2017 Best 22

[Blaze Storm]

Okay. So take away Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Burgoyne, Birchell and Gibson and we will win a premiership like the Doggies did from 7th. Good luck with that

I never said we were going to win the premiership, but your argument is that we don't have enough genuine A-graders to contend, yet the reigning premiers have very few genuine A-graders, so...

 

[Hawkflag]

I never said we were going to win the premiership, but your argument is that we don't have enough genuine A-graders to contend, yet the reigning premiers have very few genuine A-graders, so...

So...we are not going to win premierships

 

[Hawkflag]

When did I have say he's in that group?

He is elite in the position that he plays. Wouldn't call that a complimentary player.

Well good. So as I said, we need at least another two genuine freaks - All Australians - to become contenders again. Someone (x2) needs to bob-up and take a huge development leap

 

[Turly]

Well good. So as I said, we need at least another two genuine freaks - All Australians - to become contenders again. Someone (x2) needs to bob-up and take a huge development leap

I think you missed the point of my post

 

[Hawkflag]

I skipped your point

 

[RobHawk]

While we have the mastercoach at the helm we can get away with one less A grader than our rivals to be a flag threat.

 

[Bardo State]

FB Stratton - Frawley - Duryea

HB Birchall - Gibson - Burton

C Smith - Mitchell - Shiels

HF Rioli - Gunston - Breust

FF Puopolo - Vickery - Sicily

R McEvoy - O'Meara - Hodge

IC Hartung - Burgoyne - Whitecross - Brand/Schoe (depending on need)

EMG: Brand/Schoe - Lovell - Litherland

(Obviously hoping Rough can get healthy and maybe start playing again in the best case)

I fully expect Gibson, Hodge and Burgoyne to see heavy rotation and potentially playing more periphery roles during the H&A next year. Hand the keys to O'Meara, Mitchell, Gunston, Cyril.

 

[Hawker98]

[QtUOTE="daannn277, post: 47563791, member: 107141"]FB Stratton - Frawley - Duryea

HB Birchall - Gibson - Burton

C Smith - Mitchell - Shiels

HF Rioli - Gunston - Breust

FF Puopolo - Vickery - Sicily

R McEvoy - O'Meara - Hodge

IC Hartung - Burgoyne - Whitecross - Brand/Schoe (depending on need)

EMG: Brand/Schoe - Lovell - Litherland

(Obviously hoping Rough can get healthy and maybe start playing again in the best case)

I fully expect Gibson, Hodge and Burgoyne to see heavy rotation and potentially playing more periphery roles during the H&A next year. Hand the keys to O'Meara, Mitchell, Gunston, Cyril.[/QUOTE]

I think the club will be trying to get more games into brand next year, so we'll see him in our best 22



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[Hawker1167]

Solid team and something is telling me will Clarko try and reinvent Birch by playing him on a wing - still look a touch slow though


FB Stratton - Frawley - Duryea

HB Gibson - Brand - Burton

C Smith - Mitchell - Birchall

HF Rioli - Gunston - Breust

FF Puopolo - Vickery - Hodge

R McEvoy - O'Meara - Shiels

Inter Hartung - Burgoyne - Whitecross - Sicily

 

[OzJohnnie]

I'm taking a late break and see that round 17 Syd v Haw is on. I find myself uncomfortably cheering every Titch touch. Particularly when he's centre and proving a quick connection from the backline to the forward line. Very quick. Always around the ball. Putting a lot of pressure on the Hawthorn midfield.

He and JOM are going to provide a lot of speed and hardness right in the guts. I'm starting to convince myself (not that it takes a lot of effort) that these two will be like the jam in a delicious hot jam doughnut.

 

[Blaze Storm]

So...we are not going to win premierships

I skipped your point

Well played, Troll. I have learnt my lesson. *hits ignore*

 

[kolchak]

Duryea - Frawley - Stratton
Hodge - Gibson - Burton
Smith - Omera - Whitecross
Rioli - Shoey - Burgoyne
Puopolo - Vickery - Bruest
McEvoy - Mitchell - Shiels

I'd prefer to see our midfield and half forward line capable of bringing maximum pressure with pace and tackling, even if the backline is left slower.


Interchange - ????

 

[Cynic]

Went for something a bit different this time; I don't believe playing the same core 18 (with a few changes) will do anything but have us falling further behind. The main issues I saw from 2016 were 1) difficulty extracting the ball from defence; 2) lack of contested ball/clearance ability and 3) lack of forward structure.

FB: Duryea, Taylor - Brand, Kaiden - Gibson, Josh
HB: Smith, Isaac - Frawley, James - Stratton, Ben
CE: Gunston, Jack - Hodge, Luke - O'Meara, Jaeger
RU: McEvoy, Ben - Mitchell, Tom - Shiels, Liam
HF: Burgoyne, Shaun - Schoenmakers, Ryan - Rioli, Cyril
FF: Breust, Luke - Vickery, Tyrone - Sicily, James
IN: Hartung, Billy - Burton, Ryan - O'Brien, Tim - O'Rourke, Jonathan

Points of discussion
Removal of Birchall from best 22 due to concerns over his lack of pace and defensive capability. Added Smith on the half back flank as both a good long kick from the backline (to our high number of tall mobile forwards) and added Gunston to the wing (likely to swap with Schoenmakers/Sicily) as an additional get out of jail target rather than kicking it constantly to McEvoy.

Removal of Puopolo from the best 22. Basically this was due to the belief that Siciliy needs to remain in our forward line for 2017 and onwards.

 

[OzJohnnie]

Went for something a bit different this time; I don't believe playing the same core 18 (with a few changes) will do anything but have us falling further behind. The main issues I saw from 2016 were 1) difficulty extracting the ball from defence; 2) lack of contested ball/clearance ability and 3) lack of forward structure.

FB: Duryea, Taylor - Brand, Kaiden - Gibson, Josh
HB: Smith, Isaac - Frawley, James - Stratton, Ben
CE: Gunston, Jack - Hodge, Luke - O'Meara, Jaeger
RU: McEvoy, Ben - Mitchell, Tom - Shiels, Liam
HF: Burgoyne, Shaun - Schoenmakers, Ryan - Rioli, Cyril
FF: Breust, Luke - Vickery, Tyrone - Sicily, James
IN: Hartung, Billy - Burton, Ryan - O'Brien, Tim - O'Rourke, Jonathan

Points of discussion
Removal of Birchall from best 22 due to concerns over his lack of pace and defensive capability. Added Smith on the half back flank as both a good long kick from the backline (to our high number of tall mobile forwards) and added Gunston to the wing (likely to swap with Schoenmakers/Sicily) as an additional get out of jail target rather than kicking it constantly to McEvoy.

Removal of Puopolo from the best 22. Basically this was due to the belief that Siciliy needs to remain in our forward line for 2017 and onwards.

I like your out-of-the box thinking. I doubt Birch and Poppy will be dropped, and I think the front line is the place that will see the least change, but your post is still very interesting.

Gunners plays high on the wing anyway because he has such extreme cardio, but if he were to play upfield a lot he would make a back pocket run a lot and stay out of position, maybe forcing a HBF to lay back. I bet we see more of that overlap play from him, forcing defensive players either to hand-off into a mismatch or follow him out of position. We saw a lot of Bruest in the midfield as well, causing similar concerns. And Bruest had a few over-the-top goals last season as he ran back into an empty forward line. Maybe more of this.

I find Smith in the backline idea interesting too. I doubt we would put him permentantly there with defensive responsibilities, but periodically dropping back as a seventh defender and looking to rebound would be an interesting role. Particularly if he's got a player assigned to run with him. That could cause backline congestion and open the midfield running space.

Man, I can't wait for next year. Exciting.

 

[Hawker98]

Went for something a bit different this time; I don't believe playing the same core 18 (with a few changes) will do anything but have us falling further behind. The main issues I saw from 2016 were 1) difficulty extracting the ball from defence; 2) lack of contested ball/clearance ability and 3) lack of forward structure.

FB: Duryea, Taylor - Brand, Kaiden - Gibson, Josh
HB: Smith, Isaac - Frawley, James - Stratton, Ben
CE: Gunston, Jack - Hodge, Luke - O'Meara, Jaeger
RU: McEvoy, Ben - Mitchell, Tom - Shiels, Liam
HF: Burgoyne, Shaun - Schoenmakers, Ryan - Rioli, Cyril
FF: Breust, Luke - Vickery, Tyrone - Sicily, James
IN: Hartung, Billy - Burton, Ryan - O'Brien, Tim - O'Rourke, Jonathan

Points of discussion
Removal of Birchall from best 22 due to concerns over his lack of pace and defensive capability. Added Smith on the half back flank as both a good long kick from the backline (to our high number of tall mobile forwards) and added Gunston to the wing (likely to swap with Schoenmakers/Sicily) as an additional get out of jail target rather than kicking it constantly to McEvoy.

Removal of Puopolo from the best 22. Basically this was due to the belief that Siciliy needs to remain in our forward line for 2017 and onwards.

I like the idea of smith in our backline, he's got the pace, ball carry and footy smarts we need down there, but he's one of our goal kicking mids so it'll be interesting whether that play him down there


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EDIT: with poppy, I kind of expected us to trade him tbh, I love him and all but with this youth coming through I saw his as the weak link in stopping young forwards like Hardwick, Stewart, Burton, Sicily, Miles, all developing up forward

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

I think Poppy has to stay for his defensive pressure. Sicily cant make a tackle stick and Hardwick isn't close to ready.

 

[tige19]

Defence is a concern

 

[cryptor]

I like the idea of smith in our backline, he's got the pace, ball carry and footy smarts we need down there, but he's one of our goal kicking mids so it'll be interesting whether that play him down there


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EDIT: with poppy, I kind of expected us to trade him tbh, I love him and all but with this youth coming through I saw his as the weak link in stopping young forwards like Hardwick, Stewart, Burton, Sicily, Miles, all developing up forward

He was asked if he'd be interested in being part of a trade with Brisbane but he declined.

 

[The Offerman]

Went for something a bit different this time; I don't believe playing the same core 18 (with a few changes) will do anything but have us falling further behind. The main issues I saw from 2016 were 1) difficulty extracting the ball from defence; 2) lack of contested ball/clearance ability and 3) lack of forward structure.

FB: Duryea, Taylor - Brand, Kaiden - Gibson, Josh
HB: Smith, Isaac - Frawley, James - Stratton, Ben
CE: Gunston, Jack - Hodge, Luke - O'Meara, Jaeger
RU: McEvoy, Ben - Mitchell, Tom - Shiels, Liam
HF: Burgoyne, Shaun - Schoenmakers, Ryan - Rioli, Cyril
FF: Breust, Luke - Vickery, Tyrone - Sicily, James
IN: Hartung, Billy - Burton, Ryan - O'Brien, Tim - O'Rourke, Jonathan

Points of discussion
Removal of Birchall from best 22 due to concerns over his lack of pace and defensive capability. Added Smith on the half back flank as both a good long kick from the backline (to our high number of tall mobile forwards) and added Gunston to the wing (likely to swap with Schoenmakers/Sicily) as an additional get out of jail target rather than kicking it constantly to McEvoy.

Removal of Puopolo from the best 22. Basically this was due to the belief that Siciliy needs to remain in our forward line for 2017 and onwards.

While Smith is a good long kick of the footy his shorter passes leave a lot to be desired. When he drifted back at times this year I vividly recall him burning the ball going short. Once against the Lions that resulted in Daniel Rich missing a shot he'd normally kick and another one I can't recall as clearly but I'm pretty sure it was converted. I'd be staggered if it eventuated to be truthful.

Also not a fan of Gunston on the wing. You've got a star forward who generally kicks accurately. Having him further up the ground would have every defender delighted.

 

[Prudster]

Went for something a bit different this time; I don't believe playing the same core 18 (with a few changes) will do anything but have us falling further behind. The main issues I saw from 2016 were 1) difficulty extracting the ball from defence; 2) lack of contested ball/clearance ability and 3) lack of forward structure.

FB: Duryea, Taylor - Brand, Kaiden - Gibson, Josh
HB: Smith, Isaac - Frawley, James - Stratton, Ben
CE: Gunston, Jack - Hodge, Luke - O'Meara, Jaeger
RU: McEvoy, Ben - Mitchell, Tom - Shiels, Liam
HF: Burgoyne, Shaun - Schoenmakers, Ryan - Rioli, Cyril
FF: Breust, Luke - Vickery, Tyrone - Sicily, James
IN: Hartung, Billy - Burton, Ryan - O'Brien, Tim - O'Rourke, Jonathan

Points of discussion
Removal of Birchall from best 22 due to concerns over his lack of pace and defensive capability. Added Smith on the half back flank as both a good long kick from the backline (to our high number of tall mobile forwards) and added Gunston to the wing (likely to swap with Schoenmakers/Sicily) as an additional get out of jail target rather than kicking it constantly to McEvoy.

Removal of Puopolo from the best 22. Basically this was due to the belief that Siciliy needs to remain in our forward line for 2017 and onwards.

While i think looking to try something a bit different is certainly a good idea, i'm not sure your changes are what we're really looking for. Taking Birchall out of our backline for Smith leaves our back six with less defensive capability imo. It also leaves us with far less run on the wing, with both Smith and Hill not there (with Hartung a slight downgrade on Hill imo, depending on his 2017 improvement). Gunston to the wing hurts our forward structure, and really doesn't add as much run to the wing as we lose with Smith. Birchall didn't have the best year in 2016, but i'm just not sure guys like TOB or JOR have shown they deserve a spot more than him.

Taking Poppy out of the best 22 feels like we're losing a lot of forward line pressure. Vickery, Schoenmakers, Sicily, McEvoy, TOB, and Hartung simply don't provide us with enough defensive pressure when they play there. I feel like taking Poppy out means Cyril and Breust are forced to stay forward because otherwise we'll start to have serious issues limiting the oppositions rebound. Poppy had his best ever year in 2016, and obviously we don't know how he'll go next year, but for mine it's still his spot to lose. If Sicily significantly improves his pressure and his work up the ground, then there might be an argument, but at that point i'd question whether that would just mean he takes a forward line spot and one of Schoey or TOB don't make the cut.

 

[cryptor]

While Smith is a good long kick of the footy his shorter passes leave a lot to be desired. When he drifted back at times this year I vividly recall him burning the ball going short. Once against the Lions that resulted in Daniel Rich missing a shot he'd normally kick and another one I can't recall as clearly but I'm pretty sure it was converted. I'd be staggered if it eventuated to be truthful.

Also not a fan of Gunston on the wing. You've got a star forward who generally kicks accurately. Having him further up the ground would have every defender delighted.

Gunston up the ground is fine. The problem he faced this year was that he was playing that role (which he's great at) AND he was our number 1 tall target. Obviously this doesn't compute. Hopefully Roughead makes a return and they can share that role again. But failing that we will at least have Vickery and Schoenmakers available, which (some don't agree) is better than nothing.

 

[cryptor]

While i think looking to try something a bit different is certainly a good idea, i'm not sure your changes are what we're really looking for. Taking Birchall out of our backline for Smith leaves our back six with less defensive capability imo. It also leaves us with far less run on the wing, with both Smith and Hill not there (with Hartung a slight downgrade on Hill imo, depending on his 2017 improvement). Gunston to the wing hurts our forward structure, and really doesn't add as much run to the wing as we lose with Smith. Birchall didn't have the best year in 2016, but i'm just not sure guys like TOB or JOR have shown they deserve a spot more than him.

Taking Poppy out of the best 22 feels like we're losing a lot of forward line pressure. Vickery, Schoenmakers, Sicily, McEvoy, TOB, and Hartung simply don't provide us with enough defensive pressure when they play there. I feel like taking Poppy out means Cyril and Breust are forced to stay forward because otherwise we'll start to have serious issues limiting the oppositions rebound. Poppy had his best ever year in 2016, and obviously we don't know how he'll go next year, but for mine it's still his spot to lose. If Sicily significantly improves his pressure and his work up the ground, then there might be an argument, but at that point i'd question whether that would just mean he takes a forward line spot and one of Schoey or TOB don't make the cut.

Puopolo will remain in the best 22 unless Stewart or Hardwick improve dramatically or Poppy drops off dramatically. That or Clarko changes the game plan from locking it in the forward 50 with forward pressure to a more traditional game plan that relies on leading and contested marks. That doesn't seem likely though.

 

[WWSD]

Kade Stewart will play a lot of games next season. He was impressive in the three games he played this year, in particular his debut game against Melbourne in the wet conditions.

More then half of his possessions in the AFL and VFL were contested, solid tackler and excellent finisher around goals.

If he can bulk up a bit more and build his endurance he could play on the wing in the future.

 

[Prudster]

Puopolo will remain in the best 22 unless Stewart or Hardwick improve dramatically or Poppy drops off dramatically. That or Clarko changes the game plan from locking it in the forward 50 with forward pressure to a more traditional game plan that relies on leading and contested marks. That doesn't seem likely though.

Yep completely agree with that. Pressure, especially up forward, is something Clarko and the coaches really seem to rate. Puopolo is difficult to replace, not because he's an elite talent necessarily, but because he's able to have a great influence without being a significant forward target, or needing a huge amount of ball. He complements other players really well, and makes those around him better.

 

[The German Hunter]

Kade Stewart will play a lot of games next season. He was impressive in the three games he played this year, in particular his debut game against Melbourne in the wet conditions.

More then half of his possessions in the AFL and VFL were contested, solid tackler and excellent finisher around goals.

If he can bulk up a bit more and build his endurance he could play on the wing in the future.

Showed a fair bit of dash too. The game was over and he still chased hunt down on our 50m line