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Ultimate player ratings: Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane rate every Western Bulldogs player
Ultimate player ratings: Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane rate every Western Bulldogs player
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As our rollout of the ultimate player ratings continues, JON RALPH and GLENN MCFARLANE run their rule over the Bulldogs? list to rate every Western Bulldogs player.
Aaron Naughton is fresh from signing a mind-blowing eight-season deal that will run through until the end of the 2032 season.
As the Bulldogs try to lock Naughton?s fellow key forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to his own mega deal with mounting interest from rival clubs, it?s worth raising a pertinent question.
Will Ugle-Hagan give Naughton wind-burn going past him as the Dogs? best key forward in 2024?
We know the two highly-rated Bulldogs play slightly different roles - and complement each other in doing so - but in terms of sheer goal-kicking figures, it wouldn?t surprise if Ugle-Hagan secures his first Bulldogs? goal-kicking award this season.
Criteria: Prediction of their 2024 performance based on their 2023 season, expected improvement and role in their side.
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Naughton is the sort of hulking key forward the Dogs have always craved. He is strong overhead and he brings the ball to ground for the smaller forwards.
The 24-year-old has kicked 142 goals across the past three seasons, including 44 last year to secure his second straight club goal-kicking award.
Ugle-Hagan, who turns 22 in April, might have challenged Naughton for the club honours if he had kicked straight.
Therein lies his room for improvement. He kicked 35.35 in 2023, with his accuracy rating judged poor, according to Champion Data.
If JUH can change that this season, he could challenge Naughton, with coach Luke Beveridge likely licking his lips in anticipation at two key forwards who should kick 100 goals between them in 2024.
Ugle-Hagan was unfairly marked in his first few seasons, especially for a young key forward learning his craft. But as he prepares to enter his fourth AFL season, he is ready to take his game to a new level - and Naughton can continue to help him get there.
In our 2024 ratings of the Bulldogs, based on last year?s performances and the anticipation of what is to come this season, we have Naughton marginally ahead of Ugle-Hagan.
But Jamarra is coming at a rate of knots.
The Bulldogs have drawn criticism in recent years for their lack of success, given the top end talent they have at their disposal.
Marcus Bontempelli has been in the conversation as the game?s best player for years now. Tim English is the best ruckman in the game, and Tom Liberatore is still criminally underrated by some, even if he has changed that narrative for many in recent seasons.
But just off the Bulldogs? ?Big Three? sits Naughton and Ugle-Hagan (with an anticipated 2024 spike on his solid performances last season).
Bailey Smith had been hoping to play his way back in the Bulldogs? top five players after a frustrating 2023.
But he will spend the entire season on the sidelines after suffering an ACL injury at the start of this preseason, which reflects his ratings in the Bulldogs? list.
The big question is whether Smith?s comeback will be in red, white and blue or otherwise as he looks at making a big call on his playing future at the end of the season.
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