2020 The year of vision

[GVGjr]

I've mentioned this a few times but I'm genuinely excited about our chances for 2020.

As a club we have stability on and off the field and we are getting results. We also have an ambitious plan to get 50,000 members signed up

The playing list has plenty of depth and we have been very patient with it. Same with the coaching
We have a good spread of players that have been with us for 3 years or more and it's a hard task for any of us supporters to pick our best 22 or 25 players for the first game of the season. We also have a great draw and I really don't think we could have expected much better.

We successfully recruited to cover our lack of key position depth and quality with bookend tall's and throughout the trade period we still managed to maintain our first pick on draft night.
I think from anyone's definition we haven't taken the foot off the accelerator since the end of the season.

Players are coming back to training now and while some of had surgeries we look like having everyone on the park after Xmas

If you were checking off the things required on a wish list there would already be plenty of ticks in place

Lets look at some of the positives:

We have a great midfield led by Bontempelli, Macrae, Dunkley, Hunter and the returning Liberatore will add a bit to that as well
Youngsters like English, Naughton, Richards, Schache, B.Smith, West, Lewy Young and Lipinski have all impressed
A revamped forward line with 2 of the best contested marking forwards in the competition
A back line that has a great mixture of height, pace and skills
And the depth in the playing list will give us plenty of options for 2020

I think 2020 has all the signs of being a great one for us.

[1eyedog]

Ikr things are too good! I'm waiting for Bont to do his knee in the preseason.

[Vred]

Ikr things are too good! I'm waiting for Bont to do his knee in the preseason.

Dont even. No.

[Go_Dogs]

It's all coming together nicely. Will be interesting to see how we handle the expectations. Other generations of Bulldogs haven't done it all that well...

[Twodogs]

It's all coming together nicely. Will be interesting to see how we handle the expectations. Other generations of Bulldogs haven't done it all that well...

Only one of those generations had premiership medals around their necks which is something we have now. These guys know the path to the top of the mountain.

[strebla]

Our leadership on the park and in the office is as good as it's ever been. I don't recall ever feeling this confident maybe in 85 but gee I feel good about our chances.

[Eastdog]

I’m cautious so I’m not saying much just yet but yes I think we have great ability to have a great year in 2020.

We need some better luck again on the injury front which was better for us in 2019 compared to previous seasons and that consistency if we are any chance to make top 4.

Our Round 1 clash will be a good one and it would be great to get the Pies and give us that confidence. Came close twice against them last year at the G and Marvel.

[The Doctor]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

[GVGjr]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

Great point Doc, the returning Liberatore and maybe Wallis will help a bit in that area but we do need a more ruthless and aggressive approach by some of the players

[strebla]

Bruce offers grunt with Libba hopefully playing mast games there's some grunt added. I wouldn't want to go overboard I love the way we play hard and fair more often than not. I hated the final last year but don't fear it ever happening again.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Gowers has grunt but has to get a game.

[jeemak]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

Extremely well made point, and it's difficult to know how much of it was deer in the headlights or overall character or mentality.

I'm going with the former, and as much of a criticism as it could be the players and coaching staff all but admitted they weren't ready for an opponent that was still bruised from 2016, and a couple of weeks prior to this year's final. People deride GWS for their GF performance and rightly so, but you can't take away what they delivered leading up to the last dance, they got us, played exceptional finals footy almost to the end, and we need to make sure that never happens to us again.

Our group was special, and with natural development could place higher with the same list that went down to GWS. But, we have made bold trading decisions at an appropriate cost, we have but one or two weaknesses but I think these can be covered with the cattle we have.

The question is, with some priorities recognised and addressed at the trade table, do we still have too many gaps to fill through player versatility and natural development of our young list? My view is we don't.

We are primed. No premiership is perfect, some look like they are, but there's always a gap and we have a couple. What we have though is a coach who is a freak and knows how to ramp up a playing list, albeit with what we mostly agree is a coaching staff that needed a refresh. Can our coaching staff beat the other unknown coaching groups out there?

[Vred]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

Your not wrong, but I still feel we went into that final with the wrong side, we lost when we didn't pick up Trengrove and Dickson and instead took in players who barely had 3 games of AFL under their belt. Also, lack of fightback in that final also came from the fact that half the team didn't even know what happened to Bont until after the game, read a recent interview with Will Hayes where he states that no one saw it / knew until after the game was done.

If only we had Libba, Wallis, Daniels, Dickson and Trengrove for that prelim I feel we would of been a different side. We have grunt with some of the new players (Bazlenka comes to mind), but yes, another 2-3 players with some get-up and fight spirit would be nice.

[bornadog]

With the loss of Tom Boyd, we are a little vulnerable in the rucks should we have Tim go down. I know Trengove will step in, but other than that we would want Sweet to develop quickly.

I think overall, the team balance is coming along nicely. I would want to see guys like Richards and Hayes step up next season, as one of the wing roles is still a weakness.

[Vred]

With the loss of Tom Boyd, we are a little vulnerable in the rucks should we have Tim go down. I know Trengove will step in, but other than that we would want Sweet to develop quickly.

I think overall, the team balance is coming along nicely. I would want to see guys like Richards and Hayes step up next season, as one of the wing roles is still a weakness.

I can actually see Hayes developing into a strong wingman, he has the tank for it and showed some good skill this season.

[anfo27]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

This is the only thing that concerns me. Was it inexperience or is it a genuine concern, i guess we'll find out. You can add Dunkley to the list of grunt players, didn't he play that final with broken ribs?

[anfo27]

We lack Grunt.

On the evidence of our finals performance this year we clearly do. Only Easton Wood and Zaine Cordy put up some resistance from my viewpoint. I wonder who the next group of warriors are? In 2016 we had Morris, M.Boyd, Picken, Clay Smith, Libba who were ruthless.

This is the only thing that concerns me. Was it inexperience or is it a genuine concern, i guess we'll find out. You can add Dunkley to the list of grunt players, didn't he play that final with broken ribs?

[comrade]

I can actually see Hayes developing into a strong wingman, he has the tank for it and showed some good skill this season.

Certainly has the running ability, whether his ball handling or skills develop is the big question. He did finish the sweetest passage of play all year with his goal vs Essendon which was nice.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Certainly has the running ability, whether his ball handling or skills develop is the big question. He did finish the sweetest passage of play all year with his goal vs Essendon which was nice.

Thank you for reminding me of this sublime moment. Hayes is all about running, not much grunt there but he also has mental strengths like game awareness that hopefully will manifest in 2020.