This article really sums up the bulldogs
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/dogs-not-bred-winners-after-all/2008/04/01/1206850910722.html
BRED not bought, huh? So says the Dogs army on T-shirts extolling the virtues of carefully tending the garden to nurture local products through the NRL ranks.
Well they would say that, wouldn't they? And the proof of the pudding is in the opposition's jumpers, with four former Bulldogs hiding blue-and-white hearts beneath their new Roosters tri-colours.
What price loyalty? What price indeed? First Braith Anasta, then Mark O'Meley, Nate Myles and now, the one that really hurts, Willie Mason, packed their bags for the east, swapping baclava and turkish coffee for flat whites and friands by the beach.
Yeah, right. Look at those four for starters. Anasta was a Souths junior whose pathway to the top was blocked by the Rabbitohs being excluded from the competition, O'Meley came to the club not only an established first-grader but an Origin star, Willie Mason hopped the train from Toronto, while Myles flew in from far North Queensland.
They may have growled like Bulldogs but they only stayed in the Kennel because they liked the food and, when they got cut back to dried rations or they didn't like the way the handlers rattled the chains, they walked: Kennel no more.
Which is not to say Belmore doesn't provide a career-defining domestic environment which wraps up players and teaches them how to play good, hard footy. Just that - like any success-oriented league club - they don't care much where the players come from. It's the results they can get out of them that count.
Of the players that remain, Hazem El Masri is one of the few who could have made his way to Belmore Oval for training the first time without recourse to a street directory. Modern recruits favour GPS navigation systems.
Captain Andrew Ryan, a dour and larger incarnation of coach Steve Folkes, talks as if he's been at Belmore all his life. But it's not just Belmore boys who talk without opening their lips much - Dubbo boys do it too, a habit Ryan didn't shake during three years at Parramatta.
Other Bulldogs fully acquainted with the Eels team song are Willie Tonga (originally from Cherbourg in Central Queensland) and Chris Armit. Front-rower Kane Cleal, who previously played with Manly and Souths, is one of those modern players who has to wait until a couple of lines have been sung of the Dogs song before jumping in for the chorus.
"It's just like the Dogs, they're always taking a swipe," said Arthur Beetson, the former Roosters player, coach and later recruitment manager. "We're no different to any other club.
"A fallacy is that there are a lot of kids coming over from New Zealand aged 14 or 15 with their families, signed by clubs, and they play in the area and they're considered local juniors. I can tell you that we tried to sign Willie and Braith before they went to the Bulldogs but this was all around the time they rorted the salary cap and we couldn't compete with the money they were throwing at them.
"We would love to have all juniors, but like everyone else we are trying to find the best players."
The trend will continue. Only seven of the Roosters' 20 National Youth Competition players played for local junior clubs, with most scouted from Queensland or country NSW.
More surprisingly, only six of the Bulldogs' NYC players were members of junior clubs in the area, with the majority lured from surrounding Sydney suburbs. Gone are the days when St Christopher's and East Hills juniors make up much of the Dogs' representative sides.
Talent scouts are hunting far and wide, and the talents are travelling further for the chance to play at the top level, no matter which team. Pretty soon, that T-shirt will be meaningless.
Where did this weekend's Bulldogs first team come from? Luke Patten (Dragons)
Hazem El Masri (local junior)
Tim Winitana (local junior)
Willie Tonga (Eels)
Heka Nanai (local junior)
Ben Roberts (Tigers)
Daniel Holdsworth (Dragons)
Jarrad Hickey (local junior)
Corey Hughes (local junior)
Kane Cleal (Souths)
Sonny Bill Williams (Auckland Marist)
Andrew Ryan (Eels)
Lee Te Maari (Dragons)
Interchange:Chris Armit (Eels)
Brad Morrin (local junior)
Danny Williams (Roosters)
Michael Sullivan (Warrington)
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/dogs-not-bred-winners-after-all/2008/04/01/1206850910722.html
BRED not bought, huh? So says the Dogs army on T-shirts extolling the virtues of carefully tending the garden to nurture local products through the NRL ranks.
Well they would say that, wouldn't they? And the proof of the pudding is in the opposition's jumpers, with four former Bulldogs hiding blue-and-white hearts beneath their new Roosters tri-colours.
What price loyalty? What price indeed? First Braith Anasta, then Mark O'Meley, Nate Myles and now, the one that really hurts, Willie Mason, packed their bags for the east, swapping baclava and turkish coffee for flat whites and friands by the beach.
Yeah, right. Look at those four for starters. Anasta was a Souths junior whose pathway to the top was blocked by the Rabbitohs being excluded from the competition, O'Meley came to the club not only an established first-grader but an Origin star, Willie Mason hopped the train from Toronto, while Myles flew in from far North Queensland.
They may have growled like Bulldogs but they only stayed in the Kennel because they liked the food and, when they got cut back to dried rations or they didn't like the way the handlers rattled the chains, they walked: Kennel no more.
Which is not to say Belmore doesn't provide a career-defining domestic environment which wraps up players and teaches them how to play good, hard footy. Just that - like any success-oriented league club - they don't care much where the players come from. It's the results they can get out of them that count.
Of the players that remain, Hazem El Masri is one of the few who could have made his way to Belmore Oval for training the first time without recourse to a street directory. Modern recruits favour GPS navigation systems.
Captain Andrew Ryan, a dour and larger incarnation of coach Steve Folkes, talks as if he's been at Belmore all his life. But it's not just Belmore boys who talk without opening their lips much - Dubbo boys do it too, a habit Ryan didn't shake during three years at Parramatta.
Other Bulldogs fully acquainted with the Eels team song are Willie Tonga (originally from Cherbourg in Central Queensland) and Chris Armit. Front-rower Kane Cleal, who previously played with Manly and Souths, is one of those modern players who has to wait until a couple of lines have been sung of the Dogs song before jumping in for the chorus.
"It's just like the Dogs, they're always taking a swipe," said Arthur Beetson, the former Roosters player, coach and later recruitment manager. "We're no different to any other club.
"A fallacy is that there are a lot of kids coming over from New Zealand aged 14 or 15 with their families, signed by clubs, and they play in the area and they're considered local juniors. I can tell you that we tried to sign Willie and Braith before they went to the Bulldogs but this was all around the time they rorted the salary cap and we couldn't compete with the money they were throwing at them.
"We would love to have all juniors, but like everyone else we are trying to find the best players."
The trend will continue. Only seven of the Roosters' 20 National Youth Competition players played for local junior clubs, with most scouted from Queensland or country NSW.
More surprisingly, only six of the Bulldogs' NYC players were members of junior clubs in the area, with the majority lured from surrounding Sydney suburbs. Gone are the days when St Christopher's and East Hills juniors make up much of the Dogs' representative sides.
Talent scouts are hunting far and wide, and the talents are travelling further for the chance to play at the top level, no matter which team. Pretty soon, that T-shirt will be meaningless.
Where did this weekend's Bulldogs first team come from? Luke Patten (Dragons)
Hazem El Masri (local junior)
Tim Winitana (local junior)
Willie Tonga (Eels)
Heka Nanai (local junior)
Ben Roberts (Tigers)
Daniel Holdsworth (Dragons)
Jarrad Hickey (local junior)
Corey Hughes (local junior)
Kane Cleal (Souths)
Sonny Bill Williams (Auckland Marist)
Andrew Ryan (Eels)
Lee Te Maari (Dragons)
Interchange:Chris Armit (Eels)
Brad Morrin (local junior)
Danny Williams (Roosters)
Michael Sullivan (Warrington)
![[furrycat]](/data/avatars/m/6/6602.jpg?1213416722){kind=avatar}
