AA selection proves we are on the right track

[Square Peg]

One of the truest truisms is that it's the quality of your bottom six players that wins you the flags, not your top six.

 

[estibador]

I will never fully rate AA until they retrospectively award Roger one.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

Also robbed of a coaches award.
I would say we are better placed in 2015 than we were in 2014 because of ;

1./ A very tough draw in 2014 esp the first half of the season which cost us.
1./ b Draw much fairer in 2015.

2./ Walters injury and we should include his start to the season as well because he was clearly not fit.
2./ b Walters fully fit can return to the two prong force with Ballas along with another kpp to help pavlich.

3./ Chris Mayne as above. It is undeniable he should not have been playing early in the season. Recall the Sydney game.
3./ b Chop very likely to have a different role this year and more focussed on scoring. Add Crozier to the forward line and Chop becomes far more dangerous.

4./ Nat Fyfe is set to become the most effective player in the comp.
5./ Luke Mcpharlin. Be under no illusions, he was stuffed last year with a mis-diagnosed Tendon and he will be as good as ever in 2015.

I expect top four finish and good chance of top two.

Every team has injuries, it's part of football. Premising that "next year we will be better because Walters won't get injured and play a full season" is stupidly hopeful. There are always going to be important players from every team that miss large parts of the year.

Look at Hawthorn in the early stages of the year, they had feking Kyle Cheney playing full-back, and yet they managed to chalk up wins and finish top 2 despite all that adversity.

I know they didn't have as many injuries as us come finals time, but you can't continue to use injuries as an excuse for us not being good enough. If we hadn't have dropped that game to Port, then we would have had Ballaz to come back into the team the following week and would have only been missing Johnson and McPharlin from our best 22. Yeah, Barlow broke his thumb a few weeks earlier but keep in mind Rioli was in a lot worse shape on grand final day after missing 12 weeks and having an incredibly underwhelming game in the VFL the week before where he was blamed for being responsible for Hawthorn's VFL team losing the granny.

And, relying on McPharlin playing a part to catapult us back into being a premiership contender is laughable. The bloke turns 34 next year and is a shoe-in to be one of those players that retires mid-season because they "can't get their body right".

Pav will be turning 34 next year as well and we can expect his output to further diminish at this stage of his career.

 

[masai]

Remember we have a chap from Harvey, some Antonio Moraknee. He aint exactly small and could be valuable as a forward flanker rolling around with Taberner and that Croat chap. Would make a strong forward line in relation to bulk.

When Mr Dawson makes the Sheahan Top 50, I'll know that Freo have made it.

What I have learnt is to never take the media seriously, and Sorbent is better than The West.

 

[blue shark]

We will have six All Australian, current, former, players in the squad next year, fingers crossed.
With several others that should be in consideration, Hill, Walters. The only two teams that I
worry about are Hawks, Port, Swans, and as long as we make top 4, we are a chance.

 

[Cheetah]

You're never as good as they say you are and you're never as bad.

 

[free at last]

Every team has injuries, it's part of football. Premising that "next year we will be better because Walters won't get injured and play a full season" is stupidly hopeful. There are always going to be important players from every team that miss large parts of the year.

Look at Hawthorn in the early stages of the year, they had feking Kyle Cheney playing full-back, and yet they managed to chalk up wins and finish top 2 despite all that adversity.

I know they didn't have as many injuries as us come finals time, but you can't continue to use injuries as an excuse for us not being good enough. If we hadn't have dropped that game to Port, then we would have had Ballaz to come back into the team the following week and would have only been missing Johnson and McPharlin from our best 22. Yeah, Barlow broke his thumb a few weeks earlier but keep in mind Rioli was in a lot worse shape on grand final day after missing 12 weeks and having an incredibly underwhelming game in the VFL the week before where he was blamed for being responsible for Hawthorn's VFL team losing the granny.

And, relying on McPharlin playing a part to catapult us back into being a premiership contender is laughable. The bloke turns 34 next year and is a shoe-in to be one of those players that retires mid-season because they "can't get their body right".

Pav will be turning 34 next year as well and we can expect his output to further diminish at this stage of his career.

I think the improvement from fyfe,neale,sutcliffe,tabs,Walters,crozier,
ballas,Barlow,hilly,Clarke and scos should easily cover the inevitable decline of PAV.

 

[manpurple]

You're never as good as they say you are and you're never as bad.

Ahh the wisdom of Ross

 

[Taylor]

It takes consistent years to get noticed, then a similar period to be overlooked.

 

[Belnakor]

It's a bit ridiculous that this was Fyfe's first.

So far in his short career he's been cheated out of 1 x AA, 1 x Doig, and 1 x Brownlow. Combine that with us kicking straight in the GF and he really should be one of the most decorated 23 year olds in league history.

Fyfe's AA being his first was actually over looked numerous times by media. When they talked about having X "first time AA" players, they didn't include Fyfe.

 

[Mr Peabody]

Pav will be turning 34 next year as well and we can expect his output to further diminish at this stage of his career.

True. But he's still looking pretty well cut hey?
Maybe his last hurrah in '15 but ain't it going to be a joy to watch!

 

[simpsonwillo]

I don't reckon it will be Pav's last hurrah by any means

 

[WAnchor]

We will have six All Australian, current, former, players in the squad next year, fingers crossed.
With several others that should be in consideration, Hill, Walters. The only two teams that I
worry about are Hawks, Port, Swans, and as long as we make top 4, we are a chance.

I agree with you but hope that you wouldn't mind helping me with my maths.


And I worry about St Kilda.

 

[Purpletown]

Freo had three players picked in the AA team this year, with two winning selection for the first time.
Aaron Sandilands has been selected four times.
Injuries, suspension had a massive effect on how we ended the season, having quality depth is the
difference in the end, all clubs have injury concerns.
I think we are a BIG chance in the next two years, and have drafted well enough to cover most
positions, and have several players capable of dual roles.
Who agrees?

AA selection is a novelty as much as anything and not an indication of any particular teams chance of winning the premiership the way I see it. Having a few past and/or present AA players on your list suggests the club has got some talent that has been recognised by other football people but not much more can be read into it than that.

Fitness is not an issue as any player in a RTB team will be pared down to his optimum playing weight and be as fit as he can reasonably be. Injury is the great unknown as it can strike any player at any time from a freak incident while playing or training or a stupid act (like injuring your knee at a rock concert) ala Zac Clarke. Also timing of injuries can be season defining and I believe we covered our injuries well during the year but ran out of soldiers at the end to a fair degree.

The two players who have the biggest question marks over them injury wise after 2014 are McPharlin and Mora. I think we can cover for Macca if he continues to struggle to get onto the park. Mora has a low probability of getting himself up and going and staying fit unless he can do some kind of Lazarus impersonation but could add a bit to the team if he can pull it off.

Suspensions cost us often in 2014 and except for Fyfe's first one were plain dumb. Fyfe and Ballas in particular need to be smarter than that for the good of the team.

It sounds like the intensity of the squad is very good judging from the time trials etc. and that is a real positive.

So if we have a decent run injury wise and end up with a mostly fit list going into the finals, if we learn not to get rubbed out for silly stuff and if we can generate a couple more goals per game over the season we will be top 4 material. After that we will need some luck but if we can get top 2 or win the first final and get a home prelim then we are a solid chance in 2015.

 

[Reginald Perrin]

We're on the same track as everybody else, fighting to be the last ones off. AAs don't mean shit.

 

[blue shark]

I agree with you bpostede ttryingu wouldn't mind helping me with my maths.


And I worry about St Kilda.

Yeah, eating lunch and typing dont mix well, knew as soon as I posted. Was going to go with hawks, port top two,
favorites, and the top four teams I think will be next year, thinking about two things at once.

 

[Arcassius]

It's interesting reading the responses here on the team and its future, and the differences in opinion. Got me thinking that there's almost 3 distinct schools of thought that follow across other threads -


1) The team performed as expected last season (we didn't reach our targets). Nothing less that the cup is failure. We overrate ourselves internally and there needs to be significant improvement to the key areas of developed talls for us to win the cup. (Pessimistic)

2) We didn't achieve last season, but there is significant upside in the younger players to offset the decline in our older players. The club is well managed. Other clubs are in the same boat regarding their playing list, and our future is never as bad as some think. (Optimistic)

3) We didn't recruit talls!!! ... But we have awesome midfield potential!!! We have 3 AA's!!! ... But AA means nothing!!! (Ambivalent)

 

[rodney hoo]

One of the truest truisms is that it's the quality of your bottom six players that wins you the flags, not your top six.

You have to be carefull if you pick players who can not make their own mind up, if your bottom six can't think out side the square they won't take the chance when it is there in big games. It is a fine balance but imo reckon better going with a player who makes the odd f/up to a player that has boundrys.

 

[Bicco]

We're on the same track as everybody else, fighting to be the last ones off. AAs don't mean shit.

I dunno Reg, if you've got 7 AA players in your team and on the field, I reckon you might be tracking better than most other teams. They may not mean much but they say a lot.

 

[theGav56]

So who are our bottom 6?

 

[Steinfreo]

True. But he's still looking pretty well cut hey?
Maybe his last hurrah in '15 but ain't it going to be a joy to watch!

View attachment 95713

Yeah watching kobe be the only 36 year old to do a 30+ point triple double the other day was pretty amazing. If his body holds up pav could do another 60-70 goal year.he just needs a bit mmore support. Hes still one of the strongest one on one in the entire league.

 

[WAnchor]

So who are our bottom 6?

Interesting question.

Looking at our last game provides an interesting case in point. If I remember correctly, we were missing McPharlin, Ballantyne and Johnson. Silvagni was also out - although his best 22 claims are debatable.

Looking at the team we put on the park and how the game unfolded, our 'bottom 6' could include Taberner, Clarke, Suban, de Boer and two others. Perhaps some would argue Pearce, Mayne, Spurr or Crowley. The point is that if our injured players had been available, the bottom 6 becomes even harder to find. How awesome would it be if the injury Gods enable both Sylvia and Morabito to also play at their potential.

 

[blue shark]

Interesting question.

Looking at our last game provides an interesting case in point. If I remember correctly, we were missing McPharlin, Ballantyne and Johnson. Silvagni was also out - although his best 22 claims are debatable.

Looking at the team we put on the park and how the game unfolded, our 'bottom 6' could include Taberner, Clarke, Suban, de Boer and two others. Perhaps some would argue Pearce, Mayne, Spurr or Crowley. The point is that if our injured players had been available, the bottom 6 becomes even harder to find. How awesome would it be if the injury Gods enable both Sylvia and Morabito to also play at their potential.

I think you are on the money with your comments, if you look at the players that could be in the bottom six, most are mids, flankers, you can see why we went this way in
the drafts.
None of the Talls will be ready for two years or more, and replacing Pav, Elvis, two AA , the best kp we have had in twenty years, well we would have to finish bottom four
to get a pick required to do that.
Injuries, and coaching mistakes last year were the reason our season ended, we have drafted several guys who can play multiple positions, add speed, skill, and improve
the bottom line. Ross Lyon is such a competitive animal, he wants to win every game, if he can look at the big picture, I see Freo in form, and top four.

 

[Harry Reems]

And those 500 yrs of domination came just from making footstools.

And the "Whirling Dirvishes."

 

[Purpletown]

It's interesting reading the responses here on the team and its future, and the differences in opinion. Got me thinking that there's almost 3 distinct schools of thought that follow across other threads -


1) The team performed as expected last season (we didn't reach our targets). Nothing less that the cup is failure. We overrate ourselves internally and there needs to be significant improvement to the key areas of developed talls for us to win the cup. (Pessimistic)

2) We didn't achieve last season, but there is significant upside in the younger players to offset the decline in our older players. The club is well managed. Other clubs are in the same boat regarding their playing list, and our future is never as bad as some think. (Optimistic)

3) We didn't recruit talls!!! ... But we have awesome midfield potential!!! We have 3 AA's!!! ... But AA means nothing!!! (Ambivalent)

Perhaps another school of thought could be Realist for those who are just not pessimistic. Kind of a combination of 2 & 3 really.