How well will the Bulldogs do in 2012 ?

[DoggiesBro]

Two things I'm sure of is,

Melbourne and Manly will finish 1 and 2 again.
Canterbury will finish between 7th-12th.

If they somehow manage to pull off 7th or 8th spot they'll get hammered week 1 of the semi's.

No beating around the bush, they're shit and have no potential.

Call all of it a sure thing, will only make it funnier when your wrong on all aspects.

 

[Danny-Boy]

Call all of it a sure thing, will only make it funnier when your wrong on all aspects.

Here was my 2011 prediction in April 2011. I've got bragging rights.

Originally Posted by Danny-Boy
Still early in the comp but you'd think the top 6 at the moment will go on and make the semi's.

I'm fairly confident that at a neutral venue both Melbourne and Manly would beat St.George comfortably.

Saints to choke in a real premiership race this year.

Manly or Melbourne to win it.

Broncos to put up a fair fight.

Bulldogs and Cowboys will ask a few questions but fall short.

Forget the rest bar a late surge like parra 2009.

 

[sputneek]

Bulldogs only asked one question: Who's available to buy for next year.

 

[Sans Souci Sainter]

Bhahaha, see this is why Adam is liked and respected in the Sharks forum. He is always well balanced in his views

And he smokes Sharkie bone at any opportunity.

 

[Fingerbang]

Pretty sure Dogs will miss the top 8 again.

But, unsure of where the biggest laughs in 2012 are going to come from.....lol@50uffs or lol@doggiesbro

 

[AuDragon]

Ennis, Barba, Hodgkinson and Pritchard would have to be firing on all cylinders for the whole season for them to scrape into the top 8.
Like someone said, their backline makes the Sharkies look good, and their second row isn't much better either...

9th to 12th due to the Hasler factor.

 

[Miller was a legend]

And he smokes Sharkie bone at any opportunity.

Nothing wrong with that:shock:

 

[Miller was a legend]

Ennis, Barba, Hodgkinson and Pritchard would have to be firing on all cylinders for the whole season for them to scrape into the top 8.
Like someone said, their backline makes the Sharkies look good, and their second row isn't much better either...

9th to 12th due to the Hasler factor.

Oi, wait...yeah ours is shit

 

[DoggiesBro]

Barba, Morris, Turner, Lafai all better then any shark in their position. Stupid comment.

 

[Miller was a legend]

Barba versus Gards. Hmmm

Hey what about Pom? lol

 

[Easts R #1]

Barba, Morris, Turner, Lafai all better then any shark in their position. Stupid comment.

To be fair the Dogs backline isn't too bad.. Turner is very underated and can play fullback very well, wouldn't be surprised if De$$ie moves Barber or Romelo to the halves with Hodkinson and Turner to 1?? A preseason is a long time in league. Dogs should make top 8...

 

[Ladmate]

They have no stars. I don't see a title.

 

[Big Pete]

Pretty much indicative of every club, every season. Every club has the potential to do amazing things if it doesn't get hit with injuries.

It's true for a couple of clubs, sure. But it's not as if I already see them as a top 8 side that can still make the 8 despite injuries (eg. West Tigers 2011, Manly 2009-10 etc.). Not to mention you have a couple of players who I've made mention down below who could really go either way. You need these guys to hit top perform to be anywhere near where you expect this side to be and at this stage I don't see it.

Turner is a solid winger, great finisher and has a few (admittedly rescinded) premierships to his name.

Don't forget (worst) State of Origin winger of all time. Turner is past it these days, doesn't have the speed to really threaten teams, ordinary defender and ordinary under the high ball. The only aspect he has in his favour is his positional play.

Wright is barely in first grade yet, a bit harsh to judge

That's because he's barely a first grader to begin with. Depth player at the best of times.

Payne is one of the best ballplaying reserve forwards in the game

That's a bit of a mouthful. In fairness he did show some signs of improvement last year but not enough to make up for all those crappy seasons he had at Wests. Going to have to step it up for Uncle Des for me to change my tune.

Barba enigmatic? He has a bit of trouble under the high ball which improved toward the end of 2011 but he's a bit better than enigmatic. He was consistent and brilliant in a year where many of our players got just a bit lazy.

Has potential but he was horrendous under the high ball, wasn't that strong positionally, a turnstile defender and was fairly useless unless there was a broken field. I can understand why it's unfair to lump him with Pritchard when Frank was really poor but here's the thing. I don't think Pritchard individually cost you games like Barba did.

Like I said, has potential and could be a real gamebreaker but he's really going to lift his game.

As for Graham, you don't get to be captain of a nation (even if it is England) without being a good player. Silly statement IMO.

I don't think he's going to be in reserve grade or anything like that but I'm unsure whether he'll be the superstar I hear certain Dogs fans proclaim him to be.

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

What are you on about, the raiders & titans will improve.

You list teams improving yet leave out rabbitohs lost sandow, though hes not much of a lost and will struggle as usual. Eels added sandow and roberts, will be sure to flog a team hear and there then lose 6 odd games straight. Sharks who knows all depends on carney and also lost snowden and douglas who are replaced by gibbs and fafita lol give it a break.

In saying that teams like roosters and panthers are going to fight the spoon after losing myles, carney, petro and adding nothing.

Then teams like dragons are sure to tumble. Broncos lost lockyer, how will that go. Knights should be up there along with cowboys. Storm lost blair, manly lost des.

There is alot of questions but the fact is the dogs added one of the best props in the game, added one of the best coaches in the game and will have their captain and nsw hooker back healthy. If des can get tony williams firing i'm sure he can make pritchard a headache for anyone. Our pack is right up there especially with des and if he can get hodkinson playing like he did for dymock and with the leading try scorer in barba and a nsw and aus rep in morris and a rookie who played about 8-9 games and got 2 man of the matches in Lafai our backline isn't exactly made of forwards like yours was and while is not going to be the best backline in the comp it certainly wont be horrible with hacks and backrowers like the eels last year.

Where do i even start.

You talk about the bulldogs having one injured player in ennis, while the rabbitohs were raped from injuries the whole year. And their team has shit load more talent than yours does.

It took Des 2 and a half years to get Tony Williams firing. Has anyone ever been able to get consistency out of Pritchard?

How is having a rookie being the best player on your team a good thing? If anything Lafai showing up your whole backline every time he plays shows just how shit your backs are. Haha Morris a rep player, give it a rest. He wasn't even a first grade player for a while last season.

There we go. The Eels backline was filled with "hacks" and backrowers last year but we were still in winning positions for like 5-6 of our losses. What will happen with Sandow instead of Robson and Willie Tonga instead of Ben Smith. You could throw in Esi Tonga who will no doubt be better than Justin Horo and Ben Roberts who is better than Casey MacGuire.

The Eagles won't miss the playoffs just cause they had Des. He's a good coach but even i could have coached the Stewart brothers, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Lyon etc. to at least the top 8.

So lets see. You were 9th: Raiders, Eels, Rabbitohs and Titans will all be better than they were last year. That's why i think the BNB Bulldogs will be around about 12.

 

[Spot On]

Yes Ennis is important to the Dogs but they travelled just fine without him late in the season after the coach was punted. Got on a real roll under Dymock and Ennis was not there.

 

[firechild]

Hasler didn't have anywhere near the quality players to work with at Manly when he took that show over.

The Stewarts were already at Manly before Des started (Brett debuted in 2003, Hasler started in 2004), Watmough debuted in 2002, King in 2001, Luke Williamson was at the club from 2002-2008, though granted he wasn't one of our best. There was really no big buying spree, Orford (who has already played for the Northern Eagles), Kite, Kennedy, Lyon and more recently Tony Williams were really the only big names Manly bought from 2004-2011. Bulldogs fans have just come to expect a premiership squad be bought, it won't happen. Hasler will largely have to work with what he already has to win a premiership. It's the only way to do it these days. By buying big you simply stack a few positions and run out of money when it comes to the rest, that's why Manly has few genuine superstars but quality in every position.

 

[Lambretta]

Ross found second legs last year but before that was a waste.

Do you mean he was a waste when playing with Cronullas previously, or a waste while he was out of the game with a neck injury?

When Ben Ross has been fit, he has been an asset to any team he played for. His problem has been injuries. If he can stay injury free he can have another good year for the Sharks. The question however remains: will his body be able to match both his ability and his desire?

 

[Habitual Linestepper]

The Stewarts were already at Manly before Des started (Brett debuted in 2003, Hasler started in 2004), Watmough debuted in 2002, King in 2001, Luke Williamson was at the club from 2002-2008, though granted he wasn't one of our best. There was really no big buying spree, Orford (who has already played for the Northern Eagles), Kite, Kennedy, Lyon and more recently Tony Williams were really the only big names Manly bought from 2004-2011. Bulldogs fans have just come to expect a premiership squad be bought, it won't happen. Hasler will largely have to work with what he already has to win a premiership. It's the only way to do it these days. By buying big you simply stack a few positions and run out of money when it comes to the rest, that's why Manly has few genuine superstars but quality in every position.

Exactly. You can buy all you want, but if you don't have good juniors coming through who will play for f**k all you have to rely on having zero injuries cause you're pretty much assured of having no depth. Ie the Buydogs and the Roosters after Carney stopped firing.

Then again you could buy no one like the Eels and be in a similar position.

 

[DoggiesBro]

Where do i even start.

You talk about the bulldogs having one injured player in ennis, while the rabbitohs were raped from injuries the whole year. And their team has shit load more talent than yours does.

It took Des 2 and a half years to get Tony Williams firing. Has anyone ever been able to get consistency out of Pritchard?

How is having a rookie being the best player on your team a good thing? If anything Lafai showing up your whole backline every time he plays shows just how shit your backs are. Haha Morris a rep player, give it a rest. He wasn't even a first grade player for a while last season.

There we go. The Eels backline was filled with "hacks" and backrowers last year but we were still in winning positions for like 5-6 of our losses. What will happen with Sandow instead of Robson and Willie Tonga instead of Ben Smith. You could throw in Esi Tonga who will no doubt be better than Justin Horo and Ben Roberts who is better than Casey MacGuire.

The Eagles won't miss the playoffs just cause they had Des. He's a good coach but even i could have coached the Stewart brothers, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Lyon etc. to at least the top 8.

So lets see. You were 9th: Raiders, Eels, Rabbitohs and Titans will all be better than they were last year. That's why i think the BNB Bulldogs will be around about 12.

Eels won't be above the dogs they have a dud coach and have recruited a player who will win as many games as he loses in sandow, he will continue his shoulder chargers to be dropped and ran past. roberts was a bulldog reject, and you bag us... he couldn't get a go in our first grade squad.

raiders, rabbitohs and titans will improve but others like dragons i expect to slide. you list teams for improving based on recruitment noone can argue that the dogs and knights now have two of the top 3 coaches in the game. the dogs also recruited a gun prop. the eels signed a great player in tonga, and a hot and cold player who has shown nothing then half a year of promise in sandow who they paid massive overs for.

tony williams never looked like firing until des. pritchard is older, looked reasonable with the dogs although was used as a bloody prop by moore probz a reason he was let go and with des i don't think anyone will argue what he gets out of his forwards.

i'm sorry when did a rookie being a gun player become a bad thing. suppose you don't rate dce?

 

[DoggiesBro]

Exactly. You can buy all you want, but if you don't have good juniors coming through who will play for f**k all you have to rely on having zero injuries cause you're pretty much assured of having no depth. Ie the Buydogs and the Roosters after Carney stopped firing.

Then again you could buy no one like the Eels and be in a similar position.

we've had plenty of depth. the eels had nothing hence why they had forwards in the backline. also why they are the biggest spenders with the knights now, although unlike the knights they could well be fighting in round 26 for the spoon again.