News Why it might take a decade for the Bulldogs to turn things around

[Grechy21]

Shoot me now

 

[wendog33]

Boys dont take me the wrong way but do you think media attacks the dogs because we are in a multicultural area and the media take our areas as low economic, low success, crime riddled etc that the media dont give us a fair go?

I think it was blair from the daily telegraph who did a bad article about the people and communities living in lakemba etc

Essentially that is Media and propaganda tactics 101.

Create a target to demonise, throw mud at and galvanise the populace to create friction.

Classic good cop: bad cop to create negative impressions and clicks or newspaper/tv interest with tribalism.

Only way we can turn this around is to get the good guy hat back by winning and being successful to lessen the media campaign.

It's doesn't only happen in sports.

 

[dogwhisperer]

Boys dont take me the wrong way but do you think media attacks the dogs because we are in a multicultural area and the media take our areas as low economic, low success, crime riddled etc that the media dont give us a fair go?

I think it was blair from the daily telegraph who did a bad article about the people and communities living in lakemba etc

Low economic? Don’t say that to Abou Salim

 

[Bulldog1966]

Could try ignoring these fools maybe....
Never ending dribble just with the same shit spun slightly differently, obviously it will take some time maybe more than we thought but all i read is blah blah blah...so fuck 'em.

 

[cookieman909]

It won’t take a decade. We need a hooker and some big forwards. I’m looking forward to what Thompson can do after having the pre season here. I think people underestimate what he went through last year, it’s no surprise he didn’t play his best footy. 2-3 years we’ll be back up there. Give Barrett the cattle, and he’ll get them playing the way we need to.

 

[AlzzBulldog]

2009 says hi

 

[Bob dog]

Should take five minutes if you incite them into a pack of crazy men, sure we are waiting for players to come back and yes things will improve but most people wanted the cleanout and new faces so gotta work with it and train this lot up.

 

[TOTTO]

This is why we have to win some games otherwise it will never stop.

 

[CroydonDog]

Source: SMH - Andrew Webster
Date: 02Apr21

The Bulldogs handed the keys to Willie Mason in 2000.

Not the keys to the Ferrari, or the Subaru WRX Impreza STI Version 5 for that matter, but Jason Hetherington’s smelly old locker at Belmore Sportsground.

“This is yours now,” Hetherington told him. “You better f---ing look after it.”

Mason was a raw but clearly talented 20-year-old, just making his way into the first-grade squad.

Hetherington was one of those typically flint-hard Bulldogs players, but his time was up with a final payday waiting for him in England.

That’s how Canterbury rolled then. That’s how they’d always rolled. It was a privilege to just have a locker let alone play first grade for the Bulldogs, who were still the toughest, angriest sods this side of Terry Lamb’s forearm.

“It was a big deal to get a locker,” Mason recalled.

Those were the standards they set at Belmore, the war-room in which generations of players were imbued with a certain way of doing business whether the team was running first or last.

They never wanted to let down the greats of the past, whose presence was always felt.

Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Football Club is now a shadow of its former self and the game is worse for it.

Their winless start to the season, including a 28-0 loss to Penrith and 24-0 defeat against the hapless Broncos, is a frightening reminder that once you dig yourself a deep hole in this game, it can take a long time to climb out.

Some reckon it will take a decade. Do the ever-bickering factions at the Bulldogs have that much patience? Is rather talkative major sponsor Arthur Laundy in it for the long haul? And will they all stand back and allow new coach Trent Barrett to unravel the mess?

We won’t trawl over all the sins of the past but the decision to import players, not breed them, has been a grave error of judgement. Very un-Bulldogs.

The salary cap has been out of whack for years with silly money thrown at the likes of Aaron Woods (who played half a season after signing for four) and Kieran Foran (who played 40 matches in three seasons, many of them injured).

More recently, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was signed from Penrith on fullback money – even if he’s best suited to the wing. Canberra couldn’t compete with the Bulldogs on Nick Cotric who has been signed on centre money – even if he’s also best suited to the wing.

England prop Luke Thompson arrived last year with a big reputation and on even bigger money – reportedly $800,000 a season – but is yet to show he was worth the spend. He returns from a four-match ban for an eye gouge next week.

Then there’s the handful of players in their top 30 who in days gone by wouldn’t have got a look at those lockers let alone hang their clothes in them.

With 15 players coming off contract at the end of this year, the club will be one of the most active in the player market.

But how many quality players will they attract, at what price, if the they continue to lose in the manner in which they have?

It’s not all bad, though.

Next year, Matt Burton arrives from Penrith. He kicks the ball so far you think he’s played at altitude. Josh Addo-Carr is also coming. He runs so fast he makes the others look like they’re in slow motion.

But what the Bulldogs really need is a hooker, which under the new rules has become the game’s most important position.

They went hard at Brandon Smith but he’s expected to stay at the Storm. The club is reportedly sniffing around Warrington’s Daryl Clark, a former Man of Steel in the Super League who the Dogs hope can be their Josh Hodgson.

These changes might be a sugar hit for both fans and the under-pressure board, whoever’s on it by 2023 after next year’s elections, but it won’t guarantee long-term success.

The man charged with turning it around is Barrett, who is quickly finding out how much work is ahead of him.

It won’t get much easier against Souths in the traditional Good Friday match at ANZ Stadium, then the Storm the following week.

“When I leave the joint – whether that be in three years, five years or 10 years – I want to leave it in a better place than when I got here,” Barrett told the Herald in a recent interview.

It might take that long.

They count success at Belmore in premierships. It’s in the woodwork. It’s in the lockers. But Canterbury appear to be years away from becoming their former selves.

These wankpiece articles always make it out as if we are different from other clubs regarding success, how we define it etc. News flash: we aren't.

 

[stingray]

Other fans and the media have hated our multicultural diverse fanbase for years and in particular singled out the Lebanese fans.. But this is more to do with us being one of the biggest brands that gets clicks through how big our fanbase is and how much other fans hate us. So they generate as much Bulldogs content as possible whether it's accurate or not just to get clicks because we move the needle.

So when we're successful again, that will finally work for us and should bring more sponsorship and support etc. But right now, it's used against us to try and divide the club and keep us at the bottom.

ok we had abit of trouble with lebanese youth say 10-15 years, but i think there hasnt been much drama from fans in years and most moved on with life, or most just hang with mates houses watching the games, foxtel etc

Remember when they arrested a potential terroist in lakemba, they pictured him in the media with a bulldogs jersey on.

Media will not give us a far go,

 

[Trafford10]

Every season it becomes next season before we can do something. That's been going on for 5 seasons now.

We cannot recruit our way back up the ladder alone. The fortitude needs to come from within and get the players we have to become better individually and as a team.

We do need a quality 9 and two big motherfuckers in the pack that is true.
However Mr. Barrett has a great opportunity to coach his players to be better players.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

What a crock of shit.

Our salary cap mess is behind us. We just need to recruit smart and Barrett needs cut more deadwood.

 

[Alan79]

The only good point made in that article was that the decline started because we let our junior program go to crap. That was a Greenburg decision. I don't know how well it was addressed by Anderson and that board in the ties they tried to establish with some country areas league. But hopefully we start seeing some quality filter into the club from these links soon. We need to scalp the best talent scouts to go along with it as well though. You can potentially have 2-3 good years based on recruiting well. But for long term success you need good youngsters coming through and to keep them loyal for a few years at least.

The media is just flogging a dead horse though. I hate seeing this shit crop up every other day. But to a small extent it tells me that we're still a looming threat to our haters who haven't forgotten that when we get our formula for success right we can be at the top for long periods. Melbourne took our system and have used it to be dominant but hopefully we can get back to it soon.

 

[Riggs80]

Boys dont take me the wrong way but do you think media attacks the dogs because we are in a multicultural area and the media take our areas as low economic, low success, crime riddled etc that the media dont give us a fair go?

I think it was blair from the daily telegraph who did a bad article about the people and communities living in lakemba etc

nah only a couple of clubs like bulldogs get singled out , just like the eels when they were going crap

the problem nowadays is that these so-called journos don’t actually know the game
the reporting of the game is play by play moments they don’t analyse the game at all and show why teams are getting smashed

when they write one article a game and they have dozens of “journalists” all they can write is click bait bs and they just focus on the bigger clubs

 

[Psycho Doggie]

I must agree on the points made and feel that us kennel supporters need to be patient and let the process of teaching these younger pups how to be successful and support the coach and his staff who have inherited the salary cap decisions of the past. Things will become more evident in the following 5 years of our strategy and no doubt other clubs are aware that a strong Canterbury will rise again. It cannot fail if we stick together and allow time and experience infiltrate the minds of our young spine in progress. The Forwards is lacking some experience and direction and I would love to see the old hard heads come in and support the Topines of our club..
We will rise again but not this year guys.. Blue and White Dogs for Life

Well said.

Webster's article is pretty correct. It is going to take time to instill spirit and install a heart back into the club, after they have been so thoroughly ripped out. The encouraging thing is that Barrett is fully aware of what is needed, as evidenced by bringing on board Steve Hansen, and even such things as the way in which Jackson Topine has been given his debut.

A special moment for Jackson Topine

Trent Barrett and Josh Jackson present Jackson Topine with his first NRL jersey ahead of his debut against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

www.bulldogs.com.au

Topine: I would go out there and die for the Bulldogs

Jackson Topine sits down ahead of his NRL debut and speaks about the special occasion in a raw and honest interview.

www.bulldogs.com.au

This has been missing for a while, but the systems are now back in place, it will just take time. It is understandable that fans are impatient and want to believe that it will just take getting this or that "good" player and everything will be hunky dory. But that isn't correct, the good players we are getting in are struggling, not because they are suddenly bad players, but because we aren't out of the hole yet. Webster correctly points out that this approach has already been tried. What Barrett is doing instead is building a team, hence he has brought in players who have plenty of ceiling, but need time together, they aren't in and of themselves the fix, they are a work in progress in building a winning TEAM. At the same time we are seeing increasing focus on the juniors, its been interesting to see how much David Tangata-Toa is present and involved, he is nominally the transition coach, the guy whose specific job is managing guys coming up through the ranks and their shot at first grade.

 

[Howie B]

It won’t take a decade. We need a hooker and some big forwards. I’m looking forward to what Thompson can do after having the pre season here. I think people underestimate what he went through last year, it’s no surprise he didn’t play his best footy. 2-3 years we’ll be back up there. Give Barrett the cattle, and he’ll get them playing the way we need to.

Knights were in worse position than us. Took them 4 years.

Got their juniors right and got most of their recruitment right

 

[Daustin]

The fact the media constantly beat us up is a sign of how good we were. We’re still a sleeping giant. When we are going well the comp is much better for it, most influential figures in the game would agree. It will be so sweet when we turn it around

 

[Psycho Doggie]

Knights were in worse position than us. Took them 4 years.

Got their juniors right and got most of their recruitment right

Knights have done what, get to the finals once and get knocked out first round? I have them at even odds as to whether they consistently make the top 8 in the next 5 years, or are hit and miss. There are still problems up there.

Baz is aiming for something higher. It will take longer to get there.

 

[Howie B]

Knights have done what, get to the finals once and get knocked out first round? I have them at even odds as to whether they consistently make the top 8 in the next 5 years, or are hit and miss. There are still problems up there.

Baz is aiming for something higher. It will take longer to get there.

I think most fans would take for us to be where the knights are. Of course we aim higher but the article infers we won’t make the semis for 10 years . I am saying the knights went from 3 wooden spoons to semis in 4 years

 

[bradtalo]

This article says we chased hard for Brandon Smith but I'm not so sure we actually did. This week Barrett denied it (said he didn't know Smith was off contract) and Smith's manager said he hasn't received any formal offers and so now it looks like Smith will stay at the Storm until the end of 2022. I'd really like to know if anyone at our club even reached out to Smith for 2022 and if we didn't that's f..king ridiculous unless Barrett is 100% certain we're getting Korisau and to do that he'd have to break contract. Can't see the Panthers letting him go early. Can't see the Sharks letting go of Brailey early either. I just don't understand why the club hasn't made it a priority and signed a decent hooker well before now. I hope we are looking at Daryl Clark but he's about 30 and Barrett wants young players so I'd be surprised if we signed him also.