Bulldogs after a prop

_G-Dog_

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Forward packs are important but a great spine will only win you a comp..

Cowboys had a strong pack this year but got no where.. Raiders had strong packs previously but got no where..

We had great packs under Des - Graham Klemmer Kasiano Tolmam etc, but a poor spine..

Sharks won the comp off the back of recruiting Maloney Ennis and Barba - within 12months they were in a GF..

Roosters added Tedesco Cronk and Keary within 12months and now have 2 comps..

You just need the big men to do a job, make tackles and hard runs.. but winning the comp is mainly about the spine players.. Thats where the money needs to be spent..

The game has changed since the 80s.. Back then you could win the comp off a monster pack and a smart halves and a good spine like we did.. Nowadays you should spend your cash more on your spine than the forward pack..
 
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jpneves

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Our premiership years in the 80’s had a decent ‘spine’
Potter Lamb(Hagen)Mortimer Bugden/Johnstone would have been players a lot of clubs would have wanted back in the day
88 we had
Alchin Lamb Hagen and Joe Thomas
Alchin was a pretty handy ball player as he was a halfback
We had Langmack who had developed into a pretty decent ball player by the late 80’s
Yes we had the ‘dogs of war’ forward pack but as the decade went on and into the 90’s we changed and the forward pack became creative with the ball
95 we had Silva Lamb Polla Mounter and Hetherington they all had a great finals series and off the back of the forward pack of Britt,Pay,Jason Smith etc they spun the magic

Nowdays you still need a good pack
defence plays a huge role so the pack must be able to shutdown attacks and get field position for the halves
 

Sleeky

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Bulldogs are in need of more than a prop
 

Howard Moon

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not denying what you say about the spine but I thought we were dominated in both our grand finals in the opening 20-30 which is where those types of games are often won... just like Raiders were dominated in the first 30 by JWH, and the Storm were dominated for the full 80 last year

There really is only one team with a completely stacked spine in the Roosters... it's just so hard in the modern game with the lack of talent and the amount you have to pay to stack unless you are Easts... even the Storm aren't completely stacked in that department, and especially not Brisbane... I personally think JMK has a lot of upside, and the kid Wakeham looks very promising... maybe we should have tried to bring James Maloney over for a year or two, or look at the super league for an experienced half that we can acquire for a decent price
 
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