Have they got the balance right? The burning questions for the Bulldogs in 2023



With the 2022 AFL season complete, Kane Cornes and Garry Lyon have gone through all 18 clubs and come up with burning questions for each.

The Bulldogs finished 8th in 2022, with a season of ups and downs being fittingly capped off by blowing a 41-point lead to Fremantle in an Elimination Final.

Lyon asks have they got the balance right?

“When I look at their recruiting, so from a forward-line point of view, they have Aaron (Naughton), they have (Jamarra) Ugle-Hagan, they have (Sam) Darcy, they have (Josh) Bruce, and they’ve added (Rory) Lobb, is that balanced?” he questioned on SEN Breakfast.

“Sam Darcy, we’ve only seen him for four games but he looks like he’s going to be able to play, Ugle-Hagan has got to find the consistency but yes looked better as the season wore on.

“Liam Jones will hold down the spot in defence… would you be throwing Naughton, is he the potential one to go back or not?”

Cornes agrees that the Bulldogs do have an unbalanced team, however is excited by the “spine” of the list.

“It doesn’t seem (balanced) on paper does it, you questioned whether they have plans for Darcy to play back and whether he’s going to be there for 10 years and play that role because I’m not sure how they all fit in,” he said.

“They explained that pretty well I thought, Sam Power after the trade period, he said ‘look clearly we are excited about the future but those young players need some support now, and that’s where the Jones and the Lobb ones come in.’

“They have the best young spine and most exciting spine in the game, Naughton and Ugle-Hagan… key position players, one of the two playing centre half-forward, Darcy at centre half-back I would have thought.

“Lobb is going to be in there as well, you’ve got (Marcus) Bontempelli in the middle, it’s frightening… who has a better young and more exciting spine?”

Despite being excited about their future, Cornes asks are the Bulldogs professional enough?

“Are they a motivated, hungry group is my question... they want for nothing on their list, but there’s the intangibles,” he said.

“Are they professional enough, I don’t know, I hear things about the Western Bulldogs.

“They can win a premiership next year, provided those things sort themselves out.”

Lyon voiced similar worries, viewing the departure of star Josh Dunkley as cause for concern.

“Two words, Josh Dunkley… why was Josh Dunkley desperate to get out two years ago and desperate to get out (again)?” he asked.

“You can say, ‘I want to live in Brisbane,’ two years ago he didn’t, two years ago he wanted to live 20 minutes down the road at Essendon.

“I know (the Bulldogs would) deny it, but I’d love to put the lasso of truth around Josh Dunkley.

“Everyone hears the same sort of stuff, but it’s the challenge now for Luke is to get this group back and if there are any issues there, culturally or otherwise.”