At the halfway point of the season, the Bulldogs are languishing at the bottom of the ladder, and having recently sacked coach Trent Barrett, season 2022 is essentially written off by the Bulldogs.
With no definitive direction or head coach for 2023, interim coach Mick Potter has a golden opportunity to explore some โwhat-ifsโ and โmaybesโ in the Bulldogs' squad.
Traditionally, teams in similar positions have blooded rookies and dropped those not in future plans, with significant selection pressure motivating incumbents to work hard to earn their next contracts.
With general manager Phil Gould and Barrett having recently overhauled the roster and with major signings on the way next season, Potter has full control of a still relatively new squad, and should start making some creative changes, perhaps even enhancing his reputation as an NRL coach along the way, with the Bulldogs, Tigers and Warriors jobs still vacant.
4. King to start at prop - Paul Vaughan gone
Max King's improvement in season 2022 has been fantastic, rising from a fringe player at the Storm in 2019 and 2020, not playing an NRL game in 2021 to a big-minute middle forward at the Dogs, with his high work rate, tackle efficiency and offloading game allowing him to force his way into the starting side after the injury to Pangai Junior and recording strong statistics in that time.
By contrast, Paul Vaughan, likely on the final contract of his NRL career, seems stagnant, providing little go-forward, recording just 5 offloads in 14 games, an average of 1 tackle break and is contributing little in his 50 minutes per game.
Vaughan, at 31, has less than half a season left on his deal and isn't in the Bulldogs' future plans, so Potter should now prioritise the likely 2023 prop pairing - Max King and Luke Thompson.
King's impressive ability to offload with two or three in a tackle should give Burton at fullback an opportunity to make darting runs through the ruck much like Clint Gutherson off Ryan Matterson's offloads or Kalyn Ponga off David Klemmer's offloads.
Likewise, his strength in maintaining a high tackle efficiency despite playing big minutes will offset the defensive frailties of Pangai Junior (and potentially a new, inexperienced hooker) in the middle.
Intriguing ideas. I’m a bit dubious about Bailey Biondi-Odo at 6, but the season is trashed in terms of making the eight, Potter does not have a 2023 contract to protect, so yeah – make all the changes and see which ones work !
Either way, the changes will yield valuable information for next season.