SMH Article

[eman & the Utai SLAM]

We've sat here for almost a decade without alot of this information, direct from the sources and pieced together. It provides next level insight into the struggles we've had, why some decisions we didn't agree with were made, and perhaps who is responsible for the problems we've faced. It also shows how important a coach is, the right coach - at the right time, and how their style/approach can be incredibly powerful but can be as equally destructive once the shelf life runs out.

Mate i think the inner circle wont speak of these matters to a reporter until alot of time has passed so as not to offend anyone they know personally, i feel alot better reading this as it was so devastating living through this period and losing 2 gf! If we’d won 2012 I’d be happy.

My one mate who knows another mate (lol) has always told me that Tededsco contract was printed and Teddy actually signed it. It was a done deal. I didnt know until now if this was 100% true. All i heard / thought was that Teddy used us to bump up his Rooters contract. Now I know its because Des had Foran locked in and the tigers trio wouldnt come over without each other.

In the end we got Woods in a stacked forward pack. Offloaded him after a year then lost Klemmer because of their close friendship? Our salary cap hasn’t recovered from that until now. Lost Graham too who was the heart of our forward pack. Signed and cut Fifita too.

 

[GrogDog]

Ray dib copt a lot towards the end of his time but I truly believe he wasn't the issue. Castle and Hasler are to blame for a lot of this mess. I think if the dogs landed Moses and Tedesco dogs things would of been a lot different.

I certainly got the impression with that article that Dib was becoming quite egotistical towards the end.

 

[Malla]

Ray dib copt a lot towards the end of his time but I truly believe he wasn't the issue. Castle and Hasler are to blame for a lot of this mess. I think if the dogs landed Moses and Tedesco dogs things would of been a lot different.

Greenberg created it, Dib cleaned it up

 

[Malla]

I certainly got the impression with that article that Dib was becoming quite egotistical towards the end.

He needed to be.

 

[Kip Drordy]

Two things from this article.
1. Barba tried to strangle himself??. Strangely enough he was unsuccessful. Maybe he should have tried to hold his breath.
2. No time for Dib but agree with assessment of Greenberg - Sonny Todd Greenberg.

 

[Pity Fool]

Yeah ditto, great read.

Memories of Barba 2012 will be with me for a very long time. I've never seen a player score so many long range tries. It got to a point that you knew he was a chance every time he got the ball with some space to move that he would run around the entire other team. Best solo year ever!

I remember that one he regathered in our in-goal and ran the whole field and scored, 110m try they put it down as. May have been against the Bronco's, not sure? I remember pausing it and calling my ex into the room to show her! I remember Barba in the sheds when we were singing the winning song and him dancing and all the boys enjoying the experience they were creating.

Him leaving and the way he did ripped my heart out. The talk of him bashing his missus friend back then and then the wheels falling off the team and club which has lasted until now. I don't consider us back yet, time will tell if we are.

Coincidentally the demise of the club seemed to match (time wise) the toughest part of my life in my relationship breakdown and losing 24/7 with my kids.

I remember the day of the GF against the Storm my ex-mate who was part of the reason for my split (no imagination required as to why) decided to call me and wish me luck for the game. I told him to go fuk himself and never call me again (he has kept that although I did block him). That day we got smashed by the storm, never in it. A mate that I was watching the game with at the pub (both blind) is a massive Manly fan started at me with the whole you deserve everything you got for stealing our Coach line. I walked out of the pub just before I was going to smash the fuk out of him. I walked 8km home in pure anger and on my way I took off my Dogs old school emblem shirt off and threw it over a bridge into the creek. To me the day summed up my life at that point.

2 days later I drove back to the creek and got my shirt lol.

Only now have I felt myself coming out of a decade long wilderness.

Sorry for the rant but this article triggered the lowest point in my life memories + a couple good ones. The life of a Dogs fan the last decade has been tough. Let's hope we're heading in the right direction now. Good to read some behind the scenes stuff to explain what was happening.

Go Dogs!

Thanks for posting that GrogDog it really resonated with my life at the time also so I feel ya bro, my ex wife screwed me over and she was a big Storm fan so that game meant everything to me, I actually went to that game and had like a thousand schooners I was that siked up for it and was literally in tears at fulltime that my best mate Vanessa was hugging me to try and console me but it wasn’t working, I had other Doggies fans coming up to me saying are you ok mate and hugging me too, it was such an emotional day for me, 2012 Grand Final will always remain a bitter memory for me…

 

[Dannyboi88]

Interesting read that it looked like the players had burnt out by the end of his tenure.
Looks like we had a crack at Dane Gagai too .but if we got those targets of woods teddy Moses and Foran who he had teed up imagine the side or how much over the cap we were gonna be.
Not only that how many players did we lose at the negotiating table cause of haslers crazy antics.
It just seemed like if we kept barbs we would have lost a lot more players as a result

 

[GrogDog]

Thanks for posting that GrogDog it really resonated with my life at the time also so I feel ya bro, my ex wife screwed me over and she was a big Storm fan so that game meant everything to me, I actually went to that game and had like a thousand schooners I was that siked up for it and was literally in tears at fulltime that my best mate Vanessa was hugging me to try and console me but it wasn’t working, I had other Doggies fans coming up to me saying are you ok mate and hugging me too, it was such an emotional day for me, 2012 Grand Final will always remain a bitter memory for me…

I got you mate, cheers for sharing. Other then my family, I didn't speak to anyone else for a year after that.

At that time in my life I turned to the dogs for a source of light in my life, unfortunately it coincided with the worse time in our history. Fate's entwined?

 

[wendog33]

I got you mate, cheers for sharing. Other then my family, I didn't speak to anyone else for a year after that.

At that time in my life I turned to the dogs for a source of light in my life, unfortunately it coincided with the worse time in our history. Fate's entwined?

We were on a small boat cruise, Lady M, of the Kimblerleys WA that year. Best ever trip we've ever done of all time. Couldn't get much reception but eventually the disappointment of us not executing that magnificent, exciting Barba game plan filtered thru as I tried to get reception on the captains radio.

As a consequence, I have never ever watched that game again bc it is too painful and the pride of giving the NRL the New Entertainers dream went up in smoke

 

[Bob dog]

The worst decision our club has ever made was giving hasler a contract.

Hasler did ok with what we thought was an ordinary roster, in the end he didn't give a shit.
It takes a massive effort to fire up seventeen blokes every single week, to win a comp they gotta play like life and death, that comes with injury.
Des nearly did it, no matter what you think of Ben now he was fucken good.

 

[GrogDog]

We were on a small boat cruise, Lady M, of the Kimblerleys WA that year. Best ever trip we've ever done of all time. Couldn't get much reception but eventually the disappointment of us not executing that magnificent, exciting Barba game plan filtered thru as I tried to get reception on the captains radio.

As a consequence, I have never ever watched that game again bc it is too painful and the pride of giving the NRL the New Entertainers dream went up in smoke

Yeah I've never watched any lost GF's!

 

[John Matrix]

I can remember well prior to a GF Barba playing for a local comp and thinking "this guy is going to be a super star if he's picked up".

It's a shame his life ended up the way it did and I feel for his partner and kids.

 

[2ndphase]

Im pretty sure that try was against the storm.
I was at the pub watching that gf too and I had my bulldogs flag as a cape. Copped it big time, and I was shattered!!!!!

Id laugh at you too if you had a cape! Lol!!

 

[flamebouyant]

Id laugh at you too if you had a cape! Lol!!

Bulldigs flag cape!!

 

[billy beane]

Keary is one concussion from being rubbed out of the game forever.
Brooks the man child will never love up to the hype that was and mentally his fucked from all the pressure he’s had to endure l.. 10 straight seasons first grade and has never played finals game LOL.
Pearce is in the Foran category, getting old and injuries are getting the best of him.
DCE While probably the best of the lot also on the wrong side of 30.

Moses is the standout and just hitting his prime .

His kicking game is top notch, has pace, plus a high footy IQ.

The knock on him is a perceived lack of toughness, which may have been the case early in his career, but not really an issue now in my view.

 

[billy beane]

Yeah I've never watched any lost GF's!

It's gut wrenching being at the ground.

 

[KiwiDog7]

2014 was a loooooong flight home

 

[KambahOne]

" Ben Barba stepped off the team bus at Belmore as the poster boy of rugby league. It was a Friday night in February, 2013, and the Bulldogs had just returned from a trial match against the Raiders in Goulburn ahead of the new NRL season."

I remember I was at that trial with a Raiders mate and he heard Barba say to the trainer "I don't farking want to be here". We never gave it much thought as it was a pretty cold and drizzly day from memory, but this article certainly puts that comment in a different light.

 

[KiwiDog7]

" Ben Barba stepped off the team bus at Belmore as the poster boy of rugby league. It was a Friday night in February, 2013, and the Bulldogs had just returned from a trial match against the Raiders in Goulburn ahead of the new NRL season."

I remember I was at that trial with a Raiders mate and he heard Barba say to the trainer "I don't farking want to be here". We never gave it much thought as it was a pretty cold and drizzly day from memory, but this article certainly puts that comment in a different light.

For some random reason I ended up watching a 2009 game Dogs v warriors during state of origin and we had a busted side courtesy of injuries and suspension and origin and beat the warriors in last couple of mins when Barba scored the winner (his second try in grade ) he came off the Bench and I remember being at the game and thinking he botched it cos he ignored two man overlap

The other noticeable thing was Sullivan, Patten, Roberts and Holdsworth produced far better attacking shape behind a makeshift pack than I have seen from us in the last 5 years [emoji23]

 

[KambahOne]

For some random reason I ended up watching a 2009 game Dogs v warriors during state of origin and we had a busted side courtesy of injuries and suspension and origin and beat the warriors in last couple of mins when Barba scored the winner (his second try in grade ) he came off the Bench and I remember being at the game and thinking he botched it cos he ignored two man overlap

The other noticeable thing was Sullivan, Patten, Roberts and Holdsworth produced far better attacking shape behind a makeshift pack than I have seen from us in the last 5 years [emoji23]

On his day Barba was dynamite, but give him a few beers and he became sweaty dynamite. The code has a history of attracting this type of genius though, I'm sure we could all rattle off a few names...Todd Carney.