By Andrew Slevison
The Western Bulldogs have endured somewhat of a bumpy off-season.
It started in the trade period when the likes of Bailey Smith, Jack Macrae and Caleb Daniel departed for rival clubs.
It continued recently when the club released a statement relating to former No.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who is on a flexible training arrangement so he can deal with personal issues.
It was further compounded when All-Australian ruckman Tim English sustained an abdominal injury at training last week.
Throw in Adam Treloar’s calf concern and Aaron Naughton’s recent calf injury and illness and preparations for the 2025 have not been as smooth as they’d have hoped for.
Given all of that, Kane Cornes is fascinated by the Bulldogs and what they can or can’t achieve under Luke Beveridge this year.
He feels the Dogs present as a very curious case.
“The Bulldogs are a fascinating one,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“What’s the range of where they can finish? They can finish anywhere from top four to bottom four or six.
“The range of the Dogs is the biggest of any team. The best-case scenario is they probably play off in a Grand Final. What’s the worst case? Well, they could finish bottom six.”
Co-host Sam Edmund added: “It’s the most competitive AFL era we’ve seen.
“That sort of statement could be made about all but a couple of clubs.
“If all manner of things go wrong, and let’s hope this doesn’t happen, but if ‘The Bont’ (Marcus Bontempelli) gets injured and Tim English has a rough year and if ‘Libba’ (Tom Liberatore) is maybe past his prime and a few other things go wrong it can unravel quickly, like we saw with Melbourne last year.”
Cornes suggests there should be some cause for concern due to the current situation surrounding some of the club’s key players.
He also questioned English’s expected ascent which fell away last year after an interrupted pre-season following his All-Australian season in 2023.
“You’d be worried a little bit because Jamarra is probably not going to play for the first month best case,” Cornes added.
“I’m hearing interesting things about Naughton and how much or how little he has done throughout the pre-season.
“Treloar has warning signs with his soft tissue every year and he’s getting past 30 now as well, so that’s not going to get better.
“You lose some depth with Macrae and Daniel. Then with Tim English, does that mean Rory Lobb rucks? Then what does that do to the back six and key position defenders?
“It hasn’t been a smooth summer by the looks. They’re an interesting test case.
“Tim English is just not going to be the player that he was probably looking like he was going to be two or three seasons ago when he was going to be a top two or three, or if not the best ruckman in the competition.
“That’s just not going to happen now with Tim and the way that he plays.”
The Dogs will hold an intra-club match simulation in Maroochydore this Sunday as part of their pre-season camp in Queensland.
They will then meet Essendon in a practice match at Whitten Oval on February 15 before taking on Hawthorn in the AAMI Community Series at UTAS Stadium on February 27.
Their 2025 campaign kicks off against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium in Round 1 on March 15.
Crafted by Project Diamond