Opinion Top 50

Jun 12, 2018
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I stand by everything. but back to the list, having Brayshaw as 1. How so? he's a 10-20 player. He works hard which I like but he doesn't have the power of some of the better mids in the comp.
As explained in my post this is top 50 for 2023.
Brayshaw had a great year in 2022 but was heavily tagged through out the season.
He has improved year on year and feel with a fit fyfe, omeara, a full preseason @ the club for Brodie and serongs continued growth oppo clubs will have to reduce focus on AB.
It’s hard to generate power as a 22 year old when blocks and holds are put on at every contest.
That accompanied with his natural progression from my perspective has him there.
 
Apr 29, 2016
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As explained in my post this is top 50 for 2023.
Brayshaw had a great year in 2022 but was heavily tagged through out the season.
He has improved year on year and feel with a fit fyfe, omeara, a full preseason @ the club for Brodie and serongs continued growth oppo clubs will have to reduce focus on AB.
It’s hard to generate power as a 22 year old when blocks and holds are put on at every contest.
That accompanied with his natural progression from my perspective has him there.
Nah I agree with all of that. I'm sure Brayshaw will improve small aspects of his game but the best mids all have close attention on them. At this stage, Andrew Brayshaw, despite popular belief, is an outside player and gets the majority of his possessions in an uncontested manner. He averages a measly 9 contested possessions per game compared to an Oliver who averages almost 18. Brayshaw's clearance numbers are also horrendously low only 3.9.

So for him to surpass guys like Oliver (I'm just using him as an example) he'd need to completely transform his game, start earning the hard ball, start getting clearances and improve his metres gained. At this stage, he's an outside mid playing an inside role.
 
will give this a crack based largely on 2022 performance, but undoubtedly influenced by bias from past seasons....

1. J Cameron
2. S May
3. L Neale
4. T Miller
5. C Oliver
6. C Curnow
7. P Cripps
8. M Gawn
9. C Petracca
10. M Bontempelli
11. T Hawkins
12. C Cameron
13. T Lynch
14. C Mills
15. S Taylor
16. T Papley
17. J Crisp
18. M Blicavs
19. A Brayshaw (Fre)
20. S Bolton
21. J Steele
22. H McCluggage
23. T Stengle
24. J Sicily
25. R Laird
26. I Heeney
27. A Naughton
28. J Sinclair
29. J Dunkley
30. B Starcevich
31. P Wright
32. B Maynard
33. K Pickett
34. T Liberatore
35. Z Merrett
36. M King
37. P Dangerfield
38. T Stewart
39. D Moore (Haw)
40. C Rozee
41. S Walsh
42. B Hardwick
43. J Witts
44. A Brayshaw (Mel)
45. S Pendlebury
46. A Pearce
47. C Warner
48. T Barass
49. C Guthrie
50. S Docherty

a much harder exercise than i initially thought it would be. probably missing someone obvious somewhere

next ups would probably be Harry McKay, Toby Greene, Travis Boak, Zac Bailey, Brennan Cox and Buddy

some notable players considered but didnt include due to overall poor season 2022 - D Martin, B Grundy, J Daniher....
 
Jun 12, 2018
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Nah I agree with all of that. I'm sure Brayshaw will improve small aspects of his game but the best mids all have close attention on them. At this stage, Andrew Brayshaw, despite popular belief, is an outside player and gets the majority of his possessions in an uncontested manner. He averages a measly 9 contested possessions per game compared to an Oliver who averages almost 18. Brayshaw's clearance numbers are also horrendously low only 3.9.

So for him to surpass guys like Oliver (I'm just using him as an example) he'd need to completely transform his game, start earning the hard ball, start getting clearances and improve his metres gained. At this stage, he's an outside mid playing an inside role.
I also stated the top 50 is impact on the 2023 season not top 50 inside bulls.
Will Brodie averaged more clearances more contested possession in 2022 than AB but didn’t feature in the top ten of the doig or AA.
I’ve got clarry in the top 3 and as shown with naughton at 4 (lobb is good at drawing defenders and creating space) it’s a prediction with my knowledge at hand.
 
will give this a crack based largely on 2022 performance, but undoubtedly influenced by bias from past seasons....

1. J Cameron
2. S May
3. L Neale
4. T Miller
5. C Oliver
6. C Curnow
7. P Cripps
8. M Gawn
9. C Petracca
10. M Bontempelli
11. T Hawkins
12. C Cameron
13. T Lynch
14. C Mills
15. S Taylor
16. T Papley
17. J Crisp
18. M Blicavs
19. A Brayshaw (Fre)
20. S Bolton
21. J Steele
22. H McCluggage
23. T Stengle
24. J Sicily
25. R Laird
26. I Heeney
27. A Naughton
28. J Sinclair
29. J Dunkley
30. B Starcevich
31. P Wright
32. B Maynard
33. K Pickett
34. T Liberatore
35. Z Merrett
36. M King
37. P Dangerfield
38. T Stewart
39. D Moore (Haw)
40. C Rozee
41. S Walsh
42. B Hardwick
43. J Witts
44. A Brayshaw (Mel)
45. S Pendlebury
46. A Pearce
47. C Warner
48. T Barass
49. C Guthrie
50. S Docherty

a much harder exercise than i initially thought it would be. probably missing someone obvious somewhere

next ups would probably be Harry McKay, Toby Greene, Travis Boak, Zac Bailey, Brennan Cox and Buddy

some notable players considered but didnt include due to overall poor season 2022 - D Martin, B Grundy, J Daniher....
Having Blake Hardwick in there…

The amount of small forwards he puts in his pocket every week, gets overlooked.

Seth Meyers Lol GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
 

Lingsface

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will give this a crack based largely on 2022 performance, but undoubtedly influenced by bias from past seasons....

1. J Cameron
2. S May
3. L Neale
4. T Miller
5. C Oliver
6. C Curnow
7. P Cripps
8. M Gawn
9. C Petracca
10. M Bontempelli
11. T Hawkins
12. C Cameron
13. T Lynch
14. C Mills
15. S Taylor
16. T Papley
17. J Crisp
18. M Blicavs
19. A Brayshaw (Fre)
20. S Bolton
21. J Steele
22. H McCluggage
23. T Stengle
24. J Sicily
25. R Laird
26. I Heeney
27. A Naughton
28. J Sinclair
29. J Dunkley
30. B Starcevich
31. P Wright
32. B Maynard
33. K Pickett
34. T Liberatore
35. Z Merrett
36. M King
37. P Dangerfield
38. T Stewart
39. D Moore (Haw)
40. C Rozee
41. S Walsh
42. B Hardwick
43. J Witts
44. A Brayshaw (Mel)
45. S Pendlebury
46. A Pearce
47. C Warner
48. T Barass
49. C Guthrie
50. S Docherty

a much harder exercise than i initially thought it would be. probably missing someone obvious somewhere

next ups would probably be Harry McKay, Toby Greene, Travis Boak, Zac Bailey, Brennan Cox and Buddy

some notable players considered but didnt include due to overall poor season 2022 - D Martin, B Grundy, J Daniher....
Papley and K Pickett above Toby Greene needs to be explained for me to understand , please do me this favour.
 
Yes I understood but totally don’t agree.
Can you tell me which small forwards have kicked multiple goals against him in the last 2-3 years?

It won’t be many at all.
 

Lingsface

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I only looked at the first five weeks of last season and multiple players kicked 2 or more goals that are considered small forwards.
 
Papley and K Pickett above Toby Greene needs to be explained for me to understand , please do me this favour.
sure

i dont think papley over greene on 2022 form is particularly suprising. papley was one of the most damaging players in the game, either kicking goals himself or starting in the middle and setting scores up that way. think david king had a stat that papley when starting in centre bounces was the most likely player in the comp to result in a score or something akin to that. very high rankings in goal assists and score involvements per game in 2022 backs that up

pickett is a bit more controversial, and in the past i would have said he was overrated. but watching melbourne more and more you see just how important he is to their forward line. none of their talls (or fritsch) did much of any chasing / pressure in the forward 50, and melbournes f50 entries as a rule were rather poor. the pressure pickett bought was a significant part of the reason as to why the ball didnt just rebound straight out of melbournes forward line against quality opposition, and unlike a lot of other small pressure forwards kicked a significant amount of goals himself

greene fell behind those two for me on 2022 form because as good a goal kicker as he is, i didnt really see him doing a lot of the other stuff such in terms of pressure acts / helping upfield that the 2 aforementioned did, and missing a significant amount of games in 2022 didnt help (also think he was playing injured in the last few games he played). the only game i recall greene really dominating was against footscray where they refused to send a defender to him. didnt finish top 5 in GWS B&F in an underwhelming year and failed to make AA squad were other things i considered when ultimately deciding to omit him.
 
I only looked at the first five weeks of last season and multiple players kicked 2 or more goals that are considered small forwards.
Was Hardwick playing on them?
 

ItsAllAboutMe

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 22, 2006
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sure

i dont think papley over greene on 2022 form is particularly suprising. papley was one of the most damaging players in the game, either kicking goals himself or starting in the middle and setting scores up that way. think david king had a stat that papley when starting in centre bounces was the most likely player in the comp to result in a score or something akin to that. very high rankings in goal assists and score involvements per game in 2022 backs that up

pickett is a bit more controversial, and in the past i would have said he was overrated. but watching melbourne more and more you see just how important he is to their forward line. none of their talls (or fritsch) did much of any chasing / pressure in the forward 50, and melbournes f50 entries as a rule were rather poor. the pressure pickett bought was a significant part of the reason as to why the ball didnt just rebound straight out of melbournes forward line against quality opposition, and unlike a lot of other small pressure forwards kicked a significant amount of goals himself

greene fell behind those two for me on 2022 form because as good a goal kicker as he is, i didnt really see him doing a lot of the other stuff such in terms of pressure acts / helping upfield that the 2 aforementioned did, and missing a significant amount of games in 2022 didnt help (also think he was playing injured in the last few games he played). the only game i recall greene really dominating was against footscray where they refused to send a defender to him. didnt finish top 5 in GWS B&F in an underwhelming year and failed to make AA squad were other things i considered when ultimately deciding to omit him.

Toby Greene best has him in the top 3 players in the comp, a bad Toby Greene is still top 20.
 

Lingsface

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sure

i dont think papley over greene on 2022 form is particularly suprising. papley was one of the most damaging players in the game, either kicking goals himself or starting in the middle and setting scores up that way. think david king had a stat that papley when starting in centre bounces was the most likely player in the comp to result in a score or something akin to that. very high rankings in goal assists and score involvements per game in 2022 backs that up

pickett is a bit more controversial, and in the past i would have said he was overrated. but watching melbourne more and more you see just how important he is to their forward line. none of their talls (or fritsch) did much of any chasing / pressure in the forward 50, and melbournes f50 entries as a rule were rather poor. the pressure pickett bought was a significant part of the reason as to why the ball didnt just rebound straight out of melbournes forward line against quality opposition, and unlike a lot of other small pressure forwards kicked a significant amount of goals himself

greene fell behind those two for me on 2022 form because as good a goal kicker as he is, i didnt really see him doing a lot of the other stuff such in terms of pressure acts / helping upfield that the 2 aforementioned did, and missing a significant amount of games in 2022 didnt help (also think he was playing injured in the last few games he played). the only game i recall greene really dominating was against footscray where they refused to send a defender to him. didnt finish top 5 in GWS B&F in an underwhelming year and failed to make AA squad were other things i considered when ultimately deciding to omit him.
Yep your entitled to your own opinion, he did miss the first 4-6 games though from suspension I think.

I am a big fan of Greene so we will have to agree to disagree there.
 
Jun 7, 2007
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I only looked at the first five weeks of last season and multiple players kicked 2 or more goals that are considered small forwards.
Had a look at the player highlights on AFL.com

North - None
Port - SPP not really a small forward
Looked to be playing on Rozee

Carlton - None unless you are counting Silvagni as a small forward
St Kilda - Gresham played more up the ground, Butler one was a turnover with him in 30m of space, the other a HTB
Looked to be on Long though
Geelong - Stengle - appears to play on a mix on Stengle and Dangerfield - 2 of his 3 goals look to be complete defensive breakdowns with free Geelong players in the forward line

So potentially once he had 2 kicked on him
 

Lingsface

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Had a look at the player highlights on AFL.com

North - None
Port - SPP not really a small forward
Looked to be playing on Rozee

Carlton - None unless you are counting Silvagni as a small forward
St Kilda - Gresham played more up the ground, Butler one was a turnover with him in 30m of space, the other a HTB
Looked to be on Long though
Geelong - Stengle - appears to play on a mix on Stengle and Dangerfield - 2 of his 3 goals look to be complete defensive breakdowns with free Geelong players in the forward line

So potentially once he had 2 kicked on him
Yeah right wasn’t his fault.
 
Oct 1, 2006
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Bontempelli is the most overrated player we’ve had for a long long time.

Guy is a sublime user of the ball, top 3 for goal assists and top 5 for score involvements, goes at more than a goal a game, while averaging over 5 clearances and tackles a game. On those numbers alone he is a top 10 player.
 
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