Always Right Match Committee - Round 18 Vs Gold Coast Suns 2021

[Happy Days]

I’d drop the Mitches for Naughton and Dunkley, and could be talked into JJ for McNeil.

[Dry Rot]

Dunno why some of you are calling for Garcia to be dropped.

[Scraggers]

Dunno why some of you are calling for Garcia to be dropped.

Garcia plays. He has done enough to keep his position. His in and under and hardball need to stay in our game.

[GVGjr]

Dunno why some of you are calling for Garcia to be dropped.

For accuracy it's one person who's nominated him not some.

[divvydan]

For me, the easy part are the ins. Naughton comes in. If fit, Dunkley comes in. Who goes out is harder. We've been playing poorly for two weeks now, I hope it's because we're in a heavy training block, but who knows. Realistically we have half a dozen players who should make way. My thoughts are;

In: Naughton, Dunkley
Out: Hannan, Wallis.

I personally think we're best off when we play 3 talls and I don't think either of Hannan or Wallis do enough either in the air or as defensive players. I think it's likely that Bevo will take out Marra instead of Hannan and I can understand that but I think Marra did enough to suggest that he can provide defensive pressure, even if his hands are way too hard in the marking contest. Having watched around 3/4 of the VFL game, I didn't really see any standouts that warranted inclusion in the AFL team, so I wouldn't be inclined to bring anyone else in. If Dunkley isn't fit, then probably Hannan keeps his place.

[1eyedog]

Contrary to my posts last week I don't really care how crap Sweet is playing in the VFL he simply must come in to allow English to play forward. English forward was where we looked our most dangerous earlier in the year. I'm not really seeing the negative roll on affect dropping Cordy, Hannan, JJ or Scott for Sweet.

Lewy Young needs to play CHB. He's a Barrass-type player not a forward and not a second ruck (even though he did battle manfully yesterday).

McNeil needs to play he's got good intensity and covers a lot of ground quickly I have no idea why he hasn't been given more of an opportunity.

Naughton in for Hannan
Sweet in for Cordy and Lewy Young to CHB
McNeil in for Scott
Dunks in for Wallis

[comrade]

Contrary to my posts last week I don't really care how crap Sweet is playing in the VFL he simply must come in to allow English to play forward. English forward was where we looked our most dangerous earlier in the year. I'm not really seeing the negative roll on affect dropping Cordy, Hannan, JJ or Scott for Sweet.

Lewy Young needs to play CHB. He's a Barrass-type player not a forward and not a second ruck (even though he did battle manfully yesterday).

McNeil needs to play he's got good intensity and covers a lot of ground quickly I have no idea why he hasn't been given more of an opportunity.

Naughton in for Hannan
Sweet in for Cordy and Lewy Young to CHB
McNeil in for Scott
Dunks in for Wallis

I'm off Sweet after his last 3 weeks in the VFL, but there's no denying our structure is buggered at the moment with English as solo ruck and Young being thrown to the wolves.

I could get behind all these changes

[bulldogsthru&thru]

We're effectively playing ZERO ruck without Martin in the side. As far as I'm concerned, English is not a ruckman.

[comrade]

We're effectively playing ZERO ruck without Martin in the side. As far as I'm concerned, English is not a ruckman.

Martin is arguably our most important player on the sidelines right now. Inditement on our list management over the last 3 years that the ruck is still such a massive concern.

[Happy Days]

One thing to consider is that GC are probably the only team to treat the ruck with more contempt than us, playing Burgess (who is bad and possibly shorter than me) as their number one with pretty much no support.

I think if we can make due against Nicnat without Martin then it shouldn’t sting too bad against GC.

[Rocco Jones]

The ruck call is not a decision between right or wrong but one between bad or worse.

Burgess actually makes me more open to playing Sweet as it brings in his ability to win hitouts against poor/non rucks. Against a semi-decent AFL ruck, he gets beaten in the contest then is a liability elsewhere. The irony is that if we play him against the Suns, he will be up against a far inferior player in the ruck contest than his previous 3 VFL opponents.

Sweet was so poor in the first half that we had to move him to keep us in a VFL game. I get Sinclair is AFL level-ish but that's concerning short term (I am overall please with Sweet's progress). Thought Sweet fought back well after moving forward and was better in the ruck later on.

I get both sides of the argument but don't get how you can be strongly one way or another. Both options are bad and more about extracting things elsewhere. As stated previously by others, a mature ruck would be nice. Doesn't have to that good.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

I get both sides of the argument but don't get how you can be strongly one way or another. Both options are bad and more about extracting things elsewhere. As stated previously by others, a mature ruck would be nice. Doesn't have to that good.

I agree with the in between parts but not the end RJ!

We spent 3 years seeing English fail more than he succeeded as a solo ruck, aided by midfielders (Dunkley, Jong, Bont, Macrae), key defenders (Cordy, now Young) and key forwards (Bruce, Schache). This included English being hammered in the ruck and fatigued around the ground, fatigued mids and then a lack of structure both back and forward.

We spent roughly 6 weeks seeing how dangerous English can be as a second ruck/forward which was when we looked at our best. Whenever Cordy is forced to be our second KPD, we're in trouble. When we played Melbourne, May/Lever contained Bruce/Naughton but if you enable English to play 60-70% forward then that throws them a big challenge.

I think it's negligent what we're currently doing - we KNOW English as a solo ruck doesn't win us big games and doesn't win us finals. It's proven. So why persist? We KNOW English, as a ruck/forward, really troubles sides with Bruce and Naughton. Why wouldn't we look to continue this, even IF Martin is injured?

Sweet isn't a great option, but him playing means English can play more forward. It means Young can play KPD without being shifted to 3 areas of the ground. It means our mids play as mids and our key forwards play as key forwards.

Does anyone really think playing Sweet instead of one of Hannan/Scott/Wallis hurts us in ANY way?

[Mantis]

I agree with the in between parts but not the end RJ!

We spent 3 years seeing English fail more than he succeeded as a solo ruck, aided by midfielders (Dunkley, Jong, Bont, Macrae), key defenders (Cordy, now Young) and key forwards (Bruce, Schache). This included English being hammered in the ruck and fatigued around the ground, fatigued mids and then a lack of structure both back and forward.

We spent roughly 6 weeks seeing how dangerous English can be as a second ruck/forward which was when we looked at our best. Whenever Cordy is forced to be our second KPD, we're in trouble. When we played Melbourne, May/Lever contained Bruce/Naughton but if you enable English to play 60-70% forward then that throws them a big challenge.

I think it's negligent what we're currently doing - we KNOW English as a solo ruck doesn't win us big games and doesn't win us finals. It's proven. So why persist? We KNOW English, as a ruck/forward, really troubles sides with Bruce and Naughton. Why wouldn't we look to continue this, even IF Martin is injured?

Sweet isn't a great option, but him playing means English can play more forward. It means Young can play KPD without being shifted to 3 areas of the ground. It means our mids play as mids and our key forwards play as key forwards.

Does anyone really think playing Sweet instead of one of Hannan/Scott/Wallis hurts us in ANY way?

English played as a forward against Melbourne and we still got beat pretty comfortably so whilst we threw Melb the challenge, they still had our measure.

And to your last point the opportunity for a ruckman to influence a game is much greater than a small/medium forward... agree that those 3 in particular aren't giving us what we need and should be replaced by like types moving forward, but I don't think we can view the impact they have on the game the same.

[MrMahatma]

Out: Hannan, Wallis
In: Naughton, Dunkley

I think on balance we need VDM back asap.

Also JUH stays in for me, I'd predict he gets dropped though.

[Mantis]

Out: Hannan, Wallis
In: Naughton, Dunkley

I'd keep Wallis in... for now. He'll be out when VDM is back.

Also JUH stays in for me, I'd predict he gets dropped though.

You would?