Our best 22 - Post Draft

[keepzitreal]

Overall, satisfied with the draft, I feel the pain of once again not going for a mid with our 1st pick but if Hurley is going to be good as everyone suggests then I am satisfied. We have a lot of midfielders with a lot of upside… quality talls are hard to come by. I’m hoping he turns out more of an All-Australian defender rather than a serviceable 150 game player.

This is my team, based pretty much on what I’d like if we had a full list available.

B – Pears - Fletcher - NLM

HB – Dempsey – Ryder - Myers

C – Lovett – McVeigh - Houli

HF – McPhee - Gumbleton - Lloyd

F – Lucas - Neagle - Davey

R – Hille – Watson - Stanton

INT – Welsh – Jetta – Prismall – Monfries – Lonergan – Reimers (hard to keep it to 4)

 

[Dude_01]

line up of the future

FB : Reimers Hurley Dempsey
HB: Slattery(minor) Ryder Myers
C: Houli Watson Stanton
HF: Zaharakas Gumbleton Welsh
F: Jetta Neagle Davey
R: Hille , Mcveigh, Prismall
I: Daniher, Pears, Monfries, Lonergan

 

[Ben the Gooner]

HF – McPhee - Gumbleton - Lloyd

F – Lucas - Neagle - Davey

Too many talls.

INT – Welsh – Jetta – Prismall – Monfries – Lonergan – Reimers (hard to keep it to 4)

No second ruckman?

 

[Smyth94]

IMO Round 1:

B: Slattery - Fletcher - Pears
HB: Dempsey - Ryder - Houli
C: Winderlich - Watson - Stanton
HF: Monfries - Lloyd - McPhee
F: Gumbleton - Lucas - Davey
R: Hille - McVeigh - Welsh
I: Lonergan - Reimers - Laycock - Myers
E: Nash - Neagle - Lovett - Jetta

Apologies to Lovett and Jetta (I'm being very optimistic about Winderlich's availability)

 

[Mr Mosquito]

a few points need to be established. Just by reading some of the various sides that people are posting up here are just amazing.

*I have seen Prismall listed as an emergency, will be close to our best midfielder.
*Gumbleton not listed in our best 22 - fairly certain that our No. 2 draft pick in his 3rd season will be playing if fit.
*The previous post has lovett as an emerg. - but a freaking mile in our best 22, Jetta, probably not though.
*Im not sure if its just be but i just dont see Winderlich playing too much more senior football for Essendon providing we have a full list to pick from.
*NLM should have been traded, but will win Bendigo's BnF this season.
*I like Nash but i think that we have too many talented small backmen coming through that will likely be selected ahead of him.

It just appears to me that some people have too much loyalty to player that have been good for us in the past and are unwilling to give our talented youngsters the game time needed to develop.

 

[Phat Toni]

These are hard to do this far out but a couple of things come to mind.

First being, with Neagle and Gumby coming on every body seems to think it's the end of Lucus. If you are basing that on his 2008 performance then I think people are forgetting that he pinged his knee in a collision, in fact all of his main injuries throughout his career have been collision related so that means his body and preparation has been top notch. Yes he will retire at some stage but dont count on it until 2010 through 2012. What does that mean? Well we still need to get game time into Neagle and Gumby(which I think Neagle is in front position), who is going to make way? I believe it will be McPhee, I have left him out of my team below but my guess is he will play most games next year as there will inevitably be injuries which he will cover.

Secondly, the team will change from week to week based on who we are playing and the form some of the youngsters are in, so I have picked a team of 26. The good thing is all the youngsters in the team have had a taste of it and the youngest in Pears who has a man's body anyway.

B: Henry Slattery, Dustin Fletcher, Tayte Pears

HB: David Myers, Patrick Ryder, Courtenay Dempsey

C: Mark McVeigh, Jobe Watson, Brent Prismall
R: David Hille, Sam Lonergan, Brent Stanton

HF:Angus Monfries, Matthew Lloyd, Andrew Lovett
F: Alwyn Davey, Scott Lucas, Jay Neagle

I/C From: Jason Laycock, Andrew Welsh, Bachar Houli, Scott Gumbleton, Leroy Jetta, Kyle Reimers

E: +2 from I/C and Adam McPhee

The sad news is that even with little to no injuries I think that team is still a little off being a legitimate top four team(meaning you deserve to be there rather than making up numbers like the Saints of '08).

The good news is this is the first time I feel that our depth is starting to get to where it needs to be to be a top eight contender. The midfield is starting to take a nice shape with Welsh, Houli, Reimers, Myers, Lovett, Monfries and Dempsey adding depth to the midfield rotation. Still would like to see one or two blue chip midfielders.

 

[Andre 2000]

Best 22

B: H. Slattery, Fletcher, NLM
HB: Reimers, Ryder, Houli
C: Stanton, Watson, Winderlich
HF: Monfries, Lloyd, McPhee
F: Davey, Lucas, Neagle
R: Hille, McVeigh, Welsh
I/C: Laycock, Myers, Lonergan, Lovett

Reserves

B: Atkinson, Pears, T. Slattery
HB: Nash, Hurley, Dempsey
C: Jetta, Hocking, Dyson
HF: Daniher, Gumbleton, Magin
F: Williams, Still, Hooker
R: Bellchambers, Zaharakis, Prismall
I/C: Quinn, - , - , -

Just looking at those teams we have pretty good depth with at least two players for every position on the ground. The only player types we need to draft are a ruckman and a small defender. Other than that it looks pretty good.

This looks spot on to me. Certainly on previous form. Knighta has big plans for Gumby, Hocking and Dempsey. If they are fit enough they'll probably be in the 22 next year. There's always players missing thru injury or whatever.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Some of the teams here are simply horrendous. The following players are in our 22, like it or not:

• Henry Slattery
• Adam McPhee
• Jason Laycock

As well as the obvious.

Anyone who disagrees is wrong. Simple as that.

 

[B-Bomber]

These are hard to do this far out but a couple of things come to mind.

First being, with Neagle and Gumby coming on every body seems to think it's the end of Lucus. If you are basing that on his 2008 performance then I think people are forgetting that he pinged his knee in a collision, in fact all of his main injuries throughout his career have been collision related so that means his body and preparation has been top notch. Yes he will retire at some stage but dont count on it until 2010 through 2012. What does that mean? Well we still need to get game time into Neagle and Gumby(which I think Neagle is in front position), who is going to make way? I believe it will be McPhee, I have left him out of my team below but my guess is he will play most games next year as there will inevitably be injuries which he will cover.

Appreciate your effort for argument.

I think that you're spot on in that McPhee will make way for Neagle and Gumby in the forward line however, as much as I rate both Myers and Dempsey, McPhee would be first choice for attacking HBF if he's not forward. He's not 30 so leaving him out would be plain tanking. He's been fit for a couple of years now and with the improvement to our backline and midfield I think he will once again thrive in this role especially since the boost of confidence from a strong showing in the 2008 season.

Prissa would also be doing pretty good to keep McPhee off the wing if indeed Myers and Dempsey are fit and firing in a big way.

 

[Phat Toni]

Appreciate your effort for argument.

I think that you're spot on in that McPhee will make way for Neagle and Gumby in the forward line however, as much as I rate both Myers and Dempsey, McPhee would be first choice for attacking HBF if he's not forward. He's not 30 so leaving him out would be plain tanking. He's been fit for a couple of years now and with the improvement to our backline and midfield I think he will once again thrive in this role especially since the boost of confidence from a strong showing in the 2008 season.

Prissa would also be doing pretty good to keep McPhee off the wing if indeed Myers and Dempsey are fit and firing in a big way.

Yeap fair comment on multiple fronts.

McPhee's greatest asset is his flexibility and I am not refering his abilities in Pilates. The question is does he own one position? The answer is no.

He has strong hands, a high work rate and just average skills. I am not against him and don’t mind him being in the team but my problem was that a lot of people are wanting to push Lucus out of our forward line and out to pasture and my argument (I admit now reading back was poorly constructed) there are other Mid sized to tall options that will make way before Lucus does. And as I stated McPhee would most likely play all the games due to injuries, which outlines his flexibility.

 

[SirJimi05]

I dont know, IF Fletch has a good year and remains injury free he might play on in 2010 which would more then likely be his last year.
Fletch, i think, would love to go out at least playing finals, which while be a chance if things go right in 2009 is more realistic in 2010.

Hasn't he already stated that 2009 will be his last?

 

[Margim]

Leaving out this year's acquisitions, I make it something like...

FB Houli, Bachar - Fletcher, Dustin - Nash, Jay
HB Myers, David - Ryder, Paddy - Lonergan, Sam
C Winderlich, Jason - Watson, Jobe - Stanton, Brent
HF McPhee, Adam - Lucas, Scott - Davey, Alwyn
FF Monfries, Angus - Lloyd, Matthew - Reimers, Kyle
R Hille, David - McVeigh, Mark - Welsh, Andrew
I Laycock, Jason - Slattery, Henry - Lovett, Andrew - Neagle, Jay

E (From) Gumbleton - Jetta - Lovett-Murray - Dempsey

 

[Big Scottknowsall]

Now the draft has been and gone, I am interested to see what people consider to be our best 22.

I have not included Fletcher and Lucas in this draft as their retirement is very close.

B Pears - Hurley - H. Slattery
HB Houli - Ryder - Myers
C Prismall -Watson - Stanton
HF Lovett - Gumbleton Reimers
F Lloyd - Neagle - Davey

R Hille, Mcveigh, Welsh
Int McPhee, Lonergan, Laycock, Dempsey

We will get smashed if we line up like this this seaosn...

 

[Big Scottknowsall]

Leaving out this year's acquisitions, I make it something like...

FB Houli, Bachar - Fletcher, Dustin - Nash, Jay
HB Myers, David - Ryder, Paddy - Lonergan, Sam
C Winderlich, Jason - Watson, Jobe - Stanton, Brent
HF McPhee, Adam - Lucas, Scott - Davey, Alwyn
FF Monfries, Angus - Lloyd, Matthew - Reimers, Kyle
R Hille, David - McVeigh, Mark - Welsh, Andrew
I Laycock, Jason - Slattery, Henry - Lovett, Andrew - Neagle, Jay

E (From) Gumbleton - Jetta - Lovett-Murray - Dempsey

A much better team....

 

[eth-dog]

Some of the teams here are simply horrendous. The following players are in our 22, like it or not:

• Henry Slattery
• Adam McPhee
• Jason Laycock

As well as the obvious.

Anyone who disagrees is wrong. Simple as that.

Great minds think alike, they HAVE to be in our 22, Slatts especially, only small shut-down defender

 

[mick4]

Some of the teams here are simply horrendous. The following players are in our 22, like it or not:

• Henry Slattery
• Adam McPhee
• Jason Laycock

As well as the obvious.

Anyone who disagrees is wrong. Simple as that.

On paper those 3 might not be in Essendon's best 22 but I don't think you will see any of those 3 playing at Bendigo next season. Laycock would be the most likely of the 3 to be playing in the seconds if they decide to play Ryder as the second ruckman or he just loaps around like he did for a majority of this past season

 

[Burzum]

B; Henry Slattery - Dustin Fletcher - Nathan Lovett-Murray
HB: David Myers - Paddy Ryder - Courtenay Dempsey
C: Andrew Lovett - Jobe Watson - Brent Stanton
HF: Adam McPhee - Scott Lucas - Alwyn Davey
F: Angus Monfries - Matthew Lloyd - Leroy Jetta

FOLL: David Hille - Andrew Welsh - Mark McVeigh

I/C: Jason Laycock - Sam Lonergan - Kyle Reimers - Bachar Houli

 

[Red Black and Blue]

FB: Henry Slattery - Dustin Fletcher - Tayte Pears
HB: David Myers - Paddy Ryder - Courtenay Dempsey
C: Andrew Lovett - Jobe Watson - Bachar Houli
HF: Adam McPhee - Scott Lucas - Alwyn Davey
FF: Angus Monfries - Matthew Lloyd - Leroy Jetta

FOLL: David Hille - Brent Stanton - Mark McVeigh

I/C: Jason Laycock - Sam Lonergan - Kyle Reimers - Andrew Welsh

EMER: Brent Prismall - Jay Neagle - Michael Hurley

I almost want Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher to hurry up and retire so we can get Gumby/Neagle/Hurley into the side .

 

[B-Bomber]

I think RIG is pretty much spot on, NLM has to go in as third tall over Pears for a pure best 22 but if his form is not right up there he would probably find his place lost to development IE Pears (which is what Jonesy1987 has) or even further into the season Hurley. Or even McPhee to third tall with one of Neagle/Gumby into the forward line.

Lloyd will probably play more CHF with Lucas more deep imo. Lloyd seemed to feel more comfortable captaining from more of a high forward position.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

IMO NLM should not be in our best 22, the gap between his best and his worst is way too big, pretty unaccoutable, can only remember him playing 3 good games all year (North, Brisbane and Hawthorn). If he must be in the side, he should be up forward and Mcphee swung down back. IMO has shown no growth in the last 2 years, and offers us nothing for the future other than depth.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

On paper those 3 might not be in Essendon's best 22 but I don't think you will see any of those 3 playing at Bendigo next season. Laycock would be the most likely of the 3 to be playing in the seconds if they decide to play Ryder as the second ruckman or he just loaps around like he did for a majority of this past season

McPhee is a definite on paper, but the other two probably aren't in our best 22 players. However, every side needs a small shut down defender and a second ruckman.

 

[efcboy]

this is my best side - I believe Essendon will want to give Pears/Hurley and Neagle/Gumbleton gametime so have included them but only one of each pair will play in an ideal world.

B: Pears/Hurley, Fletcher, Myers
H: Dempsey, Ryder, McPhee
C: Stanton, Watson, Lovett
HF: Reimers, Lucas, Monfries
F: Neagle/Gumbleton, Lloyd, Davey
Foll: Hille, Prismall, McVeigh
Int: Laycock, Welsh, Houli, Lovett-Murray
Emerg: H.Slattery, Lonergan, Nash

I rate all three emergencies as better players than lovett-murray but see him as a more valuable benchman as he can play forward and back, tall and small.

n.b. I have winderlich on the long term injury list for most of the year.

 

[Wanna B Hird]

this is my best side - I believe Essendon will want to give Pears/Hurley and Neagle/Gumbleton gametime so have included them but only one of each pair will play in an ideal world.

B: Pears/Hurley, Fletcher, Myers
H: Dempsey, Ryder, McPhee
C: Stanton, Watson, Lovett
HF: Reimers, Lucas, Monfries
F: Neagle/Gumbleton, Lloyd, Davey
Foll: Hille, Prismall, McVeigh
Int: Laycock, Welsh, Houli, Lovett-Murray
Emerg: H.Slattery, lonergan, Nash

I rate all three emergencies as better players than lovett-murray but see him as a more valuable benchman as he can play forward and back, tall and small.

n.b. I have winderlich on the long term injury list for most of the year.

Lonergan is a straight up start in any Bombers side in '09 IMO

 

[efcboy]

Lonergan is a straight up start in any Bombers side in '09 IMO

i like him but who does he force out of my side given the need for team balance?

 

[Ben the Gooner]

this is my best side - I believe Essendon will want to give Pears/Hurley and Neagle/Gumbleton gametime so have included them but only one of each pair will play in an ideal world.

B: Pears/Hurley, Fletcher, Myers
H: Dempsey, Ryder, McPhee
C: Stanton, Watson, Lovett
HF: Reimers, Lucas, Monfries
F: Neagle/Gumbleton, Lloyd, Davey
Foll: Hille, Prismall, McVeigh
Int: Laycock, Welsh, Houli, Lovett-Murray
Emerg: H.Slattery, Lonergan, Nash

I rate all three emergencies as better players than lovett-murray but see him as a more valuable benchman as he can play forward and back, tall and small.

n.b. I have winderlich on the long term injury list for most of the year.

Where is your small shut down defender?