Prediction 2023 Best 23

[Bombers36]

I hope we see some new faces in the team in 2023 - would like to see Davey and/or Tex Wanganeen feature early, and if Cox comes back from his injury bigger and better and can hold down a key position it would be great! Right now I've got our 22 as;-

Ridley Zerk Lav
Redman Cox McGrath
Langford Shiel Durham
Perkins Stewart Martin
Stringer 2MP Wanganeen

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Caldwell Hobbs Hind Heppell
SUB: Davey

Notable omissions/depth: Kelly, Jones, Guelfi, D'Ambrosio, Sneeling, Reid (could replace Cox)

 

[ghostdog]

I hope we see some new faces in the team in 2023 - would like to see Davey and/or Tex Wanganeen feature early, and if Cox comes back from his injury bigger and better and can hold down a key position it would be great! Right now I've got our 22 as;-

Ridley Zerk Lav
Redman Cox McGrath
Langford Shiel Durham
Perkins Stewart Martin
Stringer 2MP Wanganeen

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Caldwell Hobbs Hind Heppell
SUB: Davey

Notable omissions/depth: Kelly, Jones, Guelfi, D'Ambrosio, Sneeling, Reid (could replace Cox)

Out: Wanganeen
In: Sheezel

 

[rusman]

Ins bowes cadman phillipou Davey

Mcgrath Reid Bowes
Redman Cox Ridley
Martin Stringer Durham
Perkins cadman Jones
Snelling 2MP Hobbs

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Phillipou Caldwell Shiel Langford

Emg - Davey

 

[windyhill]

Hobbs must start !! Plays like Brad Scott used to ! Will be a coaches favourite.

 

[Mikevk123]

B- J.Laverde B.Zerk-Thatcher A.McGrath
HB- J.Ridley Z.Reid M.Redman
C- Z.Merrett D.Shiel N.Martin
HF- K.Langford H.Jones M.D’Ambrissio
F- J.Stringer P.Wright M.Guelfi
FOLL- S.Draper J.Caldwell D.Parish
I/C- A.Perkins, N.Cox, B.Hobbs, N.Hind

 

[Bunk Moreland]

B: Ridley - Laverde - McGrath
HB: Hind - Reid - Redman
C: Durham - Hobbs - Shiel
HF: Langford - Jones - Perkins
F: Stringer - Stewart - Wright
R: Draper - Merrett - Parish
I: Caldwell - Martin - D'Ambrosio - Snelling

Happy to play Cox as soon as we know what he is.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Not necessarily my best 22 for 2023 exactly, but how I'd like like us to line up over the next year or two and generally preparing for the future. Hard to say this far out considering I don't know what we will do in regards to drafting.

Kelly - Reid - Ridley

Redman - Cox - McGrath

Langford - Merrett - ______

Martin - ______ - Perkins

Davey - Wright - Stringer

Draper - Hobbs - Tsatas

INT Caldwell - Zerk - ______ - ______​

Would be looking to move on Shiel and Parish, and interested in offers for Jones and Bryan.

Guys like Hind, Lav, Mass, Guelfi, Durham, Snelling etc as depth.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

B: Ridley - Reid - Hind
HB: McGrath - Laverde - Redman
C: Durham - Caldwell - Martin
HF: Langford - Jones - Perkins
F: Stringer - Stewart - Wright
R: Draper - Merrett - Snelling
I: Shiel, Hobbs, A. Davey Jnr, Jhye Clark

 

[Yoda_]

Abslutely paramount we get games into Reid and Cox next year, go from burgeoning kids to start taking control of some games if they are to live up to the hype from pre draft; ditto Perkins from just going to taking control of games

 

[nipst@r]

B: Kelly Zerk Ridley
Hb: Redman laverde McGrath
C: Martin Caldwell Langford
Hf: Perkins Jones hobbs
Hb: Stringer Wright Guelfi
R: Draper, Merrett, Parish
Interchange: Stewart, Cox, D'Ambrosio, Sheil

Energy: jones, pick 4, Davey, snelling.

Can Reid be tried fwd?
Can Jones be tried back?

Going to honest don't really like the make up of the team. As what is the strength of the team?

Youth and versatility but we seem to not change things up to much on game day

 

[Red Black and Blue]

FB: D'Ambrossio, BZT, McGrath
HB: Ridley, Reid, Laverde
C: Cox, Parish, Redman
HF: Martin, Jones, Langford
FF: Guelfi, Wright, Tex
Foll: Draper, Merrett, Hobbs
Inter: Stringer, Caldwell, Perkins, Shiel.

 

[bigcox13]

FB: Ridley , BZT, D’Ambrossio
HB: Redman (VC), Reid, McGrath
C: Martin, Parish, Shiel
HF: Merrett (C), Jones, Perkins
FF:Tex, Wright, Stringer
Foll: Draper, Caldwell, Hobbs
Inter:Cox, Langford, Laverde, Guelfi
Sub: Durham
Emergency:Stewart, Heppell, Menzie, Hind
(Haven’t included davey’s, pick 4 and other picks or trades)
This is my best side with the idea of the direction we want to go we need to get 22 games into guys like Jones, Reid, BTZ and Cox the most to find out where we are heading in terms of key future pillars. I’m gonna put our mids having a shit year last year due to no game plan and injury’s we can bounce back they are all quality mids when they can put it together hopefully Scott and co can put a plan in place that everyone buys in on. Don’t see anyone other than Merrett being captain next year and Redmans a bloke that gives 110% every game and is consistent that’s who you want as our leader's.

I’m terms of guys that need to prove themselves that they deserve a game over younger the footballers development are the likes of Stewart, Snelling, Kelly, Heppell, Hind for me, they are all good contributors at there best and I would think Scott will give them a chance to prove they are in our best 22 at the start of the year but the line up I’ve done is what I think will happen to those players by the end of next year.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Cox and Reid need games and positions. I'd look to play both in the backline with Laverde and Ridley.

Good mix of athleticism, kicking, height. See how it works for the first half of year and adjust.

Massimo replaces Hind. We need a better kick. Redman rounds it off.

McGrath goes to bench, not sure what to do with him.

Hobbs, Parish, Merrett starting mids.

Wright, Jones, Stringer tall forwards.

Need to find another small forward or two with pace.

Guy's like BZT, Langford, Hind are VFL for me.

 

[adsla69k]

Ridley Zerk Kelly
Redman Laverde McGrath
Martin Shiel Durham
Langford Stringer Perkins
Jones 2MP Guelfi

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Caldwell, Hobbs, Cox, Snelling


Hind, Reid, Wanga, Daveys x2, Massimo, Heppell, Menzies

We are definitely in need of an outside player for either HBF/Wing/HFF. Sheezel would work as a forward or Whitfield would be nice to balance out the wings and even Tsatas. Cox also needs to learn how to play in defence somewhere so he can rotate through or he needs to go inside eek! Maybe Jhye Clarke can play a James Kelly

James Kelly

Age

40

Ht

183cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

D/M

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.8

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

10.5

5star

M

4.2

4star

T

5.6

5star

MG

273.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

20.8

5star

K

9.6

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

6.8

5star

cats role off half back. It would allow McGrath to go back pocket and play as small lockdown defender.
Parish, Merrett and Shiel is a problem. Perhaps one of them has to go, they are all good players individually just needs a better mix of skill sets.
Haynes would look good at CHB BTW.

 

[carloss]

Kelly Zerk Lav
Redman Reid Ridley
Martin Parish Durham
Perkins Stringer Guelfi
Snelling 2MP Menzie

Draper Parish Merrett

Bench: Caldwell Hobbs McGrath Langford

 

[citizen-erased]

Massimo - Zerk - Laverde
Redman - Ridley - McGrath

*Would like a different CHB option. Suspect we find one from Eyre, Brand, Cox or possibly even Bryan rather than trying to get him develop forward craft

Langford - Setterfield - Martin (3x 190+ mids )
Draper - Parish - Merrett

*Like the idea of Martin and Langford on the wings. Solid runners, tall options, both excellent users of the ball going inside 50 or even if they push forward
roll the dice on the Parish/Merrett midfield duo. Shiel & Hobbs to support it.
Setterfield will be a nice surprise package as the inside big body we've lacked imo.

Stringer - Weideman - Hobbs
Guelfi - Wright - Jones

*As it stands, this is the best fwd line I can come up with. Planting one mid on the HF line so they can all get that perspective of fwd entries from our midfield.
Doubt we see 2021 Stringer again.
Jones to 3rd tall. the running and agility he has is pretty special.

Shiel - Perkins - Durham - Cox

E: Heppell

*Perkins and Durham can play multiple positions. Would be viewing Perkins as mid/HF/wing cover. Durham can plug most gaps.
Cox I'll assume we have a role for and he plays that.
Heppell sub role I view as transitional. if it preserves his body to keep him going, all the better.

A few players I'm struggling to find a role for
Caldwell - showed a lot as a run with mid (a la Berry). I'd keep working on that.
Kelly - One of our better defenders, but I think we need a better mix. It's one of Lav or Kelly for me. Not bothered by which tbh
Hind - Mass is a better user, better defensively and has a turn of pace. Unless he's struggling for consistency, I don't see Mass out for Hind.
Snelling - Returned too underdone in 2022. Needs to rediscover form.
Pick 4 - History tells us they will play a bit. Hard to work out where they go when you don't know who they are. Ideally it's Sheezel and I'd replace Guelfi.
Davey - Reckon he gets into the side pretty early and plays a good chunk. Won't set the world on fire, but will do him good

Baldwin, Menzie, Bryan, Eyre, Tex - reckon they all play a good chunk of VFL as development continues.

 

[eth-dog]

If we do get Weideman and Setterfield and Tsatas/Wardlaw with pick 5 (assuming this GWS pick 1, North picks 2/3 happen):

FB: Jayden Laverde - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - Jake Kelly
HB: Mason Redman - Zach Reid - Andrew McGrath
MF: Nic Martin - Dylan Shiel - Kyle Langford
HF: Matthew Guelfi - Harrison Jones - Will Snelling
FF: Jake Stringer - Peter Wright - Alwyn Davey jr
OB: Sam Draper - Darcy Parish - Zach Merrett
IC: Jordan Ridley - Sam Durham - Jye Caldwell - Archie Perkins

I think that guys like Hobbs, Hind, D'Ambrosio, Stewart, Weideman, Cox, Tsatas/Wardlaw, Setterfield and Heppell will all get opportunities (and I'm sure I've missed a few others).

Hind - Mass is a better user, better defensively and has a turn of pace. Unless he's struggling for consistency, I don't see Mass out for Hind.

The reason Mass got dropped instead of Hind is because he is nowhere near as good defensively as him.

 

[citizen-erased]

If we do get Weideman and Setterfield and Tsatas/Wardlaw with pick 5 (assuming this GWS pick 1, North picks 2/3 happen):

FB: Jayden Laverde - Brandon Zerk-Thatcher - Jake Kelly
HB: Mason Redman - Zach Reid - Andrew McGrath
MF: Nic Martin - Dylan Shiel - Kyle Langford
HF: Matthew Guelfi - Harrison Jones - Will Snelling
FF: Jake Stringer - Peter Wright - Alwyn Davey jr
OB: Sam Draper - Darcy Parish - Zach Merrett
IC: Jordan Ridley - Sam Durham - Jye Caldwell - Archie Perkins

I think that guys like Hobbs, Hind, D'Ambrosio, Stewart, Weideman, Cox, Tsatas/Wardlaw, Setterfield and Heppell will all get opportunities (and I'm sure I've missed a few others).

The reason Mass got dropped instead of Hind is because he is nowhere near as good defensively as him.

position wise he has a bit to learn, but one on one in very early glimpses I've seen enough from Mass. Knows how to stand an opponent, interrupt them, play off them. Hind probably only has time in the system on him.

Ridley bench feels weird, but we have traditionally gone 7 defenders in the side.
That doesn't look bad with Lav shifted into that 3rd role.

 

[eth-dog]

position wise he has a bit to learn, but one on one in very early glimpses I've seen enough from Mass. Knows how to stand an opponent, interrupt them, play off them. Hind probably only has time in the system on him.

Ridley bench feels weird, but we have traditionally gone 7 defenders in the side.
That doesn't look bad with Lav shifted into that 3rd role.

Mass gets lost in traffic way too often. If he were any good defensively he plays 10 games off half back last year. Instead he gets dropped and moved forward

 

[JT_the_Man]

I started trying to have another stab at this, but it's surprisingly hard. A lot of question marks depending on whether you want to pick the incumbent or the young kid in certain roles.

Keen to see what Scott does with it, think we will see some surprises.

 

[citizen-erased]

I started trying to have another stab at this, but it's surprisingly hard. A lot of question marks depending on whether you want to pick the incumbent or the young kid in certain roles.

Keen to see what Scott does with it, think we will see some surprises.

Scott is an interesting variable.
We have no insight on him really. His last North team was very mature and doesn't really correlate to our current squad.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Interesting that some mention we need to get games into Cox but for most, he’s just on the bench.

We really need to work out what he is. Then play him there.

 

[faible]

Interesting that some mention we need to get games into Cox but for most, he’s just on the bench.

We really need to work out what he is. Then play him there.

My guess is Cox gets a run of games as a KPP in the VFL to settle if our list is fully fit.

 

[Mini Dustin Fletcher]

BZT - Reid - Lav
Red - Cox - Rids

Martin - Setterfield - Duz
Draper - Parish - Stringer

Merrett - Jones - Langford
Guelf - 2MP - Davey

Bench - Hobbs - Shiel - Perko McGrath
Sub - Caldwell

Hind, Kelly, Stewart, Menzie - MAss - Weiderman - J. Davey - Pick 4 - Snelling

If this squad could just focus on pressure, pressure, and then some more pressure during the off-season, it won't be a bad team??

 

[citizen-erased]

Interesting that some mention we need to get games into Cox but for most, he’s just on the bench.

We really need to work out what he is. Then play him there.

CHB - seems his preferred, has the height, started with a bit of edge then lost it. good user.
CHF - runs and jumps like a gazelle, 2m+ but can work off the ground. could kick off both feet...but we coached that out of him.
Wing - looked lost, but maybe needs time/tank to do it. Blicavs type?

take your pick.
I would honestly invest time in him as CHF and stop trying to make Bryan a good forward (let him 2nd ruck from CHB or something)