I’ll sum up the Western Bulldogs’ first three seasons as a rollercoaster ride.
They finished a disappointing sixth in the inaugural season. The following year they finished on top of the AFLW ladder after round seven and won the Grand Final the following week. Then came last year – they won the opening two games of the season and then lost the remaining five to finish with the seventh-best record in the competition.
But when you really look at the losses – only two of those three were blowouts. Yes they were outmuscled by North Melbourne in Launceston and they were pretty appalling against Brisbane at the Whitten Oval – but then came a gallant three-goal defeat against a Fremantle team that played Finals.
That was followed by two losses, each by less than a goal to Melbourne and Carlton and both of those teams will be in contention again this year.
Then came the casualties. There were a number of players who jumped to expansion clubs over the off-season. The most damaging ones being the losses of Katie Brennan and Monique Conti to Richmond.
Conti we all know by now is a supremely damaging midfielder and she proved it last year when she powered her way through to win the Dogs’ best and fairest. And whilst Brennan has missed a bit of footy thus far due to injury, she showed all throughout last year that she is an important piece to any team.
To add further salt in the wound, they lost their inaugural coach in Paul Groves, who quit coaching altogether to focus more on being a teacher, which was what he was doing before taking up the job. Anyone who has watched this team over the past three years will know that the players absolutely loved him. He was a brilliant coach, had good structure and, like any good coach these days, he really cared about his players, so I consider this a big loss.
But, with these losses, I think the Dogs have compensated themselves beautifully heading into the new season. They have a new coach that I think can influence and impact the team straightaway, and with four picks inside the top 10 in last year’s AFLW Draft, you can expect that there will be a bit of youth injected into this lineup this year.
If you haven’t heard of Nathan Burke, then you are either the most casual AFL fan or you simply do not know your football. Having forged out a stellar career at St. Kilda that saw him play 323 games, the man earned quite a few accolades: A three-time club best and fairest, four-time All-Australian a member of the Saints’ team of the century and represented Victoria in the State of Origin 11 times.
This man will oversee the AFLW team this year. I don’t see why he can’t do as good of a job than what Groves did in his three years, the man has the experience, he has the knowledge and he knows what it takes to be a damn good player. Also keep in mind that he coached the Vic Metro under-18 girls to an unbeaten championship last year.
Then we get to the recruits. It shouldn’t come as a shock that six of their draftees played for Metro last year, so they already have a good idea about what sort of strategies and plans Burke likes. I think all four of their top-10 picks last year: Gabby Newton, Nell Morris-Dalton, Gemma Lagioia and Elisabeth Georgostathis will all play round one – barring injury of course.
According to Burke, Newton is a player that will make others better around her – she’s a terffic leader and an outstanding ball-winner and is someone that can impact rightaway in a midfield that is sorely lacking. Morris-Dalton will join a forward line that will boast a fit Izzy Huntington, a fit Brooke Lochland – and that could give the Dogs some real scoring power if all three are firing. Then you’ve got Lagioia and Georgostathis – players that can play a few roles around the ground, whether that be playing forward, back or in the middle – they’re gonna be players to keep an eye on next year.
The Best 21
B: Ashleigh Guest, Lauren Spark, Bailey Hunt HB: Hannah Scott, Ellyse Gamble, Nicole Callinan MIDS: Kim Rennie, Ellie Blackburn, Gabby Newton, Kirsty Lamb HF: Gemma Lagioia, Izzy Huntington, Deanna Berry F: Brooke Lochland, Nell Morris-Dalton, Kirsten McLeod INT: Angelica Gogos, Elisabeth Georgostathis, Naomi Ferres, Aisling McCarthy, Eleanor Brown
Depth: Bonnie Toogood, Isabella Grant, Hannah Munyard, Britney Gutknecht, Dani Marshall, Amelia Van Oosterwijck, Katy Herron, Celine Moody, Aisling Utri (Out For Season)
There’s quite a few players that are pretty unlucky to miss out on the best 21. Bonnie Toogood is a pretty good player, but as a key player, there’s not much space considering that they will put some time into Morris-Dalton this year. Likewise Isabella Grant, who is the daughter of Bulldogs champion Chris. Also consider the likes of Dani Marshal, Britney Gutknecht and Hannah Munyard – players who should see game time at some stage this year.
It will be unfortunate to see Aisling Utri miss all of this season as she focuses more on her Hockey. She showed great improvement last year and would’ve been a lock inside the best 21. But I look forward to seeing what she does in her hockey career after forging a pretty promising career thus far.
The Fixture
With the league expanded into 14 teams – with seven teams in each conference, the number of home and away games is upped from seven to eight. For the Bulldogs, they get four games at the Whitten Oval and will only have to travel interstate just once, that being in the middle of the year when they take on West Coast.
They start the season off with a game against one of the new sides in St. Kilda at Moorabbin, whilst the yearly ‘Pride Game’ with Carlton will take place in round three at the Whitten Oval on a Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs will visit North Melbourne’s Arden Street Oval for the first time, as well as meeting Greater Western Sydney at the Whitten Oval for the first time.
Round 1 – Sunday 9th February St. Kilda vs Western Bulldogs – RSEA Park (3:10pm)
Round 2 – Friday 14th February Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne – Whitten Oval (7:40pm)
Round 3 – Saturday 22nd February Western Bulldogs vs Carlton – Whitten Oval (3:10pm)
Round 4 – Saturday 29th February West Coast vs Western Bulldogs – Leederville Oval (7:10pm)
Round 5 – Sunday 8th March Collingwood vs Western Bulldogs – Morwell Recreation Reserve (1:10pm)
Round 6 – Sunday 15th March Western Bulldogs vs Fremantle – Whitten Oval (1:10pm)
Round 7 – Saturday 21st March North Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs – Arden Street Oval (3:10pm)
Round 8 – Friday 27th March Western Bulldogs vs GWS Giants – Whitten Oval (5:45pm)
The Final Verdict – Fifth in Conference B
The two front-runners are Carlton – who made last year’s Grand Final, and Melbourne, who have a very good list made only better by the return of Daisy Pearce. After that, it becomes a bit of race for that last spot to qualify for the Finals. Do I think the Bulldogs can make it? They’re a chance, but so are Collingwood, West Coast and maybe even Fremantle. I wouldn’t discredit St. Kilda either as they are an unknown entity. Personally, my expectations for this year is to see Nathan Burke give the younger players games and watch them develop from there.
They are probably a year or two out from seriously contending again, but for this year, I think they’ll miss out, but they showed in the back half of last year that they can compete. I expect them to miss out just. I can’t wait to see how the new coach and all of the promising talent that was picked up in last year’s AFLW Draft will go.