Dogs to consider little Liberatore

TOM Liberatore has roared into selection contention for the Western Bulldogs after finally turning around his form slump in the VFL.

The Dogs premiership star snapped out of his funk with his best half of the season in Friday’s VFL win over Essendon.

In the second half he amassed 13 possessions, five clearances and seven tackles in a 104-ranking point half that Champion Data rated the fourth-best half of any player in this VFL season.

As coach Luke Beveridge attempts to “reignite the flame” against Melbourne, he now must decide whether Liberatore has been consistent enough to be recalled. Beveridge has drawn heat for his decision to stick with beanpole ruckman Tim English over the premiership star.

It saw Gary Lyon say the decision to pick Liberatore last week was a “no-brainer”, but Beveridge stuck to his guns.

Captain Bob Murphy said yesterday Liberatore was moving closer to selection.

“He was a lot better last week so his name would be pretty closer to selection this week,’’ he said.

“He is such a competitor.”