Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade has promised a bulked-up unit next season that will no longer be criticised for being soft.

Eade told the club’s annual general meeting last night the players had put on an average of 3.5kg in the pre-season.

He said Cameron Wight, Will Minson, Daniel Cross, Daniel Giansiracusa and Lindsay Gilbee were among the players to have added bulk.

“Across the board we have got an average of almost (an extra) 4kg per player in the team, so we’re going to be bigger and stronger,” Eade said yesterday. “I think that’s where teams have criticised us and have been critical of us, about being soft, about being soft at the ball, soft at the contest and soft mentally.

“But I’ve got no doubt in the confidence that we’ve gained from this pre-season that we’ll be a lot better going forward.”

Eade predicted the Bulldogs had a good opportunity to make a Grand Final in the next two years, but said the club was building the framework for long-term success.

“We think over the next two years that we can have a real tilt at playing in a Grand Final and consequently have a chance of a premiership,” Eade said.

“There is no doubt about that in my mind. What we are trying to do is create a window of opportunity that when that happens, that will last for five, six, eight or 10 years.”

President David Smorgon and chief executive Campbell Rose announced a club profit of $534,000 — the highest in club history.

“This is the first genuine profit this club has had in many years,” Smorgon said.

“That’s money in the bank.”

The Bulldogs also presented life memberships to forward Nathan Eagleton and the retired Matthew Robbins.

The board members standing for re-election were not challenged for their positions, with Smorgon, George Pappas and Susan Alberti all elected unopposed.

Inside Football which is a respected football magazine devoted a near full page to the drafting ability of the highly regarded Recruiting Manager of the Western Bulldogs, Scott Clayton in the October edition.
The article highlights how successful he was with the 1999 draft effort but also how his 2002 and 2003 efforts have really let the club down.  You really start to wonder if Clayton’s reputation as a draft guru is still warranted.

One comment made was the most interesting in my opinion -
“Clayton is a figure of authority at the Bulldogs, to the point that he was involved in the recent talks about the clubs future VFL alignment. At a club without the resources of some of it’s rivals, perhaps he has been spread too thin.  Perhaps he has taken his eye off the ball”

The final observation was that Clayton has plenty of picks but now he needs to use them well to fix the structural weaknesses.
This has been a criticism of Clayton for a few years now and in my opinion he needs this draft to be one of his best ones

The December edition hardly rubber-stamped his selections either but I am quietly optimistic that he has selected a good crop of players.

After a poor season the Bulldogs really rang the changes with the coaching panel with  an unprecedented number of changes 

Gone
Matthew Drain - to StKilda
Jason Mifsud - who has landed a position in the AFL
Chris Bond - to Fremantle Dockers
Sean Wellman - to Melbourne

New
Brad Gotch - Williamstown and Bulldogs development coach
Wayne Campbell - Forwards coach
Peter Dean - Backline coach
Simon Dalrymple - Developement coach
John Barnes - Stoppages and ruck coach 

Staying
Rodney Eade - Senior coach
Leon Cameron - Midfield coach

This is the most comprehensive change to the coaching team that I can recall especially when you consider James Fantasia from the Crows also joined as the Football Manager.

Rocket now has an army around him and must extract the maximum effort from this team.

The Bulldogs had a busy draft period and have welcomed the following players to the Whitten Oval.

National Draft
Pick 5 - Jarrad Grant
Grant is a 192cm key forward who the club rated right up in the top bracket of players available. He will need time but the club has high expectations on this talented youngster.

Pick 19 - Callan Ward
The selection of Call Ward by the Bulldogs is one of the more exciting stories out of the draft. Ward had a stellar season in the TAC for the Western Jets and given his versatility will be one to watch throughout the season.

Pick 35 - Sam Reid
A player that was high on the Bulldogs Draft radar, Reid is an attacking in and under midfielder who will give us some size and strength around the football in the coming years.

Pick 43 - Easton Wood
The selection of Wood had a number of the draft experts checking their records. The little know but highly talented athlete from Geelong Grammar is an exciting long term selection. We shouldn’t expect much from him in 2008 but he will be watched closely.

Pick 48 - Jarrad Boumann
A tall versatile key position player who is a very good athlete, Boumann will not have a lot of pressure on him. I’d expect him to be tried as a key forward.

Pick 63 - Guy O’Keefe
A good mate of Easton Wood, O’Keefe is a clever small forward or midfielder who the Dogs will be hoping that he can add a lot of bite and dash to the team

Pre Season Draft
Pick 4 - Scott Welsh
After failing to be able to engineer a trade for a key forward the Dogs couldn’t believe their luck when Scott Welsh fell into their laps. Time will tell if Welsh is the answer to our tall forward woes.

Rookie Draft
Pick 4 - James Mulligan
A ruckman from Queensland
Pick 20 - Henry White
A speedy winger from South Australia
Pick 36 - John Shaw
A ruckman from Sandringham

After a few years of being aligned with the Werribee Tigers the Western Bulldogs announced a significant change by forming an alliance for the 2008 season with the Williamstown Seagulls.
This alliance makes a lot of sense from a geographical perspective but the sudden departure from Werribee was a major shift.

For whatever reason, I’m concerned that we are not tapping into such a strong geographical area around Werribee and Hoppers Crossing region because it is such a significant growth area.

I suppose this move gives Eade in particular more control of the players but only time will tell if it is the right move.
One thing I will not miss is having our players in a Tigers jumper. I can live with the Seagulls but I was never going to accept the Tigers as our 2nd emblem.