Prediction 2017 Round 1 Starting 22

[jackess]

FB: McStay, Frost, Andrews
HB: Cutler, ?, ?
C: Bastinac, Mathieson, Rich
Foll: Martin, DBeams, Rockliff
HF: Robinson, Christensen, ?
FF: Walker, Schache, Hipwood

? And INT from: Keayes, Paparone, Gardiner, Mayes, McCluggage, Berry, Bell, Taylor, Cox, William

What about our reigning Best and Fairest?

 

[Milux]

One positional change id like to see is give M. Robbo a crack down back. Play him in harwoods role. Good overhead. Quick. Won't give an inch to his opponent. Long booming get out of jail kick.

 

[AFLQLD]

One positional change id like to see is give M. Robbo a crack down back. Play him in harwoods role. Good overhead. Quick. Won't give an inch to his opponent. Long booming get out of jail kick.

We can play Robbo anywhere on the field and he will have a decent go. But I think it comes down to where we can get the best value from him. At the moment he toughens up a somewhat soft midfield but things might change quite quickly in the next year or two. He also knows how to play a tagging type role better than anyone else we have at present. Sometimes you just need a midfield player who can do that negating play while still getting it himself. Robbo is probably the one midfielder we can rely on to do that at present. I can see NRobbo also being very good at that type of role in the next couple of years.

 

[Milux]

We can play Robbo anywhere on the field and he will have a decent go. But I think it comes down to where we can get the best value from him. At the moment he toughens up a somewhat soft midfield but things might change quite quickly in the next year or two. He also knows how to play a tagging type role better than anyone else we have at present. Sometimes you just need a midfield player who can do that negating play while still getting it himself. Robbo is probably the one midfielder we can rely on to do that at present. I can see NRobbo also being very good at that type of role in the next couple of years.

Fair points.

 

[DanT7]

FB: McStay, Frost, Andrews
HB: Cutler, Mayes, Berry
C: Bastinac, Mathieson, Rich
Foll: Martin, DBeams, Rockliff
HF: Robinson, Christensen, Zorko
FF: Walker, Schache, Hipwood
INT: Keayes, McCluggage, Cox, William

If a player is out, I'd replace them with someone from the same line. Our young team need this to learn structures, tactics etc. Next in line is marked with a *

NEAFL...
FB: Hammelman, Close*, Skinner
HB: Gardiner*, Harwood, Witherden
C: Paparone*, Taylor, Lester
HF: Bewick, CBeams, Bell*
FF: Dawson, Eagles, Freeman*
Foll: Smith*, Jansen*, Lyons
INT: Robertson, Allison, Clayton, Barrett, Hinge, McInerney, Grewar

 

[Len S]

I actually believe McCluggage may not see any game time until about round 8. He may be our highest draft pick, but he's physically underdeveloped compared to all our other draftees. May want to get some gym work and NEAFL games under his belt before showing him in the deep end.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Cox and Berry get early games. Witherden may get some run in the NEAFL just to make sure he has confidence in his leg post injury, before he makes his debut.

What will be interesting is to see how much playing time Mathieson and Keays get with all the talk about the emphasis being placed on being an elite kick.

I think there's only one thing we can be sure of,regarding next years line up...it will be nothing like this years. Which is good !

 

[SizeMatters]

One positional change id like to see is give M. Robbo a crack down back. Play him in harwoods role. Good overhead. Quick. Won't give an inch to his opponent. Long booming get out of jail kick.

Could be a chance Robbo won't start round 1 IMO. New coach, new expectations. Robbo is a decent player but his achilles heel is his long bomb kicks out of congestion to packs or opposition. Fagan would want quality ball users who don't panic. Looking at the Dogs, Swans or Hawks for example they don't tend to just bomb it out of congestion. Robbo will find it hard to change his ways considering it's something he has done his whole career.

 

[James North]

Could be a chance Robbo won't start round 1 IMO. New coach, new expectations. Robbo is a decent player but his achilles heel is his long bomb kicks out of congestion to packs or opposition. Fagan would want quality ball users who don't panic. Looking at the Dogs, Swans or Hawks for example they don't tend to just bomb it out of congestion. Robbo will find it hard to change his ways considering it's something he has done his whole career.

I think Robbo would be the first picked...

 

[James North]

We can play Robbo anywhere on the field and he will have a decent go. But I think it comes down to where we can get the best value from him. At the moment he toughens up a somewhat soft midfield but things might change quite quickly in the next year or two. He also knows how to play a tagging type role better than anyone else we have at present. Sometimes you just need a midfield player who can do that negating play while still getting it himself. Robbo is probably the one midfielder we can rely on to do that at present. I can see NRobbo also being very good at that type of role in the next couple of years.

I actually think Mitch's inside work and handballs are first rate - would love to see him as a permanent inside mid.

 

[Milux]

Could be a chance Robbo won't start round 1 IMO. New coach, new expectations. Robbo is a decent player but his achilles heel is his long bomb kicks out of congestion to packs or opposition. Fagan would want quality ball users who don't panic. Looking at the Dogs, Swans or Hawks for example they don't tend to just bomb it out of congestion. Robbo will find it hard to change his ways considering it's something he has done his whole career.

Yeah nah.

 

[L Dizz]

Could be a chance Robbo won't start round 1 IMO. New coach, new expectations. Robbo is a decent player but his achilles heel is his long bomb kicks out of congestion to packs or opposition. Fagan would want quality ball users who don't panic. Looking at the Dogs, Swans or Hawks for example they don't tend to just bomb it out of congestion. Robbo will find it hard to change his ways considering it's something he has done his whole career.

I get what you're saying, but if we only picked blokes with good disposal skills we'd struggle to field a team

 

[Leuy LongerCombo]

Could be a chance Robbo won't start round 1 IMO. New coach, new expectations. Robbo is a decent player but his achilles heel is his long bomb kicks out of congestion to packs or opposition. Fagan would want quality ball users who don't panic. Looking at the Dogs, Swans or Hawks for example they don't tend to just bomb it out of congestion. Robbo will find it hard to change his ways considering it's something he has done his whole career.

One of the Hawks first picked, loves nothing more than hacking the ball forward. I know Hodge offers more then Robbo, but still think he's a walk up start for us.

 

[Mr Ripper]

FB: McStay, Frost, Andrews
HB: Cutler, Mayes, Berry
C: Bastinac, Mathieson, Rich
Foll: Martin, DBeams, Rockliff
HF: Robinson, Christensen, Zorko
FF: Walker, Schache, Hipwood
INT: Keayes, McCluggage, Cox, William

If a player is out, I'd replace them with someone from the same line. Our young team need this to learn structures, tactics etc. Next in line is marked with a *

NEAFL...
FB: Hammelman, Close*, Skinner
HB: Gardiner*, Harwood, Witherden
C: Paparone*, Taylor, Lester
HF: Bewick, CBeams, Bell*
FF: Dawson, Eagles, Freeman*
Foll: Smith*, Jansen*, Lyons
INT: Robertson, Allison, Clayton, Barrett, Hinge, McInerney, Grewar

I'm fairly certain the 'half' in centre half back and centre half forward is not a reference to the players' height.

 

[M Malice]

IMO if all players are fit.

certain starters round 1- Stefan Martin, Dayne Zorko, Mitch Robinson, Dayne Beams, Tom Rockliff, Daniel Rich, Allen Christensen, Josh Schache.

Tom Cutler and Harris Andrews are near certainties.

these players would need to do something horribly wrong in the off season to not gain a starting berth in round 1, so that leaves over half the side up for grabs to the players who want it most. you need to build a club that has healthy competition for spots in the senior side and we are gradually getting there.

 

[SizeMatters]

Meh. I know everyone here loves the Lions and are blinded from these players deficiencies but honestly Robbo is a limited footballer. I love his determination and commitment but he turns it over too much for my liking. Fagan isn't like Leppa and I'm sure he will punish those who turn it over r perform poorly... I will reserve judgement until w can see the game plan and what he wants in a player but I think I'll be correct. Yeah looking at my oroingal post on this matter probably a bit too early to say he won't be round 1 team but IMO if he doesn't improve his decision making then he won't last long.

 

[jackess]

Meh. I know everyone here loves the Lions and are blinded from these players deficiencies but honestly Robbo is a limited footballer. I love his determination and commitment but he turns it over too much for my liking. Fagan isn't like Leppa and I'm sure he will punish those who turn it over r perform poorly... I will reserve judgement until w can see the game plan and what he wants in a player but I think I'll be correct. Yeah looking at my oroingal post on this matter probably a bit too early to say he won't be round 1 team but IMO if he doesn't improve his decision making then he won't last long.

He has improved his decision making. It's not the massive weakness it was a couple of years ago.

 

[DanT7]

I'm fairly certain the 'half' in centre half back and centre half forward is not a reference to the players' height.

I went three talls at FF and FB for simplicity. I'm confident you can figure it out.

 

[Mr Ripper]

OK

 

[SizeMatters]

Well I wouldn't just say Robbo but anyone who can't win their own footy, who panic under pressure and those who grab the ball and flog it forward with no look kicks wold be under pressure to keep their spot in the team. We are building cool, calm and collected team through the draft and it's fairly obvious esp. 2016 draft lot. Fagan will bring the Hawks system into this club and it will take time to develop the players to how he wants them to play. I'm just not sure why anyone thinks otherwise.

 

[Milux]

Meh. I know everyone here loves the Lions and are blinded from these players deficiencies but honestly Robbo is a limited footballer. I love his determination and commitment but he turns it over too much for my liking. Fagan isn't like Leppa and I'm sure he will punish those who turn it over r perform poorly... I will reserve judgement until w can see the game plan and what he wants in a player but I think I'll be correct. Yeah looking at my oroingal post on this matter probably a bit too early to say he won't be round 1 team but IMO if he doesn't improve his decision making then he won't last long.

I know my response wasn't as mature as it could have been. But honestly who right now on our list is more capable of playing robbos role as well as he does. Who is going to offer our players some protection. Who will offer some midfield grunt/drive and pressure that robbo produces now?

I see your point as he is very limited. But brings so much more than accurate field kicking. I honestly cant wait for players like robbo/bewick/lester are getting pushed out. Means we are improving.

But for me. Round 1 robbo starts.

 

[Caiphus]

Well I wouldn't just say Robbo but anyone who can't win their own footy, who panic under pressure and those who grab the ball and flog it forward with no look kicks wold be under pressure to keep their spot in the team. We are building cool, calm and collected team through the draft and it's fairly obvious esp. 2016 draft lot. Fagan will bring the Hawks system into this club and it will take time to develop the players to how he wants them to play. I'm just not sure why anyone thinks otherwise.

I'm of the opinion that a lot of our no look kicks weren't due to a lack of skills but because our running patterns were so poorly defined that players weren't where they were supposed to be to kick into their area. Most teams kicking is fairly similar but even the good kicks in our side looked poor because they were constantly having to improvise or use vision instead of having predictable movement from team mates. Everyone was so rarely on the same page. Robbo has fairly neat skills when playing safe and I really expect that positioning and movement will be a lot more structured and simplified that we will immediately seem a lot more skilled in the process. The Hawks used players like Sewell for a large portion of their success so there is definitely room for Robbo.

 

[BuntonRules]

Opposing players hear footsteps when Robbo is around. Our boys walk taller when Robbo is around. In the youngest side in the comp Robbo has stood up as a leader - as seen at the airport with the draftees. It is all about what you bring in total to the table, not just a weakness. Whilst he is not perfect, Fagan will accept Robbo's deficiencies for his overall positives to the team.

 

[James North]

I'm of the opinion that a lot of our no look kicks weren't due to a lack of skills but because our running patterns were so poorly defined that players weren't where they were supposed to be to kick into their area. Most teams kicking is fairly similar but even the good kicks in our side looked poor because they were constantly having to improvise or use vision instead of having predictable movement from team mates. Everyone was so rarely on the same page. Robbo has fairly neat skills when playing safe and I really expect that positioning and movement will be a lot more structured and simplified that we will immediately seem a lot more skilled in the process. The Hawks used players like Sewell for a large portion of their success so there is definitely room for Robbo.

Yeah I reckon about 80% of his hacks forward in Lions colours have been because it was the best option to try to get the ball away from our half of the field.

 

[Dalions]

I think that we might find that the new game plan might involve a lot more handballing from congestion out into space where the player on the outside can then hopefully spot up and hit a target further up the field. Rather than just bomb it long from congestion and hope. It wasn't only a select few doing it this year, it didn't matter who it was and where it was on the field, so maybe that was the game plan. In an attempt to improve clearance numbers. Get the ball from a stoppage and bomb it long. Gets a clearance, but with our young body's further up the field it was not a game plan that was never going to work. Need to hit our young boys on the lead as much as possible to give them the best chance.
We need blokes like Robbo, Matho, Rocky even Keays and Berry on the inside working it out with handballs to the more skillful guys on the outside in Beams, Zorks, Cuts, Mayes, Bags, Christensen and in time Witherden and Cox.
We might then see things start to look a bit more fluent as long as their skills hold up.
I think that we were seeing a bit more of this earlier in the year this year, but as the losses mounted and the confidence weaned they went to a more direct route which just went from ok to bad to very bad, very quickly.

 

[cotter101]

Gardiner Frost Harwood
Cutler Andrews Berry

Zorko Robinson Rich

Christensen Schache Mayes
Beams Close Hipwood

Foll: Martin, Rockliff, Beams

INT: Matho, Bastinac, Taylor, Barrett