Excited, worried, uncertain

[GVGjr]

Heard this on SEN and thought we should canvass our WOOF members.

What one thing has you excited about the 2023 season?
What one thing has you worried about the 2023 season
What one thing makes you uncertain about the 2023 season?

Please try and answer all 3.

[Grantysghost]

Excited : Jamarra's big pre season and the amazing shape he's in. Reckon he's ready for a big year especially with Lobb coming into the forward line.

Actually the entire tall forward line what a nightmare matchup for the opposition.

Worried : defence. Jones is a good addition however the waning form of Keath and our lack of a decent small lock down option ticks the worried box for me.

Uncertain : would have to be Treloar. Hugely interrupted pre season, the bromance is shattered so he's a close watch for me this year to see how he performs and how the club can assist him to be his best.

[mjp]

Heard this on SEN and thought we should canvass our WOOF members.

What one thing has you excited about the 2023 season?
What one thing has you worried about the 2023 season
What one thing makes you uncertain about the 2023 season?

Please try and answer all 3.

Excited: Sounds like Bont is fit and he's just the best player in the comp.
Worried: We have a lot of eggs in the Jones basket and 18-months out of footy I just don't know...
Uncertain: I just don't get how the forward line is going to look and cant really figure out how the pieces fit.

Cool thread.

[Stevo]

Based on the reports we have been receiving
Excited - A fit Marcus
Worried - What if something happens to Tim?
Uncertain - Can we keep the scoreboard ticking?

[bornadog]

Excited: A fit and raring to go Bont

Worried: about our defensive system is fixed or not fixed

UnCertain: Which team will show up for making finals.

[Mantis]

Excited the continued development of Jamarra, Naughton and Darcy. Not sure we’ve ever had a group of talented talls as we do now.

Worried how our backs gel and perform. Like really worried!

Uncertain how English performs against the best rucks. His stoppage work needs to improve.

[Dogs 24/7]

Excited : Lobbs inclusion to stop that 2 nd ruck mix and match
Worried : Wasting another year without making a run in the finals
Uncertain : Will the depth of our midfield be tested?

[Go_Dogs]

Excited: Teddy Richards primed to dominate and take charge of the backline.

Worried: Injuries to aging but critical players - Jones, Duryea, Keath, JJ, etc

Uncertain: How dynamic our midfield mix is? Do we have enough variety and different looks / attributes to challenge the better sides consistently.

[WBFC4FFC]

Excited: Young Talls. Can carry the side for the next decade.

Worried: Old playing list and aging midfield. The 2023 draft is crucial towards replenishing this part of the ground.

Uncertain: Playing style. This is make or break stuff.

[SonofScray]

Heard this on SEN and thought we should canvass our WOOF members.

What one thing has you excited about the 2023 season?
What one thing has you worried about the 2023 season
What one thing makes you uncertain about the 2023 season?

Please try and answer all 3.

I am excited about the prospect of this team performing to its full potential and winning a flag. They are good enough on their day and it’s a joy to watch our best footy unfold.

I am worried that there’s a monkey on their back now, with the manner they’ve folded in big games.

I anm uncertain what impact the change in training base and conditions for the players will have with the redevelopment disruptions.

[jeemak]

Excited - tall timber across the ground, and some in reserve. Across many ages we seem to be covered for the first time I can recall

Worried - missing Dunkley with Treloar injured and West, Garcia and anyone else untried/ not ready to step up

Uncertain - our too many midfield problem now manifesting as a too many talls problem

[Happy Days]

Excited - don’t get the trepidation from others, because if Jamarra takes a leap, Cody gets his pre-dislocated-elbow-which-he-played-through-because-he’s-a-psycho form, Marvel Stadium Lobb is a thing and Naughton takes some benefit from not having to do actually everything, we might just have the best forward line in the league

Worried - we didn’t do anything to address what’s cost us three straight finals campaigns. Well we did do something but apparently the something we did isn’t going to be used to do anything. If Tim hasn’t improved his centre square ruckwork it doesn’t matter how many marks inside 50 we get or how hard the midfield works to make up for him.

Uncertain - the reports on Jones are good to hear but I can’t shake my last real memory of him getting completely cooked by Josh Bruce at Marvel in 2021. We don’t exactly have a Weitering to support him either and I don’t buy that missing a whole year is anything but bad news.

[MrMahatma]

Excited: The Talls. What a crew!

Uncertain: The Talls. Will they all gel and fit in a balanced team?

Worried: Jones and Keath may be no good and then we’re in real trouble.

[dog town]

Excited: Team is relatively fit and an injury free Bont gives us our difference maker in 50/50 games.

Uncertain: How the talls gel at each end. I feel we are being judged as though Jamarra and Darcy are finished products and this adds more pressure on the coaching group to squeeze them in.

Worried: List gaps when it comes to outside run, lock down defender small/medium and ground level forward. All teams have these gaps it feels like ours are relatively significant, can we fill them?

[bulldogtragic]

Excited:

I’ve got a bit of 2010 feel about things. Finals for a couple years, but bringing in Lobb as a structurally important player like Barry Hall was. Who let Jarrad Grant & Gia have their best seasons to date having lesser defenders. Got to the prelim, and fluffed our lines then. But we have three club leading goal kickers on the list (Naughton, Lobb & Bruce) with Picks 1 & 2 (Marra & Darcy) and with a genuine second ruck, allowing Tim to maybe have a rest forward too. Work out the smalls led by Cody, and execute forward entries well, I don’t see a defence being able to stop them all. With Marra & Darcy to be well down the order of defenders, if their performances bring belief and confidence at belonging at the level too, the confidence in the forward half will never have been seen before. Lobb as a structural change is huge for Tim and the forwards.


Uncertain:

The ‘Old Men’s Club’ (defence). Keath, Bruce, Jones, Duryea. All could play in the same side, but will their bodies hold up. Dr Buss is a project and Bevo says Darcy is a forward/ruck. Leaving just Gardner at a more spritely age (with amazing TOG numbers also which could really help). So how the medicos keep them together seems to me to be uncertain. Manage ur well and if they’re playing well, then it will no longer be uncertain.


Worried:

The wings. And if Sam Power will sleep this year thinking about all the good picks and spare salary cap he’s got available. Plus potentially getting another highly rated KPP as a Father/Son. Poor guy.

[The Doctor]

Excited: that some of our younger stars are coming into their prime. I speak of English, Naughton, Gardner, Richards, Weightman and B.Smith particularly.

Uncertain that we have enough small forward power to make the most of ground level opportunities. We have the aerial firepower not sure we have the same level on the ground.

Worried about what causes our switch offs that allow teams to score a glut of goals quickly and we can't seem to do anything about it. Last 2 finals we have done this to me but there have been numerous other examples of it. Have we found a remedy?

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Excited.
I think the Dunkley and the Hunter moves are important. I think it gives the group an opportunity to recommit to the cause. I suspect a few things have been papered over these past 3 years, and there's new opportunity for players to step up, and for the group to maybe acknowledge some of the underlying reasons why Dunkley left, and why Hunter had to leave.
I think the signs from the track observers during pre-season thus far, have described a pretty tight and focused group from coaching to players down.
No idea how this translates onto the field, but I'll take it as a good sign.

Uncertain
I'm not sure if Bruce playing down back is a genius move. His career was certainly going nowhere fast when he first started as a defender for GWS. Now a long time has transpired since then, and maybe his experience will help him transition back into that role.
I hope it works, but I'm not sure.

Worried
Treloar. His bromance has left, he's injured... I know he's a professional and he'll get on with it, but I just wonder whether his drive and heart is still in it to perform at the super high level we need him to be at. I hope we've invested in making sure he's in a good head space.

[lemmon]

Excited: Big Timmy English. I thought he had a better 2022 than most and he has the best raw skill-set of any ruckman in the comp. Think this is the year he dominates and takes over from Gawn as the most dynamic ruckman in the game.

Uncertain: Can our mids up their defensive accountability to make up for the loss of Dunkley? Libba gets stuck in, but I'm not sure there are many others in our mix that make it hard for opposition mids when they get their hands on the footy.

Worried: Lobb. I've thought pretty poorly of him across his career and would've preferred not to get him, but hopefully he can add to our forward mix. He had a good 2022 but not sure that is enough to discount what's been a fairly mediocre career. Would be stoked for him to prove me wrong.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

What one thing has you excited about the 2023 season? The spirit of the group looks to be back where it needs to be. We know we have the talent to contend but we were miles off the pace with our spirit and mentality. From the top down, we look re-focused and that's exciting.

What one thing has you worried about the 2023 season? The older group. We need them fit and firing - Libba, Duryea, Jones, Keath, JJ and even Bruce will all be quite important. Duryea has had his injury concerns, Jones is a bit of an unknown, Keath was awful last year and Bruce is trying to revitalise his career.

What one thing makes you uncertain about the 2023 season? Managing Jamarra. Expectation is he plays every game, I'm not sure he's there yet. How would he/will he react to going back to VFL? How do we manage the need to play him/test him during form slumps, but also win, while potentially having Buku breathing down his neck? I'm excited by Marra but my expectations are tempered. In my mind, Buku might actually be ahead of him for a spot..

[Bulldog4life]

Excited: To see what Lobby and Jonesy bring to the team.

Uncertain: Whether we finish in the top 4 for the first time since Bevo has arrived.

Worried: That North will beat us in the praccy game and WOOF goes into melt down.

[Mofra]

Excited: Lobb transforms our forward structure and gets Bont/Buks/Hannan away from the 2nd ruck role

Uncertain: Liam Jones. It's going to take actual H&A games for me to be satisfied.

Worried: Our leading goal-kicker curse now has Naughts in it's sights. Plus, our midfield lacks that 'defensive animal'.

[FrediKanoute]

What one thing has you excited about the 2023 season? What does our midfield look like with Dunks and Hunter out of the side. West, McLean, Garcia and Flea all look capable of filling in the midfield role and taking turns through there.

What one thing has you worried about the 2023 season? Is Jamarra ready? Can he be that tricky decoy half forward and find space to hurt teams with a small amount of possessions.

What one thing makes you uncertain about the 2023 season? can Jones still be as effective as he was at Carlton or is he done at 32? Can Lobb be the effecting 2nd tall allowing Naughton to play his game? Can West/Garcia/McLean slot into the midfield and cover the Dunkley/Hunter hole

[GVGjr]

Excited
A fit Bontempelli and the emergence of Richards, Weightman and West and the returning McLean.
The real bonus is what Lobb might be able to bring us up forward.

Worried
I have some slight concerns on our back line around if Jones, Keath, Bruce and Duryea can stay fit and if we can find a couple of mid sized players capable of being used as 1 v 1 defenders and shutting down an opposition forward.

Uncertain
How the surface of the Skinner Reserve might have impacted our preparation for the 2023 season.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Excited
Naughton - one of the most exciting players to ever wear the jumper

Worried
Team defence - we just haven't been very focused or good defending the ground

Uncertain
Getting the forward line mix right and getting enough of the boring, unglamorous, chasing, tackling, corralling, not conceding uncontested marks etc

[F'scary]

Excited. JUH is poised to take the comp by storm.

Uncertain. Can we cover the losses of Dunkley and Hunter?

Worried. Keath and Jones no longer up to first 22 footy.

[1eyedog]

Excited. A fit Bont

Uncertain. Can Jones be the big man down back?

Worried. Midfield work-rate going the other way.

[josie]

Excited - our forward line, I think we have enough competition for small forwards to keep up the tackle pressure to keep ball I50 plus with an abundance of very good/good and emerging talls I’m reasonably confident our forward line will perform aok.

Uncertain - our defensive pressure when things not going our way all over the ground, starting with our mids. With competition for mid spots and some tough good tacklers like Garcia, West and Maclean hopefully this improves all over the ground (gee we missed him and I pray he has a good run without injuries, one of my faves). With a seeming increased focus on running in pre-season this year team could improve heaps with defensive pressure.

Worried - our wings. A lot has been said about our defence with Jones, Keath, Bruce ageing but Gardener has improved a fair bit and we’ve got Khamis and Darcy as well. I’m slightly more worried we lack ball winning ability and composure on the wings. Who is going to replace Hunter’s gut running and ball winning ability? (hopefully with better goal kicking and less loopy kicks). Cross fingers Treloar, Baz, Roarke, Scott (who I think is a neat player), Baker, Hannan or other players make our wings a strength. Would love Bedendo to win a bit more of his own ball and be tried on a wing as I think his silky skills could be good there. Dale would be good on wing but he is so good in backline I’m reluctant to move him out of there.

[1eyedog]

Excited - our forward line, I think we have enough competition for small forwards to keep up the tackle pressure to keep ball I50 plus with an abundance of very good/good and emerging talls I’m reasonably confident our forward line will perform aok.

Uncertain - our defensive pressure when things not going our way all over the ground, starting with our mids. With competition for mid spots and some tough good tacklers like Garcia, West and Maclean hopefully this improves all over the ground (gee we missed him and I pray he has a good run without injuries, one of my faves). With a seeming increased focus on running in pre-season this year team could improve heaps with defensive pressure.

Worried - our wings. A lot has been said about our defence with Jones, Keath, Bruce ageing but Gardener has improved a fair bit and we’ve got Khamis and Darcy as well. I’m slightly more worried we lack ball winning ability and composure on the wings. Who is going to replace Hunter’s gut running and ball winning ability? (hopefully with better goal kicking and less loopy kicks). Cross fingers Treloar, Baz, Roarke, Scott (who I think is a neat player), Baker, Hannan or other players make our wings a strength. Would love Bedendo to win a bit more of his own ball and be tried on a wing as I think his silky skills could be good there. Dale would be good on wing but he is so good in backline I’m reluctant to move him out of there.

What do you think about Williams moving onto a wing Josie?

[soupman]

Excited. Rory Lobb. The idea of him in our forwardline has just marinated this whole off season and I'm really looking forward to what he can produce. Think his combo with our other high ceiling forwards could be so cool and fun to watch. Love how dangerous we are gonna be in the air.

Uncertain. The backline. I'm optimistic that all of Jones, Gardner, Keath, Darcy and Bruce look good, but they are almost all 7/10 prospects back there. Maybe they'll fire and it'll be fine, but maybe Gardner is the only one I trust i can bank on having a good season, the rest are maybes.

Worried. Have we actually fixed the underlying issues with this team? That we a) can't trust them to play to their actual potential, and b) play such a stupidly high intensity gamestyle that against the good sides (mainly Geelong) as soon as we drop off we get annihilated? Our gameplan has not been sustainable in that we rarely beat any half way decent side "easy", or rather, without it being hard work. Maybe the new forwardline helps with this, but I worry that if we aren't giving it everything we will still be prone to seeing the opposition gain the ascendency when we can't afford to.

[Matjoh]

Excited - our forward line and our back line. Forward You'd think with Nauhgton, Lobb, JUH, maybe Darcy, etc we'd be almost unstoppable. Back, with Jones, Keath, Gardner etc , in theory, we'd stop or slow down almost anyone.
Worried- our forward line and our back line. Our forwards tend to compete and get in each others way. Could be even worse now. Three of our backs are 31, can they last injury and fatigue wise, and Jones really is an unkniwn we're banking on..
Uncertain - Lobb career wise isnt really a star. Had a career high last year sure, but was that it, is he done and will he replicate Bruces first year. Is Jones done having been out of AFL too long at 31. Can we adequately cover Dunkley, Hunter - no its not a worry just a wonder because we have plenty of options I think but can they step up. So are we really going to be the team we're hoping for/expecting or another fail when it counts.

[josie]

What do you think about Williams moving onto a wing Josie?

Brain fade 1eyedog, completely forgot about him! If Williams in form he’d likely be a MC first pick on wing. He is a real confidence player and I was very worried when his form in backline nosedived a while back. IMO in recent times has had some ok to good games on wing, and IIRC some below ave ones. Needs to find a bit more of ball.

[1eyedog]

Brain fade 1eyedog, completely forgot about him! If Williams in form he’d likely be a MC first pick on wing. He is a real confidence player and I was very worried when his form in backline nosedived a while back. IMO in recent times has had some ok to good games on wing, and IIRC some below ave ones. Needs to find a bit more of ball.

I agree with this he needs to own the role, and fast. He has the attributes to play in a few positions and with our mid-sized pairing of Richards and Dale I think he's surplus down there which I'm hoping opens him up to different opportunities up the ground.

He's an aggressive player with good attributes but I'm not sure where he fits yet.

[SquirrelGrip]

Excited. Our Talls. Has the club ever had such a tall spine and depth both forward and back? The addition of Jones & Lobb is the biggest structural update for the Bulldogs I can remember. Plus a ruckman ready hit to hit his prime!

Uncertain. Our game plan. What will we be doing differently to grab the competition by the jugular, and that suits our new structure?

Worried. What if Jamarra doesn't explode like we all want him to?

[Mavericks]

Excited - Key defensive and forwards concerns have been addressed. I feel fitness has taken a priority in the preseason and the balance and talent of our list is the best I can remember.

Uncertain. Have concerns about team selections and game plan. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. Look at the cats and refine their game plan to suit our list. A decent game plan and a decent run with injuries I would expect top 4

Worried. English and his susceptibility to concussion. Could be the best Ruck in the league this year and is pivotal to premiership success.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Excited - Key defensive and forwards concerns have been addressed. I feel fitness has taken a priority in the preseason and the balance and talent of our list is the best I can remember.

Uncertain. Have concerns about team selections and game plan. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. Look at the cats and refine their game plan to suit our list. A decent game plan and a decent run with injuries I would expect top 4

Worried. English and his susceptibility to concussion. Could be the best Ruck in the league this year and is pivotal to premiership success.

There was an air excitement on Wednesday night at the Yarraville Club, when over 100 people including WB Major Donors and Past Players welcomed the new recruits for 2023 There was an air of optimism that I havenÂ’t experienced for some time. The additions of Rory Lobb and Liam Jones in particular should overcome previous weaknesses in not playing a genuine second ruck man and the lack of a quality key defender. Ugle Hagen and Darcy add an air of excitement as does Jedd Busslinger from WA
who was nabbed at draft pick 7 before WCE at number 8. He has great agility with the ability to play both back or forward.