Daniel to spend another week in VFL
Caleb Daniel will spend a second week in the VFL after missing out on selection for Thursday night’s crunch match against St Kilda.
The Western Bulldogs’ 2020 best-and-fairest winner lit up the VFL in last week’s curtainraiser with 26 disposals and 102 SuperCoach points.
Daniel recorded a kicking efficiency of 94.1 per cent with 16 out of his 17 kicks nailing the target. But it is understood that was not enough to earn a recall against the Saints.
Coach Luke Beveridge often gives players in Daniel’s situation multiple weeks in the
VFL. Teammate Jack Macrae played three full VFL games on return from a hamstring injury before earning a recall against the Eagles.
Daniel will head to Point Gellibrand Oval in Williamstown on Saturday to take on the Seagulls instead of tackling the Saints.
It means by the end of round 6, the All-Australian half-back would have played only two full matches at AFL level – which the Bulldogs both won convincingly against Gold Coast and West Coast.
Daniel started as the substitute in the round 1 loss to Melbourne, was substituted out of the round 4 loss against GeeBut
long and was axed for last week’s loss against Essendon.
Last week was the 27-yearold’s first VFL game in seven years. It had appeared that premiership coach Luke Beveridge no longer thought Daniel’s best position was behind the ball.
Last year, Daniel spent 40 per cent of his game time forward and 39 per cent in the midfield or wings.
in somewhat of a surprise, Dogs development coach Alex Johnson said Daniel was used in the defence in the VFL last week.
Johnson said Daniel’s creativity to change angles was “really important” to Footscray’s ball movement and unlocking the VFL Dogs in defence.
“It was a pleasure for me to coach him down in the back half,” Johnson said.
“He was really invested in the younger guys and wanted to help them. His direction out there was awesome.”
Daniel is contracted at Whitten Oval until the end of 2026 on a deal worth roughly $700,000 a season.