The road to season 2015

A bombshell has just been dropped with Western Bulldogs Captain Ryan Griffins requesting a trade to GWS.
Wow......if it goes through it will be bigger than the Franklin move to Sydney. A CAPTAIN requesting a trade?! It makes you wonder exactly what is happening at the Bulldogs.
 
Geez McCartney really must have rubbed the senior players up the wrong way, be surprised if he is coaching them after next year
 
Western Bulldogs President Peter Gordon released this statement on the club website:

"I have today read a statement issued by Ryan Griffen’s management. It requires clarification.

Ryan Griffen raised with me some concerns about our Senior Coach the day after our best and fairest. I then organised for him to immediately relay those concerns to our Chief Executive, Simon Garlick. We both took Ryan’s concerns very seriously as did Brendan McCartney when he was informed of them.

We arranged for Ryan to meet with Brendan and our Football Director, Chris Grant, and they discussed his concerns. Brendan acknowledged some faults and agreed to work on them. At the conclusion of the meeting, Chris asked Ryan if he was happy with the meeting and agreeable to working with Macca on an ongoing basis.

Ryan answered yes to both questions and added that while he was on leave he wanted to reflect upon whether he was best suited to captain the Club in the future.

Having returned to Australia on Tuesday night and without any further discussion with us after giving that agreement, Ryan informed us that he had changed his mind. We were also informed that he was seeking a trade to GWS – with whom we now understand he was in communication during this time.

We are extremely disappointed at his approach and have no intention of indulging it."

WOW........they are a walking, talking, living, breathing rabble of a club.
 
I feel really sorry for the loyal, long-suffering Bulldogs supporters. They don't deserve the uncertainty and mixed messages that are coming out of the Western Oval. I fear for their on-field future. Off-field they will be fine, but my goodness it's hard to be positive about their on-field prospects.
 
Day 12 (~174 days to go)

Boy oh boy wowee! Things are finally heating up. Biggest news of the day was Ryan Griffen requesting a trade to GWS; I don't think anyone saw that coming. Bulldogs are a bit of a mess right now, but what a bonus for the Giants! Another big story was the AFL banning the Swans from trading either this year or next, otherwise they will automatically lose their Cost of Living Allowance. The way I see it, is they are being punished for following the AFL's rules! The AFL also blocked the potential loophole exploit by Patrick Ryder; I believe he must now be traded. Jeff Garlett was also traded to the Dees.
 
Brendan McCartney has stepped down as coach of the Western Bulldogs. Peter Gordon and Simon Garlick just held a press conference and EVENTUALLY got to the bloody point! In short:

*There were communication issues between the coach and the players during the second half of 2014.
*The board put in place a set of guidelines to help Macca with this issue and things were "improving".
*The board conducted an extensive post-season review (that chestnut always appears!)
*In light of Ryan Griffin's move yesterday, the board was concerned that Macca would find it extremely difficult to get ANY message through next season if even the captain wanted out.
*Macca agreed with this.

I suspect that Ryan Griffin will still be a Western Bulldogs player in 2015 but not captain. Peter Gordon was extremely direct about the need for Griffin to honour his contract.

My personal view is that we are no closer to knowing the reason for Brendan McCartney leaving voluntarily/by agreement/being given the arse.

Cam Mooney (who is a part-time forwards coach at the Dogs) was absolutely scathing yesterday on SEN about the Gen Y player group in relation to the Griffin announcement.
 
Might aswell not have coaches anymore seems the players call all the shots these days
I reckon player power or player empowerment works at some clubs (Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong) and not others (Melbourne, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs). It comes down to how much courage a football board has. In Clarko's early days at Hawthorn he shook the Bejesus out of the tree and even Shane Crawford has extreme doubts about continuing. However, the board and the football department backed him in. Same with Mark Thompson at Geelong.

It is little wonder that the Dees, Dogs and Saints have been Premiership-free for so long. It's not just luck any more, not in these professional times.
 
Looks like Tigers will give up pick 12 for jack trengove and I have heard that melbourne will then give picks 3 and 12 to collingwood for beams as he has conceded he won't get to brisbane and staying at collingwood is the last of his options
 
Day 13 (~173 days to go)

More drama today, with Brendan McCartney becoming the third coach to quit/be sacked this off-season. The question now is whether Griffen will stay or go. There has also been some speculation around Liam Jones and Adam Cooney potentially going to Carlton. It appears there have been complications with regards to the Dayne Beams trade, but I find it hugely surprising the Demons would consider trading Jack Trengove. Apparently Collingwood tries to orchestrate a complicated five-way trade, however that fell through. Allen Christensen has also requested a trade to Brisbane.
 
Day 14 (~172 days to go)

No action today as trade period takes a break over the weekend. The two big pieces of news from today were James Gwilt joining Essendon as a free agent, and Dustin Fletcher signing a new contract, almost certainly ensuring he will become the third player to play 400 VFL/AFL games!
 
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