I don’t normally delve into football posts, but there’s something about my beloved Bulldogs this year that has me very excited. So I’ve decided to capture some of my thoughts in a post here. I may continue this throughout the year consistently, but I also may not. We’ll see where it goes.

Round one snuck up on me and while I didn’t think I was any more excited than normal, the arrival of a new Bulldogs beanie that my wife secretly ordered around Christmas time really sent me over the edge. All of a sudden I found myself counting down the days.

Being in Halifax, game time for round 1 was something around 5am on Saturday morning. This doesn’t jive with me, so I avoided all social media for the morning, and got to the replay around mid morning. Die-hards may call me out for not watching live, but I’m not here to please everybody.

First off I have to say that this was one of the most exciting games of footy I’ve watched for a long time, and oh my, what an exciting young team we have. This was a fantastic win, and I can’t remember a better start to the year in recent times. Sure, the 11 goal win over Brisbane in 2013 was good, but not even this good. It was fast paced, frantic stuff from end to end. Yes we got burned a few times in the opening quarter/half, but the ability to absorb the punches and keep coming back was really impressive. New coach Luke Beveridge has this team in a good mindset, and the fact that we had 8 players coming off a win in the VFL grand final team means that success is starting to creep it’s way into the senior team. I don’t care that it was at a lower level than AFL, success breeds success, so the more players we have that are used to winning, expect to win, and don’t recognise losing as an option, the better.

Marcus Bontempelli has been huge in the press coming into this season, so it was no surprise to see him cop a heavy tag in the first quarter. He was well contained, but impressively, still worked hard to get to stoppages and make tackles. I’m not sure if West Coast stopped the tag after the first quarter, but they probably shouldn’t have. Expect to see #TheBont get a LOT more attention in the coming weeks. If opposition teams learned anything from round 1, it should be that ‘The Fooch’ does not give in. The pressure should be unrelenting, and I really hope he can deal with it. He seems like a real champion in the making. I’m also curious what nickname is going to stick this season.

The Dogs new look forward line has been big news all summer too, Tom Boyd and Jack Redpath all of a sudden seem to be the answer that the Bulldogs have been looking for to 20 years. Finally, a couple of genuine big bodies, one of which we’ve actually put time into developing (Redpath), and one who (hopefully) is naturally good enough to do his developing on the park. It took a little while for the big guys to have an impact on Saturday’s contest, but the benefits of this duo up forward are already obvious. Firstly, it almost automatically means that Crameri and Stringer get the 3rd and 4th biggest defenders, which is a huge win when last season they got 1 & 2 or 1 & 3 most of the time. Second, we actually had crumbs in the forward line. CRUMBS! We got the ball in quick and high, and with nary a chest mark attempt in sight the ball actually came to ground around the contest! This lead to goals from a number of our small fellas, Dahlhaus & JJ off the top of my head, they’re going to love buzzing around causing trouble this year, which was evident from the number of stoppages inside our forward 50. By the end of the game I had forgotten who our #1 forward was last season. The one blunder on behalf of our new star recruit is a minor one, but important in my opinion. Saluting the crowd after your first goal in new colours is not the way to endear yourself to your teammates, especially when you are taking the biggest slice of pie of anyone in the history of the club. Team first Tom, but maybe I’m looking too far into it.

Jack Macrae and Mitch Wallis stepped up in the middle, as they are going to have to do a lot this season if we are to keep winning games. It’s hard to believe, but even with Ryan Griffen, Adam Cooney and Tom Liberatore out of the team for various reasons, these two appear to have just stepped right in and it’s business as usual. The number of players floating through the middle was great to see, I think almost every player named in the midfield & forward line had a run through the guts at some point, including big Jack Redpath. We are going to need everybody to make an impact when they get the chance if we’re to keep winning games. Make no mistake, we will get beaten in the midfield for periods this year, but it will be the ability to contain and then reverse the momentum that Beveridge will be determined to get right.

The early signs are good, one of the biggest criticisms of previous coach Brendan McCartney was his inability to make an impact with changes on game day. On Saturday we saw a notable difference in what we allowed the Eagles to do in the first and second halves. We did a great job of forcing them wide after quite a few goals where they were able to take the ball from end to end pretty much straight down the middle. I credit Beveridge for making those adjustments and getting the boys to make the changes necessary. It played a big part in the win, well done Bevo.

Finally, down back the dogs have a new-old look going on. I’ve always been a fan of Talia, he looks like a natural athlete and will become a real solid player for us. I hope he gets given the opportunity for consistent game time this season. Roughead is already a star & we were right make him vice captain. Yes, both will get beaten at times, there is a reason key forwards get paid big bucks, but with these two down back and the experience of Morris, Murphy and Boyd surrounding them, I think this season will see a huge and rapid development in our key defenders.

Next up is Richmond, and just like last week, I don’t know what to expect going in. I’m hopeful of another performance like Saturday, and we will win if we give that, but I’m also bracing for a bit of a reality check. West Coast was an incredibly difficult opponent for round 1, they always are, but we handled their speed and transition well with a few adjustments. Richmond will have learned from our game, and I expect to see more pressure on Bontempelli, and Stringer up forward. Hopefully TheBont is good enough to get through it, and attention on Stringer just opens the door for TBoyd, Redpath or Crameri to kick goals. They can’t all be contained, it will come down to our ability to find the one who is getting on top at that particular moment and capitalise with quick ball movement through the middle.

Round 1 votes:
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3. Stringer
2. Bontempelli
1. Roughead

Special mention: Lin Jong – It looks like his head speed is finally catching up with his leg speed. Got the ball in traffic a number of times and found great options, either by hand, foot or running it out himself. Last year he got caught in these situations but it looks like another preseason has him adjusted to the speed of the AFL nicely. Keep it up Linsanity