When did the Bulldogs go from Walter White to Heisenberg?

[Tassie Devil]

Brad why should the club award poor off field behaviour? It was well known Barba had issues and when he didn’t get what he wanted he dropped his lip and then agitated for a release. We saw how he ended up too. I think the club handled it well personally.

Really surprised anyone sees it any other way.

 

[BlackDawg]

Dibb's decisions to hire Des & Raelene respectively were the beginning of the end. Des hiring Crusher Cleal, flicking Finucane, Cook & Ennis and recruiting Sherex, Fulalalo, Tulau, Lichaa etc was the start of the extinction event. The extinction event occured when we had players like Foran on back ended deals that were always going to make us bleed out and Dibb was still recruiting massive $$ duds like Sharon.

 

[DinkumDog]

Dibb's decisions to hire Des & Raelene respectively were the beginning of the end. Des hiring Crusher Cleal, flicking Finucane, Cook & Ennis and recruiting Sherex, Fulalalo, Tulau, Lichaa etc was the start of the extinction event. The extinction event occured when we had players like Foran on back ended deals that were always going to make us bleed out and Dibb was still recruiting massive $$ duds like Sharon.

Greenberg hired Des but otherwise largely agree - and still paying for it too. Though we are free from the main cap issues that hamstrung us so badly 2018-2020 and recruited quite well for 2021, we still don’t have the roster balance right and it’ll likely be 2022 before we can really test the better teams. That said once some of the new combinations gel I hope and expect we’ll go better this year than we did the last three.

 

[B-Train]

It's been talked about to death already. It's time to look forward and be thankful we're rebuilding the culture and making great signings.

 

[ash160]

Salary cap was when we first lost the respect of the league.
Then we allowed Mason and his mates to run around with massive egos and poor behaviour for far too long.
Then we got the spoon.
Then we betrayed Bullfrog by sacking his son mid-season.
Whatever we used to have that made us special, we’ve lost.

Agree especially regarding Kevin Moore...that’s when the rot set in. Tadpole coach of the year 1 year gone the next, huge mistake

 

[wendog33]

It was Des commencing 2013 season.

 

[Legend23]

I like the thread title, first thing I've ever liked from nasheed

 

[alchemist]

the Bulldogs culture is not exactly easy to define... for example, we were called the 'family club' undoubtedly due to having three Mortimer brothers and three Hughes brothers playing at the one time... the Hughes' aunt was Bullfrog's wife... Bullfrog's son played for the club and later coached the FG team... one of Bullfrog's daughters married Chris Anderson who later displaced Gus Gould as coach... another of Bullfrog's daughters married Steve Folkes who also coached the FG team... the second generation of Hughes brothers all played FG for the club etc.

there were both positives and negatives to such an interconnectedness... a loyalty and shared values from players that later became coaches and administrators... but there is also an obvious risk of nepotism existing within the club with K. Moore, for example, getting the FG coaching job with no real vetting process, no other contenders being put forward etc... simply, a massive overhaul of the playing roster and a fresh start for Moore who benefited from Folkes taking the bullet and staying on for 2008 to get the spoon... but imagine the club looking at alternatives for 2009 (such as Wayne Bennett)

another issue we had as the 'family club' was a divide between the inner clique of Moores, Hughes' etc. and the others that the club needed but never fully accepted... this was something that Peter Tunks spoke about during the Warren Ryan era... for example, some got invited to the Asian restaurant at Bulldogs League for meals with Bullfrog and family and others were not and that then meant that some got looked after and others, when there value was lesser or gone, were unceremoniously dumped (eg. Gus Gould at the end of the '89 season)

and since the sacking of the Hughes' and K. Moore, that old moniker of 'family club' does not really apply... it is simply referenced sarcastically by the likes of Paul Kent when a player is not re-signed or coach sacked

we are also known for having a tough culture preparation-wise and the manner in which the team plays and is an obvious reference back to the Warren Ryan's 'Dogs of War'... but we were also the "Entertainers" under Glossop and won... we won with Gould in the post-Ryan era but with that finals specialist experience... Chris Anderson overhauled the team and centred it around Terry Lamb and we won in '95, made the '94 GF and also won a couple minor premierships... we again became a champion team in the early noughties with the Bling Boys that played tough but also craved the spotlight in a way that the 80's boys never did... so our coaching and playing philosophies have also changed quite a bit

we have changed names and logos and home grounds... we have been league loyalists and Super League rebels... we have courted controversy with the league having to change the rules to counter our Wozzaball, our supposed wearing of fibreglass shoulder pads in the 80's, fan misbehaviour, salary cap scandal, Coffs Harbour etc.

i guess the 'Dogs culture in modern times comes down to one thing... winning... we are (potentially were) a winning club... always looking to contend, to play finals, to win... for example, in a 20 year period between 1979 and 1998, we made 9 GFs for 5 premierships and few if any of our players ever got many individual plaudits... for example, we were one of the two clubs to dominate the 80's and yet none of our players ever feature in a Team of the 80's compilation... i guess our teams and players were more strands to a powerful rope instead of rival teams and players being links in a chain

so what changed? the two biggest issues i point to when it comes to the changes to the 'Dogs fortunes were the mismanagement of the 2004 team which was brimming with talent but which won the spoon only 4 years later and Des' focus only on the present... there was no thought to proper salary cap management and the problems that it would cause, no proper work on development or the junior grades, poor retention, poor player management etc... the greatest indictment of Hasler as 'Dogs coach was that his best year was his first year with us... but the longer he got to spend with the club, the worse our play got... and the result? 4+ years of not playing finals football which for 'Dogs fans that remembered the 80's and 90's was unimaginable

a lot of work needed to get us back to where we were... where we belong

i do though resent the club being compared with the Tigers

 

[D- voice]

I hope you take notice
Canterbury were the SUPREME TEAM of the 80's and somewhat 90's, financially backed by the MIGHTIEST LEAGUES CLUB in the land !
Steps of disaster
1 Super League war broke out in 1995...Led by Peter Moore and Co we jumped to News Ltd owned super league, later in 1995 Moore quit Canterbury eventually joining Melbourne ( owned by News Ltd ) in charge of building their new team taking his son in-law coach Chris Anderson and some players with him but most importantly he took The Canterbury Blue Prints of success Leaving us to face the wrath of the newly formed NRL alone !!!
2 The damage continued when News Ltd failed us by not directing players to Canterbury to rebuild the team that lost most of its stars post the super league war.
3 That pushed Canterbury to rebel against the NRL ( half owned by News Ltd ) by suing for damages and the only club to refuse signing South Sydney's DEATH WARRANT and eventually supported their unwanted return !!!
4 That insured that we have the NRL as a whole ( News Ltd and ARL ) as OUR ENEMIES !!!
The results are massive...a WITCH HUNT by the NRL and it's media for TWO DECADES !!!
All the other minor or major issues since, did not help...
Now with John Khoury TBaz Warburton & Co. at the helm...We can optimistically SMILE

 

[Scoooby]

The glory days do seem so long ago. And doesn’t feel like we will get them back anytime soon. But it’s players like the fox and button, an flanno that will change that dynamic and give us a taste of that again .. when they all combine.!!!

 

[chisdog]

Bullfrog was a lol.
Kevin Moore was hopeless and one dimensional. Worst coach we ever had, pure nepotism.
There’s a reason he never appeared as a coach again in any form.
He was one dimensional.
This fact is hidden because the team wasn’t taht bad under his tenure. But results don’t always correlate to coaching quality.
I used to give him a lot of credit for his recruitment drive, then I realised a lot of that was recruitment team and the 4 main players, staggs, Eastwood, ennis and Hannant only came in the belief that Wayne Bennett would be the 2009 coach who whispered in his ear ‘I got the hookup’ but then that fell through because the old flop only wants his kids coaching.

How did Bullfrog get Kevin Moore to be coach in 2009 when he died in 2000?

 

[chisdog]

How?
He brought us to two grand finals

He stuffed up our salary cap since he left until this year & he did not develop one player in the junior ranks. The junior development program had to be re-started from scratch when Pay came in.

 

[chisdog]

See Hasler moneyball wasn’t actually that dumb, it was cyclical and ensures your stars stay the whole contract length. I see No evidence he was dumb enough to do multiple backloads at once.
Either way it comes back to castle being a slag.

Then how did we end up the the salary cap mess we were in if we didn't have multiple back-ended contracts? The other error is that the giving Des control of the cap went back to Todd Greenberg & Ray Dib & idiot Castle let it continue. She did no due diligence with the salary cap. But that's what you get when you put someone in a position which is over their head & they focus on being politically correct instead of the job she was hired for. Greenberg was smart & left the mess for someone else. He played the political game pretty well but it came back to bite him in the end as well with the poor state of the NRL finances.

 

[chisdog]

The Rape never happened. get the facts correct

Correct & a big mistake was made not charging the girl for making false allegations. The mud is stuck on the club permanently now. False allegations need to be pursued just as much as real ones. False allegations make it harder for real victims.

 

[Bulldog1966]

It's been talked about to death already. It's time to look forward and be thankful we're rebuilding the culture and making great signings.

Exactly.Enough with the looking back already it's done can't be changed move on ffs.

 

[TroopSalute]

How?
He brought us to two grand finals

Nobody cares to remember when you finish second ... different story had we won both Grand Finals ... only then it would be a little easier to forgive Des for the mess he left behind.

 

[COVENS]

Why is no one talking about this god tier quote:

"a lot of people talked about the gang rapes in 2003, but to be honest the rape just brought us closer together"

 

[Flanagun]

When did your metaphors go from Shakespeare to 6th grade creative writing project?

 

[Flanagun]

Castle was not a good appointment in hindsight, but anyone who thinks she did more damage to the club than Hasler and Dibb is on freaking crack.

 

[Flanagun]

Why is no one talking about this god tier quote:

"a lot of people talked about the gang rapes in 2003, but to be honest the rape just brought us closer together"

Probably because they did what I did and read a few oars, dismissed the thread as typical Nasheed trash and stopped reading.

That is abysmal if he said that. Mods need to give this fool another holiday.