I'm not expecting to see us sweep the competition away next season. But if we're not in or close to the top 8 I will be a bit disappointed. I expect Bulldogs sides to compete regardless of the team we're able to field.
A lot of things can make next year better than expected or a hard year for fans to endure. Our depth doesn't look great. But our young squad will all know that next year we will have a better chance to pick up a quality replacement for 2020 if they don't perform adequately. Aside from that I think that many of the players within the top 30 or the development players we choose will know that impressing this year will give them a great chance to establish themselves in the NRL instead of us needing to buy more talent in their positions. With the new restrictions to NRL promotion it has to be a big incentive to step up when you have the chance. So taking their opportunities should be enough incentive for youngsters to impress in any way they can. Opportunity won't knock repeatedly for players under this restricted promotion system. The added youth in our roster can also help to snap the side out of their win by percentages mode that Hasler favored. And a side with a lot of youth will be harder to prepare for since opposing coaches won't know exactly what to expect. If the team throws everything they have into every game we could go a long way.
I personally think we've altered the squad in a way that will allow us to at least strive for middle of the pack (top 8 finish). A fullback who offers support play will be a big benefit and Meaney seems to offer that. And if Cogger gets his chance I think he'll emerge as a decent general directing the play. Forans may or may not last the season, but I think that Cogger and Lewis might be capable of producing more in playmaking terms than we've seen in a while. So many people have jumped to the conclusion that because we didn't pick up established stars in the spine we won't compete. During the golden era of the club we've done very well with picking up players that didn't stand out regularly and getting them to play out of their skins. We used to thrive on picking the eyes out of off contract players that weren't highly rated. We also relied on having strong juniors. Our junior ranks aren't as great as they once were, but I think we've probably picked up some good youngsters. How good remains to be seen and with some self belief and the right attitude the squad could be a real surprise packet. I think that our recent staff additions have the ability to have planned things well and that will only be proven by how well our new recruits perform. I choose to remain hopeful that they've done well.
I'm not going to slit my wrists if the side doesn't step up. We're in the early stages of a rebuild. But typically we've seen the team do well when they're highly under-rated. I hope we go back to that tradition and take some good wins in the early rounds. If we can make a few teams nervous about facing us all while boosting the confidence of our youngsters we might surprise our biggest skeptics. Obviously things might not go as I hope, but I won't write 2019 off as a year where we're just developing youngsters for 2020 until I see what the team is capable of.
