Written by Such a fractured culture was believed to exist late last year in the AFLs Western Bulldogs that star midfielder Josh Dunkley wanted to break his contract. Dunkley was supposedly frustrated with the club’s leadership and culture which he believed needed to be more professional.
“He’s part of the leadership group and he’s pulling the club one way and he believes certain teammates are taking it the other way.” – Tom Morris (Fox Footy)
A major problem with Dunkley’s disquiet is that it had reportedly been festering for three years, building to a massive concern for him that he believed the club is unwilling or unable to fix. The Bulldogs had been left reeling by these reports and denied that the culture in the club was the issue, saying that any absence of professionalism was endemic in the competition and that professionalism was normally at a higher level.
The general feeling within the Bulldogs was that Dunkley had an issue with a couple of the players and that it shouldn’t be assumed that there were any widespread cultural issues, particularly that have subsisted for years. The truth in the view of the team, was that Dunkley had been sold on as a player of legendary status and at an extremely attractive $600 000 per year for a four-year contract with the Essendon Bombers.
Fast forward to June 2021, and Dunkley, recovering from a shoulder reconstruction, is still with the Western Bulldogs and is one of 16 players who stayed in Sydney, NSW, and subsequently weren’t caught in Victoria in the current lockdown with the rest of the team.
“As far away as they are, it’s important to still feel involved and do things that they’re doing (up in Sydney) … It’s been good to get together and galvanise and lean on each other in this small group that we have, but at the same time we’re feeling for everyone out there in Victoria too. It’s nice to have the matureness and the senior guys here because it’s not easy, and I think everyone knows it’s not easy to be in Victoria at the moment.” – Josh Dunkley
Bulldogs’ development manager, Jamie Maddocks, has praised the positive mindset exhibited by the group in Melbourne in how they have dealt with the challenges, saying “We’ve been really impressed by the players’ attitudes and the way they’ve been attacking their training.”
Clearly the culture was strong enough to overcome the internal politics challenging it late last year, so much so that Dunkley publicly declared “We’re sticking together” through the latest covid-caused disturbance to the unison during training. They have also, as a team, weathered a devastating loss to the Melbourne Demons last week which they hope to learn from before they face their next match against the Freemantle Dockers this Sunday night in Perth WA.
Ultimately a positive culture is not about a constantly perfect team that is always winning, it exists as protection from collapse under pressure, as a support to an organisation or team as it learns from mistakes, improves and moves on.
How the Bulldogs can bounce back from Demon “horror show” (sen.com.au)