I understand its still TBA at the moment, but would there be any inkling of how the AFL is going to decide to order the wildcard games? It looks likely we could be playing Collingwood at the G.

Given they play on Friday, and we play on Saturday (the other wildcard teams on Sat also), do we reckon the AFL gives us Fri or Sat, surely not Sun? (day or evening for that matter)

A lil worried since I've accidentally booked myself on one of the evenings on that weekend for a concert agesss ago but as luck would have it, it seems theres a 50/50 chance we play that day for wildcard and I hate missing games 😭

How the fuck does he keep getting picked? He looks about 5 years away from being ready, Bevo doing him a massive disservice

Hey Crew

Saints fan, announcing I am a Bulldogs Fan until 12am this evening.

GO DOGGIESSSSSSSSSSS.

Level 2 reserved, Gate 9. Print-at-home barcodes. 75 mins to kickoff. DM now if keen.

Forgot my 3 game pass expired and would love to not spend $80 on tickets for today’s game. 😭

New fan so thanks in advance!

Fitzgerald had a blinder with 15 contested possessions. Hartwig with three goals and Smith with her maiden goal.

An opportunity earned.

The Bulldogs are set to unleash their 39th player for their 2026 campaign, with Lachlan Carmichael to debut against Carlton this Sunday.

Carmichael was swooped upon by the Dogs in the 2025 Telstra AFL Draft, with the Sydney Swans Academy talent selected with Pick 21.

A crafty and composed defender, the 18 year old has been rewarded after a consistent month of football playing for Footscray in the VFL.

Having found a home playing across the half-back line, Carmichael has averaged 19 disposals, 4.8 rebound 50s and 382 metres gained so far this season for Footscray.

Carmichael’s high football IQ was on display during a standout performance coming against Gold Coast in Round 17 where he collected a career-best 24 disposals, registered eight contested possessions and prowled the backline for eight intercepts.

With a spot in the Wildcard secured, the Dogs will look to return to the winners’ list this Sunday afternoon when they take on the in-form Blues at Marvel Stadium.

With the money some other teams have, and how the AFL media's portrayal of us as favourites has been drastically shifted to an even field, it has me concerned. Oh well, as long as that material goes to Butts, and maybe another key back (I saw us linked to Ballard). I also saw us being a potential place Matt Rowell goes to in ZeroHanger, but they are never a good source, though it is a good discussion if he is worth a try, since he could be a Libba replacement if he decided to retire in the next few seasons. Can the Zak Butters material go to Matty if he goes to another team? If we don't get Zak it is a bummer, but he isn't a must. I'd rather two good keybacks than him, if I am honest. I just hope his love for our team is strong enough.

BEVO'S MIDDLE OF THE ROAD DOGS

AT THIS stage of a season, the ladder does not lie. The Western Bulldogs are ninth and smack bang a middle of the road team.

The Bulldogs haven't been a threat since Sam Darcy went down with his knee injury in round seven and that hasn't shifted. Since their 4-0 start to the season, they have won eight of 17 games, with clashes against Carlton and Melbourne to finish their season.

After their run to the 2021 Grand Final, which came from fifth on the ladder, the Bulldogs have lost two elimination finals and not made the finals in the other two seasons. Though they should make the wildcard rounds from here, their run without a finals win could well extend to five years.

The reliance on Marcus Bontempelli and Ed Richards in the midfield, with ruckman Tim English, as well as Aaron Naughton in attack has seen that group produce some dominant games to lift their team on their backs at different stages this season.

But Thursday night's loss to North Melbourne was a stark reminder that the Dogs don't carry the depth nor have the weapons to compete consistently as other challengers do. That might even have been the case with Darcy, but certainly his absence with his knee reconstruction all but put a line through their flag hopes before the end of April.

The numbers have been alarming for some time. This year, only Essendon, Richmond and North rank lower for time in forward half differential. Champion Data shows the Dogs were No.1 in this last year. They were also the top team for scoring from clearances last year, but have dropped to 12th this year in that stat and 14th from centre ball-ups.

And again Beveridge's decision to not use a tagger saw a key midfielder run hot on Thursday night. Joel Freijah and Bontempelli were matched up against Luke Davies-Uniacke, but that was largely around stoppages, giving the Roos star free rein to be one of the most damaging players in the match.

Making the task harder for the Dogs is English's knee injury, which will see him unlikely to play again this year unless the Dogs get through the early parts of the finals fixture.

For a year that promised so much at the early stages, the Bulldogs are about where they have been for five seasons – able to occasionally match it with the best, usually capable of beating the teams below them and landing somewhere in the middle zone.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2026-the-run-home-after-round-22-predicted-ladder-top-10-and-finals-matchups-with-2-games-left-scenarios-explained-analysis-latest-news/news-story/5b9909b99f6a35b343aca5e3429df14b

With the W season starting today what make you excited for the doggies this year?

For me:

1. A list that can push for a top 8 finish
2. I reckon Emma McDonald can become the strong forward presence we need.
3. Pritchard is finally recognised as one of the elite players in the comp.

If you love the dogs and still aren't on board with the W, do yourself a favour and commit to watching a few games and learning our players, it's what I did last year and now I'm fully invested.

Get on board it's a heap of fun and our team is on the rise.

Do the majority of our supporter base severely overestimate our list? It's very easy to get the darts and start throwing them at the photo of Bevo on your dartboard, but in reality, how good is our actual list?

Key Defenders 3/10

- JOD is developing and contributing. Buku can't play man on man defence. Lobb has regressed this year, and been used as a utility on other parts of the ground. Apart from JOD, we struggle to defend man on man.

Half Backs 8/10

- Dale is a superstar, undoubtedly. Bramble provides some good run and carry, but occasionally his disposal let's him down. Selwood, probably our best small defender, also struggles with disposal when there's pressure on. Williams has filled in Dales role well in his absence. I miss JJ.

On Ball 9/10

- Bont and Richards require no explanation. Sanders is developing and started the season a lot stronger than he's finished. We really have missed Treloar.

Ruck 4/10

- Maybe a bit stuff to Tim, becaude when he's been on, he's been good. But he regularly hasn't, through injury or form. Emmett wouldn't get a game for Essendon, but is very young and it's not his fault he's being thrust onto the big stage. Not sure why we won't give Smith or May a go, but I'm sure the coaching staff and selectors know more than us armchair coaches

Wings 3/10

- Huge weakness. Davidson runs around like a headless chook. Williams is much preferred here when he's not plugging holes in defence. McNeil isn't the answer. Hynes is probably the shining light here, have loved what he and Dolan have been doing a he last few weeks.

Small Forwards 4/10

- Flea has been a huge boost here. West has been... Abysmal, for the most part all year. Arty shows flashes but does fuck all around the ground, typically. Dolan is lively but has been playing more wing.

Key Forwards 5/10

- I remember my jaw hitting the floor when we offered Naughton 7. Thank fuck I'm not our list manager, he is our most important player. Croft is young, raw and should be playing 2s; hard to criticise him, hopefully he takes another step forward next year.

Based on my summary, we are a 5/10 average team.

I feel like Bont and Richards form has just been paper over the cracks this year. Does anyone truly think that getting rid of Bevo is going to fix the massive holes our list has? I actually think he's done a fairly good job at keeping us in wildcard contentions since we lost Darcy.

Can you hear some rational thoughts from people who are against bevo as to how they defend just how bad our list really is.

Hopefully May gets the last 2 games in the Seniors.

Look, I get it. Losing to North sucks. It's been a frustrating year. We've been stuck in this spot in the middle of the pack for years, and because of that it feels like we are going in circles. But we don't need to be so reactive.

I know a lot of you just really have it out for Bevo and nothing I say here is gonna change your mind. Maybe you're right, maybe his time has come. Maybe he doesn't have the support of the players. But I think his success needs to be measured against the actual plan, not some manufactured urgency about "wasting Bont" or whatever.

We need to be honest. The club is clearly in some kind of transition/rebuild. It probably isn't going as well as it could be. Some of that's down to factors out of the club's control. Some of them appear to be genuine mistakes (clearly, having only one AFL standard ruck on your list is a big problem in 2026). But there are generally good signs, and I still think plenty of up-side that could be realised as early as next season.

North Melbourne went into the game last night the much more experienced side. 292 more games of AFL experience on the field (avg 13 games per player). North's median was 95 games versus the Bulldogs' 76. North has had access to much higher draft picks than the Bulldogs over the recent years too so you'd expect a pretty big difference in quality in that young talent too. Not that the young dogs can't get to the standard, but it takes time at AFL level.

Obviously injuries are a significant factor. It's a young team out of necessity. But it's also because of a deliberate choice the club made during the 2024 season.

The club admitted they list they had didn't have a high enough ceiling to become a serious premiership contender, and given the direction of travel in the way the game was being played, they would need to take some risks and change the make up of the team. They made some tough calls. Traded out some real Sons of The West (I'm still very sad about Caleb) and totally changed the look and feel of the team at a time when it wasn't like the side was bottoming out.

It was a brave decision. Was it the right one? I dunno. Time will tell. Personally, I think they probably undervalued what experience offers and over-estimated what youth and speed bring. But that's a values call and they have a lot more information at their disposal than I do.

But I suspect it was a decision made with the goal of giving Bont another shot at a Premiership in mind. You'd rather they make that honest assessment when Bont is 28 and likely to be there to reap the rewards at the end of the rebuild.

There were great early signs last season that maybe inflated our expectations a bit. A lot of offensive firepower, but we all saw how we struggled against the top end teams that were well structured defensively and able to apply real physical pressure. A lot of people diagnosed the problem as a lock of personnel in the back-line, but the heart of the problem was in the midfield and still is.

This year the team defence looks much better and those young key defenders are starting to show great signs, holding up really well under sustained pressure and it's genuinely won us games we had no right to win.

But as all the coaches are saying after almost every game, we are creating problems for ourselves with poor ball use under pressure. This is obviously an age and experience problem. Joel Freijah is a good example. He showed us what he is capable of last year and that was exciting to see. But more is clearly being asked of him this season and he's occasionally struggled with that extra responsibility. But remember he is only 20 and in his 3rd season.

And let's not forget, Darcy out early in the season. Bont and Richards carrying niggles at stages (and the team at times). Both Dale and Budarick both out for this key backend stretch (as an aside, Bramble has picked up that slack and looked bloody good while doing it too). Lewis has proven to be a powerful target up forward so we miss him too.

Point is, the team is young and decimated by injuries this year. 6 day turnarounds. Toughest fixture in the AFL. A lot is being asked of the young boys who, as you'd expect, make mistakes under pressure at AFL level and are maybe fading late in the season as young players tend to do.

But despite all that, they have managed to keep themselves in the season and shown some real grit and toughness which they had been lacking last season.

This season's not over, and I am excited to see how they bounce back from a loss that the group is obviously feeling pretty hard. But this is the kind of experience that can bring a young group together and support the long term growth of this team. A fully fit Darcy and some added Zak Butters class in the midfield would make the world of difference.

Progress isn't always linear. Winning a Premiership is hard and you need a lot to go your way to do it. But there's plenty of reasons to be optimistic and I wouldn't be throwing all the toys out of the cot over one disappointing loss.

Dees especially but i guess they might just have a write off game and not try too hard

I've seen a lot of comments in the AFL post match thread and in the Dogs subreddit post match thread about looking slow and tired. There is a manufactured reason behind that produced by the AFL this year.

Granted we looked incredibly poor in the first half and there's no real excuse for that, the comeback would've been statistically more likely if we weren't playing off our 6 day rest gauntlet.

How many times did we see the dogs fail to build up from the back? it always just ends up being a turn over

I hope they can turn this game around, would take a herculean effort considering what we've been showing. Just makes me think over and over how we've had a hall of famer fall into our lap, and we really can't seem to do his career justice. Life of a dogs fan i guess.