Are the Bulldogs rebuilding, a flag chance, or in the middle?
The Western Bulldogs finished the 2024 season with a 2-3 record after losing to Essendon by 29 points in round five.
However, what is their current position? This season, will they try to win the flag themselves, or have they come to terms with the fact that it’s time to rebuild and try again?
Luke Beveridge, the head coach, is under increasing pressure as their premiership window is closing.
Herald Sun Chief Football Writer Mark Robinson stated on Fox Footy’s AFL360, “I don’t think Luke Beveridge is safe.”
Co-host Gerard Whateley said, “It depends on what the alignment (within the club) is like. Coming into the season, they felt like a team that had removed all the obstacles to nail it down now and finally deliver, rather than the team that was thinking, ‘nah, we can’t win it with this group, we’re going to change things.'”
One of the two things that fascinated me about the off-season was how they would emerge into the new year.
“Everything they did was aimed at success right now, to
“That team doesn’t look like them.”
Robinson thinks that these discussions may have been going on inside the Whitten Oval’s four walls for a while.
“I believe the Dogs made this decision during the off-season,” he remarked.
“I don’t believe they decided to play all the kids at the beginning of the season.
“They made decisions about our activities and location during the off-season.
“I believe the Dogs are the first team to be bitten by these long contracts, and I think they’ve made enormous list management issues and mistakes.”
While Caleb Daniel is bound to the team through the end of 2026, Jack Macrae and Bailey Dale have contracts that run until the end of 2027.
What will they do with them, I wonder? They will need to exchange them, according to Robinson.
The Dogs have determined that they have exhausted all options on this list during the off-season.
If they kept going with the same group, everybody would be asking them, “Dogs, what are you doing?
“They’re adding some speed and removing some old stuff.”
“Those quick players don’t have the same talent as some of these others, but skill isn’t everything.”
Their attempt is to balance their current location. They’re building, they might not play in the finals, and this year they’re not in it to win it.
Whateley thinks that in order to move the team forward, Beveridge is “looking for a fresh mix” of players.
“That’s
Ryley Sanders, an exciting young player, looked extremely frustrated after being substituted out of the game for the second time in five weeks. Robinson then took a blowtorch to Sanders.
Is he spitting the plaything? Robinson stated, “Mick Malthouse believes he ought to be fined.
“Calm down, Ryley. You’re a good young player who has spent two and a half minutes with the senior team. You get taken off the ground and you’re not happy, so you start kicking the toys.
“Good young man, I wouldn’t drop him, but pull your head in, buddy. You’ve played a good under-18 year, and you’ve done nothing yet.”
Whateley stated that following their game, the football community will have a much better understanding of the Dogs’
