We made the finals… Changes VS Dockers

[Sentinel]

Libba's injury further shows the importance of keeping Dunkley beyond this season

 

[Libbaaaa]

Rain forecast seems to be downgraded each day. It's now likely to be some rain Saturday morning in Perth but likely that it'll stop before lunch. With drainage these days, it's shaping up to be a dry weather game.

Their ground is a shocker though, surface will get chopped up quickly.

 

[doggies ftw]

I get why people are suggesting it, but I think people forget that we've had Treloar playing half back/forward, Smith in a weaker role on the wing, and Macrae being put all over the park at times.

Libba injury or not, West still isn't top of the pile for mid time.

More than happy to see West get a little bit of onball time over Treloar & Baz at times. We’ve under-utilised it so far, probably because Bev doesn’t seem to rate him very highly. But he’s a beast inside the contest, he will go a long way to rectify our defensive issues in there when he has a desperation & will that few others do. I don’t know why we haven’t seen it utilised when we’ve been smashed in there to be honest.

With no Libba I’d feel a lot more confident with West taking some minutes than Treloar or Baz

 

[BarryMorgan]

Well, ****.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

I was starting to believe we would win this one. However my belief started with the extractor and barometer doing his stuff in the middle it is not exactly no Libba no dogs but this a huge loss.

 

[AFDogs]

West should be licking his lips. Here's your opportunity.

 

[hatescaptcha]

Bevo was quick to mention McLean’s name in the presser.


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[True Dog]

More than happy to see West get a little bit of onball time over Treloar & Baz at times. We’ve under-utilised it so far, probably because Bev doesn’t seem to rate him very highly. But he’s a beast inside the contest, he will go a long way to rectify our defensive issues in there when he has a desperation & will that few others do. I don’t know why we haven’t seen it utilised when we’ve been smashed in there to be honest.

With no Libba I’d feel a lot more confident with West taking some minutes than Treloar or Baz

Westy's tank is the biggest reason we won't see him spend time in the middle imo, a centre clerance here or there but that's about it. If you watch him in the VFL he has great impact for a short period of time then walks from contest to contest and spends a lot of time forward. Needs another big pre-season before he's seriously considered as a mid in the AFL team. I agree with Dannnnnn we have enough mids to play with

 

[AFDogs]

Bevo was quick to mention McLean’s name in the presser.


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I was all for bringing McLean in last couple rounds but bringing him in for a final is a bit of a worry. West for mine.

 

[Golden_6]

Bevo was quick to mention McLean’s name in the presser.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Did he mention the severity of Libba's injury? As in was it a normal 3-4 week hamstring or a minor grade 1 that could have him get up next week?

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

More than happy to see West get a little bit of onball time over Treloar & Baz at times. We’ve under-utilised it so far, probably because Bev doesn’t seem to rate him very highly. But he’s a beast inside the contest, he will go a long way to rectify our defensive issues in there when he has a desperation & will that few others do. I don’t know why we haven’t seen it utilised when we’ve been smashed in there to be honest.

With no Libba I’d feel a lot more confident with West taking some minutes than Treloar or Baz

I know you love West and I've undervalued him in the past, but none of this is actually evidenced by anything at AFL level. To have him above Treloar or Baz as a mid is ludicrous.

 

[Libbaaaa]

Injury update: Tom Liberatore

Confirmed out.

 

[Golden_6]

Injury update: Tom Liberatore

Confirmed out.

So that sounds like it was last week and the club has kept it under wraps trying to get him right? He's only just been ruled out. Hopefully that means he's still a chance for next week if we get through.

 

[Optimistic Dog]

I fear a classic Bevo selection McComb for Libba.

 

[ScottyDogg]

More than happy to see West get a little bit of onball time over Treloar & Baz at times. We’ve under-utilised it so far, probably because Bev doesn’t seem to rate him very highly. But he’s a beast inside the contest, he will go a long way to rectify our defensive issues in there when he has a desperation & will that few others do. I don’t know why we haven’t seen it utilised when we’ve been smashed in there to be honest.

With no Libba I’d feel a lot more confident with West taking some minutes than Treloar or Baz

I totally agree, I would go so far as to suggest that he is the only player on our list who has similiar desperate low to the ground in and under junk yard aggression. He will literally rip it out of the other blokes hands. His handball game is also very good. None of Treloar, Smith or Macrea are similiar. Treloar and Smith are our burst mids, Macrae is a tough extractor but is way taller, so getting the the real dirty ground balls under blokes that Libba does is not his one wood either. Dunkley can do a bit of it but again is much taller and has a higher centre of gravity.

Would love to give Garcia some more minutes in there as well. Happy if these two are rotated through covering Libba’s minutes and then we we’ve got amazing mid support for the first handball out with Bont, Macrea, Dunkley, Treloar and Smith.

When you consider this list of players, it’s astonishing that we don’t smash teams at the source constantly. Our ability to rotate class through there should be unparalleled.

On a side note, a potential challenge/silver lining to the Libba out is that it now requires some of our other senior players to really step up and be that barometer for the team. I actually think way too many of our guys leave it to Libba to set the tone. All of Bont, Macrea, Dunks, and Smith have the ability to take the game by the scruff of the neck and haven’t done it frequently this year. Dunks probably the best of the lot.

 

[Northernsoul74]

I fear a classic Bevo selection McComb for Libba.

It’s probably his best position but…

 

[TiAn_]

McLean. Has the runs on the board. Should be fit enough. One out, one in.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

McLean. Has the runs on the board. Should be fit enough. One out, one in.

Ditto this. He’d be champing at the bit.

 

[Charlie Bucket]

This is a player that’s been dropped from his small fwd role due to work rate issues.
He’s currently playing VFL.
Now some want him to come in and cover the role of the toughest, hardest working mid in the team. Ahead of other far more worthy teammates.

The Cult of West has well and truly arrived.

 

[Dale4captain]

If Libba is out can we just plug Macrae straight back into the middle? **** off with this wing crap.

 

[ossie_21]

News.com.au article on Libba being out also mentioned Bailey Smith

6

Bailey Smith

Age

23

Ht

185cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

8.5

3star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.3

2star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.7

4star

D

19.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

10.2

5star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.2

4star

CL

3.2

4star

D

14.8

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.4

5star

CL

1.6

4star

as being monitored ahead of the game

 

[Doggy]

News.com.au article on Libba being out also mentioned Bailey Smith as being monitored ahead of the game

They've already said he's fine ..

Clickbait

 

[Dogs Rule]

That’s the 3rd player that has done his hammy at training this year. That’s more than bad luck. High performance team have had a bad year.

They do every year.

 

[doggies ftw]

I know you love West and I've undervalued him in the past, but none of this is actually evidenced by anything at AFL level. To have him above Treloar or Baz as a mid is ludicrous.

There’s no evidence because it hasn’t been tried, just as earlier in the year there was no evidence he should be even playing AFL as he wasn’t given that chance and we all saw how that turned out - sometimes we need to look a little deeper than current available evidence

I definitely don’t have him above Treloar or Baz as a mid not saying that at all, he brings a different aspect to the midfield though and there’s room for all to co-exist. I’m Bazs biggest fan on here I think he’s a genuine superstar in the making, but him or especially Adzy don’t solve our issues in the midfield. We know this.

Replacing Libbas minutes solely with Baz & Treloar is a recipe for disaster. Our midfield whilst extremely talented is already very very flaky defensively - this would not help.

Now I know Dunks will cover more minutes too which is good for his game, but I’d still feel a lot more confident with a genuine bull who will scrap like Libba, taking a few minutes too over notoriously outside players like Baz/Treloar - they’re not even in the same ball park of playing similar roles so I’m not sure there’s an issue here - Baz & Adzy to continue to play outside/forward of the centre roles, we want them finishing around goal not trying to scrap for a hard ball which they both frankly suck at

 

[Doggies7]

Yeah this Libba news is going to sting twice as much when it's Mccomb in over West/Garcia/Mclean