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

[Snarls Barkley]

That's gutting news

Excellent journalist and proud Dog. What a tragedy

 

[grassman75]

Devastated by this news. Why is it always the good ones taken too soon?

Such a brilliant career ahead of him and he will be greatly missed

RIP Sam

 

[Kermit]

Awful news, absolute tragedy. Deepest sympathy to his family and friends, his Dad was such a beloved figure at the dogs and the community as a whole. Taken far too soon. RIP Sam

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Met Sam a few times at various Dogs / AFL events. Complete gentlemen with his time and he was 100% a passionate supporter. Absolutely gutted to hear this.

RIP mate.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Just read the news on Sam, and I am gutted, what a terrible tragedy. My condolences to his family, friends and the Bulldog community, who will be feeling his loss. RIP Sam.

 

[_Mike_]

Sam was Jake Landsberger’s son..

 

[Bulldog Brent]

Doc Zimmerman would be shattered. Hope the club will be OK and do it for the Landsbergers over the next month.

 

[RWnBluey]

For those here who podcast last night’s SEN Sportsday segment with Daniel Hoyne is worth a listen. Dogs discussion starts around 0:47 min mark.

If you couldn’t be bothered this is what was said in a nutshell:

• Bevo’s strip club: we’re giving the opposition first touch of the footy at stoppages (no surprises there) but then we’re stripping them of possession and generating clearance. The last two weeks were -19 in first possession but +12 in clearances.
• Hoyne rates our profile as the most likely to win the flag:
• We are ranked #2 for turning possession into a score and #1 at denying that. There have only ever been two teams that have been ranked #1 for both - Geelong 2007 & the other won a GF by 80 points so Geelong 2022 or Tigers 2019
• We are top 3 for turnovers and clearances
• Ranked #1 for offensive ball movement and #2 for defending ball movement
• Ranked #1 for territory
• Ranked #1 for work post clearance
• If we win this week and all other results go as expected we could not have a better path for finishing outside top 4.
• Likely finals:

Week 1: Hawks MCG
Week 2: Geel MCG
Week 3: Syd/GWS SCG
GF: MCG

For this to eventuate Geel need to make up around 60 points on GWS this week.

Lastly, over the past 2 weeks Sam Darcy has won 24 contested possessions in the forward half of the ground outside stoppages which has NEVER happened before in Champion Data’s 25 years history.

 

[Hoges64]

For those here who podcast last night’s SEN Sportsday segment with Daniel Hoyne is worth a listen. Dogs discussion starts around 0:47 min mark.

If you couldn’t be bothered this is what was said in a nutshell:

• Bevo’s strip club: we’re giving the opposition first touch of the footy at stoppages (no surprises there) but then we’re stripping them of possession and generating clearance. The last two weeks were -19 in first possession but +12 in clearances.
• Hoyne rates our profile as the most likely to win the flag:
• We are ranked #2 for turning possession into a score and #1 at denying that. There have only ever been two teams that have been ranked #1 for both - Geelong 2007 & the other won a GF by 80 points so Geelong 2022 or Tigers 2019
• We are top 3 for turnovers and clearances
• Ranked #1 for offensive ball movement and #2 for defending ball movement
• Ranked #1 for territory
• Ranked #1 for work post clearance
• If we win this week and all other results go as expected we could not have a better path for finishing outside top 4.
• Likely finals:

Week 1: Hawks MCG
Week 2: Geel MCG
Week 3: Syd/GWS SCG
GF: MCG

For this to eventuate Geel need to make up around 60 points on GWS this week.

Lastly, over the past 2 weeks Sam Darcy has won 24 contested possessions in the forward half of the ground outside stoppages which has NEVER happened before in Champion Data’s 25 years history.

Ah crap, last time someone discussed our stuff from Hoyne, Adelaide happened.

 

[Dogs Rule]

For those here who podcast last night’s SEN Sportsday segment with Daniel Hoyne is worth a listen. Dogs discussion starts around 0:47 min mark.

If you couldn’t be bothered this is what was said in a nutshell:

• Bevo’s strip club: we’re giving the opposition first touch of the footy at stoppages (no surprises there) but then we’re stripping them of possession and generating clearance. The last two weeks were -19 in first possession but +12 in clearances.
• Hoyne rates our profile as the most likely to win the flag:
• We are ranked #2 for turning possession into a score and #1 at denying that. There have only ever been two teams that have been ranked #1 for both - Geelong 2007 & the other won a GF by 80 points so Geelong 2022 or Tigers 2019
• We are top 3 for turnovers and clearances
• Ranked #1 for offensive ball movement and #2 for defending ball movement
• Ranked #1 for territory
• Ranked #1 for work post clearance
• If we win this week and all other results go as expected we could not have a better path for finishing outside top 4.
• Likely finals:

Week 1: Hawks MCG
Week 2: Geel MCG
Week 3: Syd/GWS SCG
GF: MCG

For this to eventuate Geel need to make up around 60 points on GWS this week.

Lastly, over the past 2 weeks Sam Darcy has won 24 contested possessions in the forward half of the ground outside stoppages which has NEVER happened before in Champion Data’s 25 years history.

In future years, there will be PhD's done on how we got to the final round of the season still at risk of missing finals. It's mind boggling.

 

[ExRoyboy]

Really good article discussing the Dogs and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of what we produce at times.

It points out how quickly you can tell if we are the bad Bulldogs vs the good bulldogs which most of us would agree with. I can usually tell within the first 10 minutes of a game. Which means a lot of it must be mental with this team. We clearly know it’s not talent and given the stats mentioned above Bevo and the coaching staff have designed a method which enables them to be ranked so highly across all the main indicators. The only one that we are terrible at is accuracy when kicking for goal which we are dead last and I think to be honest this partially explains why we are still fighting to secure our spot in the finals. There have probably been at least 3 losses purely due to accuracy and then another against Sydney which was the result of unlucky injuries otherwise we would be easily in the top 4.

Anyway, it’s a good read.

From the Pocket: Western Bulldogs face up to unholy trinity with destiny in their own hands

The unpredictable Bulldogs have the coach, talent and firepower to be among the AFL premiership threats but are still to lock in a finals spot

www.theguardian.com

 

[TheScriptorWL]

Really good article discussing the Dogs and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of what we produce at times.

It points out how quickly you can tell if we are the bad Bulldogs vs the good bulldogs which most of us would agree with. I can usually tell within the first 10 minutes of a game. Which means a lot of it must be mental with this team. We clearly know it’s not talent and given the stats mentioned above Bevo and the coaching staff have designed a method which enables them to be ranked so highly across all the main indicators. The only one that we are terrible at is accuracy when kicking for goal which we are dead last and I think to be honest this partially explains why we are still fighting to secure our spot in the finals. There have probably been at least 3 losses purely due to accuracy and then another against Sydney which was the result of unlucky injuries otherwise we would be easily in the top 4.

Anyway, it’s a good read.

From the Pocket: Western Bulldogs face up to unholy trinity with destiny in their own hands

The unpredictable Bulldogs have the coach, talent and firepower to be among the AFL premiership threats but are still to lock in a finals spot

www.theguardian.com

As per usual the Media is two years behind the supporter base they're covering. However, I'll agree now that our biggest worry heading into finals(Potentially) is our mental fortitude. The Bulldog faithful have known what Bulldogs have shown up within the first few stoppages, ever since the semi-dark age 2022 season and we still haven't bumped that fatal flaw. For the last Three years if the opposition snags a few red hot goals to start the game, that familiar feeling of our boys dropping their heads is too well known for my liking.

If we want another miracle flag. Improvement in this aspect of the game is a must. Bevo work your magic, make us the victimised underdogs again or else we will be licking our wounds on the day of the big dance.

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

Really good article discussing the Dogs and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of what we produce at times.

It points out how quickly you can tell if we are the bad Bulldogs vs the good bulldogs which most of us would agree with. I can usually tell within the first 10 minutes of a game. Which means a lot of it must be mental with this team. We clearly know it’s not talent and given the stats mentioned above Bevo and the coaching staff have designed a method which enables them to be ranked so highly across all the main indicators. The only one that we are terrible at is accuracy when kicking for goal which we are dead last and I think to be honest this partially explains why we are still fighting to secure our spot in the finals. There have probably been at least 3 losses purely due to accuracy and then another against Sydney which was the result of unlucky injuries otherwise we would be easily in the top 4.

Anyway, it’s a good read.

From the Pocket: Western Bulldogs face up to unholy trinity with destiny in their own hands

The unpredictable Bulldogs have the coach, talent and firepower to be among the AFL premiership threats but are still to lock in a finals spot

www.theguardian.com

Can you please cut and paste the article in here rather than a link to a paywall.
Keen to read it...

 

[ExRoyboy]

Can you please cut and paste the article in here rather than a link to a paywall.
Keen to read it...

Goran Ivanišević used to speak of the “Three Gorans”, the unholy trinity that tortured him, bewildered others and merged and mashed in one fortnight in 2001 to produce a Wimbledon title.

Bad Goran was the raving lunatic who’d smash rackets and lose to qualifiers. Good Goran was the big-serving, sure-volleying man whose ceiling was usually the quarter-finals. Emergency Goran was the man possessed who’d emerge from a rain delay a completely changed player, who’d fire down aces like mortar shells, and who was capable of annihilating any tennis player in the world.



There has always been a touch of that about Luke Beveridge’s Western Bulldogs. The Bad Bulldogs walk on to the football field like ghosts, are smashed in the contest, and leave all the heavy lifting to their captain. The Good Bulldogs hunt from pack to pack, strip the ball back off the opposition, handball laterally to create space and relieve pressure, and move the ball quickly and decisively to their crop of star young forwards.

The Emergency Bulldogs take the best of the Good Bulldogs, and add almost a spiritual quest, a missionary zeal, a short campaign where everything just flows, where no matter where they are on the ladder they look like the best team in Australia. It only lasted a month in 2016, but a month was enough. In 2021, the Emergency Bulldogs were quarantining, being shunted from state to state, speaking like yoga instructors and working like stevedores.

The Dogs find themselves in a familiar position this weekend. They have the second-best percentage in the competition. Their best player may well be the All-Australian captain. They’ve knocked off most of the major contenders. Their midfield is ferocious and peerless on its day. Their forward line is capable of slamming on big scores like no other team.

View image in fullscreen
Sam Darcy walks from the field after booting seven goals against North Melbourne. Photograph: Morgan Hancock/AAP
But there’s every possibility they won’t make it. They have to beat one of the in-form teams in the competition, an opponent they have considerable history with, an opponent that brings pressure like no other, an opponent with at least two home finals at stake. Unlike the Dogs, you know exactly which Giants team is going to turn up.


At least their destiny is in their own hands. Last year, for the second year in a row, their finals fate was wedded to Carlton. They beat Geelong and then stewed for 24 hours. They gathered on the Sunday. They sipped their waters and pointed the Bulldog bone at GWS, who had everything to play for. They watched a crackerjack first half. They watched Carlton, who would finish fifth no matter what happened, take their foot off the pedal. They watched the Giants skip away to a five-goal win, and sink their season.

In the end, it was the losses to Hawthorn in Tasmania and West Coast at Docklands that did them in. With cows grazing in the background, Tim English, looking as always like he should be solving mysteries in a Famous Five book, completely fluffed a kick in. He had a fine season, but this was his Benny Hill moment. It was nothing compared to what they dished up against West Coast a week later – the quintessential Bad Bulldogs on display. That’s what be will tattooed on the minds of the Bulldogs’ supporters who head to Ballarat on Sunday. The rest of us can marvel at their captain and their young forwards. But the fans know how quickly it can all flip.

If the Bad Bulldogs turn up, you can bet Beveridge will cop the brunt of the criticism. He really can’t win either way. When they smash teams, his detractors say “see, that’s what you should be doing with that amount of talent”. When they lose, it’s down to his stubbornness, his weirdness, his unwillingness to come down from the clouds. Ultimately, they hate him because he won’t play their game. The AFL media ecosystem is predicated on picking fights, and then making up and moving on. But that’s not his way. And he makes himself an easy target because of it.

There’s another scenario – they don’t need Emergency Bulldogs on the weekend. Good Bulldogs is enough. Bontempelli, Libba, Darcy, a competitive ruck, a cohesive backline – it’s enough. You can usually tell within a few minutes whether the Good Bulldogs have turned up. If they do, this finals series will be all the more interesting and unpredictable for their presence.

 

[RedWhite&Blue]

Goran Ivanišević used to speak of the “Three Gorans”, the unholy trinity that tortured him, bewildered others and merged and mashed in one fortnight in 2001 to produce a Wimbledon title.

Bad Goran was the raving lunatic who’d smash rackets and lose to qualifiers. Good Goran was the big-serving, sure-volleying man whose ceiling was usually the quarter-finals. Emergency Goran was the man possessed who’d emerge from a rain delay a completely changed player, who’d fire down aces like mortar shells, and who was capable of annihilating any tennis player in the world.



There has always been a touch of that about Luke Beveridge’s Western Bulldogs. The Bad Bulldogs walk on to the football field like ghosts, are smashed in the contest, and leave all the heavy lifting to their captain. The Good Bulldogs hunt from pack to pack, strip the ball back off the opposition, handball laterally to create space and relieve pressure, and move the ball quickly and decisively to their crop of star young forwards.

The Emergency Bulldogs take the best of the Good Bulldogs, and add almost a spiritual quest, a missionary zeal, a short campaign where everything just flows, where no matter where they are on the ladder they look like the best team in Australia. It only lasted a month in 2016, but a month was enough. In 2021, the Emergency Bulldogs were quarantining, being shunted from state to state, speaking like yoga instructors and working like stevedores.

The Dogs find themselves in a familiar position this weekend. They have the second-best percentage in the competition. Their best player may well be the All-Australian captain. They’ve knocked off most of the major contenders. Their midfield is ferocious and peerless on its day. Their forward line is capable of slamming on big scores like no other team.

View image in fullscreen
Sam Darcy walks from the field after booting seven goals against North Melbourne. Photograph: Morgan Hancock/AAP
But there’s every possibility they won’t make it. They have to beat one of the in-form teams in the competition, an opponent they have considerable history with, an opponent that brings pressure like no other, an opponent with at least two home finals at stake. Unlike the Dogs, you know exactly which Giants team is going to turn up.


At least their destiny is in their own hands. Last year, for the second year in a row, their finals fate was wedded to Carlton. They beat Geelong and then stewed for 24 hours. They gathered on the Sunday. They sipped their waters and pointed the Bulldog bone at GWS, who had everything to play for. They watched a crackerjack first half. They watched Carlton, who would finish fifth no matter what happened, take their foot off the pedal. They watched the Giants skip away to a five-goal win, and sink their season.

In the end, it was the losses to Hawthorn in Tasmania and West Coast at Docklands that did them in. With cows grazing in the background, Tim English, looking as always like he should be solving mysteries in a Famous Five book, completely fluffed a kick in. He had a fine season, but this was his Benny Hill moment. It was nothing compared to what they dished up against West Coast a week later – the quintessential Bad Bulldogs on display. That’s what be will tattooed on the minds of the Bulldogs’ supporters who head to Ballarat on Sunday. The rest of us can marvel at their captain and their young forwards. But the fans know how quickly it can all flip.

If the Bad Bulldogs turn up, you can bet Beveridge will cop the brunt of the criticism. He really can’t win either way. When they smash teams, his detractors say “see, that’s what you should be doing with that amount of talent”. When they lose, it’s down to his stubbornness, his weirdness, his unwillingness to come down from the clouds. Ultimately, they hate him because he won’t play their game. The AFL media ecosystem is predicated on picking fights, and then making up and moving on. But that’s not his way. And he makes himself an easy target because of it.https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...y-in-their-own-hands#EmailSignup-skip-link-10

There’s another scenario – they don’t need Emergency Bulldogs on the weekend. Good Bulldogs is enough. Bontempelli, Libba, Darcy, a competitive ruck, a cohesive backline – it’s enough. You can usually tell within a few minutes whether the Good Bulldogs have turned up. If they do, this finals series will be all the more interesting and unpredictable for their presence.

Spot on...

 

[dergert]

Jonathon Horn is a great footy writer.

 

[Dogs Rule]

If the Bad Bulldogs turn up, you can bet Beveridge will cop the brunt of the criticism. He really can’t win either way. When they smash teams, his detractors say “see, that’s what you should be doing with that amount of talent”. When they lose, it’s down to his stubbornness, his weirdness, his unwillingness to come down from the clouds. Ultimately, they hate him because he won’t play their game. The AFL media ecosystem is predicated on picking fights, and then making up and moving on. But that’s not his way. And he makes himself an easy target because of it.

Gee, I wonder which one-morning former-fire-fighter-turned-perpetually-outraged-media-hot-take-type Horn could be talking about here?

Real head scratcher.

Absolutely nailed that whole article. Brilliant analysis, great intelligent journalism which is so infrequent these days.

 

[Lindsay_Gilbee]

For those here who podcast last night’s SEN Sportsday segment with Daniel Hoyne is worth a listen. Dogs discussion starts around 0:47 min mark.

If you couldn’t be bothered this is what was said in a nutshell:

• Bevo’s strip club: we’re giving the opposition first touch of the footy at stoppages (no surprises there) but then we’re stripping them of possession and generating clearance. The last two weeks were -19 in first possession but +12 in clearances.
• Hoyne rates our profile as the most likely to win the flag:
• We are ranked #2 for turning possession into a score and #1 at denying that. There have only ever been two teams that have been ranked #1 for both - Geelong 2007 & the other won a GF by 80 points so Geelong 2022 or Tigers 2019
• We are top 3 for turnovers and clearances
• Ranked #1 for offensive ball movement and #2 for defending ball movement
• Ranked #1 for territory
• Ranked #1 for work post clearance
• If we win this week and all other results go as expected we could not have a better path for finishing outside top 4.
• Likely finals:

Week 1: Hawks MCG
Week 2: Geel MCG
Week 3: Syd/GWS SCG
GF: MCG

For this to eventuate Geel need to make up around 60 points on GWS this week.

Lastly, over the past 2 weeks Sam Darcy has won 24 contested possessions in the forward half of the ground outside stoppages which has NEVER happened before in Champion Data’s 25 years history.

It’s bloody frustrating that this all indicates were awesome, then we play like the last two times at Adelaide oval.

 

[Angak]

The AFL 360 promo for this week's game has me really fired up. Its going to be on for young and old. Feeling nervous.

 

[MYOB]

The AFL 360 promo for this week's game has me really fired up. Its going to be on for young and old. Feeling nervous.

We are going in to a 5 week, sudden death, finals campaign

 

[Optimistic Dog]

If we need to win 5 games and the average chance of us winning each game is even money or 50/50, the odds of us winning the flag is 31/1 or just over 3%. It is slightly better than this because we may only need to win 4 games if the blues or dockers lose this week.

The odds on winning four 50/50 finals games are 15/1. Just shows how hard the task is to win it from outside the top 4 and why we are the only team to do it under the current finals system. Even harder when you consider we were rank outsiders against WCE and outsiders in the other 3 games. Our bookies odds prior to the WCE Eagles game were 67/1.

 

[doggiesin08]

If we need to win 5 games and the average chance of us winning each game is even money or 50/50, the odds of us winning the flag is 31/1 or just over 3%. It is slightly better than this because we may only need to win 4 games if the blues or dockers lose this week.

The odds on winning four 50/50 finals games are 15/1. Just shows how hard the task is to win it from outside the top 4 and why we are the only team to do it under the current finals system. Even harder when you consider we were rank outsiders against WCE and outsiders in the other 3 games. Our bookies odds prior to the WCE Eagles game were 67/1.

Is it conceivable we could go into all 4 finals as favourites with the bookies? I think we’d be favourites (just) against Hawthorn and then if we got Geelong off a loss on week 2 then I could see us being favourites again. Week 3 would be Sydney/GWS away who we recently comprehensively beat away (Syd) or will have just beaten 3 weeks ago (GWS) and then Week 4 would be an interstate team at the G.

 

[MYOB]

Is it conceivable we could go into all 4 finals as favourites with the bookies? I think we’d be favourites (just) against Hawthorn and then if we got Geelong off a loss on week 2 then I could see us being favourites again. Week 3 would be Sydney/GWS away who we recently comprehensively beat away (Syd) or will have just beaten 3 weeks ago (GWS) and then Week 4 would be an interstate team at the G.

It would be very odd for a team that won straight through to the PF, did not start favourites

 

[bafl]

Can you please cut and paste the article in here rather than a link to a paywall.
Keen to read it...

Just for future reference, I’m pretty sure The Guardian is not a true paywall. They ask you to pay, but you can always close those requests and read on. A bit like Wikipedia. YMMV

 

[MaxiBont]

Darcy and JUH have made the 22 under 22 final team.

Very well deserved.

Jeez we have some young guns coming through. Exciting times at the Dogs.