Always Right Match Committee R22 vs Melbourne 2025

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Regarding the lead up to playing Melbourne after thumping Giants, how does Bevo focus the players?
We don't want to drink our bathwater which can happen. Often it's hard to match the performance of your last game, how did I do that?
Bevo is great with the human factor but it's up to the players on game day.
I think the fact that we need to win every game now is a survival motivator that overcomes the football world's drama of our domination when on song.
Media is saying Bevo's plan is: we've got the scoring power so maximise that and carry being scored against.
So this week's selection should reflect stability and faith in last weeks side, their positions are their's to lose.

[Bornadog]

Based upon vfl, perhaps Dolan for VDM.

PLayed very well today and kicked three crucial goals

[Hotdog60]

We looked very scrappy in the VFL and neither Jones nor Coffield did anything to put their hands up both turning over goals. I wouldn't be looking at Harmes either best in the game was Dolan so if you going to have a change it would be him for LVM.

[doggies ftw]

Been a bit crook on the couch so been a good opportunity to watch the VFL & the replay of the AFL. I’m going a bit left field with selection but I just want to work towards what I think is our best finals team. The main question marks we have right now is our best wing & HFF combo the rest is pretty set.

3 key defenders is a must, should have gone that way all year and we absolutely stick with it now (thought on replay Buss was really good - shaky disposal which will improve but wasn’t beaten and killed a number of contests, all you need from your FB)

Garcia has grasped that 5th mid role with both hands, he’s the guy for this. I love his tenacity in the contest, real hard & defensive edge - basically when you have Bont & Richards who are literally both top 3-5 most damaging mids in the league, all the support pieces need to do is just that - support - do the hard stuff and free those two up as much as possible and Garcia does that more than your Sanders, Freijah etc.

Freijah has been quiet for sure but he still just has his moments and is still a solid piece of the puzzle. I think I like him on the wing right now - I think that gives him the opportunity to still contribute where we can fit him in. Don’t think there’s a spot for him HFF/Mid currently with our best setup (but he can still do that rotating off the wing too) and don’t think we need him down back anymore.

I don’t actually think this will happen, it’s a bit of a change up from our normal 7 defenders setup but I really like this and think it makes our side stronger defensively as well as more damaging in the front half.

Cleary Buss JOD
Dale Lobb Bramble

Freijah Libba Williams
English Bont Libba

Kennedy Naughty Sanders
Poulter Darcy West

Garcia JJ Sellwood McNeil - sub Baker

In: Sellwood
Out: VDM

I really liked JJs game - I think he played much higher than usual and than the other two running defenders (mostly following Jones far up the ground) but his closing speed is still the best in the side and I like it in our front half (coming up from def/wing). Having him sitting just out of the fwd 50 picking off the exits is a huge defensive advantage. I think he’s at his best when he sees an intercept opportunity, picks up an extra yard of pace.

I still think Jj, Bramble & Dale all in defence is too suspect. I want Sellwood in to add a more defensive edge to our backline - he has some real **** about him, I think him & Cleary are both versatile enough to take the best smalls or mediums, offer some drive out of defence and chop out the talls aerially. Sellwood is built for our game style to use his athleticism to chop out our defense out the back. Both can sit on a tall making it more likely we can roll Lobb through the ruck (which is an absolute MUST)

What I think bringing Sellwood in does is frees up one of Dale, Bramble & JJ to move further up the ground and become a more offensive threat and add some pace to the front of the ground which we still don’t really have with Williams/Freijah on the wing & Sanders/Kennedy HFF etc I think it opens up another more damaging aspect to this side whilst not hurting our run out of the backline as I think you only ever need 2 of the 3 down back.

Could open the possibility to play Dale a bit more like NWM and get him using the ball in the front half. Push JJ high like he did on Thursday etc - it just really opens up our game.

So in that scenario I have our 3 wing rotations as Williams, Freijah & one of Dale, JJ, Bramble rotating through to add pace

Baker very stiff, he really was good but I like him as sub and still can’t trust him in a high pressure game (which Thursday wasn’t). Poulter and McNeil keep their spots after good games but have to keep going as they have Davo, Harmes, Dolan etc red hot pushing for their spots.

So a little left field & a different setup - and I don’t expect this to happen. But I think that makes us a better side and would love to see it. Think much more likely to beat a good team in finals and defend better against the best with that line up.

[Rusty12]

Just 1 change this week.
The sub could be anyone, I am picking Davidson as he is likely to benefit from a rest as much as anything and I would prefer Harmes and Arty playing full games in the VFL, same with the rookies.
Croft onto the bubble,.

Backs:
Lobb - JOD - Bramble - Cleary - Dale - JJ
Outside:
Baker - Williams
Inside:
Libba - Bont - Richards
Ruck:
English
Forwards:
Naughton - Darcy - Mennedy - West - Poulter - McNeil

INT: Freijah - Garcia - Buss - Sanders
Sub: Davidson

Bubble:
Jaques - Hynes - Dolan - Jones - Sellwood - Arty - Duyrea - VDM - Gardner - Khamis - Davidson - Croft - Arty
Not in the Mix:
Smith - Walker - Lennedy
Injured:
Trelor - Gallagher

Ins: Davidson
Out: VDM

[doggies ftw]

Also just on the above defence I’d model it a bit on the Hawks who I just love as a defensive group. Bit shaky last night but they’re rock solid as a defensive group and they don’t have the midfield to protect them that we have.

You look at their core 5 - Barrass, Battle, Scrimshaw, Sicily, Hardwick - an anchor of Barrass but the rest are so versatile, play small or tall, use the ball well offensively, intercept but defend first mentalities. I’d liken that to Buss, JOD, Lobb, Cleary, Sellwood for us.

Then they have usually 3 options that rotate through for run, Impey, Amon & Massimo - but these guys don’t just play half back. They run the wing, they get thrown to high half forward and they impact all over the ground and inject pace & run into any third of the ground they need it in - because they have a solid core behind them that can all move the footy or defend. I think JJ, Dale & Bramble could be our answer to that, free them up as much as possible and let them be the pace injection we sometimes need in other parts of the ground at times (still obviously most of their focus is run out of the back half, but only need 2 at a time)

[Jeanette54]

Regarding the lead up to playing Melbourne after thumping Giants, how does Bevo focus the players?
We don't want to drink our bathwater which can happen. Often it's hard to match the performance of your last game, how did I do that?
Bevo is great with the human factor but it's up to the players on game day.
I think the fact that we need to win every game now is a survival motivator that overcomes the football world's drama of our domination when on song.
Media is saying Bevo's plan is: we've got the scoring power so maximise that and carry being scored against.
So this week's selection should reflect stability and faith in last weeks side, their positions are their's to lose.

I hope last night's Crows v Hawks was compulsory viewing for our players. The pressure was just off the charts. And therein lies the lesson. We are great against teams that let us be great. Give us time and space, and the scoreboard will tick over nicely. The problem is the good teams don't allow us the freedom to do it our way. Any turnover in attack against the high-pressure teams gets punished. That is our problem against the better teams.

[Rusty12]

Been a bit crook on the couch so been a good opportunity to watch the VFL & the replay of the AFL. I’m going a bit left field with selection but I just want to work towards what I think is our best finals team. The main question marks we have right now is our best wing & HFF combo the rest is pretty set.

3 key defenders is a must, should have gone that way all year and we absolutely stick with it now (thought on replay Buss was really good - shaky disposal which will improve but wasn’t beaten and killed a number of contests, all you need from your FB)

Garcia has grasped that 5th mid role with both hands, he’s the guy for this. I love his tenacity in the contest, real hard & defensive edge - basically when you have Bont & Richards who are literally both top 3-5 most damaging mids in the league, all the support pieces need to do is just that - support - do the hard stuff and free those two up as much as possible and Garcia does that more than your Sanders, Freijah etc.

Freijah has been quiet for sure but he still just has his moments and is still a solid piece of the puzzle. I think I like him on the wing right now - I think that gives him the opportunity to still contribute where we can fit him in. Don’t think there’s a spot for him HFF/Mid currently with our best setup (but he can still do that rotating off the wing too) and don’t think we need him down back anymore.

I don’t actually think this will happen, it’s a bit of a change up from our normal 7 defenders setup but I really like this and think it makes our side stronger defensively as well as more damaging in the front half.

Cleary Buss JOD
Dale Lobb Bramble

Freijah Libba Williams
English Bont Libba

Kennedy Naughty Sanders
Poulter Darcy West

Garcia JJ Sellwood McNeil - sub Baker

In: Sellwood
Out: VDM

I really liked JJs game - I think he played much higher than usual and than the other two running defenders (mostly following Jones far up the ground) but his closing speed is still the best in the side and I like it in our front half (coming up from def/wing). Having him sitting just out of the fwd 50 picking off the exits is a huge defensive advantage. I think he’s at his best when he sees an intercept opportunity, picks up an extra yard of pace.

I still think Jj, Bramble & Dale all in defence is too suspect. I want Sellwood in to add a more defensive edge to our backline - he has some real **** about him, I think him & Cleary are both versatile enough to take the best smalls or mediums, offer some drive out of defence and chop out the talls aerially. Sellwood is built for our game style to use his athleticism to chop out our defense out the back. Both can sit on a tall making it more likely we can roll Lobb through the ruck (which is an absolute MUST)

What I think bringing Sellwood in does is frees up one of Dale, Bramble & JJ to move further up the ground and become a more offensive threat and add some pace to the front of the ground which we still don’t really have with Williams/Freijah on the wing & Sanders/Kennedy HFF etc I think it opens up another more damaging aspect to this side whilst not hurting our run out of the backline as I think you only ever need 2 of the 3 down back.

Could open the possibility to play Dale a bit more like NWM and get him using the ball in the front half. Push JJ high like he did on Thursday etc - it just really opens up our game.

So in that scenario I have our 3 wing rotations as Williams, Freijah & one of Dale, JJ, Bramble rotating through to add pace

Baker very stiff, he really was good but I like him as sub and still can’t trust him in a high pressure game (which Thursday wasn’t). Poulter and McNeil keep their spots after good games but have to keep going as they have Davo, Harmes, Dolan etc red hot pushing for their spots.

So a little left field & a different setup - and I don’t expect this to happen. But I think that makes us a better side and would love to see it. Think much more likely to beat a good team in finals and defend better against the best with that line up.

Don't mind this at all, just finding it hard to demote Baker of his last few games, and how hard is going at the footy, really can't ask anymore of him.

[Bornadog]

Don't mind this at all, just finding it hard to demote Baker of his last few games, and how hard is going at the footy, really can't ask anymore of him.

For mine, Baker stays in 22

[azabob]

Busslinger is better than Jones. Sorry to break it to you but welcome to the rest of our lives.

Harmes, in spite of his many personal flaws, is a best 18 player and we need him back in, and Poulter cooking for 40 minutes isn’t tricking me so I would make that change and no others.

Come on man. You need to take your personal bias aside. No way you can drop Poulter instead of VDM.

[Jeanette54]

I think we should consider Harmes and Davidson for this game. Sam has had a solid season (so far) and Harmes is just best 22. Vanders did himself no favours against GWS, although its difficult to come on, and make an impact. Nice in theory, but anyone dropped after such a good performance should consider themselves unlucky.

[doggies ftw]

Don't mind this at all, just finding it hard to demote Baker of his last few games, and how hard is going at the footy, really can't ask anymore of him.

Yeah it’s harsh, but I don’t think it’s any slight on him to suggest he’s 23rd in a nearly full strength finals bound team.

Im just very wary to get sucked in by him, guys like Baker don’t change their stripes at 27. He will eventually revert to the norm and most likely that will be when it’s too late - and I know GWS is a top 8 side but realistically those were two of the lower pressure games we’ve played this year and as we know better than anyone, everyone looks good in a 90pt win.

I also think he’s clearly one of our best for the sub role, is one of those rare types that can make an impact quickly when coming on with a speed & hardness injection - and usually our sub offers nothing every week. Can play any position, do a defensive role etc and we’re not wasting VFL development of Dolan, Hynes etc. perfect player for it IMO

Like I said definitely harsh and that’s why I don’t think it’ll happen but I’m looking to standardise on our finals team and he very well could lock down a perma-sub role from here out in my best team. And tbh I think of someone of his career/ability he would be stoked with that if that was the case

[Danjul]

Im just very wary to get sucked in by him, guys like Baker don’t change their stripes at 27. He will eventually revert to the norm and most likely that will be when it’s too late - and I know GWS is a top 8 side but realistically those were two of the lower pressure games we’ve played this year and as we know better than anyone, everyone looks good in a 90pt win.

I really don’t understand this.

Baker has been starting 22 in 5 games this season. Carlton, Freo, Geelong, Essendon and GWS. Three of these are top 8 and potential finalists.

Against Carlton he came off early, playing 60% game time. He had 10 kicks and his disposal efficiency was the same as Freijah, Davidson, Kennedy and Harmes.

Against Freo he had 17 kicks, 1 behind Dale who had the most. He had 5 clangers, 1 behind Kennedy who holds the club record of 12 in a game this year.

Against Geelong he was close to our best player in the first half. Overall disposal efficiency was the same as JJ, Freijah , Duryea, Richards and Harmes. The reason we lost that game was the forwards refused to kick goals.

We can all remember his last two games because they have just happened. His disposal efficiency was 100% and 93%. He was the most efficient player over the two games. You can’t criticise him until you have finished criticising numerous others.

Against GWS he was given 70% game time. Coming on in short bursts to use speed as an impact player. We don’t have others who can do this.

He is a dasher, takes on the opposition and kicks to gets high metres gained. Makes some mistakes but no more than others in the same circumstances.

I want half of the team to revert to his game style. Then we would not be sweating about making finals.

[westbulldog]

Melbourne don't have a big FF

Busslinger 198cm Jones 199cm

[Grantysghost]

Don't mind this at all, just finding it hard to demote Baker of his last few games, and how hard is going at the footy, really can't ask anymore of him.

Baker has been great, he lifts the floor there's no way he gets dropped. I'm surprised he hasn't played more tbh. Yeah he can be suspect on a short kick but he brings consistent effort.