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0 Geelong champion Jimmy Bartel has declared the Western Bulldogs off-season review has been “overblown”, urging the club to embrace the uncomfortable findings.
In November, the Bulldogs undertook an external review into their football department after finishing ninth in 2023.
Former Essendon and Melbourne chief executive officer Peter Jackson assisted in the review process, while club CEO Ameet Bains took part in additional reviews.
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“I think it’s overblown a fair bit in the AFL industry,” Bartel said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“I guarantee every single club would review themselves at the end of the year, but it only become topical when a side you’re expecting to do well misses the finals.
“It becomes this overblown thing when a team misses the finals.”
Bartel, who was part of the leading teams review at Geelong at the end of the 2006 season that saved the Cats and eventually led the them three premierships in five years, says the fear around what goes down behind closed doors in over the top.
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“It becomes this big theatre of ‘everyone must hate each other’ … that happens at all footy clubs,” Bartel said.
The 2007 Brownlow medallist even urged the Bulldogs to embrace all the findings and continue to internally review at the end of each season, as a healthy way to ensure the club can achieve long term success.
“What is a great thing to do is review each year and go ‘do you know who is better in what position, let’s move them there’. Every club does it,” Bartel said.
However, Matthew Lloyd still has concerns facing the Bulldogs’ ability to not only reach the finals, but actually succeed under 2016 premiership coach Luke Beveridge.
“Can he (Beveridge) settle his team down? That’s the question mark I have.
“Sometimes he can be too cute, Luke Beveridge, and play players out of position.”
It comes as Caleb Daniel’s status and spot in the side is under fire ahead of round one.
“He’s a half back flanker who has been forward, he’s been mid.
“Jason Johanissen is a Norm Smith medallist and he didn’t play half back (last season). He is back there now and is playing good footy.
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The review last year came after the Bulldogs completed an overhaul of their staff with Matt Egan (coaching and performance manager), Daniel Pratt (backline & defensive systems coach), Jarryn Geary (development & player leadership coach), Alex Johnson (development coach), Daniel Duvnjak-Zaknich (head of physical performance) and Dr Anthony Hipsley (chief medical officer) all joining the club.
The Bulldogs take on Melbourne in their round one clash on Sunday afternoon.
