Congratulations Ryan Hargrave - 200 Games

[bornadog]

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa198/mmsalih/hargrave_150_a.jpg

Congratulations Shaggy for reaching the 200 game milestone, an underrated player in the AFL who does his job week in week out. Often asked to punch out of his weight, and gives 100% whenever he plays.

Age: 30yr 10mth
Born: July 26, 1981
Height: 190cm
Weight: 85kg
Position: Defender
Last Drafted: Round 5, Pick #66 1999 National Draft

Player honours: All-Australian nominee 2009;
NAB AFL Rising Star nominee 2002;
pre-season premiership side 2010.

Father played for the dogs but had to retire early due to injury, Shaggy a bulldog through and through.

[SonofScray]

Big fan of Shaggy. He is tough as nails, remember his first few weeks playing senior footy, he was so skinny and just got smashed by heavier, stronger bodies particularly one day at Geelong but he just kept competing.

[Maddog37]

Great achievement. Slips under the radar a fair bit Shaggy but we look so much better when he plays well down back.

[1eyedog]

Well done Shaggy. A worthy player of the 200 game milestone. Hopefully the boys can get a win on the weekend.

[AndrewP6]

Onya Shaggy, good work!

[bornadog]

Big fan of Shaggy. He is tough as nails, remember his first few weeks playing senior footy, he was so skinny and just got smashed by heavier, stronger bodies particularly one day at Geelong but he just kept competing.

When he started at the club he became quiet ill and lost alot of weight. He has never been able to put on too much weight since.

[KT31]

Congrats Shag's, well done and deserved.

[jazzadogs]

Good on ya Shaggy! Took me down into the old rooms at Whitten Oval when I was 10 or 11 after training, been a fan ever since! Even got his #33 jumper, then he changed to #25 and I spent the next few years hoping Brad Murphy would do something!

Was consistently required to play on players too tall and too strong for him, which lead to a lot of silly free kicks in his younger days, but has developed into a great consistent defender.

[LostDoggy]

Congrats to Shaggy. Been a fave of mine for a while.
Loved it when he flew the flag for Granty and gave Bazza one in a marking contest (before BBB became a Bulldog).

[azabob]

Great effort considering the serious health issues he suffered early on, as BAD refered to. Very tough competitor.

Wonder if Heath Black sends his regards?

[always right]

We are such a better side when Shaggy is playing. Unfairly maligned and has been a great servant of the club. Nice bloke too.

[LostDoggy]

Wow, 200 games, great achievement Shaggy! Hope you can celebrate it with a big win in Sydney! :)

[Mofra]

When he started at the club he became quiet ill and lost alot of weight. He has never been able to put on too much weight since.
I remember the story of him pulling the metal staples out of his belly on holidays. Tough boy.

Despite his size, one of the most feared boxers at the kennel. Well done Shaggy.

[LostDoggy]

Congrats to Shaggy. Been a fave of mine for a while.
Loved it when he flew the flag for Granty and gave Bazza one in a marking contest (before BBB became a Bulldog).

Yep That was a good one. Tough and plays with great poise. One of those players when he gets his hands on the ball you feel comfortable he is not going to cough it up easily.

Seriously under-rated.

[chef]

I remember the story of him pulling the metal staples out of his belly on holidays. Tough boy.

Despite his size, one of the most feared boxers at the kennel. Well done Shaggy.

He has quite a reach.

[Murphy'sLore]

Congratulations and well done, Shaggy.

[always right]

Yep That was a good one. Tough and plays with great poise. One of those players when he gets his hands on the ball you feel comfortable he is not going to cough it up easily.
Seriously under-rated.

You might get some disagreement on this board. Personally I'm with you.

[Mantis]

Yep That was a good one. Tough and plays with great poise. One of those players when he gets his hands on the ball you feel comfortable he is not going to cough it up easily.
Seriously under-rated.


You might get some disagreement on this board. Personally I'm with you.

You serious EJ?

While he is a nice field kick, (in that they spin ok) his decision making over the years has always been a big concern.

[always right]

You serious EJ?

While he is a nice field kick, (in that they spin ok) his decision making over the years has always been a big concern.

My only knock on him is that he can tend to blaze long on occasions....so your point is valid. When he does take the right option (which I consider most of the time) he generally hits his target......without lobbing it on their head like some of our blokes do.

[LostDoggy]

You serious EJ?

While he is a nice field kick, (in that they spin ok) his decision making over the years has always been a big concern.

Disagree.

Has poise, never panics and is rarely caught with the ball.

And if you disagree I'll get him to call around and wack ya - he's good at that too:D

[bornadog]

Disagree.

Has poise, never panics and is rarely caught with the ball.

And if you disagree I'll get him to call around and wack ya - he's good at that too:D

I believe he has a black belt in one of the Marshall arts disciplines:)

[Axe Man]

Great work Shaggy. I fondly remember him breaking Nick Riewoldt's collar bone back in 2005 I think it was, not that I would ever condone that kind of thing.;)

Thank goodness he got 1 brownlow vote back in 2009, otherwise he would be rivalling Jason Blake's record!

[Mantis]

My only knock on him is that he can tend to blaze long on occasions....so your point is valid. When he does take the right option (which I consider most of the time) he generally hits his target......without lobbing it on their head like some of our blokes do.

He does it far too regularly for my liking.

A player as experienced as he is should have gotten this fault out of his game by now.

[LostDoggy]

You're probably right Mantis, but let's not pick at him this week. It's his 200th. I'll agree with you next week. :)

[bornadog]

He does it far too regularly for my liking.

A player as experienced as he is should have gotten this fault out of his game by now.

All perception. Typically supporters see this happen a few times a game and criticise the player based on those errors.

His stats over a ten year period, say he has on average 16 disposals in his career and 2.2 are clangers, with a disposal efficiency of 80.7%. Pretty good in anyone's books.

[always right]

He does it far too regularly for my liking.

A player as experienced as he is should have gotten this fault out of his game by now.

But I take it you agree with my second point?

[WBFC4FFC]

Hope Shaggy's milestone gets the boys over the line this Sunday. Understated and reliable. Keep it up.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Congratsulations to Hargrave, I remember him playing his first couple of games as a very, very skinny kid. He's been a really good player for the club. I agree with Darcy that he's been severely underrated.

[bornadog]

Private Ryan (http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/137510/default.aspx)

WESTERN Bulldogs veteran Ryan Hargrave will reach his 200-game milestone in Sydney on Sunday, but his former captain Luke Darcy initially thought he'd be lucky to play even one game.

Darcy has revealed his first impressions of Hargrave were unflattering, believing he was too fragile - both physically and mentally - to cope with League football.

But Darcy - a teammate of Hargrave's for eight years - said his early assessment was quickly proven to be wildly inaccurate, with Hargrave soon earning the respect of the entire Bulldogs list.

Hargrave arrived at Whitten Oval at the end of 1999 - after being selected with the Bulldogs' seventh pick, No. 66 overall, in that year's AFL National Draft - and Darcy soon had grave doubts about the Perth youngster's future at the club.

The first concern for Darcy was Hargrave's underdeveloped physique.

"He was only 18 but he was frail - just skin and bone - and weighed only about 65 kilos wringing wet," Darcy told AFL.com.au.

An early running session raised even greater concerns and seemingly confirmed in Darcy's mind that Hargrave might soon find himself on the scrapheap.

The Terry Wallace-coached Bulldogs were on a 10km run along a looping path through some hills when Hargrave ran into trouble.

At one point the teenager was lagging behind most of the group when he committed the cardinal sin of briefly slowing to a walk. It prompted some hardened Bulldogs (who were running back past him in the opposite direction) to let him know in no uncertain terms that he must keep going.

"We started giving it to him with both barrels: 'Mate, you're kidding yourself - you can't walk.' It's fair to say our opinion of his commitment and mental toughness was rock-bottom at that point," Darcy recalled.

"I will never forget it. He looked like he was going to die. He just couldn't handle it.

"Soon after that we found out that he had a cyst the size of a small basketball growing in his stomach. He had that removed, along with litres of pus.

"The fact he was even upright was one of the more courageous things the doctors had ever seen, let alone the fact he completed a 10km run in the hills.

"We all felt pretty ordinary for potting him.

"He's a really soft-spoken, unassuming, humble guy, but underneath that is this genuinely tough competitor. To play 200 games after coming from that low base is one of the great stories in footy."

Another inspirational chapter of the Hargrave story is evolving right now.

That he is back to his best has been one of the major revelations to emerge from Whitten Oval this season.

At the end of last season, Hargrave's playing future appeared cloudy. During a wretched 2011, foot and ankle injuries restricted him to just five games, including just one sequence of back-to-back appearances. At 30, and with a new coach in Brendan McCartney seemingly certain to embark on a youth-inspired shake-up, Hargrave was under pressure to regain fitness and form.

Adding to the challenge, he has been adapting to fatherhood. His daughter Chelsea was born on February 5 - just a fortnight before the Bulldogs' first NAB Cup fixture.

But Hargrave has managed to resurrect his career, playing eight of nine matches this season (missing the round four win over Greater Western Sydney with a hip complaint) and averaging 22 disposals.

From early on in the NAB Cup, Bulldogs fans were declaring: "'Shaggy' is back". The nickname relates to a perceived physical likeness between Hargrave and Scooby Doo's bumbling, cowardly offsider. Conversely, Hargrave has been decisive and courageous.

He has received just one vote in the Brownlow Medal in his career, but he might well have multiplied that tally already this season.

Darcy marvelled at Hargrave's efforts this season.

"Everyone gets nervous when they're over 30, especially when you've had an injury-plagued year and a new coach comes in because you're not sure how he views you," Darcy said.

"Not only is he back playing, but he's playing as well as he's ever played."

It's quite a statement - and quite an achievement - given Hargrave was such a consistent performer through the Dogs' preliminary final years of 2008-09-10, and he was selected in the initial squad of 40 for the All Australian side in 2009.

Hargrave, who will be 31 next month, told BulldogsTV he will assess his playing future at the end of the season. However, Darcy believes he could play into his mid-'30s.

"I've never met Brendan McCartney but he values hardness, consistency, contested ball and defensive skills, so it sounds like Ryan Hargrave is his ideal type of player," he said. "Hopefully he can squeeze another two, three or four years out of his career."

Hargrave has been one of the most underrated Bulldogs in recent times, according to Darcy.

"He's completely unheralded but the respect he has from his teammates is through the roof," he said.

"People underestimate the role he's played. He can play on talls and smalls, he's always been courageous enough to go back with the flight of the ball, he's able to generate a lot of rebound off half-back, and he doesn't get overawed by any opponent or situation.

"He's very consistent effort-wise. With Shaggy you'd think, 'There's a chance he might get beaten today, but it won't be through a lack of effort, concentration, courage or discipline. That's what being a good, reliable teammate is all about."

One of the proudest people in attendance on Sunday will be Hargrave's father Steven, who played two games for the Bulldogs in 1982, gathering 20 possessions on debut before knee injuries intervened.

As a humourous aside, Hargrave junior initially wore No. 33 but then switched to No. 25, which he believed his father had donned. He was wrong - his dad had worn No. 26 - but Hargrave didn't find that out until some time later.

He has hardly put a foot wrong since.

[LostDoggy]

Congrats Shaggy! Was one of my favourite players a couple of years back, and will always have a bit of a soft spot for him.

[LostDoggy]

Congratulations on reaching such an auspicious milestone Shaggy. Keep up the good work. Maybe another 200!!

[Eastdog]

Congrats Shaggy on reaching 200 games. Lets get a win on Sunday for your 200th.

[Remi Moses]

Battled a pretty serious health issue early if I recall.
Lost a lot of weight and was sent home, from memory.
Very solid AFL career

[westbulldog]

This is not the time to be critical of a bloke who chalks up 200 AFL games for our Club it is a time to congratulate him and wish him well for Sunday. Well done Shaggy.

[Max469]

Congratulations Ryan

A great bloke who has over came adversity to become the player he is today.

200 games is an amazing milestone for a player who was lucky to stay or be on the field in the first place - what an achievement.

Again - 200 games -what a feat - there are always going to be some people that are not happy with the way you or someone else plays - this week is not the time to voice it.


Thank you Shaggy.

Come what may at the end of the season, Good luck for tomorrow and hope the boys get a win for you.

[jeemak]

I really like Shaggy as a player and think it's great he's made 200 games, I wish him well, he deserves it.

He's rarely played on his perfect match up throughout his career, and is a bit of a victim of his own versatility from a recognition point of view. If he was able to take another medium sized player each week rather than having to fill holes within our back six he'd have a few more Brownlow votes.

The concerns over some of his ball use and decision making are justified in my opinion, to a point of course. Though, like any player on our list he has areas of his game that have needed to be worked on it's unfortunate his errors can result in goals kicked against us due to the position he plays. When he keeps things simple he's effective, and when he limits his risk taking his kicking can be a weapon. Me and a couple of mates joke that you have to give him one goal against from a turnover on a weekly basis, but it's not actually that bad.

All in all, an excellent player that deserves the respect the above article suggests he receives from his team mates.

[LostDoggy]

Congratulations Shaggy!

Give 'em hell tomorrow. Reminds me abit of Morris or Boyd in that he's given everything he has with the skills he has and forged out a very respectable career without having the silk of a Rohan Smith or Brad J. Great to see he's come back and done so well this year!

[hujsh]

Hope I have missed the humour in that one Mantis and that you were just having a chuckle.


I actually thought there was actually some sort of consensus here that Hargrave was a big perpetrator of bombing it long in hope, especially when we had a small forwardline circa 2008-9.

I love Shags but he will almost exclusively kick it long when he is running down the boundary which, in the teams he has been involved in, hasn't always been the best move.

Anyway good on Hargrave for getting over his injuries, his rebound and ability to shut down the smalls was missed and has proven to be invaluable this year.

[Go_Dogs]

Congrats to Hargrave on 200 games, great achievement. Tendency to panic and bomb away under pressure to one side, he has battled manfully against opponents who were often much bigger and stronger. It's a massive credit to him to reach this milestone, particularly in light of the injuries he's endured over the years.

[LostDoggy]

Well done Shaggy - great to see you achieve this milestone!

[Twodogs]

Great effort to get to 200 games after the helth problems he had when he first arrived at the club.