Rating the 2021 Trade Period

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Treloar didn't just fall into our lap. JUH - well we again had to find the points top match a number 1 pick

Yea but did Power identify this talent is the question. Not really. I suppose identifying draft talent isn’t his job so he gets credit for getting us the points.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

If we’re going to go after a state based ruck why didn’t we target an uncontracted Strachan from Adelaide?

[josie]

If we’re going to go after a state based ruck why didn’t we target an uncontracted Strachan from Adelaide?

Could we be waiting to see who is delisted?

[GVGjr]

Treloar didn't just fall into our lap. JUH - well we again had to find the points top match a number 1 pick

We coughed up 6 draft picks to cover the points. We were certainly all chips in for him.

[GVGjr]

Could we be waiting to see who is delisted?

We could be but I doubt we would settle for what's left over.

[soupman]

If we’re going to go after a state based ruck why didn’t we target an uncontracted Strachan from Adelaide?

Strachan is contracted but is absolutely someone we should have been talking to.

This is what I mean I reject the idea that no one worth grabbing was traded. We weren't limited to only the players that actually got traded.

And I refuse to believe if we were serious we couldn't convince a potential starting ruck to come and fill the one glaring hole in an otherwise top two list where they will play virtually every week and get a decent pay rise (and possibly in their home state).

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Strachan is contracted but is absolutely someone we should have been talking to.

This is what I mean I reject the idea that no one worth grabbing was traded. We weren't limited to only the players that actually got traded.

And I refuse to believe if we were serious we couldn't convince a potential starting ruck to come and fill the one glaring hole in an otherwise top two list where they will play virtually every week and get a decent pay rise (and possibly in their home state).

Agreed soup.

Question is, why weren't we serious about doing that?

Why have they suddenly got faith in Sweet, why do they believe Martin can play more than 8 and 9 games (his last 2 seasons of footy) at 35?

I really find it astounding and for me it wasn't even about finding a 'Gawn beater', it was about coverage so that we don't have to use Hannan, Bont, Dunkley, Young, Schache etc. as rucks throughout the year.

[The Underdog]

Strachan is contracted but is absolutely someone we should have been talking to.

This is what I mean I reject the idea that no one worth grabbing was traded. We weren't limited to only the players that actually got traded.

And I refuse to believe if we were serious we couldn't convince a potential starting ruck to come and fill the one glaring hole in an otherwise top two list where they will play virtually every week and get a decent pay rise (and possibly in their home state).

There seems to be an assumption that players would automatically want to come and play for us if we offered them a role. Maybe we had a crack at Ceglar and he wanted to live in Torquay and have a 1st ruck role with less competition. Maybe we asked the question of Lynch or Strachan and they saw a veteran and 2 other young rucks and thought they'd be better off where they were, or in Strachan's case, didn't want to move. Maybe if we recruit one of these guys, Sweet walks and our depth is basically the same. I mean if it's Martin, English, Lynch, is that any better than Martin, English, Sweet?
While we can only judge by results (and this one is admittedly underwhelming), I'm often uncomfortable with the way people make assumptions of how people in the football department go about their jobs when we have essentially the faintest idea of what happens when we aren't watching. I mean half the forum has spent the year complaining about our lack of assistant coaching turnover (in a GF year) and then at the end, 2 of them get poached by other clubs (on the back of Gia last year), which seems to be a fairly strong endorsement that maybe they're ok at their jobs.

[bornadog]

Yea but did Power identify this talent is the question. Not really. I suppose identifying draft talent isn’t his job so he gets credit for getting us the points.

That isn't his job, we have a recruitment manager, however, we are talking about trading existing players, and he has done a great job.

[bornadog]

There seems to be an assumption that players would automatically want to come and play for us if we offered them a role. Maybe we had a crack at Ceglar and he wanted to live in Torquay and have a 1st ruck role with less competition. Maybe we asked the question of Lynch or Strachan and they saw a veteran and 2 other young rucks and thought they'd be better off where they were, or in Strachan's case, didn't want to move. Maybe if we recruit one of these guys, Sweet walks and our depth is basically the same. I mean if it's Martin, English, Lynch, is that any better than Martin, English, Sweet?
While we can only judge by results (and this one is admittedly underwhelming), I'm often uncomfortable with the way people make assumptions of how people in the football department go about their jobs when we have essentially the faintest idea of what happens when we aren't watching. I mean half the forum has spent the year complaining about our lack of assistant coaching turnover (in a GF year) and then at the end, 2 of them get poached by other clubs (on the back of Gia last year), which seems to be a fairly strong endorsement that maybe they're ok at their jobs.

Totally agree with this.

[soupman]

There seems to be an assumption that players would automatically want to come and play for us if we offered them a role. Maybe we had a crack at Ceglar and he wanted to live in Torquay and have a 1st ruck role with less competition. Maybe we asked the question of Lynch or Strachan and they saw a veteran and 2 other young rucks and thought they'd be better off where they were, or in Strachan's case, didn't want to move. Maybe if we recruit one of these guys, Sweet walks and our depth is basically the same. I mean if it's Martin, English, Lynch, is that any better than Martin, English, Sweet?

While we can only judge by results (and this one is admittedly underwhelming), I'm often uncomfortable with the way people make assumptions of how people in the football department go about their jobs when we have essentially the faintest idea of what happens when we aren't watching. I mean half the forum has spent the year complaining about our lack of assistant coaching turnover (in a GF year) and then at the end, 2 of them get poached by other clubs (on the back of Gia last year), which seems to be a fairly strong endorsement that maybe they're ok at their jobs.

All fair points.

For one specific target I accept that they may not want to come, but there is no one across the league that is both an upgrade on our current ruck stocks and would be prepared to come across for all that? It would be a clear step forward for so many players, and Strachan is a good example as he is stuck behind O'Brien who is the same age as him and clearly very good. If he is reluctant then we have to keep pushing to find a way to convince him. The fact the only ruck we have managed to attract is a guy who's career is basically over says to me we aren't offering much to these guys or trying very hard when we do.

I would give the benefit of the doubt as you have suggested except that this is two years in a row when we are smack bang in our Bont (and overall list) prime that we have just not addressed a clear weakness.

Also on the bolded about Sweet why should that matter? It hardly feels like we have earmarked Sweet as the heir apparent like Essendon had with Draper for example. Realistically there is a good chance if we drafted the best 21 year old ruck we could find they wouldn't be far off what we have seen from Sweet thus far, and the fact that we only offered him a proper contract when it was clear we weren't getting anything else and that we might lose him as well does not fill me with confidence.

If bringing in a player we actually see ourselves using as a first ruck means we lose a player we don't then I still think we improve our ruck division. As we continually show with fringe players getting new contracts (Hayes and Cavarra), if we don't rate our depth enough to play them then they aren't depth. Sweet has played 5 games across two seasons where we desperately needed a ruck, that doesn't make him depth, that makes him not good enough. Maybe that changes in the future but we are hardly giving off the impression we are confident in that plan.

[mjp]

Very Harsh Jee

You wouldn't want to see my rating then!

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Strachan is contracted but is absolutely someone we should have been talking to.

This is what I mean I reject the idea that no one worth grabbing was traded. We weren't limited to only the players that actually got traded.

And I refuse to believe if we were serious we couldn't convince a potential starting ruck to come and fill the one glaring hole in an otherwise top two list where they will play virtually every week and get a decent pay rise (and possibly in their home state).

He wasn’t contracted as late as august/September I believe. So he was certainly gettable.

[Ghost Dog]

David King

North Melbourne legend David King has praised the Western Bulldogs for having the ‘biggest premiership window’ in the competition, but criticised their inability to land an experienced ruckman during the trade period.

Despite an impressive run to the Grand Final, the Bulldogs’ ruck department was widely considered their biggest weakness in 2021.

Injuries restricted veteran recruit Stefan Martin to nine games, while Tim English showed he wasn’t ready to shoulder the load, with the club at times deploying defender Lewis Young as a makeshift ruck over him.


The Dogs were reportedly in the market for a ruckman over the exchange period, but the likes of Jonathon Ceglar (traded from Hawthorn to Geelong) and Peter Ladhams (traded from Port Adelaide to Sydney) moved elsewhere.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s Trading Day, King questioned why the Dogs didn’t prioritise acquiring a gun big man.

“I really worry about the fact that they haven’t gone after a ruckman. They’ve got the midfield, they’ve got everything there. I just don’t know why they didn’t take the risk using a future pick if it had to be to get an established ruckman,” the dual premiership Kangaroo said.

“Someone like (Todd) Goldstein or can you pry a Brodie Grundy? You’re in there now and I know they’re going to be in this window for a long period of time. So I don’t think one or two draft picks over the next couple of years would seriously impact what this group is going to be able to do for I think six to eight years.”

Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph highlighted that Ladhams’ management made contact with the Bulldogs, but the club’s need to retain draft points to match an early bid on father-son prodigy Sam Darcy limited its capacity to broker a trade.

King believes the Bulldogs have to maximise their window of opportunity with the current list and deliver more silverware.

“They’ve got the biggest window of anyone in the competition right now,” he said.

“If they don’t win two premierships in the next six years, it’s a blown opportunity. When you get the list build to correct like this, this is what it afford you, a sustained opportunity.

“If you asked all 18 coaches which group they’d love to get their hands on, I reckon the Dogs would come out favourably.”

St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna thinks the Bulldogs are backing in the natural improvement of English and Jordon Sweet to make them more competitive in the ruck.

“They were 19 points up in the third quarter of the Grand Final, you give Tim English and Jordon Sweet another 12 months and another pre-season to develop, give them a bit of faith and confidence to develop,” he said.

“I think they’ll be OK without that extra ruckman. When you do get in the window, history shows you do get the chance to play in multiple Grand Finals.”

The Bulldogs’ depth took a hit in the trade period through the departures of Young (Carlton) and Patrick Lipinski (Collingwood) to rival clubs.

But they were able to land former Hawk Tim O’Brien as an unrestricted free agent to give their defence a boost, having ranked 14th in the competition in intercept marks in 2021.

O’Brien showed the Dogs first hand how effective he can be in arguably a career-best performance against them in Round 22, gathering 24 disposals, 14 intercepts and six intercept marks with a 24.9 AFL Players Rating – all of which were rated elite by Champion Data.

“I love the Tim O’Brien addition, they really lack for an interceptor down back,” King said.

“If you look at the Grand Final when that ball came out of the middle, they really struggled to win it back.

“O’Brien gives you that versatility, it’s worth the risk at no cost.”


Welcome O'Brien. Good luck in the Ruck. If Lin Jong and Dunks can do it, so can you.

Pat Lipinski, Andrejs Everitt Mk II....

[hujsh]

People are so upset over not getting a ruck that the ruck thread is now closed it seems