Opinion The Evolution of Your Best 23 for 2024

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FB Jones, Ratagolea, Allir
HB Houston, BZT, Burton
C Bergman, Wines, Burgoyne
HF Rioli, Marshall, Williams
FF SPP, Lord, Georgiades
Fol Soldo, Rozee, Butters
Int Farrel, Sinn, Drew, JHF
Emg Finlayson, Narkle, Jackson, Sweet
 
I'm genuinely looking forward to 2024. I'm optimistic that Ratagolea and Soldo in particular, will be good additions if they stay fit, and BZT should be handy. Players like Bergman and Burton can then use their versatility and play tall/small on flanks / wing.

My only concern is whether we end up being too tall and struggle in defence against dynamic smalls like Daniels from GWS, and lack attacking zip in our own forward line. Maybe Rozee, Butters, JHF need to rotate more as forwards and trust the likes of Wines and Drew in the middle?

If guys like Burgoyne, Sinn, Georgiades, Lord, Scully can realise their potential and press for best 22 spots, it should be a good year.
 

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Rioli, Lord, Finlayson

Powell-Pepper, Marshall, Horne-Francis

Narkle, Rozee, Bergman

Houston, Ratugolea, Williams

Jones, Zerk-Thatcher, Aliir

RUCK
Soldo
Wines
Butters

INT Burton, Drew, Dixon, Farrell

EMERG Georgiades
 
FB: Burton, Ratugolea, Williams
HB: Houston, Aliir, Farrell
C: Bergman, Wines, Narkle
Fol: Soldo, Rozee, JHF
HF: Butters Marshall, Boak
FF: Rioli, Dixon, SPP

INT: Drew, Jones, Finlayson, DBJ
Sub: Burgoyne/ Sinn/ Jackson/ BZT/ Evans /Georgiades / Lord

I've got Narkle ahead on the second wing but it could be any number of players. Sweet may also be ahead of Soldo - can't tell at this point.

I expect we'll play BZT rd 1 but will figure out we're better off with him not in the team unless it's a very tall opposition fwd line.
 
I'm 50/50 on BZT or Jones as the third tall defender
Also cant decide on Georgi/Sinn/Boak as an extra winger/last bench spot

I'm keen to see Bergman and Houston on the wings

Finlayson as a true utility/ abit of second ruck, hhf, wing, and down back too, gives us so much flexibility.

JHF/Rozee/Butters to rotate through a forward spot

FB: Burton, Ratugolea, Williams
HB: Farell, Aliir, Jones/BZT
C: Bergman, Wines, Houston
Fol: Soldo, Rozee, JHF
HF: Butters, Marshall, SPP
FF: Rioli, Lord, Dixon

INT: Drew (middle), Burgoyne (defender), Finlayson (utility), Georgiades/Sinn/Boak (wing)
 
B Jones-Ratugolea-BZT
HB Houston-Aliir- Burton
C Farell- JHF- Bergman
HF Rozee- Marshall- SPP
F Rioli- Lord- Gerogiades
Fol Soldo- Butters- Wines
Int Sinn- Boak- Evans- Drew
Emg Sweet- Dixon-McKenzie- Williams (Sub)
 
Not round 1, but what I hope we will see at some stage next year.

B: Burton - Ratugolea - Zerk-Thatcher
HB: Houston - Aliir - Williams
C: Bergman - Horne-Francis - Farrell
HF: Powell-Pepper - Marshall - Georgiades
F: Rioli - Lord - Charleson / Anastasopoulos
R: Soldo - Rozee - Butters
I: Drew - Wines - Jones - Jackson
E: Boak - Finlayson - Sweet - Byrne-Jones - Dixon - McKenzie - Burgoyne - Evans
 
AFL

FB: Brandon Zerk-Thatcher | Esava Ratagolea | Ryan Burton
HB: Dan Houston | Aliir Aliir | Dylan Williams
C: Miles Bergman | Willem Drew | Kane Farrell
R: Ivan Soldo | Zak Butters | Connor Rozee
HF: Jason Horne-Francis | Charlie Dixon | Sam Powell-Pepper
FF: Mitch Georgiades | Todd Marshall | Willie Rioli
I: Lachie Jones | Ollie Wines | Francis Evans | Josh Sinn
S: Darcy Byrne-Jones

E: Jeremy Finlayson | Travis Boak | Jase Burgoyne

SANFL

FB: Tom McCallum | Trent McKenzie | Tom Clurey
HB: Will Lorenz | Kyle Marshall | Jase Burgoyne
C: Quinton Narkle | Jackson Mead | Hugh Jackson
R: Jordan Sweet | Travis Boak | Jed McEntee
HF: Lachlan Charleson | Jeremy Finlayson | Darcy Byrne-Jones
FF: Dante Visentini | Ollie Lord | Tom Anastasopoulos
I: Tom Scully | Xavier Walsh | ?
 
Williams Ratagolea BZT
Houston Aliir Burton
Bergman Wines Boak
Butters Marshall SPP
Rioli Dixon Georgiades

Soldo Rozee JHF

DBJ Farrell Drew Jones
Sub or 5th Int Evans

Stiff
Finlayson, Narkle, Mcentee, Lord, Mckenzie
 
I have 5 key questions:
  1. Defenders - we have 9 first choice defenders (in order: Aliir, Houston, Bergman, Ratagolea, Williams, Jones, Farrell, BZT, Burton). In reality only 7 of those should be picked. I think Bergman starts the year on a wing and Burton misses. Should be ultra competitive with McKenzie, Burgoyne and Sinn all capable of adding to that mix.
  2. Wing - Bergman sounds a lock to start round one. I personally don’t think it suits Farrell at all - he will get lost on transition. Finlayson could be dynamic on wing. I have Burgoyne on the bench.
  3. Tall forward - a rare luxury to have 5 AFL ready key forwards. For the love of god please Ken don’t run Dixon into the ground before the bye, again. I don’t know what our best mix is.
  4. Small forward - a bit like the defender problem but with lower quality players. 1-2 of DBJ, McEntee, Narkle, Evans, or the new draftees will be picked. I have Narkle in front and Evans second but known the club will have DBJ and McEntee ahead.
  5. Boak - If we are fully fit Boak’s not in my best 22. He’s really the leadership player at the Magpies and a useful sub/travelling emergency option.

This is what I would go with for round 1:
AFL
FBL. JonesE. Rategalea B. Zerk-Thatcher
HBD. HoustonA. AliirD. Williams
CM. BergmanZ. ButtersJ. Finlayson
HFS. Powell-PepperT. MarshallQ. Narkle
FFO. LordM. Georgiades W. Rioli
RuckI. SoldoJ. Horne-FrancisC. Rozee
Inter.W. DrewO. WinesJ. Burgoyne
K. Farrell

SANFL
FBT. ClureyT. McKenzieR. Burton
HBD. Byrne-JonesK. MarshallJ. Sinn
CJ. MeadN. MooreW. Lorenz
HFF. EvansC. Dixon*T. Anastasopolous
FFV. VisentiniT. ScullyJ. McEntee
Ruck J. SweetT. BoakH. Jackson
Inter.T. McCallumX. WalshL. Charleson
J. Hagan

* Dixon is still best 22 as our best forward/ruck but round 1 should be part of his preseason. We need him to be fit and firing at the back end of the year.
 

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B:Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Esava Ratugolea, Ryan Burton
HB: Miles Bergman, Aliir Aliir, Dan Houston
C: Ollie Wines, Jason Horne-Francis, Kane Farrell
HF: Willie Rioli, Todd Marshall, Jed McEntee
F: Mitch Georgiades, Charlie Dixon, Sam Powell-Pepper

FOLL:Ivan Soldo, Connor Rozee, Zak Butters

I/C: Darcy Byrne-Jones, Willem Drew, Jeremy Finlayson, Lachie Jones, Travis Boak (sub)

Key off-season ins: Esava Ratugolea, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, Ivan Soldo, Jordon Sweet
Key off-season outs: Tom Jonas, Xavier Duursma
 
B: BZT, Ratugolea, Williams
HB: Burton, Aliir, Houston
C: Bergman, Wines, Burgoyne
HF: Butters, Marshall, Rioli
F: Finlayson, Dixon, SPP

FOLL: Soldo, Rozee, JHF

I/C: Drew, Jones, Farrell, Boak

Emerg: Sinn, DBJ, Evans, Lord, MG
 
Port Adelaide POWER - Round 1 vs West Coast
F: Lord - Dixon - Rioli
HF: Powell-Pepper - Marshall - Horne-Francis
C: Bergman - Wines - Jones
HB: Farrell - Aliir - Houston
B: Zerk-Thatcher - Ratugolea - Williams
R: Soldo - Butters - Rozee (C)
INT: Drew - Boak - Finlayson - Burton
EMERG: Byrne-Jones (SUB) - Georgiades - Sweet - McKenzie

Port Adelaide MAGPIES - Round 1 vs ?
F: Visentini - Scully - Szust
HF: Evans - Georgiades - McEntee
C: Jackson - Moore (C) - J.Burgoyne
HB: Sinn - K.Marshall - Byrne-Jones
B: Clurey - McKenzie - McCallum
R: Sweet - Mead - Narkle
INT: Anastasopoulos - Charleson - Lorenz - Walsh
EMERG: Short - Roberts
DEPTH: Chamberlain - Thompson - Gilchrist - R.Burgoyne - Barrett - Hagan - Carter - Kirk - Aldridge - W.Ferrari - H.Ferrari - Lee - Cheesman - Weidemann - Turner - Wilson - Francou - McArthur - Cockatoo-Collins - Motlop - Wildman - Miller

Unavailable:
AFL: NONE
SANFL: NONE
Sorry Ross, Lord OR Dixon. The two cannot be in the same side. I prefer Lord
 
If we’re picking 3 talls down back, and history says we’re going to go with traded in players at least first up, then I can see them favouring running ball users in the backline to help with the run.

For that reason I think Farrell is going to be the sixth pick to start in the backline over a guy like jones or Williams.

Yeah those guys offer more aerially but reckon with 3 talls we will favour the kicking and speed of Farrell. Burton had a tough year while being moved around. We still love his versatility to defend , he’s our best choice to stand small and medium forwards. He’s still going to be first picked next year unless form demands otherwise.

Burton zerk esava
Houston Alir Farrell

We play our key defenders in zones. Will be interesting to see how we change but most of not all teams play theirs in zones and put their defenders where they can play their best football rather than have them following a forward around. When a forward goes deep the fb picks them up and when that forward goes up the ground there’s a handover

I think we will play zerk as the deeper defender, in the role we’ve played clurey and McKenzie. We prefer Alir up in the action more, and don’t think we want esava on the last line. Alir and esava basically playing that hot spot of 30m to 80m out from goal looking to attack those opposition forward entries.

Bergman was awesome in defence last year, and if we were not playing 3 big tall defenders I would think he would be a chance to stay there. Likely with us needing a wing and the depth of half back options we initially try him on a wing.

Likely that jones , Williams and sinn all are in half back considerations and we pick one of those guys on the bench.

Midfield

Weve got butters and rozee as our starting midfield probably between wines, drew and jhf as well. Boak depending on form.

For the wings I think Bergman will be tried there again. Boak is a choice there. We will move butters out there at stages in games.

I think Dbj is a real chance to play there. He’s been pushed out of the forward line, I think he’s got the gut running two way running going, but poor ball use. In the end our forward entries are shit almost by design anyway so i don’t think he makes them much worse by being there and we sacrifice the wing position anyway.

We will likely look at sinn, Jackson and Burgoyne in preseason / throughout the year as well.

Soldo butters rozee drew
Bergman boak wings

Forward line will depend on form / who is available

Todd first picked, I think we shuffled between lord and Dixon depending on Dixon’s fitness. Georgiades will be building in the sanfl for a while. Ideally I like

Todd chf
Lord and Mitch deep.

But until all are fit it maybe different. It’s really going to be up in the air on a week by week basis which talls join Todd until all are fit.

I see Rioli spp and Charleston as our small forwards.

Burton zerk esava
Houston Alir Farrell
Boak drew Bergman
Spp Todd Charleston
? Dixon Rioli
Soldo butters rozee

Jhf wines jones sinn

But there’s a few players really pushing for those spots.
 
Our wings were pretty weak last year. With the added big defenders, and our multitudes of half backs, I’m playing Houston, Bergman and Finlayson (utility) as the outside wingers. The creativity this will provide will allow us to go down the middle, but also down the wings this year too.

This means Ollie and Drew can’t be posted on the wing permanently, and would require JHF, Rozee, Butters and even Wines/Drew to cover a forward spot.

Which means No to Jed.
 
Our wings were pretty weak last year. With the added big defenders, and our multitudes of half backs, I’m playing Houston, Bergman and Finlayson (utility) as the outside wingers. The creativity this will provide will allow us to go down the middle, but also down the wings this year too.

This means Ollie and Drew can’t be posted on the wing permanently, and would require JHF, Rozee, Butters and even Wines/Drew to cover a forward spot.

Which means No to Jed.

Houston was elite off the halfback line last year, after having his career nearly stall after moving him to the midfield / wing were he was serviceable but under-utilised …

… and you want to move him back to the wing?

That would be like getting hit in the balls and once the swelling gone down asking someone to try again, harder.


Houston is just far too important and effective from the halfback flank, where he can be a key part of our team and structure.
 
If we’re picking 3 talls down back, and history says we’re going to go with traded in players at least first up, then I can see them favouring running ball users in the backline to help with the run.

For that reason I think Farrell is going to be the sixth pick to start in the backline over a guy like jones or Williams.

Yeah those guys offer more aerially but reckon with 3 talls we will favour the kicking and speed of Farrell. Burton had a tough year while being moved around. We still love his versatility to defend , he’s our best choice to stand small and medium forwards. He’s still going to be first picked next year unless form demands otherwise.

Burton zerk esava
Houston Alir Farrell

We play our key defenders in zones. Will be interesting to see how we change but most of not all teams play theirs in zones and put their defenders where they can play their best football rather than have them following a forward around. When a forward goes deep the fb picks them up and when that forward goes up the ground there’s a handover

I think we will play zerk as the deeper defender, in the role we’ve played clurey and McKenzie. We prefer Alir up in the action more, and don’t think we want esava on the last line. Alir and esava basically playing that hot spot of 30m to 80m out from goal looking to attack those opposition forward entries.

Bergman was awesome in defence last year, and if we were not playing 3 big tall defenders I would think he would be a chance to stay there. Likely with us needing a wing and the depth of half back options we initially try him on a wing.

Likely that jones , Williams and sinn all are in half back considerations and we pick one of those guys on the bench.


Midfield

Weve got butters and rozee as our starting midfield probably between wines, drew and jhf as well. Boak depending on form.

For the wings I think Bergman will be tried there again. Boak is a choice there. We will move butters out there at stages in games.

I think Dbj is a real chance to play there. He’s been pushed out of the forward line, I think he’s got the gut running two way running going, but poor ball use. In the end our forward entries are s**t almost by design anyway so i don’t think he makes them much worse by being there and we sacrifice the wing position anyway.

We will likely look at sinn, Jackson and Burgoyne in preseason / throughout the year as well.

Soldo butters rozee drew
Bergman boak wings


Forward line will depend on form / who is available


Todd first picked, I think we shuffled between lord and Dixon depending on Dixon’s fitness. Georgiades will be building in the sanfl for a while. Ideally I like

Todd chf
Lord and Mitch deep.

But until all are fit it maybe different. It’s really going to be up in the air on a week by week basis which talls join Todd until all are fit.

I see Rioli spp and Charleston as our small forwards.


Burton zerk esava
Houston Alir Farrell
Boak drew Bergman
Spp Todd Charleston
? Dixon Rioli
Soldo butters rozee

Jhf wines jones sinn

But there’s a few players really pushing for those spots.
If the game plan for our wings is to run fast into space and not get the ball the DBJ seems the perfect choice.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Bit of depth now and competition for spots. Good balance to of older and younger guys, with the younger ones starting to take over. Especially in light of our new leadership group and recent signings
Wings are a bit light on.
 
F: Finlayson, Lord, Rioli
HF: Powell-Pepper, Marshall, Byrne-Jones
C: Bergman, Horne-Francis, Burgoyne
HB: Farrell, Aliir, Houston
B: Zerk-Thatcher, Ratugolea, Williams
R: Soldo, Butters, Rozee
INT: Wines, Drew, Jones, Sinn

I don't have the old crowd of Boak, Dixon and McKenzie in the team.
Burton is just out of the team.
Byrne-Jones would be hanging by a thread.
I feel I am a tall short but I will get over it.
 
Two of Hinkley’s favourites are DBJ and McEntee. I’m hoping like hell he doesn’t play both in the forward line next season. Knowing Hinkley though, the best I can hope for is that only one gets selected. The clear choice for me is DBJ.
 
Two of Hinkley’s favourites are DBJ and McEntee. I’m hoping like hell he doesn’t play both in the forward line next season. Knowing Hinkley though, the best I can hope for is that only one gets selected. The clear choice for me is DBJ.
DBJ's output isn't fantastic but it's adequate for a pressure small forward, no less than someone like a Beau McCreery. Jed McEntee is just some spud with compromising pictures of the coaches who we call a 'pressure forward' to cover for the fact that he doesn't offer anything offensively but belies the fact that he doesn't actually put on that much pressure either.
 
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