Strategy Final Part: The Bench for the 2026 Best 23 (Poll)

FootyGuy13 · Saturday at 8:15 PM

Results from Part Three:

1| Jacob van Rooyen (92.1%)
1| Latrelle Pickett (92.1%)
3| Bayley Fritsch (89.5%)
4| Brody Mihocek (84.2%)
5| Kade Chandler (76.3%)
6| Matthew Jefferson (39.5%)
---------------------------------
7| Jake Melksham (28.9%)
8| Jai Culley (26.3%)

Luker Kentfield, Thomas Matthews, Shane McAdam, Ed Langdon, Tom Sparrow, Ricky Mentha, Aidan Johnson, Christian Salem, Jack Viney, Koltyn Tholstrup, Bailey Laurie, Max Heath, Harry Sharp, Kalani White, Jack Henderson (<10%).

Hopefully I've configured the forward line correctly, I don't think Jefferson or LPickett should go near the half-forward line for the time being, Fritsch is better half-flank option with Chandler than Mihocek or JvR, with JvR getting the Full Forward spot for now. Realistically, Mihocek, JvR and Jefferson would be swapping positions based on context.

Now is the time to vote for those players you think should've been picked to be on the field but somehow got missed, and now we have FIVE votes to give out!

Part 4 is looking at the Interchange:
INT: Interchange | Interchange | Interchange | Interchange | Interchange

E: Emergency | Emergency | Emergency

Please vote for the five players you'd want to fill those positions. Voting ends Feb 28th.

Framework: We are pretending that everyone on the list is fit, uninjured and unsuspended, the only thing holding players back being age and inexperience. This isn't a Round 1 team either, just the Best 22 team against a random opponent in random weather conditions in a random round.

Happy Voting! :smallfooty:

Daemon · Sunday at 9:33 AM

This was hard. I just tried to go with what I thought would be a good mix for rotations.
Langdon (no brainer), Heath, AMW, Tmac, Melky

Headless · Sunday at 1:37 PM

Throw a blanket over about ten of these options, I reckon. Tough choice.

Dory_77 · Sunday at 9:26 PM

Agree this is tough. Went Culley, Heath, Tholstrup, Howes, Langdon. Gives a decent mix of height/speed/run/grunt, but plenty of reasonable options could go through.

Bluelegs · Monday at 12:34 PM

Went with

Salem, Culley, Langdon, Melksham, Heath

If it were up to me I'd drop Jefferson from the team and have Melksham start.

Then it would be a lucky dip of Tholstrup, Howes, Taylor and Sparrow for the final spot on the bench.

yulong · Monday at 1:54 PM

Our centre line looks awful. Hope they prove me wrong.

Won't be popular but we need Langdon, *Viney, Salem. The rest to cover fatigue in young blokes or specific needs / known niggles aches or pains

Daemon · Monday at 4:50 PM

I'm perplexed that Langdon is on the bench. He's an automatic selection on the wing for me.

I'm not going to change my vote but I realized I overlooked Culley.

FootyBot13 · 2026-02-26T19:00:05+1100

Daemon said:
I'm perplexed that Langdon is on the bench. He's an automatic selection on the wing for me.

Langdon missed out by 1 vote against Rivers for the 6th midfield spot. Easily could've been Rivers missing out, getting a spot in defense and it being Lever getting the most votes in this poll.

Bluelegs said:
If it were up to me I'd drop Jefferson from the team and have Melksham start.

Oh, the fun of having the Forwards vote always line-up with the intraclub match.

Always one random that has a one-year cameo in this.

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Strategy Final Part: The Bench for the 2026 Best 23 (Poll)

Which five players should fill the bench positions in a pre-2026 Best 23?

#1 Steven May

#3 Christian Salem

#7 Jack Viney

#12 Koltyn Tholstrup

#13 Jai Culley

#15 Ed Langdon

#16 Bailey Laurie

#18 Jake Melksham

#19 Xavier Taylor

#20 Thomas Matthews

#22 Blake Howes

#23 Shane McAdam

#25 Tom McDonald

#26 Jed Adams

#27 Max Heath

#29 Tom Campbell

#30 Harry Sharp

#32 Tom Sparrow

#34 Kalani White

#38 Oscar Berry

#39 Ricky Mentha

#40 Riley Onley

#42 Aidan Johnson

#43 Jack Henderson

#44 Luker Kentfield

#45 Andy Moniz-Wakefield

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