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

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D Mitchell said:
Ugly name ? It's a beautifull name. Post season 1996, the Club was broke again. The Board was in serious talks with North Melbourne, St Kilda and another, can’t remember which, now. It sent out a questionnaire to members, headed something like “In a merger, what do you want to see preserved ?” with a half dozen options. The club subsequently sent out a letter publishing the results, the name and colours then daylight. Next thing we know Smorgo takes over, keeps the club intact but conditional upon the adoption of the Western name. The old Board handed over to Smorgo, Rick Kennedy, a fat bloke with a pony tail and others, bloodless coup.

The members had no say in it, at all.
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Thanks for adding this on. This is correct and sorry for dragging this discussion on longer but I just wanted to add.

The survey was a bit like would you like to be deaf or blind, because it has to be one or the other. Sometimes all the options are crap, and if I had a choice I'd take neither.

No change wasn't an option and the members were manipulated in a time when there was genuine fear the club would be taken away as it almost was only six years earlier.

Many people are proud of their roots in Footscray and their family history is tied to the area. The people that lived and worked there may not have been rich, but they were proud. This is the essence of the footy club. It makes the club unique in a way Western certainly doesn't and the name change is an insult to the people that built the club.

Times change and the area may not be what it once was, but it still has its history.

Next time the clubs in trouble, maybe the colour's are offered up. These changes always come slowly and in small steps. You have to draw the line somewhere and forgetting the past (or not bothering to learn about it) is a sure way to repeat it.
 
Article on AFL website

NOW THAT Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has proven his abilities, Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli wants "more and better" from the star forward.

Ugle-Hagan will be a vital key in Friday night's blockbuster against top side Collingwood at Marvel Stadium.

It will be a stern test of the Bulldogs' bona fides, with wins over North Melbourne and Fremantle leaving them well-placed in sixth spot with a 9-6 record.

Ugle-Hagan shone against the Dockers with four goals with the 2020 No.1 draft pick continuing to flourish in his career.
Bontempelli, who has been something of a mentor to the 21-year-old, said Ugle-Hagan had shown the influence he can have on a game.

"He's already shown he has match-winning abilities. He's helped us win a couple of games in the past and this one (against Fremantle) was obviously quite significant," Bontempelli said.

"He's just worked so much harder on his forward craft, his fitness, how he can help the team - regardless of whether he can get kicks or not.

"The next thing now is once you realise your capacity and what you can do, how do you keep repeating that and keep searching for more and better?"Criticism has emerged surrounding Rory Lobb's form, but Bontempelli said the Fremantle recruit had also helped Ugle-Hagan in their attack.
"Him being there has allowed someone like Jamarra to ... flourish as well," Bontempelli said.

"Between him and Aaron (Naughton), they're taking away pretty big targets from Jamarra at different points, which has really allowed him to expose a third tall (defender).

"He (Lobb) is definitely contributing and we're still definitely happy with how he's performing."
Friday night is a far cry from the start of the season, when the Bulldogs suffered heavy losses to Melbourne and St Kilda.

"It almost feels like a different season, in a sense, because of how competitive we've been," Bontempelli said.

"Obviously off the back of those two games we had to shift our focus a little bit, but really probably hone in on some of the things we know we do well.

"Always exciting, these games, when you know they obviously mean a lot for both of our seasons."
Defender Ed Richards could return against Collingwood, a month after his strong season was interrupted by a hamstring injury.

"He's feeling good, he's a good healer, which is great," Bontempelli said.

"He was a significant player for us before he got hurt."
The Bulldogs on Monday announced a five-year sponsorship extension with Mission Foods, which will take the partnership to 20 years.

Added to the significant redevelopment of the club's Whitten Oval home, there is a strong sense of optimism about the future.

"It will hopefully keep players here, it will hopefully bring players here," Bontempelli said of the redevelopment.

"It will hopefully make us a place where people want to stay and play the rest of their careers."
 
While the Western Bulldogs have soared into top four contention, high-priced recruit Rory Lobb’s limited influence has come under fire.

Arriving at the Bulldogs last off-season after a career-best 2022 at Fremantle in exchange for Pick 30 and a future second-round pick on a reported three-year, $1.5 million deal, Lobb has struggled to have an impact at his third AFL club.

The 30-year old has booted 14 goals from as many games to be on track for his worst return based on averages since 2020, playing in a lesser role behind Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan up forward.

Speaking on Fox Footy’s The First Crack, dual premiership Kangaroo David King questioned Lobb’s value to Luke Beveridge’s side, noting how sparingly he’s been targeted in attack.

“I don’t know what his role is or his function is in this team, a high priced recruit,” King said.

“He doesn’t get options in terms of targets forward of centre, they hardly ever go to him. He just rolls around the ground.

“They just never seem to be able to use him, he’s always five metres too far away to pass the ball to.

“He hasn’t really been a noted goalkicker, he’s kicked four goals in six weeks and hasn’t had more than six kicks for 10 weeks.

“I’m thinking, what is he? What is this guy in your team? He averages one mark inside 50 and one goal per work.”
St Kilda great Leigh Montagna highlighted that other clubs have gotten similar production from players at a much cheaper price, declaring Lobb is an “expensive role player.”

“He’s a role player. He’s a third tall who can go and play as the second ruck,” Montagna told The First Crack.

“Most teams probably have a player like him, but they’re either a young developing player like a (Riley) Thilthorpe, (Anthony) Caminiti or Samson Ryan, or a low-cost player like a Mason Cox or Billy Frampton.
“It’s an expensive role player that’s not really being targeted and having no impact forward of the ball.

“They’ve invested in him. They’ve tried (playing him in different positions), I don’t think that really works either. It seems like Luke Beveridge is sort of wedded to what he’s got at the moment.

“It is an expensive one. We’ll see in the finals whether it pays off.”

Lobb played 74 games for the Giants after being drafted by the club with Pick 29 in the 2013 AFL draft before moving to Fremantle at the end of 2018 and making a further 66 AFL appearances.

He led the Dockers’ goalkicking last season with a career-best 36 majors.
 

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They're right in that Lobb is an expensive role player. It's unlikely to be a good contract for the last couple of years.

Our options were either Sam Darcy or re-sign...Cordy? Schache?

This very position has been a huge weakness for us for most of Bev's tenure. We had to overpay to get him to try and challenge for a flag while we have prime Bont. Liam Jones is performing much better, but even with him, that contract for a player of his age is a desperate win-now move.

The most realistic alternative was that we could have taken a chance, ignored Lobb and rolled with Sam Darcy. In hindsight we know Darcy has spent a bit of this time injured anyway, but if you compare Darcy's 6 games in 2022 to Lobb's 14 (so far) in 2023 it could favour Darcy depending on how much you value marking/contested marking vs ruckwork. But this would be a whole discussion in itself. Pros and cons aplenty there.

I'm not concerned about Lobb's goal tally this year, he's playing a completely different position and expectations should be different. Probably what's most disappointing is that his contested marking for his career is 1.88, and in 2023 his average per game is 0.64. Obviously not a huge number in itself but in total that's a pretty big drop.

I will credit him for not getting beaten in contests like Cordy or Schache, I don't think he gives up as many intercepts as his predecessors, but I think it's fair to call out that he's not clunking them like we would have expected when we paid him.

Overall I'm ok with his production this year, and he was huge on Saturday, but there are probably valid concerns about what it took to get him.
 
A beat up by King. King raises questions over Lobb ..... did the Dogs pay too much for Lobb says King. Fcuk off.

We paid what we had to pay to get a seasoned and competent second ruck who can play forward while we take the time necessary with Darcy. It helps Timmy and that's significant. First half of the season to integrate and build some connections with his new team mates. Second half to consolidate and build. September to prove his worth.
 
immortalmike said:
We definitely paid too much for Lobb. The man's a wage their two for three quarters of a game.

It's okay to say we messed that one up.

The sooner Darce is ready the better.
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He's on an AFL average wage I would say with the final years of the deal heavily incentive laden. Don't think we missed out on much with our 2nd rounder last year and this year its currently falling at pick 32. And Darcy isn't going to be ready until Lobb is done anyway.
 
It usually takes a season for a new key forward to come into a system and gel properly.

I also think how lobb is perceived as a trade will come down to how he performs in sepetember - should we get there. If he kicks 3-4 in a prelim or grand final and we win it’s a pretty low price to play for a structural role player. I don’t think a Cody or any of the other role players Leigh Montagna referenced is capable of that. Where as lobb could (did he kick 3 in the gws prelim?)
 

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Libbaaaa said:
He's on an AFL average wage I would say with the final years of the deal heavily incentive laden. Don't think we missed out on much with our 2nd rounder last year and this year its currently falling at pick 32. And Darcy isn't going to be ready until Lobb is done anyway.
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Average wage is too much for his output and anything over two years is criminal.

He's been less than average all year and will only get worse with age. I doubt anyone in the league would swap pick 32 for him right now and we gave up an extra second rounder.

Darcy may be ready in a couple of weeks so if you're saying that's when Lobb will be finished I'm more than okay with that.
 
ScragCity said:
Lobb is only 30. Players like him don't usually decline that quickly. His key asset is his height, which isn't going anywhere. His main problem is that he doesn't know how to be effective in our "system."
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The issue with Lobb will be 2025 & 2026. Darcy would have had time to develop and may be ready to slot into that role.

I don’t see any feasible way both can play in the same side. If Darcy does overtake Lobb, he’ll be a very expensive backup.
 
Should I bother watching On The Couch or 360
 
Who's the sycophant on 360? (I.e not Robbo).
Carrying on about Blues 'resurgence' and that "footy is better when the Blues are up and about".
Wish we got the same enthusiasm from the media after a 6 game losing streak (after a few wins in the trot even).
This is the sort of stuff that Tigers supporter was talking about when they said "other competitions ensure their power teams are always successful" or words to that effect.
It's like Dog supporters should be happy with 1 premiership every 60 years so that teams with supporters with less resilience are kept happy.
Shites moi.
 
In a game where the average salary is >$400k how can paying $500k for a guy who filled hole as big as the one in Melbournes forward line next week be seen as "expensive?" The reality is that we swapped out one middling role player in Zane Cordy for another in Rory Lobb.

I doubt that the change made much of a dent in our TPP. I suspect that the Saints signed Zane to his 3 year contract on coin somewhere in between the league average and what we are paying Lobb. Indeed if we are paying Lobb 500k it gels with rumours that he was taking a massive pay cut to get to a Melbourne side. I dont think the price of 2 second rounders is particularly high either. North gave up pick 20 for Callum Coleman Jones and their stats are almost identical. Tall role players who can fill various roles tend to demand a trade premium, especially those under contract.

I'll always love Zane for the role he played in 2016. But allowing him and Schache to move on and bringing in Lobb has been a net positive for our side

The game, its commentators and now our supporters vastly overrate Lobbs career. If he was commanding 850k. I could understand the gnashing of teeth. Getting a little over the league wide player payment average. Not so much.

If Darcy Zooms past him as expected in the next 1-18 months and Lobb spends the rest of his contract in and out of the side. Then Im ok with that.

However, I think asking Darcy to play as a second ruck at this stage of his career would be the dumbest thing we could do.

Thats why Lobb will remain in the side for the foreseeable future. And Im ok with that as well.
 
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I'll take lobb any day over seeing Cordy / Schache as second ruck. A massive gap we have at least made an improvement on with him.

Doesn't get beaten as often in the ruck as the other two and usually at least halves contests. Good back up for English and can we know he can play, although not as consistent as we'd all like.

Overall we have improved with him in the side
 
Tom Boyd wasn’t worth anywhere near what we paid for him at any point over the life of his contract - except for a fortnight, which ended up being fairly critical. I know that’s a big stretch or comparison to strike but who knows?

It’s absolutely fair enough to criticise the contract, and I’ve torn my hair out watching him at various points of the year. But imo it’ll be in the finals series across the next 1-2 years that’ll tell us whether he was good/bad/in between value for money.

I agree with others above who’ve pointed out the poor quality we’ve had in that 2nd ruck/KPF role in recent years and he’s at least better than those. He’s decent English injury insurance too.

Finally, I think if he hadn’t been playing for us last weekend there’s a decent chance we’d have lost that game. Could be a fairly critical four points come rd 24.
 
We used to get smoked as soon as English took a rest. Now we can hold or even still take over with Lobb being more than competitive in the ruck.

He needs to do more inside 50 with mismatches and holding on when he gets a chance but he's far from the biggest issue we have.

500k is nothing either. I thought we were paying him heaps more.

Would like to see us get him involved more, especially around the arc where he just launches bombs
 

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

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