What Changes Round 13

[bornadog]

Big match coming up and we know Murphy and Eagleton are going to miss. Chris Grant looks like he will play his first game for the season, who else can we bring in? Maybe after the Weribee game we wil have a better idea.

Out: Murphy. Eagleton

In: One of the following, Grant, Power, Faulkner, or maybe a surprise

[LostDoggy]

Big match coming up and we know Murphy and Eagleton are going to miss. Chris Grant looks like he will play his first game for the season, who else can we bring in? Maybe after the Weribee game we wil have a better idea.

Out: Murphy. Eagleton

In: One of the following, Grant, Power, Faulkner, or maybe a surprise

Tomorrow's game will probably answer the question but I will go with Grant and Robbins.

[BulldogBelle]

Outs - Murph and Eagleton

Ins - Grant and either Robbins or Power

[Mofra]

Would lean towards Robbins as the second change (assuming Eagle gets done).
Archer's 300th, they'll be fired up & I'd expect something fairly physical.

[bornadog]

Tomorrow's game will probably answer the question but I will go with Grant and Robbins.

Not sure if any one went today to see the Bee's, I couldn't make it. How did the boys go and who will come in. From the HUN, best for Werribee were: Young Lynch Castello Henderson Barham Gleeson

[Sockeye Salmon]

Not sure if any one went today to see the Bee's, I couldn't make it. How did the boys go and who will come in. From the HUN, best for Werribee were: Young Lynch Castello Henderson Barham Gleeson

I went but my view of the footy was obscured by a tantrum-throwing three-year-old. I gave up at 3/4 time.

Faulkner didn't play.

From the little I saw, Lynch and Power were probably the best two listed players although no-one exactly screamed out 'you have to pick me now!'. Power was still doing those 20 metre chip kicks - no risk and no reward.

Robbins got the first goal of the game but was terrible after that and ended up dragged.

Grant was good early, beating Reid one-on-one a few times. Reid got a soft one where he was first to react to a miskick. Reid is a big boy who moves really well and will end up a really good player. Grant went forward after half time and got a few touches early on in the third. Unfortunately he missed with his first shot and layed it off to Hill/Stack/Lynch (opposite side of the ground, I dunno) who missed as well.

Minson was easily beaten again, this time by Chris Bryan.

Everitt was OK. He started on Medhurst and I notice Medhurst kicked four but I can't remember any of them.

McDougall played as a lead-up CHF and had good spells as well as going missing at times. Had a short run in the third where he attacked the ball, broke a tackle and unfortunately missed his snap, you wish he would do it more often. He then took about 4 uncontested marks in a row leading up the ground - then he dropped a pud and the spell was broken. Old Dougs came back.

Skipper kicked a long goal but also missed one or two. Was better than Minson in the ruck and took a couple of marks around the ground but he's just marking time until he gets the chop at the end of the year.

Wight, Hill, Stack and McCormack were hardly sighted and had no impact.

[bornadog]

It wasn't a good day. Grant was beaten by Reid before half time although he did some nice things. Everitt was good and Wight performed well. Robbins also did some good things as did Lynch.
Minson did some silly things and was taken off for a few minutes. Missed a set shot that he should have made. Hill, McDougall, Skipper, Power and Stack were quiet.

This doesn't give me confidence at all, its a tough one to pick this week. Lets hope, some how Eagleton gets off or Murphy makes a remarkable recovery.

According to The Age today Grant did pretty well up the ground?

[bornadog]

Well Eagleton out for two and Murphy still injured looks like we have to bring in two players.

Do you think Eade will bring in some one like Stack, even thou he has only played a couple of games for the Werribee seniors? He has the pace and with Eagleton out, Eade maybe could be looking at who else with pace can come in?

[Go_Dogs]

Morris, Harris, Hargrave
Gilbee, Williams, McMahon
Gian, West, Akermanis
Harbrow, Johnson, Higgins
Darcy, Hahn, Grant
Street, Boyd, Cooney
Robbins, Ray, Addison, Lynch

is my guess. Although at the same time a runner instead of Robbins is a good idea, no idea who it would be though.

[firstdogonthemoon]

Morris, Harris, Hargrave
Gilbee, Williams, McMahon
Gian, West, Akermanis
Harbrow, Johnson, Higgins
Darcy, Hahn, Grant
Street, Boyd, Cooney
Robbins, Ray, Addison, Lynch

is my guess. Although at the same time a runner instead of Robbins is a good idea, no idea who it would be though.

Eek! Will that be enough to beat the kangas?

[Go_Dogs]

It looks pretty bare doesn't it? Not too sure if it will be enough, we are really going to miss Eagleton and Murph the next few weeks, but it gives some of the younger guys a chance to impress, and perhaps Akermanis, Gia and McMahon more chances in the midfield.

[Dry Rot]

Time for Ray to step up to the plate?

How big a tank does Harbrow have? Could he handle midfield stints?

[aker39]

I think it's time to bring in Everitt.

He has been the most consistent player for Werribee, and I think we can take a leaf out of Collingwood's book, and play some more youngsters.

[Mantis]

Time for Ray to step up to the plate?

How big a tank does Harbrow have? Could he handle midfield stints?

Harbrow tends to roam far and wide and although he plays out of a FP or HFF he tends to get alot of his touches across the wing even up to half back. He may even line up on a wing for parts on Sunday.

[Mantis]

Perceived team balance would be one reason why Everitt wouldn't be a walk up start.

I actually think we have been very good at bringing youngsters into the line-up over the last two years. Not sure that bringing more in at this stage will ignite the team.

Agree with your comments re: Everitt. He will get a chance sooner rather than later, but is probably not required this week.

As far as bringing in more youngsters, I'm all for it as long they aren't keeping out someone who will bring more to the team. Alot of people have Power or Robbins as a possible inclusion. I dont think these 2 offer us something we dont already have or need, would be more than happy to blood another first gamer at the expense of these 2 playing.

[bornadog]

. Alot of people have Power or Robbins as a possible inclusion. I dont think these 2 offer us something we dont already have or need, would be more than happy to blood another first gamer at the expense of these 2 playing.

Although I am a Robbins fan, he hasn't done much in the first half for either Werribee or the Dogs. Power doesn't derserve to come up just because he has the most experience of the players left at Werribee.

I also would like to see us blood another youngster, then that will make it 5 teenagers in the team. When is the last time we played with 5 teenagers????

[dog town]

If Robbins had of put in a half reasonable performance at Werribee then I would have been looking for him to come in allowing us to give guys like Cooney more midfield time to cover for the loss of yet another runner. With Grant coming in already the other player has to be a small or atleast someone that will give us a bit more versatility in the running department. I suppose that puts Power as next in line.

Eade hasn't seemed to put a heap of stock in Werribee performances this season so I still wouldn't be surprised to see Robbins come in. The role he plays does rely on delivery a little bit and we dont have a whole lot of options. I wonder if having Grant back might allow us to play Hargy in more of an attacking running role for a week or two while we are a couple of runners short?

[Go_Dogs]

I wonder if having Grant back might allow us to play Hargy in more of an attacking running role for a week or two while we are a couple of runners short?

I could certainly see this happening and releasing McMahon/Gilbee a bit further up the field at times. Hargrave has the capability to play as a taller running half back and I think he could do well in the role. Grant will be mainly used as a 3rd man sort of thing in defence I imagine as he will often struggle for a suitable match up against some teams who have more agile and quicker forwards.

It's like we've taken not having any major injury problems to our runners for granted over the last few years when its been all talls falling down, but as soon as we are 3 runners down, we're really not in too good a position. Real shame DMac got injured early in the season, this could've been his time.

[dog town]

Does the weather and ground conditions add some complexity to the selections?
The likes of Everitt and even Lynch might not have the strength to still be effective runners in heavy conditions. Robbins and Power "might" be considered even though their form isn't the best.
Not sure what the problem is with Faulkner but I think he would have also been a good alternative.
I dont really subscribe to any big theories surrounding wet weather. I have seen players of all types flourish in wet weather. As a rule guys with strong hips tend to do well in the wet but I can think of plenty of skinny blokes who are pretty good in the wet as well as big blokes. Chris Grant is one of the best wet weather players I have seen. When the conditions are heavy all it comes down to is which team is up for it on the day and willing to work that little bit harder. You can usually pick a winner by quarter time as very few teams can come back from any sort of sizeable deficit when the conditions are heavy.

Lynch might not be able to hold his body over the ball that well if its wet but its a big ground and if his pace gets him free to create or score a couple of goals then that will be invaluable in a low scoring game.

I think in those conditions its important not to get to caught up in changing your game to suit the conditions. You still need to create and use the ball especially at afl level where the skills are capable of still moving the ball quickly in wet conditions. If you get caught up kicking the ball down the line and turning it into a scrum then you deserve to lose. Nothing to say you cant still take a few risks and get the ball out in the open. Sure you dont want to overuse the footy as errors will be more frequent but I have seen so many teams just completely remove any system from their game and they have always fallen short. You need to find a bit of a mix of the two.

[dog town]

I could certainly see this happening and releasing McMahon/Gilbee a bit further up the field at times. Hargrave has the capability to play as a taller running half back and I think he could do well in the role. Grant will be mainly used as a 3rd man sort of thing in defence I imagine as he will often struggle for a suitable match up against some teams who have more agile and quicker forwards.

It's like we've taken not having any major injury problems to our runners for granted over the last few years when its been all talls falling down, but as soon as we are 3 runners down, we're really not in too good a position. Real shame DMac got injured early in the season, this could've been his time. Agree with all of that. How far off is D-Mac?

[Go_Dogs]

Not too sure, I believe he played seniors for Werribee last weekend, not sure if it was his first senior game or not as a few weeks ago he was playing reserves down there. Apparently struggled a bit, which isn't too surprising as he did miss quite a few weeks. Hopefully he can get himself up in the next few weeks/month and start pressing for selection again.

[southerncross]

Agree with all of that. How far off is D-Mac?

He played last week but is a fair way off with his fitness. I think the club and sees him as a natural defender and that is where he is likely to played for the balance of the year. McCormack also thinks he is a better as a defender than as a midfielder/forward.

[bornadog]

WESTERN BULLDOGS
B: McMahon, Harris, Morris
HB: Gilbee, Williams, Hargrave
C: Harbrow, West, Akermanis
HF: Giansiracusa, Johnson, Hahn
F: Grant, Darcy, Higgins
FOLL: Street, Cooney, Boyd
I/C from: Addison, Lynch, Ray, Everitt, Power, Minson, Robbins
IN: Everitt, Grant, Minson, Power, Robbins
OUT: Eagleton (susp), Murphy (hamstring)

[Go_Dogs]

anyone fancy a guess at what the final squad will be?

[LostDoggy]

I will be looking for a huge game from Gia.

[LostDoggy]

Gia hasn't quite lived up to the expectations this year but he also hasn't been as bad as some might think.

Yes, I know the coach has been happy with his performances and I think DogTown has posted some good positive analyses of Gia's games. With Eagleton, Cross and Griffen missing I really want to notice him around the ball more (maybe I haven't noticed/appreciated his off ball work to date).

[Sockeye Salmon]

We will go in with the two ruckman plus Darcy. Bench to be Addison, Lynch, Ray and Minson.

You know or you think?

[bornadog]

WESTERN BULLDOGS
B: McMahon, Harris, Morris
HB: Gilbee, Williams, Hargrave
C: Harbrow, West, Akermanis
HF: Giansiracusa, Johnson, Hahn
F: Grant, Darcy, Higgins
FOLL: Street, Cooney, Boyd
I/C from: Addison, Lynch, Ray, Power
EM: Everitt, Minson, Robbins
IN: Grant, Power
OUT: Eagleton (susp), Murphy (hamstring)