WOOF Welcomes Ryley Sanders to the Kennel

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Tough conditions for an 18 year old to debut in. Very hot, seasoned opposition, little respite from our core - it's a hard introduction to the game but he'll be better for it as early as next week.

[Scorlibo]

Strange to think of any debutant as having a 'standard' but I reckon Ryley played well below his today. Through the practice games and the intra club hitouts he has been so proactive, even aggressive, with ball in hand. Today he was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion, and possibly by the heat. He'll be better for the run and I'd back him in to shoot the lights out next week in a less overwhelming Ballarat environment.

[bornadog]

Strange to think of any debutant as having a 'standard' but I reckon Ryley played well below his today. Through the practice games and the intra club hitouts he has been so proactive, even aggressive, with ball in hand. Today he was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion, and possibly by the heat. He'll be better for the run and I'd back him in to shoot the lights out next week in a less overwhelming Ballarat environment.

Spot on - overwhelmed he certainly was.

[bornadog]

Strange to think of any debutant as having a 'standard' but I reckon Ryley played well below his today. Through the practice games and the intra club hitouts he has been so proactive, even aggressive, with ball in hand. Today he was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion, and possibly by the heat. He'll be better for the run and I'd back him in to shoot the lights out next week in a less overwhelming Ballarat environment.

Spot on - overwhelmed he certainly was. Still picked up 15 in 3/4, more than Bailey Smith did in his first game

[jeemak]

From twenty minutes into the first to the point he went off it would have been the biggest slog of his life. He'll be at home with a flannel on his head, eyes spinning right now.

[angelopetraglia]

Sanders in his fourth match had 23 touches from only 64% game time. Definitely a ball magnet. He had the fourth most touches against Geelong after Treloar, Libba and Bont but had the second least game time (outside the subs). Only Sam Darcy had less game time.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Sanders in his fourth match had 23 touches from only 64% game time. Definitely a ball magnet. He had the fourth most touches against Geelong after Treloar, Libba and Bont but had the second least game time (outside the subs). Only Sam Darcy had less game time.

Sanders had a lot of his disposals sharked unfortunately. He certainly knows how to find the ball though.

The million dollar question is going to be what is his ceiling?

[angelopetraglia]

Sanders against Geelong. He went at 74% disposal effeciency.

Libba 65% DE
Bont 60% DE
Treloar 60% DE

50% of Sanders possesions were contested (Libba 80%, Bont 40%, Treloar 30%)

[ledge]

Seems the club is happy to let Sanders play in the seniors getting the average stats for a midfield and be on the bench a lot instead of playing him in the VFL getting more game time and more possessions.
Macrae is suffering for it.
Before I get hammered for this post , I am in no way having a go at Sanders, my point is Macrae can play longer in a game and has experience.
Going on Bevos prove yourself in the twos Macrae couldn’t do any more than he did in the twos to push Sanders out.
Do we think Sanders might get dropped at all to get more game time and pick up more possessions ?
Sanders is clean and great awareness etc but I’m not sure I see the urgency we get out of our other mids in him yet.

[angelopetraglia]

Seems the club is happy to let Sanders play in the seniors getting the average stats for a midfield and be on the bench a lot instead of playing him in the VFL getting more game time and more possessions.
Macrae is suffering for it.
Before I get hammered for this post , I am in no way having a go at Sanders, my point is Macrae can play longer in a game and has experience.
Going on Bevos prove yourself in the twos Macrae couldn’t do any more than he did in the twos to push Sanders out.
Do we think Sanders might get dropped at all to get more game time and pick up more possessions ?
Sanders is clean and great awareness etc but I’m not sure I see the urgency we get out of our other mids in him yet.

It is a great point and an important perspective to contemplate. If you were 100% in for the now you would probably play Macrae. But you always need to be working towards a future state too. If you get games into him in the AFL, what can he become in a short period of time.

The match committee is also probably making a call that they are not giving that much up with giving Sanders some time versus what Macrae's output is. They are giving a little up, but the long term benefit outweighs the small short term upside. Particulary when you consider that your three best mids are 28, 31 and 31.

Macrae is 29. Sanders is 19.

[ledge]

It is a great point and an important perspective to contemplate. If you were 100% in for the now you would probably play Macrae. But you always need to be working towards a future state too. If you get games into him in the AFL, what can he become in a short period of time.

The match committee is also probably making a call that they are not giving that much up with giving Sanders some time versus what Macrae's output is. They are giving a little up, but the long term benefit outweighs the small short term upside. Particulary when you consider that your three best mids are 28, 31 and 31.

Macrae is 29. Sanders is 19.

It’s a shuffle , important games against big bodied teams like Geelong, I think Macrae needs to be there.
I understand the age thing and I believe we need Smith for that reason as well but is it going to hurt to drop Sanders this early in his career to get more practice in the VFL for a game here and there ? Let’s face it he will get 30 to 40 possessions in the twos to practice his game and position where as in the AFL it’s about 60% and 20 odd possessions and no room for error.

[jeemak]

Seems the club is happy to let Sanders play in the seniors getting the average stats for a midfield and be on the bench a lot instead of playing him in the VFL getting more game time and more possessions.
Macrae is suffering for it.
Before I get hammered for this post , I am in no way having a go at Sanders, my point is Macrae can play longer in a game and has experience.
Going on Bevos prove yourself in the twos Macrae couldn’t do any more than he did in the twos to push Sanders out.
Do we think Sanders might get dropped at all to get more game time and pick up more possessions ?
Sanders is clean and great awareness etc but I’m not sure I see the urgency we get out of our other mids in him yet.

Awesome post ledge.

[kruder]

Yeah Sanders, Darcy and to a degree Gags are having low TOG, wonder how its impacting others?

[jeemak]

Yeah Sanders, Darcy and to a degree Gags are having low TOG, wonder how its impacting others?

Reckon Darcy at 55% is probably impacting Tim a bit. Especially against the likes of Stanley who can run all day.

[GVGjr]

Yeah Sanders, Darcy and to a degree Gags are having low TOG, wonder how its impacting others?

Against West Coast Bont played a fair bit up forward and Liberatore only 3 quarters so I think we are managing it okay.
It might become clearer after 3 weeks of 6 day breaks.