two results of a GF and a Premiership. Upon him signing on with us at the start we'd take that every minute of the day.

I've also met him multiple times and had a few conversations with him, he's a really likeable 1-on-1 guy.

Despite all that, I think it's worth investigating if he's the best man to take us forward given some of the signs have been concerning at best. I defended him in R1 but that, coupled with this demeanor of late, does have me wondering if he's spent.

It's a great question, and putting aside the difficulty of the past two years - particularly during the lead into and during the 2021 finals. What would Clarko do with a list with holes all over it, injuries to key structural players, key/ depth players on personal leave, bereavements, two brand new assistant coaches and a team that couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shovel full of wheat for three out of six weeks?

He'd probably bash someone.

Now I'm being facetious, sort of....mainly I guess, though we can't have it both ways in our analysis of what's happening. Yes, Bevo might be struggling but is he struggling more than any other coach would in his circumstances?

[Grantysghost]

It's a great question, and putting aside the difficulty of the past two years - particularly during the lead into and during the 2021 finals. What would Clarko do with a list with holes all over it, injuries to key structural players, key/ depth players on personal leave, bereavements, two brand new assistant coaches and a team that couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shovel full of wheat for three out of six weeks?

He'd probably bash someone.

Now I'm being facetious, sort of....mainly I guess, though we can't have it both ways in our analysis of what's happening. Yes, Bevo might be struggling but is he struggling more than any other coach would in his circumstances?

The horrendous Wallis family incident aside isn't this part and parcel of the game?

He must bear some responsibility for the list. He just has to.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It's a great question, and putting aside the difficulty of the past two years - particularly during the lead into and during the 2021 finals. What would Clarko do with a list with holes all over it, injuries to key structural players, key/ depth players on personal leave, bereavements, two brand new assistant coaches and a team that couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shovel full of wheat for three out of six weeks?

He'd probably bash someone.

Now I'm being facetious, sort of....mainly I guess, though we can't have it both ways in our analysis of what's happening. Yes, Bevo might be struggling but is he struggling more than any other coach would in his circumstances?

He's done a remarkable job with our club, especially in trying times - 2021 no better of an example. I'm not sure even Clarko could have got the same result last year after our H & A capitulation. Had we won the flag, it probably would have trumped 2016.

My question is not so much on what has been done, or if Bevo is a good coach. He is. Not a perfect one - no such thing exists - but my question is, after 8 years he looks and sounds tired. It happens to every successful coach, so respectfully ... Is an 8-year Bevo the best man to take us forward, or is a possibility refreshed Clarko (or Buckley)?

I hope we're asking that question of ourselves at the very least.

[MrMahatma]

The horrendous Wallis family incident aside isn't this part and parcel of the game?

He must bear some responsibility for the list. He just has to.

Responsibility for Naughton being one of the best forwards in the game? For Daniel and Dale moving to HBF and being All Australians? For perseverance with English to the point he’s, essentially, now having a break out season… I guess we could argue to toss over players. There’s a lot on our list who I don’t think are AFL quality and I think we seem to want to pick up a Footscray player each year and put them on the senior list… but without knowing how much of this Bevo drives, surely results over the journey matter most.

In all of these past few weeks, how many people on this forum have pointed the finger at Sam Power? Surely the main reason for our issues currently is list rather than coaching? And yet the list manager or whatever he is, gets ignored cause Bevo is, for some reason, an easier target? It’s a great thread but even the OP goes on and on about the list and doesn’t mention Power (apart from Sam being a religion and an avatar! )

I’m not saying Bevo isn’t influential in list management decisions, but he’s also the coach. So if the list is bad but the coaching is good, he’s doing something well. If the list isn’t right… what is Power doing right?

The WB website says of Power:

“ His role has overseen total list management strategy, including TPP management and compliance, player contracting, player acquisition and recruiting

Ahead of the 2021 season, Power’s portfolio expanded, to also include looking after Football Projects.”

Maybe it’s that last sentence we should be interrogating?
I actually don’t have an issue with Power. I think we’ve largely done well with the currency we have, and we’ve been conservative with trading, which I’d prob prefer than the stuff the Bombers and even Hawks have done in the past few years. But the anti Bevo chat is bizarre to me in the context of our actual issue… the list.

[GVGjr]

What about if it was Clarko?

I've been a harsh critic of Bevo, but I can't deny his two results of a GF and a Premiership. Upon him signing on with us at the start we'd take that every minute of the day.

I've also met him multiple times and had a few conversations with him, he's a really likeable 1-on-1 guy.

Despite all that, I think it's worth investigating if he's the best man to take us forward given some of the signs have been concerning at best. I defended him in R1 but that, coupled with this demeanor of late, does have me wondering if he's spent.

Not so sure about Clarko but I don't think I'd be as keen to try a new coach to the senior ranks given what we already have.
Things change of course but I'm in no real hurry to see him leave us.

[jeemak]

The horrendous Wallis family incident aside isn't this part and parcel of the game?

He must bear some responsibility for the list. He just has to.

Yes, as must Chris Grant and Ameet Baines as the escalation points in the organisation who ultimately should be making the calls to benefit the club if there's tension between Power and Bevo.

And to your question, yes, they are part and parcel of the game and they are very good reasons as to why we aren't playing good football! The reasons why we're not playing well are directly in front of us and we just have to accept them and hope the club figures out how best to deal with/ manage them.