News James Peatling chooses Adelaide

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Is he actually best 22 and in the midfield mix when we have a fully fit list?

Does he come off the bench, play forward, or is he legitimately one of our first choice midfielders now along with soligo and rankine?
 

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Is he actually best 22 and in the midfield mix when we have a fully fit list?

Does he come off the bench, play forward, or is he legitimately one of our first choice midfielders now along with soligo and rankine?

Who is he fighting against?

Who is our first choice midfield?

Not much in there to be truthful … we have potential youngsters and untried possibles.

I’d love to see Curtin and Pedlar and Taylor and Rachele join Rankine as a very real part of the rotation … but we don’t really have a midfield that requires much effort to “break into” !!
 
Is he actually best 22 and in the midfield mix when we have a fully fit list?

Does he come off the bench, play forward, or is he legitimately one of our first choice midfielders now along with soligo and rankine?
Yeah man I think he is. Fast feet, prolific tackler and puts his head over it. I think he's a great pick up. He forced his way into our midfield with good performance after good performance and made himself undroppable.
He can rest forward, tag and play a defensive role of needed but his best work is in the centre square.
 
Is he actually best 22 and in the midfield mix when we have a fully fit list?

Does he come off the bench, play forward, or is he legitimately one of our first choice midfielders now along with soligo and rankine?

Absolutely.

Here is a list of our CBA's in 2024:

Crouch 273
Dawson 356
Soligo 350

Laird 312
Berry 235
Rankine 150

You would hope that Rankine gets up to around 250 this year. That leaves about 430 of Berry and Lairds CBA's up for grabs. I would hope Peatling gets 300+ and Rachele gets about 130 in 2025.
 
Absolutely.

Here is a list of our CBA's in 2024:

Crouch 273
Dawson 356
Soligo 350

Laird 312
Berry 235
Rankine 150

You would hope that Rankine gets up to around 250 this year. That leaves about 430 of Berry and Lairds CBA's up for grabs. I would hope Peatling gets 300+ and Rachele gets about 130 in 2025.

I'd be surprised if Rachele gets more than 20 throughout the year. Rankine moving towards the inside (and if Nicks is serious about saving his job, Rankine starts 2025 as our number 1 midfielder) does have a flow-on effect where Rachele is needed to be our main small forward.

My guess is we'll aim for a five man midfield rotation this year, with Rankine/Soligo/Dawson being our main three and Crouch/Peatling being the rotational 4-5 midfielders. I think the big wildcard this year with midfield rotations is Taylor. A big (and I mean big) preseason and it's quite possible Crouch could fall out of our midfield rotations. Other than that, it's also possible Dowling, Curtin and maybe Michaelanny end up challenging for a 4-5 spot in the back end of the year.
 
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I'd be surprised if Rachele gets more than 15. Rankine moving towards the inside (and if Nicks is serious about saving his job, Rankine starts 2025 as our number 1 midfielder) does have a flow-on effect where Rachele is needed to be our main small forward.

My guess is we'll aim for a five man midfield rotation this year, with Rankine/Soligo/Dawson being our main three and Crouch/Peatling being the rotational 4-5 midfielders. I think the big wildcard this year with midfield rotations is Taylor. A big (and I mean big) preseason and it's quite possible Crouch could fall out of our midfield rotations as the year goes on.
I actually think Dawson has less CBAs next year. Some of our younger mids can't play on the wing or half back effectively, but Dawson can. Think we maximise our team output with Dawson attending less CBAs
 
I actually think Dawson has less CBAs next year. Some of our younger mids can't play on the wing or half back effectively, but Dawson can. Think we maximise our team output with Dawson attending less CBAs

A fair shout. Especially with our need to fix the half-back line this off-season, and Dawson is one of the best players in the league in that role. I was umming and arring about putting Dawson as a first choice or a rotational as well.
 

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Absolutely.

Here is a list of our CBA's in 2024:

Crouch 273
Dawson 356
Soligo 350

Laird 312
Berry 235
Rankine 150

You would hope that Rankine gets up to around 250 this year. That leaves about 430 of Berry and Lairds CBA's up for grabs. I would hope Peatling gets 300+ and Rachele gets about 130 in 2025.

Need to factor in 200-300 CBAs for pick 4, which is a pretty standard amount for a top draft pick midfielder in their first year at other clubs
 
Who is he fighting against?

Who is our first choice midfield?

Not much in there to be truthful … we have potential youngsters and untried possibles.

I’d love to see Curtin and Pedlar and Taylor and Rachele join Rankine as a very real part of the rotation … but we don’t really have a midfield that requires much effort to “break into” !!
Our first choice midfield for 2025 should be Dawson, Rankine and Soligo and he's not getting in before any of them. Crouch and Berry would be the guys he's competing against.

You'd also be hoping we pick a mid at pick 4 and give them some midfield time along with Curtin.
 
I actually think Dawson has less CBAs next year. Some of our younger mids can't play on the wing or half back effectively, but Dawson can. Think we maximise our team output with Dawson attending less CBAs
I don't think Dawson is a natural centre square mid.

Far more effective in the role Murphy is meant to play. Stoppage mid with starting position either forward/wing. Never CBA. Place himself where needed depending on game situation.

Dawsons best weapon is his kicking, but is slow hand to foot.


Now we have proper mids, we can use him in his best role.
 
I actually think Dawson has less CBAs next year. Some of our younger mids can't play on the wing or half back effectively, but Dawson can. Think we maximise our team output with Dawson attending less CBAs
Dawson should be playing wing and half back mainly. That way he can get back to utilising his kicking skills better.
He should insert himself in the midfield when he feels like it's needed, and just for short bursts.
 
I don't think Dawson is a natural centre square mid.

Far more effective in the role Murphy is meant to play. Stoppage mid with starting position either forward/wing. Never CBA. Place himself where needed depending on game situation.

Dawsons best weapon is his kicking, but is slow hand to foot.


Now we have proper mids, we can use him in his best role.
Dawson is a terrible forward. Half back/wing and he is AA every year.
 
Need to factor in 200-300 CBAs for pick 4, which is a pretty standard amount for a top draft pick midfielder in their first year at other clubs
LOL. We would have had Harley Reid playing half forward while Crouch and Laird stunk it up. There is no chance pick 4 becomes a mid and is played there immediately.
 
LOL. We would have had Harley Reid playing half forward while Crouch and Laird stunk it up. There is no chance pick 4 becomes a mid and is played there immediately.
I'm sure we'll focus on their deficiencies and get them to work on it in some peripheral role
 
There is almost no player on our list who should be playing "pure" midfield. Crouch perhaps, but only until he is replaced by a better player.

We should be rotating many more mids through there and then having them play a second position when not in there. Dawson down back, Rankine up forward, etc.
I’ve been saying this for a few years now, the way the game is headed is that with the exception of perhaps 2 key backs and one forward, pretty much everyone else should be capable of running in the midfield even if only for short bursts.

I think that asides from pick 4, at least one of Pedlar, Dowling or Taylor will emerge from the pre-season as a must pick player. I really liked what I saw from Dowling last year, and have a good feeling he’ll kick on.
 
I’ve been saying this for a few years now, the way the game is headed is that with the exception of perhaps 2 key backs and one forward, pretty much everyone else should be capable of running in the midfield even if only for short bursts.

I think that asides from pick 4, at least one of Pedlar, Dowling or Taylor will emerge from the pre-season as a must pick player. I really liked what I saw from Dowling last year, and have a good feeling he’ll kick on.

I'm not sure this is true. Clubs still want their best players in the center most of the time.

Brisbane for example this year, had a main center square rotation of Neale, Dunkley and then a split of McCluggage and Ashcroft. Just four players accounted for most of their CBAs with some pinch hitting from Berry and Rayner.

The year prior with Collingwood, they played a rotation of De Goey, Pendlebury and Mitchell and a second group of Daicos, Adams and Crisp. Pretty much no one else got a look in.

Geelong in 2022 used Guthrie, Dangerfield, Selwood and Atkins as their primary rotation, with Parfitt as well at times (but he fell out of the side). Again mostly just four players.

Melbourne in 2021 were Oliver, Petracca, Viney almost all of the time, with pinch hits from Harmes, Sparrow and Jordon

The premiership mould appears to be choosing 3-4 primary midfielders that play through there most of the time, and then maybe 1-2 others for occasional bursts.
 
Need to factor in 200-300 CBAs for pick 4, which is a pretty standard amount for a top draft pick midfielder in their first year at other clubs

Wouldn't think so. Looking at the past 3 years of drafts - would say 75 - 125 should be the expectation.

Sure - generational talents like Harley Reid (395) & Will Ashcroft (221 before injury) and JHF (199) are in your range but I doubt we are getting one of those at pick 4 this year.

Plenty of others are in the more reasonable 75-150 range.

McCurcher (20), Duursma (0), Jed Walter (11), Sanders (114), Wardlaw (118), Tstatas (17), Humphrey (88), Mackenzie (79), Ward (144), Callaghan (120),Nick Daicos (26), Rachele (21).
 

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