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  • The Bulldog Tragician Blog
  • Blog posts
    • 2016 finals collection

Return of the Tragician

13/2/2014

22 Comments

 
I know – the title evokes a late Saturday night horror movie.

I did ponder whether there was actually anything more for me to say in 2014, or whether I’d exhausted the pool of family tales, western suburbs’ memories, and nostalgic dips into our not-so-glorious past. But it became impossible to ignore the groundswell of requests from my fans (okay, it was one text message from my sister).

I admit it's been a bit hard to get motivated when all has been quiet on the Western (Bulldogs) Front. I haven't really tuned into the occasional missive, obviously cut and pasted from the past 25 seasons and every other clubs’ communication manual, assuring us that the new recruits have settled in brilliantly and the boys are training the house down. I guess no footy club will ever send out a message: ‘We’re probably still going to be crap. Stick with us. We’ll be better. One day.’

(Or the suggestion that I heard for a Bulldogs’ bumper sticker after the epic fail of the consecutive preliminary finals defeats of 97 and 98: ‘Please don’t hate us.’)
Picture
I’m actually quite optimistic about our prospects for 2014, but mainly I've been concentrating (in line with the steps recommended in my article - being avidly discussed by psychologists everywhere - on 'Post-seasonal affective disorder') on moving on from the darkest phase of mourning Daniel Cross's departure. This has involved hastily skipping past mentions of him heroically assisting Jack Watts to his feet when he was vomiting in the Demons' Tan time-trial, and turning the page on glowing reports of him setting personal standards to Melbourne’s young Turks.

With my interest level still lukewarm at present, I haven’t memorised the names and numbers of the new recruits -  apart from Marcus Bontempelli, the new number four, who will attempt to fill the shoes of our dedicated, heroic, courageous, selfless, best-and-fairest winning, 200 game champion (maybe my recovery isn’t as far along as I thought). But I can report I saw Bontempelli (we need a good nickname apart from the prosaic 'Bonty' for him) at a local coffee shop recently, sitting among a group of our young players, and looking improbably skinny. He actually made Ayce Cordy of all people look like a hulking monster. (A few years ago I sighted Gia, Murph, Mitch Hahn and Johno at the same coffee shop. Time passes...)

I did emerge, though, from my restful state of footy apathy when I  read a club announcement before Christmas: our cheer squad is to be ‘reinvigorated.’ Of course, there could be sound reasons for this, but I was just a little perturbed. What does it mean if a cheer squad these days can fail to meet key performance indicators? More worryingly, could this be the start of new scrutiny and monitoring of our performances as fans? 

Perhaps this process has already begun. Maybe last year, efficiency experts were quietly infiltrating  Etihad stadium crowds, talking into microphones implanted in their sleeves, and preparing detailed reports for club officials to pore over.

‘Aisle 22 has again failed to meet targets in face-painted youngsters, and jester-hat numbers are significantly down.’

‘The UV (Umpire-directed Vitriol) Index has been bench-marked against competition leaders, Collingwood, and is sadly lagging.’

 ‘One supporter was sighted still wearing a Daniel Cross badge, and behaving in an irrational and disturbed fashion.’

Whole aisles of fans could quietly disappear, taken away for re-invigoration (in fact given some of our crowd numbers last year, maybe it’s already happened?)

I tried to convince myself that, yet again, my imagination had run away with me. Then I came across a recent AFL annual report:

The AFL, via consumer research staff, continued to support AFL clubs by various projects including:

  • Match-day consumer experience across all major AFL venues.
  • Member satisfaction analysis across 14 AFL clubs
  • Customer market sizing, segmented for each AFL club
  • Establishment of customer segmentation framework to be rolled out 
  • Choice modelling across five AFL clubs to establish optimum membership product mixes.

And here's the Tragician, unaware that I am a consumer, romantically imagining that I am a fan -  that the collective insanity of myself and other fans, which has seen us sit  to the end of 100+ point thrashings, seasons where we only won a game, and precisely no premiership action for the past 60 years, was all about something deep, mysterious, inexplicable and tribal.

It hit me, then, like a 1980s Steve Wallis shirtfront on Brett Heady:  the Tragician blog, too, must modernise. Pull its socks up. Define, and then meet, clear corporate objectives. Enter the 21st century and stop wallowing in nostalgia. Become professional. Smarten up, as my mother (who at 77 is now learning to use an Ipad, with admittedly uncertain results) would say.

Yes, the Tragician blog has been languishing behind the times, stuck in a schmaltzy time warp, and failing dismally to establish, or even understand, optimum membership product mixes.

In preparation for sweeping changes, I’ve prepared a handy glossary so that any of the uninitiated can keep up with my newly professionalised approach:

Stakeholder: a person who keeps buying a Western Bulldogs’ membership (aka a ‘Bulldog for life’)

Key stakeholder: a person who gets sent a Western Bulldogs key-ring (after becoming a Bulldog For Life).

Stakeholder engagement opportunities: we clap goals. We boo the umpires (in line with performance measures laid out in the Umpire-directed Vitriol Index). 

Key strategic objective: we try to win games.

Key accountabilities: our team will try not to let the opposition score more goals than us.

Mission statement: our sponsor places their logo on the top corner of our jumper.

Programmatic specificity: training techniques designed to keep Tom Williams and Shaun Higgins out on the field.

Deliverables: our midfielders try to kick to a person who can take a mark in the forward line.

Sustainable synergy: someone shepherds for Griff when he’s streaming down the ground

Strategic alignment: Will Minson and Tom Campbell run to different areas of the forward line to capitalise on successful deliverables (see above)

Core competencies: our players do a lot of sit-ups so they can deliver our key strategic objectives

Protecting our brand:  we don’t hire Steven Danks.

Growing the AFL-brand in non-core states: GWS and Gold Coast get unlimited opportunities to plunder our list

Equalization:  Pass. I don’t know what that one means.


Roll on 2014!!

22 Comments
Neil Anderson
16/2/2014 04:13:14 am

At last some Tragician news from our leader. I did comment earlier but it must have disappeared into the ether ( which is really a cover-up for my dicey computer skills).
So to summarise, I felt we didn't need corporate sponsorship and buzzwords to update our tragic fan-base. I suggested we should embrace our tragic backgrounds and hold group therapy sessions to show we are not alone. Just be out and proud.
I thought we could meet in the old Drill-Hall in Barkly Street and bring along mementos of tragedies past. Perhaps ticket stubs from the 97/98 PF's or the 1961 Footy Record GF day when we lost to Hawthorn who won their first premiership. Goddamit!
I better leave it there as I brace for possible tragedies starting on Wednesday. Murphy and Grant's preseason injury plus Griffin's back tightness has got the ball rolling already.

Reply
Tragician
17/2/2014 03:10:45 am

Some excellent ideas here Neil, out and proud, group therapy, yes I'm seeing it..will the Drill Hall be large enough though, as it could be said that by definition ALL Bulldogs’ fans are tragicians…plus I’m aware of my responsibility to not trample the fragile psyches of fans…hence my frequently veiled references to ‘The preliminary final that must not be named’ to protect those that are still traumatised by any mention of a certain disaster that may have occurred in September 97 … deep breathing…

There could be a special sub-group of those that claim to have been behind the goals and seen The First Libba's 'goal that the diabolical AFL deemed a point'? I'm not in that particularly traumatised category, but I know these souls are often not travelling well.

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:48:40 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:48:49 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:49:14 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:49:42 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:49:57 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 10:50:27 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but just suffered a severe bout of Tragititis and had to share.
They showed a replay of the 2009 PF before the match last night and those close losses and missing out on yet another GF with all the associated horrible memories came flooding back. Riewoldt dominating relying on the brave much shorter Dale Morris to try and stop him, before he kicked the winning goal off the ground. Gia and Gilbey missing goals and with sad hindsight the realization that Johnno and other stalwarts were having one of their last chances at playing in a Grand Final.
I must have pushed this PF into the back-ground because it was over-ridden by the 1997 trauma but it was a reminder that we simply have to get past the next PF for the sake of our sanity.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 08:39:13 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but in the light of being out and proud about being a Tragician, I have to mention my latest experience.
I had watched the mighty Bulldogs live last night but not the fill-in program on Foxfooty that went to air as they waited for the lake at Simmonds Stadium to disappear. I saw the replay today.
They played the last quarter of the 2009 PF against StKilda. This is one match I seem to have blotted out of my mind, largely because of the over-riding trauma of 1997.
But it all came flooding back. We were so close again to being in a grand-final. Riewoldt dominating as usual, the Bulldogs in front at the start of the quarter and then the missed goals from Gia and Gilbee. Players who had run themselves ragged and had no-one to finish off their efforts ...like Riewoldt. He kicked the winning goal off the ground out of a pack and I watched with hindsight as players like Brad Johnson would forever be denied the chance to play in a premiership.
Sorry to bring up these painful memories but I had to share.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 08:39:38 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but in the light of being out and proud about being a Tragician, I have to mention my latest experience.
I had watched the mighty Bulldogs live last night but not the fill-in program on Foxfooty that went to air as they waited for the lake at Simmonds Stadium to disappear. I saw the replay today.
They played the last quarter of the 2009 PF against StKilda. This is one match I seem to have blotted out of my mind, largely because of the over-riding trauma of 1997.
But it all came flooding back. We were so close again to being in a grand-final. Riewoldt dominating as usual, the Bulldogs in front at the start of the quarter and then the missed goals from Gia and Gilbee. Players who had run themselves ragged and had no-one to finish off their efforts ...like Riewoldt. He kicked the winning goal off the ground out of a pack and I watched with hindsight as players like Brad Johnson would forever be denied the chance to play in a premiership.
Sorry to bring up these painful memories but I had to share.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Neil Anderson
20/2/2014 08:40:24 am

Sorry to hog the blog, but in the light of being out and proud about being a Tragician, I have to mention my latest experience.
I had watched the mighty Bulldogs live last night but not the fill-in program on Foxfooty that went to air as they waited for the lake at Simmonds Stadium to disappear. I saw the replay today.
They played the last quarter of the 2009 PF against StKilda. This is one match I seem to have blotted out of my mind, largely because of the over-riding trauma of 1997.
But it all came flooding back. We were so close again to being in a grand-final. Riewoldt dominating as usual, the Bulldogs in front at the start of the quarter and then the missed goals from Gia and Gilbee. Players who had run themselves ragged and had no-one to finish off their efforts ...like Riewoldt. He kicked the winning goal off the ground out of a pack and I watched with hindsight as players like Brad Johnson would forever be denied the chance to play in a premiership.
Sorry to bring up these painful memories but I had to share.
My name is Neil and I am a Tragician...

Reply
Tragician
21/2/2014 01:54:40 pm

I didn't see the match (pacing myself for the long season). 09 was equally as bitter as 97, but in 97 the wound was self inflicted, the match there for the taking..09 saw some of the worst umpiring ever...Neil, the horror memories are never far from the fragile surface!

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:57:13 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:57:30 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:58:01 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:58:13 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:58:43 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:59:07 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:59:32 am

I'm using the Tragician as a form of therapy ( aren't we all? ) so I feel obliged to tell the group whenever this malady strikes.
I told myself I would never be concerned with results of a pre-season match but I lied. Last night was a good example of the ups and mainly downs of a Tragician.
The ups were the good three quarters of football by the Bulldogs against last year's runner-up. The downs came in the last quarter when Freo won easily and looked like they had been toying with the Bulldogs before they decided to strike.
The two old chestnuts came back to haunt me and reminded me why I'm a paid up member of the Tragicians.
The much-promoted forward-line was a failure and we still haven't got the reliable goal-kickers, except perhaps for the nearly retired Gia.
Secondly even with the inclusion of Campbell and Williams, there is still not enough height around the ground. Seeing Dale Morris out-marked by Sandilands and Libba out-marked by Mundy was what really prompted me to contact fellow Tragicians.
Far to early to get a bad feeling for season 2014 I hear you say? Probably. But I've seen it all before where the endeavour is there and even with a recent injection of skills we fail to kick the 'clutch' goals and get out-marked by taller opponents, particularly towards the end of matches.
Discuss.

Reply
Tragician
27/2/2014 12:51:40 pm

Unusually for me, Neil, I saw cause for optimism - maybe I'm still in a state of Post Seasonal Affective Disorder, or maybe I couldn't care enough about the game especially with Wayne Campbell droning all over the good bits ie our second quarter and most of the third quarter.

The good thing was that it was the young guns that looked terrific, the oldies, even one of my very favourites Dale Morris, looked out of sorts. Boyd was..Boyd.

I liked a line from a Bulldogs fan on twitter:

There's a lot to work on, but a lot to work with!

Besides, Neil, remember a golden Tragician rule: when we win a pre-season match, it means we're a bunch of champions, when we lose it's just a meaningless glorified practice match.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:36:55 pm

I know I'm sounding like a glass-half-empty kinda-guy. But I have been scarred as you know...from childhood.
When you see a good finish to the previous year, the younger players taking over from the old hands...like Boyd, the expectations rise. And then there comes a George Costanza moment. Everything was suddenly going well for George. A new job, new girlfriend and probably he had just found the perfect parking space. Then he discovers a tiny white mark on his lip and he's convinced he has some sort of cancer.
He starts wailing to Jerry, " I knew it! I just knew it! Just when things are working out for me...I'm gonna die!
Well, I'm exaggerating just a tad, but in true Tragician form, when things are going well, from experience, you tell yourself this is too good to be true.

Reply
Neil Anderson
27/2/2014 03:37:06 pm

I know I'm sounding like a glass-half-empty kinda-guy. But I have been scarred as you know...from childhood.
When you see a good finish to the previous year, the younger players taking over from the old hands...like Boyd, the expectations rise. And then there comes a George Costanza moment. Everything was suddenly going well for George. A new job, new girlfriend and probably he had just found the perfect parking space. Then he discovers a tiny white mark on his lip and he's convinced he has some sort of cancer.
He starts wailing to Jerry, " I knew it! I just knew it! Just when things are working out for me...I'm gonna die!
Well, I'm exaggerating just a tad, but in true Tragician form, when things are going well, from experience, you tell yourself this is too good to be true.

Reply

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    About the Bulldog Tragician

    The Tragician blog began in 2013 as a way of recording what it is like to barrack for a perennially unsuccessful team - the AFL team, the Western Bulldogs.

    The team, based in Melbourne's west, had only won one premiership, back in 1954, and had only made one grand final since then.

    The Tragician blog explored all the other reasons - family, belonging, history and a
    sense of place - that makes even unsuccessful clubs dear to the hearts of their fans.

    ​However, an unexpected twist awaited the long-suffering Tragician: the Bulldogs pulled off an extraordinary fairytale premiership in 2016.

    The story of the unexpected and emotional triumph was captured in weekly blogs and later collated in the book: 'The Mighty West' by the Tragician Blog author Kerrie Soraghan.


    ​Go to BlackInc books to order


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