2018 Best 22

[sherrif]

Really like Stephenson. Think he is a better option as a deep forward than Brander. Can jump and is obviously quick and has played as a deep forward at underage level. Even though he is skinny I think he could play from Round 1.
F: Stephenson Tabs Matera
HF: Bennell Cox McCarthy
C: B.Hill Walters S.Hill
HB: Wilson Johnson Hughes
FB: Ryan Hamling Logue
R: Sandy Fyfe Blakley

I/C Neale, Tucker, weller, Mundy

 

[DaveLister]

Really like Stephenson. Think he is a better option as a deep forward than Brander. Can jump and is obviously quick and has played as a deep forward at underage level. Even though he is skinny I think he could play from Round 1.
F: Stephenson Tabs Matera
HF: Bennell Cox McCarthy
C: B.Hill Walters S.Hill
HB: Wilson Johnson Hughes
FB: Ryan Hamling Logue
R: Sandy Fyfe Blakley

I/C Neale, Tucker, Langdon, Mundy

Needs a touch more weller but I agree about Stephenson, club might want to protect him however, probably needs 5-10kgs before he's strong enough to protect himself at the top level.

 

[sherrif]

Needs a touch more weller but I agree about Stephenson, club might want to protect him however, probably needs 5-10kgs before he's strong enough to protect himself at the top level.

Oops. Edited: weller in

 

[dimesdimesdimes]

FB: Hughes A Pearce Wilson
HB: Ryan Hamling Logue
C: B Hill Neale S Hill
HF: McCarthy Cox Bennell
FF: Walters Taberner Matera
R: Darcy Fyfe Blakely
I/C: Weller Langdon Tucker Pick 5
E: Grey Nyhuis ???

Assumptions:
In:Matera, Wilson
Out: Croz, Balic

I like it! same team i was about to do, maybe Hamling and A.Pearce swap depending on matchups

would love to hang onto crozier and have him at HF
hoping we land Oscar Allen with our first pick, and perhaps snag Ian Hill with a late pick or trade out sutcliffe, sheridan, clarke to get some 2nd/3rd rounders to play with

 

[theGav56]

I like it! same team i was about to do, maybe Hamling and A.Pearce swap depending on matchups

would love to hang onto crozier and have him at HF
hoping we land Oscar Allen with our first pick, and perhaps snag Ian Hill with a late pick or trade out sutcliffe, sheridan, clarke to get some 2nd/3rd rounders to play with

Hill is not eligible.

 

[go_the_dockers]

I have 2 concerns - No contested marking forward, and a seriously lack of forward pressure. We won't make finals until 1 of these issues are addressed and we won't win a premiership until both are.

B: Wilson, Hamling, Ryan
HB: Langdon, A Pearce, Blakely
C: Hill, Fyfe, Hill
HF: Bennell, McCarthy, Matera
F: Walters, Kersten, New Forward Pocket (Later pick)
R: Darcy, Weller, Neale
B: Pick 5, Hughes, Cox, Tucker, Johnson, Ballas, Logue, Spurr

 

[mike91]

No way Wilson replaces Spurr. We still need an actual defender. Wilson is an attacking defender, but as an actual defender hes fairly average. Wilson is obviously best 22, but Nyhuis or Spurr still have to play.

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[Deathly]

No way Wilson replaces Spurr. We still need an actual defender. Wilson is an attacking defender, but as an actual defender hes fairly average. Wilson is obviously best 22, but Nyhuis or Spurr still have to play.

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Pretty much - Wilson is actually pretty bad defensively (Tackling / Pressure / 1 on 1) - he's only in the back-line for his long kick-ins and rebound. Literally the Brad Hill of defense. Good thing he doesn't need to do those things, I think Spurr still plays Round 1 also.

 

[_007_]

Hughes is already better than Spurr.

 

[theGav56]

Pretty much - Wilson is actually pretty bad defensively (Tackling / Pressure / 1 on 1) - he's only in the back-line for his long kick-ins and rebound. Literally the Brad Hill of defense. Good thing he doesn't need to do those things, I think Spurr still plays Round 1 also.

He may not be. It certainly hasn't been the role he has been asked to play. I am hoping we don't ask him to play that role either. Nice, clean, metres gained from defence, and lots of them, is what I am hoping for.

 

[Deathly]

He may not be. It certainly hasn't been the role he has been asked to play. I am hoping we don't ask him to play that role either. Nice, clean, metres gained from defence, and lots of them, is what I am hoping for.

I think he will just continue to get the handball receives in our back-line (Instead of from Corr / Davis etc will be from Hughes / Johnson etc) and be told to run and move the ball out. His skill is the reward for the grunt work and that's all we need and lacked this year.

 

[Quazar]

Our best 22 is surely Harley Bennell and 21 other guys!

In all seriousness, if all our squad was fit on paper we have some decent choice. If we do move Suban on I think we have enough 'grunt' in the midfield with Fyfe, Blakely and Mundy all capable of winning the ball. Add Wilson in the defence with/and/or a fit A.Pearce, maybe even a Naughton if we draft him - defence side of things looks strong but with better options of transition from the backline as opposed to before or 2016 when we were just dire in all areas. Also allows us to rotate maybe Tucker/Weller/Blakely more into midfield time as necessary.

Walters must be licking his lips and itching to have a chance to line up with Bennell, rotating through the mid and around the forward line, both are excellent crumbers and have dynamic speed and movement. Bennell snagged a ball off Collins (sniff!) against Essendon deep in the 3rd and did a wonderful side step not once but twice to bamboozle defenders and have a shot on goal that only narrowly missed. His ability to think quickly in the moment, sell the dummy and evade tackles is something you can't teach. He did a similar thing to score that amazing torpedo goal in the 4th. You could just see him start to hit his straps even though it was the last game of the season. If he can be that deadly after almost 2 years out and only in his 2nd game back....the mouth waters if he gets through pre-season and can play all of next year.....he is electric!

Add Walters and possibly Matera to the mix and the small side of things could get potentially dangerous for the opposition. Then there's the talls, the much maligned 'no-one-can-fill-Pav's-shoes' brigade. If....IF...they can find some early form and get themselves going...who knows. I really hope they find their confidence and clunk some marks.....you've got Cox who is becoming a contested beast but has a woeful set shot kick (at present) and then everyone else can usually kick set shots but doesn't mark. If we can get better delivery in and the forwards get a head of steam there's no reason why this team can't at least push for a bottom 8 shot. As I said, on paper - it looks the goods. Just gotta get the right balance - less injuries would be fantastic and if we get out the blocks early enough, who knows. I believe our best 22 is a capable 22, we just have to get in the mindset and show it!

 

[wayToGo_]

B Hughes ~ Hamling ~ Ryan

HB *Wilson ~ APearce ~ Blakely

C SHill ~ Fyfe ~ BHill

HF Bennell ~ McCarthy ~ Weller

F *Matera ~ Taberner ~ Walters

R Darcy ~ Mundy ~ Neale

I/C Tucker ~ Langdon ~ Cox/Logue ~ (Pick #5)

- assumes Pick #5 is an inside mid/fwd (may not start from rd 1)
- Sandi to start the season as ruck.
- MJ to CHB until Alex Pearce is ready.
- will all change once we get Heppell.

 

[gungho]

The dream:
Ryan Hamling Hughes
Wilson A Pearce Weller
B Hill Fyfe S Hill
McCarthy Cox Bennell
Matera Hogan* Walters

Darcy Neale Blakely

Langdon Tucker Logue Mundy

* I said the dream =)

Sandi to play most home games instead of Darcy, Johnson to be play the first few rounds until Pearce is up to scratch

Emergencies: Throw a blanket over everyone else

Honestly, I look at that team and cant help but get excited, so young, and so much potential. McCarthy gets to the third tall that roams around and does what he does best, we have terrific ball use out of the backline between Wilson, Weller and Ryan (Hughes aint that bad either). Two legit targets up forward and options and run off the bench.

The biggest problem is a profound lack of depth where it drops off considerably after this 22, but, that will come with a couple more drafts hopefully. Give the above team another two years and we should be well and truly in flag contention, and in flag contention for at least 3 years.

Also, I fully acknowledge this will never happen and Spurr, Johnson, Kersten and co will find a way in there come round 1

Crazy thing about this team - if you take out Mundy on the interchange bench then the oldest player is Stephen Hill at 27. Most of them are 19 - 25. I also reckon Taberner is going to come on leaps and bounds and is only 24. Land that big fish Ross, then stick with this team for the next 5 years.
They will achieve big things.

 

[meesy]

Who gets the small forwards?

We had a serious problem this year with the Betts-types getting out the back door and out-witting us.

 

[DeanS]

B Hughes ~ Hamling ~ Ryan

HB *Wilson ~ APearce ~ Blakely

C SHill ~ Fyfe ~ BHill

HF Bennell ~ McCarthy ~ Weller

F *Matera ~ Taberner ~ Walters

R Darcy ~ Mundy ~ Neale

I/C Tucker ~ Langdon ~ Cox/Logue ~ (Pick #5)

- assumes Pick #5 is an inside mid/fwd (may not start from rd 1)
- Sandi to start the season as ruck.
- MJ to CHB until Alex Pearce is ready.
- will all change once we get Heppell.

So the only forward to finish in the top 10 of the Doig (I'm classing Sonson as a fwd/mid) not good enough to get a guernsey?

 

[Unique Name]

So the only forward to finish in the top 10 of the Doig (I'm classing Sonson as a fwd/mid) not good enough to get a guernsey?

Top 10 by virtue of playing more games than every player below him in the Doig count bar Weller. He was pretty awful in the Essendon Rnd23 game, was shifted to the backline after being fairly ineffective up forward.

I think both McCarthy and Kersten should fight it out for the 3rd tall spot.

 

[Deathly]

Who gets the small forwards?

We had a serious problem this year with the Betts-types getting out the back door and out-witting us.

When Shitcliffe plays down back he usually got a small forward. I think next year we will have Hughes / Nyhuis / Wilson on them - Hughes the right size for body on body and actually has pace for lock-down but I still hope he has the role to run off his man and intercept / spoil contests. Wilson will probably just float off his opponent so he is always free to run the ball out when we win it back. They can be damaging but not too much personal should be used in stopping them since the main damage comes from luck in the stoppages in front of goal.

 

[mad4freo]

In two seasons time providing we get Wilson and A Pearce gets back to his former self (plus no crazy injuries or off field things) we will have the best backline of the modern era. Hamling and A Pearce are defensive machines. Logue and Hughes are two of the most athletically gifted backman we've ever had. Ryan and Wilson is the best combo of backline skills we've ever had.

 

[Dump Truck]

I would love to see Weller play the Tom Lynch role. Weller delivering inside 50 with eyes lowered will pay dividends for our forward line. If we have Weller, Bennell, Hillx2, Walters etc delivering inside 50 that's an immense upgrade on the previous years of D.Pearce etc. More precision entries will help both Tabs and McCarthy.

 

[dimesdimesdimes]

Hill is not eligible.

oh hes a bottom ager ?? wow

 

[theGav56]

Our best 22 is surely Harley Bennell and 21 other guys!

Of course if he is fit, then he is exactly as you describe him. I am still of the opinion that Bennell is a bonus. A dream. A definitely-possibly-maybe to get decent games in. Just see how it unfolds. But at this stage I would not be inking him in, and certainly not as a midfielder. He is one of the reasons why I think we need to prioritise midfield in the draft.

 

[SHill Shall]

No way Wilson replaces Spurr. We still need an actual defender. Wilson is an attacking defender, but as an actual defender hes fairly average. Wilson is obviously best 22, but Nyhuis or Spurr still have to play.

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Ryan has already replaced Spurr. Hard at it, takes intercept marks and distributes accurately.

Hughes needs to be in there though, to add even more defensive capability.

 

[Galvo]

Hughes Hamling Mundy
Wilson A.Pearce Ryan
Langdon Blakely B.Hill
Fyfe Taberner Bennell
Walters McCarthy Matera

Darcy Neale S.Hill

Weller Logue Tucker Cox

 

[wayToGo_]

Found these quotes from Collins interesting:

"(Johnson playing on) was part of it. It was more finding the number of backmen that they've got and with Brennan Cox – probably a natural backman playing forward – there was another one in that spot there.

"So they just felt that I wasn't going to get the opportunity and they essentially had too many backs, so I was out the door.

Unless I am reading it wrong, it sounds like we are going to explore Cox playing more as a KPD next season and also not looking at KPDs in the draft.