Top dog … Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade was guest speaker at Williamstown Football Club’s president’s luncheon on Saturday. 57081 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Michael Esposito
WHEN Rodney Eade agreed to be the guest speaker at the Williamstown Football Club president’s lunch on Saturday, he would surely have expected die-hard Bulldogs supporters to ask why his side was struggling.
Eade, gracefully and honestly, gave an in-depth answer to every question asked by fans, who were clearly frustrated with the Bulldog’s performance this season.
The main problem, according to Eade, was the lack of run out of the backline compared to last year.
Brian Lake and Lindsay Gilbee are out of form, Ryan Hargrave has been struck by injury and Jarad Harbrow is of course with Gold Coast. Add Adam Cooney and Barry Hall to the injury list, and you’re left with a young side who are lacking the polish to feed the forward line, and a forward line lacking the experience to perform consistently.
“Four or five of our best six (defenders) aren’t there, we’ve been struggling to get any run from our back six,” Eade said.
“I think our back six is doing well defensively but we haven’t got the running set-up that we had.”
Eade said he would continue to blood the team’s youngsters, after elevated rookie Luke Dahlhaus made his debut against St Kilda on Friday night.
“His last four or five weeks (for Williamstown) have been very exciting and I think it culminated in last night (Friday) so he’ll certainly play again next week,” Eade said of the zippy in-and-under 18-year-old.
Eade said number 74 draft pick Jayden Schofield was likely two play his first AFL game in the next two weeks, while the club also planned to play Jason Tutt, who was one of Williamstown’s best players against North Ballarat on Saturday, by season’s end.
The Bulldgos have already played eight debutantes this year. One of them is exciting goal-kicker Zephaniah Skinner, who Eade acknowledged has found the transition to AFL footy a challenge.
“He’s very laid-back as you can imagine coming from Fitzroy Crossing. I think the biggest issue for any player, let alone players who have come from the outback, is to cope with the constant grind of AFL footy and I think Zephy’s going through that at the moment.”
The Bulldogs let Skinner go to his remote hometown between Broome and Darwin to see his family. Eade said he was still learning about the family and tribal rituals Skinner was missing out on in Melbourne.
Fans could be forgiven for having doubts about Matthew Panos’ development, given he has not been promoted in his second year on the rookie list and is still fluctuating between the Williamstown senior and reserves sides. Eade said Panos remaining a Bulldogs rookie next year was a “worst case” scenario.
“He’s got some talent, he’s a beautiful kick. He doesn’t get a lot of the ball but obviously we need to do some work there so he can maximise his output.”
