WB Game Day V Melbourne R1 2023 - Saturday March 18, 7:25PM, MCG

[Boots]

Is May confirmed out or is it still just suspected?

[GVGjr]

Is May confirmed out or is it still just suspected?

I heard it said that he will most likely be out for 2 weeks. It will be confirmed in a couple of hour Boots

[NoseBleed]

I work with someone who also works at the Dee's, and when I suggested May would be out she scoffed.

[Axe Man]

No confirmation on May yet but they have confirmed 2 debutants in Judd McVee and Bailey Laurie.

[Boots]

I work with someone who also works at the Dee's, and when I suggested May would be out she scoffed.

Yeah it has the feel of silly buggers to me. Trying to get some psychological points ahead of the match.

[bornadog]

Yeah it has the feel of silly buggers to me. Trying to get some psychological points ahead of the match.

You know, I would prefer Melbourne had all their best players in - no excuses then.

[Happy Days]

You know, I would prefer Melbourne had all their best players in - no excuses then.

Nah this way is much better I reckon.

[Prince Imperial]

Nah this way is much better I reckon.

I agree. Let's belt them by as much as possible and finish the H&A the highest we can and ahead of them.

[GVGjr]

You know, I would prefer Melbourne had all their best players in - no excuses then.

Bit the same, if we lose you really have to question our quality or structure and if we win we will question how much the outs impacted them.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Anyone know if the afl has a heat policy?

[Axe Man]

What the coach said: Round 1

The key talking points from Luke Beveridge’s weekly press conference.

Tall forwards

We obviously had a reasonable outing against the Kangaroos – the thing that was pleasing about that game was half our goals came from turnover and half from stoppage. It was a pretty good ratio. Our key forwards were influential in that game. A little bit in all of us is intrigued about how it all plays out.

For the first time since I’ve coached our club, we’ve got depth through there with a roster of guys who can definitely shake up the competition. In that sense for our supporters, it’s really exciting.

If you’re standing next to Sam Darcy or Rory Lobb or if Tim English drifts down and you still have Aaron Naughton and Jamarra to contend with, those 1 v 1s are probably going to need some help. That will be an interesting part of the byplay, how well our forwards can be relevant and isolate.

Pressure forwards

JJ is in and Mitch is in – they’ll provide some of the forward pressure. Laitham is out for a little while still. The role players through there are ever important, we still have the mids that play a little bit of forward time because they have too. Our wings are evolving, we’ve got Oskar Baker and Bailey Williams is spending a lot of time as a winger. Anthony Scott can also do that. We feel they will work together tomorrow night to provide that.

Marcus Bontempelli

If Marcus can play any better than 2021 it would be quite amazing. We all feel responsible for him not winning the Brownlow that year because at the end of that year, our last few games weren’t where they needed to be. Every Brownlow Medallist needs a good team around them. He was still influential at times last year, definitely at the end when he was starting to feel a bit better. If he could get close to it, that would be amazing.

Bailey Smith & Adam Treloar

Adam and Bailey have both had their interruptions – it’s one of the reasons why we had Caleb and Cody running through the midfield, having contingencies in place if those marquee midfielders weren’t available. We exposed some of the boys to centre bounce. Whatever Bailey and Adam do on Saturday, they’ll continue to flourish from there. They’re absolutely ready – there last month has been extremely solid.

Top 4 mentality

Aspirationally every year we want to be the best. I think we’ve always said that, we aim to be, we don’t claim we’re going to be. There has always been a strong belief that we can be, which is a great starting point. I like the fact the players are declaring that’s where we want to head this year and that’s the tick off point. It is the way we all feel. Depends on what unfolds, everyone is after some good fortune with their playing roster and it means a lot in the challenges of 23 rounds. We haven’t been there yet in my time, but the same aspiration has been there every year.

[jazzadogs]

What the coach said: Round 1

The key talking points from Luke Beveridge’s weekly press conference.

Tall forwards

We obviously had a reasonable outing against the Kangaroos – the thing that was pleasing about that game was half our goals came from turnover and half from stoppage. It was a pretty good ratio. Our key forwards were influential in that game. A little bit in all of us is intrigued about how it all plays out.

For the first time since I’ve coached our club, we’ve got depth through there with a roster of guys who can definitely shake up the competition. In that sense for our supporters, it’s really exciting.

If you’re standing next to Sam Darcy or Rory Lobb or if Tim English drifts down and you still have Aaron Naughton and Jamarra to contend with, those 1 v 1s are probably going to need some help. That will be an interesting part of the byplay, how well our forwards can be relevant and isolate.

Pressure forwards

JJ is in and Mitch is in – they’ll provide some of the forward pressure. Laitham is out for a little while still. The role players through there are ever important, we still have the mids that play a little bit of forward time because they have too. Our wings are evolving, we’ve got Oskar Baker and Bailey Williams is spending a lot of time as a winger. Anthony Scott can also do that. We feel they will work together tomorrow night to provide that.

Marcus Bontempelli

If Marcus can play any better than 2021 it would be quite amazing. We all feel responsible for him not winning the Brownlow that year because at the end of that year, our last few games weren’t where they needed to be. Every Brownlow Medallist needs a good team around them. He was still influential at times last year, definitely at the end when he was starting to feel a bit better. If he could get close to it, that would be amazing.

Bailey Smith & Adam Treloar

Adam and Bailey have both had their interruptions – it’s one of the reasons why we had Caleb and Cody running through the midfield, having contingencies in place if those marquee midfielders weren’t available. We exposed some of the boys to centre bounce. Whatever Bailey and Adam do on Saturday, they’ll continue to flourish from there. They’re absolutely ready – there last month has been extremely solid.

Top 4 mentality

Aspirationally every year we want to be the best. I think we’ve always said that, we aim to be, we don’t claim we’re going to be. There has always been a strong belief that we can be, which is a great starting point. I like the fact the players are declaring that’s where we want to head this year and that’s the tick off point. It is the way we all feel. Depends on what unfolds, everyone is after some good fortune with their playing roster and it means a lot in the challenges of 23 rounds. We haven’t been there yet in my time, but the same aspiration has been there every year.

Some great responses from Bevo there.

[bornadog]

Some great responses from Bevo there.

I love this bit about top 4

I like the fact the players are declaring that’s where we want to head this year and that’s the tick off point. It is the way we all feel.

[GVGjr]

I wonder how critical our use of the tactical sub might be tonight?
We are going in tall and a bit light on of running players and yet our emergencies aren't noted runners. Given that it will be hot conditions it could be a critical decision of when to utilise that option.

[SonofScray]

I’m really looking forward to the season starting tonight. First time since the pandemic started that I actually feel fully invested and keen to go.