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Bulldogs Debate Page

Hounddog said:
I think that the Dogs club got a lot wrong 2015-2023.

And a fair bit wrong 1999-2014.

The great team that won the GF in 2004 was in part a hangover from more successful eras.

The fact that we only won one comp with all of those talented players and the fact that we let Thurston go speaks volumes.

I didn't even find the apparent success 2012-2014 that convincing mostly because our halves were not fully convincing and we were not developing many more quality players.

Players like Barba, Idris Jackson and Finucanne were part of the last batch of really good players we developed. Thurston was the last great half, Asotasi the last great middle forward.

Get scouting, junior development, recruitment and retention plus coaching badly wrong it is hard to have sustained success. That was the story of the Dogs 2005-2022.

It is possible to paper over that with some quick fix signings for a season or 2, but often the club ends up back at ground zero.
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Yep, i really do think you need your GM or guy in charge of recruitment/ retention to be abit more ruthless and cut guys loose (early) when the writing is on the wall.

Of course a contract wikk have severance clauses, but the last 10 or so years has proven that loyalty is not a big thing anymore and it goes both ways.

But you cant just keep making poor decisions and look to terminate or move-on players early, it chews up dollars and SC.

I think you need to get at least 75% of your recruitment right and 75% of your retention.

2 or 3 year contracts are far better and less riskier than 4 or 5 years ones as a mistake on a 2 year contract doesnt have a flow-on effect on other decisions.

I think if you are squeezed into signing anyone on 4 or more years, you better haveva good exit strategy.
 
Hounddog said:
Unfortunately Dman hasn't posted here for a while.

I am hoping to keep the tradition alive long enough for new posters to join, or ex-posters to come back.
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Do you know if he posts on TK and under what handle?
He certainly use to lurk there as he would mention my kennel posts on here.

Hope he is ok health wise.
 
Our new logo is terrible. looks like paw patrol.

The second picture below is what it should be, in my opinion.

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Marki said:
Do you know if he posts on TK and under what handle?
He certainly use to lurk there as he would mention my kennel posts on here.

Hope he is ok health wise.
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I don’t read TK.

What I like about this forum is we don't have a lot of drama and heated debates these days. We did in the past.
 
Beretta said:
Our new logo is terrible. looks like paw patrol.

The second picture below is what it should be, in my opinion.

View attachment 3785
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I prefer no 2 or no 4.

Seemed like the club tried hard to come up with a better logo and probably failed.

I think that keeping the logo mostly constant or switching between the 2 best alternatives is probably best.

If they want to change things put the year on the jersey.

I am mostly worried about how we play. Any year in which we win the comp, i am 100% happy with the logo.

And I might cross paths with Dman, as we complete our tour of celebration at every pub in Australia.
 
If i was to rank those from worst to best, it would be:

1, 3, 5 & 2 (tied), 4

Im not fussed with the minimalist look of the new logo, as the telstra premiership logo was made minimalist not long ago, our jerseys of late have been rather minimalist and if anything, my attention seems to be drawn to the disgusting font of the Laundy sponsorship, which i find the ugliest thing on the jersey.

In any case, people will get use to it. Im more concerned with how we play.
 
I am glad that the club hasn't made a foolish prediction like 2 premierships by 2030. We have been burnt badly in the past by stupid predictions like that.

Just making the 8 will not be easy for us, or for most other clubs.

The standard is getting higher each season, in particular the team that finishes last each year is generally better than many lower half teams in most seasons.

Tigers, Eels and Fins should improve. Warriors and Titans have a lot of good young talent.

Even the teams that go worse should not be a lot worse.

Injuries are always the big unknown.

Part of my confidence about 2026 is that we didn't have a great run with injuries and suspensions in 2025. Things were just bad enough to take the edge off our season and to cost us at the critical business end.
 
The other aspect that gives me increased confidence is the arrival of Thompson and Latu, the great recent form of Curran, and the likely improvement in Hughes, DSF, Hopoi, Todd and Underhill.

Spine wise our 2025 Spine was mixed at best. With younger less experienced players in the spine we might go sideways initially rather than forward.

For the spine it is important to have a long term plan and to stick to that plan.

Provided we have a reasonable run with injuries, i think that we will have better squad depth in 2026 and more ability to cover injury and suspension.

It will be important to maintain defensive standards, but also to improve consistency and attack. So i see the season as building on 2025 and at the start of the season the team may be similar to the 2025 team.

Over the course of the season, we need to find some improvement. Toups and Galvin improved the side in 2025, but not enough to close the gap on the top sides and a bit too late in the season.
 
Not that many games in the NRL are easy.

But the ideal draw is an even mix of hard and easy games, with no more than 2 hard or easy games in a row.

Early on playing some of the stronger sides when they are still building is advantage.

The team needs the harder games to learn and the easier games to build confidence.

It is also good to have byes fairly evenly spaced and a bye in the last 5 weeks of the season,

Depth is even more important because it addresses multiple issues.

I don’t think that the 2025 draw cost us because we were mainly skewered by injuries at the wrong time. But the backend of the season definitely made it harder.
 
Even if we don't extend Tracey before November 1, we might still extend him later in the year or more likely in 2026.

That could depend on if Critter plays fullback with Burton in the centres.

Also on how Dykes comes back from a bad injury whether or not Cochrane is still at the club and how young Bryenton processes.

If none of plans A, B or C work out we might go for plan D, go all in on signing Bulla. No doubt that Bulla is an elite talent.

Tracey isn't far off earning an extension just on form and versility.

Even if another fullback is Plan A, Tracey is a handy backup for fullback, wing and centre.

Young O'Meley is on a train And trial deal and looks to me like a backup fullback winger, centre. But due to more size might be a better centre than Tracey.

The fact that we signed Dykes and Bryenton suggests that we want more X-Factor at fullback.

If young O'Meley trials well and is signed that could be bad news for Tracey and Cochrane, especially if Dykes or Bryenton looks like an X-Factor fullback option.

If we are after X-Factor it is surprising that Papalii or Cochrane didn't get a run in the NRL.

It is very telling that Cochrane didn't get a run at the back end of the season with Tracey and Taffee injured. If he wasn't injured, I would have played him.
 
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We are moving on some talented young players or they are getting better offers elsewhere.
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After losing Papalli and a few other young players at the end of 2024.

O'Neill might be gone and I am wondering about Sua and Cochrane.

Lower graders who I think have potential don't make the grade or get a better offer elsewhere.

With Young being promoted to the NRL side and Turpin extending, i will be surprised of Moyle is still at the club.

Young in 2026 might be like Woods in 2025, in top 30 to get ready for future NRL.

My hunch is that Gus and Cirro are pretty ruthless and are setting the bar high.

Most of the time I do understand their thinking, sometimes I wonder about giving a player a run so they can show what they can do.
 
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If Soni Luke is available for 2026, he would be a good signing for us.

Hayward could start at hooker and move back to lock.
 
Samoa very impressive Critter and the Hammer to join the team for the world cup.

Tonga needs a better 5/8 and more patience.

The Kiwis also have a good team.

3-4 teams could win the world cup, Walsh probably wins it for Australia, but Samoa have better props.
 
Dogs giant winger Jope Rauqe playing for Fiji on Saturday.channel 9

Rinakama unfortunately injured his shoulder earlier in the comp and may miss some games at the start of 2026.

I'm optimistic that both Rauqe and Rinakama are going to be excellent players for us.
 
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