What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread - Part 4

Remove this Banner Ad

St 07 said:
Well stats aren't the be and end all but Oskar Baker is elite for goal accuracy, kicks to handball ratio, marks and brooding angry appearance
Click to expand...
tormund-smiling.gif
 
Nat Fyfe said:
It was pretty badly interrupted. Although I don't think that's got much to do with his form, as he appeared to have gone backwards in 2022
Click to expand...
After the coke and head butting I think we can excuse a regression in form last year.
This year I think is absolutely pre-season related.
 
immortalmike said:
After the coke and head butting I think we can excuse a regression in form last year.
This year I think is absolutely pre-season related.
Click to expand...
I think a lot comes down to the style of footy we’re playing at the moment too is just not suited to him, he’s just never gonna be a number 1 guy in there I wouldn’t think, probably won’t win us games when we’re struggling or go into the midfield and turn the tide etc. Hes outside leaning and his best role is being fed the ball inside and bursting out of congestion. He was a mammoth in our fast paced attacking footy style of ‘21 because we didn’t lose in the clinches and he burnt teams on the back of that with his offensive workrate and speed & ‘directness’

This slow awful slog footy the teams playing right now compounds his weaknesses, yeah he has to adapt and get better on the inside and when things aren’t going his way but I don’t think the problem is he has regressed more that the whole side has regressed and that shows more in his game than others IMO
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Just Watching said:
He hasn't regressed at all.
Regress is a word that's used on Bigfooty far more than any other setting the world over, it seems.

If a young player isn't playing as well it doesn't mean their development or talent has diminished.

Ben Simmons has regessed. Bailey Smith has had a lower output start to the year.
Click to expand...

Plateaued is the word you're looking for.

Whether this is his baseline or whether he can shake things off and consistently return to the very high level we saw in the finals remains to be seen.

Right now there's a bit of Jake Stringer about his trajectory.
 
Norm De Guerre said:
Plateaued is the word you're looking for.

Whether this is his baseline or whether he can shake things off and consistently return to the very high level we saw in the finals remains to be seen.

Right now there's a bit of Jake Stringer about his trajectory.
Click to expand...
I think that is an awful comparison,

Jake is always unfit rocking up overweight and suffers numerous injuries because of it,

Bailey is in the best shape at the club if not the league and would be lucky to have missed 5 games in his career so far due to injury.
 
Foxman98 said:
I think that is an awful comparison,

Jake is always unfit rocking up overweight and suffers numerous injuries because of it,

Bailey is in the best shape at the club if not the league and would be lucky to have missed 5 games in his career so far due to injury.
Click to expand...
Im not comparing their physical preparedness or dedication to their craft. No sane person would do that.

Im clearly talking about the on field performance.

Both are supremely talented footballers who have peaks of brilliance followed by troughs of games that border on the ineffective.

Fortunately for us, Bailey still has plenty of time to even out his level of his performance. Stringer for mine is fast approaching the time where his career outside of his early days will looked back upon and be written off as a complete wash. The reality as it stands today is that Smiths last 12 months are still a fair way off the Sam Walsh level of outstanding consistency that he promised and we would've hoped for.
 
Norm De Guerre said:
Im not comparing their physical preparedness or dedication to their craft. No sane person would do that.

Im clearly talking about the on field performance.

Both are supremely talented footballers who have peaks of brilliance followed by troughs of games that border on the ineffective.

Fortunately for us, Bailey still has plenty of time to even out his level of his performance. Stringer for mine is fast approaching the time where his career outside of his early days will looked back upon and be written off as a complete wash. The reality as it stands today is that Smiths last 12 months are still a fair way off the Sam Walsh level of outstanding consistency that he promised and we would've hoped for.
Click to expand...
Baileys bad games are still not that bad Jake becomes uncompetitive and a genuine non factor
 
Norm De Guerre said:
Im not comparing their physical preparedness or dedication to their craft. No sane person would do that.

Im clearly talking about the on field performance.

Both are supremely talented footballers who have peaks of brilliance followed by troughs of games that border on the ineffective.

Fortunately for us, Bailey still has plenty of time to even out his level of his performance. Stringer for mine is fast approaching the time where his career outside of his early days will looked back upon and be written off as a complete wash. The reality as it stands today is that Smiths last 12 months are still a fair way off the Sam Walsh level of outstanding consistency that he promised and we would've hoped for.
Click to expand...

If Bailey Smith does not fix his disposal by foot I don't see him been anything more than a good player.

His foot skills for his position on the field, his role and fitness is a huge concern for me.
 
Intriguing article from the ABC.
I like the way they take a different and more considered angle on the way the game is played, even if I don't always agree with their conclusions.

www.abc.net.au

Spreading your wings — the tactical change that has the Demons on the attack

As wing tactics continue to evolve, the Demons have gone back to the future with the way they're tackling 2023, writes Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
Won’t be a complete player until he cuts his hair.

1680750990338.jpeg
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

**** that guy. Turncoat money hungry douchebag
 
Tom Browne gave us the latest news on the search for Gillon McLachlan's successor, with Andrew Dillon leading the race.

Dillon is currently the league's General Manager of Football Operations. Western Bulldogs president Kylie Watson-Wheeler has also been touted as a possible replacement.
 
If that was a "slam" it was done with all the force of being slapped around the ears with a wet lettuce leaf.

Kinda like listening to the Adz and Dunks podcast. Something I once subjected myself to exactly 10 minutes of.

Personally. As I sat on my couch last week all I could muster was a Meh.. whenever I saw his mug.
 
Just Watching said:
He hasn't regressed at all.
Regress is a word that's used on Bigfooty far more than any other setting the world over, it seems.

If a young player isn't playing as well it doesn't mean their development or talent has diminished.

Ben Simmons has regessed. Bailey Smith has had a lower output start to the year.
Click to expand...

It doesn't necessarily mean that; but in Smith's case, he has absolutely regressed.

I'm a statistician and I can tell you that the word regression is used much more in the field of statistics than on BigFooty.
 
Bulldogs85 said:
Can some please get pass the paywall

Click to expand...

AFL News: How the Western Bulldogs trolled St Kilda at famous ‘upside down’ 2017 AFL draft​

It’s recognised as one of the most fascinating drafts of the past decade, as clubs with picks in the 20s and 30s arguably trumped those inside the top 10. So what really went on?

Jay Clark

April 7, 2023 - 12:04PM


Manager Paul Connors made the call to Western Bulldogs to deliver the good news.

It was only days out from the 2017 national draft and things were shaping up beautifully for the Dogs’ national recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple.

The kennel had picks nine and 16, and word was beginning to filter through that star West Australian key defender Aaron Naughton, 23, was set to slide past St Kilda’s pair of picks to the Dogs’ first choice.

The Saints had the chance to land two generational stars and opted for Hunter Clark (pick seven) and Nick Coffield (eight), who may finally be able to hit their peaks this season under new coach Ross Lyon after terrible injury setbacks for the pair last year.

But for a club which opted for Jack Billings (three) over Marcus Bontempelli (four) in 2013 and Paddy McCartin (pick one) over Christian Petracca (two) the next year, the 2017 draft was another set of key crossroads for the Saints’ list build.

Aaron Naughton slid to the Bulldogs at pick nine. Picture: Michael Klein

Aaron Naughton slid to the Bulldogs at pick nine. Picture: Michael Klein

And in a draft which might go down as the deepest of the past decade, it’s Naughton that looms as the pick of the bunch, five years after Luke Beveridge turned the star intercepting defender with a wobbly kick into one of the game’s most dangerous and courageous key forwards.

At pick 16, the Dogs nabbed pacy wingman Ed Richards to nail their two key draft targets on the night, after Carlton overlooked Richards in favour of wingman Lochie O’Brien with the Bryce Gibbs pick (10).

It was the last draft before live trading kicked-in the following year and one of the most intriguing drafts for the past decade, as clubs with picks in the 20s and 30s arguably trumped those inside the top 10.

“It is a draft which really stands out for its depth and probably the best one in that regard for many years because you have a look at the quality of players taken in the second and third-rounds, it’s amazing really,” a recruiter said.

Much has already been said about Brisbane’s choice between the man billed as the next Petracca in Cameron Rayner, the powerful ballwinner from Western Jets, and Andrew Brayshaw, the ultra-consistent captain-in-the-making at pick No. 1.

2017 AFL DRAFT TOP 10​

PICK PLAYERCLUBSC POINTS CAREER AVGSC POINTS 2023 AVGGAMESCONTRACT EXPIRY
1Cam RaynerBris6274902025
2Andrew BrayshawFrem91881032025
3Paddy DowCarl53N/A632023
4Luke Davies-UniackeNM83149732025
5Adam CerraCarl7890972025
6Jaidyn StephensonNM6943922025
7Hunter ClarkSt K6965712023
8Nick CoffieldSt K66N/A522023
9Aaron NaughtonWB68781032024
10Lochie O'BrienCarl5223632024

SOURCE: CHAMPION DATA

Most clubs, to be fair, had Rayner slated at pick one due to his higher ceiling, and ability to break through packs and hit the scoreboard, although Brayshaw was likened to Geelong champion Joel Selwood for his unwavering efforts around the ball.

Rayner, 22, has come off a knee reconstruction in 2021 and is facing a big year in a new defensive position. He is travelling OK, but there are some who still think his best position is goal kicking midfielder-forward.

But it was Luke Davies-Uniacke who was labelled the riskiest pick, given his scintillating upside, but inconsistent tendencies in his junior days.

He had a Chris Judd-burst and swivel through stoppages, but North Melbourne’s newest poster boy has taken five years to explode after groin injuries derailed his early years.

The Kangaroos had pick four that year, and were eyeing-off Davies-Uniacke for the way he could break through tackles and explode away from congestion to help spice-up a pedestrian midfield at the time.

Who will be the best player of the 2017 draft crop?​

Aaron Naughton (pick nine)
Andrew Brayshaw (pick two)
Luke Davies-Uniacke (pick four)
Cam Rayner (pick one)
Tim Kelly (pick 24)
Tom De Koning (pick 30)
Sam Taylor (pick 28)
Oscar Allen (pick 21)
Other
Cast your vote


“It was a bold selection because there was just no guarantees with him. The good was very good, but there some inconsistencies, too,” a veteran talent scout said.

“It’s a credit to him, because he has certainly arrived. But North has had to be patient, too. They would be thrilled, now.”

Former Haileybury coach Matthew Lloyd said he was “staggered” by Davies-Uniacke’s lack of development in his first two seasons, and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the club back then.

“He was the best junior I have seen come through,” Lloyd said in 2019.

“I don’t think they have managed Luke Davies-Uniacke very well.”

Davies-Uniacke’s highlight reel was as good as any, but there were times and lulls in games when recruiters would see him fade more into the background.

But over the past two years the Kangaroo has become one of the game’s most promising breakaway midfielders, and this season the 23-year-old looms as a breakthrough All-Australian.


It’s the fifth and sixth seasons which loom as a crucial ones for the emergence of players as that is when, generally-speaking, the move is made from developing prospect to star of the game.

Or it can all fall in a heap.

And while the Haileybury product was named to lead the Kangaroos’ engine room in his return from a calf setback against Carlton in the Good Friday clash, Dow remains on the fringes of Michael Voss’ midfield plans despite playing 39 games in his first two seasons.

Carlton was one of three clubs with pairs of top-10 picks in 2017, but not everything has gone to plan for the clubs with the prized single-figure selections that year.

Carlton wanted the one-two punch in the midfield and opted for smooth insider Paddy Dow (three) and outside running machine O’Brien, with its Bryce Gibbs pick (10).

The Saints welcomed Clark and Coffield, while former Docker Adam Cerra (pick five) and ex-Magpie Jaidyn Stephenson (pick six) have since switched colours for different reasons.

Cerra wanted to come home to Victoria, turning down a four-year $750,000-a-season deal to stay west, while Stephenson was booted out of Collingwood against his wishes alongside Adam Treloar in one of the most bold salary cap recalibrations the game has seen.

Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine loved Stephenson’s speed and the 2018 Rising Star winner was a phenomenon in his debut year, kicking 38 goals including the first two majors of the Grand Final.

But former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley had an eye on a tall, too, one year earlier, and liked Naughton as well as West Coast’s Oscar Allen. Buckley loved Allen’s upside and versatility.

It was only on the day of the draft that Collingwood’s board approved the call for Stephenson after the tick-off from the medical team the day before, due to a heart condition, which had scarred some other clubs off.

St Kilda went for two local playmakers in Clark and Coffield, making all the Dogs’ dreams come true when they snared Naughton.

Clark, in particular, looks set to become the kind of team-first hard nut Lyon treasures after the club thought about trading him last year.

But Naughton is the one who looks set to sign a contract extension worth the best part of $1 million a season as a man who can mark the ball like Wayne Carey at times, if not for some goal kicking wrinkles.

But of the four All-Australians taken in that year’s draft, only one – Brayshaw – was taken in the top-20. The other three were called outside the top-20.
That’s West Coast’s Tim Kelly, 28, and Liam Ryan, 26, and GWS Giant Sam Taylor, 23. Melbourne’s Bayley Fritsch has also come close. It’s why the 2017 draft is, in a way, the AFL’s upside-down draft.

Fremantle, which had picks two and five after trading Lachie Weller to Gold Coast for a colossal return, looked closely at local product Naughton, who played in the back line for Peel.

But the Dockers wanted to revitalise the midfield brigade rather than the spine and instead took Brayshaw and Cerra.

The year before they took defenders Griffin Logue (pick eight), Brennan Cox (41) and Luke Ryan (66) and traded in Western Bulldogs’ backman Joel Hamling, so the back line at Fremantle was sorted, once Naughton became available.

The club was disappointed to lose Cerra to Carlton, but the Dockers were able to turn him into key forward Jye Amiss at pick eight as part of the trade with the Blues.

But it’s at pick 15 when Brisbane nabbed explosive hard nut Zac Bailey, followed by another shrewd choice in Brandon Starcevich three calls later, that this draft took a big turn.

West Coast was thrilled to take Allen (21) and premiership high-flyer Ryan (26), allowing the Cats to hit the jackpot on jet midfielder Kelly (24) in between.

The Eagles considered Kelly the year before as a rookie option, and in the end coughed up three early picks for him as the Cats squeezed the lemon on a trade which hasn’t worked out for West Coast.

Kelly not only finished fifth in the Brownlow Medal in his sensational second season, the move set off a chain of events which equipped the Casts with the arsenal to nab spearhead Jeremy Cameron, a key cog in the club’s premiership win last season.

But the Cats and Eagles weren’t the only clubs to nail the second round.

Richmond made the most of its calls on Jack Higgins (17) and Noah Balta (25), GWS shot the lights out at pick 28 with Taylor (amid strong interest from the Casts at pick 36), while Melbourne was laughing after choosing premiership trio Charlie Spargo (29), Fritsch (31), Harrison Petty (37) and new Dog Oskar Baker (48).

Carlton took the punt on raw ruckman Tom De Koning (30) who has become one of the most in-demand players in the league despite his desire to stick with the Blues, while Swan Tom McCartin was one of the best defenders in the game in 2022 alongside his brother, Paddy.

Collingwood had Nathan Murphy (39) lined up early and Gryan Miers (57) played in a flag.

As usual, Hawthorn struck gold late, picking best-and-fairest winner James Worpel (45) and Dylan Moore (67). It now has Lloyd Meek (69) from Fremantle.
It was a great result for Hawthorn considering the club traded its first pick to St Kilda as part of the Jaeger O’Meara trade.

Essendon also found some excellent value late in the order, welcoming Brandon Zerk-Thatcher (66) and the man who finished third in the best and fairest last year, Matt Guelfi (76).

The Bombers had given away 11 for Devon Smith and pick 25 and then parted with 25 and 30 to the Dogs for Jake Stringer. The 25 and 40 ended up with the Lions as the Bulldogs traded both for Josh Schache.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread - Part 4

Similar threads

Testekill
Welcome to the Bulldogs Matthew Kennedy
2 3 4
Replies
91
Views
7K
Hoges64
Hoges64
Eastdog
Western Bulldogs and the MCG factor
2 3
Replies
72
Views
3K
Dogs_r_barking
Dogs_r_barking
Matthew Jelley
Fightback, Bulldogs documentary
Replies
1
Views
382
Inside The Kennel
Inside The Kennel
Mutt
Strategy Trade and List Management Thread Part 7 (opposition supporters - READ posting rules before posting)
296 297 298 299 300
Replies
7K
Views
392K
NthBondiDoggies
NthBondiDoggies
MaxiBont
Review Sam Darcy and the Bulldogs maul the Roos
5 6 7 8 9
Replies
214
Views
10K
JohnnySteel
JohnnySteel
Fossie 32
2025 Western Bulldogs Men's Sponsorship
Replies
4
Views
226
dogwatch
dogwatch
Dogs_r_barking
Fans Fight Back Against the (cough) AFL Media
Replies
6
Views
1K
Fossie 32
Fossie 32

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top