The 50 game mark

[Rocco Jones]

Not breaking new ground here, but if you have a look at when most players start playing consistent footy, it's between that 50-80 game mark.

Wallis, Dahl, Wood and Koby Stevens are all in/around this zone and in their own ways far more consistent.

Here is a little start from our 22 last night compared to the Hawks this round.

Less than 50 games
Bulldogs 12
Hawks 2

100+ games
Bulldogs 4
Hawks 13

It really does highlight how well we are going this season, however the main thing is the need for patience. We will struggle to run out games and lack poise at times. So, so important to get our kids to 50+ games in the right way as soon as possible.

[GVGjr]

I did a summary like this before the season started. It's imperative by this time next season we have a lot more players with 50 and 100 games experience than we do now. It's one of the reasons why I'm not against keeping Boyd and Morris on for another season form and fitness permitting.

We will start hitting the wall from round 16 or 17 as we just don't have enough players with 5 seasons of experience and fitness behind them.

[Bulldog Joe]

I did a summary like this before the season started. It's imperative by this time next season we have a lot more players with 50 and 100 games experience than we do now. It's one of the reasons why I'm not against keeping Boyd and Morris on for another season form and fitness permitting.

We will start hitting the wall from round 16 or 17 as we just don't have enough players with 5 seasons of experience and fitness behind them.

I think we have done very well, but the strength has really been the depth. We have been able to spread the load and having good contributions from so many first year players has been fantastic.

We should be able to rotate a bit more and with the experience of Morris to come back, we may not necessarily hit the wall.

[1eyedog]

I think we have done very well, but the strength has really been the depth. We have been able to spread the load and having good contributions from so many first year players has been fantastic.

We should be able to rotate a bit more and with the experience of Morris to come back, we may not necessarily hit the wall.

Was thinking the same thing down back and Redpath could play a game or two to give Boyd a chop out. We have a number of first year players who do not look out of place and all have made solid contributions and then there's Daniel as well who had an excellent pre-season (esp the game against Melbourne in Ballarat). The problem will be midfield drive. We may need M Boyd to move into the midfield later in the year to relieve Wally especially, thank goodness we held on to him.

[Ozza]

Looking at our list of young players - their games played and where the improvement has been this season; a few observations;

Koby Stevens has played 59 in total, 48 in our colours - and he has really tightened up his game this season. He is still a powerful runner and attacks the footy ferociously - but he is a lot more reliable with the footy now. An important cog rather than a fringe-ish player.

Hamling/Roberts - Amazing to think that our key defensive combo of the last couple of weeks have a COMBINED 17 games experience.

Stringer (38 games)/Dickson (45)/Boyd (20) - are on track to kick 120 goals between the 3 of them.

Macrae and Bonti are very established mids - 43 and 25 games experience.

5 debutants this season.