Grant Thomas has one last dig

[Cyberdoggie]

Dare I say it but I almost want the filth to win this Saturday just to stick it up this piece of shite.

If they did win i'm sure he'll claim some of the credit.

[Greystache]

You can dress it up any way you like. When it comes to the ultimate prize St.Kilda and the Western Bulldogs are neck & neck.

That's your view.

Personally I would love for the first time in my life to have a commitment on the last Saturday in September other than getting pissed at a BBQ

[Bulldog4life]

That's your view.

Personally I would love for the first time in my life to have a commitment on the last Saturday in September other than getting pissed at a BBQ

Then you should get married

[Greystache]

Then you should get married

Haha, touché!

[Topdog]

You can dress it up any way you like. When it comes to the ultimate prize St.Kilda and the Western Bulldogs are neck & neck.

OK but how does that make his article wrong?

[Bulldog4life]

OK but how does that make his article wrong?

I wasn't commenting on the Article. As a number of posters do regularly, I detoured away from the subject to give my 2 cents on St.Kilda's & Western Bulldogs similar history.

[Remi Moses]

Dare I say it but I almost want the filth to win this Saturday just to stick it up this piece of shite.

Agreed I'm hoping The Pies win . His article has a few fair points,but coming from a culture like Stkilda and saying he doesn't rate us is like getting back packing advice from Ivan Milat.

[Ghost Dog]

I have read many posts in this forum where people have said words along the line of 'attack the ball and not the man'. Dismissing Thomas as irrelevant or having a grudge is in my opinion missing the point.
Ok, the Ward and Roughead comments are wide of the mark, but its hard not to agree with some of his criticisms of us. Too many on here are quick to defend us with an almost blind faith. I hate Grant Thomas as much as anyone because he has had a penchant for taking pot shots at our club over the last few years, but... he has got some valid points.
I too was unhappy with Eade's upbeat manner in the post match presser. Ross Lyon gave his team an absolute serve at their B&F last year after they lost the GF. We are too nice as a club and our MC (as most would agree on other threads) have shirked taking the hard decisions time and time again... If Josh Fraser played for us, he'd be up to 210 games...
Ghost Dog, although I agree a current team can not be responsible for the history of a club's under performance, it can however adopt an entrenched culture and carry on a cycle of behaviors and expectations, which I believe is what we have done over a long time. The entrenched culture within our club is that we become overly enamored and centered on individuals/personalities rather than the team; we are not harsh enough critics of our own performances; The club is predisposed to take the positive/encouraging line than take a clinical/critical approach. I believe it is these entrenched cultural characteristics that have stunted our ability to truly realise our potential as a club.

I agree with you on GT. He has some points and I mentioned this. Particularly tackles. How can you argue with that? However, he seems biased. Case in point, no mention of the flu Virus in round 19.

2pot -- I totally agree with you about club culture and the cult of personality. People can get too wrapped up in past success or failure. As mentioned, club is only as good as its present performance. Label us as a club entrenched in near miss failures or paint a brighter picture of where we are at; either way none of it helps. Need to be really focused on what is happening now, current list, performance and plans.
I'm not one for painting a pretty picture of where the club is at. But saying you 'don't rate the team' because of it's track record or history is 'bulldog-shite'. We are at where we are at for more reasons than GT states.

For a more balanced end of season review of our club's performance this season, read here.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsartic...2/default.aspx

[Stefcep]

Apart from Saturday, Hally has had the radar working pretty well...including finals, 80 goals, 41 behinds.

So what? LAst season we scored more than anyone, we had a spread of goal kickers, and some semblance of system going in to the forward 50. Now we ignore our forwards and just bomb to Barry. The balance is out of kilter: I'd rather Barry kick 50 with the other forwards getting their 2.5 goals per game with the midfielders looking to hit them on the chest like we did 1-2 years ago.

BTW Grant is more or less on the money. I'm sick of us being too precious as supporters to take the cold hard truth.

[Before I Die]

So what? LAst season we scored more than anyone, we had a spread of goal kickers, and some semblance of system going in to the forward 50. Now we ignore our forwards and just bomb to Barry. The balance is out of kilter: I'd rather Barry kick 50 with the other forwards getting their 2.5 goals per game with the midfielders looking to hit them on the chest like we did 1-2 years ago.

BTW Grant is more or less on the money. I'm sick of us being too precious as supporters to take the cold hard truth.

You don't suppose that the improvement in our defence may have had an impact on our scoring. Less free wheeling means less scoring opportunities.

Now let me get this straight. Grant's article says we didn't win because we weren't good enough. I am not too sure there are many supporters who don't accept that. As for his explanation for why we were not good enough, he may be right or wrong. Last year it was because we didn't have a power forward. This year it is supposedly because we played too many veterans and didn't tackle enough. And if we go close next year, it will be something else. It is so easy to be an expert when all you are doing is describing the past. If Grant is so knowledgable why couldn't he win a flag with a team which (if memory serves me right) won 13 games in a row under his tutelage.

BTW Stefcep, I am happy to hear your opinions on anything Western Bulldogs, but I am not interested in hearing others criticised because they may not share those opinions.

[Sedat]

Where GT loses credibility is attempting to link the Akermanis sacking into our failed prelim final performance. This coming from the coach who sacked Matthew Capuano mid-season for no apparent reason other than he was giving GT a bit of lip at a teammate's party one night.

[Mofra]

So what? LAst season we scored more than anyone, we had a spread of goal kickers, and some semblance of system going in to the forward 50. Now we ignore our forwards and just bomb to Barry. The balance is out of kilter: I'd rather Barry kick 50 with the other forwards getting their 2.5 goals per game with the midfielders looking to hit them on the chest like we did 1-2 years ago.

Last year we had Johnno, Aker, Hahn and Hill as F50 contributers.
Injuries and form left Bazza as our only real F50 target, with Gia playing the odd cameo, and Grant learning the ropes. We definately need to be less predictable with our F50 entries but I think we were left with little choice in 2010.

Scary thought, but I think Grant needs to set himself to finish in the top two or three in our goal tally next year lest we become too predictable.

[Greystache]

Last year we had Johnno, Aker, Hahn and Hill as F50 contributers.
Injuries and form left Bazza as our only real F50 target, with Gia playing the odd cameo, and Grant learning the ropes. We definately need to be less predictable with our F50 entries but I think we were left with little choice in 2010.

Scary thought, but I think Grant needs to set himself to finish in the top two or three in our goal tally next year lest we become too predictable.

He came 3rd this year with 29, so not a big stretch.

[bornadog]

He came 3rd this year with 29, so not a big stretch.

Needs to kick closer to 40 plus.

[Greystache]

Needs to kick closer to 40 plus.

It'll be interesting to see what he looks like come the NAB cup, hopefully he'll be pushing 90kgs. If he is I think 40 goals is pretty realistic.

Despite what the club had continually told the media, I've been told he was anything but a hard trainer and his attitude was pretty poor, that was until he got a few games in the early part of this season, now he's apparently busting a gut at training. I wouldn't be surprised to see him bulk up considerably this preseason, I actually think once he started giving it a crack he put on some muscle through out the course of the season.