Opinion My take on the 3 wooden spoons

[Mack]

I think sometimes u need the wooden spoon to make u realise exactly how bad things are going. If we were say sitting a few spots higher on the ladder i really doubt we as a club would have reached out to Gus. Im happy to accept the spoon if it makes us turn things around and rebound back to top, as opposed to jus treading water and sitting around 9th to 14th year after year.

 

[Wahesh]

2008 The SBW saga ruined the season but I do remember that we did allow SBW to come back for the roosters within the 5 years (we were financially compensated if I remember)

If I remember correctly, we were actively pursuing the SBW case, however Mundine who won something like $800,000 from a final shortly after donating that to the club so we stop pursuing it.

One prick had the back of an even bigger prick!

 

[Wahesh]

We still haven’t recovered from that loss. We would have smashed melbourne in the grand final.

I'm not so sure of that, they did beat us earlier on in the year - just.

 

[B-Train]

All but 2002 were earned. This was the worst Bulldogs team of all time. I'm glad we got the spoon. We deserved it. Hopefully this motivates the players, coaches and staff over the offseason and we finally make the finals again. With all of the talent arriving, there's no excuse not to..

 

[c-b-b]

A lot of people say we deserved it this year.

Did we, or did Des's incompetent management of the cap from 2017 sting us hard until this point in time?

I think the answer if obvious.

It's how you recover from those things and the decisions you make.

The Anderson led board made a decision to do things a certain way and that led to the pain we've felt for a few years, I think it could have been done differently and better.

Based on that the spoon we got this year is absolutely valid and deserved.

 

[NQ Dog]

I think sometimes u need the wooden spoon to make u realise exactly how bad things are going. If we were say sitting a few spots higher on the ladder i really doubt we as a club would have reached out to Gus. Im happy to accept the spoon if it makes us turn things around and rebound back to top, as opposed to jus treading water and sitting around 9th to 14th year after year.

For us that have been supporters for a very long time, we don't need a wooden spoon to know how bad it is. We remember the force we were when Peter Moore ran the Club.
20 finals out of 26
4 GF wins in that time
But most importantly, players wanted to play for us.
Back in the early days, very few players were paid a wage, some were paid per game but most were paid for a win only. You say so what, the times have changed? Yes it has, but the players now play for themselves and not each other to get the win. It's a shame it has to be this way but that's progress.
I for one miss the old ways. If we could just bring a little of that back I would be a happy man.

 

[chisdog]

I think sometimes u need the wooden spoon to make u realise exactly how bad things are going. If we were say sitting a few spots higher on the ladder i really doubt we as a club would have reached out to Gus. Im happy to accept the spoon if it makes us turn things around and rebound back to top, as opposed to jus treading water and sitting around 9th to 14th year after year.

Manly haven't had a wooden spoon yet & have been in since 1947.

 

[chisdog]

If I remember correctly, we were actively pursuing the SBW case, however Mundine who won something like $800,000 from a final shortly after donating that to the club so we stop pursuing it.

One prick had the back of an even bigger prick!

It was all organised by Mundine. From memory, Mundine hated us over wanting to play with us during Super League. We didn't want him. In 1998 Barry Ward was fined $10,000 for the racial vilification thing even though Mundine vilified Ward first! In the same year, he orchestrated the Solomon Haumono exit, which was on similar lines to SOB Williams. He has had a burr in his g-string ever since.

Footnote. Isn't it interesting that when researching the War incident, I could find no reference as to what Mundine said to Ward. It has been removed from history.

 

[chisdog]

It's how you recover from those things and the decisions you make.

The Anderson led board made a decision to do things a certain way and that led to the pain we've felt for a few years, I think it could have been done differently and better.

Based on that the spoon we got this year is absolutely valid and deserved.

To be fair, they sat down at their desks on the first day & there was big pile of elephant faeces sitting there. They could have done things better like not letting Klemmer go or waiting for a better replacement than Napa, but they were in a very bad position. Not many would have taken that job on & Dib HAD to go.

 

[Wahesh]

It was all organised by Mundine. From memory, Mundine hated us over wanting to play with us during Super League. We didn't want him. In 1998 Barry Ward was fined $10,000 for the racial vilification thing even though Mundine vilified Ward first! In the same year, he orchestrated the Solomon Haumono exit, which was on similar lines to SOB Williams. He has had a burr in his g-string ever since.

Footnote. Isn't it interesting that when researching the War incident, I could find no reference as to what Mundine said to Ward. It has been removed from history.

I remember that. FMD I loved Big Bad Barry Ward. I remember when we played against the Eels in 2001, the first game we drew with them, Ward bumped off something like 3 Eels defenders and kept running lol. Freaking love that guy. Beast.

The best thing that ever happened to Mundine was after the Storm raped them 70-10. It was never recorded, but then-Dragons Captain Craig Smith and Mundine got into a fight in the dressing room, and Mundine got knocked TF out. He got a black eye, that's why he jumped on a plane and went to the USA so no one could see him like that.

Then SBW does pretty much the same thing to us. I wonder where he got that idea from. /sarcasm.

Mundine got in his ear.

 

[True dogs supporter]

Bulldogs fan here: I have a dirty wooden spoon, can you wahesh it for me?

 

[habs]

I'm not so sure of that, they did beat us earlier on in the year - just.

Yeah fucking painful loss that one too. They went on a roll after that win.

 

[_G-Dog_]

 

[Apercots]

wahesh = nasheed ,

Dont take the bait guys

 

[ILiveForDib]

I see this spoon as a good thing. You can only grow from there and with the signings coming next year particularly Burton if we get a good draw and hopefully lucky injury wise we will make the 8. Gotta win half your games or even less based of this years ladder.

 

[Chris Harding]

1. 2002 I was told by 2 player managers at the time that the Roosters were over the cap more than we were & if you look at the squads that year at the beginning of the season we were predicted to come about 5th or 6th, but 17 straight wins means we would have won it. The game V the Raiders where we lost 38-34 the players were out at local clubs till at least 3am the day of the game & we didn't put in much of an effort in the first half. Agreed - invalid, we did not deserve it. Why didn't the Raiders of 1990 have their premiership stripped when they were double the salary cap?

2. The whole 2008 season is solely to blame on SOB Williams. It ripped a huge hole in the club & we wouldn't have finished last he he had been a man & lived up to the contract he signed. If he wanted to blame anybody, he should blame his manager. We only won it on points differential.

3. This year, well I think this one gets back to the salary cap debacle & the big question is how did the NRL allow the contracts of Foran & Woods after they said that they wouldn't be approved unless they could prove we could get under the cap. How did we do that? I just cannot see how it SHOULD have been approved. It seems to me like a set up with Hasler & Greenberg & I blame them the most.

My mother's neighbour worked for the Eels in 2002. She told mum that the Eels had all sorts of backdoor deals that put them well over the cap, but nobody had blown the whistle on them, so they kept quiet and watched the Dogs suffer the humiliation of losing all points.

They were eventually caught out, just like the Storm were.

I was at our last game in 2002, after our points had been deducted. We played the Broncos at Olympic Park, and beat them. At the end of the game, Gorden Tallis walked around applauding the Dogs fans for their loyalty- and to show he understood their hurt. I'll never forget that moment.

 

[Chris Harding]

I see this spoon as a good thing. You can only grow from there and with the signings coming next year particularly Burton if we get a good draw and hopefully lucky injury wise we will make the 8. Gotta win half your games or even less based of this years ladder.

Can't go anywhere else from last, except up.

 

[Paul Depodesta]

We still haven’t recovered from that loss. We would have smashed melbourne in the grand final.

I remember that loss, 17 I think I was and broke my heart

 

[chisdog]

My mother's neighbour worked for the Eels in 2002. She told mum that the Eels had all sorts of backdoor deals that put them well over the cap, but nobody had blown the whistle on them, so they kept quiet and watched the Dogs suffer the humiliation of losing all points.

They were eventually caught out, just like the Storm were.

I was at our last game in 2002, after our points had been deducted. We played the Broncos at Olympic Park, and beat them. At the end of the game, Gorden Tallis walked around applauding the Dogs fans for their loyalty- and to show he understood their hurt. I'll never forget that moment.

I went to the game following the announcement that we were over the cap V Canberra. Initially I didn't want to go but I ended up going with a couple of workmates who were Dogs supporters. I remember Turvey going over to a group of Bulldogs fans at the southern end to thank them for their support. Our players were out on the turps till about 3 am I later heard & they played like it in the first half, Raiders were up 28-6, but Vagana scored a try just before half time to make it 28-10. I guess Folkesy gave them a blast because we won the 2nd half 24-10, but lost the game 38-34. It was a disappointing loss but I can understand how the boys felt.

 

[Papa Joe]

These are my thoughts on the wooden spoons received over the years and my take on them:

2002: We saw the Roosters win the 2002 premiership, after which it was found out that they were over the salary cap by $150,000. The Roosters walked away completely unpunished, kept their premiership in hand, and prize money of $400,000. The Bulldogs were allowed to keep accruing points, however were automatically put in a situation into the wooden spoon position with 3 rounds remaining, and we were given no way of avoiding it. In seasons since, teams like the Warriors and Eels who also had salary cap breaches were allowed to accrue points AFTER they got their papers in order. We were not afforded that luxury.

I'll also add that were didn't deserve to win in 2002, however we certainly didn't deserve the wooden spoon either.

My verdict: Not Valid.

2008: Not valid. Now this was a train-wreck of a season. In the off-season before 2008, Willie Mason left our club and went to the Roosters. The Roosters released Danny Williams to make room for Mason in their cap. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, Sonny-Bill Williams leaves midway through 2008 over pay. David Gallop fronted the media and said what Sonny-Bill Williams had committed was border-line fraud. Whether or not that was the case, the NRL did not support us in any way, not even salary cap exemptions to sign anyway midway through 2008 and saw us stumble to the wooden spoon.

Since then, it has become standard practice that the NRL allows players to transfer mid-season as long as salary cap space is agreed upon. Furthermore, the NRL allowed Sonny-Bill Williams contract to be registered for 2013 less than 5 years after he committed this fraud against the code. Yet another time the NRL has screwed the club over.

My verdict: Not Valid.

2021: What a train-wreck of a season this was. It was one of those seasons where the ending couldn't come soon enough, but let's take a close look at what lead to this wooden spoon... and we have to rewind a fair bit. In 2017, Des screwed the teams salary cap space by signing broken half Foran to a million a season, effectively putting a big strain on our cap. Keiran wasn't effective and spent more time on the sideline. Again, the NRL did not give us any cap assistance. Sure, players get injured but when your biggest signing gets injured the NRL has a duty of care to mandate the competition, not screw teams over. Fast forward 3 seasons to 2020, Des was gone, and we had cap space to sign players for 2021. There was one little problem... there were no good players to sign. It was almost as if Des timed this to a tee and planned it from the start. Not only that, but, the management of our club gave Des 100% control of the team which something our club has never allowed for a coach. He's simply meant to coach the team. This is NOT the roots of our club and it was evident when Raelene Castle, the worst CEO our club has ever had, and one of the worst in the history of Australian sporting clubs, was shown the door. The wooden spoon for 2021 is on Des Hasler, not the club.

My verdict: Not Valid.

In the lyrics of Sheryl Crow....

If it makes you happy,
It can't be that bad,
If it makes you happy,
Then why the hell are you so sad?