The club needs to get everything fixed as far as possible.
1. Cap management.
2. Corporate engagement.
3. Member engagement
4. Sponsorship ... see 2.
5. Scouting networks... regional and feeder club partnerships.
6. Juniors 
7. Lower grades.
8. Skills and conditioning.
9. Recruitment and retention.
10. NRL playing style, team spirit and harmony.
11. NRL team selection and  coaching.

If the club is run right, Barrett only has a big say on 8-11.
A club that doesn't have 1-7 in shape is going no where.

It will not be hard for the club to show some improvement under Barrett, but he definately needs at least 3 seasons.

In terms of a better option we need to cross that bridge when we need to, the club has to get it's act together or we will not attract a top coach.

Welcome and all fair comment mate.  I don't think many of us were against the Hasler appointment at the time. Unfortunately  no one could see the mismanagement to come.

Footy wise we have 2 games to go and will probably get lapped.

But if we want to learn anything, we need to try something.

IMO shift Meaney to fullback Hoppa to centre and Smith to the wing.

Try Lewis in centres shift DWZ to the bench.

Play Averillo and Wakeham in the halves.

DWZ can play 2nd row or lock when he comes on, and cover backline spots.

I've only seen our halves combine well and play 15 mins good of footy all season, those halves were Wakeham and Averillo,. Every since I've been hoping we try that combination again. Forget how Wakeham goes with Foran and Lewis, give him a shot with his natural partner.

I am not expecting a win, I do hope to see 80 minutes of good attack and possibly suspect defence. Give the pups a shot.

Welcome Micko, if you have been watching this page for any length of time you would have noticed we are an odd bunch of misfits with one common thread... we hate seeing our team get the sh!t kicked out of them week in week out... oh and most of don't rate Aiden Tolman as halfback material. Also if you happen to have a WWII Enigma encription machine then you will be able to decipher Big Tony's posts.

I’m sure there was a Micko from the original BDP?

Anyway... welcome aboard, just lookout for a couple shady characters on here

If there was any doubt that the Dibby brigade is behind the trouble.

The document, which has reached the inboxes of prominent figures with connections to the club, says: “We require the following resolutions to be included in the agenda for the Extraordinary General Meeting ('EGM'):
1. That Lynne Anderson be removed as a Director of the Club with effect from the end
of the EGM;
2. That John Ballesty be removed as a Director of the Club with effect from the end of
the EGM and;
3. That Paul Dunn be removed as a Director of the Club with effect from the end of the EGM.”

No one has put their name to it but 100 members' signatures would be needed for an EGM to be convened.

If an EGM was forced, the resolutions would then be put to voting members, of whom there are more than 1000. A 75 per cent majority would be required for the directors to be removed.

I doubt that they will even get 100 signatures, they didn't last time.

IMO the Dibby cap fears that 21 will be more successful and that the decisions of the current board will be validated.
They are trying to move ASAP 

Micko, you are either in the "Tolman should be first picked in the team" camp or the "Tolman shouldnt be allowed anywhere near a Bulldogs first grade team again" camp.

So which camp are you in?

Maybe he’s in the Tolman to be the new Chairman camp?

Marki is in for a shock when Tols becomes ruler of the world.

Welcome aboard Micko... 

Thanks for sharing your history as a Doggie...

While the current Board may not be the long term answer to turning it around they have made good on their promises to date for mine... Extending Pay the only issue for mine... but they showed him due respect, and have now signed a young coach credited with sparking the Panthers O this year...

One thing is for sure though... anyone associated with the previous Board, any of their supporters, self aggrandising mates, or sycophants are definitely not the people for the job...

Micko, you have probably noticed that we are also either pro dibbies or anti dibbies. I support the latter but this subject is not often discussed.

Its a fair point you make... Being anti-Dibby doesn't necessarily mean a person is pro Ando...

Lol. Im certainly not the biggest fan of Tolman these days. So yes, I would be part of the second camp. I have been reading for some time and rarely agree with anything you say Marki, but on this matter. I concur! 

dman, you are correct being anti dibby doesn't automatically assume pro Anderson, and Micko nice to see you've sorted the Marki thing out.

"rarely agree with anything you say Marki"...you ain't Robinson Crusoe!

Well....I asked Barrett the same question and he also is in the 2nd camp.

In my opinion Tolman has 2 more games in the NRL.....

He won the hearts and souls of the BDP with that post!!!...

On the subject of Tolman.

IMO Jacko will become a middle forward, Thompson, Jackson, Ellott and Tolman are all similar, smaller high work rate middke forwards who are good defenders.

Of the 4 Tolman offers the least in attack, we don't need all 4 in the 17 every week.

I don't think Tolman will get a lot of offers, at the right price he might be worth retaining, but with a 28 man squad it is hard to fit him in.

Its a 30 man squad with 10% reduction in cap as it stands until the RLPA get involved... 
Thommo and Elliot have plenty to offer where the game seems to have passed Told and Jacko by.. .

Sensible post.
But I was under the impression the squad was reducing to 28 players with the cap reduction?

How does a 10% cap reduction work.  Players have contracts signed under the old cap.  Are these contracts deemed only to be 90% of face value for SC calculations?  Similarly players will be signing contracts for future years.  How long will the reduction last?  A lot of detail needs to be spelt out.

What are your thoughts on Dib himself?

From what I've seen, he was playing reserve grade in the 80's, then moved to off-field work in & around the club thereafter, eventually ending up on the board. At that point I'm not aware of anyone ever having any issues with him. It wasn't until half way through the Des tenure that so many fans were screaming for action on this or that aspect of the club being neglected, then this decision was bad & that decision was worse, followed by salary cap mess etc. So fair enough he got voted out. The job was a bit much for him & giving the likes of Des power caused a lot of problems too, which he refused to act upon. Not sure he'd be having anything much to do with many of them at the club these days, but who knows, some of the deposed board & others still clinging onto the club one way or another might still be in close cahoots with him. The remnants are certainly rocking the boat for not getting their own way in the meantime. Even if they form a new ticket, most members will be very sus about it, so as I said before, in my opinion, I'd rather the Ando's ride it out & hopefully get rid of the rest of them that have been causing problems & then they'll most likely look to replace themselves when they're ready, with more appropriate types, as apposed to troublemakers that only think they can run the place.

I dont know Dib from a bar of soap, but he does come across to me as being passionate about the club.
As you mentioned above, he got his nickers in a knot when his administration gave too much power to Des and mismanaged the SC to suit the goals Des set.

Had we won a premiership in 2012 or 2014, none of this would be too much of an issue as we would only be 8 or 6 years since those years and most knowledgeable footy fans know some lean years come along after a premiership causes SC issues.

I personally feel the Dibbies do what most league administrators do and sail close to the wind (or over) in the hope they can get an edge and keep the club successful. 
In their case, they stuffed up badly but with the right intentions. Re-signing Des a huge mistake it was quite evident to me and others (even with no discreet knowledge of the SC) that we were heading down a bad path paying overs for players who didnt deserve it (same thing happened in 2002). 

Where i am most disappointed is that they didnt stand up to Des and tell him to GGF. It would have saved their ar'ses and we would have punted Des 1 or 2 years earlier.
As it stands now, we would have lost nothing and would have probably had Cleary as coach (if anyone actually bothered listening to me).

So.....do i despise Dib and co for what they did? NO. I just think they put their eggs in 1 basket for the success of the club but it was a failed basket and the catalyst of their demise. I did expect better judgement from them.
Do i think they can make amends if they were to have an opportunity again? Probably. But i dont think we can sit around give second chances. 

The current board has done a decent job but i worry they are too much by the book and i already feel they could have made some choices that have resulted in us having a poor roster for next year when they could have made some clever SC arrangements to bolster the roster already.

Jury is still out on them

And by that, i believe the current mob could have "managed" the SC this year with back-ended contracts that could have allowed us to sign some decent talent for next year, instead of waiting till November for contracts to expire and open the doors to a market full of no stars. Running dead last and looking like a basket-case, the NRL and Vlandy's would have given us some latitude as it is good for the game.

In my opinion, they needed to act BEFORE THIS year not END OF THIS YEAR.

The ship has now sailed and we are now hoping for some talent to break away from contracts just so we can get a sniff.

Marki 
"(if anyone actually bothered listening to me)"

There is a first time for everything. Nothing to suggest Des held a gun at their heads. It was incompetence and laziness...similar indeed to the original salary cap scandal. 
But you can have your "kate and edith too" as the Morris brothers are now part of your team.

Well Marki, I think it's fair enough what you said about Dib being loyal & meaning well. I'm just not sure at what point a question mark might've appeared over it though, so perhaps once he reached a political level with so much money involved? What I mean by that is anyone in such a position can be dragged one way or another by other influencers. A good example to explain that is Labor & Liberal over the years. Time & time again one bends the other over a barrel to do something they don't want to do to get something they want in return. In football club scenarios it could be anything from someone wanting their useless cousin with feet for hands signed up to get a mortgage, in return for making up the board room voting numbers to sign speedy gonzales or anything else like that which you can imagine. That's just a fictional scenario from within a club, it could be external influencers wanting something the club doesn't want to do & so forth.

As for signings, the club in recent times have had a few opportunities. They've set their maximum price & refused to bump up the offers during negotiations, so they didn't get all their signings because they refused to pay overs, which if I recall was one of the reasons why they were voted in to begin with. They can't please everyone with it of course. They vowed not to back-end deals & promised to put a stop to all the bad cap management, which is still crippling the club after all this time thanks to the previous board & Des etc. There's probably a semi-trailer (with 2021 painted on the sides) backing into the club car park right now that has a ~huge~ broom in it. There's only limited quality players available for next year in the positions the club needs, but there's a long time until the deadline for signings next year & we all know anything can happen in regards to players already on contract elsewhere being released if it's beneficial for all. There will be people scouting far & wide already.

And without reserve grade those few bolters that rise up every year are not visible.  Ditto the ones going backwards.

All true, and my opinion of the current mob are just that, an opinion on a forum page. I'm not a voting member so they are safe from me.

I would still be encouraging the voters to stick with them and give them the time to do their thing. After all, they havent done anything wrong...they have (in my opinion at least) not done things as efficiently as could have been. 

The one thing I hate though is people (commentators, fans, media etc) suggesting that the back of house politics have a bearing on our on-field performances. It's all hog-wash. The on field performances have nothing to do with the politics. Let's not give the team an excuse for this poor season as it will be an admission that we have not realised the rotten fish yet and are probably a good 2 or 3 years from doing so. 

It can and it usually does.

Because the coach particularly and football staff in general invariably get caught in the middle. Coach can shield the players but then who shields him? And if the coach is effected it dribbles down onto the team.

Happens all the time Marki, year after year at any and all clubs and it effects on field performance no doubt about it. The exceptions are the strong embedded long term coach's like Bellamy, Bennett and Robinson who have enough power themselves to not take sh.t from anyone and stare down anyone who dares to try.

The rest are always under pressure from above on their good days and when the sh.t hits the fan on the bad it dribbles down onto them as in which faction do I align with? if I'm talking to or listening to him/her am I offside with him/her?

They end up thinking more about politics than football because their career depends on it.