Bruce Down Back? The Case Against

As frustrating as Season 2022 was for the Western Bulldogs, it’s hard to argue against much of what they have done during the off-season.

They have brought it a host of players that all fill a need in the team’s on-field structure, the arrival of Brendon Lade as an assistant coach provides a groundswell of experience that the Bulldogs’ brains trust sorely lacked last year, and whether you agree with the call or not, the decision to extend senior coach Luke Beveridge’s contract for a further two years completely removes from play the potential for a “will he or won’t he” distraction in 2023.

Of course, we’re a long way from having finals and Premierships decided this year, but so far, they’ve made all the right moves.

However, despite all of this, the long-flagged transitioning of Josh Bruce into defence has nagged at me for several months, and it’s one move that I still can’t get on board with, as we close to within six weeks of Round 1.

Versatility has always been a core aspect of a Luke Beveridge-led side; we are all well aware of his track record of haphazardly throwing players into various positions, or, as we’ve coined it on the podcast in recent years, “Bevo Shenanigans”. Having said that, I wouldn’t necessarily add this Bruce switch to that list of case studies for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, as many people on social media have already pointed out, Bruce is no stranger to playing as a key defender. At the start of his AFL career, Bruce was regularly deployed as a key defender when at the GWS Giants and continued to play in that role when he started his time at St Kilda until then-coach Alan Richardson made the decision to swing him forward, which is where his career started to take off.

Secondly, despite the plethora of young tall forwards that have quickly risen through the ranks in recent seasons, including the likes of Aaron Naughton and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, the club’s key defensive stocks are in a very different state of affairs, with the Bulldogs last year being susceptible to conceding big bags to goals to key forwards, almost weekly. The Bulldogs have tried to combat this in the off-season with some smart acquisitions, but a question mark continues to remain over how effective the Bulldogs key defenders will be next year. The club will surely welcome any opportunity to help bolster their defensive options.

Josh Bruce has spent much of the pre-season training as a key defender. Source: Getty Images

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly for those wanting to label this as more Bevo Shenanigans, the transition into defence was arguably instigated more by Bruce himself. Seeing the impending arrival of Rory Lobb from Fremantle, Bruce recognised that competition for spots in the forward line would be desperately intense heading into 2023, and suggested to Beveridge that he may be better suited to a move into defence upon their exit meeting at the end of last year.

So on the surface, there are solid grounds for making the move of throwing Bruce into defence, but there are a few factors that continue to bring forth doubt within me.

Whilst Bruce indeed started his career as a key defender, there’s a big difference between playing as a key defender and succeeding as a key defender. To be fair, Bruce was up against it in terms of being a young key back in struggling sides, but if memory serves me right, the only reason Bruce was thrown forward in the first place was because it wasn't working out for him down back; it stands to reason that the Saints wouldn’t have thrown him forward in the first place if he was putting in strong performances as a key defender. Granted, the Josh Bruce of 2014 is very different to the one we have on our hands today, but it is hard to imagine just how much he has learnt about stopping goals in the past decade when his primary focus during that time has been trying to kick them.

Also, despite what I said already about the abilities of our key defensive stocks, I think there is already greater depth with our key backs compared to our key forwards, even if you factor Bruce out of the equation. Let’s have a look at who could realistically play as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tall defender, and compare that to our tall options up forward:

Tall defenders (193cm+):

Alex Keath

Liam Jones

Ryan Gardner

Buku Khamis

Sam Darcy

Jedd Busslinger

Tim O’Brien

Tall Forwards (193cm+):

Aaron Naughton

Rory Lobb

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

Tim English

The only other 193cm+ players currently on the list are Marcus Bontempelli and Jordon Sweet.

Realistically, how many of those tall defenders does Bruce play ahead of? Assuming everyone is fit, Liam Jones will be a lock, and while Ryan Gardner is not everyone’s cup of tea, he is a favourite of Luke Beveridge, and I think the days of a fully fit Sam Darcy running around for Footscray are already over.

You could make a case for Alex Keath’s spot in the Best 22 being vulnerable, but even he has come back to pre-season having trimmed down and has looked in very good condition by all reports. That’s already at least three (possibly even four) key defenders that will be ahead of Bruce come Round 1, and there’s no way you could justify playing five key backs in the side just to shoehorn Bruce into the team.

As talented as Jedd Busslinger is, he is still a while away from being a regular at senior level, so you would suspect that Bruce is ahead of him for now. Despite spending time up forward last season, I think the long-term plan is for Buku Khamis to play in defence, while the jury is very much out on Tim O’Brien’s ability to succeed at this level. In terms of where they rank in the pecking order compared to Bruce, I think you can make the case either way at this stage.

Given that there are only really four players who could play as a key forward (and one of them being Tim English, who will spend large portions of the year in the ruck) if one of Naughton, Lobb or Ugle-Hagan goes down, Bruce is probably next in line, anyway. There’s already plenty of depth in the key defensive ranks (if arguably less ability), meaning that Bruce’s chances of playing as that key defender are no better than what they are of him playing up forward. The case for playing Bruce down back would probably be a lot stronger if Sam Darcy was to be used up forward, but for now, at least, the Bulldogs look to have committed to using him in defence as well.

Even if Josh Bruce isn't a first-choice forward, should anything happen to Aaron Naughton, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan or Rory Lobb, Bruce should be next in line. Source: Getty Images

Finally, the thing that stands out to me more than most, is that just 12 months ago, Bruce was the leading goalkicker in a side that made the Grand Final, having kicked 48 goals in 20 games. In fact, he was on track to becoming the first key forward in a decade to kick 50+ goals in a season for the Bulldogs. Naturally, a large part of Bruce's 2022 was spent recovering from his ACL rupture, learning to trust his body again, and once again trying to acclimatise to the pace of the AFL.

Anyone who has suffered such a serious injury will recount how long it can take to fully recover both physically and mentally, and we shouldn’t be so quick to try to discard or re-invent a proven goalkicker solely off the back of such an injury. In an era where quality, goal-kicking talls are so hard to come by, can we afford to be wasting one at the other end of the ground? Despite being 30 years of age, Bruce still has plenty of offer over the coming seasons, but I believe that he remains most effective for us as someone who can kick goals, rather than prevent them.

Josh Bruce led the club's goalkicking charts in 2021 with 48 goals in 20 games. Source: Getty Images