What we have here is the Western Bulldogs season review with thanks to Jason.

There’s no way to sugar coat it.  Whichever way you look at the year that was season 2011 for the Bulldogs, it was very disappointing.  Not very much went right at the kennel in 2011.  And plenty of things went wrong.  A lot of fixtures for the club during 2010 were well and truly gone by the end of season 2011.  The coach Rodney Eade, leading goalkicker Barry Hall, the bearded one Ben Hudson, Spotswood-born-and-bred Callan Ward and long-serving property steward Noel Kinniburgh – all gone.

Having made it to the Preliminary Final weekend in each of 2008, 2009 and 2010, finishing 10th with a less than 50% win-loss record was a long way short of where the Bulldogs were widely tipped to finish.  Before the season, Mike Shehan and plenty of other media commentators had the Bulldogs as a likely Grand Finalist.  Most had Bulldogs finishing at least in the final 8 at season’s end.   The President went on the public record (albeit slightly quoted out of context) saying he wanted a Grand Final berth.  I did too.  But it wasn’t to be.  (Start rant.)  And the haters rejoiced.  Go get a life, seriously.  What did the Bulldogs ever do to the haters to deserve the vitriol.  (End rant.)

Only 4 players played all 22 games with not enough senior players on the list getting on the park often enough to make it count.   To fill the voids in the 22, there were 10 AFL debutants blooded by the Bulldogs in season 2011.  Whilst theoretically that should have been a reason for Supercoaches to get excited, sadly the facts of the matter were that most of the hidden Supercoach gems weren’t actually to be found in the red-white-and-blue during 2011.

<!--more-->THE GOOD

Matthew Boyd – elevated to the captaincy for 2011, Boyd showed genuine leadership skills on field and relished the responsibility.  All Australian selection for the second time (2009 also) was a fitting reward for what was a great year.  After finishing equal 6th in the 2010 Brownlow count, he could be a good thing to finish even closer to the top of the leaderboard in the 2011 Brownlow count.  Boyd finished the year with a SuperCoach average of 115 ppg (points per game), an improvement of 9 ppg from season 2010.  With only 5 scores below 100 and 4 scores of 160+ Boyd was consistently good and had the potential to “go large”.  Very durable, and something Supercoaches love, Boyd most importantly played every game during 2011.   Disposal efficiency just over 60% is the only thing that prevented him from being elite in terms of SuperCoach scoring.

Ryan Griffen – another durable midfielder Griffen also played all 22 games.  With an overall SuperCoach average of 108 ppg - an increase of 14 ppg from season 2010 - Griffen really hit his straps during season 2011, especially early.  Over his first 14 matches, he averaged 115 ppg before dropping away towards the end with an average of only 95 over the final eight games.  I know this all too well because I traded him into my team just before Round 16. Grrr.  2011 could probably be described as a breakout year for Griffen, having moved into premium territory for the first time.  Still appears to have the potential to improve on what was a premium SuperCoach output in 2011.

Robert Murphy – with most of the 2010 back six for the Bulldogs missing in action for some or most of 2011 (Harbrow (0 games in 2011), Lake (5), Hargrave (5), Gilbee (13),  Williams (17) and Morris (18)), Bob Murphy was asked to go down back and sort things out.  This he pretty consistently did without a whole lot of help.  The All-Australian selectors clearly thought so too.  His SuperCoach scoring improved markedly from 2010 to 2011, rising from 71 ppg in 2010 to 90 ppg in 2011.  With D/F multi-positioning for season 2011 Murphy was easily the best D/F SuperCoach player for the year, finishing as the 12th best SuperCoach defender and the 15th best forward.  A very constructive player (82% disposal efficiency is in elite company) without being a massive accumulator of possessions, Murphy’s SuperCoach scoring potential might have peaked during 2011 though.  Seven SuperCoach scores in 100+ territory was the good news, but a season low of 45 amongst some other low-ish SuperCoach scores suggests that he is probably a little too inconsistent for most Supercoaches to consider starting for season 2012.

Callan Ward – rounding out the SuperCoach good news stories is the now ex-Bulldog Ward.   Whilst the club says it is not bitter about Ward leaving, interestingly, Ward’s name has already been removed from the Western Bulldogs player list for season 2011 at afl.com.au.  In terms of SuperCoach scoring, Ward received a 20% discount on his 2011 start price due to having missed a large part of 2010 with injury.  That made him tasty prospect for those Supercoaches who were looking for some mid-priced value goodness.  Ward delivered on that prospect during the course of season 2011 too, lifting his SuperCoach average by 19 ppg for an overall 90 ppg.  The main trouble though was that his price rise was far too slow and steady for Supercoaches (like me) to make much (quick) money on him before upgrade season arrived.  His first 100+ score was in round 8, by which time many who had started him in the SuperCoach team had already moved him on.  To the frustration of many Supercoaches, Ward delivered another five 100+ scores during rounds 16 to 22.

THE BAD

Shaun Higgins ­– in raw SuperCoach average terms, Higgins actually improved 5 ppg between 2010 and 2011, finishing with an average of 83 ppg in season 2011.  But that average does not do justice to his talent and must overall be looked on as a bit of a disappointment.  Although Higgins only missed 4 games due to injury in 2011, Missy still went missing all too often for those Supercoaches who didn’t take the pre-season advice posted often enough on this site warning all and sundry to steer clear.

Adam Cooney – afflicted with a degenerative knee condition that restricted him to just 13 games during 2011, we sadly may never get to see Cooney in anything resembling his 2008 Brownlow-winning form.  Playing in pain most of weeks that he did cross the white line in anger, Cooney had minimal impact on the field of battle and his SuperCoach average tumbled from 99 ppg in 2010 to just 81 ppg in 2011.

Daniel Cross – the most effective player for the Bulldogs during 2010 (if measured by SuperCoach average), Cross delivered 18 ppg fewer during 2011.  Never known to be one to hurt the opposition much by foot, it is a sorry reflection on the Bulldogs’ 2011 season that Cross had the most kicks of any player on the list.  Some may see the inclusion of Cross in the ‘bad’ SuperCoach list as a harsh call, considering that he finished 2011 with the third highest SuperCoach average of any Bulldog.  But I think that any Supercoach who started Cross in 2011 and expected a premium return would not disagree with my assessment.

Jarrad Grant – was expected to have a bigger impact in 2011 than in 2010, but didn’t appear to have gained much body mass in the gym over the off-season and was pushed around all too often on field as a result.  Grant’s SuperCoach scoring declined from a promising 74 ppg in 2010 to a very poor 52 ppg in 2011 and he was dropped twice during the year for around a month in the magoos.  May have run out of chances and could be on a knife’s edge in the coming weeks as to whether he gets another crack under the new coach or becomes trade bait.

THE UGLY

Brian Lake – after surgery to just about every part of his body over the off-season, Lake had no preseason to speak of leading into 2011 and wasn’t sighted until round 3.  He clearly wasn’t right and should have waited much longer before attempting to play, managing only 5 games in a stuttering season that was over by the end of round 11.  A sorry slide from All-Australian full-back to also-ran within the space of 6 months, it was sad to see Lake all out of sorts and merciful that he was eventually moth-balled in attempt to look to the future and 2012.  A premium defender in 2010, Lake only managed an average of 59 ppg in 2011, a massive drop of 45 ppg.

Lindsay Gilbee – the wheel’s fell off pretty badly for Gilbee during season 2011.  After an interrupted preseason Gilbee missed the first two rounds and looked only a shadow of his former self when he did eventually get onto the park.  With the exception of a massive 153 SuperCoach points scored in round 8, Gilbee failed to crack 100+ during any other game in a year that saw him post seven scores below 65.  The last two sub-65 scores in rounds 17 and 18 out of only 13 games for the season saw him sent off to Williamstown where he was to finish out the year.  Between 2010 and 2011, Gilbee’s SuperCoach average dropped from 94 ppg to 74 ppg.

A VIEW TO NEXT YEAR

Ayce Cordy ­– finally managed to debut in 2011 as a tall defender after several frustrating seasons on the long-term injury list.   Didn’t look out of place in the backline and won’t be overpriced for SuperCoach 2012.

Christian Howard – a very nice user of the ball, looks to be a long-term prospect and worth the investment of an early draft pick.  Expect his starting price for 2012 to be a touch too expensive unfortunately for some, but will be a definite money-maker for Supercoaches who find a place for him in their starting team.  I for one will watch him get around for Williamstown in the VFL Grand Final this weekend and over the 2012 pre-season with interest.

Unfortunately, almost all of the remaining key young prospects on the Bulldogs list will all be awkwardly priced for season 2012 due to having debuted in 2011.  Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Liberatore, Mitch Wallis and Jason Tutt will all have a bigger impact on the field next year than they achieved in their debut year of 2011 - but probably none will be particularly relevant for SC.

Liam Jones - will apparently be a project player at the club and should get ample opportunities as a key forward in 2012 now that Barry Hall has retired.  But Jones looks to be light years away from becoming even potentially relevant in terms of SuperCoach scoring.

Jordan Roughead - will also get more games and game time and therefore SC-scoring opportunities next year, but is unlikely to have an attractive enough starting price to tempt most Supercoaches.

GOING, GOING...

Whilst official delistings haven’t yet been published, like at all clubs, there are some players on the 2011 list who might be in trouble in terms of maintaining a spot for next year.  Senior-listed players who might get the chop potentially include Dylan Addison, Brodie Moles, Josh Hill and Andrew Hooper.  Supercoaches probably won’t lose too much sleep though.

GONE.

Farewell and thank you for your years of good service to Rodney Eade, Barry Hall, Ben Hudson and Mitch Hahn.  Goodbye to Callan Ward.  I would have taken the stupid amount of money on offer too.