southerncross
26-05-2007, 07:42 AM
How the Dogs are adding some bite to the bark (http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/how-the-dogs-are-adding-some-bite-to-the-bark/2007/05/25/1179601671712.html)
THE route to Rodney Eade's bunker-cum-office goes via an unmarked door behind an old grandstand through a jam-packed property room where you suspect you would find the socks worn by club legends Ted Whitten and Charlie Sutton if you dug deep enough.
But if such modest surroundings have been a way of life at one of the AFL's endangered species, they are now just a temporary inconvenience.
Outside, the wreckers have levelled the ground right to the old Doug Hawkins Wing, not a complicated task given most of the stands at Whitten Oval were just that - places to stand.
On a table in his office, the Bulldogs coach spreads out the plans for the ground's $19.5m redevelopment. Given that Federal, Victorian and local government money is being spent, grandiose words such as "state-of-the-art facilities" and "multipurpose community centre" are being used to describe the buildings that will circle the old ground.
But while the social benefits for working-class, multicultural Footscray are no doubt worthy, in football terms the gentrification of the old "kennel" means one thing: in their facilities, at least, the Bulldogs will no longer be the AFL's poor relations.
Eade is not sure how much the excitement that accompanied the swinging of the wrecking ball has rubbed off on the team that will play the Swans at Manuka Oval tomorrow. But, as the Dogs built momentum with an impressive victory over Collingwood last Sunday, it has not hurt.
"It does get depressing for people and it gives the opposition an advantage," says Eade of the old sheds. "The players can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and that will help retain players."
Something even more likely to help keep his team together than a big gymnasium and a heated pool is the prospect of success. The type of success so rare at a club that won its only premiership in 1954 that Eade is the only coach in the AFL who believes his supporters are not critical enough.
"They are terrific people, just really supportive of the place and the club," he says. "In a way that is a negative. The big clubs expect more. Do we accept mediocrity? Sometimes it's just a culture of survival, and success is third or fourth down the line."
Eade says he was never told to display the missionary zeal of a Kevin Sheedy when he took the Bulldogs job in late 2004 despite their perilous financial state. Yet he has worked out for himself what Bulldogs supporters needed having spent years battling to save their club - a bit of TLC.
So before last Sunday's sold-out match against Collingwood at Telstra Dome, the coach turned up unexpectedly in the Bulldogs cheer squad and had a chat with fans. Eade had read about the close contact the great Liverpool coach Bill Shankly had with the fans on the famous Kop.
"It's just that they are passionate about their club and they've been through a lot over the years," he says. "So they need a bit of acknowledgement and appreciation that you care about them."
The affection is being returned. Nudging 30,000 members and increasingly loved by outsiders for their skilful, attacking style, president David Smorgon is talking about the days when the Bulldogs will no longer need to "sell" home games to Canberra and Darwin to pad the bottom line, a factor that will put the Dogs at a competitive disadvantage against the Swans, who have support in the ACT.
In the meantime, Eade's salesmanship might seem surprising to those at the Swans who claimed he had been reluctant to embrace the vital role of "footballing ambassador" in Sydney. The same people who called him a "good match-day coach" in the backhanded way Kevin Rudd calls John Howard a "clever politician", the inference being he had not worked hard enough on other areas.
As much as the criticism angered him at the time, Eade has long tired of talking about the circumstances of his mid-season sacking in 2002. "Sydney is just a blur, to be honest," he says. "I don't think about it."
But he says that if his style has changed, that is the result of altered circumstances rather than the criticism that followed his departure from the Swans and briefly threatened his chances of getting a job elsewhere.
Eade says he is aware, for example, that his talented bunch of "Gen Y" players needs to be treated differently than the Gen X-ers he inherited in Sydney. But not because he had been too hard on some at the Swans. "Some people need the foot on the throat, some people need to be cuddled," he says. "It's about working out which is which."
Nor does Eade accept that he necessarily needed to "empower" his players as the Swans have done so successfully - not because he does not believe in strong player leadership, but because his young Bulldogs were not ready to be let off the leash.
"The first time at a camp I spoke about that and the players looked at me dumbfounded," he says. "In the end, I just worked out, maybe it was because they had been down for so long, but they wanted to be coached. They wanted direction about how to win and how to play. Now they'll challenge each other more and come and challenge me. But that is still a work in progress."
Despite the claim of Collingwood coach Michael Malthouse that the Bulldogs were in the top "two or three" in the competition, Eade believes his team is still a work in progress. The recruitment of Jason Akermanis seemed an obvious attempt to win a premiership while veteran stars Scott West, Brad Johnson, Chris Grant and Luke Darcy were still playing.
However, while Eade says Akermanis was "a matchwinner at below the odds price", the focus remains on recruiting and developing youngsters such as Shaun Higgins, a star in the win over Collingwood.
Meanwhile, if the bricks and mortar of the new facilities will come to symbolise the transformation of the Bulldogs from battling westies to worthy equals, Eade says some old-fashion fundamentals will be the cornerstones of any revival.
The strong support of "good football people", such as his football manager Matthew Drain. The sharp eye of recruiting chief Scott Clayton. The business acumen of chief executive Campbell Rose, who pulled off the redevelopment funding coup. And the support of Smorgon and a board that allows a Bulldogs coach to plan for the future with some certainty.
And at a club that has flirted with merger, relocation and liquidation, time is something far more luxurious than any of the fancy gadgetry you will find in the Dogs' new kennel.
THE route to Rodney Eade's bunker-cum-office goes via an unmarked door behind an old grandstand through a jam-packed property room where you suspect you would find the socks worn by club legends Ted Whitten and Charlie Sutton if you dug deep enough.
But if such modest surroundings have been a way of life at one of the AFL's endangered species, they are now just a temporary inconvenience.
Outside, the wreckers have levelled the ground right to the old Doug Hawkins Wing, not a complicated task given most of the stands at Whitten Oval were just that - places to stand.
On a table in his office, the Bulldogs coach spreads out the plans for the ground's $19.5m redevelopment. Given that Federal, Victorian and local government money is being spent, grandiose words such as "state-of-the-art facilities" and "multipurpose community centre" are being used to describe the buildings that will circle the old ground.
But while the social benefits for working-class, multicultural Footscray are no doubt worthy, in football terms the gentrification of the old "kennel" means one thing: in their facilities, at least, the Bulldogs will no longer be the AFL's poor relations.
Eade is not sure how much the excitement that accompanied the swinging of the wrecking ball has rubbed off on the team that will play the Swans at Manuka Oval tomorrow. But, as the Dogs built momentum with an impressive victory over Collingwood last Sunday, it has not hurt.
"It does get depressing for people and it gives the opposition an advantage," says Eade of the old sheds. "The players can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel and that will help retain players."
Something even more likely to help keep his team together than a big gymnasium and a heated pool is the prospect of success. The type of success so rare at a club that won its only premiership in 1954 that Eade is the only coach in the AFL who believes his supporters are not critical enough.
"They are terrific people, just really supportive of the place and the club," he says. "In a way that is a negative. The big clubs expect more. Do we accept mediocrity? Sometimes it's just a culture of survival, and success is third or fourth down the line."
Eade says he was never told to display the missionary zeal of a Kevin Sheedy when he took the Bulldogs job in late 2004 despite their perilous financial state. Yet he has worked out for himself what Bulldogs supporters needed having spent years battling to save their club - a bit of TLC.
So before last Sunday's sold-out match against Collingwood at Telstra Dome, the coach turned up unexpectedly in the Bulldogs cheer squad and had a chat with fans. Eade had read about the close contact the great Liverpool coach Bill Shankly had with the fans on the famous Kop.
"It's just that they are passionate about their club and they've been through a lot over the years," he says. "So they need a bit of acknowledgement and appreciation that you care about them."
The affection is being returned. Nudging 30,000 members and increasingly loved by outsiders for their skilful, attacking style, president David Smorgon is talking about the days when the Bulldogs will no longer need to "sell" home games to Canberra and Darwin to pad the bottom line, a factor that will put the Dogs at a competitive disadvantage against the Swans, who have support in the ACT.
In the meantime, Eade's salesmanship might seem surprising to those at the Swans who claimed he had been reluctant to embrace the vital role of "footballing ambassador" in Sydney. The same people who called him a "good match-day coach" in the backhanded way Kevin Rudd calls John Howard a "clever politician", the inference being he had not worked hard enough on other areas.
As much as the criticism angered him at the time, Eade has long tired of talking about the circumstances of his mid-season sacking in 2002. "Sydney is just a blur, to be honest," he says. "I don't think about it."
But he says that if his style has changed, that is the result of altered circumstances rather than the criticism that followed his departure from the Swans and briefly threatened his chances of getting a job elsewhere.
Eade says he is aware, for example, that his talented bunch of "Gen Y" players needs to be treated differently than the Gen X-ers he inherited in Sydney. But not because he had been too hard on some at the Swans. "Some people need the foot on the throat, some people need to be cuddled," he says. "It's about working out which is which."
Nor does Eade accept that he necessarily needed to "empower" his players as the Swans have done so successfully - not because he does not believe in strong player leadership, but because his young Bulldogs were not ready to be let off the leash.
"The first time at a camp I spoke about that and the players looked at me dumbfounded," he says. "In the end, I just worked out, maybe it was because they had been down for so long, but they wanted to be coached. They wanted direction about how to win and how to play. Now they'll challenge each other more and come and challenge me. But that is still a work in progress."
Despite the claim of Collingwood coach Michael Malthouse that the Bulldogs were in the top "two or three" in the competition, Eade believes his team is still a work in progress. The recruitment of Jason Akermanis seemed an obvious attempt to win a premiership while veteran stars Scott West, Brad Johnson, Chris Grant and Luke Darcy were still playing.
However, while Eade says Akermanis was "a matchwinner at below the odds price", the focus remains on recruiting and developing youngsters such as Shaun Higgins, a star in the win over Collingwood.
Meanwhile, if the bricks and mortar of the new facilities will come to symbolise the transformation of the Bulldogs from battling westies to worthy equals, Eade says some old-fashion fundamentals will be the cornerstones of any revival.
The strong support of "good football people", such as his football manager Matthew Drain. The sharp eye of recruiting chief Scott Clayton. The business acumen of chief executive Campbell Rose, who pulled off the redevelopment funding coup. And the support of Smorgon and a board that allows a Bulldogs coach to plan for the future with some certainty.
And at a club that has flirted with merger, relocation and liquidation, time is something far more luxurious than any of the fancy gadgetry you will find in the Dogs' new kennel.