Much has been said of what the Western Bulldogs’ flag-winning 2016 defence lost through the retirements of Bob Murphy and Matthew Boyd, the trading of Joel Hamling and continued absence of Dale Morris, but it’s the other end of the ground that is coming up severely short at the moment.
The Dogs failed to score a goal in the second half of last Friday’s game against Collingwood, just one week after scoring two goals for the entire match against Adelaide.
It’s not a good look for a side that was the reigning premier and sitting in fourth spot after round 10 just 12 months ago, with Friday’s effort described as “deplorable” by former Essendon great Tim Watson.
“Their inability to score a goal in the second half is deplorable,” Watson said on SEN Breakfast on Monday morning.
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“(The Bulldogs’ forward line) has been a work in progress for two years and they just don’t seem to be getting any closer to a solution.”
The Dogs’ 2016 Grand Final forward six read as Jake Stringer, Tom Boyd, Josh Dunkley, Clay Smith, Tory Dickson and Zaine Cordy.
Stringer was the X-factor but has been traded to Essendon.
Boyd was the match-winner who has failed to rise above adequate in the past 18 months.
Injury and poor form has kept Smith out since early last year.
Cordy has been re-tooled as a defender, a move that’s going reasonably well.
Dunkley seems to have upset the wrong people and, despite being in form similar to 2016, was dropped after round nine and is running around in the VFL side.
And Dickson, who just returned from injury for his fourth game of the year, is posting his lowest numbers since before the premiership win.
On top of that the Bulldogs' stand-by key forward in 2016, Stewart Crameri, is playing at Geelong, and the roll of the dice the Dogs took with Travis Cloke in 2017 amounted to nothing.
Josh Schache is the latest attempt to find a goal-scoring target, but the number-two draft pick’s nine-disposal, two-mark and one-goal game didn’t scream success, or suggest it is just around the corner.
His first goal in the red, white and blue!
— AFL (@AFL) May 25, 2018
Josh Schache is on the board for his new club. #AFLPiesDogs pic.twitter.com/kzEqbyLm1e
“Tom Boyd and Josh Schache – there was no presence at all,” Watson’s co-host Garry Lyon said, while cutting the former Lion some slack in his Dogs debut.
“In the first quarter they kicked five unanswered goals, they moved the ball quickly, they put the Collingwood defence on the back foot and you thought ‘this is good, they’ve got a plan’ – (but) it just dried up.”
The Bulldogs will want to find some goal-scoring answers quickly as they face the red-hot Melbourne this Saturday afternoon with the Demons coming off wins of 91 and 109 points in the past two rounds.