List Mgmt. Round 1, 2015 Full strength team

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Hey guys long time stalker- finally decided to make an account.

I think our team is starting to develop really nicely. But it won't happen over night that we will be a power house. Like you guys know.
I think even with baggage it would be a smart decision to sign Mitch Robinson as a DFA; however add a clause to his contract that if he misdemeanours his contract is terminated. As he is a big mature body that will help out youngsters develop and not have to face the music off top teams and get smashed. I know a few of you wouldn't be keen after the fevola saga which put us back 7-8 years to get us back to were we were as a semi finalist. I know it was only 5 years ago but I think I'm 2 years we will be a semi finalist again. So anyway this is what I think will be out round one team next year (no injuries)

Full back line- d.gardiner. Mgwire. Adcock

Half back- Hanley. Justin Clarke c. Beams

Centre - aish d.beams rich

Half forward - christenson close mayes

Full forward- Taylor Martin green

Followers- leunberger redden rockliff

Interchange. Mcstay Zorko staker

Sub- bewick

Emerg. - robinson merret paparone harwood freeman

Personally if our team is fit and we are looking to have the best team by position, personally I think that's it. With another preseason under there belt I think the youngsters under 3 years will push ahead of merret, harwood, McGuane and the others. I have Robinson as an emergency but if we sign him I reckon he will be in out round 1 team. On paper with good development this team has a good chance against most sides and I really doubt we will get blown away by many sides.
I put Martin at full forward as our rucks will need a legit break and probably can't be benched for too long. Freeman needs another season to develop. He will be a 40 goals a season type player though imo after a couple seasons.
I think our boys will win 9-11 games next year with a slightly easier draw. We all know we will get f***** in the arse with draw like every year. However there is no way it'll be as bad as our draw last year, that was a joke.

I believe with another pre season under leppas game plane we will grow and our biggest area of improvement will not be losing games regularly by more then 6-7 goals- like last year- and having games where we know half way through the first quarter we have lost, kangaroos round 9 for example...

What do you guys think? I hope I didn't leave anyone out...
 

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B. Adcock Merrett Gardiner
HB. Hanley Clarke Bewick
C. Redden D.Beams Taylor
HF. Aish Close Zorko
FF. Christensen Martin Mayes

Foll. Luey, Rich, Rockliff


Inter: Green, Paparone, McStay, Beams

I actually think Bewick and Paparone's development is absolutely vital for our team to progress. Both players have the endurance and pace to be excellent 2 way runners. There has been massive questions over recent seasons about our players capacity and want to run defensively.

This is a 6-10 team IMO. Should be a very competitive 2015 for our boys!
 
B - Adcock - Merrett - Maguire
HB - Rich - Clarke - Hanley
C - Christensen - DBeams - Zorko
HF - CBeams - Close - Mayes
F - Green - Freeman - McStay
FOLL - Martin - Redden - Rockliff
(4) INT - Aish - Bewick - Leuenberger - Cutler - Taylor - Gardiner - Staker - Paparone
 
Thanks for the welcome.

It looks like most best 22s people are having a go at are pretty similar. The main sticking points seem to be our tall forwards and whether Claye Beams is still in our 22. I'd love to see him take that next step and cement a spot, but I think with Christensen, Rich, Redden and Dayne Beams coming in, he's gotta slide out. Also, guys like Robertson and Cutler will go past him.

As for our tall forwards, I think that Freeman and McStay looked the best for us down there after JB went down, but McStay was also valuable in defence and Merrett always provides a contest, bringing it to ground for our small forwards.

Close still has a long way to go IMO and personally think that some solid time in the NEAFL to build a bit of confidence might help, but he'll get chances to prove himself throughout the year. He is great athletically and a great shot for goal, but doesn't seem to have the footy nous to get the ball. He only averaged 3 kicks a game last year and for half of his games, didn't average more than a touch a quarter.

Freeman wasn't much better numbers wise, but a lot more effective. 6.3 from 11 kicks in four games. Three of which we got smash in. He also took some very good contested marks (a lot like McStay when he went down there).

Staker is the interesting one for me. Leppa has always shown that he'll go for youth when given a chance, but he must be tempted to put Staker up forward, Merrett down back and go for a few extra wins next year. This is what I hope happens, with Close being the unlucky one that gets replaced by Staker. Maybe Maguire replaced by Bourke as well, depending on how they both go over the off-season.
 
Crazy to think that Claye Beams has only played 28 games in his career. That's only 6 more than Lewis Taylor in total. :eek:
Claye will cement his spot in the team next year if he can remain injury free imo. Halfback does sound like a good fit for him as well.
 
I'd have Hanley and Rich play the half back roles. With 2 elite kicks like them off the back flank should help break the lines.
 
I'd have Hanley and Rich play the half back roles. With 2 elite kicks like them off the back flank should help break the lines.
I actually wouldn't mind Rich floating forward sometimes. He's an long accurate kick who could nullify our key forward woes.
 
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B: Harwood Maguire Gardiner
HB: Adcock Clarke McStay
C: Rich Redden Hanley
HF: Christensen Close Zorko
F: Mayes Freeman Green
Foll: Martin. D.Beams. Rockliff

Interchange: Aish, Taylor, Bewick, Leuenberger
 

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I actually wouldn't mind Rich floating forward sometimes. He's an long accurate kick who could nullify our key forward woes.
I agree. But I wouldn't be too surprised if he could take a few intercept marks abit further up the field once we have locked the ball inside 50.
 
My team:

Gardiner Merrett Clarke
Adcock(c) Maguire Hanley
Christensen Redden Rich
Taylor Close Zorko
Green Leuenburger Freeman
Foll - Martin Rockliff D.Beams
Int - Aish Mayes McStay Sub - Bewick

Expect to see Merrett and/or Hanley to play in the back half this year. Need some more experienced heads back there after Patfull's exit. Player's such as Paparone, C.Beams and Harwood are just on the fringe. Should be an exciting year as long as we stay healthy. Injuries are inevitable but will result in a win win scenario for the team as injuries only means more experience for younger players.
 
What's the story behind freeman's eye problems? heard a while back that it's the reason why he didn't go high into the draft. Is that something to worry about?
 
What's the story behind freeman's eye problems? heard a while back that it's the reason why he didn't go high into the draft. Is that something to worry about?

Was fixed a while ago, there is an article somewhere on it...

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-07/seeing-is-believing

"It wasn't to do with vision, it was just the way my brain was communicating with my eyes - they weren't working together.

"So I was always tracking behind the ball and it was always going over my head, which shot my confidence.

"Ashley Drake picked it up watching me play - Alastair Lynch had the same problem when he was at the Lions.

"So he decided to take me to see an eye doctor called Patrick Geary, and I did some exercises with him, and then attacked the end of the year and strung some good form together, and then took that into this year."

Suddenly, marking had gone from a weakness to a major strength, and the confidence was back.

"It made me realise that it wasn't just that I was a bad judge of the ball or that I was no good at footy. There was something internally wrong with me, which I could fix," Freeman said.
 
B. Adcock Merrett Gardiner
HB. Hanley Clarke Bewick
C. Redden D.Beams Taylor
HF. Aish Close Zorko
FF. Christensen Martin Mayes

Foll. Luey, Rich, Rockliff


Inter: Green, Paparone, McStay, Beams

I actually think Bewick and Paparone's development is absolutely vital for our team to progress. Both players have the endurance and pace to be excellent 2 way runners. There has been massive questions over recent seasons about our players capacity and want to run defensively.

This is a 6-10 team IMO. Should be a very competitive 2015 for our boys!

I like the idea of Bewick in the back half, I mentioned it in the Patfull thread a while back. He's got all the traits of a good HBF. With the additions of Beams, Christensen and the return of Rich and Redden, he's probably the one that could get shuffled out of the team.
 
I like the idea of Bewick in the back half, I mentioned it in the Patfull thread a while back. He's got all the traits of a good HBF. With the additions of Beams, Christensen and the return of Rich and Redden, he's probably the one that could get shuffled out of the team.

Pretty sure he played as a tagger for most of the year and looked the most settled he has in the team.
 
I like the idea of Bewick in the back half, I mentioned it in the Patfull thread a while back. He's got all the traits of a good HBF. With the additions of Beams, Christensen and the return of Rich and Redden, he's probably the one that could get shuffled out of the team.

I've always liked him as a sort of half forward flanker with defensive responsibilities, who tries to shut down dangerous back flankers and peel off them to set up scoring opportunities. I reckon he works well in that role because he genuinely is a dangerous player with a bit of space, and he has similar athletic attributes to most of the better back flankers.

The problem is that we seem to be inundated with forward flankers, so as you say maybe he needs to play across the back to keep his spot.

The dim impression I get of Leppitsch's approach is that he expects flankers to be a bit more like old school wingers, doing most of their work between the 50 arcs. So perhaps someone like Bewick would be expected to work both forward and back.
 
If Cutler comes out next year playing well he could really cement his spot. A smooth mover with pretty good skills and pace.

Cutlers' a rare talent. The game slows around him when he has the ball, beautiful to watch. Very similar to Pendlebury in that regard.

Can't wait for next year. For the first time in a while I'll be buying a membership and will be taking my 2 year old to all Melbourne games. As long as I bring the IPad with Peppa Pig & Dora on it for when she's gets restless we may get through the whole game.
 
Pretty sure he played as a tagger for most of the year and looked the most settled he has in the team.

The problem I see is we have 10-12 players who's preferred position is either Midfield or Half Forward. Some are going to be dropped and have to wait for an injury/form drop to get a senior game or develop themself in a new role.

Bewick IMO will be behind Rocky, Rich, Redden, Beams, Christensen, Zorko, Mayes with Aish and Taylor possibly looked favourably on because of their age, to get a game.

Out of all the other fringe type players he has the best skill set which could see him being played off HBF. He's good over head, courageous and defensively minded, has decent disposal with good run to help with rebound. It could be a good move for both him and the team.
 
Another thing that'll be interesting to see next season is the spare man. If, as predicted, we get a good run at the clearances opposition teams will probably put a spare man back. How we fare shutting down the rebound from defence will be crucial to our 2015 imo. It could open up Rich to play a really counter-attacking role but he'll desperately need to work on his third-man up play. Without dwelling on it too much but Patfull would've dominated such a scenario!
 

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