2009 All-Australian Team (Part 2)

[Lach72]

Surprise, surprise the AA selectors show their anti-Essendon bias yet again. No Watson is a disgrace.

I am a bit surprised that Fletcher is there because he missed a few weeks but he has been very good. He has been amongst the votes most weeks on the Essendon board.

You're right...in their eagerness to type "Fletcher" the forgot Jobe

 

[mdc]

Mitchell is a bad omission, especially when they could have slotted him in as a HBFer ahead of Fletcher or Hargrave.

 

[TassieSaint]

Surprise, surprise the AA selectors show their anti-Essendon bias yet again. No Watson is a disgrace.

anti-essedon bias lol. you said it yourself mate, what is the team of the player who is by some margin the luckiest player to be there again?

 

[Fino]

Re: All-Australian Squad Named

AA is a farce every year. Fletcher and the naming of Dane Swan as a forward just confirms it. The AFL is fast becoming a bad joke, bereft of any common sense whatsoever.

 

[Bollox]

I think they will go with:

B: Gilbert - Scarlett - Enright
HB: Maxwell - Lake - Goddard
C: Montagna - Selwood - Dal Santo
HF: Swan - Riewoldt - Goodes
F: LeCras - Brown - Davis
R: Sandilands - Judd - Ablett
INT: Clark - Murphy - Hayes - Fevola

CHB the biggest query. They might even put Maxwell at CHB.

Looks good but Murphy ? Swan on a flank ?
I dont see it...Murphy just hasnt had an AA quality season and saw a lot of him.

Good chance Fevola in a pocket after a strong finish and perhaps Leon Davis off the bench.

Still have Steve Johnson there but i agree that Chapman is probably gone. Considering that there are guys like OKeefe who have had damn good full seasons in a pretty much identical role its very hard to now justify his selection after missing a lot of footy.

Like Clark there and hopefully the selectors open their eyes and wont discrimate against guys like Gilbert and Clark. Easy to forget just how good Gilbert was for the first half of the yr and been good since to hold his spot i reckon.

Ryan Hargrave a smokey ?

 

[raskolnikov]

anti-essedon bias lol. you said it yourself mate, what is the team of the player who is by some margin the luckiest player to be there again?

Adelaide

wah wah wah ... Essendon got a player in the squad wah wah wah ..

get over it

 

[AG]

Looks good but Murphy ? Swan on a flank ?
I dont see it...Murphy just hasnt had an AA quality season and saw a lot of him.

Good chance Fevola in a pocket after a strong finish and perhaps Leon Davis off the bench.

That's who I think the selectors will pick. Swan was picked in the forward category so he can hardly be a pocket.

I wouldn't pick Murphy and I would have Davis in the team with Fev on the bench.

 

[Thommo 42]

I agree that Brown's had a better year, there's no way that Fev won't make the squad. The selectors invariably choose three tall forwards - CHF, FF, FP.

One will be at FF, the other in the FP. Listening to Hird (selector) speaking of Fev on OTC yesterday, that's one vote that Fev can be certain of.

my side has 3 key forwards in Reiwolt, Goodes and Brown.

I can't ignore Porps or Lecras, so they go in the pockets for me. A couple of little blokes who are dead-eye set shots and kicked 58 and 52 goals respectively thanks very much.

I had to waste a fkank on Swan, because i picked from within the confines of their squad of 40 and there is no way he doesn't make the 18

 

[TassieSaint]

Adelaide

wah wah wah ... Essendon got a player in the squad wah wah wah ..

get over it

haha, delicious irony right there. I couldn't give two shits if an Essendon player's in there or not.

you on the other hand seem to be so upset by Watson's omission that your convinced it's all a big conspiracy.

nah your right mate, despite the fact the Fletcher outright stole a spot in the squad, the entire panel hates Essendon (especially Hirdy) and no other team has ever had deserving players miss the squad.

 

[raskolnikov]

haha, delicious irony right there. I couldn't give two shits if an Essendon player's in there or not.

you on the other hand seem to be so upset by Watson's omission that your convinced it's all a big conspiracy.

nah your right mate, despite the fact the Fletcher outright stole a spot in the squad, the entire panel hates Essendon (especially Hirdy) and no other team has ever had deserving players miss the squad.

Yeah right, saying they have a bias is saying it is a conspiracy.


Lucas was robbed in 06 and 07, Hille was robbed last year and Watson was robbed this year.

Fletcher is a bit lucky because he missed a few games but his games have been very good. Get over the fact that he's in the squad. You're more upset over the one Essendon player that got in than you are happy about the seven St.Kilda players that got in.

 

[Bollox]

That's who I think the selectors will pick. Swan was picked in the forward category so he can hardly be a pocket.

I wouldn't pick Murphy and I would have Davis in the team with Fev on the bench.

I've got Swan as one of the premier mids for the season...dont see him anywhere but on the field in position or a rotating mid off the bench

The big 6 in the middle for mine are Montagna, Judd, Hayes, Swan, Dal Santo, Ablett...slot for 1 more and 2 off them bench rotating but picked in position.

Who knows tho...and yeah Fev off the bench is fine i'm just speculating on their history of liking 3 KPB's and 3 KPF's on the field. It was easy with Brad Johnson for yrs coz he was a bit of both (a mid/pocket/KPP that kicks 50+ makes it easy)

Murphy will earn a few of these before he's done i agree his season tho just not up to this standard yet...in a group of guys 2nd tier mids.

Boyd still a chance off the bench too.

 

[AG]

I have Swan as the second best mid this year but even if out of position he should be in the starting 18.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I think they should scrap the whole forwards/mids/defenders thing if they are going to make a mockery of the system by putting an out and out midfielder like Swan in the forwards category.

Just bloody go back to naming it like you used to with a couple of midfielders on the flanks and a resting ruckman in the forward pocket.

In any case, my only major gripe missing-player-wise is that Tredrea didn't make the top 12 forwards. I'm not for a second putting him in the 22, but he was a top 12 forward this season.

 

[AG]

Sheahan gives his opinion on the Swan selection

Another article about the squad.

 

[Bollox]

"The four interchange positions will come from the remaining players not selected in the starting 18 to best fit team balance as if to play a match"

You would hope so...need a 2nd ruck a Utility/KPP and 2 rotating mids...betcha they dont tho and play a 3rd mid/small fwd off the bench

 

[tcwaters]

Swan listed as a forward is an epic fail. Like everyone else with a brain, I believe he should have been named as a mid. Just hope he doesn't take the spot of a forward more deserving, and a midfielder (who probably wouldn't have got a look in had Swan been named in the centre) get a go.

I'm a little surprised by Hurn's omission, although, to be fair, he didn't exactly set the world on fire early in the year. I haven't watched much of Essendon this year, but did Fletcher deserve a nomination?

 

[AG]

Fev or Goodes off the bench along with two mids and Clark/McIntosh.

 

[LoveLeon]

With comments like that you are clearly the moron.
Presti is slow, makes a lot of errors. I could play on him with one leg in a cast and still lead him to the ball.

Zac Dawson is better than him and we got rid of him.

You better put Rocca in your side too, he's probably AA material too.

Oh dear. Hard to believe there are people who understand the game so poorly.

 

[AG]

I'm a little surprised by Hurn's omission, although, to be fair, he didn't exactly set the world on fire early in the year. I haven't watched much of Essendon this year, but did Fletcher deserve a nomination?

Hurn deserved it way more than Fletcher. I thought Pears was just as good as Fletcher, if not better.

 

[NYJetsfor2029]

I have Swan as the second best mid this year but even if out of position he should be in the starting 18.

I disagree and think it's blaringly obvious that he is destined for a bench spot so they can have 3 mids there.
Ablett, Judd, Hayes and Selwood are much more damaging than the stats men/"work horses" of Swan and Montagna, and then there's Dal Santo and Boyd too. Everyone has been hoodwinked again by the collingwood hype about Swan and his many possessions/brownlow favouritism and is about right for an AA bench player.

The team as i see it from that 40 is:

Gilbert, Scarlett, Presti
Enright, Lake, Goddard
Montagna, Judd, Boyd
Goodes, Riewoldt, Davis
LeCras, Fevola, Brown

Sandilands, Hayes, Ablett

Clark, Swan, Selwood, Dal Santo

 

[AG]

Hoodwinked?? You think Montagna is more of a workhorse than Hayes??

 

[Thommo 42]

if they were going to name Swan on the bench, they wouldn't have embarassed themselves by naming him as a forward.

He is an obvious lock for a starting flank.

 

[AG]

if they were going to name Swan on the bench, they wouldn't have embarassed themselves by naming him as a forward.

He is an obvious lock for a starting flank.

Exactly. Or the just wanted more publicity so they make a strange decision.

 

[NYJetsfor2029]

Hoodwinked?? You think Montagna is more of a workhorse than Hayes??

Hayes does the hard things but that doesnt make him a workhorse in the media's sense of the word (and how i was using it, hence the inverted commas), by "workhorse" they are saying possession gatherer, but not using it derogatively.

 

[diehard pie]

The Lucky
1) FLETCHER
2)Mackie
3)Bartel
4)Milne
5)Bolton

The Unlucky
1)S.Fisher
2)O'Brien
3)Mitchell
4)Drummond
5)Black

And although he wasn't in my original 22(as much as I love him), I think Maxwell has to be CHB because he's the only one who plays even close to that position - except lucky no. 5