David King is concerned about what he saw from the Western Bulldogs in Round 1, feeling they have a number of players who aren’t fully clear in their role.
The Dogs were blown out late by Melbourne after starting strong and King feels they are carrying players who struggle to perform at AFL level.
“They failed in a pretty sizeable way, I think,” he told SEN’s Whateley after their 45-point loss.
“There are two or three Dogs who, when they get the ball, things happen, but then there’s a lot of confusion around the rest.
“I like Buku Khamis in their team. I think he’s a nice young player and I want to see him get an opportunity to thrive, but I think he’s a third tall back.
“So the pieces are wrong to allow him to be his best, and if you want to play Liam Jones on Bayley Fritsch, you’ve got to have another interceptor. You’ve got to have another big body in front of the full-back position.
“Every team nominally has full-back, centre half-back and an interceptor. Some have the luxury of that player being an interceptor, but not always. So I reckon there’s confusion at the Dogs there.
“I reckon there’s confusion in … what’s their staple ball movement? The stars just do what they want to do and it doesn’t look as rigid as others. It’s not full system all the time, it’s not as obvious (as other clubs).
“You’ve got to have an identity, you’ve got to have something that says ‘hey, come and take this off us’. It used to be the handball game. It used to be flick the ball around and make them chase you for 10 seconds until they burst free and then it doesn’t matter who’s forward of the ball because they’re going to be that open we’ll hit them.
“I’m looking at the Cody Weightman role in the forward line. What is he? Is he a pressuring small forward, is he a crumber is he a Bayley Fritsch style marking player? He flies against his teammates more than he does against anyone else.
“And I’m not saying he’s a poor commodity, he’s a very good player and did some good things on the weekend, but what’s his role?
“I get confused watching the way he’s positioned to suit that role. If he’s going in as a marking player, you’ve got him, Jamarra (Ugle-Hagan), (Aaron) Naughton and (Rory) Lobb, you’ve got half a dozen marking players and then you’ve got to play the two smalls in (Laitham) Vandermeer and (Lachie) McNeil because you’ve got no pressure if you don’t.
“To me, they’re not AFL level players. They may get there, but right now they’re not, but you have to play them because you’ve got all these other marking targets and when the ball hits the deck, you’ve got to service the needs of the team with players who, in my opinion, are not there yet.
“So the confusion is, in my belief, everywhere, and it’s going to be a tough correction.
“We talk about them having this star-studded list. They do have a very good list still, but the asset management is a problem.”
The Bulldogs host Gold Coast at Mars Stadium on Sunday afternoon in a fascinating clash given the Suns are currently 2-0.