Mega Thread The Western Bulldogs - The Sack Macca saga

[fronkalicious]

And from a team selection perspective - which has been my bugbear this year - who else deserved a game ??

It'll be interesting to see if he actually drops any of Cross, Boyd, Picken... That'd show some serious balls.

Agree. I though his selections were good this week as well. Be great to see hrovat, Williams, prudden, hunter, Roberts and Pearce soonish, but only when they're ready. Also liked him dropping wallis.

Agree again TDC, hope he drops one or 2 of the older brigade this week as well.

 

[lachy]

And from a team selection perspective - which has been my bugbear this year - who else deserved a game ??

It'll be interesting to see if he actually drops any of Cross, Boyd, Picken... That'd show some serious balls.

I think allot more supporters would be less enraged if you replaced the above with Wall, Pruden, Hrovat, Hunter, Tallia and Roberts. I know heading to the Norf game the result was not what disappointed me most it was not seeing Stringer and Macrae plus a couple more of those above continue their development

 

[TedDougChris]

Agree. I though his selections were good this week as well. Be great to see hrovat, Williams, prudden, hunter, Roberts and Pearce soonish, but only when they're ready. Also liked him dropping wallis.

Agree again TDC, hope he drops one or 2 of the older brigade this week as well.

Hopefully in the medium term Roberts replaces Marko (who although doing not much wrong up front in 2 weeks, isnt the future) and we give Pearce a run off HBF. We need to try something different in the middle - let's try Hrovat/Hunter/Prudden in place of Picken/Cross/Boyd.

 

[TedDougChris]

I think allot more supporters would be less enraged if you replaced the above with Wall, Pruden, Hrovat, Hunter, Tallia and Roberts. I know heading to the Norf game the result was not what disappointed me most it was not seeing Stringer and Macrae plus a couple more of those above continue their development

Understand, but you cannot play these kids every week - they are just not up to it physically. Stringer in particular - we need to take good care of him...

 

[lachy]

Understand, but you cannot play these kids every week - they are just not up to it physically. Stringer in particular - we need to take good care of him...

You just need to rotate 2 or so each week, each playing 3 games then a break.

Kids develop and really would our results be any worse?

 

[TedDougChris]

You just need to rotate 2 or so each week, each playing 3 games then a break.

Kids develop and really would our results be any worse?

Agree. Perhaps we give Pearce a few games of HBF in place of Picken and then give Hrovat/Prudden a few in place of Cross/Boyd. We just need to be mindful of them and who we are playing.

 

[lachy]

Agree. Perhaps we give Pearce a few games of HBF in place of Picken and then give Hrovat/Prudden a few in place of Cross/Boyd. We just need to be mindful of them and who we are playing.

Yep, fully agree. Gives supporters something to get excited about to watch our games

 

[Anja_Nees]

FWIW, I was impressed by Brereton's reasoned commentary tonight. And Ricciuto for that matter. They expressed optimism about our future but pointed out a few things that need to improve, eg ability to run out games. No bagging, unlike other commentary teams who have done our games . Showed a bit of actual knowledge of what's going on - refreshing.

Agreed, it was a chance to tee off and, unlike some of their ch7 counterparts, they kept an even handed approach.

 

[David Schwarz]

My finger is hovering over the panic button, hesitant to press it just yet

One thing that concerns me is our disposal skills are not even VAFA standard, and what happened to our once vaunted fitness? Not long ago the 3rd quarter was our domain, now we seemingly cease to exist after half time.

Comparisons to the Dees will come from all sides in the next week, but unlike hapless Melbourne you can't fault our endeavour or determination. I wrote somewhere else that during last season I was worried sick that the simple skills seemingly were being forgotten in favour of hard ball gets, and that concern is once again becoming evident.

 

[Sharkey66]

Agree. Perhaps we give Pearce a few games of HBF in place of Picken and then give Hrovat/Prudden a few in place of Cross/Boyd. We just need to be mindful of them and who we are playing.

I think that Boyd needs to be rested, just does not look fit and looks to be playing sore.
I would put Picken back to his old job of tagging, he is just as effective as Lower and can be more damaging, we miss his kamikaze runs into 50 and goals. Lower should take Boyds job and become a proper midfielder, he used to be a ball magnet, and then that gives us the opportunity to bring another runner in off half back.
My point here is that we have some very capable players on the list who are not getting the opportunity to further their career because they are not being used to their proper potential.
Picken is a player who last year was almost first picked, now he is in danger of becoming irrelevant.
This is one aspect of Maccas coaching that i just do not like, and i wonder if sometimes he is too slow to make a call on failed experiments, and not quick enough to try new things.
Marko up forward - whether it works or not should have been tried much earlier.
Roughie down back - looks ok, jurys still out but now leaves us a ruckman short.
Cordy down back - why hasn't he been tried down back especially since he did the job early in his career
Grant - So what if he needs to have someone else bring him into the game, he is a proven goal kicker, something we lack.
Tom Hill and Mathew Panos - Never even got a shot even though the had some reasonable games in the 2s , others less deserving of games (on form) got them. Zephi? Watching Gold coasts talls today, someone like Hill may just have been quite handy.

 

[Some Idiot]

Deserved or not, doesn't matter, the heat is now offically on.

 

[fronkalicious]

I think that Boyd needs to be rested, just does not look fit and looks to be playing sore.
I would put Picken back to his old job of tagging, he is just as effective as Lower and can be more damaging, we miss his kamikaze runs into 50 and goals. Lower should take Boyds job and become a proper midfielder, he used to be a ball magnet, and then that gives us the opportunity to bring another runner in off half back.
My point here is that we have some very capable players on the list who are not getting the opportunity to further their career because they are not being used to their proper potential.
Picken is a player who last year was almost first picked, now he is in danger of becoming irrelevant.
This is one aspect of Maccas coaching that i just do not like, and i wonder if sometimes he is too slow to make a call on failed experiments, and not quick enough to try new things.
Marko up forward - whether it works or not should have been tried much earlier.
Roughie down back - looks ok, jurys still out but now leaves us a ruckman short.
Cordy down back - why hasn't he been tried down back especially since he did the job early in his career
Grant - So what if he needs to have someone else bring him into the game, he is a proven goal kicker, something we lack.
Tom Hill and Mathew Panos - Never even got a shot even though the had some reasonable games in the 2s , others less deserving of games (on form) got them. Zephi? Watching Gold coasts talls today, someone like Hill may just have been quite handy.

Can't agree that picken and lower play midfield together. Or even in the team together at all. MC needs to man up and make a hard call. Pick one or the other, but not both.....having said that I actually think GC is the one team where we can play them both. Gaz needs to be double teamed big time.

 

[theAthenian]

Our only hope is that this nice decent man does the honorable thing and resign - before he passes into bulldog history as the worst coach of all time - if he isn t already.

BMac has disarmed me - i have no ammo left to waste on him - i dont wanna speak ill of the dead so best i say

Goodbye BMac thanks for nothing

 

[lachy]

Our only hope is that this nice decent man does the honorable thing and resign - before he passes into bulldog history as the worst coach of all time - if he isn t already.

BMac has disarmed me - i have no ammo left to waste on him - i dont wanna speak ill of the dead so best i say

Goodbye BMac thanks for nothing

Name 6 players on our list who would get a game at Hawthorn right now. Not who could be good in the future but right now. If you can do this I will support your call, as obviously our coach is rubbish. If not your opinions are just that and they lack substance. no coach could win more games with this list and we have had terrible drafting from 2005 until 2 years ago, but if you can name those 6 players you will for the first time go along way to prove your premise.

 

[DogDays]

Name 6 players on our list who would get a game at Hawthorn right now. Not who could be good in the future but right now. If you can do this I will support your call, as obviously our coach is rubbish. If not your opinions are just that and they lack substance. no coach could win more games with this list and we have had terrible drafting from 2005 until 2 years ago, but if you can name those 6 players you will for the first time go along way to prove your premise.

At least now we'll get that low draft pick - if we are going to crash at least we can get some more good players in.

 

[Sharkey66]

Name 6 players on our list who would get a game at Hawthorn right now. Not who could be good in the future but right now. If you can do this I will support your call, as obviously our coach is rubbish. If not your opinions are just that and they lack substance. no coach could win more games with this list and we have had terrible drafting from 2005 until 2 years ago, but if you can name those 6 players you will for the first time go along way to prove your premise.

Interesting exercise, i'l have a go.
Libba
Minson
Griffen
Murphy - maybe
Could only pick five, 4 of them senior players. says it all really.

 

[Anja_Nees]

I'm not one for making judgments in haste. We all knew there'd be pain this year. The reality is though that we are fast becoming uncompetitive. We might have a crack but if we end up getting overrun by 50 points it doesn't matter. Sides must know they'll win if they are with us in the third quarter.

At the very least our conditioning staff need to be questioned. We are clearly not as fit as other sides. You might expect it against seasoned sides but there's no reason Gold Coast and Richmond should be able to outlast us the way they have. Most of our players have had at least three preseasons and in many cases a few more.

If McCartney can't get us to win at least one more against a side that isn't gws or Melbourne he is in serious strife, deserved or not.

 

[Proffessor]

Questions no longer need to be asked and the heat isn't really on now either. It's over. The jury has returned a verdict.

The time for Brendon McCan'tney (the misspelling is intentional!) to feel the heat was during the off season after such a terrible end to 2012.

He has had sufficient chance to show what he is capable of as a coach, but come up short. He is clearly the worst coach the Bulldogs have had in my period watching the Bulldogs and I remember Royce Hart. The quicker that he is shown the door, the quicker that we can regroup from his disastrous leadership.

All the talk about the poor list he inherited is just an excuse. The list didn't become poor until McCan'tney took over.

It is now time to start talking about the timing of his dismisal and who replaces him.

 

[boydsno1]

Still think it was a mistake getting rid of Eade. He deserved to be rebuilding this team. he wouldn't have allowed us to play so shit for so long.

 

[Leon]

Deserved or not, doesn't matter, the heat is now offically on.

Don't know how anyone could argue it is undeserved.

Even the more measured supporters and posters are beginning to question him.

1 win from 19? Coaches with better records who have achieved more have been under more pressure than him. The media hounded the likes of Eade, Craig, Ratten etc who had all coached finals sides and all of them eventually got the arse.

No one expects us to be premiership contenders or even making the 8 - we expect improvement. We haven't got it. The only side we are currently ahead of is Melbourne, and the embarrassing thing is even that rabble would be a chance of beating us right now.

Look at Port. An absolute basket case last year. This year? Gone well past us in 8 rounds under a rookie coach and with essentially the same list that virtually everyone thought was a busted-arse joke and rated below ours last year. They play for their coach. They get the best out of themselves.

The results may not be there yet for GWS but you can see what they're building. You can see their systems, you are genuinely excited about what sort of sides they'll be in a few years.

McCartney has had a dream ride and a nice cushy honeymoon period from both the majority of our supporters and media given the state of our list. Coaches who take over basket case lists always are given a bit of leeway and rightly so. He has escaped heat and been given solid backing despite one embarrassing loss after another. He has been supported and backed to the hilt when everyone has been pouring scorn on our club for their diabolical performances.

Peter Rohde (who I rate as one of the worst coaches of all time, by the way) had a similar win/loss ratio and was viciously torn apart by nearly all our supporters around the same time. Yet apparently McCartney can be let off because he was part of the coaching panel at Geelong and is rated as a great teacher and educator and developer and whatever the **** else.

**** that. I am sick to ***ing death of derision and scorn being poured upon our club as we dish up one rubbish performance after another.

He is the coach of this club and the buck stops with the coach, always. So far in his tenure we have gone backwards. This cannot be denied.

Bring on the scrutiny and may it be fierce.

 

[Chris Grant]

All the talk about the poor list he inherited is just an excuse. The list didn't become poor until McCan'tney took over.

Look I've been crtitical of a lot of his match day decisions and tactics but this is something I will defend him on till the day I die. Eade, Clayton and Fantasia stuffed up the list before McCartney arrived. Then Dalrymple stuffed up the 2009 draft and made some bad trades. He can't be held accountable for past decisions that's happened at the club. Losing Ward and Harbrow is not his fault. The promoting of Hooper and Mulligan is not his fault. The fact that we have very few players in the 22-27 year old bracket is not his fault. The fact that he inherited a bunch of ageing stars is not his fault. I've been far more impressed by the recruits we have had since McCartney's been at the club then at any other time. His recruiting model is something that he has done right at the club.

 

[Anja_Nees]

Still think it was a mistake getting rid of Eade. He deserved to be rebuilding this team. he wouldn't have allowed us to play so shit for so long.

I always thought he deserved at least another year. For some reason people thought he'd lost touch with the modern game because he hadn't adopted the press. The reality was he was trying to do other things. I think we were due for a tumble either way because of some poor drafting but I have no doubt we would have been more competitive now. The reality is though that only premiership coaches survive a few years out of finals and he would never have survived this long.

McCartney seems to have the media's support. His (de)presser was remarkably generous. I don't particularly want the heat to be applied any time soon. It'll just send us into meltdown. I'd rather he be given the rest of the year. Our young players are improving slowly so I don't think he's harming our long term prospects, which was the real problem with Rhode. His record, however, is as bad as Rhode's now. It doesn't bode well.

 

[Anja_Nees]

Look I've been crtitical of a lot of his match day decisions and tactics but this is something I will defend him on till the day I die. Eade, Clayton and Fantasia stuffed up the list before McCartney arrived. Then Dalrymple stuffed up the 2009 draft and made some bad trades. He can't be held accountable for past decisions that's happened at the club. Losing Ward and Harbrow is not his fault. The promoting of Hooper and Mulligan is not his fault. The fact that we have very few players in the 22-27 year old bracket is not his fault. The fact that he inherited a bunch of ageing stars is not his fault. I've been far more impressed by the recruits we have had since McCartney's been at the club then at any other time. His recruiting model is something that he has done right at the club.

This is certainly fair. Goodes, Lower, Stevens and Young reads a lot better than Vezspremi, Sherman and Djerrkura. No scrawny athletes being selected ahead of smart footballers with early picks. I think he knows how to educate players and what sort of players we know. He also seems to have them playing for him. It just isn't working though.

 

[Proffessor]

Look I've been crtitical of a lot of his match day decisions and tactics but this is something I will defend till the day I die. Eade, Clayton and Fantasia stuffed up the list before McCartney arrived. Then Dalrymple stuffed up the 2009 draft and made some bad trades. He can't be held accountable for past decisions that's happened at the club. Losing Ward and Harbrow is not his fault. The promoting of Hooper and Mulligan is not his fault. The fact that we have very few players in the 22-27 year old bracket is not his fault. The fact that he inherited a bunch of ageing stars is not his fault. I've been far more impressed by the recruits we have had since McCartney's been at the club then at any other time. His recruiting model is something that he has done right at the club.

The problem for McCartney is all that he has provided is excuses. There are virtually no positives.

He is supposedly a good teacher, but where is the evidence?
We are not exactly drowning in rising star nominations are we?
Most of our young players are struggling to establish themselves in a very weak side.

He has done nothing to suggest he is capable of improving team performance. We were OK when he arrived, now we are one of the worst teams in the league. The coach has to take responsibility.

 

[immortalmike]

Two things.
One, he has until halfway through next year for me, nothing that happens in the interim will change my opinion, including losing every game this year. If there are no genuine improvements until then we reassess. The reality is our senior players, apart from Griffen are shit. Boyd is hampered by something, Cross (love him but sorry) is only good in a side with good ball users around him, Morris is a good stopper but that is all he is, Picken isn't a defender, Cooney only runs one way, Minson is a great tap ruckman but gives us little around the ground, Lower gives us nothing we didn't already have, Goodes and Murphy are cream not the cake, Gia (although good in the last couple) is gone. These are the guys that are supposed to be carrying the team, they simply aren't capable of that.

Two, can we have a freaking moratorium on the 1 win out of blah blah stat. I'm ****ing sick of reading it every week we lose. I can count I'd rather not read it every second post, it adds nothing to the discussion.