What They're Saying - The Bulldogs Media Thread - Part 2

[Dogs_r_barking]

so if we are only spending 95% of the cap currently and the cap is about to go up by about $1million and we are able to spend 105%, that means there is a discrepancy of about $2million between current spending and future allowed spending. Anyone else see a big signing on the cards?

I would imagine there would be some bonus payments to be made to players who are premiers and the Norm Smith and Charlie Sutton winner. But there should be enough in the kitty for a very good player should one become available.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...ering-at-chairmans-house-20161007-grxrr2.html

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...ulldogs-win-for-the-ages-20161008-grxtt8.html

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...ering-at-chairmans-house-20161007-grxrr2.html

Wonder if Dave Stevenson got an invite?

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

so if we are only spending 95% of the cap currently and the cap is about to go up by about $1million and we are able to spend 105%, that means there is a discrepancy of about $2million between current spending and future allowed spending. Anyone else see a big signing on the cards?

Not really this year. There aren't too many big fish swimming around. I'm assuming the rise in the cap has been accounted for.

Players get clauses stating they get pay increases as the salary cap increases. We obviously have some money there, a few departures might increase that slightly but a few will have bonuses/premiership bonuses/b&f placing bonuses.

Sounds like we'Ve dropped off Motlop, Breust seems like total speculation at this stage.

 

[RWnBluey]

so if we are only spending 95% of the cap currently and the cap is about to go up by about $1million and we are able to spend 105%, that means there is a discrepancy of about $2million between current spending and future allowed spending. Anyone else see a big signing on the cards?

I suspect a large chunk of Boyd's contract is being paid during this period.

 

[yebiga]

Motlop is butter
We recruit Halloumi because it does not melt under heat

 

[TimlinOfficial]

I suspect a large chunk of Boyd's contract is being paid during this period.

2mil was paid this year apparently

 

[TimlinOfficial]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/sp...e/news-story/747799e6594b9400baedda23808e9a54

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Wonder if Dave Stevenson got an invite?

Wonder if Irene Chatfield got an invite

 

[Bemoreboyddog]

Wonder if Irene Chatfield got an invite

We'all probably never find out.

 

[RWnBluey]

2mil was paid this year apparently

I've heard (not sure if true) that large portion being paid over 2 years

 

[zucvv]

Easton Wood: Grand Final was one of the greatest moments of my life
October 9, 2016 11:00am
Easton WoodHerald Sun
IT was a primal scream.

Something I’d never done before and if I’d held it much longer I probably would have collapsed.

The moment of holding up the premiership cup with Bob Murphy is one of the greatest moments of my life.

Nothing can prepare you for what that moment brings. Nothing.

I’d already had the tears and now the sheer euphoria and magnitude of what the Western Bulldogs had achieved was starting to infiltrate the senses.

We’d just played the most amazing month of football in the club’s history.

We’d been written off each week and yet each week this special group of people continued to find a new chapter for the journey we’d agreed to go on at the start of the year.

People ask me what is so special about this group and there is no obvious answer, there are many layers to the answer.

The impact of Luke Beveridge is significant to finding the answer.

Luke Beveridge and Easton Wood embrace after their Grand Final win. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Media/Getty
One thing he gave us was a licence, and the willingness, to explore who we are as players. I know that sounds like a simple thing but no-one had a ceiling put on them, they weren’t tied down by any shackles, no-one has been told what they can’t do.

That was Bevo from the start.

He just said, ‘Boys, go and find out what you can do, it’s a journey and continue to go on that journey, continue to explore’.

Everyone has a unique ability and that’s why we get drafted and I think he’s just fostered an environment where we can explore that within the game structure rather than be turned into something we’re not or made into a particular type of player.

When I came into the system and was learning my craft I really only had one focus as a defender and that was to stop my opponent from getting the ball and while that is still part of it, it’s a whole lot easier to stop them getting the ball when you have got it in your hands.

I remember I used to be in the position to mark a lot and I would spoil it with a double fist.

It was a sign that I only wanted to stop, this was all I was going to do, I am just going to stop.

Having Bevo come in changed that for me in 2015.

His instruction was to win the ball back which as a philosophy was in complete stark contrast to not let your man get the ball which is how I’d been living my career.

From then on I started doing things that I didn’t even know I could do. Then I was like, ‘Wow, I will do it again. I will keep doing it’.

The Salty Dog book Beveridge gave the players.
I am a different player and if you asked every one of our players, you’d get a different version of the same story.

At our pre-season camp in Lorne, Bevo handed us all a children’s book called ‘Salty Dog’.

You can imagine the strange looks he received but he went on to explain that the book had some profound philosophies which worked in with what we had in front of us in 2016.

The book is about eliminating fear and making fear an ally. The dogs are on a ship and it’s about going on a journey, seeing where that takes you and not letting fear dictate where you go.

All throughout the year and in the lead-up to the Grand Final, Bevo would draw on the philosophies from ‘Salty Dog’.

I knew after Round 1 that we would be going on an exciting journey.

We gave Fremantle, who had been the minor premiers the year before, a real shock that day winning by 10 goals and I thought we were going to be all right.

Then in Round 3 we almost got Hawthorn which reinforced my theory about where we were at although that loss had a double-edge sword.

The loss of Bob was shattering but it was one of many challenges we faced throughout the year.

What becomes obvious is the AFL machine just rolls on, it’s really relentless the way the game will always continue and I think the boys embraced that, they didn’t fear the impact of the injuries.

Even though we all would have thought ‘Gee, we don’t have Bob then we’re done’ at some stage, they chose to ignore those thoughts and moved on to the next challenge.

Injured captain Bob Murphy and acting captain Easton Wood celebrate with the cup. Picture: Michel Klein
Bob’s injury obviously had more impact on me than anyone given it meant I was suddenly the captain of our football club.

I certainly wasn’t ready. I don’t think you can be ready. Bob said to me, ‘No matter what, all you can ever do is be yourself and that is always going to be enough. The boys will follow you to the moon and back’.

To hear that from him was amazing and the other thing he emphasised was that I didn’t have to do it on my own. I was so fortunate to have Matty Boyd who’d already been a captain and he really helped me with a lot of the game day stuff while I also had Dale Morris alongside me in the backline.

Then there was Marcus Bontempelli who everyone looks up to like he is 100 feet tall so at no point did I think it was all on me.

It has been a sink or swim type of thing and I think I’ve been thrashing my arms around but I managed to stay afloat thanks to the help of everyone around me.

And that is what we have done all year, we’ve always done it together.

Dreams do come true ️

— Easton Wood (@easton_wood) October 1, 2016
You look at the Grand Final, you look at the entire finals series and every player had a big moment, every player did something that resulted in us winning the premiership.

Our game style has been analysed with shares in the handball club going up by the day but really it is something that Bevo had allowed to evolve.

We didn’t decide to be the slickest handballing team in the competition and this is how we’re going to get there. It was more like, ‘Let’s see what we can do, let’s explore this’ and what we did ended up speaking for itself and writing its own story.

We didn’t try to contrive something or force anything, it is just us and that’s what I love about this team and I think that’s what has captivated a lot of people. They enjoy watching us because it’s genuine and it’s honest — we play like that because it’s us.

To borrow a poor analogy Bevo is the chef, we’re the ingredients and he’s going to make the best recipe that he can make.

He’s not going to try and make the lasagne which had won a few awards with the ingredients he had because it’s just not going to make lasagne.

Luke Beveridge, Captain Easton Wood and Robert Murphy hug on stage. Picture. Phil Hillyard
He had his own unique ingredients and that’s what has been great, we have started on a journey to see who we are and what we’re capable of and that’s the journey we’re staying on.

And we did that, stayed the course right to the first Saturday in October.

It’s still surreal what happened last week but the beautiful thing about it is how we have made so many people happy.

Bob provided a really good explanation when he said our supporters have been healed in a way, they’ve had too many downs over the decades and it’s a really special thing to bring this home for them.

There was a moment at the family day last Sunday where Whitten Oval was completely covered with people in red, white and blue. You could not see one piece of turf.

People were packed everywhere and there were a few kids sitting on the roof of the interchange bench which was just below us on the stage where we were presented to the crowd with the cup.

These kids were probably aged between six and 10 and I remember making eye contact with one of them and I thought, ‘ I think he might be looking up here, wishing to be me’.

It was actually quite profound because I remember as a 10-year-old kid at the MCG looking out and wishing to be one of the players on the field.

Now I was one of them and I also had a premiership medallion around my neck. Amazing.

 

[zucvv]

A REMARKABLE RISE TO FAIRYTALE FLAG

ELIMINATION FINAL v WEST COAST

AS soon as I felt the twist I thought my season was gone.

It was midway through the third quarter of the Round 22 contest against Essendon and I’d just landed awkwardly after a marking contest.

OUCH: Easton Wood's ankle injury.
My ankle had rolled inward and I immediately thought I was in serious strife, I thought my season was over.

In 2011 I’d dislocated my ankle which sidelined me for a couple of months and my thoughts immediately went back to that moment.

I knew this one wasn’t as bad but when I got down into the rooms and took my boot off, the ankle had blown up like a balloon. I was certain then that I was done for the year.

I went to hospital for X-rays and the doctors had to get three different opinions because they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. There was no break, no rupture, it looked as if it was just medial strain to the ankle.

I didn’t play against Fremantle in Round 23 and then there was the bye which came at a good time.

Without it I would have been up against it to have played in the elimination final.

There were plenty of others in the same boat with Tom Liberatore and Jackson Macrae in particular, needing that extra week off to prove their fitness for the first final.

I was still pretty proppy at training in the lead-up but our doctors, Gary Zimmerman and Jake Landsberger, and physio Chris Bell were confident they could get me through.

Some painkilling injections were required while Chris did an amazing job with taping the ankle.

As usual Bevo was relaxed in the lead-up to the game. He started off the meeting by telling a gag about how he was sitting on the couch with his two teenage sons, Kye and Noah, watching Fox Footy.

They were playing Bevo’s press conference about the final and Noah turned to him and said: “Is this live?”

Everyone in the room just burst out laughing and immediately all the anxiety was taken out of the air and we were good to go.

Unfortunately, I had some anxiety back in the first quarter.

In one of my first contests I slipped going for a mark but recovered OK, however in the next contest I went to jump and felt something on the outside of my ankle.

The Bulldogs celebrates a goal their win against the Eagles. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty
I thought, ‘Oh no, what has happened?’. It was pretty uncomfortable and I couldn’t get off the ground at all off my left foot after that but again the medical staff did an incredible job.

The Eagles had got an early jump on us in the first quarter but the thing about this team was that we never stressed about something like that. We always just looked to the next challenge and were really good at being present, being in the moment.

When you do that, you’re not worried about if you’re three goals down and they have a run-on, you just worry about there is the ball, can I get it or can’t I, do I attack or defend and that is it.

And that’s why the boys have been able to keep rolling because that relentless pressure we bring means we’re always going to stay in games.

After we weathered the initial hiccup, I got to sit back and enjoy the view from halfback as we played some of the best football I’d seen us produce.

Four goals up at halftime stretched to five goals at three-quarter time with the final margin 47 points.

It was clear after that game that our best was pretty good and for the first time I thought we could win the premiership.

 

[zucvv]

SEMI-FINAL v HAWTHORN

JACKSON Macrae lives across the road from me in Richmond so we drive together to games.

On our way to the MCG to play Hawthorn, we both had a sense that this wasn’t the last time we’d be doing it for the year.

“It just feels like there is next week,” I said.

He agreed.

It just felt that because of the way we were playing, the confidence we’d got from the first final and what we now believed we were capable of doing.

I love the MCG. My dad is a MCC member and he put us down on the waiting list when I was born.

It’s a special place and on this night there was a special feel about it with a crowd of 87,823 which was the biggest I’d played in front of.

We knew Hawthorn thrived on the big stage but while we do due diligence on our opposition, what’s great about Bevo is we always focus on what we’re doing. We can only control what we can control and focus on just going about doing that.

Dale Morris celebrates on the siren in the Bulldogs win against Hawthorn. Picture: Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty
In the first quarter we couldn’t convert. And even when the Hawks got four goals up in the second quarter there was a calmness about us because we were winning on the ground even though the scoreboard said we were down.

I remember one bit of play where we’d got it down to our goal square and should have kicked a goal but didn’t. They then went bang, bang, bang and kicked a goal.

It was a two-goal swing but it didn’t feel right. What we were doing was working, we just weren’t scoring.

That changed in the third quarter as we got rolling, kicking six goals to one. When Tory Dickson kicked the opening goal of the final term, we knew we were on our way to the preliminary final.

Once again there were scenes of jubilation in the rooms. Rather than hide our excitement, we were told to embrace it.

While some teams and football people may have frowned upon our unbridled celebrations, I ask the question — why should you hold back?

You don’t hold back when you lose, you beat yourself up and lash yourself for almost the whole week. If you’re going to do that then why not enjoy yourself when things are genuinely happy.

The previous week was the first interstate final we’d won as a club and I had hardly ever won in Perth so there was plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Now we’d just knocked off the best team of the modern era who’d won the past three premierships. That was again cause for celebration.

 

[zucvv]

PRELIMINARY FINAL V GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY

IT felt the most normal of all the weeks.

We were staying at the same hotel as we had earlier in the year when we travelled to Spotless Stadium and maybe the small ground and the smaller crowd also contributed to me not feeling too much hype.

The way we’d prepared and played the previous two weeks meant we were in a rhythm in terms of the way we were preparing for games. It was very much business as usual.

We knew the Giants had significant threats, their ability to win the ball in tight and then leave a stoppage with their leg speed and wheels was pretty impressive.

The forward line had tall threats and that could go two ways — we get an advantage by running off or they get ascendancy early and kick a few.

Easton Wood defends in the game against GWS. Picture: Michael Klein
It’s funny people often ask who I play on? We don’t get individual assignments and I always play on a number of different people.

I find if you focus in on one opponent it can actually backfire. Watching tape of how every single player moves and then thinking it’s going to make you better prepared is a trap.

I feel that gets you bogged down because in the moment you need to be instinctual and be clear in the head.

Being clear in the head makes you fast with your decision-making. If you’re thinking about how your opponent runs 45 degree patterns and he likes to do this and that, then the moment is gone.

You needed a clear head in this game because it was tough, tight and intense from the start.

It was an arm wrestle in the first half and every possession, every tap-on, every tackle was vitally important.

The Giants started to get moving a bit in the third quarter and for the first time I thought we had some problems.

Tom Boyd and Western Bulldogs celebrate after they defeated GWS Giants in the Preliminary Final at Spotless Stadium booking a spot in next weeks Grand Final against the Swans. Picture. Phil Hillyard
It was just one of those occasions where we had to hold on, sometimes the game calls on you to dig in, understand we’re not scoring but work on weathering the storm until the momentum shifts.

Thankfully, the boys found a way to do that and we were only one point behind at three-quarter time.

It’s funny because even when GWS got 14 points up early in the last quarter, I didn’t sense panic.

Then when Jason Johannisen broke from halfback I was as excited as everyone who was at home watching on the couch. He has got some serious getaway sticks JJ and then the ball was in the Bont’s hands who as cool as ice slots it.

That got us back in front but there was still 10 minutes to play. It’s still a bit of a blur what happened next and I actually look forward to watching a replay of it down the track.

This is what it's all about, how good!! ️ Off to the big dance

— Easton Wood (@easton_wood) September 24, 2016
There were heroes everywhere until the siren eventually sounded and the reaction after the game was simply awesome.

The older guys were particularly emotional as Picko, Boydy, Moz (Morris) and Bob had been through three preliminary finals in a row and lost. Then there were also some of the assistant coaches like Bubba (Rohan Smith) and Gia (Daniel Giansiracusa) who had been through it.

I’d been present for all of the preliminary final losses but had only played in 2010. The hearts of our club and fans had been broken so many times so the reaction to finally winning one was overwhelming.

We belted out the song with great gusto but it was then a bit of a whirlwind as we had to get to the airport to beat the Sydney curfew.

I didn’t even get a chance to see my girlfriend, Tiffany, who’d flown up for the game.

It wasn’t until we got on the plane that we were able to take a deep breath and realise what we’d achieved — we were off to the big dance.

 

[zucvv]

GRAND FINAL V SYDNEY

I COULDN’T believe what was happening.

My guts were churning and it was only Monday. I do get pretty nervous before games but not on a Monday.

Unfortunately my poor mother copped the brunt of it.

I was getting myself worked up and stressed about tickets and was short with mum on the phone.

Finally I sat down and had a bit of a laugh. I was behaving like an idiot and getting myself into a tizz.

From that moment on I was fine and it was probably good to get that nervous implosion out of the way early.

We did our media day on the Monday and then had a light session on the Tuesday but I didn’t take part as I was still being careful with the ankle.

Wednesday has been our regular day off throughout the year and the key to the week was to try and stick to your normal routine in what is a very abnormal week.

The Bulldogs celebrate on the final siren. Picture: Nicole Garmston
I went to more regular classes in the city with my pilates instructor Katrina Edwards for an hour and then went to see my massage therapist Marcus Sinfield for another hour.

The main training session was on Thursday and it felt like a country football grand final with 10,000 people there. You couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces as we jogged around.

We thought that was big but it was nothing like the reception we got at the Grand Final Parade the following day.

That was unbelievable.

You’re just completely unprepared for it and going along I thought when we turned onto Wellington Parade that at some point there was going to be a let up in the crowd but they were 10 deep the whole way.

Then when we turned into the MCG it was just going nuts, people were screaming out your name. I don’t know what it’s like to be a rock star but that felt pretty close.

I’d struggled to maintain my composure when I got my hands on the premiership cup for the traditional picture with my opposing skipper Jarrad McVeigh.

Easton Wood celebrating with Dogs fans after their epic Grand Final win. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty
I didn’t want to smile, I wanted to project that I was stoic, strong and focused which was the complete opposite to what was going on inside my head where I was going nuts thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing. I’m holding the premiership cup’.

The moment I grabbed it, there was just this feeling of quality immediately and the thing that struck me was how the handle was heavier than I’d imagined.

Cooking is my normal pre-game routine and I’ve got a few different meals that I make but on grand final eve I went for my favourite, spaghetti meatballs.

I like to put a record on in the background and I find that combined with the process of making the meatballs certainly relaxes me.

They turned out to be one of my best batches and my girlfriend and I then watched a movie although I don’t even remember the name of it.

I slept like a baby which was a very good sign and didn’t get out of bed until 9.30am. We took the dogs for a walk, grabbed a coffee and had avocado on toast for breakfast.

The game actually came on pretty quick and Jack and I arrived at the ground around 12.10pm.

When I walked out onto the MCG the sun was shining, the grass was beautiful and there were people everywhere. I kept thinking, ‘This is God damn awesome’.

Bevo didn’t come out with anything new with his pre-game speech, he just reinforced the principles which had been the cornerstone of our journey and to be honest I hardly remember anything from it.

I know it was musical based with someone on drums and someone else on guitar but I was clearly in the zone.

Leading the team out was something very special. The noise was so loud and it was a moment I will never forget.

Easton Wood’s mum kisses his premiership medal. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Media/Getty Images)
The coin toss was a surprise victory because I hadn’t had a great track record but ‘Heads’ came up and I’d already spoken to Bob about which end to go because normally when we play at Etihad Stadium you don’t even have to worry about it, you just point to the end your cheer squad is at.

At the start of any game you just want to get into it as quick as possible, whether that is a spoil, a tackle, a bump or a mark, you just need something to get you going.

My first big contest was certainly a memorable one with Kieren Jack and I colliding after he’d taken an incredible mark.

I remember I was looking at the footy and trying to judge whether I could get there in time. I thought I was going to take the chest mark, then I saw him and in a split second and managed to protect myself.

There was hardly a stoppage in the first quarter, nothing really broke open as it was all just scrap and fight. Everyone was throwing everything into it.

The fact we were in front at the first break was a minor win given Sydney had started brilliantly in its previous two finals.

But the game changed complexion in the second quarter when Josh Kennedy took control. It was the first time where I thought, ‘Gee, this might be slipping away’.

They’d kicked four goals in a row and we desperately needed to curtail the momentum and thankfully Toby McLean came through, snapping a goal with just 13 seconds before halftime.

That was a crucial goal because while they’d been all over us and dominated for much of the quarter their lead was only two points.

The third quarter was much like the first, an arm wrestle but we’d managed to get our noses back in front.

2 kids next door. "No Dad, you're Bevo, I'm @BobMurphy02 and Jayden is @easton_wood. Now invite me up on stage and give me your medal!

— Paige Cardona (@paigecardona) October 6, 2016
There wasn’t any rev-up speeches from Bevo as we sensed everything was working for us and it was a case of just staying the course, finishing the journey.

It felt like we were holding down the fort for the first half of the quarter and then there were some heroic moments by our boys.

Shane Biggs had about five superhuman efforts on the half-forward flank, there was a smother, a tackle, a bump, a tap-on and it all ended up with Liam Picken kicking a goal at the 16-minute mark which put us seven points up.

I remember thinking, ‘Whoa, that was a big moment’.

We suddenly had the momentum and even when Jason Johannisen’s goal was disallowed I never thought it was a bad sign like I’m sure every Bulldog fan watching did.

A couple of minutes later Dale Morris and Tom Boyd combined for one of the biggest moments of the Grand Final.

Mozz chasing down Buddy and then Tommy launching the goal from 60m was massive and it capped off a magnificent finals series for him.

Shortly after that Jordan Roughead ran past me and said, ‘We’re going to win the Grand Final mate, we’re going to win it’.

I lost it. “Mate, shut up. Don’t jinx it. We’ve come all this way’.”

He smiled but I didn’t trust it until I heard that siren.

Marcus Bontempelli celebrates with Bulldogs fans. Picture: Ryan Pierse/AFL Media/Getty
When I eventually heard it, I threw my hands up and Mozz was the first person I saw so I sprinted over and launched myself onto him, we fell down screaming and carrying on.

As we were running over to the rest of the group it just hit me like a tonne of bricks, the finality of that siren going and the history that had been etched, written and stamped right there in that moment.

I just ugly cried for 10 minutes. I completely broke down and was overwhelmed by the entire situation. I couldn’t believe it.

I was so happy but I was a blubbering mess.

Thankfully, the tears had cleared by the time of the presentations and pure elation was taking over.

It went up a level when Bevo invited Bob onto the stage and gave him his medal. What he did speaks volumes of who both of them are.

The facts are that no what happened, we don’t win the Grand Final without Bob Murphy.

When we lifted the cup together, I just screamed as hard as I could.

The next hour was madness. I found a couple of my best mates in the crowd and my girlfriend.

Inside the rooms was just crazy. We sang the song a number of times and just tried to take everything in.

You play your whole career to achieve what we’d just done and this was my ninth year and I’ve got no shame in saying that at different points I was wondering if I’d ever get the chance to fulfil my football purpose.

Something special had happened over the past month, an amazing story had been written and to be on the inside of it is the biggest thing that has happened to me.

The ripple effects of what this team did will be felt for years and as Bevo pointed out in a rare quiet moment: “Boys, we’ve changed the game.”

 

[Pugz89]

**** I love this club.

Bevo will change the game again, I have no doubt. That was an amazing read.

 

[BEaston]

Haha there I am!

 

[Bont2Bruce]

 

[Bont2Bruce]

 

[Hard Ball Get]

That Speaker should be removed from the house.

 

[stefoid]

Woody is a good writer.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Woody is a good writer.

"I am a different player and if you asked every one of our players, you’d get a different version of the same story."

Not being greedy but wouldn't it be good if some of the other players wrote their versions.

 

[Bulldogs Legend]

Slobbo's end of season Top 50.

Bontempelli (8) Dale Morris (34), Liam Picken (37), Luke Dahlhaus (39), Lachie Hunter (45), Matthew Boyd (47) and Jackson Macrae (49).


Behind paywall. Just cut n paste this title into Google

Danger No.1 as ‘The Bont’ rises



Direct link to article with subscription

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...n/news-story/5178db68d8136194c839c9a5bb0750f9

How the hell does he get Zach Merrett so high up. Better than Dalhauls and Hunter!!! He has to be joking.