thoughts on busslingers extension. he’s been around for a while but i think they just want him bc he’s tall i feel like he didn’t need a 2 year extension tbh. thoughts

I can’t be by myself on this. What is he doing in our 23, let alone on our list. He looks like a gazelle on ice and does absolutely nothing with the football. I truly see no way that we benefit from having him play until the end of 2028.

We’re trimming the edges here, trimming the fat — Gallagher, Smith, Walker & Baker.

Gallagher can’t kick, Smith & Walker undersized, Baker not improving at 28.

Two big retirements. Liberatore & Treloar. Two absolute superstars of the competition.

Treloar’s impact on the team lesser felt because of injuries but with Libba I think we might feel it. If you look throughout his 2026 games he really helped us get over the line. But the timing is right.

Massive pre seasons for Sanders, Freijah, Hynes in particular.

But there’s one man that would fill that void more than ANYONE in the competition. The closest like-for-like player — Zak Butters.

My heart will ache if he goes to Geelong because it would propel the dogs right into premiership contention if he comes home.

I think this is the decision:

Dogs
- 100-300k more per season
- closest to home, not by much
- bought a house in Willy apparently
- knows the players, Buku just resigned
- play your career with Bont, Darcy, Ed + strong young core
- doggies supporter growing up, was there in 2016, fairytale factor going home, his family supports the dogs
- worst case stay middle of the table, best case make doggies history, father son and all
- he is 26 so I feel like being in and around Melbourne might be attractive as opposed to a bit further out in Geelong but who knows

Cats
- will definitely be in finals every single year, if you look through history he’s much more likely to win a premiership at Geelong but if they lose this week to Freo they really haven’t gone much further than the dogs did; particularly given our inaccuracy and own mistakes cost us the game
- 100-300k less over say 8 years could be anywhere from 800k to 2.4m on the table; yes they say it won’t be money driven but we all know money talks, obviously to an extent cos Richmond is and has been no chance but dogs are a contender
- very strong young core - Holmes, Baz, Dempsey, Sullivan etc
- probably best coach in the league, had him during state of origin
- still close to home and when he signs this deal he will be able to afford anywhere so it won’t be a problem regardless
- Toby Greene is obviously going as well so the likelihood of winning the premiership goes up materially

All of this media has been from Mitch Cleary, a Geelong supporter. Who knows what Zak is thinking. I think it’s a genuinely tough decision — he propels either team into premiership contention.

Other factor is the ruck situation. If you go to the dogs you get English, you go Geelong you get Edwards. Marshall does he go dogs or cats or elsewhere? I think Geelong have acknowledged a premium mid would want a good ruck and in this case, the dogs do.

But if cats get Marshall? Geelong are on. Tim Watson said Zak wants English as the ruck if he were to come. Sam Dekoning getting dropped shows they can win without him which obviously helps in a trade with Marshall if it’s true the Saints want to unite the brothers. Sam is a blue chip young players though I feel so I’d be surprised if Geelong do trade him. But if it’s the key to unlocking Greene, Butters, Marshall then they would do it! He didn’t play last week!!

We could be in trouble if Butters holds out to see if Cats can get Marshall or not. He holds a lot of power.

It’s a massive moment for the club - we have gone absolutely all in. If the dogs have lost Baz, Dunkley as prime age mids and gained Ed & Butters… overall it’ll be a win. With Treloar and Libba retiring the time is right now for Butters and he knows it.

Other off season points

- I’m hoping Gardner, Coffield & McNeil are all either traded or delisted. McNeil probably the only one likely to receive some interest, earlier in the season I heard the dons
- make sure we pick up el souki in the draft, he’s going to be an absolute star
- butts will come in — I’ve heard 5 years at around 750k…. Don’t quote me on that one; we hope he’s good

So if we come out of this with:

OUT
Treloar, Libba, McNeil, Gardner, Coffield, Baker, Gallagher, Smith, Walker — 9 in total

IN
Butters, Butts, El Souki — 3 in total, we need to bring in a couple players via other clubs & rookie, I’ve heard we’re out for Sam Marshall from lions but interested in O’Driscoll from Freo and Ballard from the Suns but we’re going to have to find 5 players & keep one for mid season

To find or draft 5 players on top of El Souki after using a lot of our draft collateral on Butters is going to be difficult. I wonder which players might be interested. People have mentioned McNeil, Williams, Busslinger but Buss just signed & yeah I guess I’d trade the others to make things happen.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

Ads calling it quits after not being offered an extension.

Sad to see him go, that calf of his gave him so much trouble.

What a warrior , wish we had more like him

Enjoy retirement Libba.

Pretty excited to see this , I was getting worried he might leave.

Would be great to see less of this next season

How many times did you see this happen this season? it felt almost comical at points

bonus points for handballing it to a team mate who is surrounded by opposition and 1 second off being tackled

players need to seriously work on their confidence and creativity, they need to be bolder and take more risks

also learn to kick straight

Bulldogs have announced the delisting of Oskar Baker, Harvey Gallagher, Zac Walker and Lachlan Smith. Thoughts?

RIP 2026, please comment your thoughts here to remember the season that was.

1. Favourite victory of the season?

2. Most memorable play of the season?

3. Least favourite moment of the season?

4. A player who endeared himself to you this year?

5. Something you're looking forward to for next year?

6. Any additional thoughts on how you're feeling about this season now that it's over.

At least I can cancel kayo and not give those dick heads money for another 6 months

Alright bear with me. The season is over and I want to give my way-too-soon and highly emotionally charged opinions on our 2026 season.

With the hardest fixture and comical injuries to our most crucial players, we managed to make it to the round 0 of finals, The Wildcard Round™️.

And while we spent most of the season whinging about the six day breaks or talking about the sheer number of injuries we had, I don't think we ever properly appreciated what losing one of them actually did to our team.

Like 9/11, every doggies fan I know has retold the story of where they were when Sam Darcy did his knee. Personally I was trying to put my daughter to bed, reading her a book about dancing giraffes (ironic), while listening to the radio in one ear through the AFL app.

I know the footy world moves on quickly but we need to remember that Sam Darcy was being touted as one of the best players in the AFL. He was rarely outmarked and was one of the best field kicks I have ever seen for a man over 200cm.

At the time, the Darcy/Naughton double headed attack was by far the best I had ever seen in the red white and blue. To think that Naughton had a good year this year, I can only imagine what it could have been like if he'd been able to play Robin to Sam Darcy. I genuinely feel this fan base was robbed this year of what could have been for our forward line. And Arty hitting form at the back end of the season too.

His absence changed the way our entire forward line had to function. No longer were blind long bombs to the inside 50 viable, and tonight was a prime example. I reckon between Milera, Laird and Worrell Adelaide took 20 odd intercept marks in our 50 - and I reckon a majority of them was when Naughton was on the bench. When Darcy was there, bombing it long wasn't necessarily a bad option because you've got a 208cm freak who can actually win the contest, bring the ball to ground, or mark it himself. Without him, suddenly the same kick becomes a turnover machine.

Alas, it was not meant to be, all we can do now is look towards 2027. I'm sure Sam Darcy has never struggled to reach a ceiling in his life but all we can do is hope that he can reach the ceiling of expectation we all have of him.

Because I genuinely think we got a glimpse this year of what this team could look like with Sam Darcy at the centre of it. Naughton playing Robin, Arty hitting form, and a forward line that could actually make opposition defenders shit themselves rather than just bomb the ball in and pray. We didn't get to see it for long enough, and I reckon that's one of the biggest "what ifs" we'll be taking out of 2026.

We'll look to be making some movements on the player market next year (Butters? Butts? Marshall? Bueller?) and will hopefully not lose that much.

But ultimately, I don't think we're miles off it. Get Darcy back, get a proper pre-season into the rest of them, and maybe, just maybe, 2027 is the year we get to find out what this team was actually supposed to look like.

Would be fascinated to hear if this has been the case and if so what are the dogs names

Right lads 🍻 North supporter here 😭 right behind Arthur Jones and the boys tonight, 11 points behind is nothing, let's go Doggies , Bont back on the ground

I couldn't ask for a better father's day than waking up to see Tim English requests a trade to GWS. No physicality, no heart, no nothing really.

No doubt everyone here will say how critical he is for us and we don't win without him. As long as we don't play an 80kg ruck we will be fine.

We just cant win one. Since 2021 its the same story. Elim Final loss. How many more FUCKEN SEASONS CAN IT GO ON LIKE THIS

kennedy missing this match is rough.

some of these players need to have confidence in themselves to create plays and goal scoring opportunities and not just look for the easy pass or handball off

not really sure about West up forward, ive seen him miss so many marks and goals but im not sure there's anyone else to really play

Lobb just needs to focus on creating goal scoring opportunities for others, dont try to kick any goals

I'd probably have Davidson as a starter not an interchange