One, Bonty needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine. Two, whenever Bonty's not on field, all the commentators should be asking "Where's Bonty"? Three-- The Western Bulldogs 2020 Season Preview

2019 In Review

7th place,12-10 107%

It was a bit of a story of 2 halves. The Bulldogs entered the bye round with a record of 4 wins 7 losses. Coaching experimentation, inconsistency, getting absolutely torched on turnovers. A solid midfield but not much working up forward or down back. Despite a few good wins against solid teams numerous losses to teams who would be eventual non-top 8 sides set the tone and it was looking like being a long season.

After the break we ran out the season 8-3 and the notoriously dysfunctional Dogs forward line finished the Home and Away as the third most prolific for the season. The hype was building, but ultimately ran out of steam with a very poor showing against GWS in finals where they essentially reversed the beating we'd given them late in the season ending our run.

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Leadership and List Changes

Captaincy handed over from Easton Wood to Marcus Bontempelli Lachie Hunter fills now vacant V/C role Wood is retained in the leadership group the leadership group along with Mitch Wallis, Jason Johannisen and newly elevated Josh Dunkley.

Delistings - Fletcher Roberts, Lukas Webb

Retirements - Liam Picken, Tom Boyd, Dale Morris

Incoming Trades: Alex Keath, Josh Bruce

Outgoing Trades: None

Drafted: Cody Weightman (small forward), Louis Butler (halfback), Riley Garcia (midfielder)

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Players on notice for season 2020

Mixed responses from the Bulldogs faithful on this but some predictable players featured. I'll attempt to summarise.

• Jackson Trengove - is one of the heavily featured guys. Lost his spot late in the season with the two Youngs breathing down his neck and the recruitment of Keath further damages his chances of featuring heavily this year.

• Billy Gowers - is in a similar situation. Bailey Dale's impressive end to the year along with the recruitment of Weightman and guys like West waiting in the wings don't bode well for him.

• Toby Mclean - Clearly talented, sometimes great, sometimes missing. A combination of him perhaops being misused and being slow to adapt to our new forward structure has raised some questions and form issues. It wouldn't be that surprising to see him become trade bait, but he's also talented enough to become an integral part of the side and I think every Dogs fan is hoping for the latter as he's also a much loved player with fans.

• Roarke Smith - Given one year contract and was lucky to get it. Really needs to prove himself because right now, it's unclear what his best position is, and he doesn't seem to be particularly good anywhere.

• Callum Porter - signed a one-year contract extension at the end of last season following a string of impressive VFL games. He has not come close to an AFL debut in his career to date and will be required to continue his improvement from late last season

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• Brad Lynch - Didn't even feature in 2019 after showing promise at the end of 2018. No idea what's happened with him, but he needs to show something soon or he'll be gone.

• Last player worthy of a mention is Lin Jong. His mental health struggles have been made very public and his ongoing injury history doesn't help. I don't like to think of him as being "on-notice" but after his most recent injury his future in the game is very much an unknown and I think pretty sad for most fans of the game and not just fans of our club.

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2020 Playing List

No	Name	Games	Age	Date of Birth	Height	Weight	Origin	Position
4	Bontempelli, Marcus	127	24yr 2mth	24 Nov 1995	193cm	93kg	Northern Knights	Midfield
17	Bruce, Josh	113	27yr 8mth	8 Jun 1992	197cm	101kg	Canberra	Forward
18	Butler, Louis	0	18yr 5mth	26 Aug 2001	184cm	75kg	Sandringham Dragons	Def/Mid
25	Cavarra, Ben	0	24yr 2mth	20 Dec 1995	173cm		72kg	Williamstown
12	Cordy, Zaine	71	23yr 3mth	27 Oct 1996	193cm	90kg	Geelong Falcons	Defender
9	Crozier, Hayden	108	26yr 1mth	24 Dec 1993	185cm	79kg	Eastern Ranges	Defender
31	Dale, Bailey	50	23yr 6mth	35268	183cm	82kg	Dandenong Stingrays	Forward
35	Daniel, Caleb	91	23yr 7mth	35253	168cm	72kg	South Adelaide	Defender
29	Dickson, Tory	113	32yr 4mth	32046	184cm	85kg	Bendigo Bombers	Forward
5	Dunkley, Josh	66	23yr 1mth	35439	190cm	88kg	Gippsland Power	Midfield
15	Duryea, Taylor	132	28yr 9mth	33352	179cm	80kg	Murray Bushrangers	Defender
44	English, Timothy	29	22yr 6mth	35652	205cm	93kg	South Fremantle	Ruck
38	Garcia, Riley	0	19yr	36921	177cm	70kg	Swan Districts	Midfield
43	Gardner, Ryan R	2	22yr 8mth	35582	197cm	93kg	Burnie Dockers	Forward
26	Gowers, Billy	30	23yr 8mth	35226	187cm	87kg	Oakleigh Chargers	Forward
30	Greene, Fergus	5	22yr 2mth	35784	187cm	75kg	Bendigo Pioneers	Forward
32	Hayes, Will	9	24yr 8mth	34855	181cm	77kg	Footscray Vfl	Midfield
7	Hunter, Lachlan	128	25yr 2mth	34681	183cm	82kg	Western Jets	Midfield
39	Johannisen, Jason	126	27yr 3mth	33916	180cm	82kg	East Fremantle	Defender
46	Jong, Lin	61	26yr 8mth	34124	188cm	87kg	Oakleigh Chargers	Midfield
42	Keath, Alex	30	28yr 1mth	33623	197cm	93kg	Murray Bushrangers	Defender
24	Khamis, Buku	0	19yr 10mth	36609	189cm	82kg	Western Jets	Defender
21	Liberatore, Thomas	132	27yr 9mth	33740	183cm	83kg	Calder Cannons	Midfield
27	Lipinski, Patrick	32	21yr 7mth	35993	187cm	84kg	Northern Knights	Mid/Fwd
22	Lloyd, Sam	80	29yr 11mth	32935	180cm	81kg	Frankston	Forward
36	Lynch, Bradley	9	22yr 7mth	35622	187cm	79kg	Swan Districts	Defender
11	Macrae, Jackson	141	25yr 6mth	34549	191cm	85kg	Oakleigh Chargers	Midfield
16	McLean, Toby	79	24yr	35095	180cm	79kg	Oakleigh Chargers	Forward
33	Naughton, Aaron	41	20yr 2mth	36494	195cm	89kg	Peel Thunder	Forward
28	Porter, Callum	0	20yr 11mth	36213	182cm	76kg	Gippsland Power	Midfield
20	Richards, Ed	41	20yr 7mth	36344	185cm	79kg	Oakleigh Chargers	Mid/Fwd
13	Schache, Josh	54	22yr 6mth	35663	199cm	94kg	Murray Bushrangers	Forward
6	Smith, Bailey	23	19yr 2mth	36867	185cm	80kg	Sandringham Dragons	Mid.Fwd
37	Smith, Roarke	17	23yr 5mth	35319	181cm	81kg	Calder Cannons	Mid/Fwd
1	Suckling, Matthew	171	31yr 6mth	32349	187cm	85kg	Wagga Tigers	Defender
41	Sweet, Jordon	0	22yr	35828	203cm	106kg	North Adelaide	Ruck
8	Trengove, Jackson	185	29yr 3mth	33179	197cm	97kg	Calder Cannons	Defender
23	Vandermeer, Laitham	0	21yr	36194	180cm	77kg	Murray Bushrangers	Mid/Fwd
3	Wallis, Mitchell	133	27yr 3mth	33901	186cm	85kg	Calder Cannons	Mid.Fwd
19	Weightman, Cody	0	19yr 1mth	36906	177cm	73kg	Dandenong Stingrays	Forward
14	West, Rhylee	3	19yr 7mth	36719	181cm	82kg	Calder Cannons	Forward
34	Williams, Bailey	41	22yr 4mth	35713	187cm	85kg	Glenelg	Defender
10	Wood, Easton	160	30yr 5mth	32755	187cm	86kg	Camperdown	Defender
40	Young, Lachie	6	20yr 10mth	36256	189cm	81kg	Mt Eliza Football Netball Club	Defender
2	Young, Lewis	14	21yr 2mth	36149	197cm	96kg	Sturt	Defender

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Expectations for 2020 season

Across the board, expectations seem to be at a minimum to make finals. Hopefully to improve and challenge for the 4 and win a final. To slip out of the eight will be seen as a failure. Becoming a top 4 side is easier said than done as it requires consistency which is our Achilles heel. If a few things don't go right slipping out of the eight is a very easy feat to achieve. Overall the outlook seems to be optimistic at this stage.

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Players to lookout for in 2020

Bailey Smith. Severely underrated what he did as a first year last year and will receive no attention from opposition as a 5th option through the midfield. -u/Rjton4

Bailey dale. Played only 10 matches last year but slotted away 21 majors. Showed himself to be a prolific small forward, who if he continues his late season form will be a man to watch out for. Keen to see what he can do with himself - u/somebodyandnobody

Tim English is probably one of the obvious ones. Reportedly burning up the training track and has put on some more weight. English improving along with perhaps someone becoming a lock for the wing opposite Hunter are the missing pieces of the midfield puzzle . - u/parlot

*Other worthy of mention are Lipinski, Ed Richards , Schache, Lewis Young and Lachie Young. Lewis Young filled in up forward in Marsh Series 1 and managed to slot 3 goals. Could become an option for a genuine swingman in the side.

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Best 22 for 2020

Position	Player	Player	Player
FB	Wood	Keath	Daniel
HB	Crozier	Cordy	Johannisen
C	Smith	Bontempelli	Hunter
HF	Lipinski	Naughton	Lloyd
FF	Schache	Bruce	Dale
R	English	Macrae	Dunkley
I/C	Wallis	Mclean	Suckling
Duryea

With list changes this year the 22 is very subjective and trying to step inside the mind of Bevo is like descnding into madness.

A host of other players could just as easily be swapped in at this stage onfield and I/C. Libba, Duryea, Ed Richards, Lewis Young etc. If one measure of list health is how good the fringe of your 22 is, then we're in a pretty good spot at the moment.

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Concerns for the coming season

Consistency, Tim English' development, defensive depth and structure are all common themes. The health of Aaron Naughton is of course a more recent development and still too early to know what is happening in that space.

At our best, we can beat any team in the comp. There's no question about that, but we need to start showing consistency. -u/Sioreth

Will English step up or is he still another year away? How are we gonna fit all these amazing midfielders into the one team? Bevos shortman syndrome strikes again! u/RoamingBenjamin

Defensive structure - Not sure if Keath is replacing a medium to make us taller or replacing a tall. If he's replacing a medium to we lose too much of our run which is key to our play? If he's replacing a tall can he be accountable on key forwards seeing as he didn't spend a lot of time on them at Adelaide? And who does he play with out of Cordy, Trengove and Lewis Young who all deserve a spot? Then we have our many half-backs that we'll want to fit in as well. u/Nixion_Strange

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Closing Comments

The reddit game prediction threads have spoken. You should all be very afraid, or maybe we should be

Thanks to all the contributors over in the dogs sub