BAILEY’S THE CREAM
Smith continues Dogs’ brilliant draft strike rate, writes Marc McGowan HOW TO BUILD A GRAND FINAL LIST
ARCHITECTS
CONNOR Rozee and North Adelaide played unlikely roles in the Western Bulldogs’ journey to Saturday night’s grand final.
Future Bulldogs star Bailey Smith made it clear to any would-be non-Victorian suitors in his draft year that he wanted to stay in Melbourne.
That didn’t stop Port Adelaide from seriously considering Smith with the fifth pick of the 2018 draft, just like when the Power selected a reluctant Ollie Wines at No.7 overall six years earlier.
It was well established that Gold Coast, which selected Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine with the second and third picks, planned to take Ben King at No.6.
But Rozee’s excellent SANFL finals series for North Adelaide’s senior side – after transforming from a creative forward into a damaging half-back – convinced the Power he was its man.
Smith then, as expected, made it past the Suns and into the gleeful hands of the Dogs, who rated the gifted midfielder as highly as any player in that draft.
He defied achilles bursitis, which sidelined him for the second half of his draft year and delayed his first AFL preseason, to make a round 1 debut – and he has played in all 66 games since arriving at Whitten Oval.
Taylor Duryea, himself part of the Bulldogs’ list story as he tries to win a third flag after playing in two at Hawthorn, said Smith was “the most-ready 18-year-old you’ve ever seen come into the competition”.
Smith has continued the Bulldogs’ brilliant strike rate in the first round of the draft.
Their picks in that territory in the past nine years were Jake Stringer and Jack Macrae (2012), Marcus Bontempelli (2013), Tim English (2016), Aaron Naughton and Ed Richards (2017), Smith (2018), Cody Weightman (2019) and Jamarra UgleHagan (2020).
Weightman was considered a Jamie Elliott clone in his draft year but some believe he even has Toby Greene tendencies.
Melbourne jumped in before the Dogs to draft Kysaiah
Pickett two years ago but Weightman is proving a very handy consolation prize, while Naughton’s evolution from defender to strongmarking forward was a pleasant surprise.
Ex-Bulldog Dan Southern considers Naughton the next best thing to Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton.
The club’s two first-round draft selections before that were 2016 premiership player Clay Smith and Mitch Wallis, who missed out on the last flag only because of a broken leg.
Next Generation Academy product Ugle-Hagan and father-son prospect Sam Darcy – who will be drafted this year – being top-three talents who dropped into their lap were the icing on the cake.
But smart choices down the order have added to their recruiting lustre.
Josh Dunkley (pick 25), Laitham Vandermeer (37), Bailey Dale (45), Caleb Daniel (46), Bailey Williams (48), Lachie Hunter (49), Zaine Cordy (62), Jason Johannisen and Roarke Smith (rookies), and Ryan Gardner (midseason draft) have all become senior regulars.
Simon Dalrymple (2010-17), Nick Austin (2018-19) and Dom Milesi (2020-present) were the national recruiting managers during this period.
Dalrymple is now in the same role at Sydney, while Austin succeeded Stephen Silvagni as Carlton’s list boss.
They aren’t the only Bulldogs talent-spotters who’ve been snapped up elsewhere.
Jason McCartney was list manager from 2012 until after the 2017 draft, before joining GWS Giants. The razor-sharp Sam Power replaced McCartney.
PLUGGING HOLES
Duryea notes the major difference between Hawthorn’s list strategy and the Bulldogs’ is the latter’s longer commitment to the draft and willingness to play more kids.
But he sees similarities in the success both clubs have had in identifying mature talent to fill list holes.
The Dogs brought in at least two players from other clubs in each of the past four years.
It started with Josh Schache, Hayden Crozier and Jackson Trengove (2017), continued with Duryea and Sam Lloyd (2018) and Alex Keath and Josh Bruce (2019), then Adam Treloar, Stefan Martin and Mitch Hannan last year.
“With football, the moment you stop trying to progress or get a leg up on the opposition, you’re going to fall backwards a long way,” Duryea said. “Not every move you make is necessarily going to be successful, but you’ve got to have a plan you stick to or an outcome you try to achieve.”
Schache was a reclamation project-of-sorts, who also fitted the need for help up forward.
Duryea and Lloyd brought a dollop of experience at opposite ends of the ground, while Bruce and Keath went a long way to solving the club’s longstanding bookend issues. Bruce was only two goals short of kicking 50 in a season for the second time in his career this year when he ruptured the ACL in his left knee in round 21.
Martin, who turns 35 in November, was viewed as one of the final pieces in the premiership puzzle, as someone who could unburden developing big man English from his heavy ruck load.
Hannan is a highly skilled and versatile role player, then there’s Treloar, who many believed was surplus to demands, given Luke Beveridge’s side was already overflowing with midfield riches.
But, as with Bailey Smith in his draft year, the Bulldogs have sometimes taken the approach of grabbing the best player regardless of position.
Importantly, the Dogs didn’t have to cough up a first-round pick for any of the aforementioned recruits, after doing so in 2014 and 2015 – one of those occasions being the deal for Tom Boyd.
“We’ve probably started to get a better mix,” Duryea said. “For a long time, I felt it’s been a lot of younger talent, but they’ve now found themselves in their mid-20s, which is ideal, then they’ve added players like myself for experience and top-end talent like Bailey Smith and Cody Weightman.
“Any sort of group trying to vie for a premiership; once that core group have been together for a while – what you’ve got mainly with our midfield – then it all starts coming together.”