This from Fox Footy

The Western Bulldogs have come under fire from Fox Footy’s First Crack team after the club’s 41-point loss to the Brisbane Lions, with its season suddenly on thin ice.

The Dogs have struggled to tie consistency together this year, holding an 8-7 record in a disappointing return after last year’s grand final appearance. They currently sit 10th on the ladder and a game outside the top eight ahead of a tough run home including clashes against Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong and Fremantle.

Luke Beveridge’s side conceded 120 marks against the Lions in Thursday night’s clash at the Gabba to continue a theme that’s plagued it in 2022. In games they’ve lost this year they’ve conceded nearly 107 marks — the second-worst mark in the competition.
Saints great Leigh Montagna believes the Dogs’ tactic of not guarding the mark can make it hard to force high balls to allow intercepts, saying “Brisbane was able to pick their way through them too easily.”

The Dogs’ intercept game has been a key concern this season, averaging 64 intercepts per game (ranked 17th in the competiti0n), down on the AFL average of 69.

“This is what frustrates me about the Dogs, they don’t win the ball back on intercepts,” Roos legend David King said.

“They don’t have a team defence in my opinion, and that’s why they only have North Melbourne behind them in terms of winning the ball back. They don’t win it back, let the opposition play — dangerous way to be.”

An area were the Bulldogs have been strong is their midfield and clearance game, led by a star-studded crop including Jack Macrae, Marcus Bontempelli, Tom Liberatore, Josh Dunkley, Adam Treloar and Bailey Smith. However it hasn’t necessarily stacked up against the best sides.

The Dogs have averaged 44.8 points from clearance against the rest of the competition (83%), but against four of the top five teams (Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane and Carlton) they’ve managed just 28.8 points from clearance (71%).

King held concerns with where the Dogs’ game was at overall, putting a line through their campaign and saying the club needs to do some soul searching this off-season.

It comes with Dunkley and Smith both still uncontracted beyond this season, with the former’s future seemingly less certain, while the club is also looking to strengthen its key position stocks at either end of the ground, most recently linked to Fremantle’s Rory Lobb.

“I say they’ve got wholesale problems they need to address. They’re not rigid ahead of the footy and they’re not great behind it,” King said.

“They’re brilliant in the midfield, but not against the best. So what have you got? You’ve got a whole heap of nothing. You’ve got the game set up for some individuals, but not for the team.

“I think this is an off-season that needs to sit back and say, ‘who are we and where are we going?’ I don’t know if you can correct it in-season, I think this year is gone. They’ve got massive decisions to make this off-season.”

Montagna agreed that the Dogs need to build more layers to the way they play and not be so reliant on midfield dominance.

“We know it’s all built around their midfield, the contest and clearance. Outside of that — both offensively and defensively — they can get exploited. They are just a middle of the table team,” he said.

“They have streaks, they go through hot patches where they win a lot of games, but they also go through periods where they struggle.”