Sorry thought I had Kelly in there. And no I'm not taking the piss. It's just from what I've seen and who I think will be the better players in the long run.
Strategy 2013 v 2014 Draftees, who would you take
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Taylor plays across half back, not really a crumber.
Cripps' 'one trick pony' is being a gun.
Dunstan had a poorer year, but still uses the ball extremely well and kicks more goals than Merrett. I think he's extremely underrated.
Aish had a shocker, but didn't want to be there and he showed enough in his first year that would suggest he'll be a gun.
- Oct 12, 2014
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Actually take Cripps out of there, for some reason I had Jamie in my head.
You honestly haven't seen much of Merrett then compared to the other players listed, he's the best young player on our list. For the sake of it, what do you see in Aish, Sheed, Billings, Taylor and Dunstan that makes them better than Merrett?
Billings is comfortably a better player, once he gets his body right he'll be up with Bont, Cripps & KK as the best players in this draft.
Dunstan I already mentioned above.
Taylor finds more of the ball in a very stacked midfield, once he can play more through there and not so much outside he'll be a very damaging player.
Sheed played really well last in a top side, think he has plenty of scope to become a super player.
Aish is line ball, but the games I watched when he gave a * I really liked what I saw.
As I said I'm not saying Merrett won't be a gun, I just think there's players who'll end up better than him.
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Merrett bagged 11 in his first year and only 5 this year due to playing more midfield minutes and missing 5 games with injury.. He's also an elite kick on both feet and probably the best disposer of the ball in his class. Add in his pace, tackling and smarts and I think he's top five easily. Taylor played in the forward half in the 10 or so Brisbane games I saw. He does a lot of short 25 metre kick and receives. Nowhere as damaging as other players mentioned.
- Oct 12, 2014
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Billings has had one great game and been average for the rest, Merrett is consistently good. He has 'potential', only time will tell if he can actually fulfill it.
Merrett was played exclusively in the midfield last year. The one game where he got some decent game time down forward he kicked 1.2 and nabbed a couple of goal assists. Once again Dunstan is very inconsistent, only putting in a couple of quality performances whilst also having a couple of shockers. Needs to be better in 2016.
Taylor gets a lot of it, but does he really hurt you? I'd much rather he get 30 touches than say a Hanley/Zorko/Beams/Christensen/Rich type
Aish too vanilla for mine. Hard one to pick given the performances of his debut year compared to last year where he was putrid. Didn't like his body language at all last year either.
Sheed's another good young player, I'm very interested to see how his inside game develops.
I'm a huge fan of Kelly, he's an absolute class act.
- Sep 25, 2013
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Cripps a one trick pony, now I've heard it all. Kids a beast.
Well obviously your a much better judge then me. I stand corrected, Merret is better than them all.
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Will be the most dominant contested player in the game at some stage in his career. Absolute jet.
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Childish, is no one allowed to oppose your views?
- Dec 18, 2015
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You can have a view but I don't think you'll get many people supporting it. Merrett is a good player - the others listed are or will be better.
It was a solid draft so most clubs are happy. Those of us who scored the Bont, Cripps or Billings are just a little happier than everyone else
Sure they can. I have to admit I did enjoy your 'Billings has played one good game' comment though.
Interesting that for how much midfield time Merrett got last year he could only manage 2 more disposals a game more than billings who by your token was pretty poor. And also that Billings played more forward line but actually managed more kicks per game, Merrett managed 2 more handballs a game but I'm guessing that's because of he was playing midfield and was in and under all time...which doesn't really explain that he only managed 1 more contested possession a game than 'poor billings'. But I guess having more handballs would make it easier to back up your 'better disposal' for Merrett, even though he had double the amount of clangers per game.
I'm sure Merrett does really have the goal smarts I keep hearing about, but you'd probably want a better return of 4 goals from 17 games. I mean 'inconsistent' Dunstan kicked goals in 10 out of 19 games.
So yeh I'm being childish not agreeing with your opinion.
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We've seen it all before
Lol!
King Bont
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Would take Cripps over Merrett every day of the week. It's not even close.
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I never said Billings was poor or had a poor year, just average for a player of his talent. I concede he has more potential than Merrett as he is yet to move into the midfield, but currently Zach is the better player. Zach only got to move into the on-ball unit towards the 2nd half of the year, where his numbers increased significantly. Billings had 0.2 more kicks per game, hardly significant. The trademark of Merrett's game is pressure. He is by far the best tackler at our club, all he needs is an arm and he's got them. Once again you're manipulating stats, as without Zach's frees against (as they contribute to clangers) he has 1.8 to Billings 1.2, hardly ground breaking. Goals kicked doesn't determine whether you're consistent or not, strange argument to use. It's an area Merrett needs to improve on, and will presumably do so once we build our midfield depth and can give him forward time. You're getting quite defensive when I criticise Saints players. I only deem Dunstan's year inconsistent due to the quality of performances he produced in his debut year. I expected him to come out and take his game to the next level and was surprised when he went backwards.
Already covered this, I made a mistake and was thinking of Jamie Cripps.
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My 'levels':
1. Cripps, Kelly, Billings
2. Merrett
3. Dunstan, Aish, Sheed
4. Taylor
The first 4 have game winning potential. Kelly probably the only one who won't end up the best midfielder of his team (Merrett I guess behind Heppell, but the future there is up in the air) due to Shiel.
The others are going to be support players. Dunstan & Aish especially will be very good I think, but will never be the match winners of their sides in my opinion. You can argue black and blue about whether that makes a player 'better' or what not, but that's my ranking based on the clubs they are at. Sort of like how some may rate James Kelly highly as he was a 3 time flag player, but others might put him further down because he was still behind Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Corey, Johnson etc over the dominant period.
Edit: Bont number 1. KK below Cripps but probably equal to Merrett, same with McCarthy if we're including everyone
1. Cripps, Kelly, Billings
2. Merrett
3. Dunstan, Aish, Sheed
4. Taylor
The first 4 have game winning potential. Kelly probably the only one who won't end up the best midfielder of his team (Merrett I guess behind Heppell, but the future there is up in the air) due to Shiel.
The others are going to be support players. Dunstan & Aish especially will be very good I think, but will never be the match winners of their sides in my opinion. You can argue black and blue about whether that makes a player 'better' or what not, but that's my ranking based on the clubs they are at. Sort of like how some may rate James Kelly highly as he was a 3 time flag player, but others might put him further down because he was still behind Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Corey, Johnson etc over the dominant period.
Edit: Bont number 1. KK below Cripps but probably equal to Merrett, same with McCarthy if we're including everyone
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Where would you rank Josh Kelly? Do you feel it could be a make or break season for him up at GWS?
Zach Attack
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Probably one of the fairest comparisons yet. Merrett's only a good season off being level with Heppell IMO. A lot of EFC supporters feel the same way.
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Anyone who continues to use the "Billings has had one good game", quite frankly, is stupid.
Correction: Billings has had one match winning performance.
Correction: Billings has had one match winning performance.
I'd take Billings ahead of Merrett but it would likely stop there although Sheed is quite appealing.
You're right in saying that if you don't rate Merrett, then you just haven't watched him.
Old navy
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Josh Kelly reminds me of Andrew Gaff.
Probably better then Gaff with ball in hand.
Had a down year last year due to injuries and couldn't get his trademark fitness up.
Kelly's got plenty of talent IMO. Running machine with very good foot skills, future gun.
Reckon in 3 years he'll be considered a top 3 kick in the comp
Big fan of Kelly and he may have had a few niggles but i would say one of the reasons he missed games or was the sub was not due to fitness but due to being a second year player and the club taking a long term view. Also from memory his form in the first half of the year was inconsistent which possibly could have been because of the 4 games as the sub and led to a need of full games in the neafl for match fitness. With no sub rule this year and Treloar gone i can see Kelly playing mostly on the outside and stints up forward and hoping he improves on his inside 50s and goal assists.
If all goes well by the end of the season opposition coaches will have a giant headache with Kelly, Whitfield and Scullys pinpoint passes to Cameron and Patton (heres hoping anyway)
Hard to separate Bont (in front just) and Cripps after so few games but they are definitely a class above the rest so far
won't go into the others as too few games to really tell although Billings looks to be a very special player, hope he has a good run this year except for round 5 he can enjoy the game from the stands at Etihad
won't go into the others as too few games to really tell although Billings looks to be a very special player, hope he has a good run this year except for round 5 he can enjoy the game from the stands at Etihad
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