I get this feeling we are ready to blow Manly off the park in round one. 

I see why. I just hope the kid can prove himself. He has so much ability. It is going to be interesting if he kills it when Critta rocks up ready to take his spot. 

That’s the Bulldog spirit!!!…
Im so psyched!!!…

Fuck oath mate. I’ll be hitting the piss so hard next weekend I’ll have no idea about the score come halftime. That’s why I love footy. I have no logical reason. I just back my team on pure emotion. Fuck Manly. 

Marki will have no idea about the score at half time vis he’lll be watching seagulls scrap fur a chip…

You guys are forgetting we are playing a team that has very smart footballers at fullback, halfback and lock.

If scores are close in the last 5mins, we are fekked. We don't have the football smarts in key positions to compete in pressure situations and exploit.

We need to have the locked up by the 70tu minute if we are to win.

Cool story…
What are Hawthorn doing???…. 

So… Mahoney, Kiks, and other year under Burtos belt, another year building combos, and a new coach  means zilch???… Fair call… I’m giving up now and will watch AFL instead… If I cheer for the Seagulls I can’t lose!!!…

Hawthorn who?
They were trounced in a pre-season game by around 100 points.
...and you know how I feel about pre-season games......

You know as well as I do what I mean.
We played Manly in round 3 last year and with scores locked up with last 10 or so minutes, only 1 team had the brains to win the game.

The other had no fekking clue. 

Not much has changed although we DO have Mahoney. 

Burton, Kikau, another year, won't save us in the same situation. 

That’s why we love Marki.

I think differently. We need to blow them off the park early. We have the attack to do so. We have the defence to hold them. 

I agree with you.
We need to kill them off early. 
They'll outsmart us or win it with a miracle Turbo play otherwise

Love it when you are posting ‘what I meant was’ posts this early in the year…

I understand why you don’t give any consideration to growth or experience… youre still posting the same crap u did 20 years ago… ;)

Well.....it's been close to 20 years since our last premiership.....

But thanks for vindicating my concerns......

I thinks it’s the team we are building. Similar to our last premiership. Win in the first twenty. And have enough firepower to win in the last twenty. 

I have seen a leak of the Dogs game plan, score a try for every beer Dman drinks, Manly will not be able to match that.

Not much has changed????

Are you that f***in’ sour in everything you do?

EVERYTHING has changed. The Board is United and you don’t hear a word out of place from them. The Chairman is universally supported, The CEO is not in the newspapers for the wrong reason. Gus. Rosters been overhauled in a positive manner - who we want rather than who we can get. We’re now a destination of choice for players and staff rather than a destination of last resort. A coach who was the most targeted in the game and he chose us. Sponsors coming out of our arse and more wanting in.

Why don’t you just enjoy the ride? We are heading in one direction and it’s the right one. We have “changed” more than any other club in the game, more than any other club has changed (for the positive) in living memory. We are better than this time last year, better than last time we played Manly, will be better in six months, better in a year and better every year after that for the foreseeable future.

Just enjoy the baby steps that start next week and will become strides and bounds over the weeks, months and years to follow. And when there’s a stumble, and there will be, just shut the f*** up. Because It’s the full journey you’ll remember when you get to the cherry.

Round 1 is hard to call Schuster is out for them which helps us.

I will not be surprised TPJ is a late inclusion for us.

I think that we could surprise them and it might be a great win.

But even in 2002 we started with a loss and a draw, tgen Matty Utai was added to the team and we never looked back. For this season, the right fullback and halfback are important positions that we might not have right.

A surprise selection in the spine for round 1 would not be a surprise, would be hidden in a the initial extended squad. Gus and CC are perhaps  keeping their cards close to their chests. A surprise in the spine and TPJ, then I am confident.

Yep winning and losing starts in the front office, and always has.

20 years of dysfunction in management and at board level was reflected in on field results.

Sort out the front office and the results will eventually come,

A good team can win in different ways, because the opposition determines how you need to win.

Is our season over yet???… Wouldn’t want the Mock to get something wrong…

This time tomorrow night, Supercoaches around the world  will be ripping their Team apart for the hundredth time this week…
This figure will pale in comparison to the number of times they’ll rip it apart between tomorrow night and 8pm Thursday…
518031 if you’re Stunning&brave enough…

No I disagree.
DCE is one of the smartest footballers I have seen in the last 20 or so years if not the smartest. Maybe Cam Smith pips him. Maybe Cronk.

The stuff he sees and acts on aren't just luck or good fortune. 

I just wish we had someone with even half his footy brain....

Who cares who other teams have in their roster. I have complete faith in Ciraldo and our team.
Win, lose or draw. Forever a Bulldog.

Nice Zef. You singled out one line in my post which was specific to football nous and smarts, and you went on a wild tirade of how we are better than last year.

Really?

I think we all know we are heading in the right direction but I'm pointing out 1 glaring weakness we haven't quite addressed and more importantly had the chance to address (with Mitch Moses) and chose not to. 

Im optimistic we will have a better year than last, but I'm also conscious that if we play like a bunch of sheep with no brains, the improvement will be limited. 

Wrong. We lost the 2012 GF because of a lack of footy smarts. Pure and simple. We had the skill to win but didn't have the brains to realise the Storm did their homework on us and we needed to make some adjustments. 

Had nothing to do with front office, back office or middle office.

Storm figured out they had to rush that pass to Barba around the back and did it..We just had to figure out a plan B. 

Bingo.
Best thing said today.

What that also means is that if the opposition are fit, big, fast, determined and defend well, a team has to go close to matching those areas to win regardless of who the halves are.

The best halves can turn a game when the opposition is well on top, I have never seen DCE or Moses do that, I would have faith in Hynes on Munster. JT was the best at it, Langer also very good.

You need 17 good players in a team to win regularly and more importantly they need to have great team spirit, confidence, determination and resilience.

Weak link players with a high mistake rate or who take wrong options can sap tessm confidence and energy.

The front office determines who the coach and players are,  in turn that determines results.

Des inherited the 2012 squad from Moore and it went down hill from there, 2012-2022 we had consistent issues with the spine particularly halback.

Ben Barba, block plays and good defence got us to 2012 GF.

Des was always very dependent on the wrestle in defence, and block plays in attack, IMO neither are how footy should be played and once they fixed the rules, Des was clueless.