Always Right Match Committee R20 vs Essendon 2025

[comrade]

Baker is a VFL battler at best.

[Danjul]

I’m with you. I wasn’t fully so at round one but having seen the season unfold, I’m very much now of the same opinion. When we’re under pressure it’s the entry from
defence to the forward line that brings us undone. It’s cost us games. The only quality distributer we have currently is Bailey Dale.

Time to move Richard’s to HB and Freijah to midfield. We’re playing to win games, not to salve egos.

Richards is not an elite kick. He’s about 60%. Bramble is close to 80% by foot, as is Dale.

I would not change Richards.

[Go_Dogs]

In:
Scott

Out:
Poulter

Not mass changes. Back them in. Scott deserves a run and Poulter hasn’t given us much.

Harmes needs a week in the VFL.

Sellwood in if JOD is injured.

Woulsnt mind Buku as a forward, but we don’t have anyone I’d swap out as he’s probably
competing with West atm for a spot given our mix (or maybe Poulter, but that’s my pathway to play Scott).

[Danjul]

Baker is a VFL battler at best.

Where is your justification. When he has played in the firsts this season he has definitely been a better contributor than a number of others. Give me some reasons.

[Rusty12]

Richards is not an elite kick. He’s about 60%. Bramble is close to 80% by foot, as is Dale.

I would not change Richards.

Basic kicking efficiency is not a reliable measure of the quality of the kicker. It is way, way, way more complex than that.

[Danjul]

Basic kicking efficiency is not a reliable measure of the quality of the kicker. It is way, way, way more complex than that.

Richards gets the ball and runs with it, often bouncing to maximise the value of the possession. Always has. He usually kicks at full speed and the ball frequently does not go exactly where he wants it to go. But it goes quickly into another zone, gets distance and we benefit greatly from the combination of speed and distance and opportunity.

It is not complex at all. Get ball, kick ball.

[my plums]

IN: Buss, Buku, Harmes, Sub
OUT: Poulter, McNeil, Jones, JJ

B: Bramble, Buss, JOD
HB: Freijah, Lobb, Dale
C: Williams, Ed, Davidson
HF: VDM, Naughty, Sanders
F: Buku, Darcy, West
R: English, Bont, Libba
I: Garcia, Cleary, Harmes, Kennedy
Sub: Raffle it (Dolan, JJ, someone who can put speed on the game)

[BontlowSzn]

Richards is not an elite kick. He's about 60%. Bramble is close to 80% by foot, as is Dale.

I would not change Richards.

Bramble plays half back and kicks the ball long frequently. Anything over 40 metres is classified as a long kick, and will be deemed effective if it goes to a contest.

Richards is playing inside midfield and getting tagged every second week. Under more pressure, Richards goes for riskier kicks which sometimes pay off (see goal assist stats) however will result in frequent turnovers.

43% of Richard's possessions are contested. 20% of Brambles are contested.

Bramble isnt a bad kick, but suggesting Richards isn't an elite kick based on those efficiency stats is inaccurate.

[mjp]

Yeah, really not sure either.
A tweak in back-half ball use (81 turnovers is just a stupid number) and F50 retention is a good start.
Along with a more defensive mindset, when needed from the midfield group.
Richards going back, almost sounds like blasphemy, but it might be genius, at this time of the year.
If you get a 9/10 out of Ed back, Vs a 3-5 from JJ or anyone else, and then still get a 8-10 from Chugga or Freijah as a primary inside mid, then........
Can continue to explore Garcia to, maybe it is a good time.

That's kind of where I'm at as well.

If Ed goes back and plays as an 8/10 HB in replacement of a 3/10 HB (say, JJ)...that's a 'PLUS' of 5. Can we make up for the loss of Richards from the midfield?

The thing is - and I get all the "Don't move Richards" arguments - but when you're consistently falling 10-points short vs top tier oppo, you need to find 10-points. 23 play, not 1...maybe the aggregate of Richards going back and being replaced in the midfield by 'someone' is better than JJ (for example) playing half back and Richards playing mid.

There's a lot of things to consider right now and I don't think anything should be off the table...we are CLOSE and have been playing with great energy,

[mjp]

I know that woofers dislike him but, at the time I thought Baker helped keep us in the game in the first half against Geelong when the rest of the team was setting record levels of incompetence . He was dropped after that game when Dolan, Gardner and Khamis came in against Hawthorn. A game in which we were never close. We went from 56 inside 50s against Geelong to 42.

Everyone seemed happy to overlook the fact that Dolan, Gardner, Khamis , McNeil, Sanders and Vanda had a total of 18 kicks between them in a whole game of football. Allowing for the sub, a quarter of the team averaged less than a kick per quarter.

I wish you'd post more consistently mate - you make some great points.

To be fair, I like Baker fine...just look at my posting history. He has lost a bit of trust with the MC though (not exactly sure why but he is 100% out of favour) and once that happens it's a hard road back. I just can't see us rolling him out there and it seems a waste of time to talk about it given that...

To be fair, I don't think too many are supporting the selection of any of the other players you mentioned right now - I am suggesting a defensive role for VDM of course....generally speaking though it also seems clear that the MC value whatever it is that McNeil and VDM bring to the forward half...to me it isn't enough (and I'm pretty sure most agree with me) but I'm also not sitting there watching BTG vision of our F50 entries like the AC's are.

Dolan is a baby...Sanders is a toddler who has had some moments this year, Gardner is no more than a backup...Buku offers a bit as a marking target but provides zero ground ball support....sadly that's kind of where our list is at.

Anthony Scott has been reliable in the past but has not been able to contribute for > 12-months....Sellwood is maybe not ready yet....who else is there?

[GVGjr]

That's kind of where I'm at as well.

If Ed goes back and plays as an 8/10 HB in replacement of a 3/10 HB (say, JJ)...that's a 'PLUS' of 5. Can we make up for the loss of Richards from the midfield?

The thing is - and I get all the "Don't move Richards" arguments - but when you're consistently falling 10-points short vs top tier oppo, you need to find 10-points. 23 play, not 1...maybe the aggregate of Richards going back and being replaced in the midfield by 'someone' is better than JJ (for example) playing half back and Richards playing mid.

There's a lot of things to consider right now and I don't think anything should be off the table...we are CLOSE and have been playing with great energy,

It's his delivery into the forward line that we would miss the most. With our midfield getting a bit older and with the loss of Treloar it would be difficult to see us biting the bullet and moving him back.
I would certainly move Freijah back and hope that he is a 6/10 defender replacing a 3/10 defender.

[doggies ftw]

Richard’s not an elite kick of the footy but you want Baker in? Interesting stuff, I’d trust Richards blindfolded with one leg amputated to get the ball closer to a target than Oskar Butcher

[mjp]

It's his delivery into the forward line that we would miss the most. With our midfield getting a bit older and with the loss of Treloar it would be difficult to see us biting the bullet and moving him back.
I would certainly move Freijah back and hope that he is a 6/10 defender replacing a 3/10 defender.

I don't disagree mate but my concern is - watching the last couple of weeks - we really need so players on hand to win the footy when it hits the ground in d50. I think Richards will provide this whereas I'm not really certain that's Freijah's go.

I know I keep saying it but I actually have no idea what the 'answer' is right now...apart from the fact that it isn't continuing to do what we've been doing.

With Sydney on a roll right now that game needs some closer analysis...maybe moving Freijah FORWARD is part of the answer to give a bit of a 1-2 punch in terms of marking mediums who are comfortable under tackle pressure with Kennedy and just convince Bramble to get 16x touches in every quarter? I don't think 'chuck Richards back' is a move that will solve anything in all honesty and it would need to be done as part of a 'bigger' change...but it's interesting that on a night when Richards output was seriously restricted and we were playing on a small oval, we were somehow able to both kick a winning score AND provide ground ball pressure i50 (d + f)...

There's something somewhere that's for sure.

[Mofra]

Richards is not an elite kick. He’s about 60%. Bramble is close to 80% by foot, as is Dale.

I would not change Richards.

Ed Richards not an elite kick? Huh?

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2025/06/18/career-best-bulldog-quickly-becoming-a-champion-data-immortal

“We have never seen a midfielder use the ball better in a season so far than what Ed Richards is doing since Gary Ablett Jnr in 2010."

[Bornadog]

Ed Richards not an elite kick? Huh?

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2025/06/18/career-best-bulldog-quickly-becoming-a-champion-data-immortal

Another reason why I wouldn't move him out of the mid field