Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

[Dry Rot]

Came across a good article comparing us with '93 Bombers and 2008 Hawks.

Worth a read.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/01/10/can-the-dogs-avoid-the-pitfalls-of-an-early-rise/

You could call them the premature premierships: the seasons when teams outside the normal age profile achieved the ultimate success well ahead of the accepted schedule.

The Western Bulldogs did just that in September as they confounded the footballing pundits and their mythical Mick Malthouse “premiership clock”.

A promising young team that was considered to be at the 10 minutes to midnight stage of development and likely to challenge for a flag in the future charged to the finish line and rocked the sages.

But what now for the men from Footscray? They would do well to look at the fates of two other teams that also soared ahead of their predicted time. Essendon snared the 1993 flag when it rolled Carlton, a victory expected to herald the start of an era of dominance...

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2017/01/10/can-the-dogs-avoid-the-pitfalls-of-an-early-rise/

Thoughts?

[GVGjr]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Complacency is a real threat. Our build up over the last 3 years was to have our best chance in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. We have a great chance of being a better side this year than last but it's very reliant on the whole footy department being as hungry for success as they were in 2016. You can't be off the mark even by a small percentage.

Other teams will copy many things that helped us to the flag last year so we will have to add some subtle changes to our game plan and approach. Massive challenge for us and one I hope we are up for another fight.

If we coast on the success of last season then we could be in for a very tough season but if the club really wants to make anther push for the flag we could very well be a handful again.

There is something to learn from other teams that jumped ahead of the queue as the article suggests but in reality the past isn't the future and we can control our own destiny if we are hungry enough.

We need to be the big dog at the feeding bowl again.

[Bulldog Joe]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I think the one factor that works for us and against complacency is actually the depth on the list.

Any player who is a little bit off will find themselves playing at Footscray.

[ledge]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Can't see us not being hungry . To many senior players missed the win through injury the drive is to do it with them and of course Bob ., what worries me is if Bob goes down it might take the wind out of our sails.

[Mofra]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I think the one factor that works for us and against complacency is actually the depth on the list.

Having Bob Murphy so involved during the finals series helps too - realistically our best 22 this year may include Adams, Murphy, Suckling, Campbell, Cloke and Crameri at least - I assume the players who missed out for one reason or another wouldn't be complacent.
Guys like Jong, Williams, Dale and Webb will be knocking on the door too and Collins will push for games as well.

[Topdog]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Yeah to be honest this is a non issuefor me. Just more news filler. Try being complacent around Bob.

[Twodogs]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Great topic. It's unknown territory for us all isn't it? For the first time we actually have something to lose! We go and unfurl our flag and then they will all start gunning for us. I suspect there's going to be a lot of "lucky premiership" talk this season as in there wasn't a clearly defined champion team like most years and it genuinely came down to who played best in September.


But I suspect that even though 22 blokes got to live their premiership for us last year there are even more competent players and outright stars, Mof names them all, on our list to keep the first 22 playing their best footy or their spot in the AFL team may go. It's the evenness of our list that gives me confidence too. There isn't a significant difference in output almost all the way through.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Great topic. It's unknown territory for us all isn't it? For the first time we actually have something to lose! We go and unfurl our flag and then they will all start gunning for us. I suspect there's going to be a lot of "lucky premiership" talk this season as in there wasn't a clearly defined champion team like most years and it genuinely came down to who played best in September.


But I suspect that even though 22 blokes got to live their premiership for us last year there are even more competent players and outright stars, Mof names them all, on our list to keep the first 22 playing their best footy or their spot in the AFL team may go. It's the evenness of our list that gives me confidence too. There isn't a significant difference in output almost all the way through.

I think we showed the whole comp that you need a hell of a lot more than luck. When it come down to it there was only really two teams that could go with us. What we showed in the last month would've had many teams realising just how far off they really are. I have the feeling Bevo is just getting started and I would be shocked if we went backwards. If we keep pushing it will be us and Gws in a fight to the death.

[Twodogs]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I think we showed the whole comp that you need a hell of a lot more than luck. When it come down to it there was only really two teams that could go with us. What we showed in the last month would've had many teams realising just how far off they really are. I have the feeling Bevo is just getting started and I would be shocked if we went backwards. If we keep pushing it will be us and Gws in a fight to the death.

That reminds me that I forgot to finish my post by saying the only way we can shut people like that up is by winning the premiership again. And now we know for a fact we are good enough. We got the motivation of Murphy and a bunch of other quality players wanting a medallion too and we have our premiership clock wide open in front of us.

We have form, motive and opportunity. Its time to move in for the kill.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I had a look at the draw a couple of weeks ago and has us realistically winning 16+ (counting half wins for 50/50 games). If we lose a few that we shouldnt without winning a few extra 50/50s then we have cause for concern. However, our finals performance will be the true indication.

We could be 3/6 then 5-9. If we get to round nine with 7 wins we will be on target for top four.

[boydogs]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I think the one factor that works for us and against complacency is actually the depth on the list.

Any player who is a little bit off will find themselves playing at Footscray.

Nailed it

The article offers good comparisons, but did the other sides win the VFL flag in the same year?

[GVGjr]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

I think the one factor that works for us and against complacency is actually the depth on the list.

Any player who is a little bit off will find themselves playing at Footscray.

I hope that the likes of Crameri, Murphy, Jong and Cloke can keep the fires burning but even a slight drop off by some of our prime movers won't take us where we should be going. Bevo is very loyal to our best 22 and unless he jumps on anything less than 100% efforts then we could drop some games.

Also some other factors to consider is the coaches not pushing the boys hard enough or even the footy department not getting the funding it might need.

GWS are very likely to be a monster next year so we have to improve or we will slip back. Other teams will improve as well.
Natural development, finals experience and some quality players returning will help us a lot but there still needs to be a rocket under any player not 100% focused.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

Yeah to be honest this is a non issuefor me. Just more news filler. Try being complacent around Bob.

The other factor that makes me confident that complacency won't be an issue is Bevo. His St Bedes record shows that he knows how to build sustained success and keep a team motivated over multiple years.

[1eyedog]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

They'll all be doing it for Bob. They'd die for him.

[Mantis]

Re: Can the dogs avoid the pitfalls of an early rise?

They'll all be doing it for Bob. They'd die for him.

I think that's taking it a few steps too far.