Selection Dissection: Time to Respond

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Panic stations!

What was that performance against the Brisbane Lions last Friday night? We fielded our strongest team of the season against a side coming off a 12-goal loss and got absolutely smashed. The biggest worry? We won the clearances and centre clearances, yet still lost by 67 points.

This week’s game against Collingwood is absolutely massive. Lose this game and it’s season over. Like last week, there are no excuses. The Magpies will be without most of their first-choice backline, along with several other important players. We should be winning this game and winning it convincingly.

The coach has some big calls to make at selection this week. Bailey Macdonald was “managed” last week and his pace was sorely missed. If he returns, it will likely be at the expense of Sam Butler, but that would leave us with eight defenders again. Then there’s the two-ruck setup. Do we need to bring in an extra runner? Good luck, Sam!

Arguably their worst performance of the past two years.

Other than Blake Hardwick, the entire backline struggled and looked badly disorganised. Tom Barrass, in particular, would have had a tough review.

Looking ahead to this week, Collingwood really has only one key forward in red-hot form: Dan McStay. His past six weeks have been at an All-Australian standard. Lachie Schultz is also a quality small forward, but I expect Blake Hardwick to get that matchup and limit his influence.

Our backline should be holding this Collingwood side to 12 goals or fewer. If they can do that, it should be enough to win the game.

Despite coming up against a star-studded Brisbane midfield, I thought our midfield held up reasonably well last week.

Jai Newcombe was strong again, while Josh Ward and Cam Mackenzie continued their good form. Unfortunately, Will Day had a rare off night and must bounce back this week.

Either Day or Newcombe is likely to cop attention from Ed Allan, who has developed into one of the AFL’s best run-with players.

The biggest dilemma this week is what to do with Nick Daicos.

Daicos is on track to win the Brownlow Medal and is currently the best player in the AFL. He has been heavily tagged in recent weeks and is still finding 35-plus disposals with ease.

I can’t see Finn Maginness coming into the side, which suggests there’ll be no hard tag. Expect Daicos to have 40-plus disposals. Hopefully, most of them come in Collingwood’s back half.

I wrote about my concerns with our ruck setup a few weeks ago while Ned Reeves was injured, and those concerns remain.

However, the coaching staff appear committed to the two-ruck structure, and at this stage of the season it’s probably too late to change course.

We know what we’re going to get from Reeves and Lloyd Meek. We simply have to hope both are performing at their best when finals arrive.

It would also be nice to see Meek play with a little more aggression and Reeves start clunking some marks around the ground.

Like the backline, the forwards had a disastrous night against Brisbane. Other than Jack Gunston, the talls and smalls had little impact and were comprehensively beaten.

Thankfully, they have the perfect opportunity to bounce back this week.

Collingwood will be without Maynard, Howe, Moore and Perryman, leaving their defence significantly undermanned. There are simply no excuses for Hawthorn’s forwards this week.

They should all be hitting the scoreboard, and there’s every chance one or two of them kick four goals or more.

Will Hayes to kick three goals

In - B.Macdonald, Dalton, Dear
Out - Butler, Reeves, Chol (all omitted)

Emg: Chol - Butler - Ryan

In - B.Macdonald
Out - Butler (omitted)

Emg: Dear - Nairn - Ryan

In the mix to debut: Cody Anderson
Unavailable: Conor Nash, Noah Mraz, Flynn Perez

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