Prediction Best 22/23 Discussion: 2023

[danster168]

Yeah spargo is best 22.

 

[ZionMig22]

There was a stat that Spargo was hitting like 50% of his kicks inside 50 halfway through the season. There was a stretch that Oliver and Petracca had hit 3 kicks of their 53 to a target inside 50.

It's not even an argument, he plays

Thankfully for his sake we have nobody that can hit a target

Hunter may take his role?

 

[Dancing Potato]

Yeah Spargo needs to get more of it, but he's absolutely pure quality over quantity.

Partly on him to get to the right spots, partly on the rest of the team to always look for him.

But always in the 22 for what he can do.

 

[Topkent]

Spargos the type of player that you don't turn him into something he isn't, you don't complain about what he can't do and you don't expect him to win you a game. What you do is maximise his talents because he is unique, he doesn't give a * about brownlow votes, high disposal numbers or winning best and fairests. When he gets the footy there's a bloody good chance someone takes a shot after it.

 

[ZionMig22]

Spargos the type of player that you don't turn him into something he isn't, you don't complain about what he can't do and you don't expect him to win you a game. What you do is maximise his talents because he is unique, he doesn't give a * about brownlow votes, high disposal numbers or winning best and fairests. When he gets the footy there's a bloody good chance someone takes a shot after it.

Yeah but when he offers zero for weeks like he did in 2022 it becomes an issue

Just because he can potentially use the pill better than who we have doesn't mean a thing if he can't actully find the pill

After Round 5 he couldn't gather more than 10 disposals for the rest of 2022, kicked 8 goals in a Forward role which is shameful

 

[Bluelegs]

Yeah but when he offers zero for weeks like he did in 2022 it becomes an issue

Just because he can potentially use the pill better than who we have doesn't mean a thing if he can't actully find the pill

After Round 5 he couldn't gather more than 10 disposals for the rest of 2022, kicked 8 goals in a Forward role which is shameful

He was the only bloke hitting up targets in our forward 50 in the second half of the year. The only one who didn't just bomb it to the pocket. Spargo will contribute more when we change the way we play and move the ball better.

 

[ZionMig22]

He was the only bloke hitting up targets in our forward 50 in the second half of the year. The only one who didn't just bomb it to the pocket. Spargo will contribute more when we change the way we play and move the ball better.

With his 4 touches???

Doesn't justify him getting game week in week out

Has to provide more (Goals. impact)

Luckily for him we used the least amount of players for 2022

 

[Dory_77]

With his 4 touches???

Doesn't justify him getting game week in week out

Has to provide more (Goals. impact)

Luckily for him we used the least amount of players for 2022

Agree he needs to get more footy and find ways to be more involved consistently, but he is very impactful with his touches. I'd rather 5 kicks for him than 15 for Jordon.

 

[ZionMig22]

Agree he needs to get more footy and find ways to be more involved consistently, but he is very impactful with his touches. I'd rather 5 kicks for him than 15 for Jordon.

Say no more at JJ lol

Shouldn't be near the best 22

 

[dylan93]

Something like this

FB: Bowey May Lever
HB: Salem Petty Brayshaw
C: Hunter Viney Langdon
HF: Petracca McDonald Pickett
FF: Spargo Van Rooyen Fritsch
RUC: Grundy Sparrow Oliver
INT: Gawn Brown Laurie Jordon (Tactical Sub: Neal-Bullen)

Depth:

Tall Defenders: Turner Tomlinson J. Smith Adams
Small/Medium Defenders: Hibberd Rivers McVee D. Smith
Midfielders: Dunstan Harmes Howes Woewodin Moniz-Wakefield
Tall Forwards: Schache Jefferson
Small/Medium Forwards: Melksham Chandler Sestan
Ruckmen: Verrall Farris-White

Although it wouldn't surprise me if Schache is in the team early due to issues with Brown and McDonald.

 

[danster168]

Something like this

FB: Bowey May Lever
HB: Salem Petty Brayshaw
C: Hunter Viney Langdon
HF: Petracca McDonald Pickett
FF: Spargo Van Rooyen Fritsch
RUC: Grundy Sparrow Oliver
INT: Gawn Brown Laurie Jordon (Tactical Sub: Neal-Bullen)

Depth:

Tall Defenders: Turner Tomlinson J. Smith Adams
Small/Medium Defenders: Hibberd Rivers McVee D. Smith
Midfielders: Dunstan Harmes Howes Woewodin Moniz-Wakefield
Tall Forwards: Schache Jefferson
Small/Medium Forwards: Melksham Chandler Sestan
Ruckmen: Verrall Farris-White

Although it wouldn't surprise me if Schache is in the team early due to issues with Brown and McDonald.

ANB came 9th in our BnF so it'd be a big fall from grace to be overtaken by Laurie.

 

[Johnny Karate]

B: Hibberd - May - Petty
HB: Salem - Lever - Brayshaw
C: Langdon - Oliver - Hunter
HF: Neal-Bullen - McDonald - Spargo
F: Pickett - Gawn - Fritsch
R: Grundy - Petracca - Viney
I: Harmes - Bowey - Van Rooyen - Jordon
E: Rivers - Sparrow - Turner - J Smith

Positives: the departure of Jackson and arrival of Grundy and Hunter means that we are forced to rejig a stale looking lineup. If the two recruits can find some good form, our team looks better in 2023 and is less reliant on the big 4 of May, Gawn, Petracca and Oliver to drive performance.

Negatives: I thought Pig was great last year, but time will catch him and it’s hard to see an emerging lockdown small on the list. The forward line still lacks goal scorers out with Fritsch and Pickett. If the midfield doesn’t hit the scoreboard, we’re probably relying on 80-70 victories. The form of Grundy, Hunter, Van Rooyen and McDonald/Brown could either propel us to a flag or see us plummet down the ladder.

 

[DemonZombie_001]

He was the only bloke hitting up targets in our forward 50 in the second half of the year. The only one who didn't just bomb it to the pocket. Spargo will contribute more when we change the way we play and move the ball better.

If we change the way we play.

 

[pjfairbairn]

I don't think Hunter is a lock to be in the 22 Round 1

 

[Topkent]

B: Hibberd - May - Petty
HB: Salem - Lever - Brayshaw
C: Langdon - Oliver - Hunter
HF: Neal-Bullen - McDonald - Spargo
F: Pickett - Gawn - Fritsch
R: Grundy - Petracca - Viney
I: Harmes - Bowey - Van Rooyen - Jordon
E: Rivers - Sparrow - Turner - J Smith

Positives: the departure of Jackson and arrival of Grundy and Hunter means that we are forced to rejig a stale looking lineup. If the two recruits can find some good form, our team looks better in 2023 and is less reliant on the big 4 of May, Gawn, Petracca and Oliver to drive performance.

Negatives: I thought Pig was great last year, but time will catch him and it’s hard to see an emerging lockdown small on the list. The forward line still lacks goal scorers out with Fritsch and Pickett. If the midfield doesn’t hit the scoreboard, we’re probably relying on 80-70 victories. The form of Grundy, Hunter, Van Rooyen and McDonald/Brown could either propel us to a flag or see us plummet down the ladder.

Eh I don't think modern footy works like that, adding one 50 goal a season forward doesn't mean we kick a bigger score. If the team moves the ball better and more aggressively from defence then the whole team benefits.

We don't need brown to kick 50, we need Langdon, Trac, ANB, Pickett etc and a wildcard like Laurie or someone to all add 5-10 more goals than last year. That's where we will kick more.

 

[Johnny Karate]

Eh I don't think modern footy works like that, adding one 50 goal a season forward doesn't mean we kick a bigger score. If the team moves the ball better and more aggressively from defence then the whole team benefits.

We don't need brown to kick 50, we need Langdon, Trac, ANB, Pickett etc and a wildcard like Laurie or someone to all add 5-10 more goals than last year. That's where we will kick more.

No doubt we need more from the mids, Petracca alone going from 29 goals in 21 to 19 goals in 22 makes a pretty big difference.

Yet, it was hard to see us winning a flag with BBB being in worse form in 22 than he was dropped for in 21, Melksham as a de facto key forward and Gawn doing whatever the hell he was doing on one leg for the second half of the season. Sure, Tom Lynch wouldn’t hurt but we barely had players doing a role inside 50 in the back end of the season: Brown and Gawn were virtually empty shirts and as expected a 30+ somewhat cooked Melksham was hot and cold. A fit Gawn, one of McDonald/Brown playing a role and an emerging JVR in conjunction with the midfield hitting the scoreboard will help us next year.

 

[stEdy]

Nibbler kicking 9 goals 17 behinds and i'm sure a bunch of misses hurt us too - because he kicked some clutch goals in 2021

This might sound overly optimistic but with just a smallish reversion to the mean across our players that kicked so many behinds and our forward line will look better in 2023.

NOT that we shouldn't change our conservative ball use, we should

 

[LarryDavidNeitz]

No doubt I'll forget someone important, but I'll have a crack at a best 23 for next year.
For context, I'm basing it on who I think on the list has the best potential to make us good across 2023, rather than who I think actually will be playing round 1.

The inclusions to our best side on the list from last year are: Grundy, Bowey, Hunter, Turner and Chandler. Perhaps a bit optimistic with Turner and Chandler but I think we need at least a couple of players in that age bracket having breakout years if we're really going to challenge.

We'll probably find out fairly soon whether Petty is training as a forward. If he is then either Tomlinson, Smith or Turner has to hold down a key back role which I think is a stretch, but perhaps it's a bold play we need to take because either Tmac or Brown as CHF don't really inspire confidence.

B: Turner - May - Rivers
HB: Bowey - Petty (Tomlinson) - Lever
C: Hunter - Oliver - Langdon
HF: Spargo - TMac - Grundy
FF: Kosi - Fritsch - JVR
R: Gawn - Trac - Viney

IC: Sparrow (MID), Harmes (HF/MID), Gus (HB), Salem (Wing)
Sub: Chandler

Back depth: Hibberd, Adams, Tomlinson, Smith
Mid depth: Jordon, Woewodin, Laurie
Forward depth: Brown, ANB, Moniz-Wakefield, Jefferson

Haven't bothered including anyone in the depth I don't think is anywhere near it.

 

[schmuttt]

Nibbler kicking 9 goals 17 behinds and i'm sure a bunch of misses hurt us too - because he kicked some clutch goals in 2021

This might sound overly optimistic but with just a smallish reversion to the mean across our players that kicked so many behinds and our forward line will look better in 2023.

NOT that we shouldn't change our conservative ball use, we should

He’s an easy target because he gets in due to his defensive running which isn’t something we all pick up, but geez ANB would want to be better in general next year. So many times he killed momentum missing goals, getting caught HTB, fumbling, turning it over. For a guy who doesn’t get a heap of the footy he can’t afford to be that inefficient imo.

 

[LarryDavidNeitz]

He’s an easy target because he gets in due to his defensive running which isn’t something we all pick up, but geez ANB would want to be better in general next year. So many times he killed momentum missing goals, getting caught HTB, fumbling, turning it over. For a guy who doesn’t get a heap of the footy he can’t afford to be that inefficient imo.

Exactly. No doubt he had a fantastic 2021 but he was way off that pace last year and looked more the player he was before our Premiership year.
We have to be prepared to make some tough calls next year, can't be gifting games based on form from 20 months ago otherwise there's no spots for younger players with a higher ceiling.

 

[mrmonkey]

I definitely think chandler will get a better chance next year now that Bedford is gone. Not sure what happens with JJ is hunter takes the wing, perhaps he'll stay in the team and rotate. I like gus in the backline. Hopefully we see jvr, with brown out hopefully he gets an opportunity and cements a spot, still need to remember it's only his second year. The gawn/Grundy combination intrigues me, could be a real weapon. As others have mentioned we need some players to return to form or elevate themselves.

 

[Tulip]

Nibbler kicking 9 goals 17 behinds and i'm sure a bunch of misses hurt us too - because he kicked some clutch goals in 2021

This might sound overly optimistic but with just a smallish reversion to the mean across our players that kicked so many behinds and our forward line will look better in 2023.

NOT that we shouldn't change our conservative ball use, we should

Nah its very accurate. Spargo and ANB in particular need to kick another 10-15 each. As good as Spargo is going inside 50, you can't really guarantee him a spot if he can't play midfield and only kicks 10 from 24 games as a forward (he did play one or two on the wing).

Definitely an underrated part of why we fell off last year. Both of them were down on pressure at various times which we've all pointed out, but 19 goals between them in 47 combined games is bloody hopeless.

 

[dylan93]

Re: ANB and any other quick/athletic players. Surely the tactical sub will likely be some of our best athletes such as Nibs. Which is why I popped him in as the tac sub.

 

[Dory_77]

Re: ANB and any other quick/athletic players. Surely the tactical sub will likely be some of our best athletes such as Nibs. Which is why I popped him in as the tac sub.

ANB is the kinda bloke who can run all day and grind opponents down with his tank though. I'd think someone like Chandler or Laurie would be decent as they could have a cameo coming on with a bit of extra zip, but maybe don't have the tank to be as effective for a full game.

 

[danster168]

I think Collingwood is a good example of the footy that we should be aiming to play. They don't have any key forwards and yet they're dangerous because they take on the game with flair and speed. Something we didn't see much of last season.