Western bulldogs season launch

[bornadog]

Link (http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/club/events/season-launch)

I went last year and had a great time. Jong sat at our table and we had a great chat to him.

Going again this year and looking forward to hearing about the season launch.


Kick off the 2013 AFL Premiership Season in style by securing your seat at the Western Bulldogs Season Launch.

With the countdown on to round one of the 2013 home and away season, the Season Launch - previously known as the jumper presentation night - is set to be an entertaining and memorable event for all Bulldogs members and fans.

Held at Crown Palladium on Tuesday 19th March the event is scheduled to commence at 6:30pm for a 7pm start with tickets including a three-course meal plus beverages.

The night will see senior coach Brendan McCartney preview the season to come as well as an address from the club president.

Date: Tuesday 19th March 2013
Venue: Crown Palladium
Time: 6.30pm – 9.30pm
Function includes: 3 course meal, beer, wine and soft drink

For more information please email: events@westernbulldogs.com.au or
call 1300 GO DOGS (46 36 47).

[Ghost Dog]

Link (http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/club/events/season-launch)

I went last year and had a great time. Jong sat at our table and we had a great chat to him.

Going again this year and looking forward to hearing about the season launch.

What's the damage?

[bornadog]

What's the damage?

Members $145, non-members $165

[bornadog]

Bump

Should be a good night.

[Greystache]

Bump

Should be a good night.

I'm going.

[Remi Moses]

Pretty disappointing that Fox Footy's AFL 360 didn't have a cross to Bob Murphy or any coverage of it.
Unfortunately it looks like we're completely irrelevant.
They've covered other sides seasons launches.

[Eastdog]

Pretty disappointing that Fox Footy's AFL 360 didn't have a cross to Bob Murphy or any coverage of it.
Unfortunately it looks like we're completely irrelevant.
They've covered other sides seasons launches.

That is disappointing and we don't get enough coverage in the sports section of the evening news.

[lemmon]

Just saw the 'Gather the Pack' video on facebook. Absolutely love it! Got the hairs on the back of the neck up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NBZ4PkrCdg

[SonofScray]

I'm actually in tears. Just did a lap of the house waving my scarfe above my head. Amazing video.Gee I love this Club.

[always right]

Quality effort.:D

[Eastdog]

Nice promo. Hopefully that will help in getting people to the match.

[Greystache]

Great speech by Peter Gordon tonight, inspiring but also funny. Some of the examples of short sighted suppoters were very amusing.

[jazzadogs]

That video was close to perfect. Lots of quality productions, fan engagement and events coming out of the club in recent times, Nick Truelson and the others involved should be commended.

#gatherthepack

[bornadog]

Great speech by Peter Gordon tonight, inspiring but also funny. Some of the examples of short sighted suppoters were very amusing.

Very funny talking about Dan Lonegan and their conversation and Dans pessimism

[Greystache]

Very funny talking about Dan Lonegan and their conversation and Dans pessimism

The two letters were quite funny too, especially the first one.

[Ghost Dog]

Just saw the 'Gather the Pack' video on facebook. Absolutely love it! Got the hairs on the back of the neck up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NBZ4PkrCdg

Perfect

[bornadog]

For those that didn't attend, I recommend you go next year as its a great way to kick off the AFL year.

Some highlights:

* Dahl came and sat next to me and we had a good chat - he said he had just got a house in Willi and moved in with three players. Didn't get a chance to talk footy as he was on the wrong table and a club official got him to move and swap with Fletcher Roberts.

* Roberts, only 19, but very impressive the way he walked around the table and talked to each person, introducing himself before sitting down.

* I asked him back or forward and he prefers forward, although he played in the backline in last weeks practise match at Willi. Has had a slight injury which he is getting over. I suggested he had a great opportunity as no one is really putting their hand up and making the FF position theirs.

* Roberts was there with his parents, and I had a good chat to his mother. There are four boys with two others playing in A Grade Amateurs. Parents were Carlton and Richmond supporters but have switched for now. Roberts still lives at home and his mother says he eats half a cow a week. He is very dedicated and ambitious to make it in the AFL. His father said he had put on 10kg and the club wanted him to put on more.

* As Stache mentioned, Peter gave a very passionate and motivating speech which made you feel proud to be involved with the Club.

* The coach was next up and was interviewed on stage. Macca is a very determined man and has a strategy and is going to stick to it. I don't think he is good with the media and promoting the club the same way Wallace and Eade did, but as I said he is determined we are going to succeed.

* The Great Schultz also spoke and said how Macca keeps mentioning how he wants players with character, but as far as Schultz was concerned, the players around our club have always had character so we must be on the right track.

* The players were next up and were introduced and received their jumpers. A couple were interviewed including the captain. Hrovat (pronounce without the H), said he has a Croatian heritage and was looking forward to the year. Dahl had mentioned earlier the young guys were really excited about officially receiving their jumpers.

Overall, the players are a very professional lot, making sure they spoke to people on their table, signing autographs for the kids.

Oh, in the end I was glad Dahl wasn't at our table as he was surrounded by kids practically the whole night:D. He did come back over at the end of the night as my cousins wife wanted a photo with him and he didn't forget.

[SlimPickens]

Thanks BAD.

Was it the injury which stopped fletch getting a run in the senior side over the Nab games?

[bornadog]

Thanks BAD.

Was it the injury which stopped fletch getting a run in the senior side over the Nab games?

Yes it was, he mentioned a hip strain I think (sorry can't remember the exact injury). He is still getting over it.

[always right]

Thanks Bornadog. Did he happen to mention what the coaches are looking for him to concentrate on developing in his game?

[whythelongface]

Thanks BAD - great wrtie up. Sounds like an awesome night and one worth attending in the future.

Dahl is certainly the new cult figure for the club. He alone should should be able to attract a lot of younger supporters to the club.

[Greystache]

Good synopsis BAD. One other thing that stood out to me was Peter said he believes the AFL commission are actually in support of the club and want to work with us to get an outcome, something that hasn't been the case in the past.

[bornadog]

Good synopsis BAD. One other thing that stood out to me was Peter said he believes the AFL commission are actually in support of the club and want to work with us to get an outcome, something that hasn't been the case in the past.

Which player was on your table and any insights?

[LongWait]

Thanks for the report BAD - much appreciated.

I am told by club insiders I know well that the morale around the place is pretty good and that the consensus is that we will surprise a few with how competitive we will be this year. Did you get a feel for the true expectations for the year?

[bornadog]

Thanks for the report BAD - much appreciated.

I am told by club insiders I know well that the morale around the place is pretty good and that the consensus is that we will surprise a few with how competitive we will be this year. Did you get a feel for the true expectations for the year?

I think you are spot on here. The young recruits have re-invigorated the older players and they are seemingly very confident that this year they will be competitive. They don't want to see the second half fade outs like last year.

[Greystache]

Which player was on your table and any insights?

Brett Goodes, so not really. He's excited and just hopes to get a game, it's been a long journey with hopefully a happy ending. He did describe his condition last year as "shocking" which was a pretty honest assessment.

[LongWait]

I think you are spot on here. The young recruits have re-invigorated the older players and they are seemingly very confident that this year they will be competitive. They don't want to see the second half fade outs like last year.

I think that stopping the very frequent blow-outs is the first task at hand. The wins will come as we get more AFL games into our team. It really is amazing how few of our team have played more than 50 games.

[bornadog]

It really is amazing how few of our team have played more than 50 games.

This has been the case for the last one and half seasons. We have the third youngest list in the AFL, so we can't expect a lot for 2013.

[LostDoggy]

Good write up BAD, enjoyable to read.

[bornadog]

some of Gordons speech - link (http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/2013-03-20/preaching-patience-while-looking-for-edge)


The Western Bulldogs are in for short-term pain as it continues to rebuild, president Peter Gordon admits.

Saying the club "probably won't win the flag this year" and that it may not make finals, Gordon conceded the Dogs had made mistakes in the past.

“Some games we might struggle to score freely. We’ve made some mistakes along the way, and we’re going to make some more,” Gordon said at Tuesday night's season launch.

"We are rebuilding. We probably won’t win the flag this year. There’s even the prospect that we won’t play off. We’ve come off a tough year, and we’ll face more challenges this year, and in the future.

“Managing the balancing act between hope and expectation and reality is not always easy."

The Bulldogs won just five games in 2012 and Gordon said perseverance is required of the club's fans.

“We will continue to preach the virtues of patience to the football community, whilst inside the club don’t believe for one minute that we are patient. We are not. We are impatient," he said.

"We are constantly dissatisfied. We are constantly looking for another one percent edge in everything we do.”

Gordon admitted the club will often go into games as the underdog, but insists that won’t affect team morale.

“We’ll go into each game saying and believing that, ‘yes, we are going to win’, even if it looks unlikely and even if it is unlikely," he said.

“At the same time, we want to be able to enjoy the wins … without having someone telling us 'keep a lid on it'.

"And when we lose games, even if we lose sometimes by a substantial margin, and we sometimes will, I want our people … to look the press and the cameras in the eye and say, ‘we weren’t good enough today, we’re fighting on, we may not be quite good enough yet [but] we’re going to get there’, without them being expected to look like there’s been a death in the family."