Always Right Match Committee R7 vs GWS 2025

[The Underdog]

Bulldogs hive: it’s time to pick Busslinger, it’s his 3rd year, he’s playing great in the VFL, this has gotten ridiculous.
(Bevo picks Buss, but drops Liam Jones)
Wait, not like that!

[The Bulldogs Bite]

It’s an interesting one - if Busslinger absolutely cements his spot got nothing to lose I guess, but he’s very much out of the Naughty playbook as a fwd, and it’d be pretty fun to watch but sheesh those two flying inside 50 together would be absolutely carnage haha, could see them killing each other with the way that nothing else matters for them both but flying into the contest. Neither are the smartest of forwards with their positioning

Would create a hell of a lot of ground level chaos for the smalls to work with tho

Much does depend on Busslinger but I think the ability to bring the ball to ground is incredibly important. I love Naughton but it isn't always a strength of his, and with no Marra and Darcy, we're at risk of being dominated against in the air.

JOD and Buku aren't big enough, Lobb is just too important as a key back. I think Jones really makes sense and he's old enough to understand the assignment and not be worried so much about stat padding as a forward.

[Go_Dogs]

I didn’t think Jones had been THAT bad, in fact, he’s been more than serviceable but not as great
as he had been in the 2 years prior.

Big change.

[Eastdog]

Wow I'm a bit baffled by the Jones dropping. Things could get ugly if Hogan gets a hold of us. I'm not sure this is the best game to debut Buss and that's WITHOUT having the experienced Jones by his side.

Has Jones been that bad? I don't get it honestly.

Yeah thinking about that as well particularly with Hogan coming back in for them. Jones has that experience you want even if he hasn't been in the greatest form.

I wish Buss a great debut. Has been very good at VFL level when I have watched him but AFL of course a much substantial step up from that.

Good to have Vandermeer and Harmes back. I have liked how guys like Vandermeer, McNeil etc have gone this season.

[westbulldog]

I wouldn't have dropped Liam Jones and I wish Busslinger well but I imagine Toby Greene, Jesse Hogan and Jake Stringer are salivating at the thought of Khamis, Busslinger and Bramble.

[Bornadog]

JOD and Buku aren't big enough, .

JOD is 197cm

[The Bulldogs Bite]

JOD is 197cm

He's slight though.

Bevo himself mentioned this after the matchup vs Brisbane and Andrews.

[1eyedog]

He's slight though.

Bevo himself mentioned this after the matchup vs Brisbane and Andrews.

So is Cadman who he'll probably get

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Good Luck Bus. He’ll need some help to put some body onto Hogan as he is such a good forward with hood leading patterns.

I still think the Bus will be Ok.

on a second note what’s happened to Bevo. Selection this year has been the best, non questionable ever for him as a coach.

[Palmybulldogs]

My guess would be O’Donnell plays on Hogan, Buss on Stringer and Lobb goes to Cadman to be the interceptor. I could also see Lobb on Hogan and Buss plays the interceptor. As for Toby Greene, usually this would be someone like Duryea, personally I think the best two options would be either Truck Williams or honestly, Freijah I think would be a great matchup.

ultimately with a relatively inexperienced backline, there will be a heavy reliance on the Dogs midfield applying pressure to avoid clean entries and in general limiting their entries. Weather appears like it may be wet and cold which will help with quelling Hogan.

forward line with likely Naughton and Buku should work reasonably well and again probably favoured with the weather to not be going in super tall, just need to give Naughton some better looks but worst case we should have good representation at his feet if he can bring it to ground

[Scorlibo]

Don't mind the Buss inclusion for LJ, but it is strange in the context of playing against the best wrestling key forward in the competition. We'll have to defend the ground well (which we have been doing) and win the clearance battle to protect the defenders.

LJ's ball use so far this year has been very sketchy and suspect that's the area where the coaches saw that Buss could be a difference-maker.

[Grantysghost]

Where are the send Naughton back brigade now?

How did it come to this

[jazzadogs]

The only player in our squad who would worry the Giants if we parked them in the goalsquare, besides Naughton, is Bont.

Does he play a higher number of forward minutes while Darcy is out?

[azabob]

Great to see Busslinger make his debut.

As an aside does he remind anyone else of the Larry Bird character in Winning Time?

[lemmon]

Don't mind the Buss inclusion for LJ, but it is strange in the context of playing against the best wrestling key forward in the competition. We'll have to defend the ground well (which we have been doing) and win the clearance battle to protect the defenders.

LJ's ball use so far this year has been very sketchy and suspect that's the area where the coaches saw that Buss could be a difference-maker.

I thought he was generally pretty poor against the Saints early and there were some worrying signs. Cooper Sharman cooked him to set up the Saints' second goal - he sold a fake lead, then got in behind and around the back of Jones. By the time Sharman marked the footy in the pocket he was about 15 metres clear. Garry Lyon was getting into Lobb a little bit early which was bizarre when it looked like Jones was the guy looking vulnerable.

From a selection integrity perspective, I think it's the right call. Buss has banged down the door and Jones just looked low on form. It wouldn't surprise me if we're backing in Buss to play in the traditional Jones' role on their deepest forward and just rolling with him as the man who's earned that spot. Rough timing that it's against the best key forward in the comp, but back him in and roll on.