Western Bulldogs Game Plan for 2026

[Eastdog]

I have read quite a lot lately and haven’t posted a great deal but thought I’d start a thread on this as I believe this will be vitally important to our fortunes in 2026.

We clearly have been a great attacking side this season scoring the most number of points and scoring off clearance is a huge strength along with our contested work.

We really need to develop our turnover game more which we have improved at which as we know the better teams are very good and just be better defensively 1 on 1 against the big forwards negate them as much as we can and also just an overall pressure game across the ground against the opposition.

We need to be aware that we do not want to compromise our attaching game too much either in order to get our defensive game up to scratch.

We might need to look at how we did in 2024 because defensively it was really good.

Also need a plan to negate the opposition as much as we can when they do have the momentum. That aspect has killed us over the years.

There are a lot of factors to this but keen to hear your thoughts.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

I actually think we are Ok. The game plan is alright. IMO 2024 we had Jone, Lobb and JOD in the back 6. This year we lost both Jones and Duyrae who are our two most experienced and natural backman. We got games into others but Lobb struggled with no help from Jones.

next year the current back 6 will be naturally better but a trade pick up of a KPD and or a gritty back pocket type will do wonders.

the young Mids are developing nicely but if Libba falls away I think we move West up into that role.

the forward line hopefully gets Weightman back and with Croft up on the F50. We will be a hand full.

[Uninformed]

Could we add a 'lock down and defend a lead' plan B to the current approach?

[Bornadog]

One thing Geelong have always done is ensure at least two defenders stay in the back half of the ground.

In the losses against the top 8 teams our defenders have followed their opponent towards our forward line and therefore creating congestion. Then when we have lost possession, the opposition is out the back and have scored easily.

This has got to change.

[Aidan7557]

Jones and Duyrea out was just too much to overcome really. Jones was so good I still think it goes under the radar (I miss his superman style punches). We know what we need so it's up to us to get in some players.

[jeemak]

One thing Geelong have always done is ensure at least two defenders stay in the back half of the ground.

In the losses against the top 8 teams our defenders have followed their opponent towards our forward line and therefore creating congestion. Then when we have lost possession, the opposition is out the back and have scored easily.

This has got to change.

Has Geelong always done that because they've consistently had league standard defenders who can be relied upon to win contests or pick the right time to go forward to intercept? If we don't change our personnel, what happens if we have the very same defenders we had this year and had them deploy that structure/way of defending?

None of our current guys are great when isolated or having to hand over moving forwards with the game in front of them (see how Adelaide busted us up with their movement when numbers were neutral). Often if not directly beaten there's a soft fall of the ball and runners capitalise on it - like what happened vs. Fremantle.

I appreciate it'd be nice to play that way, but our personnel needs to be upgraded if that's what we want to do. Having said that, I acknowledge we do squeeze forward too far when we aren't organised, so I get what you're saying.

[Scott2016]

The bulldogs back 6 would have done well against Crows and Lions on the weekend. Geelong and Collingwood didnt need their defenders as the possession winners for the Lions and Crows were taken out of the game and the pressure they were under when kicking or handballing was amazing. I reckon I counted 30 times that Geelong was able to get a touch on a handball which defused any exits the lions had. They use a guy like Mullins to take out a play maker. Mullins would be in their bottom 3. SO they had a bottom 3 player have an impact on the game. Lets look at us our bottom 6 who play roles dont make a difference because we ask them to play dumb roles. We need to adopt the Geelong and Collingwood method of closing down the opposition and when you turn it over hurt them. We are too reliant on 6 to 8 blokes carrying the side to make up for the bottom 6 not doing much. We spending too much time focussing on the back 6 when the likes of Frampton would struggle to get a game in our side and he was on the big 3 forwards for Adelaide. He didnt beat them, he wasnt required and the Adelaide team was kept to 55 points on their home deck. We have Kennedy and Harmes who could play defensive roles so use them that way. Geelong really have a plan that 14 on the field take out the strengths of the opposition and still allow, Holmes Smith Meiers and Cameron to have the freedom to do what they want. If a Team really focussed on their 4, Geelong will struggle to win as the rest are negative. Im sure they plan for that but it better than having 18 one way runners like we have

[Eastdog]

Jones and Duyrea out was just too much to overcome really. Jones was so good I still think it goes under the radar (I miss his superman style punches). We know what we need so it's up to us to get in some players.

Yep for sure. They were big losses down there this season that affected us.

[1eyedog]

I don't think anyone could envisage the impact not having a 2024 Jones in the team this year has had. I mean the proof is clear to see.

No team scored more than us this season but only one team (GWS) who lost Taylor for six weeks and Buckley who didnt play the last 3 weeks, leaked more points out of the top 9 teams.

There's a myriad of reasons for that but a big one is Jones' ability to compete against anyone 1 v 1 in 2024 to having that very comforting rug pulled out from under us at the start of this year.

Jones was up to his eyeballs with an AA chance late last year. It's a bugger his body caught up with him when we needed him most.

[Sedat]

If anyone thinks we missed finals this year you'd be wrong - we played on the weekend, just in GWS colours.

• Callaghan/Green were Bont/Libba - they were absolutely immense but had no supporting cast to help them get over the line (we've seen that movie before).
• GWS dominated territory all game - 72 I50's for 13 goals. By contrast, they let their opponents score at will and with ease (almost every entry in the 1st half).
• Hawthorn moved the ball from D50 to F50 into a wide open forward line like it was a pre-season training drill - end result 16 goals from 16 less I50s
• GWS had a purple patch at clearance and stoppage for 20 mins (like we do most games against the good sides) but then fell away badly when the opposition tidied up their stoppage work/changed the formation around stoppage

Just like GWS, our 2025 game plan is not sustainable for meaningful success (and GWS has much better chess pieces in D50 than we do). We need to change parts of our game plan around defending the entire ground when we don't have the ball, and we need to bring in high quality personnel who have an appetite to defend like their life depends on it.

We aren't getting enough support/output from our high half forwards - we need to upgrade personnel in this area and also bolster up our depth. We need more leg speed and also endurance gut running capabilities in midfield and especially on the wings. Our key forwards need to separate more - keep opposition defenders isolated so they can't go 3rd man up.

There's more to do but that's a start.

[Danjul]

The bulldogs back 6 would have done well against Crows and Lions on the weekend. Geelong and Collingwood didnt need their defenders as the possession winners for the Lions and Crows were taken out of the game and the pressure they were under when kicking or handballing was amazing. I reckon I counted 30 times that Geelong was able to get a touch on a handball which defused any exits the lions had. They use a guy like Mullins to take out a play maker. Mullins would be in their bottom 3. SO they had a bottom 3 player have an impact on the game. Lets look at us our bottom 6 who play roles dont make a difference because we ask them to play dumb roles. We need to adopt the Geelong and Collingwood method of closing down the opposition and when you turn it over hurt them. We are too reliant on 6 to 8 blokes carrying the side to make up for the bottom 6 not doing much. We spending too much time focussing on the back 6 when the likes of Frampton would struggle to get a game in our side and he was on the big 3 forwards for Adelaide. He didnt beat them, he wasnt required and the Adelaide team was kept to 55 points on their home deck. We have Kennedy and Harmes who could play defensive roles so use them that way. Geelong really have a plan that 14 on the field take out the strengths of the opposition and still allow, Holmes Smith Meiers and Cameron to have the freedom to do what they want. If a Team really focussed on their 4, Geelong will struggle to win as the rest are negative. Im sure they plan for that but it better than having 18 one way runners like we have

Didn’t we have over 30 scoring shots against Geelong and still lose because they got the ball out the back into an empty Forward line (except for the unmanned guy who stayed behind to kick goals).

We had the players to get into the finals but they were often standing in the wrong place. Putting them in the right place is our greatest challenge.

[Bornadog]

Didn’t we have over 30 scoring shots against Geelong and still lose because they got the ball out the back into an empty Forward line (except for the unmanned guy who stayed behind to kick goals).

We had the players to get into the finals but they were often standing in the wrong place. Putting them in the right place is our greatest challenge.

We kicked 17 behinds in that game and lost the free kick count 26 to 12 - we should have won

[Danjul]

We kicked 17 behinds in that game and lost the free kick count 26 to 12 - we should have won

We were never going to win because we went with the forward handball game, and Geelong set up for it and forced turnovers, many of which led free kicks and *easy* goals out the back. That tactical decision kept Geelong comfortably ahead for too long.

But you are correct about the poor kicking for goal and the umpiring, both of which guaranteed that a lot of positive plays went to waste.

[Still digging]

I'm of the opinion that the defence game we play is not suited to the personal on the field ie, we're not fast enough to get back when we defend so high up the ground. I'm not sure what the adjustment is, as to if we leave one or two further back or defend one on one. My question would be how much of our ability to score depends on the numbers we push up the ground and does a defensive adjustment change the way we score particularly when we're moving the ball from defence

[Aidan7557]

Time for Bont to go to defence. Still have plenty of midfield depth and helps Dale with another elite kick. Watching these finals it's so clear defence trumps all. Bont is actually our best spoiler as well and I'm sure he could intercept mark as well. Been the best on baller in the comp for 5 years and led to nothing so why not put him back.