Preview Collingwood v Bulldogs - Round 1, 2021 - Fri @7:50

[gimp!]

hey guys, saw it suggested earlier that mcneil would get dropped for vandermeer who is preferred apparently, but i've seen now that they are both playing. does mcneil have a good chance of keeping his spot or is he under serious pressure to be dropped unless he kills it?

SC premo for sure.

 

[Golden_6]

Pretty sure this board complained about JJ all last season. He finally is dropped and now everyone's complaining, when all we've seen from him was a mediocre performance against an undermanned Casey

I agree but I think the frustration comes down to the fact that we’ve decided to play guys like Scott and Dale over him, while leaving someone like Richards in the 2’s as well. A lot of people have been calling for Ed to play that running half back role for a while. I’m also concerned that the new rules could work to JJ’s advantage but I’m sure we’ll see him soon.

 

[LittleG]

hey guys, saw it suggested earlier that mcneil would get dropped for vandermeer who is preferred apparently, but i've seen now that they are both playing. does mcneil have a good chance of keeping his spot or is he under serious pressure to be dropped unless he kills it?

McNeil won’t need to kill it BUT I would suspect he gets replaced by either West OR Weightman soon enough.

 

[Bro_Pro]

Hope Richards is the sub!!! So when Bevo sees how much of a stupid idea it was to have Dale at HB he gets a “corky” and Richards comes on and kills it and Bevo has egg on his face and stops being a d!ck when picking the team.

I would of picked Richards, Kamis or even Butler over Dale to play in the backline.

 

[ScottyDogg]

Hey team what are the details for the VFL game today?

Will anyone be there to take a look and report back for us?

 

[Rocketsurgery]

Is McNeil standing on a podium? Looks like he's got some height

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[Charlie Bucket]

McNeil won’t need to kill it BUT I would suspect he gets replaced by either West OR Weightman soon enough.

Weightman’s a fair way off playing 1’s.

 

[doggies ftw]

These new rules are tailor made for JJ.

Richards also.

Absolute indictment on Bev that JJ is not in this team. Like you said the game is now tailor made for him. But yeah let’s try Scott and Dale there. flipping joke. Thank god he picked Doc.

also Young’s games at the back end of 2019 were better than any game Gardner has served up. And that was as the number one defender with no support. I still don’t doubt he’d be a better option alongside Keath than Ryan but anyway

 

[bresker]

This board needs to drink a long cool glass of calm the f**k down.

Bev made Caleb work his way back from the 2s, to give but one example. That worked out all right.

Bev isn’t responsible for recruiting, so grabbing a decent full back is a Sam Power priority. None of the current options are reliable. Lewis Young is not the droid you are looking for.

Save the tubby boo hoo melts for the game day thread.

 

[bobs head soup]

I remember when young blokes who worked their butts off and earnt a spot were celebrated and encouraged.

Seems to be nothing but negativity about McNeil and Scott. I'll be cheering on every positive thing they do, hoping they'll do enough to retain their spot and strengthen our depth.

Some very ordinary whinging in this thread.

 

[Boyd oh Boyd]

Richards is playing well in the seconds, I hope he gets a go soon, but as much on the man on the mark rule suits him the reduced interchanges is the opposite. Either he'd be rotating off too often tiring out everyone else, or he'd be on the field and be too tired to run. Needs a much bigger tank.

 

[Bulldogs85]

Is McNeil standing on a podium? Looks like he's got some height

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McNeil is 184cm

 

[Triple Baileys]

Looking at the side Dale will be playing back, so essentially Scott and Dale are both ahead of JJ at half back. It’s good to see Duryea in as he’s definitely in the best 22. I would have preferred West ahead of McNeil at this stage. Hopefully Hunter’s back to his wing position.


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Dale will be coming off the bench and will be doing the buffalo boy goes round the outside routine to snag a couple. He'll come on to the ground to sneak a goal. That will be his role.

 

[ScragCity]

I made the comment during the Hawks practice game that I don't think JJ is best 22 anymore. I'm glad that the Match Committee seems to agree. It's funny how many of you seem to think that Bevo rules the club as some kind of dictator when in reality he is an employee of the club and he sits somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy. There has been a consensus among a committee that JJ needed to be dropped and so he has.

The reality is that JJ hasn't been the same player since 2016. Maybe that's due to complacency after winning a flag, a Norm Smith and a big long-term contract. I suspect it has a bit more to do with him being targeted like he was in 2017. We lost a few of our meaner type players after the flag and became vulnerable to being beaten up physically. We weren't able to give JJ the protection he needed and I think it has impacted him psychologically. That's all just speculation though.

What we do know is that he hasn't been at his best for a while. He's often criticised for playing bruise-free and uninspiring footy, which I think is fair. We'll learn a lot about JJ over the following weeks.

As has been mentioned, there's a lot more riding on selection decisions than the results of a single game. The guys who aren't first picked need to know that if they train hard and play well they'll get their chance. Presumably Scott and McNeil have done this. If you don't give those guys a chance and keep an underperformer like JJ in the side then you are creating a poor culture that perpetuates mediocrity.

We might lose to the Pies and it might be a direct result of playing those guys, although I think this is fairly unlikely. But I think that's a risk that's worth taking because in the grand scheme of things the culture you are trying to foster far outweighs the results of a single game.

 

[Sentinel]

These new rules changes are going to make us brilliant to watch as we thrive on the chaotic front running aspect.

They’ll also make it terrifying when the opposition has the ball. The back side is so open if you can get it over the top quickly.

Wish we had a young Suckling on our list. His leg would be bloody perfect for the new rules.

Hope our mids are ready to run very hard both ways.

Hunter becomes a very important player in this regard.

 

[Outback Footy]

Is McNeil standing on a podium? Looks like he's got some height

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I thought Marra would get no 1. Whats he gonna wear?

 

[Mr. Walker]

Hey team what are the details for the VFL game today?

Will anyone be there to take a look and report back for us?

Is there a VFL game today?
So that means whoever is the sub will miss the match and perhaps lose a week of football. Great. Or what seems more likely is that every sub in every game will get a run due to a plethora of game ending injuries- only joking coaches would never rort the rule like that.

 

[BEaston]

Doesn't matter how talented our list is when we have a match committee that are simply incapable of picking a team even close to resembling our best 22.

Past performance counts for nothing at the Bulldogs' selection table apparently.

We should be entering this game with an intimidatingly strong looking side, capable of striking fear into the competition, but apparently it is more important for Beveridge to show what an awesome spotter and developer of talent he is. So we have to keep selecting teams capable of winning games but without being a clearly stronger team on paper because if we did that then Luke might not get enough credit for the performance/victory.

On the bright side we still have enough talent in the side to give us a chance of winning.

Lets' hope the boys help Guru Bev add to his mystique, and that somehow circumstances conspire to force his hand to more reasonable selection outcomes as the season progresses.

The only players not selected who have claims for past performance were good several years ago, which is basically irrelevant now.

 

[adogsfan5]

Is McNeil standing on a podium? Looks like he's got some height

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Are we going into season 2021 with no sponsor under number on purpose or because we don’t have one?

 

[maddog37]

I made the comment during the Hawks practice game that I don't think JJ is best 22 anymore. I'm glad that the Match Committee seems to agree. It's funny how many of you seem to think that Bevo rules the club as some kind of dictator when in reality he is an employee of the club and he sits somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy. There has been a consensus among a committee that JJ needed to be dropped and so he has.

The reality is that JJ hasn't been the same player since 2016. Maybe that's due to complacency after winning a flag, a Norm Smith and a big long-term contract. I suspect it has a bit more to do with him being targeted like he was in 2017. We lost a few of our meaner type players after the flag and became vulnerable to being beaten up physically. We weren't able to give JJ the protection he needed and I think it has impacted him psychologically. That's all just speculation though.

What we do know is that he hasn't been at his best for a while. He's often criticised for playing bruise-free and uninspiring footy, which I think is fair. We'll learn a lot about JJ over the following weeks.

As has been mentioned, there's a lot more riding on selection decisions than the results of a single game. The guys who aren't first picked need to know that if they train hard and play well they'll get their chance. Presumably Scott and McNeil have done this. If you don't give those guys a chance and keep an underperformer like JJ in the side then you are creating a poor culture that perpetuates mediocrity.

We might lose to the Pies and it might be a direct result of playing those guys, although I think this is fairly unlikely. But I think that's a risk that's worth taking because in the grand scheme of things the culture you are trying to foster far outweighs the results of a single game.

Bevo has dropped Macrae and Wallis in the past to good effect as well. It is not a new tactic from him.

 

[Dale4captain]

Are we going into season 2021 with no sponsor under number on purpose or because we don’t have one?

Likely we haven’t managed to source one yet. Unfortunate but now it’s probably at the stage where we either decide to sell that space at a lower value, devaluing our future ability to sell that realestate at a premium or we hold tight til we find someone willing to pay the price it deserves.

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

I think the thing that struck me most about last night is how the inside midfield was just bypassed all game. The ball just kept flying out of the contest without any scrapping. That’s a worry because our extraction from these scraps is one of our best assets. It’ll be interesting to see if that was just a bit of an anomaly or if it continues.

 

[Mofra]

Bevo has dropped Macrae and Wallis in the past to good effect as well. It is not a new tactic from him.

Macrae first couple of games back after being dropped was incredible - he became the first teenager to have 40+ possessions in a game. Ended up beign 43 touches and 2 goals.

If every player now realises there are no walk up starts to the 22 anymore that can only be a good thing.

Having said that, I hope McNeil and Scott play well but I really would have had West in playing pressure forward/high forward and Ed Richards running through our HB rotations. To the eyeball he defends better than JJ and watching the game last night, all 18 players on the paddock at any one time must be able to defend. Team defence in 2021 is only going to be as good as the weakest payer on the ground.

 

[Mofra]

I think the thing that struck me most about last night is how the inside midfield was just bypassed all game. The ball just kept flying out of the contest without any scrapping. That’s a worry because our extraction from these scraps is one of our best assets. It’ll be interesting to see if that was just a bit of an anomaly or if it continues.

Perhaps that's why McNeill (who is apparently the quickest player on our list) was given so much opportunity in the pre-season and will now play?

 

[TommyD13]

I remember when young blokes who worked their butts off and earnt a spot were celebrated and encouraged.

Seems to be nothing but negativity about McNeil and Scott. I'll be cheering on every positive thing they do, hoping they'll do enough to retain their spot and strengthen our depth.

Some very ordinary whinging in this thread.

I don't think anyone is not going to cheer them on tonight. It would be stupid to hope certain players do anything other than play well. The problem myself, and a few others have is that it appears we have selected a relatively under-strength side in terms of quality and players playing out of position, and that this is something we have done by choice rather than being in the middle of an injury crisis. I think it is highly logical for people to have an opinion that if we select inferior players (in their opinion- but hey that's the point of debate and an online forum), then we are less likely to win. There is also the factor that this seems to be a somewhat recurring theme under Beveridge. Now in your view these players selected might be in the best 22 that you would've picked. That's fine, there is probably many of you that think that, but there are also people who think they are not, and are entitled to that opinion. That does not mean that we dislike the two players debuting. I particularly like McNeil a lot and think he has a very bright future, but would I have selected him in this game? No. I think there are a few ahead of him if he is going to play a small forward role, and would like to see him play some quality reserves football first. I do hope I am wrong and both McNeil and Scott have absolute blinders tonight, but frankly I am not confident that will be the case. And that again, is fine. I can be hopeful that we will have some nice weather next week, but also have reservations that we may not. That does not mean that if the nice weather comes I will be disappointed because my reservations weren't proven to be true. I would be quite the opposite.