Player Watch #29: Will Phillips [Part II] - revives his career w/ B2B tagging performances vs NDaicos vs CFC & COliver (10d) vs MFC

[Grogg]

Take Treloar out of the game. He is the ignition to their engine.

Agree. I wont be surprised if they prefer George tho. He has the wheels and defensive capabilities.

 

[Orange Peanut]

I liked this in Titus's review of the Blues-Cats game.

 

[Grogg]

I’d lean towards Liberatore for the tag. Dogs best clearance and contested player - take his influence out and that’s a lot less clean ball movement.

Not discounting Jy getting first crack there either. Maybe George and Will rotating to Treloar could be a good option, given they both are building a tank. Jy has a good enough tank & defensive capability to go head to head with Libba.

 

[hotchilli]

Intriguing matchups this week for Clarko to nut out.

You've got:

Libba- the consumate inside bull. He starts matches very well and asserts square dominance early, but does have a slight tendancy to fade late. Physically, he is probably the most logical fit.

Bont- Size, strength, agility. Wins it inside, outside, can float forward and take it overhead, can float back although his rebound isn't a huge factor. Does it all.

Treloar- Speed and spread. Probably under-rated a little for his contested work but his weapons are on the spread and repeat links in the chain. Wins a shit tonne of ball, but his disposal can be hit and miss, particularly under pressure.

These 3 are the key in the rotations and if we are talking Phillips as a tag, it's probably Treloar who is most vulnerable imo. Will just needs his blocking to be at its absolute best to be effective in this scenario. Block the run, beat him in close and stop the spread.

Bont did an absolute number on Daicos at the stoppages in the second half when the Dogs beat the Pies. Totally shut him out of any footy around stoppages while he kept winning it himself.

I worry we don’t have a matchup to go with Bont.

 

[amaz199]

Put Jy on the Bont.

Rotate him with Shiels.

 

[Grogg]

Bont did an absolute number on Daicos at the stoppages in the second half when the Dogs beat the Pies. Totally shut him out of any footy around stoppages while he kept winning it himself.

I worry we don’t have a matchup to go with Bont.

I dont think we do, you just minimise the potential influence by negating those around him.

 

[hotchilli]

I dont think we do.

If we really want to keep rolling with the Phillips tag I feel like you give him a crack at it but I’d personally rather see Wardlaw take the matchup especially around stoppages.

 

[amaz199]

The give under immense pressure. Amazing.
View attachment 8mb.video-VNr-XY9wZz3r.mp4

 

[Sphynx]

The difficultly with Bont is he'll just push forward and expose him.
Rather than a hard tag, perhaps a run with head to head battle with Libba which would be fun to see.

Nah, George will have been throwing darts into a picture of Libba in his locker all week.

There’s a select few GW would have marked down at the start of the year in terms of key matchups.

Libba would have definitely been on that list.

He’s cut from the same cloth and has been doing it for a decade. He was also a player he idolized growing up

Oliver, Rowell, Neale, Cripps, T.Green probably the others.

He lives for these matchups.

I’d 100% be sending Will to Trelaor in his current form.

We play Russian Roulette with LDU vs Bont straight up.

As ****ing amazing as Bont is, Bevo won’t want LDU running around doing as he wants either with the form he’s hit.

The Dogs are running deep through the midfield with Richards and Sanders also getting plenty of CBA’s luckily Jy has hit top form, as has Sheezel and we still have Powell.

Even Xerri vs English…

You couldn’t get a better test at the moment imo. The Dogs have the firepower, the grunt, the star power to overcome most midfield groups. Let’s see if this change in form is legit.

Bont vs LDU in this current form will be one of the matchups of the season.

 

[tazaa]

Phillips tags Libba.
Bont will drag him forward and be too big for him.
Shiels to take Treloar who always kills us.

I’m happy for LDU to go head to head with Bont.
Plus we have George, Sheezel and Jy running through there. Powell too.

 

[bringbackboomer]

The give under immense pressure. Amazing.
View attachment 2029451

A give so good LMac could even hit a target.

 

[hotchilli]

Phillips tags Libba.
Bont will drag him forward and be too big for him.
Shiels to take Treloar who always kills us.

I’m happy for LDU to go head to head with Bont.
Plus we have George, Sheezel and Jy running through there. Powell too.

I feel like that’s us a win for us for them to send Bont forwards. As long as we have a defender switching over the matchup when he’s going forwards.

 

[DuckYeah]

Bont did an absolute number on Daicos at the stoppages in the second half when the Dogs beat the Pies. Totally shut him out of any footy around stoppages while he kept winning it himself.

I worry we don’t have a matchup to go with Bont.

H2h LDU .. you dont stop the bont. Best player in the league

 

[hotchilli]

H2h LDU .. you dont stop the bont. Best player in the league

Can’t stop the Bont but can try and pick and choose where he impacts the game.

If the Dogs want to send him forward to break the tag that’s 100% a win as he’s pretty much the best mid in the comp currently.

 

[DuckYeah]

Can’t stop the Bont but can try and pick and choose where he impacts the game.

If the Dogs want to send him forward to break the tag that’s 100% a win as he’s pretty much the best mid in the comp currently.

He goes forward for a rest. Has nothing to do with a tag. Im with a few other posters here. Cut off his supply and run LDU h2h

 

[hotchilli]

He goes forward for a rest. Has nothing to do with a tag. Im with a few other posters here. Cut off his supply and run LDU h2h

I’m talking from an ideal world where a Phillips tag is impacting him enough around the football they are sending him forward to break the tag. I don’t think Phillips is going to be on the level to limit the Bont to cause it to be completely honest.

I’d expect the Dogs to send Libba to LDU to try and limit his stoppage impact as he’s clearly the guy on our team to stop.

I feel like it’s a perfect growth opportunity for Wardlaw to try and impact the Bont around stoppages particularly but you’ve got to keep trying to roll with the Phillips tag and who else would you rather try and stop then the Bont.

 

[king rising]

Not sure where he fits in this week. Would get a decent reality check from Bontempelli...

 

[DuckYeah]

Not sure where he fits in this week. Would get a decent reality check from Bontempelli...

Correlation with us performing better and phillips in the team is no random anomaly.

 

[ferball]

Nah, George will have been throwing darts into a picture of Libba in his locker all week.

There’s a select few GW would have marked down at the start of the year in terms of key matchups.

Libba would have definitely been on that list.

He’s cut from the same cloth and has been doing it for a decade. He was also a player he idolized growing up

Oliver, Rowell, Neale, Cripps, T.Green probably the others.

He lives for these matchups.

I’d 100% be sending Will to Trelaor in his current form.

We play Russian Roulette with LDU vs Bont straight up.

As ****ing amazing as Bont is, Bevo won’t want LDU running around doing as he wants either with the form he’s hit.

The Dogs are running deep through the midfield with Richards and Sanders also getting plenty of CBA’s luckily Jy has hit top form, as has Sheezel and we still have Powell.

Even Xerri vs English…

You couldn’t get a better test at the moment imo. The Dogs have the firepower, the grunt, the star power to overcome most midfield groups. Let’s see if this change in form is legit.

Bont vs LDU in this current form will be one of the matchups of the season.

Yeah its gonna be a ripper game if the boys are genuinely on the up. I'm spewing I'll miss it.

 

[King Corey]

In theory Luke McDonald is who should be manning Bont.

But can you ****ing imagine..

 

[scottywiper]

I'm theory Luke McDonald is who should be manning Bont.

But can you ****ing imagine..

I don't understand why we never tried to develop Luke in other roles. We paid a high price then made him a career back pocket. Atley was same. No development.

 

[Horizons_00]

I reckon we give him a quarter on the Bont

Will.P would relish the challenge

 

[DuckYeah]

I don't understand why we never tried to develop Luke in other roles. We paid a high price then made him a career back pocket. Atley was same. No development.

Whats that saying about polishing a turd?

 

[Psychic Roo]

Correlation with us performing better and phillips in the team is no random anomaly.

I don't understand why we never tried to develop Luke in other roles. We paid a high price then made him a career back pocket. Atley was same. No development.

On 10 years observed form - cant kick for goal at all, so any forward role is out.
Terrible i50 delivery, lack of quickness with hands and feet and pretty poor agility and is way too one sided without any balancing elite traits - vs z merrett or colby- to play afl midfield as a one sided leftie. Maybe got away with it in u18s.
Can intercept at times and is pretty hard at the man. So he plays back pocket. Problem is that he leaks goals, is targeted and isolated by the opp and they let him kick it and he turns it over at terrible times so is a nett negative.

 

[Moti]

Correlation with us performing better and phillips in the team is no random anomaly.

Well he wasn't in our win ...

But seriously, he has found a role that seems to work. Will be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes and what the 2025 team would look like. Wardlaw, LDU, Sheezel, Jy and Colby are the key 5, so whether we look at a tagger will be an interesting question.