Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

[Sedat]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

I think you could throw a blanket over us, St Kilda, Melbourne, GWS, Carlton, and Brisbane.

Reckon Brisbane's deep and talented midfield should help them to the 10-12 game mark this season. Sure they lack experience in their key forwards and depth with their key defenders, but the extreme running depth required in the modern game will actually suite Brisbane's skill set. Hanley's loss for most of the season will hurt them a lot.

[Remi Moses]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

He has St Kilda last and Melbourne 16th, with us in the middle.

I think you could throw a blanket over us, St Kilda, Melbourne, GWS, Carlton, and Brisbane, and finishing position will come down to injuries, form runs, and luck. Collingwood are poorly coached and have had bad fitness and football management in recent years, but they still have enough talent to stay ahead of us, even though they will be bottom 8 again.

Not so sure about Bris Vegas or the Pies.
Reckon Bris Vegas has us covered for mid depth, and the pies have us covered for senior quality .
The loss of Hanley is on a par with Libba for us.

[Twodogs]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Me? I like the report you've come up with Hitman. Like Remi indicates above it is better researched and informed than most of the Melbourne meeja is capable of.


Anyway I wouldn't be surprised where we finish this year. There are just too many unknowns -for us (what if Bevo is a genius?)and the entire competition (what happens if Essendon go tits up?) that could work out really well for us or they could turn out complete disasters for us to confidently say one way or another that we will finish anywhere between 18th and 7th.

Having said that though my tip is for us to finish twelfth.

[The Hitman]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Screw David King. No one likes him.

Completely get what you're saying Remi. Even as a non-Dog, I'm going to really enjoy watching the Dogs this season, even though I have you pegged towards the bottom. A lot to like, and a lot to get excited for when it comes to player development.

[Twodogs]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Screw David King. No one likes him.

Completely get what you're saying Remi. Even as a non-Dog, I'm going to really enjoy watching the Dogs this season, even though I have you pegged towards the bottom. A lot to like, and a lot to get excited for when it comes to player development.

What are your thoughts on Beveridge's appointment Hitman?

I'm enthused by his more attacking footy mantra and the highly skilled drills I have seen him run at training.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Screw David King. No one likes him.

Completely get what you're saying Remi. Even as a non-Dog, I'm going to really enjoy watching the Dogs this season, even though I have you pegged towards the bottom. A lot to like, and a lot to get excited for when it comes to player development.

I do.

[boydogs]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

I think this missed the mark on replacing Libba. Boyd did step up against the Demons but tonight it was Wallis, Macrae, Bonts, Jong Honeychurch & Goodes, Boyd stayed in defense. Clay Smith will help when he returns who wasn't mentioned either

[F'scary]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Firstly, I thought it a very good article displaying in depth knowledge of the Chihauhaus and an excellent precis of Shocktober and related events and issues.

But before condemning us to 17th place, I think you need to consider that there are a few sides generally being ranked above us by many that are quite flaky in one way or another and a few more that may be living on past glories and could slide, perhaps dramatically.

I know it was only one game and a NAB Cup match at that but I think it supports the point I made above.

[mjp]

Re: Western Bulldogs season preview - Me? I Like Football

Thanks for posting.

My thoughts are a little different. Naming Boyd (Matthew version) as the 'star' is just silly. Macrae was second in the b&f, Bonts second in the rising star and Dahlhaus is 'coming'. Pick one of them...or stringer, or Murphy...but don't pick Boydy. It isn't 2009.

The big issue personnel wise is the defensive group and there might be days when we concede some big scores. This needs emphasis.

Our forward line - with the aforementioned Bonts, Dahl, Stringer...and assuming all goes well with the appeal - Crameri - is a match up nightmare and will cause opposition teams a lot of trouble. A lot. Assuming we maintain at least some of the stoppages 'skill' from 2013/4 there will be inside 50 chances as well...I would be surprised at less than a 50% i50 to score ratio this year and this will (depending upon accuracy) lead to wins.

17th is fine based on defensive metrics from the past couple of years but the team will be a tough out and trying to find match-ups for Crameri, stringer and Bontempelli will cause opposition teams-even the 'top' ones-a lot of headaches. For example, work out who Sydney would play on each of those three - assuming Smith takes Dahlhaus- and you will quickly see that a very dangerous group is developing-each player is a good athlete with making ability. I am not expecting/counting on anything from Redpath/Campbell/Boyd (Tom variety) but each of them is 'handy' enough to need an assigned opponent...hopefully Boyd is eventually better than that.

The loss of Liberatore is huge...but given the group the loss of Roughead would probably be worse (or even the failure of him to develop as a reliable key back?).