The league's best midfield?

[slimdusty4]

dustin martin (most meters gained in the afl?)

trent cotchin (top/top 3 clearances in the league)

nathan foley (40 disposals on Saturday, starting to hit solid form, and
with pace unlike 98% of the afl).

brett deledio (as our backline improves this freak show will finally be able
to play where his god given talent intends, four quarters on
the ball)

shaun grigg (starting to get a crack, and in his first season as a
consistent member of a team, is coming along nicely).

bacher houli (getting a lot of footy and a clean user, outside player who
has had numbers upwards of 35 since the switch from the
bombers)

daniel jackson (quickly becoming one of the really good taggers in our
game)

shane tuck (this poor bloke cant take a trick, and is getting old, but is a
very good contested footballer, works hard and gets copious
amounts of it)

robin nahas (not a prolific midfielder, but is starting to get big numbers,
uses the ball well, kicks goals and tackles, whilst running both
ways, starting to become a disciplined and well drilled player,
just too small however)

matt white (this kid loves the game as much as he loves the club, runs
hard, is very quick and lethal in front of the big sticks, big
engine and is starting to be a little more defensive minded.
do not try and run away from this bloke when carrying the
footy)

this is by no means the best midfield, but deserves recognition, they're coming along quite nicely and may just be (in 18-24 months the nucleus of the best midfield in the league)

 

[Number 10]

Bartel, Chapman, Selwood, Kelly > Any team

 

[Normy132]

Can I ask why so many people rate the Bulldog's midfield so highly? I mean they've got Cooney who's got a Brownlow but has been inconsistent since that point in time and Boyd's pretty handy but what happens after that?

 

[Number 10]

^^
Thomas on par with Griffen
Cross identical to Ball
Cooney on his day > Pendlebury
Boyd on par with Swan this season

 

[themarkedman72]

couldnt be buggered reading it all...got long quick this thread.

Also due to the fact that the answer is so short.

PIES. by a long way.

When they belt the cats in a few rounds it will be official.

Hawks, dogs and dockers are also thereabouts.

Blues as well due to Judd factor.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Cross identical to Ball

The rest you got pretty well right. This is dead wrong.

 

[Jedi01]

Ours is better.

Selwood
Bartel
Corey
Chapman
S.Johnson
Ling
Kelly
Varcoe
Wojcinski
Duncan
Stokes

You forgot Blake.

Just as every team with no ruckman conveniently forgets to add one.

Jolly/Swan/Pendlebury/Ball > Rest of comp.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Geelong's and Collingwood's are the stand-out midfields.

The next few spots are a bit of a raffle. Bias included I'd say Hawthorn's midfield looks the best on paper (just ahead of the Dogs and Fremantle), though in reality it could use more outside pace. Our top 6 players look amazing on paper (though surely the ruckmen should be included in this discussion? And that's where Hawthorn's 'unit' drops away considerably compared to other top sides):

Hodge: number one player at the club, can play anywhere (not that that's particularly relevant in this thread though)... Just needs to get match fit and fully recover from his annoying injuries. Won the AA Captaincy last season playing through the middle, and when fully fit he's the one man you'd want to stop having an influence on the game.

Mitchell: accumulating big numbers and hitting his old champion form. Gunning it at the clearances.

Sewell: clearance and hard-ball machine.

Lewis: another clearance machine, though is being utilised in other roles due to the aforementioned players similar pace. He's very smart in the clinches, and was previously the number one clearance player per-minute played. Though since those few years ago he has had to change his role to suit the side (much to my annoyance).

Burgoyne: being played more forward, though is obviously a gun in the middle when he gets time in there. Would be our most damaging player with the ball in his hands alongside Hodge, just so clean, smart and skilful.

Rioli: was proving to be a live-wire in the middle this last year. The more he plays there the better he looks.

Then there's Shiels, Ellis, Bateman who have all been thrown into the middle. Shiels in particular has impressed this season, being a hard-nut with great clearance ability.

Still, out of all those players only Rioli and (to a lesser extent) Burgoyne have a huge burst of speed. Hodge has 'momentum' when he's running, but the others are just average paced.

 

[Righteo]

Don't forget Morabito who can potentially play mid also.

We'll have one of the better ones going around next year with Barlow/Mundy/Fyfe/Hill/Morabito with support from Lower/Mzungu/De boer/Suban/Ibbotson and Sandilands still in dominant form.

Assuming he stays, an in-form Palmer would be handy as well.

Would look something like

C- Hill Mundy Morabito
R- Sandilands Barlow Fyfe

But that's next year.

 

[fairlight_cmi]

I still rate Geelong as #1.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

For mine:

01. Cats
02. Pies
03. Hawks
04. Dogs
05. Freo
06. Blues
07. Saints
08. Rest

 

[AllFooty4]

LOL Hawthorn?

The only player in Hawks mids that would get a gig in ours is Hodge. Even then, we would most likely use him on a HBF to utilize his lovely foot skills, and play the others such as Montagna, Hayes, Dal Santo, Goddard and Jones through the mid..


Wow Hawthorn fans know how to overrated their list.

Did you just put Jones ahead of Mitchell and Rioli? Wowww......

 

[thecatattack]

You forgot Blake.

Just as every team with no ruckman conveniently forgets to add one.

Jolly/Swan/Pendlebury/Ball > Rest of comp.

Umm Ottens?

 

[jonoman89]

For mine:

01. Cats
02. Pies
03. Hawks
04. Dogs
05. Freo
06. Blues
07. Saints
08. Rest

^ No way Hawks, Dogs or Freo have been better in the midfield than us this year.

We're 4th for average disposals, 2nd for average tackles, 2nd in average kicks, 3rd for average hitouts. We have given away the least disposals per game of any team.

Only midfields ahead of us atm are Collingwood (definitely) and Geelong (marginally). The "reliant on Judd" tag is fastly becoming redundant. We're a very good contested footy side now.

And the "front running" call is quite hilarious nowadays. 2009 yes, but at the moment that couldn't be any further from the truth.

 

[Jedi01]

Umm Ottens?

Fair enough, wasn't on the list though and aint no Jolly.

 

[Topper Harley]

Fair enough, wasn't on the list though and aint no Jolly.

True, he's better then Jolly.

 

[Jedi01]

True, he's better then Jolly.

I have no doubt people in Geelong believe that.

 

[jonoman89]

True, he's better then Jolly.

No he isn't. Cant think of anything decent he's done since the 07 PF, save that nice shank from 5m in the 2008 GF.

Pies never could have won a flag without Jolly's work in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Alexwce]

I think dogs have the best midfield. Stats may say otherwise but Boyd, Griffin, Higgins, Cross and Cooney when he finds form. The bonus of adding Mitch Wallis and Tom Liberatore to their list, by the end of the year they should be easily the best midfield.

Pies, Cats, Blues and Hawks all have good midfields, as did the saints before Hayes lost a leg.

 

[Topper Harley]

I have no doubt people in Geelong believe that.

No he isn't. Cant think of anything decent he's done since the 07 PF, save that nice shank from 5m in the 2008 GF.

Pies never could have won a flag without Jolly's work in the 2nd half of the season.

There is no doubt that when both are fully fit Ottens has Jolly covered, we are seeing that at the start of this year.

Sadly, Ottens is never fully fit, he will break down at some stage this year. Jolly was the missing piece for the pies, but Ottens was just as crucial to Geelong's premiership success.

They are very similar footballers, but Ottens is ahead, on both 2011 form and across his career.

 

[gravy1]

In an attempt to add some objectivity, top 3 clubs in the following stats so far this year:

1st possessions: 1. Collingwood 2. Sydney 3. Carlton
Clearances: 1. Sydney 2. Collingwood 3. Carlton
Inside 50s: 1. Collingwood 2. Essendon 3. Carlton
Contested possessions: 1. Collingwood 2. Essendon 3. Sydney
Uncontested possessions: 1. Geelong 2. Hawthorn 3. Adelaide

So basically Sydney are a better midfield than people give credit for.

 

[thecatattack]

No he isn't. Cant think of anything decent he's done since the 07 PF, save that nice shank from 5m in the 2008 GF.

Pies never could have won a flag without Jolly's work in the 2nd half of the season.

I highly doubt we would've won the 09 GF without someone like Ottens and having Blake our no.1 Ruck.

 

[hk89]

^ No way Hawks, Dogs or Freo have been better in the midfield than us this year.

We're 4th for average disposals, 2nd for average tackles, 2nd in average kicks, 3rd for average hitouts. We have given away the least disposals per game of any team.

Only midfields ahead of us atm are Collingwood (definitely) and Geelong (marginally). The "reliant on Judd" tag is fastly becoming redundant. We're a very good contested footy side now.

The trouble with those stats is that some of them are not necessarily great barometers of having a dominant midfield, average disposals in particular.

Having said that, Carlton have been excellent at preventing opponent clearances, and pretty good at creating their own (both great measures of a decent midfield), although Judd's dodgy disposal lets them down, and they are only 9th in effective clearances. Judd has the lowest clearance efficiency of any player in the top 15 effective clearance players, of course he has been getting a ridiculous number of clearances, so he still places 4th on average effective clearances, despite his 51% efficiency. Other players with high clearance counts but low efficiency are Sewell, Boyd and Kennedy.

Carlton have also won exactly zero games against teams currently in the 8, despite having played a game more than the majority of teams at this stage. The fact that they are in the 8 themselves means they've been able to get wins against the bottom 8 teams, which is likely skewing their stats.

Carlton have definitely been quite good in the midfield this year, but to say they are only marginally behind Geelong is a bit of stretch, and until they start to win against other top 8 teams (which they may do), their credentials are questionable.

 

[The 747]

Fair enough, wasn't on the list though and aint no Jolly.

I consider myself fairly objective and I find the idea of Jolly being better than Ottens (let alone easily superior as you imply) somewhat interesting. I would not have thought any football watcher would think that at all.

But maybe I am wrong or others don't see much of Ottens play (which granted don't happen more than 12 times a season or so). Interesting idea anyway.

You can't really rate a midfield these days considering most teams play 18 midfielders and 4 KPP.

 

[doppleganger]

Carlton have also won exactly zero games against teams currently in the 8, despite having played a game more than the majority of teams at this stage. The fact that they are in the 8 themselves means they've been able to get wins against the bottom 8 teams, which is likely skewing their stats.

This is laughable.

Sydney are 9th
Richmond are 10th

Both would be in the 8 had it not been for losses to Carlton.