Bailey Dale Biography

The Bulldogs would have been without All-Australian hopeful Bailey Dale for this year's finals series had they qualified, after the defender suffered a broken wrist during last Sunday's defeat to Fremantle.

Dale bravely played through the entire final quarter with the wrist injury, having fallen awkwardly on his arm in the third term, with scans in the subsequent days confirming a nasty fracture.

Bailey Dale says he wants to move on from Willie Rioli's threat and put the incident behind him.

Rioli apologised for sending a message, hinting at potential trouble in Darwin this weekend, to one of Dale's teammates, a day after the Bulldogs thrashed the Power in Ballarat.

"It's just one of those things where you wake up and all of a sudden you're part of a storyline, and you didn't think you would be, and the quicker it's in the rear-vision mirror, the better for him," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said.

"Let's just learn from it and move on and make sure it doesn't happen again."

The AFL reminds clubs to communicate respectfully after Port Adelaide player Willie Rioli sent a private message to a Western Bulldogs player following a game, but no further action was taken.

Rioli was fined for striking defender Bailey Dale during the Power's loss to the Bulldogs, after which Rioli later sent a private message to another Bulldogs player alleged to have contained threats of violence against Dale.

"Port Adelaide is aware of a private message sent by Willie Rioli to a Western Bulldogs player following Saturday afternoon's game between the two clubs," the Power said in a statement.

"The matter has now been resolved privately after Willie contacted Bailey Dale from the Bulldogs."

Bailey Dale is racing against time to recover from a quad injury in order to play in the club's round one clash.

Bailey Dale signs a five-year contract extension with the Bulldogs to remain at the club until the end of 2027.

Bailey Dale will miss the rest of the 2018 season with a foot stress injury that developed following the round 10 loss to Collingwood.

"We've monitored him really closely, but scans have confirmed that he's not responding well and we are going to have to go down the surgical path," Bulldogs medical services manager Chris Bell said.

"We're going to put a screw into his navicular bone which is going to rule him out for the rest of the season."

Bailey Dale will be sidelined for up to six weeks after suffering a stress reaction in his foot.

Dale reported a sore foot in the wake of the Bulldogs' loss to Collingwood, and scans revealed a stress issue in one of the bones of his foot.

Fremantle's board has backed senior coach Ross Lyon following frenzied speculation about his future due to workplace harassment allegations.

"As a club we are fully committed to Ross as our senior coach and the recent media speculation does not in any way alter the board and the club’s commitment to Ross as senior coach of the Fremantle Dockers," Freo president Dale Alcock said.

Bailey Dale signs a new two-year deal with the Bulldogs to remain at the club until the end of 2019.

"We’ve always known that he’s an excellent user of the footy, he’s got clean, quick hands, and he certainly knows where the goals are," Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney said.

"He’s still just 21 years old so we’d expect there to be plenty of improvement left in his game, and we look forward to watching him continue to develop over the next couple of seasons."

Bailey Dale tallies a career-high 28 disposals to go with a a team-high 411 metres gained and 10 score involvements in the Bulldogs' win against St Kilda.

"High half-forward and wing is where I played most of my footy by using my leg speed and kicking ability to connect inside 50," Dale said.

"We've been lacking that kicking in the team lately and I feel I'm bringing that to the table, and it's why I'm probably keeping my spot."

Dale concedes deficiencies in his defensive capabilities were the main reason he spent long periods with Footscray, but he used that time wisely to round out his game.

"The defensive side of my game has come a long way with the help of Joel Corey and Daniel Giansiracusa," Dale said.

"I started at around 72kgs when I got to the club, but I'm sitting around 82kgs now

"Just having a stronger core has allowed me to stand up in tackles, and if you do that well at AFL level you probably last a long time in the game."

Bailey Dale makes his AFL debut for the Western Bulldogs against the Fremantle Dockers at Etihad Stadium.

"He's very versatile, he's got a lot of courage and he's highly skilled," Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said prior to the game.

"He has knocked down quiet a few barriers to get to this point and be considered for senior selection.

"We've picked Bailey for his first game against Fremantle, so it just shows we've got faith in him to come in and perform a role for us.

"He'll go out there and fit in quite well."

Bailey Dale makes his AFL debut for the Western Bulldogs at Docklands Stadium with 12 disposals (6 kicks and 6 handballs), 3 marks, a tackle and a goal in a 13-point loss to Fremantle.

The Western Bulldogs select Bailey Dale with pick No.45 in the 2014 NAB AFL Draft.

"Bailey was a really interesting player to watch this year. Every week we watched him we saw something," Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney said.

"Bailey played mainly half forward and on the wing and his main trait is his ability to get in off the line.

"He's really clean at stoppages and has a high contested possession rate because he is so clean and composed in traffic."