Tweet
Smorgo's views...
Dogs to chase big men
The Age
Brent Diamond | September 21, 2008
WESTERN Bulldogs president David Smorgon has urged the club to trade aggressively to recruit a tall forward in the wake of its preliminary final loss to Geelong, saying "everyone looking at the Doggies over the last couple of years know that we're a couple of tall men short".
Smorgon said the club should not be content with finishing third, and had the potential to go further next season.
"I'm sure we'll be pretty aggressive about (recruiting talls) because we need to add to it (the forward line) as a club," he said. "We're not just going to accept finishing third and (thinking) everything will happen for us in the course of 2009 … It doesn't work like that in footy."
Smorgon said the Bulldogs must fill what he described as a "gaping hole" at full-forward.
"That will be assessed over the next few days and weeks obviously. We're probably (short) one down back and one up forward. We've got some excellent and talented midfielders and small and medium-sized players, but clearly we're lacking a bit of class in that area. I'll be leaving that to the match committee."
It is understood that tall, marking forwards, such as Hawthorn's Tim Boyle and Geelong's Tom Hawkins who have lacked chances this season, will be looked at.
"It's easy to talk about what you need. But it's much more difficult to go out and find them," Smorgon said.
He said that while he was disappointed at Friday night's result, there was plenty of positives from the season. "It's been 10 years that we were in the last one (preliminary final). I take some solace from the fact that no one earlier in the year rated us a chance to make the eight," he said.
Dogs to chase big men
The Age
Brent Diamond | September 21, 2008
WESTERN Bulldogs president David Smorgon has urged the club to trade aggressively to recruit a tall forward in the wake of its preliminary final loss to Geelong, saying "everyone looking at the Doggies over the last couple of years know that we're a couple of tall men short".
Smorgon said the club should not be content with finishing third, and had the potential to go further next season.
"I'm sure we'll be pretty aggressive about (recruiting talls) because we need to add to it (the forward line) as a club," he said. "We're not just going to accept finishing third and (thinking) everything will happen for us in the course of 2009 … It doesn't work like that in footy."
Smorgon said the Bulldogs must fill what he described as a "gaping hole" at full-forward.
"That will be assessed over the next few days and weeks obviously. We're probably (short) one down back and one up forward. We've got some excellent and talented midfielders and small and medium-sized players, but clearly we're lacking a bit of class in that area. I'll be leaving that to the match committee."
It is understood that tall, marking forwards, such as Hawthorn's Tim Boyle and Geelong's Tom Hawkins who have lacked chances this season, will be looked at.
"It's easy to talk about what you need. But it's much more difficult to go out and find them," Smorgon said.
He said that while he was disappointed at Friday night's result, there was plenty of positives from the season. "It's been 10 years that we were in the last one (preliminary final). I take some solace from the fact that no one earlier in the year rated us a chance to make the eight," he said.
Comment