Always Right Match Committee Round 2 V St Kilda

[The Bulldogs Bite]

When you look at the output in terms of possessions from our ''guns'' who mostly reside in the midfield from the weekends game you'd struggle to have an issue:

Macrae - 33
Libba - 32
Treloar - 31
Smith - 27
Bont - 25

Even the players we want to get the ball in the back half had heaps or enough of it:

Daniel - 29
Richards - 27
Dale - 19

So who do you drop from this group?

I'd consider dropping both Macrae and Daniel.

I'd have been in favour of trading both at the end of last year, or end of this year if a good deal was available.

For all their pros, Macrae cannot play any other position on the ground. He's slow and I think his foot skills have dropped remarkably. When we play against dynamic sides (of which Melbourne are), it's really telling.

If Daniel can't hit targets, he's in real trouble. He was awful last year and that carried into last week. I've been a big fan but I'm concerned, he isn't in the side to defend.

[1eyedog]

In his last 8 games last season English averaged 13 possessions per game. The same as Sweet got against Collingwood.

But yes, I understand that not all 13s are equal.

And English’s 11 in round 20 was a thousand times better than Sweet’s 11 four weeks earlier. Maths is funny that way.

And English combined his with 25 hitouts which were clearly a million times better than Sweets 26.

English is our champion and Sweet is our dinosaur, fortunately language doesn’t follow rules like mathematics.


I ‘m not criticising English and if I had to choose between them I would take English every time. But to get the most successful team I would often have both. We have squandered opportunities by playing favourites for too long.

Look at what happened on Saturday. Was anyone surprised?

You've just used two examples. That sample size is too small. I know he's only played 11 games but let's be honest he has shown very little outside of taps to advantage. English offers way more flexibility and everyone knows it.

Would you drop English for Sweet because there is no way Sweet provides anywhere near the return we need if he's not rucking. Fact of the matter is regardless how much you 'Schache up his stats' Sweet is not going to be played in front of English and we know he can't play in the same side. His only hope is if English gets injured and I'm fine with that.

We've invested way too much so now need to be responsible for the decision.

[GVGjr]

My gut feel based on training today is that Jones will be available for selection and we just have to work out if we want to give him a week off.

[Danjul]

When you look at the output in terms of possessions from our ''guns'' who mostly reside in the midfield from the weekends game you'd struggle to have an issue:

Macrae - 33
Libba - 32
Treloar - 31
Smith - 27
Bont - 25

Even the players we want to get the ball in the back half had heaps or enough of it:

Daniel - 29
Richards - 27
Dale - 19

So who do you drop from this group?

I wouldn’t consider dropping any of them. Not for one second.

The Bont had 25 possessions but he was rarely in a position to kick it properly. And we all know what a superb kick he is. But his game couldn’t flow. He was forced to handball instead.

Treloar ditto. As you say, 31 possessions. But less than one third were kicks.

Macrae ditto. 33 possessions but only one third were kicks.

So between just these three players, who we expect to be the engine room, we got 50 handballs. That doesn’t generate momentum, it kills it.

Melbourne’s winning strategy is based on kicking to a teammate who has run into the open 35-40 metres ahead. For example, Tomlinson and Pickett both had 19 possessions. And both had 15 relatively pressure free kicks.

Those two players combined to have more kicks than Bont, Macrae and Treloar combined. You are heading for trouble if you let that continue.


Our players were not soft, tuned out or lazy. They were busy and committed. But In a losing structure. One that would look fine against the Saints but not against quality like Melbourne who have worked us out.

[EasternWest]

My gut feel based on training today is that Jones will be available for selection and we just have to work out if we want to give him a week off.

Which Jones?

[Danjul]

You've just used two examples. That sample size is too small. I know he's only played 11 games but let's be honest he has shown very little outside of taps to advantage. English offers way more flexibility and everyone knows it.

Would you drop English for Sweet because there is no way Sweet provides anywhere near the return we need if he's not rucking. Fact of the matter is regardless how much you 'Schache up his stats' Sweet is not going to be played in front of English and we know he can't play in the same side. His only hope is if English gets injured and I'm fine with that.

We've invested way too much so now need to be responsible for the decision.

I have never said Sweet is better than English so your comment is not factually based. I said I would select English over Sweet every time.

But I wouldn’t expect Sweet to have as little impact as an injured Lobb. And the selectors knew that there was a problem. Let’s repeat that. The selectors knew Lobb had a problem. They took an unnecessary gamble and failed the supporters, the team and the club.

Lobb contributed nothing. He was simply a waste of space. And that’s simply stating a fact. He should not have been selected in these circumstances. I don’t blame him in any way. But we have seen this type of selection nonsense repeatedly.

I am happy for you to see Lobb’s presence as a positive on Saturday night but I find your comment is without merit.

Sweet would have been able to take a significant load off English, gain important experience and certainly contribute something. Another wasted opportunity.

We failed to get the points, but we should not have been beaten by anything near 50 points. And with Sweet playing I suspect that would have been the case.

[GVGjr]

Which Jones?

Liam

[EasternWest]

Liam

Good but also damn I wanna see Artie.

[1eyedog]

I have never said Sweet is better than English so your comment is not factually based. I said I would select English over Sweet every time.

But I wouldn’t expect Sweet to have as little impact as an injured Lobb. And the selectors knew that there was a problem. Let’s repeat that. The selectors knew Lobb had a problem. They took an unnecessary gamble and failed the supporters, the team and the club.

Lobb contributed nothing. He was simply a waste of space. And that’s simply stating a fact. He should not have been selected in these circumstances. I don’t blame him in any way. But we have seen this type of selection nonsense repeatedly.

I am happy for you to see Lobb’s presence as a positive on Saturday night but I find your comment is without merit.

Sweet would have been able to take a significant load off English, gain important experience and certainly contribute something. Another wasted opportunity.

We failed to get the points, but we should not have been beaten by anything near 50 points. And with Sweet playing I suspect that would have been the case.

Sweet is not playing in the same side as English so it's a moot point! He can't play in the same side as English because we've invested way too much in English as the primary ruck and we can't justify Sweet sucking up a spot only to ruck 20% of the game. He simply has zero hurt factor as a forward and will be a liability.

Lobb was 100% a liability on Saturday night but I know he's a better forward than Sweet and I don't need Sweet to add to his 11 games to confirm this.

[GVGjr]

Good but also damn I wanna see Artie.

He's a terrific young fellow, first onto the track with the footy in hand and always having a laugh with people.
I think he would have played R1 if he was fit. His progress from mid Jan was impressive.

[Danjul]

Sweet is not playing in the same side as English so it's a moot point! He can't play in the same side as English because we've invested way too much in English as the primary ruck and we can't justify Sweet sucking up a spot only to ruck 20% of the game. He simply has zero hurt factor as a forward and will be a liability.

Lobb was 100% a liability on Saturday night but I know he's a better forward than Sweet and I don't need Sweet to add to his 11 games to confirm this.

An injured Lobb who was a 100% liability was a worse selection than everyone. Melbourne fielded 22 fit players and we had selectors who lost their minds at 21.

We knew something was wrong when Naughton was rucking. And as usual he was put off his game by it. Everyone was thrown off balance. The whole forward line contributed 2? goals. So much for hurt factor. There’s a good chance Sweet could have kicked more goals than we actually got from 5 of those played if he had simply stood there by himself.

We lost the 2021 Grand Final because of bizarre selection and coaching decisions during the last part of the season left us 0.1% outside the final four. Well, selecting Lobb has cost us more than that already.

Unfortunately, falling on one’s sword went out with the last Samurai. I, for one, think it is time for a comeback with this mob.

[bornadog]

My gut feel based on training today is that Jones will be available for selection and we just have to work out if we want to give him a week off.

Did he train today

Edit: Trained lightly but didnot compete

[GVGjr]

Did he train today

Edit: Trained lightly but didnot compete

Yes and he moved okay but typical protocol of how they treat injured players after a knock and they remain in the non contact group.

[Bullies]

I'd consider dropping both Macrae and Daniel.

I'd have been in favour of trading both at the end of last year, or end of this year if a good deal was available.

For all their pros, Macrae cannot play any other position on the ground. He's slow and I think his foot skills have dropped remarkably. When we play against dynamic sides (of which Melbourne are), it's really telling.

If Daniel can't hit targets, he's in real trouble. He was awful last year and that carried into last week. I've been a big fan but I'm concerned, he isn't in the side to defend.

I would play Daniel as a samll forward until we get back (Jones/Weightman/Clarke). He knows how to read the game and it is something we lack at the moment. As we know he is very smart with ball in hand and has good goal sense.

[Sedat]

An injured Lobb who was a 100% liability was a worse selection than everyone. Melbourne fielded 22 fit players and we had selectors who lost their minds at 21.

We knew something was wrong when Naughton was rucking. And as usual he was put off his game by it. Everyone was thrown off balance. The whole forward line contributed 2? goals. So much for hurt factor. There???s a good chance Sweet could have kicked more goals than we actually got from 5 of those played if he had simply stood there by himself.

We lost the 2021 Grand Final because of bizarre selection and coaching decisions during the last part of the season left us 0.1% outside the final four. Well, selecting Lobb has cost us more than that already.

Unfortunately, falling on one???s sword went out with the last Samurai. I, for one, think it is time for a comeback with this mob.

Now that we know Lobb went into R1 under an injury cloud that clearly hampered him in game, and now requires immediate surgery, it was a very poor match committee decision - I don't think anybody could dispute that.

I disagree that we lost the 2021 GF because of bizarre selections in the last 4 rounds of H&A. We were 19 points up in the GF with about 37 minutes of playing time left, had just kicked 8 of the last 9 goals and Melbourne were freezing cold, looked clueless for a quarter and a half, and didn't look like scoring in that stretch. Put simply, we gave a sucker an even break, and that sucker is now emboldened against us in every subsequent match and own our sorry ass. We could have struck a mortal blow to the confidence and psyche of a fellow contender as well as give the rest of the competition shivers about our air of invincibility - imagine the narrative post GF about our travels around Australia, our inability to leave our hotel rooms, being under strict (and in hindsight, utterly ridiculous) quarantine and yet still overcoming all obstacles to win another flag again from outside top 4. Instead, we showed our soft underbelly (that has been ruthlessly exposed by the better teams in the last 12 months), and instead it is Melbourne who we gve a leg-up to and who now have that air of invincibility.