Opinion Here's one for ya boys!

[Running Dog]

If x > y they will return

Unless replaced by z where z > x or y

That only works when it's a full moon in June, Mars is rising in Scorpio, it's a US presidential election year, and the Oscar for best actor goes to a skunk. Otherwise team selection is determined by:

 

[Sharkey66]

That only works when it's a full moon in June, Mars is rising in Scorpio, it's a US presidential election year, and the Oscar for best actor goes to a skunk. Otherwise team selection is determined by:

But Greenwood is still a rookie

 

[tonydean]

What is all this maths shit? We're talking about footy here guys, lol

 

[David R]

But do you penalise the replacement who has been playing well by dropping them? tough call

Longer term debilitating injuries such as ligament tears and breaks are a different kettle of fish and players do need to ease back in via the magoos. Thats where they need to prove their fitness regardless of past performances

Ideally, a young player should be coming into the seniors as a reward after consistently showing they can perform a particular role well at Williamstown (or an experienced afl player coming back from short-term injury), as opposed to using the threat of being dropped from the seniors as a penalty and then needing to plug gaps created by dropped players. If a player can then consistently perform the role given to them by the coaches at afl level better than those in the seconds then they should keep their spot. Unfortunately, injury has really messed with the recent backline selections. This has made it impossible to achieve stability in personnel and the player's roles seem less clear than they were a couple of years ago.

The '2010 backline' structure and the ability of players to perform their roles was excellent: Lake, Morris, Williams playing negating roles on opposition talls; Murphy and Gilbee playing on opposition smalls and providing very good rebound; and, Hargrave performing multiple roles depending on the opposition (including being third man up and providing some decent rebound - I don't understand why he cops so much flak). Structurally, I think this years backline has been missing one tall and rebound potency.

Morris, Williams and Markovic are all still out for at least a few weeks, but Lake is looking very good and Austin has done well as the second tall defender (likely to do even better playing on the opposition's third best tall). Hargrave is easily out-muscled if caught one-on-one with a big bodied forward and is only a stop-gap solution as the third tall (if the opposition has three decent talls). Hopefully, the injured trio of tall defenders can come back strong, and Talia and Roberts keep pushing for senior selection because the dogs need them. In the first few games Murphy seemed like the only dogs backline player that was a genuine threat of hurting the opposition on the rebound. Veszpremi looked a good addition for more rebound from defence and Howard should be pushing his claims for this sort of role now he is back from injury. At least one of these two young blokes should play, otherwise the opposition can very easily work out to clamp down on Murphy and with minimal threat of being punished by the dogs rebounding from defence their whole team can push up the ground. It would be great if Gilbee could regain fitness and form, but I don't know whether this will happen. Along with the three talls and two small rebounders I would play Wood, Hargrave then Addison if all three were fit and in form. I think Wood will be a very good player: he is tough, courageous (doesn't mind backing into a pack), fast and has a decent long kick for some rebound.

I like Addison's competitiveness and it is good that he is getting some games in the seniors. His disposal has also looked to have improved, so the stats are giving some of that story. He is probably in the best 22 of uninjured dogs players. But, best 22 won't always combine into being the best team and over the long-term I can't see how the role he plays fits into the structure of the backline. So, I'd get senior games into Veszpremi and/or Howard (and Wood when he comes back), with Addison in if Wood and Hargrave are both unavailable in the same week. When to phase out older players (e.g. Hargrave) is another issue, but at the moment if they are performing well in their roles I'd keep as much experience as we can in the relatively young dogs team.

 

[Mingo]

Could not disagree more. We are a considerably poorer side when Shaggy isn't playing.

Exactly. I don't understand all this Hargrave hate. He's a needed steadier in our backline that's not afraid to take a mark.

 

[DragzLS1]

Addison is a lock for our starting 6! Rarely gets beaten!

In saying that so is Hargrave.

Our ebst 6 would look something like this

Morris Lake Addison

Murphy Williams Hargrave

with the next in line being Wood imo

If Williams is not fit then Markovic and Austin both do a very good job imo


Actually am really liking our back 6 atm Would be jsut happy to get Morris back! cant wait!

Also Gilbee is not starting 6 is only there due to experience. We really really miss his elite kicking though!!

 

[True Dog]

Addison is a lock for our starting 6! Rarely gets beaten!

In saying that so is Hargrave.

Our ebst 6 would look something like this

Morris Lake Addison

Murphy Williams Hargrave

with the next in line being Wood imo

If Williams is not fit then Markovic and Austin both do a very good job imo


Actually am really liking our back 6 atm Would be jsut happy to get Morris back! cant wait!

Also Gilbee is not starting 6 is only there due to experience. We really really miss his elite kicking though!!

It's hard to argue with your best back 6 although I think we need another run & carry defender in case Murphy gets shut down or gets injured or even goes forward. We've had the luxury of Lake finding some of his attacking form lately and I'm liking Vez back there also...

 

[onyadogs08]

We are an infinitely better side with Shaggy playing. Integral to our back 6, apart from very few lapses of concentration (50m penalties, silly frees), which he has certaintly for the most part, stamped out of his game, he has been very solid, finding a lot of the ball and he adds another option when we're running it out of defense. He has always played better on shutting down smalls rather than playing the third tall defender (which is why Williams is so important to our structures).

Our back 6 next year, I'm hoping looks something like

Morris, Lake, Shaggy
Wood, Williams, Vez

I'd have Murphy a bit further up the ground as we've struggled all year for quality going into the f50 (Griffen an exception). Whilst I like Addison as a player I think Wood has more upside, disposal is better, he's got a hard edge and can shut down small forwards whilst providing more drive and run out of defense. Addison just isn't damaging enough for me, that said he has been very consistent.

 

[Barkly St End]

Addison is a lock for our starting 6! Rarely gets beaten!

In saying that so is Hargrave.

Our ebst 6 would look something like this

Morris Lake Addison

Murphy Williams Hargrave

with the next in line being Wood imo

If Williams is not fit then Markovic and Austin both do a very good job imo


Actually am really liking our back 6 atm Would be jsut happy to get Morris back! cant wait!

Also Gilbee is not starting 6 is only there due to experience. We really really miss his elite kicking though!!

Agree with all of that.

 

[adam10]

Wood Lake Addison/Vespa
Hargrave Austin Murphy

Morris and Williams obviously LTI and I think that Markovic is still ahead of Austin when he is fit.

 

[TempleKelvington]

Austin has done well. But I reckon we'll have a lot more insight after this weekend. Big test he'll probably have to play on Pods or Hawkins at times.

 

[Snake Livermore]

Probably would've won tonight if Addison played. A lot of cheap goals got kicked on our inexperienced small backs, and that hasn't happened all year to Dylan.

 

[Ant_]

Austin has done well. But I reckon we'll have a lot more insight after this weekend. Big test he'll probably have to play on Pods or Hawkins at times.

Pods got goals in junk time over the back. I thought Austin had his measure tonight.

 

[tonydean]

Yeah Ant. I thought Lake and Austin won there match ups tonight. Geelong got a lot of opportunistic goals through the midfield and at ground level. Austin has got better every week. Lake didn't get a lot of possessions tonight, or marks, but his spoils were spot on!

 

[paulveed]

Yeah Ant. I thought Lake and Austin won there match ups tonight. Geelong got a lot of opportunistic goals through the midfield and at ground level. Austin has got better every week. Lake didn't get a lot of possessions tonight, or marks, but his spoils were spot on!

Have to agree here. I was most impressed with Austin's game, and his improvement has been steady. The return of Dylan A. will help. How much potency would our back line have if Dale M., Tommy W. and Marko were all available for selection.
We seem to have the developing makings of a pretty good midfield, and now a potentially potent back line. Now if we can get our forward set up right, and improve our kicking, especially for goal, we would really have the makings of a good line up.