Always Right Match Committee Round 12 v Geelong

[Scraggers]

Welcome to the Always Right Match Committee Thread. The Match Committee threads has been named after long time WOOF member Always Right who tragically passed away in March 2018.

If you were on the Western Bulldogs match committee, what changes would you make after our Round Eleven match against GC Suns for our Round Twelve match against Geelong at Marvel on Saturday night.

For those new to these threads, please give a brief explanation for your changes ... this would add a lot of value to the discussion

[GVGjr]

Bump

[bulldogtragic]

Out:

McNeil (forever)
Hannan (forever)
JOD

In:

Treloar
Cleary
Bruce

[Grantysghost]

Out:

McNeil (forever)
Hannan (forever)
JOD

In:

Treloar
Cleary
Bruce

Forever! How dare you

I don't think it's the 21/22 players fault.

Not sure having others in their spot tonight makes us win.

[azabob]

Out:

McNeil (forever)
Hannan (forever)
JOD

In:

Treloar
Cleary
Bruce

A backline of Jones, Gardner, O’Brien and Bruce would be not be very fun to watch.

[bulldogtragic]

A backline of Jones, Gardner, O’Brien and Bruce would be not be very fun to watch.

You just talked TOB into Footscray. Hope you’re happy with yourself. Clarke to debut.

[Danjul]

Saturday night was not a totally unexpected disaster. There?s even a WOOF thread that suggested that it was a real possibility.

Why was it on peoples minds? Because there have been problems leading up to this game. Problems that were not addressed.

We defeated GWS, both teams had the same number of scoring shots. And GWS was missing their best? player. It was a win but not really a confidence booster. Fell over the line against Carlton and despite dominating against Adelaide our forwards looked suspect again.

Cracks were appearing in English?s ruck work but escaped examination in the euphoria around the wins. Grand Final- here we come. Nothing to worry about here. On Saturday the cracks in the forward line and ruck opened further.

Correct me if I am wrong but I saw opposition tap ruckmen give their rovers easy stats in the last 4 games. Bont and Libba struggled uncharacteristically this time. No criticism intended for any of them. We simply have not considered getting a plan B. English is taking 70 or 80 contests against big bodies, and still contributing around the ground.

We spend hours every week deciding whether we will play McNeil, McComb, Hannan, ?. and then more hours reviewing their meagre possessions (none of which were significant). These players should not be part of our strategy.

On Saturday the forwards were struggling. Naughton, Jones, Lobb and Weightman didn?t seem to understand that their reason for being in the team was simply to kick goals. The few we were getting came from others up the field. We needed to change the dynamics, put the Suns defenders under some real pressure. Swing our number 22 player into the mix, shake up the ruck and the forward line, let English get some pressure off the forwards and boot a few goals. Change the predictability around throw-ins, put a doubt into the minds of the opposition midfielders. Never been part of the plan. So echoes of the end of 2021. Let fate play out. Lose.

So lucky we have O?Brien to blame. I don?t see him as being any part of the problem. Lobb?s kick from close in was simply a catastrophe when it hit the behind post and failed to score. Naughton contributed nothing from his easy kick at goal from less than 30 metres. These are our seasoned champions. Two easy goals here and we still win. Our win should never have been at risk. But as we are clearly showing, without a real plan B we are always at risk.

[Happy Days]

Saturday night was not a totally unexpected disaster. There?s even a WOOF thread that suggested that it was a real possibility.

Why was it on peoples minds? Because there have been problems leading up to this game. Problems that were not addressed.

We defeated GWS, both teams had the same number of scoring shots. And GWS was missing their best? player. It was a win but not really a confidence booster. Fell over the line against Carlton and despite dominating against Adelaide our forwards looked suspect again.

Cracks were appearing in English?s ruck work but escaped examination in the euphoria around the wins. Grand Final- here we come. Nothing to worry about here. On Saturday the cracks in the forward line and ruck opened further.

Correct me if I am wrong but I saw opposition tap ruckmen give their rovers easy stats in the last 4 games. Bont and Libba struggled uncharacteristically this time. No criticism intended for any of them. We simply have not considered getting a plan B. English is taking 70 or 80 contests against big bodies, and still contributing around the ground.

We spend hours every week deciding whether we will play McNeil, McComb, Hannan, ?. and then more hours reviewing their meagre possessions (none of which were significant). These players should not be part of our strategy.

On Saturday the forwards were struggling. Naughton, Jones, Lobb and Weightman didn?t seem to understand that their reason for being in the team was simply to kick goals. The few we were getting came from others up the field. We needed to change the dynamics, put the Suns defenders under some real pressure. Swing our number 22 player into the mix, shake up the ruck and the forward line, let English get some pressure off the forwards and boot a few goals. Change the predictability around throw-ins, put a doubt into the minds of the opposition midfielders. Never been part of the plan. So echoes of the end of 2021. Let fate play out. Lose.

So lucky we have O?Brien to blame. I don?t see him as being any part of the problem. Lobb?s kick from close in was simply a catastrophe when it hit the behind post and failed to score. Naughton contributed nothing from his easy kick at goal from less than 30 metres. These are our seasoned champions. Two easy goals here and we still win. Our win should never have been at risk. But as we are clearly showing, without a real plan B we are always at risk.

So is there a change to the team in there or should we just fold the club because everything is so hopeless and bad?

[Grantysghost]

So is there a change to the team in there or should we just fold the club because everything is so hopeless and bad?

Can we just leave McNeil alone...?

Just leave him alone!

Maybe make Lachie hold the fkn goal umpires flag and everyone will be happy

I know Bont is the greatest player ever and it's never his fault, just wonder if there's any chance he can not drill the ball full pace every time to the forwards.

As a former superstar forward, I do hereby decree I would hate leading to him.

Libba every day. Takes the pace off and puts it out in front.

[Stevo]

Can we just leave McNeil alone...?

Just leave him alone!

Maybe make Lachie hold the fkn goal umpires flag and everyone will be happy

I know Bont is the greatest player ever and it's never his fault, just wonder if there's any chance he can not drill the ball full pace every time to the forwards.

As a former superstar forward, I do hereby decree I would hate leading to him.

Libba every day. Takes the pace off and puts it out in front.

Nice try big boy
McNeil just hasnt grasped his chances like he should.

[Danjul]

So is there a change to the team in there or should we just fold the club because everything is so hopeless and bad?

Changes should focus on the true problem areas. At the moment they don?t.

Falling into the finals for a week is highly likely so things are not hopeless or bad. But are we going to get our first top four finish in a decade? What are the odds after last night? And this team was in a grand final less than 2 years ago. Great effort, any signs of building on it?

Look at the selection of JOD, for example. What problem did it address? 4 possessions followed by 4 possessions. Followed by another game. I looked back through the years and couldn?t find a similar case. People here said they liked his 4 possession game so I looked at part of the replay to see what I had missed. Saw a handpass direct to an opponent. That was enough, (4-1). He is getting experience for the rebuild and good luck to him. With a few more games and 5 kg he could become a star.

But is it a professionally sound strategic decision for the club?s benefit ? Has it helped the team and the club be more successful this season? Short answer is no. We need more flexibility to respond during games. Anticipating the problem and everyone knowing what the solution will be. How to quickly stop the 6 goal runs the opponents know are possible. (The Suns knew it last night and got it.)

Change at the moment is like what you get from a magician. You know it is not real. Then comes an unnecessary loss. But we are hearing that last night was not too bad. The Suns are quite good. No. It was bad. That is the only acceptable response.

[soupman]

Two easy goals here and we still win. Our win should never have been at risk. But as we are clearly showing, without a real plan B we are always at risk.

This bit to me says that this was one of those occasions where plan B should've just been plan A but better. Our loss wasn't a plan A or B thing, it was just execution.

[Danjul]

This bit to me says that this was one of those occasions where plan B should've just been plan A but better. Our loss wasn't a plan A or B thing, it was just execution.

We needed plan B to stop the opposition run that followed. 7 goal turn around.

[1eyedog]

Saturday night was not a totally unexpected disaster. There?s even a WOOF thread that suggested that it was a real possibility.

Why was it on peoples minds? Because there have been problems leading up to this game. Problems that were not addressed.

We defeated GWS, both teams had the same number of scoring shots. And GWS was missing their best? player. It was a win but not really a confidence booster. Fell over the line against Carlton and despite dominating against Adelaide our forwards looked suspect again.

Cracks were appearing in English?s ruck work but escaped examination in the euphoria around the wins. Grand Final- here we come. Nothing to worry about here. On Saturday the cracks in the forward line and ruck opened further.

Correct me if I am wrong but I saw opposition tap ruckmen give their rovers easy stats in the last 4 games. Bont and Libba struggled uncharacteristically this time. No criticism intended for any of them. We simply have not considered getting a plan B. English is taking 70 or 80 contests against big bodies, and still contributing around the ground.

We spend hours every week deciding whether we will play McNeil, McComb, Hannan, ?. and then more hours reviewing their meagre possessions (none of which were significant). These players should not be part of our strategy.

On Saturday the forwards were struggling. Naughton, Jones, Lobb and Weightman didn?t seem to understand that their reason for being in the team was simply to kick goals. The few we were getting came from others up the field. We needed to change the dynamics, put the Suns defenders under some real pressure. Swing our number 22 player into the mix, shake up the ruck and the forward line, let English get some pressure off the forwards and boot a few goals. Change the predictability around throw-ins, put a doubt into the minds of the opposition midfielders. Never been part of the plan. So echoes of the end of 2021. Let fate play out. Lose.

So lucky we have O?Brien to blame. I don?t see him as being any part of the problem. Lobb?s kick from close in was simply a catastrophe when it hit the behind post and failed to score. Naughton contributed nothing from his easy kick at goal from less than 30 metres. These are our seasoned champions. Two easy goals here and we still win. Our win should never have been at risk. But as we are clearly showing, without a real plan B we are always at risk.

It's not even a real plan B that we need. I get we want to back in the players and the system but it just all feels a bit rigid to me. Very rarely are the magnets moved under Bevo.

[westbulldog]

In
Crozier
Treloar
West
McLean

Out
O'Brien
Weightman
McNeil
Hannan