Prediction Best 22 for 2020

[Carbine Chaos]

FB: Shannon Hurn, Tom Barrass, Josh Rotham
HB: Brad Sheppard, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta
C: Andrew Gaff, Tim Kelly, Liam Duggan
HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Jarrod Cameron
FF: Liam Ryan, Josh Kennedy, Oscar Allen

R: Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo

I: Bailey Williams, Dom Sheed, Daniel Venables, Jack Petruccelle


Venables bashing in as a mid rotation, Duggan playing the K Cornes tagging/accumulator role. Bring on 2020 campaigners.

 

[Eagleboy68]

FB: Shannon Hurn, Tom Barrass, Josh Rotham
HB: Brad Sheppard, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta
C: Andrew Gaff, Tim Kelly, Liam Duggan
HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Jarrod Cameron
FF: Liam Ryan, Josh Kennedy, Oscar Allen

R: Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo

I: Bailey Williams, Dom Sheed, Daniel Venables, Jack Petruccelle


Venables bashing in as a mid rotation, Duggan playing the K Cornes tagging/accumulator role. Bring on 2020 campaigners.

That's a very good team.

That's a premiership team imo.

 

[Max zero]

The difference one gun player makes to rotations and structure is immense.

 

[kaiserchief13]

No excuses for 2020 now. All the chips are in the middle

 

[2006_Eagles]

Is JK cooked or good for one more year?

 

[squashface]

Is JK cooked or good for one more year?

Family friends of his tell me that his legs are seriously sore after every game to the point where he can barely walk.

I think his form is good enough for another year but it’s just whether his body can handle another preseason and season of AFL football.

 

[Trouto]

nearly makes me cry that Rioli doesnt feature in that 22....

 

[The wily weagle]

Seeing these best 22 lists, without Chris Masten anywhere in sight, gets me hard

 

[kane249]

FB Duggan Barrass Sheppard
HB Hurn McGovern Jetta
C Gaff Kelly Sheed
HF O.Allen Darling Cripps
F Cameron Kennedy Ryan
R Naitanui Shuey Yeo
IC Hickey Brander Hutchings Redden
E Waterman Petrucelle, Venables, Cole

Hutchings in real danger to keep his spot next year IMO. His tagging was a bit hit and miss this year and he's not good enough offensively to keep his spot

 

[06Premiers]

I think we have 18 locks for next season, with decent depth pushing for the last 4 spots.
These spots can be filled by any number of Waterman, Petch, Cameron, Venables, Brander, Hutchings, Duggan, Nelson, Cole, Schofield, Watson, Rotham, Ah Chee, Vardy...
That's as solid a top 30-odd as any club going (without even mentioning Williams or the young mids).

FB ? Barrass Sheppard
HB Hurn McGovern Jetta
C Gaff Kelly Sheed
HF ? Darling Cripps
F Allen Kennedy Ryan
R Naitanui Shuey Yeo
IC Hickey Redden ? ?

I'd like to see us deviate from the 7D, 6M, 7F, 2R template by adding another mid rotation for a forward (i.e. replacing Rioli ).
This way, we can play Yeo in a more attacking role ala Dusty. He has the physical attributes to do it & would like to see him go to work in the F50 more often.

 

[Shmiddy15]

FB: Hurn Barrass Sheppard

HB: Jetta McGovern Duggan

C: Redden Kelly Gaff

HF: Cripps Darling Ryan

FF: Cameron Kennedy Allen

R: Naitanui Shuey Yeo

Bench: Sheed, Rotham, Venables, Williams

Venners, Rotham, Williams, and Cameron all in the team for development, as I reckon they've all got a great set of skills that should translate well to afl level if they can put it all together. None of their positions are a given though, and could easily be rotated out if their form doesn't justify selection.

Would love to see this team out on the park in 2020.

Defensive Depth: Cole unlucky if he can return to 2018 form, but I think Rotham has a bit more upside so have gone with him as the 7th defender. Schoey to play 10 games throughout the year to reach a well deserved 200. Nelson and Watson break glass in case of emergency options.

Midfield depth: Have Hutchings and Ah Chee as ready to go experienced midfielders, with josh smith to a lesser extent as further backup. Would like to see Brander play a dozen or so games as well, so I would bring him in on the wing if any of our mids are injured and shift gaff more inside again to make room.

Forward depth: Waterman or maybe Brander could rotate through with Oscar if his form drops away or to cover JD/JK injuries, while Petch will be putting pressure on Venables and Cameron to hold their spots. Breaks my heart that Willie isn't available here. Fingers crossed we see him in an eagles jumper again someday.

Ruck Depth: I've backed Bailey for the 2nd ruck spot because I really like what I've seen of him; looks to be the perfect second ruck type. Vardy and Hickey great depth and could easily play if Bailey isn't quite ready. Given that Oscar is a makeshift 5th option, it's hard to really see any point in keeping Brooksby, and I feel we'd be better served using that rookie spot to take a punt on a kid.

Mostly WAFL: O'neill was actually pretty impressive during the WAFL finals so he's shown me enough to think he might be a reasonable AFL player, brayshaw similarly impressive but I don't know if he has the physical attributes and spots will be tight in the midfield. We are in need of a new chief of celebrations now that masto is gone though so he could fill the void there. Foley and Ainsworth have work to do to stay on the list beyond 2020, while I think Edwards has shown a bit in his first season so I'm happy to leave him on the rookie list to continue developing.

 

[eagles rule]

nearly makes me cry that Rioli doesnt feature in that 22....

He’s only got himself to blame,absolutely ridiculous what he done to his sample..


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[CM9000]

Every single one of you without HickGod in their team ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

Bailey Williams will be coming into his second year - given Nic will be still playing at 60% game time for a large part of 2020, building up hopefully to somewhere between 70%-75%, we'll still need a dedicated ruckman to help out in the middle.

 

[kingerzz]

Family friends of his tell me that his legs are seriously sore after every game to the point where he can barely walk.

I think his form is good enough for another year but it’s just whether his body can handle another preseason and season of AFL football.

If that's the case, we should be managing Kennedy by playing him in home games only to keep him fresh. It has the added benefit of opening up games for Brander who we need to get games into.

 

[squashface]

Barring injury, this is my current Round 1 side.

Hurn Gov Sheppard
Jetta Barrass Duggan
Gaff Kelly Redden
Cripps Darling Ryan
Cameron Kennedy Allen

Naitanui, Yeo, Shuey

Sheed, Hickey, Nelson, Petruccelle

Emergencies: Venables, Schofield, Hutchings, Waterman

From the SF
IN: Allen, Cameron, Kelly, Duggan
OUT: Hutchings, Waterman, Masten, Schofield

Schofield comes into the side on a week-by-week basis determined by opposition

Waterman could get a gig ahead of Cameron

 

[Keys]

Backs (7) :

Certain Starters - McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard, Jetta

Two of - Schofield, Rotham, Duggan, Nelson, Cole, Watson

Developing - Edwards, Foley

Defence is our strongest line with the best depth. We have 13 players that can capably fill the 7 spots available. Arguably Duggan is a 6th lock which means there’s 5 players fighting for one spot that will be selected on a combination of form and team balance. I’m comfortable with any one of that group getting a game

Edwards gets time to hone his skills as a KPD in the WAFL without any immediate pressure to be thrown in at the deep end before he’s ready. Foley settled into a half back role towards the end of the season but could be pushed back to a wing given defenders aren’t in short supply



Mids (8) :

Certain Starters - Naitanui, Shuey, Yeo, Kelly, Gaff, Redden, Sheed

Second Ruck - Hickey, Vardy, Williams

No room for you - Hutchings, Achee

Developing - Ainsworth, O’Neill, Brayshaw

That’s a mighty fine looking midfield but there’s not much quality as injury cover. Given that Kelly is capable of playing forward there’s a possibility that we’ll go with an extra mid at the expense of a forward which opens up a position for Hutchings and Achee to fight over

Our developing mids are a fair way off AFL level and the lack of experienced mids as injury cover might see Smith retained on the rookie list. Clearly it’s an area of our list that needs strengthening and I’d expect it’s something we prioritise in the draft with what picks we do have

Put a line through Allen playing backup to Naitanui as he shouldn’t be expected to ruck 30-40% game time. The 2018 version of Vardy provides a better forward option than Hickey but the 2019 version was trash meaning the Hickster starts 2020 in pole position. Both will be looking in the rear vision mirror for a rapidly approaching redhead

Forwards (7) :

Certain Starters - Darling, Kennedy, Allen, Cripps, Ryan

Two of - Waterman, Petruccelle, Venables, Cameron

Including Allen purely as a forward puts us in danger of going too tall but he’s simply too good to be playing WAFL so he’s in. Waterman only plays if one of the three talls doesn’t leaving petch, cammo and venners to fill the last 2 spots although as mentioned above that might reduce to 1 spot if we go with an extra mid

Somewhere, Anywhere - Brander

The conundrum. Where to play Brander. His flexibility is becoming a curse because his sheer talent is such that he’s capable of playing forward, back or as we’ve seen on a wing. Compounding this dilemma is that there’s not exactly an opening for him on any one of those lines. Going into his third year a decision needs to be made on where we should be developing him and my own view is that we should park him in the goal square to learn how to play full forward as the likely JK replacement

Unavailable - Rioli

If only he could have pissed into a cup

Delisted (Assumed) - Masten, McInnes, Mutimer, Mallen, Smith, Brooksby

Smith might get a reprieve given our paper thin depth of experienced mids but hard to make a case for the others that haven’t officially been moved on.

Gives us 4-5 list spots to fill. Probably need to look at a project ruck as opposed to a forward/ruck like Williams with the rest being mids one of which should be a mature aged player like Bolton although not necessarily him specifically. Sokol perhaps an option to provide forward cover with Rioli out

 

[swingdog]

Backs (7) :

Certain Starters - McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard, Jetta

Two of - Schofield, Rotham, Duggan, Nelson, Cole, Watson

Developing - Edwards, Foley

Defence is our strongest line with the best depth. We have 13 players that can capably fill the 7 spots available. Arguably Duggan is a 6th lock which means there’s 5 players fighting for one spot that will be selected on a combination of form and team balance. I’m comfortable with any one of that group getting a game

Edwards gets time to hone his skills as a KPD in the WAFL without any immediate pressure to be thrown in at the deep end before he’s ready. Foley settled into a half back role towards the end of the season but could be pushed back to a wing given defenders aren’t in short supply



Mids (8) :

Certain Starters - Naitanui, Shuey, Yeo, Kelly, Gaff, Redden, Sheed

Second Ruck - Hickey, Vardy, Williams

No room for you - Hutchings, Achee

Developing - Ainsworth, O’Neill, Brayshaw

That’s a mighty fine looking midfield but there’s not much quality as injury cover. Given that Kelly is capable of playing forward there’s a possibility that we’ll go with an extra mid at the expense of a forward which opens up a position for Hutchings and Achee to fight over

Our developing mids are a fair way off AFL level and the lack of experienced mids as injury cover might see Smith retained on the rookie list. Clearly it’s an area of our list that needs strengthening and I’d expect it’s something we prioritise in the draft with what picks we do have

Put a line through Allen playing backup to Naitanui as he shouldn’t be expected to ruck 30-40% game time. The 2018 version of Vardy provides a better forward option than Hickey but the 2019 version was trash meaning the Hickster starts 2020 in pole position. Both will be looking in the rear vision mirror for a rapidly approaching redhead

Forwards (7) :

Certain Starters - Darling, Kennedy, Allen, Cripps, Ryan

Two of - Waterman, Petruccelle, Venables, Cameron

Including Allen purely as a forward puts us in danger of going too tall but he’s simply too good to be playing WAFL so he’s in. Waterman only plays if one of the three talls doesn’t leaving petch, cammo and venners to fill the last 2 spots although as mentioned above that might reduce to 1 spot if we go with an extra mid

Somewhere, Anywhere - Brander

The conundrum. Where to play Brander. His flexibility is becoming a curse because his sheer talent is such that he’s capable of playing forward, back or as we’ve seen on a wing. Compounding this dilemma is that there’s not exactly an opening for him on any one of those lines. Going into his third year a decision needs to be made on where we should be developing him and my own view is that we should park him in the goal square to learn how to play full forward as the likely JK replacement

Unavailable - Rioli

If only he could have pi**ed into a cup

Delisted (Assumed) - Masten, McInnes, Mutimer, Mallen, Smith, Brooksby

Smith might get a reprieve given our paper thin depth of experienced mids but hard to make a case for the others that haven’t officially been moved on.

Gives us 4-5 list spots to fill. Probably need to look at a project ruck as opposed to a forward/ruck like Williams with the rest being mids one of which should be a mature aged player like Bolton although not necessarily him specifically. Sokol perhaps an option to provide forward cover with Rioli out

Great analysis, Keys.

Only weakness I see in the backline is the lack of an alternative to Schofield to go with a big-bodied forward. We saw this in the final against Geelong when Hawkins outmuscled McGovern and Barrass. One of them (I'd prefer Barrass) needs to hit the gym over summer and learn that role.

 

[Dark Sharks]

This is Nicnats average TOG percentages from 2019 down to 2010




I'm a fan of Hickeys, but unless Nicnat is playing around 65% TOG or less there's no reason for him to be in the side over Bailey Williams.

Hickey only played 57% TOG in that semi final against the cats, Naitanui played 62% (which was his longest game of the year).

Hickey is wasted unless he's rucking. Better off playing a genuine FWD/RCK who can do small stints rather than hide a ruck on the bench for half a game



Either that or Simpson starts resting Naitanui FWD more instead of the bench. He's seemed reluctant to compared to Worsfold, particularly since 2015

 

[King LeBron]

FB: Josh Rotham, Tom Barrass, Brad Shepherd

HB: Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta

C: Andrew Gaff, Jack Redden, Dom Sheed

HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Tim Kelly

FF: Oscar Allen, Josh Kennedy, Liam Ryan

R: Nic Natanui, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo

INT: Liam Duggan, Tom Hickey, Jack Petrucelle, Dan Venebles

 

[Max zero]

This is Nicnats average TOG percentages from 2019 down to 2010


View attachment 762527

I'm a fan of Hickeys, but unless Nicnat is playing around 65% TOG or less there's no reason for him to be in the side over Bailey Williams.

Hickey only played 57% TOG in that semi final against the cats, Naitanui played 62% (which was his longest game of the year).

Hickey is wasted unless he's rucking. Better off playing a genuine FWD/RCK who can do small stints rather than hide a ruck on the bench for half a game



Either that or Simpson starts resting Naitanui FWD more instead of the bench. He's seemed reluctant to compared to Worsfold, particularly since 2015

Its obvious the end goal is NN with a pinch hitting FWD/Ruck in the second spot (OAllen/Williams). The problem is NN's body has not been reliable enough for that the last few years.

Once it is I suspect he will quickly move in that direction.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

FB: Josh Rotham, Tom Barrass, Brad Shepherd

HB: Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta

C: Andrew Gaff, Jack Redden, Dom Sheed

HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Tim Kelly

FF: Oscar Allen, Josh Kennedy, Liam Ryan

R: Nic Natanui, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo

INT: Liam Duggan, Tom Hickey, Jack Petrucelle, Dan Venebles

I don’t see why we shouldn’t play Williams ahead of Hickey from Round 1 next year.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Its obvious the end goal is NN with a pinch hitting FWD/Ruck in the second spot (OAllen/Williams). The problem is NN's body has not been reliable enough for that the last few years.

Once it is I suspect he will quickly move in that direction.

Yep, all depends how Nicnat comes back from pre season and just how much load they want to put on him. If he can't ramp up his game time Hickey will have to stay.

Would be nice if they tested him with Williams in some of the pre season games.

 

[Optemizer]

FB: Josh Rotham, Tom Barrass, Brad Shepherd

HB: Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta

C: Andrew Gaff, Tim Kelly, Jack Petrucelle

HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Dan Venebles

FF: Oscar Allen, Josh Kennedy, Liam Ryan

R: Nic Natanui, Luke Shuey, Elliot Yeo

INT: Liam Duggan, Jack Redden, Dom Sheed, Jarrod Cameron/Bailey Williams

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Backs (7) :

Certain Starters - McGovern, Barrass, Hurn, Sheppard, Jetta

Two of - Schofield, Rotham, Duggan, Nelson, Cole, Watson

Developing - Edwards, Foley

Defence is our strongest line with the best depth. We have 13 players that can capably fill the 7 spots available. Arguably Duggan is a 6th lock which means there’s 5 players fighting for one spot that will be selected on a combination of form and team balance. I’m comfortable with any one of that group getting a game

Edwards gets time to hone his skills as a KPD in the WAFL without any immediate pressure to be thrown in at the deep end before he’s ready. Foley settled into a half back role towards the end of the season but could be pushed back to a wing given defenders aren’t in short supply



Mids (8) :

Certain Starters - Naitanui, Shuey, Yeo, Kelly, Gaff, Redden, Sheed

Second Ruck - Hickey, Vardy, Williams

No room for you - Hutchings, Achee

Developing - Ainsworth, O’Neill, Brayshaw

That’s a mighty fine looking midfield but there’s not much quality as injury cover. Given that Kelly is capable of playing forward there’s a possibility that we’ll go with an extra mid at the expense of a forward which opens up a position for Hutchings and Achee to fight over

Our developing mids are a fair way off AFL level and the lack of experienced mids as injury cover might see Smith retained on the rookie list. Clearly it’s an area of our list that needs strengthening and I’d expect it’s something we prioritise in the draft with what picks we do have

Put a line through Allen playing backup to Naitanui as he shouldn’t be expected to ruck 30-40% game time. The 2018 version of Vardy provides a better forward option than Hickey but the 2019 version was trash meaning the Hickster starts 2020 in pole position. Both will be looking in the rear vision mirror for a rapidly approaching redhead

Forwards (7) :

Certain Starters - Darling, Kennedy, Allen, Cripps, Ryan

Two of - Waterman, Petruccelle, Venables, Cameron

Including Allen purely as a forward puts us in danger of going too tall but he’s simply too good to be playing WAFL so he’s in. Waterman only plays if one of the three talls doesn’t leaving petch, cammo and venners to fill the last 2 spots although as mentioned above that might reduce to 1 spot if we go with an extra mid

Somewhere, Anywhere - Brander

The conundrum. Where to play Brander. His flexibility is becoming a curse because his sheer talent is such that he’s capable of playing forward, back or as we’ve seen on a wing. Compounding this dilemma is that there’s not exactly an opening for him on any one of those lines. Going into his third year a decision needs to be made on where we should be developing him and my own view is that we should park him in the goal square to learn how to play full forward as the likely JK replacement

Unavailable - Rioli

If only he could have pi**ed into a cup

Delisted (Assumed) - Masten, McInnes, Mutimer, Mallen, Smith, Brooksby

Smith might get a reprieve given our paper thin depth of experienced mids but hard to make a case for the others that haven’t officially been moved on.

Gives us 4-5 list spots to fill. Probably need to look at a project ruck as opposed to a forward/ruck like Williams with the rest being mids one of which should be a mature aged player like Bolton although not necessarily him specifically. Sokol perhaps an option to provide forward cover with Rioli out

I'm not sure Barrass is a certain starter. He went backwards in 2019.

 

[eaglesfan84]

This is easy....

FB: Hurn Barrass Schofield
HB: Sheppard McGovern Jetta
C: Gaff Yeo Sheed
HF: Cripps Darling Waterman
FF: Ryan Kennedy Petrucelle
Ruck: Nic Nat Shuey Kelly

Bench: Oallen Cameron Redden Duggan

If NN can't ruck 80% game time then Hickey comes in for Waterman or Cameron and Oallen plays forward primarily (can pinch hit in back line).