Opinion Best 22 2014

[SizeMatters]

Good list overall. Just need a few more years to help develop the tall forwards and one elite electrifying mid and we are set.

 

[Billy Puller]

I got my eye on Lester to absolutely shred this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becomin an all australian

 

[Devz15]

FB: Patfull Merrett Harwood
HB: Adcock Maguire Golby
C: Hanley Rockliff Rich
HF: Zorko Lisle Mayes
FF: Staker Brown Green
Fol: Leuenberger Moloney Redden
Bench: Lester Raines West Sub: Bewick

I could most likely have West at CHF but I really want Lisle to anchor down a role in our forward line this year. You could probably argue that I've gone too tall, but I don't think I have. I expect Beams, Crisp, Clarke & Paparone to feature throughout the year also. What does everyone think about Polkinghorne? for me I could never warm to him, but last year he showed small signs he knows what he is doing. Still not in my best 22 though. I don't feel McGuane is in our best 22 either, not sure why we got him to be honest. McGrath is stiff, but I'd rather play a younger player like Lester, Harwood & crisp etc before him. What exactly is the situation with Banfield, Is he no good? Or could he turn into a run & carry type midfielder?

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Adcock Merrett Patfull

Harwood Clarke Golby

Hanley Moloney Mayes

Zorko Lisle Green

McGrath Brown Staker

Leuey Rich Redden

Beams McGuane Lester West

Bewick Martin Polkinghorne Raines

Maguire Close Paparone Paine

Banfield Crisp

That's 32 players who are ready to have a red hot crack at AFL level in 2014...did we really lose that much in the "Exodus"? Time will tell...

My 2 big predictions: Adcock will move back into the midfield
Close will be our CHF by years' end

#rockliffout

 

[Skoob]

#rockliffout

Yeah, but good to see that Brown, McGrath, Merrett, Patfull, Adcock, Moloney, Staker and others ;

are ready to have a red hot crack at AFL level in 2014...

 

[Sherrinator]

We have some serious depth since all the lala's left. Haven't been so positive about our ability to cover injuries for years.

 

[Ironmonger]

I got my eye on Lester to absolutely shred this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up becomin an all australian

How can anyone read this post without liking it?

Keep it coming, BP!

 

[Billy Puller]

How can anyone read this post without liking it?

Keep it coming, BP!

Yeoww all aboard the lester train

 

[Last of the Roys]

I read in one of the articles following the trad period that Kerr said that Leppa's game plan involves playing two ruckmen.

I find it hard to see that working if it involves West being added to the existing set-up at the expense of a mid / smaller / faster player - especially as we often seem slow enough at times as it is. I don't think we can have Leuenberger, West, Brown, Staker, and Lisle (or Martin) all in the one side.

To me, Leuy, Brown and Staker are a given. That leaves a decision to be made about who best to be the back-up ruckmen / forward. I think it would only be useful playing West if he was the main ruck and Leuy played forward or if Leuy is injured.

Anyway, I am sure where all this leaves Lisle - his lack of prowess in the ruck could really hold him back next year. I am also not sure how McGuane fits in.

All of this of course is based on a lot of assumptions. At times Staker or McGuane may have to play down back due to injuries.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

I read in one of the articles following the trad period that Kerr said that Leppa's game plan involves playing two ruckmen.

I find it hard to see that working if it involves West being added to the existing set-up at the expense of a mid / smaller / faster player - especially as we often seem slow enough at times as it is. I don't think we can have Leuenberger, West, Brown, Staker, and Lisle (or Martin) all in the one side.

To me, Leuy, Brown and Staker are a given. That leaves a decision to be made about who best to be the back-up ruckmen / forward. I think it would only be useful playing West if he was the main ruck and Leuy played forward or if Leuy is injured.

Anyway, I am sure where all this leaves Lisle - his lack of prowess in the ruck could really hold him back next year. I am also not sure how McGuane fits in.

All of this of course is based on a lot of assumptions. At times Staker or McGuane may have to play down back due to injuries.

and people think our depth is average. we're just fine for the upcoming season

 

[Royboys44]

How can anyone read this post without liking it?

Keep it coming, BP!

I can seriously see Lester becoming our midfield monster "ala" kennedy and cameron ling from cats. The boy can play!

 

[josephs_79]

I read in one of the articles following the trad period that Kerr said that Leppa's game plan involves playing two ruckmen.

I find it hard to see that working if it involves West being added to the existing set-up at the expense of a mid / smaller / faster player - especially as we often seem slow enough at times as it is. I don't think we can have Leuenberger, West, Brown, Staker, and Lisle (or Martin) all in the one side.

To me, Leuy, Brown and Staker are a given. That leaves a decision to be made about who best to be the back-up ruckmen / forward. I think it would only be useful playing West if he was the main ruck and Leuy played forward or if Leuy is injured.

Anyway, I am sure where all this leaves Lisle - his lack of prowess in the ruck could really hold him back next year. I am also not sure how McGuane fits in.

All of this of course is based on a lot of assumptions. At times Staker or McGuane may have to play down back due to injuries.

I think they don't have a choice and why Leppa is playing 2 ruckmen due to the Cap interchange starting next year. A lot of clubs will be playing 2 ruckmen from reports and is why Hawks were still keen on Longer and why the Saints went after him.

A lot of people (foot commentators, reporters etc) have all commented when the rule came out that we may end up seeing a re-introduction of the 2 ruckmen rotation either off the bench or rotation through the fwd line.

But I have too agree that it is going to be interesting to see how they work this. Do they rotate the ruckmen off the bench and rotate the rest through the field (EG Rockliff goes forward to rest etc) and how does this play in for the others.

I think playing two ruckman may keep Clark and Martin on the outer unless injury occurs, Staker will play out of the backline, Brown and Lisle play out of the forward.

But you are right it all depends on how they play the 2 ruckman style, it worked at Richmond and is prolly why Leppa wants to do it more so (especially with Cap on Int). Difference may be is do we have the stocks to do it. My thoughts anyway.

 

[Balony_pony16]

FB: Patfull Merrett Harwood
HB: Adcock Maguire Golby
C: Hanley Rockliff Rich
HF: Zorko Lisle Mayes
FF: Staker Brown Green
Fol: Leuenberger Moloney Redden
Bench: Lester Raines West Sub: Bewick

I could most likely have West at CHF but I really want Lisle to anchor down a role in our forward line this year. You could probably argue that I've gone too tall, but I don't think I have. I expect Beams, Crisp, Clarke & Paparone to feature throughout the year also. What does everyone think about Polkinghorne? for me I could never warm to him, but last year he showed small signs he knows what he is doing. Still not in my best 22 though. I don't feel McGuane is in our best 22 either, not sure why we got him to be honest. McGrath is stiff, but I'd rather play a younger player like Lester, Harwood & crisp etc before him. What exactly is the situation with Banfield, Is he no good? Or could he turn into a run & carry type midfielder?

Nice team Although I would like to see leppa get max games into Clarke...but the Goose and Merrett combo works pretty well when both are on. On Banfield, he could be a real surprise package under Leppa... I really hope he makes it as damn he was exciting when he want fumbling

 

[Dizzle]

and people think our depth is average. we're just fine for the upcoming season

At the end of season 2012 we made a few list changes and it's fair to say I was more bullish about the squad than at any time since the glory years. Every player on the list was either worthy of playing at AFL level or developing towards that status. Granted we were lacking in superstar power then and are now.)

Now we look just as good if not better. I think if we agree Banfield and Polkinghorne as the 'weakest links' on the list (aside from the unknown quantities of the 1st and 2nd year boys) we're looking OK.

My worry is that the depth forced a couple young blokes out last year, and with Leppa bringing in a couple more periphery (18-25th picked) guys, this might stymie the growth of Paparone, Close et al.

I guess what I'm getting at is, is anyone else worried that the evenness at the top will lead to more young blokes leaving citing the dreaded 'lack of opportunities'. With the finals a faint hope we need to make room to blood some of the young blokes who have worked hard and deserve at least a chance this season, lest we see Close blooming in Victoria and Paparone looking to rejoin Elliot Yeo...

 

[Balony_pony16]

At the end of season 2012 we made a few list changes and it's fair to say I was more bullish about the squad than at any time since the glory years. Every player on the list was either worthy of playing at AFL level or developing towards that status. Granted we were lacking in superstar power then and are now.)

Now we look just as good if not better. I think if we agree Banfield and Polkinghorne as the 'weakest links' on the list (aside from the unknown quantities of the 1st and 2nd year boys) we're looking OK.

My worry is that the depth forced a couple young blokes out last year, and with Leppa bringing in a couple more periphery (18-25th picked) guys, this might stymie the growth of Paparone, Close et al.

I guess what I'm getting at is, is anyone else worried that the evenness at the top will lead to more young blokes leaving citing the dreaded 'lack of opportunities'. With the finals a faint hope we need to make room to blood some of the young blokes who have worked hard and deserve at least a chance this season, lest we see Close blooming in Victoria and Paparone looking to rejoin Elliot Yeo...

I tend to agree...we seem to have had quite a few real borderline AFL players that have really sucked up AFL games ahead of talented youngsters. Voss really had a hard line approach to playing the "You earn your place in the team" which in parts I understand...BUT, I am a strong believer in picking talent and getting max games into them ASAP...Leah Matthews talked about this in identifying your next gen top talent and getting 50 games into them ASAP. I believe we did this very well with Redden who had a real average start to his career but was allowed game time to improve in the AFL rather then that QAFL. But other players that suck games were Sheldon, Hawksley, Collier etc... One thing all teams have equal is the same amount of games per year which you can use for development... we really have "Pissed them (Games) up the wall".

It will be very interesting to see how Leppa manages it

 

[Ironmonger]

and people think our depth is average. we're just fine for the upcoming season

The problem with 'depth' is it's a bit of a blunt term.

I think we have okay depth in that our fringe players around or just outside the best 22, say the 21st to the 30th best players on the list, stack up pretty well against most of the rest of the league.

But I think it's the group just after the top ten players on the list where we start to look a little thin. If I had to name our 11th to 15th players I'd probably say Golby, Staker, Zorko, Clarke and Mayes, who I think at most other clubs would be more in the 16-20 category.

And our next tier would probably be the likes of Harwood, Green, Raines, McGrath, Maguire and maybe West, who I think would be fringe players at most other mid-table clubs.

What we need in 2014 is for the likes of Golby, Clarke, Mayes, Green, Harwood, Lester and Beams to narrow the gap on our top 10.

 

[Last of the Roys]

I think they don't have a choice and why Leppa is playing 2 ruckmen due to the Cap interchange starting next year. A lot of clubs will be playing 2 ruckmen from reports and is why Hawks were still keen on Longer and why the Saints went after him.

A lot of people (foot commentators, reporters etc) have all commented when the rule came out that we may end up seeing a re-introduction of the 2 ruckmen rotation either off the bench or rotation through the fwd line.

But I have too agree that it is going to be interesting to see how they work this. Do they rotate the ruckmen off the bench and rotate the rest through the field (EG Rockliff goes forward to rest etc) and how does this play in for the others.

I think playing two ruckman may keep Clark and Martin on the outer unless injury occurs, Staker will play out of the backline, Brown and Lisle play out of the forward.

But you are right it all depends on how they play the 2 ruckman style, it worked at Richmond and is prolly why Leppa wants to do it more so (especially with Cap on Int). Difference may be is do we have the stocks to do it. My thoughts anyway.

I am not sure the interchange cap will have that much impact. The cap is 120, not including changes at 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 time or the sub. This compares to an average of around 133 this year, so it is seems pretty similar to a large extent. Does anyone know the individual club averages?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-27/afl-brings-in-interchange-cap-

There may be some games where it is really hot where teams might be adversely impacted, but otherwise I don't see how it will have that much of an impact.

 

[captainrich]

The problem with 'depth' is it's a bit of a blunt term.

I think we have okay depth in that our fringe players around or just outside the best 22, say the 21st to the 30th best players on the list, stack up pretty well against most of the rest of the league.

But I think it's the group just after the top ten players on the list where we start to look a little thin. If I had to name our 11th to 15th players I'd probably say Golby, Staker, Zorko, Clarke and Mayes, who I think at most other clubs would be more in the 16-20 category.

And our next tier would probably be the likes of Harwood, Green, Raines, McGrath, Maguire and maybe West, who I think would be fringe players at most other mid-table clubs.

What we need in 2014 is for the likes of Golby, Clarke, Mayes, Green, Harwood, Lester and Beams to narrow the gap on our top 10.

great analysis mate, I think one thing we have going for ourselves though is harwood and green are young players with 1 or 2 more preseasons are potentially 11-15 players, and mayes golby and clarke potentially top 10 players just about letting these guys develop in the 1s

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

I expect Mayes to be in our top ten next year. We just need to re-sign him.

 

[John_Proctor]

some really good stuff above.

agree that we probably gave too many games to some list cloggers over time (not necessarily resulting in loss of these kids). but should we have ditched Sheldon/Hawkesly a year or two (or three?) earlier and seen some other guys.

also TomFC I was going to say almost exactly the same thing in reply to the depth comments. we have a pretty handy 1-10 (rich, redden, rockliff, hanley, merritt) then our 11-30 are all more like 20-30 at a finals team. In terms of tall forwards this is most apparant. Staker, McGuane, Lisle, Paine, West are all rejects from teams who were playing finals at the time they left their former club. Brown too is now a borderline player.

The more I think about it the more I think that Brown might struggle to hold down his spot all season. We all like to think that the last few years 'haven't gone his way' and 'he'll be back after a full pre-season' but the more likely scenario is the body is breaking down and he'll battle through as best he can as Carey and Brereton did in the twilights of their careers before him. Despite the fact Brown still draws a double team in our attack the team migth be better off with a more athletic player in their who isn't such a liability when the ball is turned over and who can get on longer leads out to the wings or even repeat leads to the wings and then doubling back inside 50 which Browny struggles with now.

For us to make finals this year we need 2 of our young guns to step up to AA level and probably 5 of the second tier (Mayes, Golby, Harwood, Lisle, Lester, Harwood, Zorko, Staker, Green, Bewick or any of the draftees) to step up to first tier.

If Raines, McGrath, Martin, Maguire are still in our best 22 at years end then we won't have made finals IMO.

 

[Rizzler]

Where does Llane Spaanderman fit into our best 22 next season?

Speaking of Spam Burgers... does anyon remember seeing these ads at Bears games years ago when Spam was the Bears short sponsor and you could buy spam burgers at the Gabba:

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Mayes will be elite in a few years, jet. If Beams gets a full year in him he can finally show what he has.

 

[Milux]

Just read on the afl website Mayes is really happy up here. He even returned 3 weeks before he had to before preseason to start his own training that he could have done back in SA. really good signs and I hope the lions throw a 3 year deal at him at the start of the season.

 

[Big Lion]

Just read on the afl website Mayes is really happy up here. He even returned 3 weeks before he had to before preseason to start his own training that he could have done back in SA. really good signs and I hope the lions throw a 3 year deal at him at the start of the season.

I just read that too here is what he said,



"For anyone that wants to know, I'm pretty happy to stay up here. I'm loving life in Brisbane," Mayes says with a big grin.
"The boys have welcomed and embraced me very well. I'm sure the other first year boys can back me up on that. It feels like a family up here and I feel pretty at home.




As a Lions fan/member how good does that make you feel

 

[Big Lion]

Beams would have to be knocking on the door of top 22.

It's going to be very intriguing how they set up the forward line next year.