The bulldog tragician
25-05-2015, 11:23 PM
FIRED-UP Western Bulldogs midfielder Mitch Wallis says he 'pencilled in' Saturday’s clash against Greater Western Sydney at the start of the season.
After high-profile Bulldogs Callan Ward and Ryan Griffen crossed to the Giants in recent years, Wallis admitted this weekend’s clash has some extra spice.
“To be honest at the start of the year I pencilled this one in,” Wallis told Crocmedia on Monday evening.
“We are really looking forward to the battle because to be honest it does hurt.”
Griffen departed the Bulldogs in a much-publicised trade that resulted in Tom Boyd arriving at the Dogs in the off-season, while GWS co-captain Callan Ward left at the end of 2011 as one of the Giants' marquee signings ahead of their inaugural year in the competition.
In the final round last year, the Giants swept past the Bulldogs to record their first win at Etihad Stadium.
Wallis said the disappointing finish to the 2014 season still burns the group.
“It wasn’t a great finish to last season and obviously it wasn’t a great off-season either so we are really looking to redeem ourselves,” he said.
“They’ve got a great young side and we really want to take it up to them because it still hurts the way we finished last year.”
The Bulldogs have lost three on the trot but Wallis can still see the positives in what has been a bright start to 2015.
“We’ve got a lot of self-belief in the group, we’ve proven we can take it up to the very best teams in the competition over the eight weeks of the season so far,” he said.
“We’ve got an opportunity to prove that this week against the Giants team that’s started really well at 6-2.
“And we are playing against a couple of our old teammates so I’m really looking forward to it.”
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-05-25/giants-bring-out-more-bite-in-the-dogs?utm_medium=RSS
I've been wondering how the Dogs players feel about this match and whether they share the sense of pain and anger we did about the Griffen defection, so this is interesting, however I wonder if these sentiments should be kept in house and let our deeds on the field do our talking.
After high-profile Bulldogs Callan Ward and Ryan Griffen crossed to the Giants in recent years, Wallis admitted this weekend’s clash has some extra spice.
“To be honest at the start of the year I pencilled this one in,” Wallis told Crocmedia on Monday evening.
“We are really looking forward to the battle because to be honest it does hurt.”
Griffen departed the Bulldogs in a much-publicised trade that resulted in Tom Boyd arriving at the Dogs in the off-season, while GWS co-captain Callan Ward left at the end of 2011 as one of the Giants' marquee signings ahead of their inaugural year in the competition.
In the final round last year, the Giants swept past the Bulldogs to record their first win at Etihad Stadium.
Wallis said the disappointing finish to the 2014 season still burns the group.
“It wasn’t a great finish to last season and obviously it wasn’t a great off-season either so we are really looking to redeem ourselves,” he said.
“They’ve got a great young side and we really want to take it up to them because it still hurts the way we finished last year.”
The Bulldogs have lost three on the trot but Wallis can still see the positives in what has been a bright start to 2015.
“We’ve got a lot of self-belief in the group, we’ve proven we can take it up to the very best teams in the competition over the eight weeks of the season so far,” he said.
“We’ve got an opportunity to prove that this week against the Giants team that’s started really well at 6-2.
“And we are playing against a couple of our old teammates so I’m really looking forward to it.”
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-05-25/giants-bring-out-more-bite-in-the-dogs?utm_medium=RSS
I've been wondering how the Dogs players feel about this match and whether they share the sense of pain and anger we did about the Griffen defection, so this is interesting, however I wonder if these sentiments should be kept in house and let our deeds on the field do our talking.