Has anyone on here experienced the club go through a similar period like this?

[Moedogg]

What was it like and how did we get out of that period?

I've been a dogs fan since the early 90s and can comfortably say that is the worst period I've lived through as a fan of the club. Up untill 2017, we didn't go more than 2 years without making the finals. Now it's going 7 years and could possibly be a decade before we play finals football again.

93,94,95,96,97,98,99,2000,01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,2010,11,12,13,14,15,16,2017.

 

[wendog33]

With an attitude change and mongrel competitiveness, some tougher forwards and a far more astute Ciraldo doing a far better coaching job in his 2nd year here, then maybe next year will also be better.

 

[B-Train]

There will be plenty of fans on here from the Berries days where we struggled. But this is the worst spell we've experienced in decades, no doubt.

 

[Malla]

Worst period for sure.

2002 felt shit, but knowing the following year we had pretty much the same squad, I quickly forgot.
Mid to late 2008 when SBW left, a year after Mase left in the circumstances he did - that felt like there was no return, but we made some excellent high level signings that got us back.

I think the difference is we never lost our fabric in the 90s and 00's. While 2012> was great to get wins on paper, made 2 grand finals and play consistent finals footy, we lost our way. The old dogs way would have secured players like Finucane, Reynolds and Ennis for life but we prioritized a 'game plan' over culture. Mase spoke about it years ago (can't remember where) but he had caught up with Des and Des went over numbers of why Tolman was the best prop in the game statistically and Mase was of the belief that he wasn't a bulldog regardless of what your stats are telling you.

We lost who we are, and so now the journey begins to find it. We have the right people in the right positions to get there. We just have to be patient and accept that this will take a while.

 

[Glenn L]

Been following since early 70's and never seen a sustained period of shite like now. Maybe someone here with a deep understanding of how the club functions behind the scenes might be able to shed some light on why the club has been a basket case for so long? And no I'm not talking about coaching staff and players...

 

[Bob dog]

I didn't rally yesterday, missed the game, they still missed 47 tackles and conceded 6 penalties compared to the Raiders 2.
Theyre still not numbering up on the line after all this

 

[Dingo]

Its been a really painful stretch. I can't remember it being worse in my time.

 

[dogwhisperer]

Nope, first time I've experienced this. Been following the dogs since 83-84 and never seen anything like this. At least I can say I've experienced the clubs success probably more than other Teams supporters would experience in two life times. How many other club supporters can say they have seen their club win 5 premierships and play in 10 GF's. Not many. I said it back in 2004 after we won the GF, "If I die tomorrow, I die a happy man."

 

[James zac]

Minor after we won the comp in 80 we missed the finals in 81/82 illness and injuries to blame there as a kid in the 70s we pretty much featured in the finals making 2 gfs both loses 74/79

 

[enoughsaid]

1942 to 1980 was a 38 year wait to win a comp

2004 was 20 years ago

 

[Kempsey Dog]

I'm 31.
I started taking league seriously in 2001, so had the heartbreak of watching Dragons beat us in finals and Cronulla thrash / eliminate us.
Then the salary cap scandal of 02'
Francis Meli and the Warriors destroying us before being eliminated by the Roosters in 03'.
Funny being young and naive thinking those years were rough... This stretch is much much worse, I don't want to hit 10 years no finals, fucking embarrassing.

 

[JayBee]

Worst period for sure.

2002 felt shit, but knowing the following year we had pretty much the same squad, I quickly forgot.
Mid to late 2008 when SBW left, a year after Mase left in the circumstances he did - that felt like there was no return, but we made some excellent high level signings that got us back.

I think the difference is we never lost our fabric in the 90s and 00's. While 2012> was great to get wins on paper, made 2 grand finals and play consistent finals footy, we lost our way. The old dogs way would have secured players like Finucane, Reynolds and Ennis for life but we prioritized a 'game plan' over culture. Mase spoke about it years ago (can't remember where) but he had caught up with Des and Des went over numbers of why Tolman was the best prop in the game statistically and Mase was of the belief that he wasn't a bulldog regardless of what your stats are telling you.

We lost who we are, and so now the journey begins to find it. We have the right people in the right positions to get there. We just have to be patient and accept that this will take a while.

I still get dumped on when I tell people we were idiots for letting Finucane go so we could keep Franky.

Loved big Franky - but he was 32 when we let big Dale go..

 

[Malla]

I still get dumped on when I tell people we were idiots for letting Finucane go so we could keep Franky.

Loved big Franky - but he was 32 when we let big Dale go..

Hated seeing Dale go. Even to the point where he was coming off the bench where he was clearly ready to start and play 80mins. Bellamy put him straight into the starting team the year they signed him and within 18months he was part of the leadership group. Goes to show the type of player he is. If we had kept Jackson, Finucane and Reynolds for life together, they would have been the ones that carried the culture into the next period (this one). Also to sign someone like Lichaa in letting Ennis go because Des needed to free up cap space for all those front ended contracts.

 

[D.O.W.]

With an attitude change and mongrel competitiveness, some tougher forwards and a far more astute Ciraldo doing a far better coaching job in his 2nd year here, then maybe next year will also be better.

Bang on Wendy - Attitude, mongrel and competitiveness = Bulldogs DNA and the foundation to the game of Rugby League.

 

[wendog33]

Bang on Wendy - Attitude, mongrel and competitiveness = Bulldogs DNA and the foundation to the game of Rugby League.

*cross fingers* we find it again.

 

[Alan79]

We had a few years in the wilderness after the roster was torn apart due to our salary cap breach. And while I don't think we've really been a powerhouse on field consistently since then, we've been competitive ultimately. I think the day we signed Greenberg up as CEO was ultimately the day we went on our worst slide in my lifetime though. Before then we always had juniors cooking. He d coded that was a waste of money on the assumption that they could be scalped. From then on even reasonable talent was going to get expensive and that's where we've started having to pay overs for barely NRL standard talent.

Hopefully it's not much longer before we can at least get a couple of cheap years out of 21-24 yo's we develop which will allow us to retain the best talent in our system and balance out cap around the stats that'll win us games.

 

[silva]

Have a look at the pack we had in 2014 compared to now.
8. Graham
9. Ennis
10. Kasiano/Tolman
11. Jackson
12. Williams
13. Eastwood
14. Klemmer
15. Pritchard
16. Finucane
17.


We also had a proper halfback in Hodkinson and strike centres morris and Lafai.

It’s night and day the difference from our current squad.

 

[JayBee]

Hated seeing Dale go. Even to the point where he was coming off the bench where he was clearly ready to start and play 80mins. Bellamy put him straight into the starting team the year they signed him and within 18months he was part of the leadership group. Goes to show the type of player he is. If we had kept Jackson, Finucane and Reynolds for life together, they would have been the ones that carried the culture into the next period (this one). Also to sign someone like Lichaa in letting Ennis go because Des needed to free up cap space for all those front ended contracts.

Signing Beastwood to a backended 950k contract didn't help.

We're still reeling from the stain that he left on our club. And Gus' came out publicly backing him as one of the best coaches in the game... SMDH

 

[wendog33]

Have a look at the pack we had in 2014 compared to now.
8. Graham
9. Ennis
10. Kasiano/Tolman
11. Jackson
12. Williams
13. Eastwood
14. Klemmer
15. Pritchard
16. Finucane
17.


We also had a proper halfback in Hodkinson and strike centres morris and Lafai.

It’s night and day the difference from our current squad.

There's very few (at present) who will be fondly remembered like those guys sadly.

 

[D.O.W.]

Have a look at the pack we had in 2014 compared to now.
8. Graham
9. Ennis
10. Kasiano/Tolman
11. Jackson
12. Williams
13. Eastwood
14. Klemmer
15. Pritchard
16. Finucane
17.


We also had a proper halfback in Hodkinson and strike centres morris and Lafai.

It’s night and day the difference from our current squad.

It was also much easier to attract talent then compared to now…. We have the double issue to deal with 1. We’re not a successful finals team these days 2. There’s no one in the market available worth building a team around.

We have no option but to go hard Nov 1 for the 2025 season - this will mean overs for two marquees.

Or, we load up on the best upcoming juniors and Hope a handful turn out to be elite footballers.