Opinion Pick your Round 1 side

[Partridge]

That looks right to me...Pretty impressive forward line, that!

Only query is pace when it hits the ground. Motlop and not much else. Could be pretty close to the mark though.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Your criterion was 'only ok'; you didn't mention injuries. How likely are any of the four - in 2015 and onwards - to be better than ok? Do you think Menzel will return to late-2011 form, if he ever gets fit? Do you think Vardy is guaranteed to have the same agility post a busted ACL?

It's not really my criterion. It's obviously what the club thought. There's no doubt Brown could be an ok AFL player. He already was. The only reason to get rid of him is that they didn't think he'd improve further. He got a pretty decent run at it and couldn't crack our best team. In comparison all those guys you mentioned have been first 22 players for significant periods.

I've got huge doubts on Menzel and Vardy post injury. I'm sure the club does too. But it makes sense to keep guys who might make it back to a very high level over guys who have had a good crack at it and are never likely to make it to that level. It's why delisting Brown after 2011 would've been premature but after a couple of years relatively injury free where he didn't make much progress it makes sense to cut your losses.

However, if you want players who have not had that kind of injury run, no problem. Smedts and Murdoch come to mind immediately. How many times, really, have either been consistently better than 'ok'. Not often. They've each had more chances than the other four too (I like Smedts, but he's got to do something this season. I can see the attraction with Murdoch, but his pre-season has been truly horrifying).

Smedts and Murdoch will be under big pressure this year to cement a spot and rightly so. I'd say neither have ever been consistently better than ok but they've shown glimpses at a high level. Murdoch early last year had big impacts on games and Smedts in early 2013 was very good in bursts too. Of course even if they're delisted this year, which is a chance, they'll have been cut at a younger age and after less time on the list than Brown. I guess we'll see but there's no evidence that the criteria under which Brown was delisted don't equally apply to every other player like you suggested.

 

[witsend]

Only query is pace when it hits the ground. Motlop and not much else. Could be pretty close to the mark though.

Maybe swap Murdoch with GHS as Sub? The MC seems to like his forward defensive pressure, although I'm not quite sure I see it yet. Cockatoo, Guthrie, Motlop are all quick. I don't think Duncan is slow, either.

 

[Footy Smarts]

For mine the selection should be pretty straight forward. The only 3 that didn't play in the last NAB that could really be considered are McIntosh, Walker and Gore. We'd need to change stuff too much for Walker at the moment and I'd prefer Gore get a bit more experience before unleashing him on such a big stage. McIntosh and Simpson would be a straight swap so it's just who's better and fitter which for me is Simpson. Stanley isn't ready yet and Smedts just got injured at the wrong time.

Then it's just a matter of who we drop from the NAB team. Murdoch's first out for me. He's just had a stinker of a preseason to go with a poor end to last year. Then you've got the 3 young kids in Gregson, Lang and Cockatoo with 1 starting, 1 as sub and 1 missing out. I'd probably have Gregson miss out and start Cockatoo as sub. Overall the team looks strong.

 

[Partridge]

Then it's just a matter of who we drop from the NAB team. Murdoch's first out for me. He's just had a stinker of a preseason to go with a poor end to last year. Then you've got the 3 young kids in Gregson, Lang and Cockatoo with 1 starting, 1 as sub and 1 missing out. I'd probably have Gregson miss out and start Cockatoo as sub. Overall the team looks strong.

Totally agree. Including his two finals from last year, his last 5 games in Geelong colours have just been trainwrecks. Going to test Scott's infatuation to the limit.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Totally agree. Including his two finals from last year, his last 5 games in Geelong colours have just been trainwrecks. Going to test Scott's infatuation to the limit.

Murdoch deserved his spot all of last year. He was good early in the year and then fell away. But near the end of the year it was a choice between him and a sub 10-game player. He was always going to be our best option in finals because the chance of a really inexperienced player doing anything in finals is slim to none but he still couldn't find his form.

Now we don't have finals coming up we can just pick purely on form and Murdoch doesn't deserve to be there. I'd play him as a leading forward in the VFL. I reckon that's where he's played his best footy and it uses his pace, good hands above his head and his kicking without needing to read the play too much which is a weakness of his. But he's definitely going to have to perform because his form right now is horrendous. I reckon there's no way they would've played him as the sub if they thought he was going to be playing easter Monday. That seemed like a "1 last chance before being dropped" as opposed to a decision to rest him up for round 1.

 

[Jon Douglas]

B J.Bews T.Lonergan J.Rivers
HB C.Enright H.Taylor A.Mackie
C M.Stokes J.Selwood M.Duncan
HF J.Caddy M.Clark S.Motlop
FF D. Lang T.Hawkins J.Bartel
R D.Simpson S.Johnson C. Guthrie
Int M.Blicavs G.Horlin-Smith J.Kelly
Sub. N.Cockatoo
Emg H.McIntosh C.Gregson

I think side is pretty logical.

Simpson over Hmac as Simspon has been first choice for the NAB games and Hmac has only played VFL - and Simpson has more upside for us. Hmac might give a more even performance.

Bews - we need to start injecting youth into the backline and some run - and someone who can close down a small forward. Bews looks the most likely and has played ok in the NAB Cup games.

Lang because he seem to be making progress and just does some small but effective things. Will need time but is a nice kick and a good tackler - with leg speed. Mayne Hartman may have challenged him for a FP position but Hartman is not around to claim a place.

Caddy to start at HFF as he is a good mark, adds bite to the forward line and can kick a goal. Guthrie will be a very good mid for us and he is better there than as a HFF - where Caddy will do better IMO. But they both play midfield essentially.

Bartel plays as a third marking tall who we hope kicks 1-2 goals a game and plays some time in the middle.

SJ has to play mid as we are weak enough in that area.

GHS and Kelly play midfield and start on the bench as slower players. We need GHS and Kelly to have decent seasons as mids if we are to compete with the stronger sides.

Take a punt and say that Cocky can put together some good 1/4 efforts and do enough if he has to come on earlier. But adds pace and an X-factor. Will take some time to be consistent but maybe by round 23 he can be a pretty decent super sub (with full games given over the season as well).

 

[catswhiskers]

Bar

B J.Bews T.Lonergan J.Rivers
HB C.Enright H.Taylor A.Mackie
C M.Stokes J.Selwood M.Duncan
HF J.Caddy M.Clark S.Motlop
FF D. Lang T.Hawkins J.Bartel
R D.Simpson S.Johnson C. Guthrie
Int M.Blicavs G.Horlin-Smith J.Kelly
Sub. N.Cockatoo
Emg H.McIntosh C.Gregson
........

Bartel plays as a third marking tall who we hope kicks 1-2 goals a game and plays some time in the middle.

SJ has to play mid as we are weak enough in that area).

Other way around for me. Bartel on ball, Johnson up forward. With flexibility this offers of course.

 

[bulletproof]

All the variations of the sides look pretty strong. We should win plenty of games this year.

The back 6 is looking a little old, but with Bews, Thurlow and potentially Blicavs doing apprenticeships there this year, it is not as bad as it looks on face value.

Caddy and Guthrie are the key players this year. If they can step up into midfield roles, the side is nicely balanced.

 

[Jon Douglas]

All the variations of the sides look pretty strong. We should win plenty of games this year.

The back 6 is looking a little old, but with Bews, Thurlow and potentially Blicavs doing apprenticeships there this year, it is not as bad as it looks on face value.

Caddy and Guthrie are the key players this year. If they can step up into midfield roles, the side is nicely balanced.

Agree - except that the midfield still needs attention - even with the return of Bartel and Kelly to play some midfield time. So we need GHS to play well also.

Guthrie I am the most confident about improving over the year to become nearly A grade by the finals. he just works hard, does all the right things and has a good skill set. Caddy could also get close but his decision making needs to improve for me and he needs a bit more consistency as well. It would be handy if say Lang gets 10-15 % of his time on the ball as well.

If that group with Selwood and SJ can make progress yes we will win quite a few games. We are good enough down back - and have been so for years now. We have probably our best forward line in years - so that is a bonus. But we have not been able to close the gap that much re our general midfield. Rucks and a lack of depth have seen us lose the clearances too often and by too much.

So going back to the future with Bartel and Kelly better help. I prefer Bartel up forward as he is genuine over head mark and good kick at goal. While Kelly really has no where else to play but in the middle as a tough, bruising inside mid/tackler.

 

[Partridge]

B J.Bews T.Lonergan J.Rivers
HB C.Enright H.Taylor A.Mackie
C M.Stokes J.Selwood M.Duncan
HF J.Caddy M.Clark S.Motlop
FF D. Lang T.Hawkins J.Bartel
R D.Simpson S.Johnson C. Guthrie
Int M.Blicavs G.Horlin-Smith J.Kelly
Sub. N.Cockatoo
Emg H.McIntosh C.Gregson

I think side is pretty logical.

Simpson over Hmac as Simspon has been first choice for the NAB games and Hmac has only played VFL - and Simpson has more upside for us. Hmac might give a more even performance.

I'll be amazed if Scott picks Simpson over McIntosh. Rest of the team is spot on I'd say.