Team Mgmt. 2018 Best 22

[Bunk Moreland]

Uh, Ambrose?

I prefer Hartley (size) and Francis (attacking).

 

[Phat Toni]

Midfield - Haven't gone too silly re what we could potentially pick up, guessing we will go after a inside mid type so have dropped Rocky in there. Overall I'd really like to see us go the 'develop from within route'. Take the Hungry Jacks voucher off Francis and get him midfield ready(aka Jobe circa pre - season of 2006).

Defence - Role out Ridley, i only saw him play about 4 times this year but I was very impressed with his disposal and decision making. Us coming out of our back line can be godawful so getting games into a top end kick can't hurt us over the longer game. Obviously there will be certain teams where Hartley needs to come in to help with the bigger opponents but I don't see him as the answer in all 22 games and would much rather a Hurley, Ambrose, Ridley structure.

Forward - The forward line is quite good and the stats back that up, so I dont think we need too much tinkering, personally i prefer the more mobile, higher pressure structure but Stewart will get better YoY so still holds his spot in the side for me.

B: Baguley, Ambrose, Gleeson
HB: Ridley, Hurley, McKenna
C: Zaharakis, Francis, McGrath
HF: Parish, Daniher, Raz
F: Begley, Hooker, AMT
R: Bellchambers, Heppell, Zerrett
Int: Rockliff, Goddard, Langford, Stewart

Depth;
Defenders - Hartley, Dea, Morgan
Forwards - Laverde, Green
Mids - Bird, Mutch, Myers, Clarke, Luey, Drapper(r)
Multipurpose Small/Mid - Cloyer, Redman, Howlett, Hocking
Multipurpose Tall - M Brown

*assuming Jerrett, Stanton, Watson, Kelly, McKerrnan will all retire/be delisted

 

[Howard Moon]

Midfield - Haven't gone too silly re what we could potentially pick up, guessing we will go after a inside mid type so have dropped Rocky in there. Overall I'd really like to see us go the 'develop from within route'. Take the Hungry Jacks voucher off Francis and get him midfield ready(aka Jobe circa pre - season of 2006).

Defence - Role out Ridley, i only saw him play about 4 times this year but I was very impressed with his disposal and decision making. Us coming out of our back line can be godawful so getting games into a top end kick can't hurt us over the longer game. Obviously there will be certain teams where Hartley needs to come in to help with the bigger opponents but I don't see him as the answer in all 22 games and would much rather a Hurley, Ambrose, Ridley structure.

Forward - The forward line is quite good and the stats back that up, so I dont think we need too much tinkering, personally i prefer the more mobile, higher pressure structure but Stewart will get better YoY so still holds his spot in the side for me.

B: Baguley, Ambrose, Gleeson
HB: Ridley, Hurley, McKenna
C: Zaharakis, Francis, McGrath
HF: Parish, Daniher, Raz
F: Begley, Hooker, AMT
R: Bellchambers, Heppell, Zerrett
Int: Rockliff, Goddard, Langford, Stewart

Depth;
Defenders - Hartley, Dea, Morgan
Forwards - Laverde, Green
Mids - Bird, Mutch, Myers, Clarke, Luey, Drapper(r)
Multipurpose Small/Mid - Cloyer, Redman, Howlett, Hocking
Multipurpose Tall - M Brown

*assuming Jerrett, Stanton, Watson, Kelly, McKerrnan will all retire/be delisted

the guy in the centre is already panting just looking at that!

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

My 2018 team before trade period.

Retire / Delist:
Stanton , Watson , Kelly , Hocking , Bird , Eades , JMerrett

Re-rookie:
McNeice , Draper , McKernan

As good as Hooker was in some games ... I think the team looks better with him back.
Really hope Francis steps up next year - And I think he has the tricks to make a great FWD.

Seniors:

B: McKenna Hurley McGrath
HB: Gleeson Hooker Ambrose

C: Zaka Heppell Colyer
Foll: Bchambers ZMerrett Parish

HF: Tippa Daniher Laverde
F: Fantasia Francis Stewart

Int: Goddard Langford Begley Myers

Depth: Howlett , Hartley , Brown , Baguley , Dea , Lberger , Green , McKernan , McNeice
Youth: Ridley , Morgan , Mutch , Long , Clarke , Redman , Draper , 7x new drafts

Reserves:

B: Dea Hartley Baguely
HB: Ridley Brown Morgan

C: Mutch .......... Long
Foll: Lberger Howlett Clarke

HF: Redman .......... ..........
F: Green McKernan Draper

Int: McNeice ....... ........ ..........

 

[Darealrath]

Have thought for a while that 2018 could be a year we take a step back to go two forward, because we really need to get senior games into a lot of our recent draftees which didn't happen this year (understandably).

FB: Baguley Hartley Gleeson
HB: McGrath Hurley McKenna
C: Zaharakis Heppell Z. Merrett
HF: Fantasia Daniher Stewart
FF: Begley Hooker Walla
R: Bellchambers Parish Goddard
Int: Langford Francis Mutch Laverde

Have gone with Goddard as our token big body inside midfielder. He's better than Myers and Bird and I reckon a lot of his best footy in the past two years has been when he's played on the inside. Also don't think he's as damaging playing loose across the backline as he used to be, even though he racks up touches as easily as ever.

 

[hurlygurdy]

The progression we need is to come from within. Get a feeling we are going to see one of Howlett OR Bird in the seniors most weeks next year until one of Langford, Laverde, McGrath, McKenna moves into a permanent midfield rotation.

Wow that's dire.

We are one midfield bull from top four IMO. It will be terribly disappointing if they cant sort that in trade week.
Langford is too soft for the inside role. Another Zaka if he's lucky i think.
Laverde is still a chance, but i'm starting to get a bad feeling.
Francis will be doing well to play KPD or KPF next year.
Myers is an assistant enforcer, not the guy to set up play.

We have to pool all our kitchen sinks for Josh Kelly i think.
Don't want Ablett. If we can't get in a young gun i'd rather go with your method and sacrifice the season to give all the internal possibilities maximum chance.

 

[blitzer]

FB: Francis Ambrose Gleeson
HB: McKenna Hurley Goddard
C: Zaharakis Z. Merrett McGrath
HF: Fantasia Daniher Stewart
FF: Begley Hooker Walla
R: Bellchambers Parish Heppell
Int: Langford Mutch Laverde Baguley

I haven't taken into account any potential trades at this stage as there is too many unknowns.

Forward line: Not much to talk about - unless people think that someone will get ahead of Begley or that Hooker will play back. Realistically if they are all fit they should all play. I love our forward line - its young, its talented and its only going to get better.

Midfield: We are going to need big efforts from: Langford, Laverde, McGrath and Parish if we want to step up. Hopefully Heppell can find his best form again. Without any offseason recruits or some amazing development it will still be an area of weakness for us. At least defensively we will be better without Watson - whose opponents generally destroyed us because he simply couldn't run with them. I bet Zac Merrett will take his game to a higher level yet again - he's just that sort of person.

Defense: I reckon we can get away with the shorter backline. I also think that if we have Francis in the team and with our forward line being a lot more settled now - we could afford to rotate Francis and Hooker if we feel we really need a bigger defender eg against teams like GWS, Sydney and Adelaide. I'd rather Goddard played consistently off the half back so we can develop our mids a lot more. Goddard is capable of good performances in the midfield but I don't think hes capable of a good season there anymore - not without regular resting ala Watson this year.

There's a lot of talk about lacking taller defenders but our biggest problem was lack of pressure up the ground rather than tall forwards killing us with their contested marking. I think Redman, Ridley and McNiece will be pushing for a spot in our backline as well. Since we've lost Kelly back there - I've backed in the experienced Baguley to stay ahead in the pecking order but hopefully as the year goes on that will change.

 

[Bombers36]

FB: Francis Ambrose Gleeson
HB: McKenna Hurley Goddard
C: Zaharakis Z. Merrett McGrath
HF: Fantasia Daniher Stewart
FF: Begley Hooker Walla
R: Bellchambers Parish Heppell
Int: Langford Mutch Laverde Baguley

I think you've pretty much nailed our 2018 best 22 (prior to list changes).
Agree on Goddard - he's much better down back as a general with stints through the midfield.
Backline looks great - I guess we are all hoping Francis (or maybe Ridley?) can lock down that 3rd mid/tall defender role...
Forward line awesome also - we were 3rd for points scored this year - no reason we cant do it again with that forward line.
Its the midfield where we really need to step up. I am praying we can pick up a quality inside mid - that would make a huge difference to our 2018 prospects...

 

[hurlygurdy]

For the first time in years i feel clueless about what the next year brings (as opposed to being clueless without knowing it).
I was confident we would make the eight this year and i thought we would go further into the finals than we did on the back of the assumption that Jobe would get back to his best.
Next year we are no longer trying to make the eight, we are trying to make top four. That is quite a different proposition because it is much harder to judge whether up and coming players are capable of going to that level.
I have no clue when it comes Langford, Laverde, Colyer, Francis, Myers, Hartley, Begley, Green plus all the VFL listed players. Without knowing which of these guys (if any) are going to become top four capable players, it is impossible to pick a best 22 and it is impossible to know whether we will go forwards or backward in general.
With our buying power in the off season plus the likelihood of a couple of the above players making the grade i would be surprised to see the team go backwards. But if we line up round one next year without having bought a gun mid then i'm going to be feeling pretty antsy about our prospects. You are only as good as your bottom 6 players after all and we are going to be asking a lot from that group. More specifically we are going to be asking Langford or Laverde to be become A grade inside mids. It could happen but i wouldn't want to bet on it.

 

[yaco55]

It is David King, so it's entirely possible he just pulled the whole thing out of his arse....

These ratings are done by Champion Data - Doubt King pulled anything out of his arse.

 

[BomberTime]

Gleeson Hartley Francis
McKenna Hurley Saad
McGrath Heppell Zaharakis
Stringer Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Hooker Tipungwuti
Bellcho Merrett Langford
Laverde Parish Goddard Begley

 

[tenderwarrior]

Gleeson Hartley Francis
McKenna Hurley Saad
McGrath Heppell Zaharakis
Stringer Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Hooker Tipungwuti
Bellcho Merrett Langford
Laverde Parish Goddard Begley

What is the chatter re Saad?

 

[eth-dog]

What is the chatter re Saad?

Possibly requesting a trade out, Essendon and Carlton leading the race

 

[VelvetSledge]

Gleeson Hartley Francis
McKenna Hurley Saad
McGrath Heppell Zaharakis
Stringer Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Hooker Tipungwuti
Bellcho Merrett Langford
Laverde Parish Goddard Begley

Hnnnggg

 

[Bombers36]

wow - the package makes our forward line look super - would be great if we can somehow get Saad as well....!!!

Francis Ambrose McKenna
Gleeson Hurley Saad
Parish Heppell McGrath
Stringer Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Hooker Tippa

Bellcho Zakka Z.Merrett

Bench from: Goddard Mutch Langford Begley

Emergency: Colyer Green Baguley

 

[Bombers36]

Or how about;-

Ambrose Hurley McKenna
Gleeson Hooker Saad
Parish Heppell McGrath
Tippa Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Stringer Green

Bellcho Zakka Z.Merrett

Bench from: Goddard Mutch Langford Begley

Emergency: Francis Colyer Baguley

 

[eth-dog]

Hooker will not play defence

 

[BrunoV]

Hooker will not play defence

He could hardly get near the ball in defence this year. Appreciate that he missed a year and that it can be tough to get a read on the game when just thrown back in bits and pieces but I reckon that Hooker has slowed down quite a bit. Maybe he will get his timing and movement back next year but I'm not at all interested in him playing in defence based on what he looked like this year.

 

[eth-dog]

He could hardly get near the ball in defence this year. Appreciate that he missed a year and that it can be tough to get a read on the game when just thrown back in bits and pieces but I reckon that Hooker has slowed down quite a bit. Maybe he will get his timing and movement back next year but I'm not at all interested in him playing in defence based on what he looked like this year.

Honestly I don't mind Hooker being the loose man for 5 minutes late in a quarter. Especially if we get Stringer and can maintain those three talls forward.

The more I think about it, the more I like getting Stringer. He can do a 15/10/5 split mid-fwd-bench, 5 minutes when Bellchambers is out of the ruck and 5 minutes when Hooker is cutting off attacks

 

[calyam]

Hooker will not play defence

Yeah, AA defender Hooker is long gone. He will finish his career as a pretty solid forward. I don't think he has the movement to play permanently back anymore.

 

[sherrif]

From an outsiders perspective I think you will give the Top 4 a shake off you added Saad and Stringer. Perhaps Stringer for your first and Saad for your second in a draft that doesn't look strong or deep. A motivated and fit Stringer could play significant time on ball maybe in a 50/50 midfield forward role where his strength and size at the contest could potentially improve your work at the stoppages significantly.
recruiting Saad would also improve your midfield as it would allow Mcgrath to play on a wing where his pace would be a giant asset.
The biggest strength of your list from an outsiders perspective is that there seems to be significant talent coming through underneath your best 22 in 2017 with the likes of Begley, Francis, Langford and Laverde showing significant talent.
My predicted best 22 would be (provided Stringer and Saad are recruited)
B: Saad Hartley Ambrose
HB: McKenna Hurley Glesson
C: McGrath Heppell Zaka
R: Bellchambers Z.Merrett Stringer
HF: Begley Hooker Fantasia
FF: Tippu Daniher Stewart

I/C Goddard, Langford, Francis, Parish

 

[onthemove77]

Gleeson Hartley Francis
McKenna Hurley Saad
McGrath Heppell Zaharakis
Stringer Daniher Fantasia
Stewart Hooker Tipungwuti
Bellcho Merrett Langford
Laverde Parish Goddard Begley

Nice side looks good. Only change is Mutch in for Langford for me

 

[ghostdog]

Honestly I don't mind Hooker being the loose man for 5 minutes late in a quarter. Especially if we get Stringer and can maintain those three talls forward.

The more I think about it, the more I like getting Stringer. He can do a 15/10/5 split mid-fwd-bench, 5 minutes when Bellchambers is out of the ruck and 5 minutes when Hooker is cutting off attacks

If you believe WB posters, Stringer isn't capable of extended stints through the middle. Hasn't the endurance and consistently comes last in time trials. Sounds like he's a forward who needs to do a lot of work.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

I haven't heard about a Saad trade - Is that the rumour?

With Stringer - We would be building a good list of playing that can play FWD and move through the midfield.
Laverde, Begley, Langford, Stringer.

B: McKenna Hurley McGrath
HB: Gleeson Hooker Ambrose (with Ridley putting pressure on him)

Foll: Bchambers Zaka ZMerrett
C: Parish Heppell Colyer

HF: Stringer Daniher Tippa
F: Fantasia Francis Stewart

B: Goddard Langford Laverde Myers

Emg: Begley , Ridley , Munch

 

[eth-dog]

Hooker will not play in defence.