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And that\u2019s exactly why now is the time to strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look at the Western Bulldogs and I know they can\u2019t win it,\u201d King told Fox Footy\u2019s First Crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t compete with the best when you\u2019ve got a significant issue behind the ball. This list is set up for half-court basketball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got an unbelievable midfield and they\u2019re going to be okay for three, four, five years. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo now is the time. It\u2019s a one man fix behind the ball but really it\u2019s a one man fix at this footy club. Sam Power now has to step up and get aggressive and get a key defender, a key interceptor or a playmaker off half-back that gives Luke Beveridge the chance to have all three components sorted, because right now his hands are tied.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers speak for themselves. Since round 15, the Bulldogs have been the number one attack in the competition, averaging a whopping 118 points per game. They\u2019re also ranked first in the league for forward 50 goal conversion, operating at 32.6 per cent.<\/p>\n
Is the writing on the wall for Petracca? | 04:01<\/p>\n
And they\u2019re only going to get better. Sam Darcy is one of the brightest talents in football at the moment and is just 22 years of age. Aaron Naughton is in ripping form, having kicked 24 goals in his last five games to rocket up the Coleman Medal leaderboard and he\u2019s only 25 years old. Rhylee West has developed into one of the game\u2019s best small forwards and is just 25, while Cody Weightman was another star on the rise but has had his 2025 season cruelled by injury.<\/p>\n
The midfield is also on fire. Since round 15, the Dogs rank second in the competition for clearances (+41) and fourth in the competition for points from clearance (+14).<\/p>\n
Their midfield group has been \u201cunbelievable\u201d according to King and the age demographic means they\u2019ll likely succeed for a long while yet.<\/p>\n
Are ‘alarm bells’ ringing for Pies? | 05:15<\/p>\n
According to Champion Data\u2019s AFL Player Ratings system, the Bulldogs have the best two players in the league in Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards. Tom Liberatore is 33 but is still a force to be reckoned with, while Tim English is a quality ruck. Joel Freijah and Ryley Sanders are young stars on the rise and then there\u2019s Adam Treloar, who admittedly is 32 years of age and has struggled with injury this season, but just last year was in All-Australian form. It\u2019s a \u201cstacked\u201d group.<\/p>\n
Which is why it\u2019s all the more important that the Dogs get \u201caggressive\u201d at the trade table.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut behind the ball, they\u2019re awful. They\u2019re not competitive in any way, shape or form. Lobb was a byproduct of they had to do something with him. Wasn\u2019t working up forward so he goes behind the ball,\u201d King continued. <\/p>\n
Against top eight sides, the Dogs are ranked 13th for denying opposition scores per entry.<\/p>\n
Freo survive Carlton scare in comeback | 02:23<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t compete in a finals series with that. It\u2019s an obvious weakness they\u2019ve had for years,\u201d King added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve really picked one or two players in the draft for the best part of five to six years for this area. It\u2019s been disrespectful and built a list that plays half court basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been plenty made about the Dogs\u2019 struggles against top eight sides this year. Defensively one-on-one, they\u2019ve been battling big time. They\u2019re ranked 13th in the competition for loss rate in the air and on the ground, while they\u2019re the second worst team in the league for getting outmarked. <\/p>\n
\u201cI say you can\u2019t win it this year, you just can\u2019t,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can critique Luke Beveridge as much as you like and you can talk about the midfield and the forwards as much as you like, they\u2019ve got their hands tied behind their back when they play the big boys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voss praises hot start despite loss | 07:28<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s time for Sam Power and the Bulldogs\u2019 list management team to get creative and make a bold trade play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a whole host of picks in the next three years untouched,\u201d King began. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m saying get aggressive. Who would you go and get? Could you go and get a Jack Buckley? Could you prize (Jake) Lever or (Callum) Wilkie or a (Jacob) Weitering or a (Jack) Payne? <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m talking about giving up two first round picks because right now – they\u2019ve won two flags in 100 years – this is the time to be aggressive. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t sit back and hope someone is drafted and develops nicely and slowly, the time is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herald Sun Chief Football Reporter Jay Clark also mentioned Essendon\u2019s Jordan Ridley, who has been unable to shake his injury issues and Richmond veteran Nick Vlastuin, who is in All-Australian contention this year, as other options. Adelaide\u2019s Jordon Butts could be another target too.<\/p>\n
Scott impressed with Cats demolition job | 09:33<\/p>\n
\u201cGo and find someone that\u2019s unhappy or not getting an opportunity, or just throw big dollars at one. They\u2019ve disrespected this position and it\u2019s hurting them large. I feel for the coach and they\u2019re going to have their time with the ball and they just bleed and leak so heavily,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSam Power, either get fair dinkum or get out of there. It\u2019s a full club thing winning a flag, they\u2019ve got to get aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t muck around with the small stuff, I don\u2019t want to hear of any C graders or D graders. They\u2019ve got to get a marquee.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said a player like retired West Coast veteran Jeremy McGovern would have been \u201cperfect\u201d several years ago and urged the Dogs to \u201cdo something like that to shake the tree\u201d.<\/p>\n
Saints hold off fast-finishing Roos | 03:31<\/p>\n
Luke Beveridge\u2019s side has recently been linked as a suitor for Port Adelaide star Zak Butters, but King believes the need for defensive strength outweighs the luxury of adding yet another star on-baller to the mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t need Zak Butters. If you said to me you\u2019ve got a choice between Lever or Wilkie or May, not so much May, May\u2019s a bit older and there\u2019s some other issues with May I think,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019re better off, if you get a Weitering, I prefer Weitering over Butters. This team needs a pillar behind the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Dogs to get serious as premiership contenders, they\u2019ve got to get aggressive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One glaring weakness means the Western Bulldogs won\u2019t win the flag in 2025, but there\u2019s a \u201cone man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[19060,36664,638,64,63,689,55,639,36656,35645,36660,12923,13665,36654,2458,1818,36662,36665,13213,667,13659,31756,36658,36666,5330,2524,19125,18007,3465,15651,36659,663,36663,3257,19105,36657,17985,677,36655,6082,36661,16684,12172,12105,1124,85,1122,19065,1140,660,698,23510],"class_list":["post-41674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-aaron-naughton","tag-adam-treloar","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-bold-trade-play","tag-centre-bounce-attendances","tag-chess-piece","tag-chris-scott","tag-club-history","tag-club-thing","tag-data","tag-david-king","tag-defensive-strength","tag-denying-opposition-scores","tag-finals-series","tag-footy-club","tag-geelong-cats","tag-gerard-healy","tag-glaring-weakness","tag-goal-conversion","tag-head-coach","tag-jack-buckley","tag-jay-clark","tag-jeremy-mcgovern","tag-leigh-montagna","tag-list-management-team","tag-loss-rate","tag-luke-beveridge","tag-man-fix","tag-michael-voss","tag-midfield-group","tag-midfield-mix","tag-nick-vlastuin","tag-oceania","tag-point-winners","tag-port-adelaide","tag-premiership-calculations","tag-premiership-contenders","tag-rhylee-west","tag-sam-darcy","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-tom-liberatore","tag-trade-table","tag-victoria","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-zak-butters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}