Bulldogs year shot

As I left Etihad Stadium last night I had a sence that not only was the 2011 year over for the Western Bulldogs, there may be some very bleak years ahead. There are a lot of reasons for this but one of them isn't Rocket Eade. I believe that he has gotten the best out of the playing group in his time at the doggies and the team, board and supporters shouldn't jump off him so quickly. The doggies were 13th in footy department spend last year and managed to get to a preliminary final.

I feel that the club (with a 3-8 record) will start thinking ahead to 2012 and that will end up costing them games in 2011. It's what every club does, it's the smart thing to do so you can't blame them for doing it. The footy world will be looking at someone to blame, again I think this will be unfairly put straight at Eade. I wonder sometimes why can't we congratulate a team (who ever never that good) in making so many prelims in a row. 

The reason I feel why the Bulldogs are going down this year is a number of small things going wrong. I think that the way Aker left the side is still having an effect at the club. I think that it was the correct decision to bring him in but a number of other recent additions to the side haven't been. I believe that Lake's lack of form has really hurt the side. I feel that the growing divide amongst the players is evidient. I believe that some of their players have lost their ruthlessness and it's costing the team. 

Cooney aparently has a knee so bad that it's gone down to bone on bone. The team misses his pace. Cross has been down in recent weeks, Gia has always been a problem, Josh Hill at times doesn't look interested but he does have the talent, Jones is a waste of time and Tom Williams lacks confidence. 

I think another issue is the constant obsession with picking up recycled players. Ed Barlow, Welsh, Djerrkura, Hall, Hudson, Sherman, Veszpremi, Callen, Eagleton and McDougell have all be recycled players picked up in the last 3-4 years. The Lions get slammed for recuriting but the Bulldogs need to be looked in the same light. They are extremely lucky that they have picked up Libba and Wallis this year. This will go a great way into hiding these mistakes.

The bulldogs should start to think about next year, but they shouldn't go to overboard with bringing in kids/delisting players/sacking the coach. They still have a good core group of players around the middle to build a team around. Lake, Markovic, Morris, Hargrave, Wood, Gilbee etc show that they still have class in the backline. They still have all the talent needed in the middle. The forward line is and has always been a question mark. What has got them so down lately is their confience and lack of pressure efforts all around the ground. The players need work on that and improve.

I do worry though that it may get worst before it gets better.