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

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Mick McGuane: Big-name off-season recruits, who’s firing and who’s floundering​

Who’s roaring, who needs a rev-up and who’s in All-Australian form? With a month of footy in the books, Mick McGuane runs the rule over all the big-name recruits.

Mick McGuane

April 13, 2023 - 12:00PM


[PLAYERCARD]Rory Lobb[/PLAYERCARD] needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Rory Lobb needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

DOGGED START

Rory Lobb has played three games as a Bulldog but has so far left his mojo behind in Perth.

He was recruited as a second key forward to support Aaron Naughton but also offer ruck relief to Tim English.

As a seasoned, match-hardened 30-year-old he should be grabbing games by the throat. His competitiveness is still not as consistent as it should be.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is producing with 13 shots at goal – and he’s just a kid. Lobb has only had two inside 50 marks and kicked only 3.1. He looks detached from the game at the moment.

For Lobb to maximise the assets he has, its pretty simple – he must get competitive and start launching at the ball and rewards will come.

Up the other end, Liam Jones’ return to the AFL was always going to be a challenge but he’s finding his feet and is really starting to adjust to the speed of the game again.

His greatest strengths are either his intercepting ability or how he influences marking contests through disciplined spoils. His confidence is growing the more he plays and will only continue to improve. That’s a positive for the Bulldogs going forward.
 
NBates said:

Mick McGuane: Big-name off-season recruits, who’s firing and who’s floundering​

Who’s roaring, who needs a rev-up and who’s in All-Australian form? With a month of footy in the books, Mick McGuane runs the rule over all the big-name recruits.

Mick McGuane

April 13, 2023 - 12:00PM


Rory Lobb needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Rory Lobb needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

DOGGED START

Rory Lobb has played three games as a Bulldog but has so far left his mojo behind in Perth.

He was recruited as a second key forward to support Aaron Naughton but also offer ruck relief to Tim English.

As a seasoned, match-hardened 30-year-old he should be grabbing games by the throat. His competitiveness is still not as consistent as it should be.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is producing with 13 shots at goal – and he’s just a kid. Lobb has only had two inside 50 marks and kicked only 3.1. He looks detached from the game at the moment.

For Lobb to maximise the assets he has, its pretty simple – he must get competitive and start launching at the ball and rewards will come.

Up the other end, Liam Jones’ return to the AFL was always going to be a challenge but he’s finding his feet and is really starting to adjust to the speed of the game again.

His greatest strengths are either his intercepting ability or how he influences marking contests through disciplined spoils. His confidence is growing the more he plays and will only continue to improve. That’s a positive for the Bulldogs going forward.
Click to expand...

Our recruit of the year is Oskar Baker.
 
NBates said:

Mick McGuane: Big-name off-season recruits, who’s firing and who’s floundering​

Who’s roaring, who needs a rev-up and who’s in All-Australian form? With a month of footy in the books, Mick McGuane runs the rule over all the big-name recruits.

Mick McGuane

April 13, 2023 - 12:00PM


[PLAYERCARD]Rory Lobb[/PLAYERCARD] needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Rory Lobb needs to find his mojo at the Bulldogs – Mick thinks he might’ve left it in Freo. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

DOGGED START

Rory Lobb has played three games as a Bulldog but has so far left his mojo behind in Perth.

He was recruited as a second key forward to support Aaron Naughton but also offer ruck relief to Tim English.

As a seasoned, match-hardened 30-year-old he should be grabbing games by the throat. His competitiveness is still not as consistent as it should be.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is producing with 13 shots at goal – and he’s just a kid. Lobb has only had two inside 50 marks and kicked only 3.1. He looks detached from the game at the moment.

For Lobb to maximise the assets he has, its pretty simple – he must get competitive and start launching at the ball and rewards will come.

Up the other end, Liam Jones’ return to the AFL was always going to be a challenge but he’s finding his feet and is really starting to adjust to the speed of the game again.

His greatest strengths are either his intercepting ability or how he influences marking contests through disciplined spoils. His confidence is growing the more he plays and will only continue to improve. That’s a positive for the Bulldogs going forward.
Click to expand...

A bit harsh on Lobb. Shouldn’t have played round 1 because of his ankle and then had a scope to clean it out. Give him a couple of weeks.
 
WESTERN Bulldogs star Bailey Smith will miss this weekend's trip to Adelaide for Gather Round and at least next Friday night's fixture against Fremantle at Optus Stadium due to a minor calf strain.

The 22-year-old was ruled out of Saturday night's game against Port Adelaide Oval on Thursday after reporting calf tightness following the five-point win over Richmondlast Saturday.

With a six-day turnaround between round five and round six – and two games on the road – the Dogs will head to Perth on Monday to prepare for the Dockers, rather than returning to Melbourne between fixtures.
The Dogs are taking a travelling party of 25 players for the next eight days, but will fly others in if required.

Smith will remain home during this period to accelerate his recovery and get on top of an issue that caused him to train away from the main group in January.

The club is hopeful the midfielder will be available when the club returns from Western Australia to host Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, April 29 in round seven.
"(Smith's) got a calf injury and he'll be out for a couple of weeks. Beyond that, I'm not sure," Beveridge told reporters.

"Bit ginger after training so he had a scan. Little bit up. So no risk.

"We've got a squad of 25 on the road, Fremantle in Perth the following Friday, we're going to stay away. So it's a quirk of the schedule.

"We've asked everyone to come away for a week and it's too much risk with Bailey. So he'll stay back, miss a couple and we'll work it out from there."
The Western Bulldogs will regain Cody Weightman for the first time in 2023 after the gun small forward was cleared to return from an adductor injury earlier in the week.

Weightman suffered the issue in February and has had to be carefully managed since then to ensure his return wouldn't be delayed until later in the year.

Luke Beveridge has chosen to go with Tim O'Brien instead of Ryan Gardner to replace Alex Keath, after the key defender entered concussion protocols last weekend following a collision with Richmond key forward Tom Lynch.

Gardner was one of the most improved players at Whitten Oval in 2022, but has struggled to build a case to return after recovering from elbow surgery before spending the past fortnight in the VFL.

O'Brien hasn't played a senior game since round 16 last year and endured a frustrating summer at Skinner Reserve, suffering several soft-tissue setbacks.
Hayden Crozier failed to prove his fitness in time for the trip to Adelaide after being substituted out of the game against the Tigers with a back issue, while Taylor Duryea has been recalled after spending last weekend at Footscray.

After a disappointing opening fortnight of 2023, the Dogs have beaten two sides that played finals last year – Brisbane and Richmond – to kickstart the season ahead of an enthralling encounter at the Adelaide Oval.

Favourite son Tom Liberatore will become just the 22nd player in the history of the Western Bulldogs to play 200 games when he runs out against the Power.
 
We've really been screwed with the fixture here. First is being one of two sides forced to play an additional away game and the second is then being required to travel to the other side of the country after this week on a 6 day break. The club really had no choice but to go straight to Perth. Pretty amateurish stuff.

Let's see if we can grind out two wins.
 
Golden_6 said:
We've really been screwed with the fixture here. First is being one of two sides forced to play an additional away game and the second is then being required to travel to the other side of the country after this week on a 6 day break. The club really had no choice but to go straight to Perth. Pretty amateurish stuff.

Let's see if we can grind out two wins.
Click to expand...
Meh, teams will always have to travel after a gather round. Gives our list of WA boys extra time back home.

Eagles have to stay or return to SA next week
Lions to NSW (QLD to SA back to QLD to NSW)
Swans in Geelong
North to QLD
 

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AFL 2023: Why the AFL is ready to break up ‘boys club’ and replace Gillon McLachlan with Kylie Watson-Wheeler​

Is the AFL ready for a female CEO? That was the question many were asking this week, as word got out about Kylie Watson-Wheeler. Scott Gullan searches for the answer.

Scott Gullan

April 14, 2023 - 12:28PM


A year ago, the question was first raised when Gillon McLachlan flagged his departure and it has bubbled away in the background ever since.
Then, as the process to appoint the AFL’s new CEO lingered on and on and on, it became obvious the Commission were wrestling with something.
It took a late acceptance of an invitation to the lavish Gather Round dinner this week at the prestigious Magill Estate winery to let the cat, or should it be bulldog in this case, out of the bag.
Kylie Watson-Wheeler was supposed to be the guest speaker for the VAFA season launch but the Western Bulldogs president was a late cancellation, instead flying to Adelaide to sip pinot noir with the powerbrokers who were about to make one of the biggest decisions in AFL history.
Once word got out, the chatter at the exclusive event soon turned to a question many hadn’t really considered seriously before: Is the AFL ready for a female CEO?
Kyle Watson-Wheeler is in line to be the next AFL CEO. Picture: Richard Dobson

Kyle Watson-Wheeler is in line to be the next AFL CEO. Picture: Richard Dobson

Watson-Wheeler had been mentioned in dispatches in the early days but most of the talk in recent months had centred around AFL executives Andrew Dillon and Travis Auld, and Richmond CEO Brendan Gale.
It was thought she was content running The Walt Disney Company’s Australian and New Zealand arm, along with steering the Bulldogs back into the premiership equation.
But many smelt a rat as the Commission kept extending out McLachlan’s leaving date with the love for Watson-Wheeler, particularly by chairman Richard Goyder, gaining momentum after she had a change of heart and agreed to take part in the interview process.
It was during this where the whole female discussion became a thing. A look around all the major sports, in this country and globally, shows they haven’t been able to make the leap.

The two other biggest sports in Australia are run by men, the NRL and Cricket Australia, while overseas the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball and English Premier League are all male dominated in the top jobs.
Is Kylie Watson-Wheeler the new frontier?
“Do you think Disney is putting a d**khead into that job? They could put anyone in the world into that job,” is one take from an AFL executive, pointing to Watson-Wheeler’s business nous.
“If it is someone really well credentialed then no-one cares in my view. It’s not male or female, it’s about the bona fides of the person and she is used to dealing at the top end, the high end of business so dealing with Prime Ministers and the like wouldn’t faze her.”
Laura Kane, General Manager Competition Management, Sarah Fair, Executive General Manager People, Kylie Rogers, Executive General Manager Customer and Commercial, Tanya Hosch, Executive General Manager Inclusion and Social Policy and Jennifer Watt, CEO North Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

Laura Kane, General Manager Competition Management, Sarah Fair, Executive General Manager People, Kylie Rogers, Executive General Manager Customer and Commercial, Tanya Hosch, Executive General Manager Inclusion and Social Policy and Jennifer Watt, CEO North Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

The AFL has been slow moving on the female leadership front. North Melbourne’s recently appointed CEO Jen Watt is only the second woman to hold that position after a failed experiment at Hawthorn with Tracey Gaudry, which lasted five months back in 2017.
There are now three female AFL Commissioners – Helen Milroy, Gabrielle Trainor and Simone Wilkie.
Three women are on the league’s executive, including head of commercial Kylie Rogers, who has also been interviewed for McLachlan’s job.
Peggy O’Neal broke the glass at Richmond, becoming the first female AFL club president in 2013, going on to lead the Tigers to three premierships before retiring last year.
She blazed the trail for women at club land with three female presidents now in place – Dr Sonja Hood (North Melbourne), Kate Roffey (Melbourne) and Watson-Wheeler.
Geelong vice-president Diana Taylor touches on the battles women have faced in the AFL in her recently released book called ‘The Playbook’, an inspirational self-help guide on taking risks to succeed in business and life.
Taylor is a lawyer and company director who has been around football for 23 years where she has copped gender discrimination numerous times.
“For me, gender has been a factor in my personal experience because it has been used as a cheap shot for derision in order to ‘put me in my place’ in a meeting room otherwise full of older, white men and it has been seen as a risk because I had not pulled on a boot,” Taylor writes.
“Was I going to leave an organisation after a period of investment to have children and was I going to get emotional and break under pressure – seemingly female traits?
“None of these matters have ever been directly put to me of course. They never are. It is always easier to operate on the basis of assumption and myth when the decision maker is trying to achieve a safer outcome.”
Geelong vice-president Diana Taylor. Picture: Ginger + Mint

Geelong vice-president Diana Taylor. Picture: Ginger + Mint
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan at the Gather Round Red Carpet event at Magill Estate. Picture: The Advertiser/Morgan Sette

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan at the Gather Round Red Carpet event at Magill Estate. Picture: The Advertiser/Morgan Sette

When asked this week about the Watson-Wheeler developments, Taylor was excited: “I absolutely think this industry is ready, willing, waiting and wants more female leadership in the system and that’s across the system from community right through to the elite level.
“What we need to do as an industry is we need to remove gender as a risk element in decision making.
“And the other thing we need to do, is we need to place careful and heavy emphasis on people’s previous experience and their skill. see that experience outside of footy as actually a competitive advantage.”
The AFL CEO job is unique in many ways. The business side is obviously important but being the public face of the game is challenging. McLachlan is brilliant at it and the man he replaced, Andrew Demetriou, had an aggressive style which resonated.
“Look at the last three CEO’s, (Wayne) Jackson, Demetriou and McLachlan, they’re very strong front people for the industry,” one club CEO said. “With Kylie, I don’t know her well enough.”
That is a common theme around many powerbrokers in the league. Despite being the Western Bulldogs president for the past two-and-a-half years, they haven’t heard a lot from Watson-Wheeler.
Chairman Richard Goyder is a big fan of Waston-Wheeler. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos

Chairman Richard Goyder is a big fan of Waston-Wheeler. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos

In an interview with Vogue Australia, Waston-Wheeler gave an insight into her thoughts about being a female leader in a male-dominated industry.
“My philosophy has always been, ‘the best person for the job, gets the job,” she said. “It just happens that as a result of that mindset, we’ve ended up organically with a really strong female representation within our business.
“There’s a real open mindedness about people’s skill sets and strengths, and it’s important also to ensure that within the organisation, you have a variety of different perspectives.
“As far as personal challenges, I found it’s always been important to be myself. I’ve learned that the hard way. Even if that has made me different to some male peers, being authentic is far more important than trying to fit a mould.”

​

So is the AFL about to smash up its own mould, shake up the perceived “boys club” it has been accused of cultivating, and make history by appointing a female CEO?
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is the most connected person in the game and he matter-of-factly sums up how far the AFL industry has progressed: “No one cares. I don’t think it (being female) crosses anyone’s mind.”
 
Dannnnnnnnnn said:
Feels very much like the media are laying the groundwork for the announcement here. I suspect they know she's won it but have been silenced until the official announcement.
Click to expand...
Definitely. There's way too much smoke here now. Articles are popping up everywhere so the appointment in my view has been made but the announcement is still to come.
 
I still reckon they are waiting for the Tassie announcement before they announce the CEO move. Gil gets to depart on a high, and gets a photo op with the Prime Minister etc.
 
Golden_6 said:
We've really been screwed with the fixture here. First is being one of two sides forced to play an additional away game and the second is then being required to travel to the other side of the country after this week on a 6 day break. The club really had no choice but to go straight to Perth. Pretty amateurish stuff.

Let's see if we can grind out two wins.
Click to expand...
I'm very happy the club made the call to go straight to Perth, makes it in essence a week long road trip as opposed to the back and forth. If there is one thing Bevo has proven he can do its to galvanise a group on a long stretch away. Plus the WA boys would surely appreciate the extra time over there.
 
Freshwater said:
When next year’s fixture comes out and the Bulldogs have the season opener, Good Friday and ANZAC day, no match in Geelong, 6 games at the MCG and one trip interstate trip to the Gold Coast, that’s when I know that right person is in the job.
Click to expand...
I'd take an extra interstate trip if it meant not playing at GMHBA. **** I hate that stadium
 

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

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