Best 22 in ‘22

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I think Coleman’s development now offers a way for us to begin to revamp our defence. We need speed, good read of the play and attacking instincts, all of which I think Kiddy has. If he can really secure his position over the next year we start to look more dangerous.
 

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Was a little hesitant on the Starc to the midfield before but can definitely see it now.
 
Move Starce in the midfield to replace Neale
Answerth takes Starce old role
Birchall retires and Lester takes his place.
Madden takes Lester's spot.
Suddenly, we'll have one of the fastest backlines in the competition as well as future elite midfielder given Starce was recruited as one and has all the traits of being an elite mid.
 
ForzaRoma said:
Move Starce in the midfield to replace Neale
Answerth takes Starce old role
Birchall retires and Lester takes his place.
Madden takes Lester's spot.
Suddenly, we'll have one of the fastest backlines in the competition as well as future elite midfielder given Starce was recruited as one and has all the traits of being an elite mid.
Click to expand...
Starc has improved dramatically this year . I'm not totally sold on him in the M/F just yet.
 

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The important thing is to think what are our shortcomings, and how do we address them.

Saturday night should be quite instructive in shaping next season.

Our biggest issue was conceding groundball goals to the dogs. We covered them very well in the air even with our talls not at their best. But when it hit the ground we were chasing tail. It's about balance. We had 3 key backs. So 4 smalls / mediums. Rich is one, who is not fast or particularly mobile. If you select Birchall as well, no matter what you think of his kicking, you are down to 2 defenders who actually have good pace and mobility. Out of 7. So at stages only 1 will be on the ground. It's not enough. This just MUST be rectified next year. Fagan likes having 2 good distributors. And in the modern game it makes sense. But they don't have to BOTH be slow. Kiddy is looming as the answer. The fundamental we need to get back to is a good defence first and foremost is HARD to score against. Look at Melbourne. An array of fast stoppers. Their best kick, Salem, has good pace. We have discovered two viable options this year in the backline in Coleman and Madden, and possibly Answerth back next year. Prior was recruited as a half back i think? We have the depth there.

The midfield balance also just feels out. Our default centre clearance team is Neale, Zorko and Lyons. It happened several times in the last quarter. Only one of them has genuine speed. Only one of them has any size and still you wouldn't call Lyons big at 184cm. Two of them are nippers. The positive in Neale (likely) leaving is that whomever replaces him is almost certain to help the size issue - we need to make sure it also helps the speed issue. So Rayner comes back in to mid rotations, and Starcevich is injected into the midfield. Recruited as a mid. Size, strength, speed. Reckon he will be our captain one day and best player. They could also look at a designated defensive mid in each centre clearance, best played by either Berry or Dev Robertson. They are both bulls. So you have pace in Starce, Zorko, Rayner, Bailey. You have size / grunt in Robertson, Berry, Starce, Rayner, Robinson. You have Lyons as your clearance pig. Clugga as the silk. Good runners in Berry and Sharpe.

The forward line is interesting. It's not perfect. But you can't argue too strenuously with how high scoring it is. My key change to the start of the year is no Daniher in the ruck. He was more threatening when he stayed forward, even though he struggled in the finals without support. I am a tad worried about him. HIs marking dropped off and so did his leap i thought. And he seemed to struggled to kick beyond 50 by the end of the year. Perhaps tired from 24 straight games. You'd think maybe there was a plan to rest him late in the season, or get the pre finals bye that didn't happen. Cockatoo needs to improve or doesn't get a game. He's had a year to get back to his body, time to go full speed and test those hammys - no point in avoiding injury if you are too far below your best. I still think he could be good.

So with that in mind:

B: Gardiner Andrews Answerth (lock down)
HB: Coleman Adams Rich
C: Bailey Starcevich McCluggage
HF: McCarthy Hipwood McStay
F: Cameron Daniher Ah Chee (defensive forward)
Foll: McInerney Lyons Zorko

Interchange: Rayner (mid) Berry (mid) Cockatoo (forward) Madden (back)

And in terms of depth you actually know something about it would look like:

Backs: Payne, Lester, Prior
Mids: Robertson, Robinson, Mathieson, Sharpe
Forwards: Fullarton, Tom Berry.

In place of Hipwood until he comes back, Fullarton should be given a shot. But Cockatoo as a deep marking target would be the other option. He is as strong as an ox so would be hard to outmark.

On paper the depth in the forward line looks a bit thin, but you would imagine Zorko, Rayner and Bailey go through their a bit. It does make me think we should be looking at one small forward in the draft, depending on how they think Blake Coleman is going.
 
I think we still have quite a few options. Probably makes it a bit easier for Robbo to keep his spot in the team. Hopefully Bailey and Dev can take their games to the next level and Rayner can play some midfield time. Hopefully JBerry gets fit too.

Still wouldn’t have Matho best 22 and wouldn’t want to play him unless we’re desperate.
 
Assuming Neale trade happens & Birchall retires.

Best 22 (Everyone available)
FB: Starcevich, Andrews, Gardiner
HB: Rich, Adams, K. Coleman
C: McCluggage, Lyons, Prior
HF: McCarthy, Hipwood, Rayner
FF: Cameron, Daniher, McStay
FOLL: McInerney, Zorko, Bailey
INT: J. Berry, Cockatoo, Robertson, Ah Chee.

Best of the rest: Lester, Payne, Mathieson, Robinson

Hopefully we can add a Luke Parker or someone to replace Neale but if not we will probably have 4 first round picks. Gone more a bit more speed and better kicking thats why I went Prior over Robbo and Coleman over Lester.
 
mick1013 said:
Assuming Neale trade happens & Birchall retires.

Best 22 (Everyone available)
FB: Starcevich, Andrews, Gardiner
HB: Rich, Adams, K. Coleman
C: McCluggage, Lyons, Prior
HF: McCarthy, Hipwood, Rayner
FF: Cameron, Daniher, McStay
FOLL: McInerney, Zorko, Bailey
INT: J. Berry, Cockatoo, Robertson, Ah Chee.

Best of the rest: Lester, Payne, Mathieson, Robinson

Hopefully we can add a Luke Parker or someone to replace Neale but if not we will probably have 4 first round picks. Gone more a bit more speed and better kicking thats why I went Prior over Robbo and Coleman over Lester.
Click to expand...
Who does the relieving rucking?I cannot see Joe doing it again.
 
morsie said:
Who does the relieving rucking?I cannot see Joe doing it again.
Click to expand...
It has to be Joe otherwise we can’t play those big 3 forwards. If Oscar is able to do 80-85% and leave Joe with only 10-15% of rucking with McStay taking the forward contests I think it can work. Although Joe is a poor ruckman he should provide a point of difference getting around the ground and using his foot skills to create an advantage against a second ruck from the opposition.
 
There was some analysis (last year or the year before?) that looked at the second rucks across the league. Looked at the value they contributed in their 10-15% ruck time and the 80-85% time in their other rule (forward/back/mid or whatever they did). Showed the 80% was significantly more important than the couple of contests a quarter. Having a backup who is a good ruck but crap at anything else was more detrimental to the team as you "waste" more bench or player time.

So generally I dont care if its Joe or McStay that do an average ruck job for a few contests if they are competing well in their primary role.
 
Personally I am not sold on us needing 3 talls in our forward line as often as we do. I do think if the oppo only has 1 or 2 talls in their own forward line, chucking Andrews forward at times could be an interesting option.

Assuming Neale isn't traded atm and if he is we would replace him with someone through free agency.

Rich, Andrews, Gardiner,
Starc, Adams, Coleman
Hugh, Neale, Bailey (assuming he doesn't drop off)
Rayner, Hipwood, McCarthy
Charlie, Joe, Zorko

Rucks: Oscar, Lyons, J Berry
Int: Cockatoo, Robertson, Robinson, Ah Chee

Sub: McStay

We could have a lot of midfield rotations. I think a lot of our guys are able to play as mids such as Rayner and Starc. Depending on how Robbo goes next year I believe he could play the Starc role if we want Starc in the middle more. I think having smaller forwards with more speed helps our forward pressure and also our ability to push back into defence when needed.

We have a lot of younger guys with speed who are pushing for selection as well. Prior and Madden for example. I don't think we are far off and speed in defence seems to be our biggest problem right now. If Neale was to leave I am not sure, looking at our list whether we would need to replace him with someone not currently on our list. We might be better off finding someone who can help our backline.
 
mick1013 said:
Joe will, he did a good job when McStay & Hipwood were playing. Can't be worse then Fullarton...
Click to expand...
I actually think McStay would be the best back-up ruck. He has the strength, he’s slightly short but a good leap, and quite mobile with a beautiful field kick. Reckon he has the tank, too. He would compete more than daniher
 
twhowler said:
I actually think McStay would be the best back-up ruck. He has the strength, he’s slightly short but a good leap, and quite mobile with a beautiful field kick. Reckon he has the tank, too. He would compete more than daniher
Click to expand...
I would compete more than Daniher.
 

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