Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

[Mofra]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Rhylee is going into this 5th season…. At what point does he make the adjustment?

Easton Wood got 7 years before he 'made it'
Perhaps if their training standards are high enough players just get more chances?

[Mantis]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Easton Wood got 7 years before he 'made it'
Perhaps if their training standards are high enough players just get more chances?

Even coming from a different pathway Easton played >10 games in years 2, 3 & 4 with us... and in a pretty strong team.

Rhylee played 14 games last year, but it was <5 in years 2 & 3.

I don't feel the comparison is valid.

[hujsh]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Even coming from a different pathway Easton played >10 games in years 2, 3 & 4 with us... and in a pretty strong team.

Rhylee played 14 games last year, but it was <5 in years 2 & 3.

I don't feel the comparison is valid.

Easton could clearly play but in a different role to what he brokeout in. Mentioned on the DannyBoyd podcast he was only really being taught to play as a negating defender initially until Bevo. Injuries seemed to be the main thing keeping him out of the team.

[azabob]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Last year was clearly his breakout season, he just ran out of steam. I'm not surprised to see him really double down on his fitness in the off season as it was likely identified as a reason for his late season fade.

I have no negativity in terms of his future, he's shown he has some X factor and smarts that not many have; couple that with his improved fitness base I expect a very big season.

What x-factor have you seen in West?

[Grantysghost]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

What x-factor have you seen in West?

Vision, he can spot passes like I've only seen Libba do in the current squad.

[hujsh]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Vision, he can spot passes like I've only seen Libba do in the current squad.

I'm a fan of his strength. He has created opportunities tearing a ball from someone's arms rather than wait for the ball up

[Grantysghost]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

I'm a fan of his strength. He has created opportunities tearing a ball from someone's arms rather than wait for the ball up

Agree he really is a ball of muscle. He has a lot of Clay Smith likeness for me.

[1eyedog]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Agreed. He has 'something' and needs more time.

[1eyedog]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Have we? I can't agree with that.

Weightman and Clarke (unproven) yes, but thats it. How long since the previous specialist small forward who was any good was drafted to our club? Dickson?

All these other small forwards we have shoe horned into our forward line in recent years are not specialist forwards. They were drafted as midfielders or half backs. I speak of McNeil, West, Vandermeer, McComb, JJ, Garcia et al. They have become hybrid type players because they are not getting selected in their preferred position. They have therefore been asked to fill the void our lack of small forward recruiting has created.

Small forwards, like ruckmen, is a highly specialised position. We should be focussing on this a lot more than we do in our list management. We could easily replace 1 or 2 of the fringe small midfielders on our list to bolster our small forward attack force.

I'll have more to say on this and the Nick Watson bandwagon in the 2023 List Management thread as the year goes on.

Great post and agreed we haven't targeted specialist small forwards in like forever yet seem happy to extend olive branches to the McCombs et al. all the way back to the Hayes selections.

We've invested nothing in the small forward space over an extended period of time.

[1eyedog]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Easton Wood got 7 years before he 'made it'
Perhaps if their training standards are high enough players just get more chances?

Easton was injured for 5 years we only got to 'see' him in year 6.

I have no idea if West will make it and I'm not sure anyone at the club is either.

[GVGjr]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Great post and agreed we haven't targeted specialist small forwards in like forever yet seem happy to extend olive branches to the McCombs et al. all the way back to the Hayes selections.

We've invested nothing in the small forward space over an extended period of time.

I agree we haven't gone well in our endeavors but we have drafted and traded for Gowers, Lloyd, Cavarra, McNeil, Weightman and Garcia plus we tried to convert Vandermeer and West into small pressure type forwards. We have also moved JJ there.
I think we've tried to do it on the cheap rather than bite the bullet.

[JanLorMill]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

I agree we haven't gone well in our endeavors but we have drafted and traded for Gowers, Lloyd, Cavarra, McNeil, Weightman and Garcia plus we tried to convert Vandermeer and West into small pressure type forwards. We have also moved JJ there.
I think we've tried to do it on the cheap rather than bite the bullet.

Haven't there been number of good small forwards that have gone cheap? Papley Cameron AMTW in rookie drafts? Maybe we just pick the wrong ones?

[hujsh]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Haven't there been number of good small forwards that have gone cheap? Papley Cameron AMTW in rookie drafts? Maybe we just pick the wrong ones?

We tend not to pick them to get wrong

[Jasper]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

I agree we haven't gone well in our endeavors but we have drafted and traded for Gowers, Lloyd, Cavarra, McNeil, Weightman and Garcia plus we tried to convert Vandermeer and West into small pressure type forwards. We have also moved JJ there.
I think we've tried to do it on the cheap rather than bite the bullet.

And Weightman isnt a legit small forward if you expect them to be more crumbing focused. Is this a case where the Bevo versatile mantra works against us?

[Bullies]

Re: Bulldogs Ballarat Practice Match.... Your thoughts.

Rhylee is going into this 5th season…. At what point does he make the adjustment?

I think you will find guys like Sam Mitchell/Greg Williams who needed to adjust their games due to their lack of pace took about 5 - 6 seasons. West is a similar type to those two. They all dominated junior footy but just took time to adjust.