3 things learned from Rd 20 vs GWS 2023

[GVGjr]

Let's hear the 3 new things you learned from our round 20 encounter with GWS?

[bulldogtragic]

1. We have a drugs problem. We were smoking crack with VDM two years
2. Season over
3. If Bevo true to word, new coach in 2024

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. I actually despise this list.

2. I'd rather miss finals than limp in and be booted out again in week 1.

3. I wish we had Bedford.

[DOG GOD]

1. We continue to be Toby Greene?s bitch
2. We need pace. Macrae has to go. Either gets traded out, or plays VFL next year.
3. Gardner?s footy IQ is as bad as Vanders

[Mitcha]

Not learnt, more reinforced.
1. We were up by 29 at halftime but should have been much more than that and game over. We simply don't get bang for buck and fail to kill games when provided opportunity but don't seem to want to do anything to fix a problem that has been around as long as Jimmy Anderson was playing under 12s cricket.
2. Another day, another s#$t game of footy played at a s#$t venue. I know the club seems to make good coin playing games there but it is so hard to watch and I know for a fact that we are not seen as a destination club for trade targets because of it.
3. I no longer have any emotion for this team thus this will be my last contribution to this site. Farewell and thanks for the memories of 2016 which was so important for me for reasons more than simply football.

[China Dog]

1. Time for Bevo to go - and his weak assistants!
2. Time for a massive clean out - at least 8 off the list!!
3. Time to get new players with some heart, skills and pace!!!

[bulldogtragic]

Not learnt, more reinforced.
1. We were up by 29 at halftime but should have been much more than that and game over. We simply don't get bang for buck and fail to kill games when provided opportunity but don't seem to want to do anything to fix a problem that has been around as long as Jimmy Anderson was playing under 12s cricket.
2. Another day, another s#$t game of footy played at a s#$t venue. I know the club seems to make good coin playing games there but it is so hard to watch and I know for a fact that we are not seen as a destination club for trade targets because of it.
3. I no longer have any emotion for this team thus this will be my last contribution to this site. Farewell and thanks for the memories of 2016 which was so important for me for reasons more than simply football.

Go well. I said the same thing. Wish I stuck to it. I hope you stick to it.

[Sedat]

Plot twist I didn't see coming.....it appears as though we play like the team born from focus groups and GWS from blood and boots.

[EasternWest]

Go well. I said the same thing. Wish I stuck to it. I hope you stick to it.

Yeah but now that you're back a second bulldogtragexit has been blocked by the member states.

[GVGjr]

I'll miss your insightful comments Mitcha.
You will be missed

[Grantysghost]

I enjoy your posts Mitch so hope to see you back.

You too BT!

[Grantysghost]

Plot twist I didn't see coming.....it appears as though we play like the team born from focus groups and GWS from blood and boots.

I heard Bont talking recently, actually a few players about the lapses and that they're working on game situations and controlling the tempo.
I didn't see any tempo changes at all.
Just control the pill for 5 mins as a reset ffs! Maybe we just can't execute it.

[Bulldog4life]

1. Losing 2 key defenders in one match is disastrous.

2. Ward did the job on Bont in the 2nd half unfortunately.

3. I am not going anywhere. Christ I went to every game when we were last on the ladder under Hart. I am dedicated to the cause and will remain so until I die.

[Bullies]

Not learnt, more reinforced.
1. We were up by 29 at halftime but should have been much more than that and game over. We simply don't get bang for buck and fail to kill games when provided opportunity but don't seem to want to do anything to fix a problem that has been around as long as Jimmy Anderson was playing under 12s cricket.
2. Another day, another s#$t game of footy played at a s#$t venue. I know the club seems to make good coin playing games there but it is so hard to watch and I know for a fact that we are not seen as a destination club for trade targets because of it.
3. I no longer have any emotion for this team thus this will be my last contribution to this site. Farewell and thanks for the memories of 2016 which was so important for me for reasons more than simply football. 100% on point 2. We need to cut our losses. It will also be part of the reason we will lose players. They don't want to play there.

[Bullies]

1. We are mentally weak. We need a change at the top to energise the list.

2. We have no leadership. It can't be left to Bont all the time.

3. Beside very little what does VDM offer. He plays week in/week out for minimal reward.

[whythelongface]

Not learnt, more reinforced.
1. We were up by 29 at halftime but should have been much more than that and game over. We simply don't get bang for buck and fail to kill games when provided opportunity but don't seem to want to do anything to fix a problem that has been around as long as Jimmy Anderson was playing under 12s cricket.
2. Another day, another s#$t game of footy played at a s#$t venue. I know the club seems to make good coin playing games there but it is so hard to watch and I know for a fact that we are not seen as a destination club for trade targets because of it.
3. I no longer have any emotion for this team thus this will be my last contribution to this site. Farewell and thanks for the memories of 2016 which was so important for me for reasons more than simply football.

Hang in there mate. It is hard to take but we are all on the same journey (wherever that is to). One thing is that we all bleed red, white and blue and shard the same frustrations.

[westbulldog]

1. Playing at Ballarat may be good for the finances but it isn't good for anything else.
2. Losing Richards and Jones from the backline depletes us, I can't say the same for Duryea and Keath.
3. yada yada yada we continue to lose games because of poor goalkicking and the coaches and club simply couldn't care less.

[chef]

1. Toby Greene is the best captain in the AFL. What a follow me type leader, as much as a grub he is i wish he was ours.

2. Ballarat are the best games of the season. Love the suburban feel over the lifeless sterile stadiums.

3. Maybe im just content nowadays but results dont bother me anymore, happy just to watch the footy win or lose. Enjoyed todays game a lot.

4. Hope a few of our players family members dont read this forum.

[SonofScray]

1. We haven’t beaten anyone that’s carried any semblance of form into a game.
2. The players are scared of Toby.
3. Whoever decided to send Lobb back over Naughton is a goose.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

3. Whoever decided to send Lobb back over Naughton is a goose.

Yeah that was dumb. Real dumb.

[EasternWest]

3. Whoever decided to send Lobb back over Naughton is a goose.

Bears repeating

[Grantysghost]

Yeah that was dumb. Real dumb.

Maybe we were thinking taking Naughton away 1.)Frees up Taylor to intercept at will and B.) Takes a great pressure player away from our f50. Considering the amount of scores gws generate from d50 source I'm sure that was a consideration.

[bulldogtragic]

Maybe we were thinking taking Naughton away 1.)Frees up Taylor to intercept at will and B.) Takes a great pressure player away from our f50. Considering the amount of scores gws generate from d50 source I'm sure that was a consideration.

Taylor was already taking intercepts at will. You could argue Lobb’s height and reach might’ve been more useful with good entries. Pretty dumb decision. It happens. Sometimes otherwise smart people make dumb decisions.

[Grantysghost]

Taylor was already taking intercepts at will. You could argue Lobb’s height and reach might’ve been more useful with good entries. Pretty dumb decision. It happens. Sometimes otherwise smart people make dumb decisions.

Just trying to think about why they mightve made the move.
Not sure I like it either.

[bulldogtragic]

Just trying to think about why they mightve made the move.
Not sure I like it either.

I think the only people that liked it was GWS people and Aaron Naughton not having to play defence again. :D

Edit: I mean imagine you are the GWS coach. Bevo moves back Naughton. What does he do? Move Taylor forward to keep the screws on Naughton and look for a goal or two? But Taylor is dominating intercepting. Does he move him to Marra or Lobb who was a big reach advantage?

In the end Kingsley didn’t have to make a decision. Just let us put a guy who’s never played defence in defence, take his extra height from our forward line and keep Taylor in place and dominating Naughton and entire HB. Kingsley must have been thrilled to not have to make a decision.

[GVGjr]

1 - We didn't lose yesterday because of a lack of effort. There were some exceptionally exhausted players coming to the bench
2 - Our forwards didn't fire at all and when we needed some composure in the 3rd quarter it was lacking
3 - Great to have JJ back and he looked dangerous.

Damn shame that Bruce copped that injury and while I haven't heard anything yet that's not a nice way for him to finish his career.

[bornadog]

1. Buzz needs to mold himself on Sam Taylor as a young intercept marking backman

2. GWS move the ball better than we do, coach needs to adjust to a more fluent, game plan. We tend to just slam the ball on the foot to get out of trouble.

3. Our tall marking forwards had no chance by banging the ball in high so GWS can just take it out easily

[meenies]

My 3 things all revolve around our back structure in the third quarter and revolved around Duryea who was constantly left with the decision to leave Greene to try and stop the loose person before him or stay on him.
1. The instructions from coaches should have been to stay but Greene's side no matter what. If the other bloke scores so be it.
2. The instructions from coaches should have been to other other (so called small defenders) to stay on your man in the back line so they could not feed easy passes to Greene.
3. From my seat in the grandstand it looks like Greene took advantage of umpires being blindsided and no cameras and "attempted" to eye-gouge Duryea in the pocket whilst they were on the ground next to the boundary line in Q3. Very much looked like a "Bont gouge".

[Mantis]

1/ Do we get more concussions than any other team? Especially to defenders.

2/ Goal-kicking matters! We should've been up by 8 goals at 1/2 time and put the game to bed. Yep, conditions were tricky, but we simply needed to convert our good play on the scoreboard.

3/ Rolling up Macrae and Smith as HF's is leaving too much to too few in the forward 1/2, especially when the opposition have some quality defenders.

4/ I'm over seeing Bailey Smith getting 6 kicks and 16 handballs... it makes no use of his talents and our game style.

[josie]

Our defensive woes have been discussed a lot, including yesterday’s loss. What struck me was how poorly in yesterday’s second half we either bombed it in to F50 and/or our forwards did not lead well, and even more obvious was the ridiculous ease with which ground balls inside our F50 were cleared by GWS (especially in Q4). I’m not sure it was all due to GWS’s faster players either. Really like Tragician’s Q-why didn’t we move Bont to F50? He was well held as a mid - why not move him forward, or even back for leadership and stability.

Hope Arty returns against Tigers. His spark and chemistry would be useful. Might help Marra return to form too.

[SonofScray]

My 3 things all revolve around our back structure in the third quarter and revolved around Duryea who was constantly left with the decision to leave Greene to try and stop the loose person before him or stay on him.
1. The instructions from coaches should have been to stay but Greene's side no matter what. If the other bloke scores so be it.
2. The instructions from coaches should have been to other other (so called small defenders) to stay on your man in the back line so they could not feed easy passes to Greene.
3. From my seat in the grandstand it looks like Greene took advantage of umpires being blindsided and no cameras and "attempted" to eye-gouge Duryea in the pocket whilst they were on the ground next to the boundary line in Q3. Very much looked like a "Bont gouge".
Re 3 - saw it too, right in front of me. Dropped an elbow, then raked his hands over his face.

[bornadog]

Re 3 - saw it too, right in front of me. Dropped an elbow, then raked his hands over his face.

I really hate that bloke, little POS

[Flamethrower]

1. We need a real "junk yard dog" to play in the backline - someone willing to make life miserable for little shits like Greene.

2. We need to recruit some midfielders with genuine leg speed.

3. We need to replace our team doctors with the medics from Port who allowed Aliir Aliir to play after a significant head knock without testing for concussion. (Not actually serious - Port should lose all of their premiership points over this).

[EasternWest]

3. We need to replace our team doctors with the Quacks from Port who allowed Aliir Aliir to play after a significant head knock without testing for concussion. (Not actually serious - Port should lose all of their premiership points over this).

That guy was out cold on impact. There's no need for a concussion test - he doesn't play again. That was crazy.

[Danny the snakeman]

3. Maybe im just content nowadays but results dont bother me anymore, happy just to watch the footy win or lose. Enjoyed todays game a lot.


Yeah i keep forgetting when we finally won a GF in 16 ( 47 yr wait for me ) that i said i couldn't care less if we never won another game again.

[Dry Rot]

1. We have learnt nothing from our disastrous third quarter grand final appearance. No Plan B, nothing seems to have been done to counter being sliced up down the middle.

2. Like others have said, we need a big clean out and a rebuild. However Scott, West and Poulter are not part of that - all three belong in the team.

3. I am beginning to see the merit in those who argue that we need a new coach and assistant coaches.

[jeemak]

I actually commented on how much I was enjoying Naughton's efforts. It would have been silly to take him out of the forward line when the only option left was Lobb who doesn't have the competitiveness to be the number one in an outnumbered situation.

Losing Lobb made things harder for Naughton forward, you can't expect the same output from him when there's no tall support at all. However, Lobb would have been smashed even harder without any tall support and that's why it made sense for him to go back.

GWS didn't do us on the outlet because of Lobb, they did it because of poor positioning from a rattled and disorganised defence.

[Danjul]

1. Buzz needs to mold himself on Sam Taylor as a young intercept marking backman

2. GWS move the ball better than we do, coach needs to adjust to a more fluent, game plan. We tend to just slam the ball on the foot to get out of trouble.

3. Our tall marking forwards had no chance by banging the ball in high so GWS can just take it out easily

perfect summary of the last two seasons.

[Topdog]

1. Teams aren't afraid of us, they know even down 30 that it only takes 2 goals and the Bulldogs crumble.
2. Bevo is done
3. Marra might as well not even bother driving to Ballarat

[Ozza]

1. If Luke Beveridge can't get the best out of this talented list, then his time is up, regardless of having gotten us our drought breaking premiership. You only have to look at St Kilda - where their level of talent is drastically below ours - to see the difference a coach makes. We need to face up to the reality that we have been unable to make the top four at any time in the last 9 years, that team selection has been an issue for years, that the game plan is very poor in a number of ways, and that he has lost his way to a point where his stubborness to make the obvious moves is costing us multiple games each year.

2. He won't take responsibility. He'll treat the media that are asking perfectly reasonable questions with disdain. And presumably not be questioned strongly within.

3. I've seen far far worse Bulldogs teams over the last 40 years. Things have been far more grim. But i've never been less engaged with the footy club.

[GVGjr]

Ozza, I haven't noticed point 2 being an issue this year. He's far more relaxed with the media now.

[Critter]

Bears repeating

And once more, only this time I'll name the goose. His initials are Luke Beveridge

[Mantis]

1. If Luke Beveridge can't get the best out of this talented list, then his time is up, regardless of having gotten us our drought breaking premiership. You only have to look at St Kilda - where their level of talent is drastically below ours - to see the difference a coach makes. We need to face up to the reality that we have been unable to make the top four at any time in the last 9 years, that team selection has been an issue for years, that the game plan is very poor in a number of ways, and that he has lost his way to a point where his stubborness to make the obvious moves is costing us multiple games each year.

2. He won't take responsibility. He'll treat the media that are asking perfectly reasonable questions with disdain. And presumably not be questioned strongly within.

3. I've seen far far worse Bulldogs teams over the last 40 years. Things have been far more grim. But i've never been less engaged with the footy club.

Whilst it was a frustrating loss there was some unique circumstances which make these statements a little off the mark from where I sit

We were totally on top until we lost 2 key defenders and whilst we can argue if the personnel changes to keep us in front were the right moves, I’m willing to give the coach the benefit of the doubt in this loss.

That’s not to say he shouldn’t be under pressure if we fail on Friday night… assuming of course we don’t suffer more injuries which is par for the course with our team at present.

[Sedat]

Whilst it was a frustrating loss there was some unique circumstances which make these statements a little off the mark from where I sit

We were totally on top until we lost 2 key defenders and whilst we can argue if the personnel changes to keep us in front were the right moves, I?m willing to give the coach the benefit of the doubt in this loss.

That?s not to say he shouldn?t be under pressure if we fail on Friday night? assuming of course we don?t suffer more injuries which is par for the course with our team at present.
Some of the behind the goals vision that King and Montagna showed last night from the 2nd half was pretty damning - Duryea was trying to plug holes and was caught in no-mans land 3-4 times that allowed Greene easy looks out the back. Losing the 2 key defenders in-game and also not having quality defenders like Jones and Richards down back marshalling the troops and maintaining structure really hurt. Also our forward half pressure game falling apart in the 2nd half was most untimely, allowing GWS easy passage out of D50.

Having said all that, we should be better than a 10-9 team this year based on talent levels (and talent available) so I can see both sides of the argument. We are clearly underperforming based on internal expectations - there is still time to rectify for 2023.

[meenies]

Some of the behind the goals vision that King and Montagna showed last night from the 2nd half was pretty damning - Duryea was trying to plug holes and was caught in no-mans land 3-4 times that allowed Greene easy looks out the back. Losing the 2 key defenders in-game and also not having quality defenders like Jones and Richards down back marshalling the troops and maintaining structure really hurt. Also our forward half pressure game falling apart in the 2nd half was most untimely, allowing GWS easy passage out of D50.

King & Montagna just saying what I said in an earlier post. Bailey Dale said much the same thing that they were too far in front of the ball so all structure was gone come the quick rebound. Duyrea was damned whatever he did as there was no back up for him.

To me the issue was not our tall backs but the smaller ones. It happened over and over, so Bubba, what were you advising them to do?

[Sedat]

To me the issue was not our tall backs but the smaller ones. It happened over and over, so Bubba, what were you advising them to do?
Side issue, but Spangher has copped some strong criticism on here for how the forwards are working together - forward line cohesion is by no means perfect but it has improved as the year has progressed. Bubba has skated by this year and he is in charge of the backs - it's a fair call.

Duryea wasn't absolved from some responsibility - he was uncharacteristically sloppy with his positioning on a couple of those edits. Jones and Richards cannot come back quick enough.

[bornadog]

Duryea wasn't absolved from some responsibility - he was uncharacteristically sloppy with his positioning on a couple of those edits. Jones and Richards cannot come back quick enough.

We are really having issues with the smaller forwards kicking goals against us. Elliot 4 goals, Papley 4, Greene 5 and I think Duryea has been on these players each time. WE need a solution, but I don't think we have anyone that can defend on these smaller types.

[Grantysghost]

We are really having issues with the smaller forwards kicking goals against us. Elliot 4 goals, Papley 4, Greene 5 and I think Duryea has been on these players each time. WE need a solution, but I don't think we have anyone that can defend on these smaller types.

He must have went to St.Bedes.

[bornadog]

He must have went to St.Bedes.

We don't seem to have any one else to shut down small forwards.

[Ozza]

We don't seem to have any one else to shut down small forwards.

Its not about individual match ups. It is about the way we defend the entire ground and the ease with which the opposition get out the back of us. Its not a one week thing - it is ALL the time. It is how we play. Oppositions know this about us, we are extremely easy to play against in this regard.

To lose two backmen, and to put Rory Lobb of all players back there - when he's never played in defence before, was just straight out incompetence, and completely unfair on the likes of Duryea and Dale who were trying to hold the backline together with their own two hands. Bruce shouldn't have been there in the first place, and its very sad for his career to end after the last couple of years.

[bornadog]

Its not about individual match ups. It is about the way we defend the entire ground and the ease with which the opposition get out the back of us. Its not a one week thing - it is ALL the time. It is how we play. Oppositions know this about us, we are extremely easy to play against in this regard.

To lose two backmen, and to put Rory Lobb of all players back there - when he's never played in defence before, was just straight out incompetence, and completely unfair on the likes of Duryea and Dale who were trying to hold the backline together with their own two hands. Bruce shouldn't have been there in the first place, and its very sad for his career to end after the last couple of years.

I don't believe moving Naughton back would have made much difference either.

[Mantis]

Its not about individual match ups. It is about the way we defend the entire ground and the ease with which the opposition get out the back of us. Its not a one week thing - it is ALL the time. It is how we play. Oppositions know this about us, we are extremely easy to play against in this regard.

To lose two backmen, and to put Rory Lobb of all players back there - when he's never played in defence before, was just straight out incompetence, and completely unfair on the likes of Duryea and Dale who were trying to hold the backline together with their own two hands. Bruce shouldn't have been there in the first place, and its very sad for his career to end after the last couple of years.

What was the alternative? At least in the 1st half Naughton was keeping Taylor occupied and breaking equal in most contests... it would've been even more difficult if Taylor got things all his own way.

And yep, teams know how to play against us, but we were keeping things in check when we had our full allotment of players and if not for some quite awful goal-kicking should've gone to the main break 40+ points clear.

[jeemak]

If Lobb failed up forward being the lone tall in lieu of Naughton going back the coach would be getting smacked for it. It was a no-win situation.

[azabob]

We don't seem to have any one else to shut down small forwards.

Cleary looks likely but needs to put on strength and size.

I copped shit for suggesting Melbourne have a good list manager/draft identification/talent management/savvy trading but they found a small defender in the form of Judd McVee via the rookie list.

We really are struggling to identify talent at the back end of the drafts (including the rookie draft).

[Grantysghost]

Cleary looks likely but needs to put on strength and size.

I copped shit for suggesting Melbourne have a good list manager/draft identification/talent management/savvy trading but they found a small defender in the form of Judd McVee via the rookie list.

We really are struggling to identify talent at the back end of the drafts (including the rookie draft).

They have been amazing at recruitment.

[Danjul]

They have been amazing at recruitment.
That is why we should have played Baker on Saturday. He must be close to our fastest.

Played well last time, got a goal and set up others in less than 60% game time and then dropped.

[Grantysghost]

If Lobb failed up forward being the lone tall in lieu of Naughton going back the coach would be getting smacked for it. It was a no-win situation.

Marra is tall. How dare you!

[Danjul]

If Lobb failed up forward being the lone tall in lieu of Naughton going back the coach would be getting smacked for it. It was a no-win situation.
We didn?t have to get many goals, we were 5 up. All we had to do was

Naughton back to prevent 3 behinds.
English forward for a while to kick 1 behind.
Lobb to the ruck to simply body their bloke.
Bont forward to make a target and put his tag under pressure.
Weightman to centre for a while to get him into the game.
JUH to anywhere. (but he did not look fit?)

[lemmon]

If Lobb failed up forward being the lone tall in lieu of Naughton going back the coach would be getting smacked for it. It was a no-win situation.

Does it have to be one or the other though? Lobb went back for the third quarter (I didn't think he was too bad either, he just wasn't a net positive), and Taylor starts to dominate Naughton. Why not change it for the final term and switch the two over with Naughton back and Lobb ahead of the footy? At least Naughton has some capacity to intercept the footy.

I felt like our strategy in the coach's box was if Plan A wasn't working, don't go to Play B, try Plan A harder.

Why didn't the coaching group adjust to some of what was happening on the fly?

Bont was tagged out of the game after quarter time - either put him in front of the footy with Bailey Smith coming on-ball and force Ward to play full back, or put him to a half-back flank where all structure has gone out the window and he can coordinate traffic. Taylor is getting on top of Naughton in the second half and Marra is having no impact - send Naughton to the backline and have Marra stick a forearm in Taylor's back, try to take them both out of the game and make Cody the primary target. GWS are getting a run on in the third term - put Lobb into the ruck and have English float back as a spare defender.

I'm not particularly upset about the loss because I felt like losing Keath and Bruce put us on a hiding to nothing, but I also think that we could have defended the position we were in far more effectively.

To me, it felt like being 2-0 up and copping a red card in the 60th minute. Yes, the pressure will come, but the coaching team should have pulled on more levers when the game started slipping.

[Danjul]

Does it have to be one or the other though? Lobb went back for the third quarter (I didn't think he was too bad either, he just wasn't a net positive), and Taylor starts to dominate Naughton. Why not change it for the final term and switch the two over with Naughton back and Lobb ahead of the footy? At least Naughton has some capacity to intercept the footy.

I felt like our strategy in the coach's box was if Plan A wasn't working, don't go to Play B, try Plan A harder.

Why didn't the coaching group adjust to some of what was happening on the fly?

Bont was tagged out of the game after quarter time - either put him in front of the footy with Bailey Smith coming on-ball and force

.

There has never been a Plan B.

It is Modern Management Theory. Anyone who cannot use Plan A successfully should not be here.

[bornadog]

If Lobb failed up forward being the lone tall in lieu of Naughton going back the coach would be getting smacked for it. It was a no-win situation.

Also we were trying to cover for two Key backmen out with one forward.

as GG said earlier, take out Lever and May and see what happens to Melbourne. Out coached is a bullshit statement.

[Mantis]

We didn?t have to get many goals, we were 5 up. All we had to do was

Naughton back to prevent 3 behinds.
English forward for a while to kick 1 behind.
Lobb to the ruck to simply body their bloke.
Bont forward to make a target and put his tag under pressure.
Weightman to centre for a while to get him into the game.
JUH to anywhere. (but he did not look fit?)

Lobb did play in the ruck in the 2nd half, Bont did play in the forward line in the 2nd half, Weightman did push up the ground to get involved.

To suggest that we did little to try and maintain or build on our lead is factually incorrect.

[G-Mo77]

Cleary looks likely but needs to put on strength and size.

I copped shit for suggesting Melbourne have a good list manager/draft identification/talent management/savvy trading but they found a small defender in the form of Judd McVee via the rookie list.

We really are struggling to identify talent at the back end of the drafts (including the rookie draft).

Have we nailed any late picks since Dalrymple left? We've had some free hits the last few drafts and lots of picks eaten by F/S and Academy so that hasn't helped in that regard. Seems like we've shot blanks on the very late picks and rookie drafts.

[bornadog]

Have we nailed any late picks since Dalrymple left? We've had some free hits the last few drafts and lots of picks eaten by F/S and Academy so that hasn't helped in that regard. Seems like we've shot blanks on the very late picks and rookie drafts.

Absolutely agree, has been a big problem and that is why we don't have depth

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Have we nailed any late picks since Dalrymple left? We've had some free hits the last few drafts and lots of picks eaten by F/S and Academy so that hasn't helped in that regard. Seems like we've shot blanks on the very late picks and rookie drafts.

How many picks have we nailed at all since Dal left? We've had a couple f/s and academy picks requiring little work. Our top picks have been fine but even our 2nds have been dubious. I'm not going to write off Clarke just yet but he hasn't really shown anything at vfl level.

It's tough to assess the drafting given picks being eaten up but you're absolutely right. Finding gold late in drafts would have been a huge boost for us lately.

[Grantysghost]

How many picks have we nailed at all since Dal left? We've had a couple f/s and academy picks requiring little work. Our top picks have been fine but even our 2nds have been dubious. I'm not going to write off Clarke just yet but he hasn't really shown anything at vfl level.

It's tough to assess the drafting given picks being eaten up but you're absolutely right. Finding gold late in drafts would have been a huge boost for us lately.

It's alert not alarmed stage for me presently with out later picks over the last 5 or so years.

[bulldogtragic]

Have we nailed any late picks since Dalrymple left? We've had some free hits the last few drafts and lots of picks eaten by F/S and Academy so that hasn't helped in that regard. Seems like we've shot blanks on the very late picks and rookie drafts.

I don’t think we as a rule like using rookie draft picks on kids. Cavarra, Hayes, Scott (SSP), Gowers, Baker (SSP), Roarke rookied three times, McComb etc. As far as genuine rookie types go, McNeil, La Young, Parker & Sweet are about it recently. It’s great we’ve tried some Cat B’s, but Buku, Raak & Tweedie haven’t delivered big results and we live in hope on JOD. There’s some great young players from the rookie draft, but we will never know. We seem to be very strong in our philosophy on how to use the rookie list for VFL players, recycled players and our own delisted players.

And then later ND picks like Porter, Butler & Green got cut reasonably quickly.

I’m hoping this year is the year we cut and look to find some kids to regenerate an old list with depth problems.

[GVGjr]

Have we nailed any late picks since Dalrymple left? We've had some free hits the last few drafts and lots of picks eaten by F/S and Academy so that hasn't helped in that regard. Seems like we've shot blanks on the very late picks and rookie drafts.

It's somewhat complicated but the club had faith that topping up would be sufficient.
In 2020 covid wrecked most of the junior comps so it would have been a bit risky to be selecting late and then we've had the Marra and Darcy picks to contend with. We will probably have the same challenge with bringing in Croft. We should have done a lot more last year and taken some chances.
Our 'lack of depth' is because of our retention of marginally talented players more than anything else and our course the club rates the list as strong enough and has been topping up. We now have to break the cycle and cut into the list deeper than we traditionally have.

[Curly5]

They seem to lack belief that they are good enough to get there. "Why not us?" which we started, has been forgotten, and has been taken over by opponents.