Unofficial Preview Changes for Round 13 vs Collingwood

[Pannalstaroz]

Glad someone pointed this out, 2nd time this has happened to my knowledge. Just play him at VFL level if he's not deemed best 22 by our MC. It's dumb to yoyo a kid who consistently performs at VFL level.

Honey church will be told every week what's happening well before the teams come out in the media. Don't for a second think Honeychurch is sitting at home waiting for teams to come out and then getting disappointed he's an emergency again. He's kept well in the loop when he will be playing and what he needs to work at. What goes out in the media re selection is just a front, the same way the team's positioning that is selected on paper bears no resemblance to what the starting positions are on game day.

 

[Doggies_13]

Honey church will be told every week what's happening well before the teams come out in the media. Don't for a second think Honeychurch is sitting at home waiting for teams to come out and then getting disappointed he's an emergency again. He's kept well in the loop when he will be playing and what he needs to work at. What goes out in the media re selection is just a front, the same way the team's positioning that is selected on paper bears no resemblance to what the starting positions are on game day.

No one is saying he wouldn't be told before the teams are announced, what we are saying is how can he be close one week and not even in the mix the next and saying he knows what he has to work at does not make sense, as last week he was our match day emergency not for the first time so he must have been close to playing and was going to be used if we had a late change, only to be not in the mix the following week. If he is then told to go back and work on this area and that area the following week it is utterly ridiculous as he has missed a game where he could have further been pushing his case for selection and obviously the area he needs to work on wasn't a concern the week prior when he was match day emergency

 

[_Mike_]

he is nevertheless a potential depth player you may want to retain on our list to guard against injuries. So wanting a good look at him makes sense.

I have the same thoughts on Tom Young. Both Young and Austin are needed as depth players who can slot in and play when/where needed. There no point culling the list to the level where we're going to struggle even more to cover injuries at this point in time

 

[Lex22]

His defensive side of the game is now acceptable for AFL standard but that is really a minimum requirement for every player. Now, he needs to lift his output, the odd cheap gimme goal does not cut it. It is easy to get carried away because he is no longer embarrassing, but I agree the development in his game is significant. Needs to find some composure when he is running with the ball.

He is one of the most improved players on the list. I had him gone before the start of the year.

I now see what the coaching committee obviously see. He has a lot of upside.

 

[G-Mo77]

No one is saying he wouldn't be told before the teams are announced, what we are saying is how can he be close one week and not even in the mix the next and saying he knows what he has to work at does not make sense, as last week he was our match day emergency not for the first time so he must have been close to playing and was going to be used if we had a late change, only to be not in the mix the following week. If he is then told to go back and work on this area and that area the following week it is utterly ridiculous as he has missed a game where he could have further been pushing his case for selection and obviously the area he needs to work on wasn't a concern the week prior when he was match day emergency

My thoughts exactly Doggies_13.

 

[Hrovat24]

Surely hrovat and wallis play

 

[House_of_Dahl]

I briefly caught a bit of Roughie on the Mangorak Footy show, and he made some comment about Jones coming back in this week and kicking a bag. I guess he's not necesarily in the know, but sounded like Jones will play. You'd also have to assume Austin is playing (or why else upgrade him).

 

[ivan rassmussen]

WESTERN BULLDOGS (three to be omitted)

B: Picken Roughead Wood
HB: Higgins Morris Murphy
C: Bontempelli Griffen Macrae
HF: Stevens Williams Boyd
F: Dahlhaus Crameri Giansiracusa
FOLL: Minson Cooney Liberatore
I/C from: Grant Wallis Tutt Jones Hrovat Johannisen Austin
IN: Boyd Austin Jones Johannisen
OUT: Howard

So this week:

Roughead - KPD
Morris - Medium or KPD
Williams - KPD
Austin - KPD

Jones - KPF

Crameri and Grant - mobile tall forwards, neither is KP

Minson one out in the ruck

And no guarantee Jones and/or Austin will even play.

Austin elevated based on what? Outstanding form at Footscray? Must have missed it.

And in the VFL we will have Cordy, Campbell, Talia, Roberts, Redpath, Young and Stringer. And potentially Jones and/or Austin.

MC must have phoned the team in again via one of their primary school-aged kids.

 

[DylanW]

I have a sneaking suspicion Grant might not play. This will annoy me

 

[Bodicifer]

The fact that Austin was elevated may mean that one of Roughy, Morro, Williams or Wood might be struggling with an injury perhaps???

Jones has to come in to at least give us a presence. He's likely to hit it hard this week. Wallis, Tutt, Jones, Grant would be my bench although they may go with Johannisen for some extra run and leave Wallis out.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

The fact that Austin was elevated may mean that one of Roughy, Morro, Williams or Wood might be struggling with an injury perhaps???

Jones has to come in to at least give us a presence. He's likely to hit it hard this week. Wallis, Tutt, Jones, Grant would be my bench although they may go with Johannisen for some extra run and leave Wallis out.

Yes, this all sounds like sound strategy. Then there's our MC....

But good luck to Austin, I hope he plays well. He may end up being the sole KP at either end at some stage, so he should enjoy that, against a top 4 side.

 

[gimp!]

But good luck to Austin, I hope he plays well.

I don't mind Austin and hope he plays well this week.

If Austin plays VFL, I hope he plays well, I don't mind him.

I don't mind Austin, he tries and has been capable in the past. I hope he plays well.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

Did I mention I don't mind Austin and hope he plays well?

 

[dogwatch]

Did I mention I don't mind Austin and hope he plays well?

... and "the coach has the full support of the Board"

 

[ivan rassmussen]

... and "the coach has the full support of the Board"

No really, I don't mind him, and I DO hope he plays well. I just find his elevation and selection utterly bizarre...

 

[Bulldog Banana]

Have no problem with upgrading Austin if the intention is to let a big body pick up the likes of Cloke, and given our pasting in the media this week, the MC is probably wanting to have a competitive team on the park.
Someone like Roberts would likely be flogged by Cloke.
I can see how a lot of posters are confused when we need to get games into young players that the team will be built around in the future.
I reckon its a case of using the VFL team to develop.
Cordy & Campbell in tandem appears to be paying dividends in the VFL, so we can see development happening in the ruck area. A few have commented on this leading to our starting ruck tandem in the AFL into the future.
A few more games in the VFL for Roberts & Talia etc wont hurt them.
The seasons shot anyway.
Having said that, I am disappointed to not see Cordy get a run though, his consistency is improving....

 

[ivan rassmussen]

Have no problem with upgrading Austin if the intention is to let a big body pick up the likes of Cloke, and given our pasting in the media this week, the MC is probably wanting to have a competitive team on the park.
Someone like Roberts would likely be flogged by Cloke.
I can see how a lot of posters are confused when we need to get games into young players that the team will be built around in the future.
I reckon its a case of using the VFL team to develop.
Cordy & Campbell in tandem appears to be paying dividends in the VFL, so we can see development happening in the ruck area. A few have commented on this leading to our starting ruck tandem in the AFL into the future.
A few more games in the VFL for Roberts & Talia etc wont hurt them.
The seasons shot anyway.
Having said that, I am disappointed to not see Cordy get a run though, his consistency is improving....

It all sounded good - except for the bolded bit!

Seriously though, so you're suggesting we play Austin as he has a mature body but probably won't feature in future plans? Why play him then? To mitigate the size of a loss?

 

[Norm De Guerre]

It's pure desperation.

Ah..the Matt Panos syndrome.
A condition known exclusively to bulldogs supporters.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Seriously though, so you're suggesting we play Austin as he has a mature body but probably won't feature in future plans? Why play him then? To mitigate the size of a loss?

There's backing the kids in and then there's throwing them to the wolves. If you're playing any of Roberts, Talia or Austin surely it's as a key defender in order to free up Morris (to go to Elliott?). But that means they either go to Cloke or to whichever of Witts, Grundy and White are partnering him. Against all of them Roberts and Talia would be giving away well over 10kg. Austin with an extra 4 years of development and conditioning is likely to do a better job on those opponents. Then there's the risk that one of the youngsters gets mauled in your biggest game of the year when the club's already under enormous pressure. If it happens to Austin so be it but it could destroy a youngsters confidence and seriously hinder their development.

A much better option is to give Austin a crack if you want the extra tall defender for this match and allow your 2 young defenders to get another VFL game under their belt to keep learning the craft. They'll get plenty of chances to play AFL when they've got a more suitable matchup and are in better form. There's a time to play youngsters but surely for your young key defenders this weekend isn't it.

 

[Igloo]

Patrick Keane ‏@AFL_PKeane 2m
Western Bulldogs' Matthew Boyd has withdrawn from the squad for match v Collingwood and been replaced in the 25 by Mitch Honeychurch.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Possible Honey time.

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Possible Honey time.

Please let it be...

I want my damn Honey jumper already. Why does it have to take so long.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Possible Honey time.

But surely we wouldn't throw him to the wolves against the Pies????

 

[VitalDread]

But surely we wouldn't throw him to the wolves against the Pies????

I have seen Honey play in the vfl, he will fight every pies player that gets near him...and win.

 

[TheHoneyBadger]

I have seen Honey play in the vfl, he will fight every pies player that gets near him...and win.

It'll be like Jake King, on the bottom of the pack...

Except Honey's got talent and he's not a *******.

 

[flyingfishdang]

I really hope Honeychurch plays. An exciting young debutant is reason enough sometimes to watch the footy.

Macrae, Dahl, Honey, Hrovat, Bonts - enjoy seeing all these types in the side