My 2013 round 1 team

[The Sloane Ranger]

If Callinan has done a calf he may struggle to be fit

Shaw needs to get more footy befor round 1

 

[1990crow]

If Callinan has done a calf he may struggle to be fit

Shaw needs to get more footy befor round 1

Dont know the extent of injury for Callinan but I think Shaw should be fine with two weeks to prepare. His pace and spoiling ability will be important with the loss of Doughty.

 

[Slippery Pete]

If Callinan has done a calf he may struggle to be fit

Shaw needs to get more footy befor round 1

Did he really do a calf? That is an old man's injury.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Had ice on his knee didn't he?

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

B: Otten, Rutten, van Berlo
HB: Mackay, Talia, Reilly
C: Smith, Dangerfield, Douglas
HF: Petrenko, Walker, Vince
F: Wright, Jenkins, J.Porplyzia
R: Jacobs, Sloane, S Thompson
I: McKernan, Couch, Henderson
Sub: Johncock

Petrenko sewed up his spot, assuming he pulls up OK.

Smith needs to be replaced - probably by Tambling or Martin.

Otten is the most doubtful & no clear answer for the 3rd defender. Do we play Reilly in this role & play a Brown/Jaensch or Tambling as a defender or Henderson, bringing in another mid. Milburn has the biggest headaches at the moment.

 

[Keystone agony]

Looks like Luke Brown will play ahead of Tambling now due to injury and he was actually very good tonight shutting down Garlett and to a degree bit of Betts thats all you need from him, thats his role.

Crouch wont be sub either hes too good for that. Someone like Henderson, B.Martin will fill that spot maybe Johncock or an injurish Callinan depends how he pulls up, also maybe Tambling aswell.

 

[AFC979810]

We've seen the likes of Goodwin, Edwards, McLeod, Johnson introduced into AFL football filling these roles alongside other better players. Perfect environment for learning and development. On the job training. And if those identified youngsters genuinely have the goods, it doesn't take long for their output to outstrip the steady role players. One of my criticisms of Craig was that he cashed in on the players developed in this way prior to him getting there, but did not make similar sacrifices in terms of selection (until the wheels fell off in 2010/11 and everyone got injured anyway).

If our youngsters genuinely don't have the talent and that's why they aren't tipping the role players out of the team - that's fine - but we need to delist them. Not leave them on the list for years on end.

I think our big differentiation is what you classify as 'role players'. In no way do I consider players like Doughty / S Stevens / Shirley / Reilly (pre 2012) / Douglas as role players. To me all 5 of them are/were top 22 AFL footballers every day of the week and the fact that all of them played over 150 games (excepting Stevens who was forced to retire early with 144 games) proves this.

You cannot make it to 150 games by being shit.

The issue I have on here is that there are always calls for these unfashionable type of players to be dropped for the next crop of mid range draft picks.

We were a top 4 team last year finishing equal first and finishing a kick away from a prelim. We have an extremely young side with only 2 first choice players over 30 (Stiffy/Callinan). We need to play our best side week in and week out and give it a tilt this year.

With regards to your last point and the mention of Craig not being ruthless and culling 'role players' to give youngsters a go - I think the main issue is that we didn't really have too many talented youngsters to give a go. I know there is a heap of talk about Craig's poor development of youngsters - but I just fail to see it. I acknowledge all of his faults about player training / his poor match day coaching and stubbornness but I think the fact that we made a 2012 prelim with the list that Craig and Co built is testament to his ability to develop our talent (especially since our prelim finals side had one top 10 draft pick).

 

[AFC979810]

Take 2:

B: Henderson Rutten Tambling
HB: Douglas Talia Reilly
Mid: Mackay Thommo Sloane
HF: Vince Walker Petrenko
FF: Crouch Jenkins Porps
Foll: Jacobs Danger VB
Interchange: Johncock Shaw Wright
Sub: Callinan
Emergency: Martin / Lyons / McKernan

Only 1 change for me at this stage. Really think that the bolded position is the one that is under the most pressure with Tambling/Brown/Riley/Martin competing for that one spot.
The one real weakness I see in this side is lack of ruck support for Jacobs. This will be a real problem against Essendon's strong ruck lineup - with Ryder/Bellchambers/Hille...

I think McKernan may just start round 1 on the Interchange (move Shaw to back pocket and take tambling out) - but I will wait to see what happens in rd 2 of the NAB Cup.

After last nights trial - I have settled for my Rd 1 lineup. Gonna stick with the rd 1 lineup I had in early Feb with Brown replacing Tambling. Have included the number of games they played under Sando in 2012 in brackets.

B: Henderson (12) Rutten (25) Brown (3)
HB: Douglas (19) Talia (23) Reilly (25)
Mid: Mackay (23) Thommo (25) Sloane (24)
HF: Vince (20) Walker (19) Petrenko (23)
FF: Crouch (0) Jenkins (11) Porps (22)
Foll: Jacobs (24) Danger (25) VB (25)
Interchange: Johncock (19) Shaw (14) Wright (22)
Sub: Callinan (23)
Emergency: Martin (7) / Lyons (3) / L Thompson (3).

Next in line - Tambling / Riley / Kerridge / Jaensch /

Not sure how bad Callinans knee is. If he is out then we will put in Martin. Was wrong and would like to revise my McKernan prediction above. Think we will only play Sauce / JJ and use the 3rd man up for all of Jenkin's ruck contests around the ground.

 

[Elite Crow]

Brown has to play ahead of Tambling. He's got great disposal and decision making and you need that deep in defence and that's Tamblings weakness.

 

[Mattrox]

I think Brown has shown enough to warrant selection on his own merits. It would not be 'gifting' him games if he got a genuine chance to string a few together.

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

Did he really do a calf? That is an old man's injury.

I could be wrong however I thought that they mention calf on the coverage

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Brown has to play ahead of Tambling. He's got great disposal and decision making and you need that deep in defence and that's Tamblings weakness.

They are different types of players serving different needs. Of both are playing well, there is room for both. I would prefer Tambling running of a wing or HBF at worse. Brown is more the negating type at the moment & can play deeper in defence.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

PS. Doubt Wright will start on the bench & will go straight to Watson in round 1.

 

[AFC979810]

PS. Doubt Wright will start on the bench & will go straight to Watson in round 1.

In todays football it doesn't really matter who starts on the bench / on the ground. I agree that Wright will get first crack at Watson. Wouldn't mind Crouch being given the responsibility to be honest. Would love to see him tagging the games elite midfielders for the first half of the year.

 

[Tex200]

In todays football it doesn't really matter who starts on the bench / on the ground. I agree that Wright will get first crack at Watson. Wouldn't mind Crouch being given the responsibility to be honest. Would love to see him tagging the games elite midfielders for the first half of the year.

Would prefer to see him on the fringes of the engine room in his first year. Guy like Watson is an inside machine...too physical for a kid not properly developed. Maybe in his second year this would aid his development , but right now Wright looks a logical choice.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

In todays football it doesn't really matter who starts on the bench / on the ground. I agree that Wright will get first crack at Watson. Wouldn't mind Crouch being given the responsibility to be honest. Would love to see him tagging the games elite midfielders for the first half of the year.

You serious? .....18 YO tagging the Brownlow medalist who has height and weight advantage? .....did you think very much before you posted that comment
Watson 28YO ....191cm .....95kgs
Crouch 18YO .....184cm .....84kgs

Well it's only 11kgs diff and 10 years of experience

 

[AFC979810]

You serious? .....18 YO tagging the Brownlow medalist who has height and weight advantage? .....did you think very much before you posted that comment
Watson 28YO ....191cm .....95kgs
Crouch 18YO .....184cm .....84kgs

Well it's only 11kgs diff and 10 years of experience

Apologies.

Would love to hear your no doubt brilliant thoughts on who should run with Jobe Watson?

Should it be Matty Wright who is 178cm and 81kgs? Should it be Van Berlo who is 184cm and 84kgs (same as Crouch)?. Should it be an imaginary defensive midfielder we have who is 191cm and 95kgs? Perhaps we should have the 192cm Taylor Walker run with him?

Aside from the fact that there is no ideal matchup physically for Watson in the AFL (let alone our midfield) - lets look at what he did to us last year...

31 possession (19 contested possessions)- 1 goal -4 goal assists - 7 clearances - 7 tackles - 4 I50's and 3 Brownlow votes.

He killed us - yet we still won the game because we had the superior midfield. We do not have a tagger who can stop / nullify Watson. Why not let our young gun midfielder Crouch have first crack. He will get beaten but what he will learn from (as you said) a Brownlow Medallist will be invaluable.

Now perhaps before having a crack at others for not thinking before they post - you might want to gain a better understanding of our lists strengths and weaknesses and also watch a game of footy or 2

 

[Mismatched]

Okay, here's my likely team for Round 1 considering last nights performances:

B: Brown - Rutten - Reilly
HB: Shaw - Talia - van Berlo
C: Sloane - Dangerfield - Mackay
HF: Vince - Walker - Petrenko
F: Porplyzia - Jenkins - Johncock
1R: Jacobs - Thompson - Wright
I: Henderson, Douglas, Crouch
S: Jaensch
E: Callinan, McKernan, Martin

Essendon are quite a tall side, both up forward and in defense, so we will need Shaw up there who can lock down a taller player. My worry is that we're so short up forward, especially when Jenkins moves into the ruck. We need to force Fletcher into a 1 on 1 situation, and with us being able to field merely 2 blokes up forward over 190cm at any one time, allows him to just slip off and kill the contest far too easily. I think we need to seriously consider playing 1 of Johnston, McKernan or Lynch to draw that extra tall defender, away from Walker.

 

[Elite Crow]

They are different types of players serving different needs. Of both are playing well, there is room for both. I would prefer Tambling running of a wing or HBF at worse. Brown is more the negating type at the moment & can play deeper in defence.

I'm talking about the small backpocket role which I want Tambling kept away from. But I can't see Tambling getting a game anywhere, his sore back has come at a bad time. He needed to get some early consistent form on the board

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Apologies.

Would love to hear your no doubt brilliant thoughts on who should run with Jobe Watson?

Should it be Matty Wright who is 178cm and 81kgs? Should it be Van Berlo who is 184cm and 84kgs (same as Crouch)?. Should it be an imaginary defensive midfielder we have who is 191cm and 95kgs? Perhaps we should have the 192cm Taylor Walker run with him?

Aside from the fact that there is no ideal matchup physically for Watson in the AFL (let alone our midfield) - lets look at what he did to us last year...

31 possession (19 contested possessions)- 1 goal -4 goal assists - 7 clearances - 7 tackles - 4 I50's and 3 Brownlow votes.

He killed us - yet we still won the game because we had the superior midfield. We do not have a tagger who can stop / nullify Watson. Why not let our young gun midfielder Crouch have first crack. He will get beaten but what he will learn from (as you said) a Brownlow Medallist will be invaluable.

Now let me think that one over .......if we don't have a match-up on a big bodied inside midfielder, where is it written we have to tag then

How about not tagging him .....if its going to be ineffectual anyway

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I'm talking about the small backpocket role which I want Tambling kept away from. But I can't see Tambling getting a game anywhere, his sore back has come at a bad time. He needed to get some early consistent form on the board

I agree injury at wrong time and Brown will get nod ATS

 

[Team DJ]

Now let me think that one over .......if we don't have a match-up on a big bodied inside midfielder, where is it written we have to tag then

How about not tagging him .....if its going to be ineffectual anyway

Agreed, hes not really the style of player to kill an opponent anyway. Play him and Thompson head to head. See whos the better ball winner, clearance player

 

[Elite Crow]

We just beat Essendon last year when they were weakened. Watson was BOG and I wouldn't be rolling the dice twice. He doesn't get a lot of his possessions from marking so the height match up isn't an issue. I would give the job to VB, who can at least keep up with him aerobically.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Apologies.

Would love to hear your no doubt brilliant thoughts on who should run with Jobe Watson?

Should it be Matty Wright who is 178cm and 81kgs? Should it be Van Berlo who is 184cm and 84kgs (same as Crouch)?. Should it be an imaginary defensive midfielder we have who is 191cm and 95kgs? Perhaps we should have the 192cm Taylor Walker run with him?

Aside from the fact that there is no ideal matchup physically for Watson in the AFL (let alone our midfield) - lets look at what he did to us last year...

31 possession (19 contested possessions)- 1 goal -4 goal assists - 7 clearances - 7 tackles - 4 I50's and 3 Brownlow votes.

He killed us - yet we still won the game because we had the superior midfield. We do not have a tagger who can stop / nullify Watson. Why not let our young gun midfielder Crouch have first crack. He will get beaten but what he will learn from (as you said) a Brownlow Medallist will be invaluable.

Now perhaps before having a crack at others for not thinking before they post - you might want to gain a better understanding of our lists strengths and weaknesses and also watch a game of footy or 2

Why did you go to town on someone when it was you who made the stupid post?

There's no way in a million years Crouch will tag Watson.

The end.

 

[AFC979810]

Why did you go to town on someone when it was you who made the stupid post?

There's no way in a million years Crouch will tag Watson.

The end.

Wouldn't say that I went to town.

My original post was that in my opinion Wright will get first crack at going with Watson but I would like to see Crouch get a chance to go with him.

Wayne's Worlds main issue with my post (from what I could read) is that Crouch is 7cm shorter and gives up 11kgs. My point was that we have no midfielder on our list that has the size to go with Watson.

I feel that we will need to tag Watson this year. VB has been torched by Watson in the past. Last year he almost beat us by himself in a side that didn't have Zaharakis/Goddard/Stanton.

I don't see why it would be such a bad idea giving Crouch the first crack. We do not have any real genuine tagging options. Watson would lead Crouch to the contest and I am sure Crouch would learn a hell of a lot.

Nice touch putting 'The end' on the end of your post.