2013 Team

[Swanny10]

Was very impressed with Yeo's second half.

But then, wasn't really impressed with his first half.

Reckon he's earned his spot, all in all.

Personally thought he was fantastic all night. Great composure, does not look intimidated at this level which is fantastic. Has Won out against Doc for first go.

McGrath quite possibly, he might even explore Agency if he can, not sure on his contract.

Raines will be fighting for his spot pretty heavily. If Patty gets enough games in the guts this year I think he'll get over whatever "Homesickness" hes meant to have.

Not sure about Raines. With our midfield depth we are developing it will make it tight for spots. Probably will get he nod on most occasions though as our best at the tagger role.

With McGrath I actually see him as a perfect sub. He can play forward, back and pinch hit in the midfield and can be a damaging impact player.

 

[Coastal Lion]

Mcgarth keeps his spot,he kicks straight everyone would be jeking him off.
Gives us another bonafide leading target very important for our teams Forward structure I think.

As for Raines could be sweating by years end.

Great win and Longer looks the goods Luey should be brought back slowly.

Green exposed Yarran last night and made him look like a first year defender.

Patty K.....I have a crush on his fella.

 

[dlanod]

If it's get to the point where the next best midfielder not currently in the team has more impact than (Raines + (Raines' target's normal output - Raines' target's output with Raines on him)), then he'll not only be out but we'd be looking pretty damn good.

Having said that, that player looks like being one of Docherty, Polkinghorne, McGrath, Crisp or Lester at the moment (reviewing the team list), so there's some way to go yet.

 

[Bucking Beads]

It is making my head spin how good our depth is going to be this year. Going to be extremely tough at the selection table IMO.

 

[POBT]

Personally thought he was fantastic all night. Great composure, does not look intimidated at this level which is fantastic.

Yeah, I agree. I re-watched the first half earlier today and I thought he was great all game.

 

[Flameboy]

It's so awesome to have depth again... 26-27 guys who look as if they're all up to the mark.

 

[Bucking Beads]

I think Leunberger should get through a couple of reserves games before he is considered for the team as well. We have Longer and Martin to fill the void while he gets himself right. No need to rush him back.

 

[Ironmonger]

Probably time to nail it down.

Round 1:
B: Yeo Merrett Patfull
HB: Adcock Maguire Golby
C: Hanley Moloney Rich
HF: Zorko Martin Bewick
F: Green Brown Cornelius
Ruck: Longer Redden Raines
Inter: Beams Karnezis Rockliff Polkinghorne

I reckon McGrath will miss. Can't fit him in. Might get back in if Golby cops a week.

 

[Dk is back for now]

Sorry to interrupt but what is Daniel Rich's contract status?

 

[Toffee Lion]

Sorry to interrupt but what is Daniel Rich's contract status?

Lion for Life, signed and sealed.

Seriously though; he signed a two-year contract extension (Along with Leuey) at the back end of 2011.

 

[chopperduck]

Probably time to nail it down.

Round 1:
B: Yeo Merrett Patfull
HB: Adcock Maguire Golby
C: Hanley Moloney Rich
HF: Zorko Martin Bewick
F: Green Brown Cornelius
Ruck: Longer Redden Raines
Inter: Beams Karnezis Rockliff Polkinghorne

I reckon McGrath will miss. Can't fit him in. Might get back in if Golby cops a week.

Can't see Ash missing, senior player, plays an important role. Finished with 1.4 last night, could have been 4.1. Is a crumbing and lead up marking option up forward, can also have a run in the middle or play a lock down small defender if we needed to shuffle around from injury. Simply can't leave a player like that out of the side.

Upon saying that, very hard to take someone out of that team. I would probably name the same round 1 team. I think Beams is going to continue to be the unlucky one to miss out, and then we have to fit Blacky back in at some point as well. Must remember though, players do get injuries, so those that just miss out, won't be far off. Also a young team, so we can rotate them a bit still as well.

 

[AFLQLD]

Yeo looks like a round 1 starter for mine. Very composed.

Karny is showing signs now of his potential being realized. He got found out a couple of times because of slow decision making or lack of awareness but I think we have to give him 15+ games at this level in a season to have the experience that will take that out of his game.

There are real selection headaches now that we didn't have before.

Polkinghorne remains for me a good litmus test of where we are in terms of quality across the field. If he is in the team and performing well, he keeps a spot. Otherwise I can't see him getting games too far into this season because the pressure from others will push him out. Having said that, I think Polkinghorne has improved quite a bit late last year and early this year. But he will need to consistently perform because there are plenty waiting for their chances.

 

[Harris Specter]

Sorry to interrupt but what is Daniel Rich's contract status?

Get your West Coast hands off our boy!

Seriously though, he's ours.

 

[Ironmonger]

Polkinghorne remains for me a good litmus test of where we are in terms of quality across the field. If he is in the team and performing well, he keeps a spot. Otherwise I can't see him getting games too far into this season because the pressure from others will push him out. Having said that, I think Polkinghorne has improved quite a bit late last year and early this year. But he will need to consistently perform because there are plenty waiting for their chances.

It's hard to see him missing, isn't it? I always imagined he could be a midfield/HFF who gets 20+ touches and kicks two or three goals a game, but if he gets 15-20 that's more than acceptable, when he's using it well and can play virtually anywhere.

 

[paulige]

Probably time to nail it down.

Round 1:
B: Yeo Merrett Patfull
HB: Adcock Maguire Golby
C: Hanley Moloney Rich
HF: Zorko Martin Bewick
F: Green Brown Cornelius
Ruck: Longer Redden Raines
Inter: Beams Karnezis Rockliff Polkinghorne

I look at a team like this, and think... Holy crap!

No Black, Berger, McGrath, Polec, Staker, Harwood, Lisle, Banfield, Lester.

While a few of these guys are walk-in's, we also have some quality 'depth' players!

And then a couple of talented kids in Docherty, Mayes, even Paparone and Close, who we are yet to see... good time to be a Lion.


On the topic, I do like Martin's work in the air, not sure whether I'd prefer Lisle. Perhaps over Cornelius... decisions, decisions... I really like the lineup, I think positionally you've got it nailed. Hanley and Rich on the wings is going to be fantastic.

All I do know for sure though, is the above side should do a number on the dogs, round 1.

 

[chopperduck]

It's hard to see him missing, isn't it? I always imagined he could be a midfield/HFF who gets 20+ touches and kicks two or three goals a game, but if he gets 15-20 that's more than acceptable, when he's using it well and can play virtually anywhere.

I think his versatility is something that keeps him in the senior team. He can go down back, up forward, play a bit in the middle or even give him a tagging job. He is also a bigger bodied player. The versatility is something Voss has wanted from our players. With the way the interchange is going, players have to stay out on the ground longer, which means maybe playing a different position to save some legs. It was something in Karni's game that he pointed out would help him at the selection table this year.

 

[whatboutbob]

He can go down back, up forward, play a bit in the middle or even give him a tagging job. He is also a bigger bodied player. The versatility is something Voss has wanted from our players.

Thought you were describing Lester there for a minute...

Ain't depth grand?

 

[Last of the Roys]

My team for round 1 would contain the same players as TomFC's - except I would be picking Ash McGrath over Beams. Beams will be a little unlucky to miss out, but we need McGrath's experience.

Even with McGrath in the team we will still have 8 players with less than 50 games in the side = Longer; Green; Bewick; Zorko; Yeo; Patty K; Golby; and ACorn.

That is on the high side compared to a number of games last year, and it does spell a fair bit of danger (see last year's Inexperience Watch thread http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/inexperience-watch.959863/ )

It should be OK against the Dogs because they will probably be even more inexperienced than us - but it shows that we will probably need to get Black and Leuy back into the team as soon as they are close to 100%. It is a little scary that the only other players out of the side with more than 50 games experience are Banfield and Staker.

Yeah we are playing good footy for now, but the inexperience is likely to still be a big problem for us this year. Although the fact that a couple of our inexperienced guys - Zorko and Bewick - were mature-aged pick-ups does reduce the risk a little I guess.

 

[Kojihama]

Martin needs to work on his kicking for goal. If he's to be that really good support for the 40% of the time in the ruck then he needs to work on scoring for the other 60%. Great marking up front.. let down by poor net gain.

 

[Ray Button]

Can't see Ash missing, senior player, plays an important role. Finished with 1.4 last night, could have been 4.1. Is a crumbing and lead up marking option up forward, can also have a run in the middle or play a lock down small defender if we needed to shuffle around from injury. Simply can't leave a player like that out of the side.

. . .

I can't see Ash missing out either. He still remains in my list of about a dozen 'certainties if fit' (although in Ash's case the 'if fit' part is always a bit of a mystery bag early in the season).

The thing is, we still need to keep a fair core of experienced players to stiffen up the young ones when the going gets tough. It was noticeable on Friday night that in the second quarter when Carlton were getting a bit of a run on, the pressure was getting to some of the younger players (incl Yeo). That we worked through it could be attributed to the steadiness of the six to eight older players out there.

 

[Ironmonger]

I can't see Ash missing out either. He still remains in my list of about a dozen 'certainties if fit' (although in Ash's case the 'if fit' part is always a bit of a mystery bag early in the season).

The thing is, we still need to keep a fair core of experienced players to stiffen up the young ones when the going gets tough. It was noticeable on Friday night that in the second quarter when Carlton were getting a bit of a run on, the pressure was getting to some of the younger players (incl Yeo). That we worked through it could be attributed to the steadiness of the six to eight older players out there.

While I agree with the principle, I'm not sure McGrath really does provide much of a steadying influence. He doesn't really seem to be an on-field leader.

But he's certainly still useful.

I think he ultimately will play round one because I reckon Golby will get suspended.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Thought you were describing Lester there for a minute...

Ain't depth grand?

Interesting post-game comment from Vossy on that. He commented that things are looking good because we will have 30 players to call on and most teams are after 28-30 or thereabouts. He may have been talking about 'quality' players rather than total players, but even so it is hard to see how we would use anything less than 32 to 35 players this year, all things being well. We used 38 last year, although one of them admittedly was Buchanan for his farewell match. Swans only used 31 and typically had virtually no injuries. Traditionally, top teams have used fewer players but the introduction of the substitute and the need to rest players may have altered the landscape to a large degree. Last year three teams in the finals used 38 or more players, another (Collingwood) used 37 and Hawthorn, Nth Melb and West Coast used 34. Leaving aside GWS and the Suns who could play virtually as many as they liked, teams outside the eight ranged between 34 and 41 players. Based on that, I would think most teams would be planning on having to use at least 35 players this season, possibly more.

 

[Panthera]

Interesting post-game comment from Vossy on that. He commented that things are looking good because we will have 30 players to call on and most teams are after 28-30 or thereabouts. He may have been talking about 'quality' players rather than total players, but even so it is hard to see how we would use anything less than 32 to 35 players this year, all things being well. We used 38 last year, although one of them admittedly was Buchanan for his farewell match. Swans only used 31 and typically had virtually no injuries. Traditionally, top teams have used fewer players but the introduction of the substitute and the need to rest players may have altered the landscape to a large degree. Last year three teams in the finals used 38 or more players, another (Collingwood) used 37 and Hawthorn, Nth Melb and West Coast used 34. Leaving aside GWS and the Suns who could play virtually as many as they liked, teams outside the eight ranged between 34 and 41 players. Based on that, I would think most teams would be planning on having to use at least 35 players this season, possibly more.

Here's my thoughts on our depth in terms of a group of players that we chose from week in, week out:

1. Docherty
2. Harwood
3. Moloney
4. Polec
5. Longer
6. Green
7. Adcock
8. Bewick
9. McGrath
10. Rich
11. Hanley
12. Martin
14. Staker
15. Zorko
16. Brown
17. Beams
20. Black
21. Merrett
23. Leuey
24. Patfull
26. Yeo
28. Karnezis
30. Redden
31. Polkinghorne
35. Lester
36. Maguire
38. Rockliff
41. Golby
44. Cornelius

That's 29 players that I am more than happy to be wearing our Lion jumper. Add another 6 below "only if reaaallly needed" and youngsters (not Key Position):

18. Banfield
19. Lisle
29. Raines
32. Mayes
40. McKeever
47. Crisp

Decent depth coming through

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Here's my thoughts on our depth in terms of a group of players that we chose from week in, week out:

1. Docherty
2. Harwood
3. Moloney
4. Polec
5. Longer
6. Green
7. Adcock
8. Bewick
9. McGrath
10. Rich
11. Hanley
12. Martin
14. Staker
15. Zorko
16. Brown
17. Beams
20. Black
21. Merrett
23. Leuey
24. Patfull
26. Yeo
28. Karnezis
30. Redden
31. Polkinghorne
35. Lester
36. Maguire
38. Rockliff
41. Golby
44. Cornelius

That's 29 players that I am more than happy to be wearing our Lion jumper. Add another 6 below "only if reaaallly needed" and youngsters (not Key Position):

18. Banfield
19. Lisle
29. Raines
32. Mayes
40. McKeever
47. Crisp

Decent depth coming through

Sorry, my post was admittedly not as clear as it could have been. My badly expressed point was that depth in the current era is 34+, not 28-30.
I am interested that you left out of your "happy for him to be wearing the jumper" category, Clarke who has just been upgraded and Cal and Paparone. If there is someone who I think "deserves" to wear the jumper, after all he has been through, it's Callum Bartlett. And you could run a pretty persuasive argument that Paparone is ahead of or at least up with all of your last six with the exception of Rainsey (who I personally would have well and truly in the first 30).

 

[Patty Healey]

What is happening with Mayes? is he injured?