Regular Season Reflections

[SonofScray]

We're about to get ourselves whipped up into a frenzy for Finals, and rightfully so. It's been a strange year and footy has been a welcome feature where so much has been stripped from our normal routines.

I've enjoyed reading WOOF this season a great deal. Some chat about negativity etc but for mine its been a product of the times and expectations either being met, or not. I had really high hopes for this season, they weren't met in the regular season, which is fine, because the hopes and dreams that count are realised in finals. And that's what the regular season has given us, another week where those hopes and dreams can stay alive.

So, before finals fever kicks in and we forgo reality for fervant, visceral support of the Club, I was interested in responses to any of these questions:


What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?
What is your pass mark from here?
Strongest performance in the regular season?
Weakest Performance in the regular season?



Here's our season in a nutshell to jog your memory:
https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tg-western-bulldogs

[comrade]

Top 6 was my pass mark (I think) and at least 1 finals win. That still remains the case.

Hard to really pin point our strongest performance because I came away from just about every win feeling like we hadn't completely put it together. I actually think the Dockers win was our best 4 quarter effort with the most output from our bottom 6 type players (Roarke Smith, Lipinski, Gardner, Bruce starting to find form etc) and given it was such a critical game, it was a pleasing performance.

Putting aside the first 2 rounds which were utter rubbish, our weakest performance for mine was a tie between the Carlton loss and the Richmond loss.

Our capitulation against Geelong after quarter time was also incredibly disappointing but at least explainable.

[bornadog]

Good thread SOS.

Before the season started and before COVID19, I expected us to be a top 4 side and as it turns out we missed by 2 games and percentage. From here on in I want to win at least the next final and see where we go from there.

Of the games we played the weakest effort was surely round one when we were never ever in it.

In every other loss, we showed something but just didn't take our opportunities, including the game against the SAints. We matched them and beat them in all stats over the ground, except the scoreboard which was disappointing. Our turnovers in that game killed us.

I have to say beating the Eagles was our best win as they are above us and were looking dangerous with 7 wins on the trot and 8 from 9.

[SonofScray]

For mine, I had high expectations. I expected us to make finals and at a minimum, win a final. I also believe we have enough talent and good football in us to beat anyone on our day. I haven't been as bullish about how many "days" we can actually string together as I was prior to R1, or in 15/16.

I think the scenario for me is win one final and its a par score. Win four and Bevo gets a statue. Anything in between is credits back in the bank. A week one loss will have me lamenting some of the issues that have been discussed this year around selection, deployment of players in the ruck, stalled development etc.

Weakest performances, our first 4 losses were really awful. Weeks one and two in particular were terribly deflating. Damaged my belief. Then the Blues and Tigers games had me solidifying my position that our coach might not have the answers. There was a real routine dismantling of our strengths that worried me. The sort of losses that felt far too similar to previous seasons disappointments to just be about effort and personnel.

The next three losses, I was happier with because there was hopeful moments in the games and enough coulda, shoulda and woulda's to suggest things could fall differently if we had some variation in effort, personnel or just plain luck. Geelong and Port especially.

My favourite game of the season was probably the Geelong loss, funnily enough. The opening stanza was our absolute best. We saw what it can do to a contender. After that, the Bombers game was really positive, to memory, they were still going OK at that point and we dealt with them fairly comfortably. Weightman's first kick and goal was a rare moment of pure joy in a stretch of a few tough weeks outside of footy.


Anyway. There's a few thoughts. 2020 has been a weird year. Glad we've got more footy in front of us!

[The bulldog tragician]

Before the season started I mainly wanted to see which Bulldogs team was 'real.' That final against GWS was such an abomination and made me wonder if our progress in the second half of 2019 had just been luck and catching teams who were in a downward spiral. I wanted evidence that we were again ready to challenge & that the hunger was back.

The worst loss was against Carlton because we appeared to turn up with the wrong attitude and it seemed to confirm that we were just a middling team and that the promise of 2016 would remain unfulfilled.

Since then I feel I have seen evidence that the hunger is back and that there is a new determination in this group. That has been praiseworthy in such difficult circumstances, after an appalling start, and with a lack of continuity with injuries - we haven't always had a huge injury list but they've happened at wrong times eg AstroNaut when he looked like ripping a game apart, and for Vandermeer when he really looked like he belonged.

It's probably not a coincidence that we are two games from top 4 and those Port and Geelong losses were the ones we should have won - confirming we are still not elite. We are a work in progress, as evidenced by the cameos of various players who came and went and failed to convince.

For me a pass is now winning a final. I'm still not entirely convinced by our bottom six and I still don't know if we have that 'mongrel' factor - the Clay Smith/Liam Picken attitude - which is needed to go further. I hope we see that, whatever the result is next week.

[GVGjr]

I had very high hopes for the season and the pass mark for me is winning a final

We said we would use the spur of our humiliating loss to GWS in the final last year and proceeded to be out played and out coached by Collingwood in a similarly dispirited display
We then said we would use the loss to Collingwood as the spur against the Saints and put in another half hearted effort

To say the season was off to a poor start is a huge understatement

Ironically it was against GWS where we didn't flinch or give into their dirty play and attack on Bontempelli that got the season started for us
By round 4 after a solid win against the Swans we were back on even terms before really belting North in round 5 with a 6 goal haul from Josh Bruce

We were up and about then and we had all realised we had unearthed a special player in Vandermeer who was really catching the eye

Out of nowhere Carlton gave us a belting in round 6, we were close enough at 3 quarter but they walloped us in the last quarter and recorded a 52 point win

It was hard to work out where the season was heading as we were producing a real Jekylle and Hyde form line and we never knew what effort we might receive

We then beat Essendon as we always seem to do and somehow beat the spirited Suns outfit in a close game. The season was warming up for us and we were well placed

Of course nothing is easy and the form line doesn't mean much because we got soundly beaten by Richmond by the tune for 41 points. The good, bad and ugly was a common theme for us

We played really well against Port but lost and we can say the same for our encounter against the Lions. Two losses but some pretty good football was played. This is a time when the scoreboard doesn't give a true picture

We belted the Crows thanks to a 6 goal game by Naughton to stop the run of losses and again we got some momentum back when we beat Melbourne the following week.
4 games to go and it was anyone's guess

A close loss to the inform Geelong after we were down to two men on the bench was a terrific sign and then we knocked over West Coast in a thrilling encounter

We put in two polished performances to in the final 2 games to position ourselves for the finals

Plenty of things have frustrated me this season and there are a heap of things I have admired about our season

Time will tell if we have what it takes now that we are in the finals. A win is almost essential to me to give this season a pass mark

[Twodogs]

Making and winning a final was the pass mark for me at the start of the season. Every loss cut deep for different reasons. Collingwood and St Kilda because we didn't fire a shot and Carlton because we gave up the ghost after it all got too hard were particularly hard to take. The Geelong loss because I thought that we'd pissed our finals chances away after having the game shot to bits at quarter time was the worst though. I was really angry after that loss.

Best win was last night. The season was on the line we'd lost Naughton and Bevo had to make some changes and got them correct. That was really pleasing. Beating GWS to breathe life back into our season and get a bit of revenge after the EF last year was satisfying. Always love beating North and Essendon too-the season is never a complete loss when we beat them.

So if we win a final we pass. Anything after that is a bonus. But I feel we are in good form and I will be disappointed if we lose week one.

[jazzadogs]

I hoped for top 4, but a finals win was realistically the minimum. I would have been extremely disappointed if we had not made the finals (especially at the expense of Melbourne, who we are objectively better than).

The Carlton loss was the moment where I really doubted, particularly with the shortened season, as it meant we couldn't afford another slip up against the teams at or below our level. Thankfully, we didn't let another match against a lesser opponent slip.

Games missed from Libba, Hunter and Dunkley have hurt us. Vandermeer was a real shining light, and he has been a big loss.

The Ryan Gardner experiment has shown all of us, myself included, that there is still some method to Bevo's madness. The strengths that he said he was showing in the scratch matches have started to show through in AFL, and I've been impressed by his improvement.

Conversely, the ruck experiments with Dunkley and co were a lowpoint.

[EasternWest]

I've been disappointed, thrilled and satisfied all within the same game. Now extrapolate that for the season.

I had high expectations, probably unreasonably high, and was pretty damn annoyed after our first few games.

But largely I think our trajectory has been reasonably good. I've been wrapped with the pissed off PE teacher, loved Vandemeer, and really pleased with Bailey Williams. Probably a lot of other good things from individuals but yeah, ultimately we've taken a step forward this year I think.

Still bullish about Bruce. Despite stinking it up a few times he seems an upbeat guy and I'll back him in.

Realistically we're unlikely to win the flag this year,but who knows?

[FrediKanoute]

Pass Mark - making the 8 comfortably. On that basis I would say we have regressed since it was touch and go, needing to win our last 3 games and scraping in by a game and not enough percentage.

Strongest Performance - West Coast. Best placed team we beat all year.

Weakest Performance - Collingwood. After the Post Elimination Final hype dishing up that rubbish was a real disappointment., It was weak because it was a bunch of guys talking the talk and then not backing that up!

[soupman]

What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?
What is your pass mark from here?
Strongest performance in the regular season?
Weakest Performance in the regular season?

Pass Mark:
Two variations. My minimum pass mark was for a finals win. What I would've rated as a good season would be a Prelim appearance.

Pass Mark now:
The same. I guess if we play really well against St.Kilda and they are just better I'd probably be ok to give it a pass but realistically we should be winning a final if we want to take a step forward, I don't want to be a team like Essendon that even when it makes finals is a non factor like we were last year.

Strongest:
Melbourne, West Coast and Freo games are the candidates. We needed to win all three and turned up and delivered each time. I'll probably say the Demons game as they were full strength and we just comprehensively beat them and i never really felt threatened.

Weakest: Round 1 and 2 were genuinely as pathetic a performance as I've seen from us. This forum imploded and rightfully so, imagine dishing that crap up after a whole pre-season talking about how you were going to redeem yourselves for the also truly pathetic performance against GWS. Carlton loss was also bad, but at least we tried.

[Vred]

What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?
Top 6, beating top 6 sides (Geelong / West Coast / Collingwood) and stop losing to sides that we somehow manage to lose to (StK being one of them)

What is your pass mark from here?
One finals win, just one, anymore is icing on the cake

Strongest performance in the regular season?
Bailey Williams is the biggest improver of the club, Libba honestly playing at his career best, and Wallis re-inventing himself as a forward, all deserve huge mentions. Game wise? I honestly don't have any games that stand out to me as ''that was rock solid from minute one'' Every game seem to have periods where we'd lapse and give whoever we were playing a glimpse of stealing it (or, stealing it in the case of some games).


Weakest Performance in the regular season?
Player wise? Dickson, Schache, Lloyd & Dale probably come to mind as weak performers this season. Games? Carlton and StK games.

[boydogs]

I was thinking we would push for top 4, having made finals last year then getting Bruce & Keath. I was disappointed by our performance against top 8 sides but we did seem to develop more consistency and win the ones we should. Our style stacks up in finals and we have momentum so hopes are high

[Ozza]

•What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?

Reaching a prelim final. And so, I expected top 4. Anything can happen from prelim weekend, but I'd expected we'd be well placed to get there at least.

•What is your pass mark from here?

I guess its now to win the first final - and be in it up to our necks in the Semi to follow.

•Strongest performance in the regular season?

Probably the GWS game. We were under the pump and they came after us physically. We stood up to it and were always winning, from start to finish.

•Weakest Performance in the regular season?

The Richmond game. We were never it it. We didn't 'hunt' the best side - we just turned up and got overawed.


For an overall reflection, apart from the Carlton game (and to an extent St.Kilda - but they did finish higher than us and were flying at the time) - we basically won the games we were expected to win, and lost the games we were expected to lose. Its a really middle of the road season. BUt I guess 10-7, is 13-9 in a normal year and is 'ok'. I just thought we were ready to be better, and think we wasted time with poor selection early in the season, which you can't get away with when important players like Naughton, Dunks and Hunter were missing chunks of the year. Not getting the same overall output from those players who had injury or unavailability (add Dickson to that mix) - as well as not getting the same level out of Lloyd, Dale compared to last year. Too much left to too few. And Bruce hasn't produced anywhere near expected.

Ticks for Libba, Wally, Caleb - who all went better this season. As did English even though he had poor games. Bont and Macrae continue to be stars of the game.

[Eastdog]

- Was really hoping for top 4 which would have been the first time under Bevo particularly with the new recruits we got.

- To win a final after the disappointment of getting whacked last year.

- The West Coast game. Vital win against a side on top of us on the ladder which kept us in the finals. Strong performances also against the Bombers, Demons, Kangaroos, Dockers and Giants - loved the Giants win after what they did to us last year. We were not going to be initiated again.

- The Pies game our weakest performance I’d say. Just did not get going all night. The Blues and Tigers games very disappointing as well.

[comrade]

A finals win was my bare minimum pass mark.

This might not be a nuanced opinion, but season 2020 was a complete failure.

[Danjul]

- Was really hoping for top 4 which would have been the first time under Bevo particularly with the new recruits we got.

- To win a final after the disappointment of getting whacked last year.

- The West Coast game. Vital win against a side on top of us on the ladder which kept us in the finals. Strong performances also against the Bombers, Demons, Kangaroos, Dockers and Giants - loved the Giants win after what they did to us last year. We were not going to be initiated again.

- The Pies game our weakest performance I’d say. Just did not get going all night. The Blues and Tigers games very disappointing as well.

In the last 4 seasons (over 80 games) we have been in the top 4 for two weeks . And they were 4th.

It is setting the bar too high.

[soupman]

A finals win was my bare minimum pass mark.

This might not be a nuanced opinion, but season 2020 was a complete failure.

I agree.

I think more than anything it doesn't feel like we really clicked at any point or are building towards anything. All the frustrating things about us from the last few seasons have been apparent this year and aside from Vandermeer we haven't really had any players emerge as "the players that will improve us soon". You don't walk away from this season thinking "Geez we are on the improve and on our current trajectory could be anything", instead I think we feel a lot like a side confused about where it is at and how to take that next step. Beveridges press conference didn't exactly fill me with confidence either.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

A finals win was my bare minimum pass mark.

This might not be a nuanced opinion, but season 2020 was a complete failure.

Yes. In fact, we were one loss away from the season being an absolute disaster. Still, making finals and going out quietly isn’t much better. The season was a complete failure. What’s worse is I don’t know where this ship is going and whether any of our glaring issues that have existed for 4 years will be rectified. It feels like we’ve treaded water for four years.

[Happy Days]

Yeah agree we wasted the season. We have like 10 genuine A grade players, several of them in their primes. We should have been looking at winning 3 finals.

[Danjul]

Yeah agree we wasted the season. We have like 10 genuine A grade players, several of them in their primes. We should have been looking at winning 3 finals.

! E ! x ! a ! c ! t ! l ! y !

[bulldogsthru&thru]

The sad thing is we only beat one top 8 side and they were missing Natanui. Melbourne, the next team out of the 8 didn’t have Gawn. GWS were missing a host of players when we played them. We just haven’t risen to the occasion this year.

[bornadog]

The sad thing is we only beat one top 8 side and they were missing Natanui. Melbourne, the next team out of the 8 didn’t have Gawn. GWS were missing a host of players when we played them. We just haven’t risen to the occasion this year.

Not relevant, every team always has someone always missing.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Not relevant, every team always has someone always missing.

Whilst true, we basically fell into the 8 because GWS/Melbourne crapped themselves against inferior opposition.

Our record speaks for itself against the top 8.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Whilst true, we basically fell into the 8 because GWS/Melbourne crapped themselves against inferior opposition.

Our record speaks for itself against the top 8.

Yep. I get every team always has someone missing. But these guys are these teams best players. Even then I can accept it if we had beaten another team or two in the 8. But we didn't.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

The recruitment of Bruce Gardner and Keath simply didn’t improve our team when better players IMO in Schache Trengrove and Lew Young were cast aside too quickly. Vandemeer on the other hand was an excellent find and was a big loss against St Kilda as was Maclean. Our forwards in Bruce Lloyd and Dale were disappointing and apart from Wallis who enjoyed an excellent season we were threadbare in attack. The decision for most of the past 4 years to continue with one still relatively inexperienced ruckman in Tim English was a massive mistake by the MC which was highlighted once again on Saturday by the sheer dominance of Ryder and Marshall.
Bevo has indicated 6 changes to the line up for next year and players like Roarke Smith Johannisen Lloyd Lipinski Dale Hayes and Suckling should all come under scrutiny .

[SonofScray]

Bump. Maybe we can squeeze this in before finals fever really ramps up for 2021.

What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?
What is your pass mark from here?
Strongest performance in the regular season?
Weakest Performance in the regular season?

1. Win at least one final.
2. Win at least two finals
3. v Saints, or v North for the flogging. V WCE for the grit.
4. v Hawks or v EFC for varying reasons,

[comrade]

1. Win a final at absolute minimum
2. Right now, it’s still win a final but 3 weeks ago it was prelim or bust
3. Saints for all round perfection, Port in Adelaide for quality and grit
4. Hawks was one of the most pathetic performances of Bevo’s tenure

[DOG GOD]

1. Win a final at absolute minimum
2. Right now, it’s still win a final but 3 weeks ago it was prelim or bust
3. Saints for all round perfection, Port in Adelaide for quality and grit
4. Hawks was one of the most pathetic performances of Bevo’s tenure

Pretty much agree with all this.

[bornadog]

1. I was expecting Top Four
2. Win a final at minimum
3. Melbourne at the G, plus flogging Saints
4. Agree Hawks was worst performance for some time.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1? Top 5 was my expectation. Top 4 the real aim though.
What is your pass mark from here? Win 2 finals. We've been first/second almost all year, so anything less is an absolute failure.
Strongest performance in the regular season? v Melbourne at the MCG (v Norf GF was fun though).
Weakest Performance in the regular season? v Hawks. That was absolutely pathetic.

[comrade]

There is some morbid cosmic hilarity at play here at the moment. Some real character building stuff.

If you had asked anyone on the Saturday night before the Essendon game what the absolute worst case, nightmare situation for the remainder of the year would be for Dogs fans it would be lose 3 in a row, fall out of top 4 and potentially gift Essendon their first finals win in 17 years. To even be in a position for it to unfold like this has required so many things to fall into place, it’s quite impressive in a way.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

There is some morbid cosmic hilarity at play here at the moment. Some real character building stuff.

If you had asked anyone on the Saturday night before the Essendon game what the absolute worst case, nightmare situation for the remainder of the year would be for Dogs fans it would be lose 3 in a row, fall out of top 4 and potentially gift Essendon their first finals win in 17 years. To even be in a position for it to unfold like this has required so many things to fall into place, it’s quite impressive in a way.

2016 in reverse you could say.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

There is some morbid cosmic hilarity at play here at the moment. Some real character building stuff.

If you had asked anyone on the Saturday night before the Essendon game what the absolute worst case, nightmare situation for the remainder of the year would be for Dogs fans it would be lose 3 in a row, fall out of top 4 and potentially gift Essendon their first finals win in 17 years. To even be in a position for it to unfold like this has required so many things to fall into place, it’s quite impressive in a way.

I remember thinking after the Adelaide win, and also Brisbane’s and ports slumps, that we had pretty much locked in a top 4 spot. I got into the mindset of thinking can we finish 1st. Only the bulldogs could possibly screw that position up. 97 vibes.

[Boots]

What was your pass mark before the bounce of the ball in R1?

Reflecting on it now, I didn't have one! I found it really hard to focus on Footy in 2020 with the Pandemic in full swing. With so much family in Sydney I felt very keenly separated from them due to the lockdown here, and most other things really got swept into the background. I rolled my eyes when we went out in an elim loss again and didn't have many expectations for 2021 until the draft and trade period dropped JUH and Treloar in our laps. Treloar in particular is a footballer I've always liked and respected and I was beyond excited to see him play for us. So my pass mark was really just to see Treloar find chemistry in our midfield and after that anything else was a bonus. I get so much out of seeing our team play well that the results just didn't occur to me to think about! I got to see that in spades over rounds 2 and 3 so I was pretty happy.

What is your pass mark from here?

Oh man, what a rollercoaster end to the season. As soon as we started winning I started experiencing loss aversion pretty hard. The stakes rocketed up and every game felt like a must-win. To be frank, it was kind of awful. As a result, three weeks ago my pass mark was to make a Grand Final. Now it's just win an elim, and not because our form suggests we might, but because if we don't we haven't moved in three years. But more than that, anything less than winning an elim and the brilliance of the first 20 rounds will feel like a tragic waste, not to mention the last three years.

But more than this, I just want to remark on the fact that for a short while it looked like we might clean up the Flag, the Brownlow and the Coleman - and now we're very likely to miss all three. I know Bruce was at best a smokey (and, like Treloar, a bit of a gift horse), but if Bont misses the Brownlow this year to that upstart Oliver (which looks very likely) I think that will be harder to stomach even than going out in straight sets. I adore Bont's quiet mastery - there's not a trace of arrogance in him (unlike, say, Dangerfield or Petracca), and that sort of humility should be rewarded. If he misses this year, especially as a result of our form tumble, it's a bona fide tragedy.

Strongest performance in the regular season?

For me, it was the second Melbourne game. At that point it looked like a top-of-the-ladder game of chicken, and we demonstrated that we could set terms in a game. We looked like the superior team on that day.

Weakest Performance in the regular season?

The Hawthorn game. We'd shown really bad wobbles before - the first Melbourne game, the odd loss to Richmond (on the train home from that game I felt a sadness I hadn't felt about footy before) - but the Hawthorn loss convinced me we were totally spent and would not win another game all year.

[Bulldog4life]

I think we have to look at our rd 1 selections otherwise it is a bit like changing the goal posts during the game. I went from 4th to 6th and win one final. That was a pass mark to me. Bevo playing/coaching in his 300th game this week. Let's do it for our coach.

[Bulldog4life]

There is some morbid cosmic hilarity at play here at the moment. Some real character building stuff.

If you had asked anyone on the Saturday night before the Essendon game what the absolute worst case, nightmare situation for the remainder of the year would be for Dogs fans it would be lose 3 in a row, fall out of top 4 and potentially gift Essendon their first finals win in 17 years. To even be in a position for it to unfold like this has required so many things to fall into place, it’s quite impressive in a way.

Agree. Bruce's injury in the last minute was a shocking blow for us.