Always Right Match Committee Round 2 vs Gold Coast Suns

[Mantis]

I'm convinced the Suns have the best starting midfield in the competition.

Melbourne do... and it's not even a closely run race.

[Mantis]

If Bevo has the balls he should be making 6-8 changes this week.

His promise that would be the best prepared Rd 1 team turned out to be a lie based on the poor efforts of the players he chose. He should be turning over the team until he gets a group of players who are going to play like they care, and not on their own terms.

Players in the gun should be McNeil, VDM, Treloar, Williams, Khamis, Gallagher & Libba who either or couldn't execute to the level required or didn't show any desire to defend.

[Critter]

Oh whoops, I stuffed up with him. I think he is someone who we need mobility over height with though.

How about someone with both, like Naughton.

[mighty_west]

I'm convinced the Suns have the best starting midfield in the competition.

Potentially 100%, maybe in a few years with a few more years of Hardwick guiding them and you can see that in the first two rounds how bloody exciting they will be, scary.

[Rocco Jones]

I think Adz needs to find somewhere else to play. I don't mind him getting CBAs but he is almost full time there whilst others have to find different roles.

[bornadog]

I think Adz needs to find somewhere else to play. I don't mind him getting CBAs but he is almost full time there whilst others have to find different roles.

I think he would make a very good HBF - ala Moyd. He played that role a couple of years ago when we had injuries and he was very good. Finds alot of the ball and can use his pace to attack.

[JanLorMill]

If Bevo has the balls he should be making 6-8 changes this week.

His promise that would be the best prepared Rd 1 team turned out to be a lie based on the poor efforts of the players he chose. He should be turning over the team until he gets a group of players who are going to play like they care, and not on their own terms.

Players in the gun should be McNeil, VDM, Treloar, Williams, Khamis, Gallagher & Libba who either or couldn't execute to the level required or didn't show any desire to defend.

Knowing Bevo having balls means picking VDM or McNeil or no CHB again.

[GVGjr]

I?m really worried about their midfield. Miller has an unreal tank, Rowell is a wrecking ball, Flanders is a slightly less destructive wrecking ball and Anderson is the total inside outside package 3 out of every 4 games.

I would be bringing in Macrae without a second thought. We?re going to need all hands on deck.

Same here. Macrae should be an inclusion.

[Grantysghost]

I've thought more about this and my feel is we won't react in an extreme way this week and I can see them giving this group another week to prove themselves.

Probably only change will be forced.

Harmes out
Garcia / Macrae in.

[Rocco Jones]

I think he would make a very good HBF - ala Moyd. He played that role a couple of years ago when we had injuries and he was very good. Finds alot of the ball and can use his pace to attack.

Biggest issue is the same as the one with him as an inside mid, he is only there to get the ball and run. He really has an unwillingness/inability to work defensively.

[Sedat]

Biggest issue is the same as the one with him as an inside mid, he is only there to get the ball and run. He really has an unwillingness/inability to work defensively.

I know Treloar is one of the more blatant offenders, but I'm not seeing amazing defensive workrate when the oppo is in possession from any of our mids in the last couple of seasons.

Defending when the opposition has the ball has to be a non-negotiable for the entire 23 selected every week. It's no longer just specific role-players who do this grunt work - it needs to be everyone from Bont down. And we've largely stunk at it for a while, hence why we are a talented but middling team with conditional efforts quarter to quarter, let alone week to week. And why I hope that we conducted such a thorough review and turned over the assistant coaching and F&C staff in the off-season, in an effort to become a much better turnover and pressure team who is much harder to score against and significantly fitter and stronger to execute this week to week. On that score round 1 was a big swing and a miss, and round 2 simply has to be much better in this area.

[lemmon]

I think he would make a very good HBF - ala Moyd. He played that role a couple of years ago when we had injuries and he was very good. Finds alot of the ball and can use his pace to attack.

Was that when JJ went down? Happy to be corrected, but my very vague recollection of that was Treloar having bulk goals kicked on him, and he sounded pretty bemused about the move when he spoke about it with Dunkley on their pod at the time.

I'm a bit worried for Treloar, he's a mid that relies heavily on his running power and capacity, when that starts to go I think the end will come quickly.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

We had numerous reports from preseason that there was a strong focus on what players should be doing when we don't have possession.

Do we just have the dumbest footballers in the league?

[bornadog]

I know Treloar is one of the more blatant offenders, but I'm not seeing amazing defensive workrate when the oppo is in possession from any of our mids in the last couple of seasons.

Defending when the opposition has the ball has to be a non-negotiable for the entire 23 selected every week. It's no longer just specific role-players who do this grunt work - it needs to be everyone from Bont down. And we've largely stunk at it for a while, hence why we are a talented but middling team with conditional efforts quarter to quarter, let alone week to week. And why I hope that we conducted such a thorough review and turned over the assistant coaching and F&C staff in the off-season, in an effort to become a much better turnover and pressure team who is much harder to score against and significantly fitter and stronger to execute this week to week. On that score round 1 was a big swing and a miss, and round 2 simply has to be much better in this area.

Top ten tacklers in AFL for Mids - 2023

2023 AFL League Midfielder Tackles Per Game Leaders
	Rank Player Team Games Average 1 Matt Rowell Gold Coast 23 8.26 2 Rory Laird Adelaide 22 7.95 3 Tom Atkins Geelong 23 7.61 4 Marcus Bontempelli Western Bulldogs 23 7.48 5 James Rowbottom Sydney 24 7.33 6 Jack Steele St Kilda 21 7.14 7 Josh Dunkley Brisbane 24 6.88 8 Clayton Oliver Melbourne 15 6.73 9 Thomas Liberatore Western Bulldogs 21 6.71 10 Tim Taranto Richmond 23 6.70

[bornadog]

Was that when JJ went down? Happy to be corrected, but my very vague recollection of that was Treloar having bulk goals kicked on him, and he sounded pretty bemused about the move when he spoke about it with Dunkley on their pod at the time.

I'm a bit worried for Treloar, he's a mid that relies heavily on his running power and capacity, when that starts to go I think the end will come quickly.

Look you are probably right. I was just trying to think about how to use Treloar. He gets alot of the ball but is not effective.