Opinion 2024 and Beyond

[Indie_]

FB: Rampe - Hamling - Lloyd
HB: Blakey - McCartin - Florent
C: Gulden - Warner - McInerney
HF: Hayward - McDonald - Heeney
FF: Papley - Amartey - McLean
R: Grundy - Adams - Rowbottom

Int: Parker - Campbell - ???? - ???? (????)

Not sure who out of Cunningham, Wicks, Jordon, Sheldrick takes the last three spots on the bench.

 

[Callipygian]

What we have achieved is a first-rate ruck and significantly improved depth. Lots of competition for spots, especially at KPD - if we select Rampe, McCartin and Hamling then Melican, Francis, Arnold and Edwards will all be competing to be next chosen.

Jordon seems to be a replacement for Stephens - perhaps with a lower ceiling and higher floor. But still seemingly destined to be on the fringes of the team.

 

[sthmelb_dimmies]

FB: Rampe - Hamling - Lloyd
HB: Blakey - McCartin - Florent
C: Gulden - Warner - McInerney
HF: Hayward - McDonald - Heeney
FF: Papley - Amartey - McLean
R: Grundy - Adams - Rowbottom

Int: Parker - Campbell - ???? - ???? (????)

Not sure who out of Cunningham, Wicks, Jordon, Sheldrick takes the last three spots on the bench.

If Reid is fit he’ll be best 22.

 

[Punts]

Reid is better than Amartey

 

[Kiama Chris]

Assuming our trading is done (suuuuurely we don't have any more tricks up our sleeve?), I thought I'd have a go at our best 22 for 2024. This is assuming it's round 1 and players like Mills are injured. I've gone with all of the players who I think are locks, and then left spots where I think a position is up for grabs.

B - Dane Rampe, Tom McCartin, Harry Cunningham
HB - Nick Blakey, ________, Jake Lloyd
C - Justin McInerney, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell
HF - Luke Parker, Logan McDonald, Isaac Heeney
F - Tom Papley, Hayden McLean, _______
Foll - Brodie Grundy, James Rowbottom, Chad Warner

I/C - Ollie Florent, Taylor Adams, Joel Amartey, _______

I think there's two obvious candidates for each of those first two vacancies:

The centre half back role will clearly be between Hamling & Melican, both players who can do the role but who are perennially injured. Hamling probably the better player with more exposed form at this stage, but Melican the most recently fit and available of the two.

And the forward pocket role will clearly be between Hayward & Wicks, two players most likely to be affected by Parker probably spending more time forward. From there it depends if we want another medium forward or more of a ground level pressure type.

And then there's just a vacant spot on the bench, take your pick from a number of players. Does Jordon get in as a third player in the wing rotation? Does Sheldrick get in even with the acquirement of Adams? Or does the non-chosen one of that Hayward/Wicks duel get the spot so that Parker can spend more time in the mids instead of Sheldrick? Does a Rampe start getting on and/or getting injuries, meaning BOTH of Melican & Hamling get in the team?

Lots of questions, but more importantly, lots of options. And that's with arguably our best player out with injury at this point.

If we're totally serious I think there are fewer locks than you indicate and maybe some changes to the game plan which lead to structural changes.
Not saying we should do this but that we could:
McInerney drops back to HBF, Florent to BP.
Gulden, Warner and Jordon making a wing/HHF rotation.
Amartey vs Buller
Can Sheldrick bullock his way in and if so, at whose expense or as that "vacant" bench spot.
We might even choose to play two talls instead of 3 a la Pies.
So many choices!

 

[S120]

Assuming our trading is done (suuuuurely we don't have any more tricks up our sleeve?), I thought I'd have a go at our best 22 for 2024. This is assuming it's round 1 and players like Mills are injured. I've gone with all of the players who I think are locks, and then left spots where I think a position is up for grabs.

B - Dane Rampe, Tom McCartin, Harry Cunningham
HB - Nick Blakey, ________, Jake Lloyd
C - Justin McInerney, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell
HF - Luke Parker, Logan McDonald, Isaac Heeney
F - Tom Papley, Hayden McLean, _______
Foll - Brodie Grundy, James Rowbottom, Chad Warner

I/C - Ollie Florent, Taylor Adams, Joel Amartey, _______

I think there's two obvious candidates for each of those first two vacancies:

The centre half back role will clearly be between Hamling & Melican, both players who can do the role but who are perennially injured. Hamling probably the better player with more exposed form at this stage, but Melican the most recently fit and available of the two.

And the forward pocket role will clearly be between Hayward & Wicks, two players most likely to be affected by Parker probably spending more time forward. From there it depends if we want another medium forward or more of a ground level pressure type.

And then there's just a vacant spot on the bench, take your pick from a number of players. Does Jordon get in as a third player in the wing rotation? Does Sheldrick get in even with the acquirement of Adams? Or does the non-chosen one of that Hayward/Wicks duel get the spot so that Parker can spend more time in the mids instead of Sheldrick? Does a Rampe start getting on and/or getting injuries, meaning BOTH of Melican & Hamling get in the team?

Lots of questions, but more importantly, lots of options. And that's with arguably our best player out with injury at this point.

I like it and a few things stand out to me. Our depth is gonna be real good if we have a decent injury list. At full fitness, I’d say we’ll have guys like Wicks, Francis, Hamling, Ladhams, Jordon, Roberts, Reid, Cunningham, Buller, Arnold, Fox, McAndrew, Warner jr sitting on the outside looking in. That’s exciting.

Additionally, I’d be making changes to the defence in the sense that we need a little bit more attacking or intercepting and a little less out and out defending. IMO we have to limit how many straight defenders - guys like Melican, Cunningham, Hamling - we have in our defence at one time in our best team. I’d be moving Hayward to defence as I said earlier this week as an additional intercepting player and I’d want Francis to boost his confidence to go for his marks as an interceptor too.

 

[GreyGooseGuy88]

FB: Rampe - Melican - Fox
HB: Blakey - McCartin - Florent
C: Campbell - Warner - McInerney
HF: Hayward - McDonald - Heeney
FF: Papley - Amartey - McLean
R: Grundy - Adams - Gulden

Int: Parker - Jordon - Reid - Rowbottom (Sub: Wicks)
Emergencies: Lloyd, Gus, Corey Warner, Hamling, Cunningham

 

[Millky95]

FB: Rampe - Melican - Fox
HB: Blakey - McCartin - Florent
C: Campbell - Warner - McInerney
HF: Hayward - McDonald - Heeney
FF: Papley - Amartey - McLean
R: Grundy - Adams - Gulden

Int: Parker - Jordon - Reid - Rowbottom (Sub: Wicks)
Emergencies: Lloyd, Gus, Corey Warner, Hamling, Cunningham

Can't see Lloyd getting dropped

 

[GreyGooseGuy88]

Can't see Lloyd getting dropped

The only guaranteed spots are, Grundy, Heeney, McCartin, Gulden, Blakey.

Everyone else needs to perform or they could play VFL. It's a good problem to have!!

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

Assuming our trading is done (suuuuurely we don't have any more tricks up our sleeve?), I thought I'd have a go at our best 22 for 2024. This is assuming it's round 1 and players like Mills are injured. I've gone with all of the players who I think are locks, and then left spots where I think a position is up for grabs.

B - Dane Rampe, Tom McCartin, Harry Cunningham
HB - Nick Blakey, ________, Jake Lloyd
C - Justin McInerney, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell
HF - Luke Parker, Logan McDonald, Isaac Heeney
F - Tom Papley, Hayden McLean, _______
Foll - Brodie Grundy, James Rowbottom, Chad Warner

I/C - Ollie Florent, Taylor Adams, Joel Amartey, _______

I think there's two obvious candidates for each of those first two vacancies:

The centre half back role will clearly be between Hamling & Melican, both players who can do the role but who are perennially injured. Hamling probably the better player with more exposed form at this stage, but Melican the most recently fit and available of the two.

And the forward pocket role will clearly be between Hayward & Wicks, two players most likely to be affected by Parker probably spending more time forward. From there it depends if we want another medium forward or more of a ground level pressure type.

And then there's just a vacant spot on the bench, take your pick from a number of players. Does Jordon get in as a third player in the wing rotation? Does Sheldrick get in even with the acquirement of Adams? Or does the non-chosen one of that Hayward/Wicks duel get the spot so that Parker can spend more time in the mids instead of Sheldrick? Does a Rampe start getting on and/or getting injuries, meaning BOTH of Melican & Hamling get in the team?

Lots of questions, but more importantly, lots of options. And that's with arguably our best player out with injury at this point.

Sheldrick and Taylor will replace Rowbottom and Parker mid time.

We will be stronger with players who win contested ball, get first mitts On the ball at clearances and use it better than their predecessors..

With Parker and Taylor spending time forward we really need Wicks as a quick aggressive forward. There should be no place forward for Hayward.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

FB: Rampe Hamling Lloyd
HB: Hayward McCartin Blakey
C : Campbell Warner Gulden
F : Grundy Adams Sheldrick
HF: Papley Buller Heeney
F: McLean McDonald Parker

IC Wicks, Florent, Rowbottom, Jordon

23rd McInerney

 

[MarkP]

Can't see Lloyd getting dropped

Nor does he deserve it. First picked group every week. Not even close.

 

[Jewelsbon]

The only guaranteed spots are, Grundy, Heeney, McCartin, Gulden, Blakey.

Everyone else needs to perform or they could play VFL. It's a good problem to have!!

Reckon Adams would be in the guaranteed group.

 

[caesar88]

Sheldrick and Taylor will replace Rowbottom and Parker mid time.

We will be stronger with players who win contested ball, get first mitts On the ball at clearances and use it better than their predecessors..

Gonna shamelessly quote myself here

Most successful first-touch midfielders based on CPPCBA (Caesar points per CBA):

All of the above was hard to interpret because there were a lot of centre bounces where players didn't even touch the ball but still got points for being at a centre bounce that proved successful. So I wanted to look a bit more into who was actually contributing most to these successful centre bounces, meaning who had hands on ball the most at these centre bounces.

Using handball receives wasn't a good indicator as a lot of the time the ball went to wingmen or running half backs pushing up, which rendered the starting mids redundant. So I looked at the mids getting first touch on the ball, be it winning a ground ball or roving a ruck's taps.

This is based on % of an individual's CBAs where they won first touch that initiated a successful clearance. It does NOT include first touches that failed to lead to a successful clearance.

1. James Rowbottom (31.9%)
2. Errol Gulden (26.72%)
3. Tom Papley (25.84%)
4. Luke Parker (23%)
5. Chad Warner (18.77%)
6. Isaac Heeney (18.58%)
7. Angus Sheldrick (18.5%)
8. Callum Mills (14.3%)

Let us know if you need any emotional support after reading the above Horace. It's what us mods are here for.

 

[Bandicoot]

Assuming our trading is done (suuuuurely we don't have any more tricks up our sleeve?), I thought I'd have a go at our best 22 for 2024. This is assuming it's round 1 and players like Mills are injured. I've gone with all of the players who I think are locks, and then left spots where I think a position is up for grabs.

B - Dane Rampe, Tom McCartin, Harry Cunningham
HB - Nick Blakey, ________, Jake Lloyd
C - Justin McInerney, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell
HF - Luke Parker, Logan McDonald, Isaac Heeney
F - Tom Papley, Hayden McLean, _______
Foll - Brodie Grundy, James Rowbottom, Chad Warner

I/C - Ollie Florent, Taylor Adams, Joel Amartey, _______

I think there's two obvious candidates for each of those first two vacancies:

The centre half back role will clearly be between Hamling & Melican, both players who can do the role but who are perennially injured. Hamling probably the better player with more exposed form at this stage, but Melican the most recently fit and available of the two.

And the forward pocket role will clearly be between Hayward & Wicks, two players most likely to be affected by Parker probably spending more time forward. From there it depends if we want another medium forward or more of a ground level pressure type.

And then there's just a vacant spot on the bench, take your pick from a number of players. Does Jordon get in as a third player in the wing rotation? Does Sheldrick get in even with the acquirement of Adams? Or does the non-chosen one of that Hayward/Wicks duel get the spot so that Parker can spend more time in the mids instead of Sheldrick? Does a Rampe start getting on and/or getting injuries, meaning BOTH of Melican & Hamling get in the team?

Lots of questions, but more importantly, lots of options. And that's with arguably our best player out with injury at this point.

Hamling played 23 games last year. All in the WAFL. So I think you can remove him from your perennially injured list.

 

[Bandicoot]

No doubt that picking the side for round 1 next year is significantly more difficult than it was 12 months ago which is great.
Here's my go:

Cunningham - Hamling - Rampe
Lloyd - McCartin - Blakey
Gulden - Adams - Campbell
Parker - McDonald - Heeney
Amartey - McLean - Papley
Grundy - Rowbottom - Warner
Florent, McInerney, Haywood, Jordon.
Fox

Looks like a premiership team to me with Mills being in there come finals time.

Great to have the likes of Sheldrick, Wicks, Melican and Francis sitting on the sidelines waiting for their opportunity.

Have I missed anyone?

 

[Millky95]

No doubt that picking the side for round 1 next year is significantly more difficult than it was 12 months ago which is great.
Here's my go:

Cunningham - Hamling - Rampe
Lloyd - McCartin - Blakey
Gulden - Adams - Campbell
Parker - McDonald - Heeney
Amartey - McLean - Papley
Grundy - Rowbottom - Warner
Florent, McInerney, Haywood, Jordon.
Fox

Looks like a premiership team to me with Mills being in there come finals time.

Have I missed anyone?

Wicks and Melican

 

[Bandicoot]

Wicks and Melican

I altered the post to make note of them.

 

[Bandicoot]

No doubt that picking the side for round 1 next year is significantly more difficult than it was 12 months ago which is great.
Here's my go:

Cunningham - Hamling - Rampe
Lloyd - McCartin - Blakey
Gulden - Adams - Campbell
Parker - McDonald - Heeney
Amartey - McLean - Papley
Grundy - Rowbottom - Warner
Florent, McInerney, Haywood, Jordon.
Fox

Looks like a premiership team to me with Mills being in there come finals time.

Great to have the likes of Sheldrick, Wicks, Melican and Francis sitting on the sidelines waiting for their opportunity.

Have I missed anyone?

I feel it's important to have Cunningham in there to take care of the small forwards.
Hamling will be a more offensive defender than Melican hence he gets the job to start with.
If we were to play anyone with three monster forwards Melican could be brought to the bench.
As most have suggested, Parker will probably be a 70/30 fwd/mid going forward.
If Sheldrick continues his upward trajectory he may well replace one of the three on the bench.
Depending on weather conditions we may only play two of the big forwards hence McLean and Amartey would fight for that spot.
Leaves numerous options for the sub position.

 

[sthmelb_dimmies]

Can we all just chill with smashing Hamling into the best 22?

He’s played 6 senior games in 3 years. If the club gets half a dozen games out of him in top knick then it’s a win.

He’s not a lock best 22, in fact I doubt we see him in the seniors before June

 

[sataris]

Can we all just chill with smashing Hamling into the best 22?

He’s played 6 senior games in 3 years. If the club gets half a dozen games out of him in top knick then it’s a win.

He’s not a lock best 22, in fact I doubt we see him in the seniors before June

Very little chance he gets a game ahead of Lewis Young anyway.

 

[Bandicoot]

Can we all just chill with smashing Hamling into the best 22?

He’s played 6 senior games in 3 years. If the club gets half a dozen games out of him in top knick then it’s a win.

He’s not a lock best 22, in fact I doubt we see him in the seniors before June

Disagree but we are all entitled to our opinions. Although, I'm not saying he is a LOCK but right at the moment I'd have him ahead of Melican and Francis. It's just good to have options.

 

[Bandicoot]

For those who would still like to have a $$ or two on us for next year's flag, Sportsbet have us at $8 but you can still get $11.5 at Betfair.

 

[tombomb]

For those who would still like to have a $$ or two on us for next year's flag, Sportsbet have us at $8 but you can still get $11.5 at Betfair.

That's like betting on the Melbourne Cup in February.

You'll still get those prices about us in round 1 next year.

 

[Swannie0307]

Very little chance he gets a game ahead of Lewis Young anyway.

Good to see you now know his first name