Stop being so unpredictable

[GVGjr]

From SEN
Stop being so unpredictable”: Jenkins’ message to the Dogs ahead of 2025
Former Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins has called on the Western Bulldogs to stop being so unpredictable in 2025.

While the Dogs have played finals in five of the last six seasons, they haven’t finished top four in any of those campaigns despite possessing one of the competition’s most talented lists.

The Dogs were again up and down in 2024, rescuing their season from a 3-5 win-loss record to win 11 of their last 15 home and away games to qualify for finals.

Jenkins thinks that no other side has a bigger gap between their best and worst and he called on the side to lift the floor of their poor days which could allow them to finish top four.

“For the Doggies, stop being so unpredictable,” Jenkins told SEN The Run Home.

“The difference between the Dogs’ best and worst is a canyon.”

“There's no team with a greater gap between their best and worst. Think about the game against Sydney late in the season … they played the Swans on a Sunday afternoon and completely tore them apart.

“But then they'd have some games against lesser opponents where you're just thinking, ‘What is this?’.

“They need to just try and level off their performance. Their good needs to stay good, but they need to bring up their bad games, try and pinch some of those and allow themselves a chance to finish top four.”

Jenkins thinks that one way Luke Beveridge can achieve this is by formulating a better ‘plan B’ if the side’s typical high-handball game isn’t clicking due to opposition pressure or inclement weather.

“Start developing a plan B for games where the high-handball game isn’t the game style to implement,” Jenkins said.

“That’s whether the opposition brings great pressure or the weather doesn’t allow … it’s a winter sport.

“I think they need to have a plan B where they change at quarter time and stop flicking it around … get some territory, kick it forward and accept that we want to play a bit of a territory game, let’s see that from them.”

Jenkins also called on the Dogs to keep faith with Ed Richards as a midfielder over moving him back to half-back in his Stop/Start/Keep assessment of the club.

[josie]

Thanks for posting GvGjr.

Agree gap b/w best & worst is an issue and has been for a while. When our stars are blanketed and/or having a sub standard game I think it’s our lesser lights that need to stand up. I thought we saw some decent improvement from McNeill for example so let’s hope this continues with him and others.

I also reckon we still have room for improvement in goal kicking, although if my memory is correct last year was better than prior years. It would only take players to be as good at goal kicking as last year & Marra to improve his goal accuracy & McNeill & VDM & Gaggs to kick 50% better (to me those 3 seem to be real culprits in missing the seemingly unmissable) and we’ll win a few more games - the Bombers and the Adelaide games come to mind.

Regarding Jenkin’s article, are we handball heavy nowadays? I thought we were kicking ball more last season or two.

I think we all agree about Richards staying as a mid, as do our coaches.

[Uninformed]

If we had started the season as we finished last year that 3-5 would easily have been 5-3, a comfortable top four finish. The switch of Ed and Lobb will be there from game one in 2025. No reason for not continuing and improving on the second part of last year. Should be top four.

But I still do not understand some of our losses later in the year - I am looking at you Port and Hawthorn.

[jeemak]

Thanks for posting GvGjr.

Agree gap b/w best & worst is an issue and has been for a while. When our stars are blanketed and/or having a sub standard game I think it’s our lesser lights that need to stand up. I thought we saw some decent improvement from McNeill for example so let’s hope this continues with him and others.

I also reckon we still have room for improvement in goal kicking, although if my memory is correct last year was better than prior years. It would only take players to be as good at goal kicking as last year & Marra to improve his goal accuracy & McNeill & VDM & Gaggs to kick 50% better (to me those 3 seem to be real culprits in missing the seemingly unmissable) and we’ll win a few more games - the Bombers and the Adelaide games come to mind.

Regarding Jenkin’s article, are we handball heavy nowadays? I thought we were kicking ball more last season or two.

I think we all agree about Richards staying as a mid, as do our coaches.

I'm at a point where I don't think there's any value in SEN commentary. It's just there to generate clicks and doesn't have any depth to it.

I love the idea of playing a possession game, but you need to get your hands on the footy to do that and when we're off, it's the contested ball and general numbers that hurt us. Also, you make a good point about conversion Josie, the other malaise that hits us is the burning of opportunities.

Back to Jenkins and his ilk on SEN, what would they actually know about our planning anyway? It's just more of the same to put shit on Beveridge.

[GVGjr]

I'm at a point where I don't think there's any value in SEN commentary. It's just there to generate clicks and doesn't have any depth to it.

I love the idea of playing a possession game, but you need to get your hands on the footy to do that and when we're off, it's the contested ball and general numbers that hurt us. Also, you make a good point about conversion Josie, the other malaise that hits us is the burning of opportunities.

Back to Jenkins and his ilk on SEN, what would they actually know about our planning anyway? It's just more of the same to put shit on Beveridge.

He's been recounting some experiences with the leading teams model and he''s using that template when assessing teams.

[Bornadog]

Regarding Jenkin’s article, are we handball heavy nowadays? I thought we were kicking ball more last season or two.
.

Yes 58% of Disposals were kicks in 2024. They just make things up to suit themselves

[Bulldog Joe]

Despite the comments from some of us, the main tenure of the article is that we need to stop being so bad on our bad days.

Can anyone actually disagree with that?

If we bring what we brought in that run against Carlton, Geelong Sydney in July last year on a consistent basis we are going to be right there at the pointy end.

[jeemak]

Despite the comments from some of us, the main tenure of the article is that we need to stop being so bad on our bad days.

Can anyone actually disagree with that?

If we bring what we brought in that run against Carlton, Geelong Sydney in July last year on a consistent basis we are going to be right there at the pointy end.

Everyone already knows that were inconsistent. We're just saying that pointing out the obvious and then saying stupid things to fix it is silly.

[Bulldog Joe]

Everyone already knows that were inconsistent. We're just saying that pointing out the obvious and then saying stupid things to fix it is silly.

But he is not targeting the knowledgeable people on WOOF. Just the great unwashed who don't understand anything about us.

[Sedat]

Jenkins wouldn't know where the Whitten Oval is, let alone have the ability for a nuanced discussion about our specific 2024 style of play. He's too busy fapping over Dangerfield's fishing show and the latest greyhound results from The Meadows.

Like with Fox Footy, the talent/knowledge really thins out after the first 4-5 on the books. SEN and Fox Footy needs a serious cull of on-air personnel (Channel 7 just needs to be culled and put out of its misery completely).

[GVGjr]

Jenkins wouldn't know where the Whitten Oval is, let alone have the ability for a nuanced discussion about our specific 2024 style of play. He's too busy fapping over Dangerfield's fishing show and the latest greyhound results from The Meadows.

Like with Fox Footy, the talent/knowledge really thins out after the first 4-5 on the books. SEN and Fox Footy needs a serious cull of on-air personnel (Channel 7 just needs to be culled and put out of its misery completely).

There are a few on SEN who sort of pretend to still be relevant to footy. All JJ is doing is applying that leading teams the leading teams and applying it to a few names at each club
I think most of them find it hard to reinvent themselves.