Flashback: Inside the Western Bulldogs in 2008

As the Western Bulldogs prepare for the first game of 2008, veteran Scott West pumps some iron. Photo: WAYNE TAYLOR

FIRST PUBLISHED IN “THE AGE” IN 2008

MONDAY

Pre-season for the Western Bulldogs began earlier than for any other AFL club, all the way back to October 15.

There’s been plenty of gut-busting fitness work, hour upon hour of skills, drills and lectures.

But now the point of it all is within touching distance, the first game of the new season just six days away, against Adelaide, and you can see the real spring in the step of the Bulldogs’ senior list as it drifts into Whitten Oval from 8am to prepare for a 10am training session.

There’s the eager kids, highly-rated draftees Jarrad Grant and Callan Ward, and Josh Hill, who has played one game for the Bulldogs but, after a sparkling pre-season, is a real chance to earn his second this weekend.

There’s former Adelaide pair Ben Hudson and Scott Welsh, who are ready to make their debuts for their new club, and whose inside knowledge of their old teammates is going to come in particularly handy this week.

But the old stagers, like skipper Brad Johnson – set to play his 300th game tomorrow – Scott West and Jason Akermanis look no less toey.

The reason for it all is at hand.

Perhaps, too, it’s because as the club’s new training and administrative headquarters come nearer to completion, the players can finally shower and change in their new facility and get the hell out of the dilapidated old visitors’ rooms in the John Gent stand that they’ve been forced to use for months.

There’s still some practical hurdles to jump, however, none the least the lights hanging down from the indoor training-area roof, which are yet to be covered by protective netting and are at the mercy of any errant kick.

That and the raging heat.

It’s pushing 40 degrees outside already, and inside, with the air conditioning still a couple of weeks away, it’s like a sauna.

The pre-session warm-up is almost redundant, but when it’s done, senior coach Rodney Eade launches straight into an important focus area for tomorrow.

The coach doesn’t usually jump in so quickly, notes one seasoned observer.
He’s fired up, too.

The session itself is spirited despite the heat, a 10-minute warm-up with the balls, a kicking drill, some full-on match practice, two different handball drills, one involving ground balls, the other tackling, before finishing off with some goalkicking on the run.

Assistant coaches Leon Cameron (stoppages), Wayne Campbell (forwards), Peter Dean (defence), John Barnes (rucks) and Brad Gotch and Simon Dalrymple (development) are all heavily involved, liaising closely with fitness head Cameron Falloon.

It wraps up after an hour or so, but then it’s straight into a meeting room for a short video lecture on the Crows, done by highlighting several passages from Adelaide’s NAB Cup grand final against St Kilda.

That’s it for now for most of the list, who’ll be back a little later on in the afternoon for a weights session, some for physio.

The rubdown tables become a sanctuary and counselling service of sorts for the players as physios Simon Macaulay, Sue Cautley and Sam Rosengarten do their stuff.

Club doctor Gary Zimmerman laps up the latest tales of love and loss and offers some world-weary advice.

“It’s all right for you, you’re a porn star,” a player tells the moustachioed doc. And there is, it has to be said, a resemblance to adult film actor Ron Jeremy. Facial resemblance, that is.

There’s no respite for the leadership group, though. Skipper Brad Johnson and Daniel Cross have other commitments, but Scott West, Robert Murphy, Daniel Giansiracusa, Matthew Boyd and Dale Morris have been summoned to a match committee meeting for the first time.

“We just want to talk to you about the way we’re thinking,” Eade tells the group assembled along with Cameron, Campbell and Dean, before running through the basic philosophy being adopted for the all-important first game and the questions being considered.

A second ruckman to support Hudson or an extra runner? Young Dylan Addison or Stephen Tiller? A possible late inclusion depending on who the Crows fly over from Adelaide?

The relative fitness levels and injury situations of both the Dogs and their opponent are spelt out. The importance of Adelaide’s champion Andrew McLeod restated. The Crows’ style analysed again.

The senior group is comfortable throwing its two bobs’ worth in, with seven-time best and fairest West looking well and truly at home sitting in Eade’s regular seat, his feet swung up on the desk. “I was just taking him off,” West laughs, later on.

“It gives you a really good understanding of how they’re thinking,” he continues. “They don’t have to justify to anyone who they pick and why, but I think it’s great that they’re open enough and can trust us enough to talk about why someone might be getting a game or not.”

TUESDAY

It’s a day off for the players, sort of, a number continuing to file in for physio, massage, one-on-one sessions or just a chat with their particular line coach.

For the coaches, this morning is probably the big session of the week, with a lengthy match committee meeting to thrash out just how to handle Adelaide, and just who will be doing the handling.

Eade, Cameron, Campbell, Dean and new football manager James Fantasia, another ex-Adelaide pick-up, cram into Eade’s office around a whiteboard, which has the Crows’ players already up there in their expected positions. Campbell places the most likely Bulldogs’ match-ups for them.

Eade has already had several extensive briefings from Falloon about who is definitely unavailable, who might make it, and who is a touch underdone. He sums it up for the group.

There’s a debate how many ruckmen to take into the game. Hudson is the No. 1 man, Peter Street is potential support. Cameron notes that in St Kilda’s NAB Cup grand final victory over the Crows, the Saints were well beaten for hitouts yet still managed to win the clearance count.

The discussion moves to the all-important midfield. The assistants are asked for their engine room match-ups, and a consensus emerges. Forward coach Campbell argues a convincing case for one of his key forwards to remain in attack rather than be played elsewhere.

“Is there any chance of you leaving any of my forwards alone?” Campbell jokes to Cameron. “We have a forwards meeting and it’s just me and Will (Minson)!”

The team for the first game is all but settled. Exciting young pair Tom Williams and Andrejs Everitt are injured and out. So is Farren Ray. But Daniel Giansiracusa and Lindsay Gilbee have both got through their VFL hitout last weekend and will play.

Hudson will handle the bulk of the ruckwork, with support from manufactured key forward Will Minson. Hill will play his second AFL game. There’s only one spot up for grabs, between Addison and Tiller.

The focus moves to Adelaide. The Crows’ pattern of play. Their intent to kick higher scores and move the ball quicker. Adelaide dangermen Simon Goodwin and Andrew McLeod are discussed in depth and contingency plans are made for their shifts to various positions.

That’s the game taken care of. Now there’s some housekeeping. Fantasia hands out a guide to assess the quality of AFL lists, from category one players through to category five. The coaches will do the Bulldogs. He and recruiting manager Scott Clayton will take care of the other clubs.

It’s a big task and makes for plenty of paperwork. The coaching panel already has to wade through exam papers that the players completed last week. The paper consisted of 36 questions covering game plan, options and terminology.

With the match committee meeting over, it’s time for the really big one; the football department troops into another meeting room for a lesson on how to use the new phone system. Campbell is less than enthused. “Don’t you just dial zero before the number?”

It’s still bloody hot, and everyone begins to sweat as the intricacies of transferring, forwarding, conferencing, station speed dial and voicemail are absorbed. A door is opened for some air. Unfortunately, there’s a hydraulic crane right outside installing the netting. The crane beeps loudly when it goes up or down.

As the voicemail instructions are issued, Eade’s eyes glaze over. “What if I just want to make a call?”

Finally, phone school’s out. Now the Dogs get ready for tonight’s function for players and partners in the new rooms. Guests will be shown around, and shown a visual summary of the players’ pre-season that has been prepared by video man Paul Newport, accompanied by music. “For Reasons Unknown” by American band The Killers has been proudly chosen by Campbell.

As the Bulldogs started training so early, there’s a lot of ground to cover. Figures are superimposed on the footage of kilometres run, punches thrown and weights lifted.

There’s comedy, too. Lindsay Gilbee is left very flat-footed in a reflex contest with Nathan Eagleton. Youngster Josh Hill leaves himself far too open in a spar with boxing coach Tim Smith and is duly bopped on the nose.

A huge laugh erupts right next to me as that piece of footage is screened. It’s Hill. “He got me a beauty,” he chuckles.

WEDNESDAY

Today is a particularly early start for Eade. He and Campbell are required to be at Telstra Dome by 7am for a coach’s breakfast sponsored by Worksafe.

The players start arriving from 9am for this morning’s 11am training session. There’s to be a bit of match practice, but the focus today is on kick-ins and zones. Set-plays from the kick-in are rehearsed over and over.

Players repeat the task of standing in those all-important holes to stop the opposition launching an easy attack from a stoppage. Then they break up into groups for line work. Forwards work with Campbell, midfielders with Cameron, defenders with Dean.

A tick after midday, as the list drifts off the track, Eade and imminent 300-gamer Johnson conduct a press conference outside the rooms. Then the squad for Sunday’s game and the coaching panel cram into a meeting room for a thorough briefing.

Opposition analyst Nick Austin kicks things off as the video and big screen are cranked up again. There’s a rundown on Adelaide’s strengths and weaknesses. The Crows’ talent for stoppages and fast starts is duly noted.

A series of edits from Adelaide’s NAB Cup games against Hawthorn and St Kilda is shown and key focus areas are reinforced.

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Cameron talks the Bulldog players through the stoppage strategies and those Crows who deserve close attention. Some St Kilda kick-ins from the NAB Cup grand final are run, and Dean chimes in with some advice about the patience required for the set plays to work.

Bullet points on the whiteboard are summarised. Then Eade calls the rest of the senior list to join the throng. He has a copy of a video played at last week’s AFL season launch. He’s been raving about and he hopes it will have a similar impact on his players.

“It really hit home why we play football,” he tells the group. “You can take your money, you can take your All-Australian stuff … this is what it’s about.”

Austin hits the “play” button. It’s an eight-minute diary about grand final day last year. As a rousing classical music score booms out, the story unfolds.

Expectant supporters waiting for the moment of truth. Nervous Geelong and Port Adelaide players getting ready in the rooms. The first bounce. The big plays. The bone-jarring bumps. The emotion of the Cats as the final siren sounds and their 44-year premiership drought is broken.

But the biggest impact comes with the shots taken hours after the finish. Geelong’s bus is waiting to take the Cats to a post-game function, but the players stop, walk back up the race and lean on the boundary fence, absorbing what they have just achieved.

Joel Corey sums up those quiet moments in the dark at the MCG beautifully. “It’s not often in life you get to a point where you’re truly peaceful. To actually share a point in time like that (with his teammates) was unbelievable. Just walking back down the race on to the bus, I knew we were forever linked to each other.”

It’s gripping and moving stuff, and Dean, who knew that premiership moment as a defender with Carlton in 1995, admits to more than a little emotion.

You can hear a pin drop, and Eade says nothing more. He opens the door for the group to file out. “Right, guys.”

A short time later, veteran West, he of seven best and fairests, 320 games, but still no premiership, sits quietly on a bench in the weights area, gazing into space.

Bit pensive, Westy? “Just taking it all in,” he says. It’s fair to say the video has had an impact.

THURSDAY

Today the players will break up into groups with their respective line coaches for specialised skill work.

Cameron’s group works on decision-making. Gotch and midfield general West oversee some ground ball drills. Dean works with his men on body work and spoiling. Skipper Johnson takes a group for marking practice, Campbell has half-a-dozen players working on quick hands, and Dalrymple takes the kids through kicking exercises.

Bio-mechanist Kevin Ball is in to give his academic bent on players’ kicking actions and styles, and there’s a machine being set-up to monitor the efficiency and accuracy of that simple swing of a leg on to leather.

Gotch, who will also coach the Bulldogs’ new VFL affiliate Williamstown, and Dalrymple go about their work with the Bulldogs’ development group, a squad of 18 players in their first, second or third years in the AFL.

And in their new training home, soon the Bulldogs will be able to set up a drill in which a pre-recorded video, shot from centre half-forward and projected against a wall, shows several different versions of forwards and defenders making position for a pass into goal.

The player with the ball will be asked to pick the right option and deliver accordingly.
All very high-tech, and a far cry from what this club has known. “You grin and bear it,” says West of the temporary digs under the old stand, “but I can tell you the players were starting to get a bit narky about it. It’s great to be able to get in here and have a bit of swinging room.”

Team manager Mark Kimpton, or “Klippo” as he is known, can testify to the state of the old digs. He was head trainer when the Doggies went on a road trip to Perth, and he and his colleagues decided to do something about the John Gent stand’s rat problem.

“We exploded a few of those really powerful rat bait bombs before we left,” he recalls. “We came in early on the Monday to clean up, we opened up, and there were dead rats, sprawled everywhere, lying on their backs with their feet in the air, some as big as bloody cats. It was like the killing fields!”

Ben Hudson wouldn’t have known about stuff like that playing for the resource-rich Adelaide, but the boy from Werribee is grateful to be back on home turf, playing his first game for his new club against their old one. Welsh will also play his first game for his new club against the old one.

Hudson’s brain has been picked for information on the Crows. “If you gave me a list, I’d be able to point out their positives and negatives … I don’t know if they’d all be about footy, though,” he laughs.

“There’s certainly a bit of added incentive to perform well. You know once you’re traded that you’re going to have to face up to them one day or other, and I suppose it’s good to have it first up, so you’re not looking at the calendar thinking. ‘When do we play them?’ You could say it’s like every other game, but you’d be lying.”

There’s another recruit of sorts, too — Jason Akermanis. Last year’s debut season with the Bulldogs wasn’t a gem, but he’s had a big pre-season, and that Aka swagger has returned.

“I’m actually running properly for the first time in two years,” he says. “Once you get to a really fit level, the body’s right, and you know you can do all those things you’ve been able to do, within reason it should be only a matter of time before you start playing the footy you knew you could.

“I’ve always thought maybe next year would be my last one, but suddenly I don’t feel like that at all now my confidence is back.”

FRIDAY

Just over 48 hours until D-Day, and you can tell the game is close the second the players hit the training track at 10am. The intensity is high, the movement of the ball is quicker and cleaner. Voices call much, much louder.

Theories on training change frequently, and this year the Bulldogs have a new strategy: to have their biggest session two days out from game day. What’s the point in doing the bulk of the work early in the week when players are still feeling the bumps and bruises from their last hit-out and can’t extend themselves fully?

While there might be some risk during match practice work, at least everyone’s up and going when it counts.

The last spot in the team has been decided, by natural attrition as it turns out. Tiller has come down with a nasty bout of food poisoning, and is on a drip. Addison gets the nod.

After about an hour-and-a-half, the session ends and an impromptu reunion begins as the players leave the track to be greeted by retired club legends Chris Grant and Rohan Smith.

The 300-game pair are here to pay their respects to the exclusive club’s latest inductee Johnson, and both look like they could put on their gear and step straight back into the action.

As players warm down inside, a quick Easter raffle is held, then it’s into the meeting room for a quick recap on plans for Sunday.

Campbell starts it off by reminding his forward group of their responsibilities and zones for Adelaide’s kick-ins. Dean reminds the defenders of the kick-out plays. Cameron throws up the “what ifs?”

Eade takes over and restates the plans for the Crows’ key men. Mitch Hahn gets some words of encouragement, while Ryan Hargrave is reminded that “we need a big game from you, Shaggy”.

“We’ve got to run hard,” says the coach. “If you’re stuffed, come off. The bench has got to be mindful of that.”

Attention then shifts to Johnson. Eade reminds the team that the milestone shouldn’t be what’s required to motivate them, but points to the words written on the whiteboard. They read: “Work ethic, courage, focus, consistency, desire”.

“Those things really embody his career,” says the coach. “If ever a guy embodied what we to stand for, it’s Brad Johnson.”

Grant, Johnson’s predecessor as captain, then addresses the group. To reach such a landmark, he says, isn’t just about skill and talent, but the effort to keep fronting up, to structure not just your football but your lifestyle around the needs of the team.

He lauds his former teammate’s willingness to continue to learn, and to listen to teammates, no matter how junior. Grant then recalls his own 300th game, coincidentally also against Adelaide.

It’s a favourite memory, he says, mainly because the Bulldogs won that Saturday evening. That helps him recall the detail, the come-from-behind victory over the Crows, with Dale Morris, now a team leader, making his senior debut. Grant wants his teammate of 14 seasons to be able have a similarly crystal clear recollection of his big day.

The lights are dimmed, and a video package of Johnson’s best is played, set to Elton John’s “Your Song”. The images begin back in 1994, but come 2007, the look is just the same. The passion, the pumping of fists, hugging of teammates, and that trademark beaming smile.

The players file out, and start heading home for what remains of the Good Friday holiday. They’ll each do their own short warm-ups in private tomorrow, then it’s just a matter of sitting and waiting for Sunday’s 1.10pm start.

The mood is buoyant, positive, but — most notably — determined. Six months of hard work is about to be put to the test, and the Doggies can’t wait. “It’s not about a sense of atonement, making up for last year,” Eade says. “It’s more about just getting back to where we think we should be.”

Which in this tight-knit club is somewhere considerably higher than the bulk of a sceptical football world believes. The Bulldogs are ready, not for the first time, to prove more than a few wrong.

TOMORROW: We spend the first game of the Western Bulldogs’ 2008 campaign inside the coaches’ box.