Prediction 2023 - Best 22 + Emergencies - Rolling

[JuddgementDay]

The ball is almost to be bounced for pre-season games, so let's see what our Round1 team may look like.

Round 1.

FB McGovern - Weitering - Newman
HB Docherty - Young - Saad

C O’Brien - Cripps - Acres
OB Pittonett - Cerra - Hewett

HF Durdin - Curnow - Martin
FF Silvagni - McKay - Motlop

Inter
Kemp, Kennedy, Fisher & TDK

23rd player
Carroll

Other players in contention:

• Plowman - if we need a lockdown player, then either Newman or Kemp needs to swap to 23rd player and Carroll misses out
• Marchbank - if fit and coaches have him ahead of Kemp. My preference is Kemp and let Marchbank build up fitness slowly via VFL
• Rookies - give them time to adjust via VFL first

 

[Bletch]

The ball is almost to be bounced for pre-season games, so let's see what our Round1 team may look like.

Round 1.

FB McGovern - Weitering - Newman
HB Docherty - Young - Saad

C O’Brien - Cripps - Acres
OB Pittonett - Cerra - Hewett

HF Durdin - Curnow - Martin
FF Silvagni - McKay - Motlop

Inter
Kemp, Kennedy, Fisher & TDK

23rd player
Carroll

Other players in contention:

• Plowman - if we need a lockdown player, then either Newman or Kemp needs to swap to 23rd player and Carroll misses out
• Marchbank - if fit and coaches have him ahead of Kemp. My preference is Kemp and let Marchbank build up fitness slowly via VFL
• Rookies - give them time to adjust via VFL first

Reckon that starting 18 is pretty much spot on, assuming Martin/Durds are fit. Kennedy & Fisher also locks. Kemp & TDK are the ? for me. Having both makes us a bit top-heavy. Do we go for Kemp as a tall spare defender (or switch option)? Do we play the two rucks? I've a feeling that only one of the two would start, but it's not obvious which, and who then comes in. Carroll perhaps. Maybe Owies or Honey, with Martin to play off half-back as the 7th defender? Could Hollands or Cowan get a run as the 7th defender?

 

[CJMB]

Reckon that starting 18 is pretty much spot on, assuming Martin/Durds are fit. Kennedy & Fisher also locks. Kemp & TDK are the ? for me. Having both makes us a bit top-heavy. Do we go for Kemp as a tall spare defender (or switch option)? Do we play the two rucks? I've a feeling that only one of the two would start, but it's not obvious which, and who then comes in. Carroll perhaps. Maybe Owies or Honey, with Martin to play off half-back as the 7th defender? Could Hollands or Cowan get a run as the 7th defender?

Can’t imagine anyone is just going to randomly be thrown back if they aren’t training there or at least have played down back before.

Could be something like this, where Doc splits about 40:60 def and mid, with Cerra and Hewett playing hbf as their rotation out of the midfield which covers Doc’s minutes on-ball.

FB: McGovern Weitering Newman
HB: Docherty (mid 30-40% TOG) TOYoung Saad

R: Hewett Cerra (both rotating back about 15-20% TOG each).

INT: Kemp/Marchbank/Plow

Still is the equivalent of having the typical 7 full time defenders.

 

[JuddgementDay]

Reckon that starting 18 is pretty much spot on, assuming Martin/Durds are fit. Kennedy & Fisher also locks. Kemp & TDK are the ? for me. Having both makes us a bit top-heavy. Do we go for Kemp as a tall spare defender (or switch option)? Do we play the two rucks? I've a feeling that only one of the two would start, but it's not obvious which, and who then comes in. Carroll perhaps. Maybe Owies or Honey, with Martin to play off half-back as the 7th defender? Could Hollands or Cowan get a run as the 7th defender?

We've both forgotten Cunners - he should be in there somewhere - if fit

 

[Earls Smother]

The ball is almost to be bounced for pre-season games, so let's see what our Round1 team may look like.

Round 1.

FB McGovern - Weitering - Newman
HB Docherty - Young - Saad

C O’Brien - Cripps - Acres
OB Pittonett - Cerra - Hewett

HF Durdin - Curnow - Martin
FF Silvagni - McKay - Motlop

Inter
Kemp, Kennedy, Fisher & TDK

23rd player
Carroll

Other players in contention:

• Plowman - if we need a lockdown player, then either Newman or Kemp needs to swap to 23rd player and Carroll misses out
• Marchbank - if fit and coaches have him ahead of Kemp. My preference is Kemp and let Marchbank build up fitness slowly via VFL
• Rookies - give them time to adjust via VFL first

This is not picking on your team, but the trouble I see with most best 22's, is they are essentially the same as last year - minus the injured Walsh and Cottrell.

We already had an identified lack of run. Acres replacing Cottrell is fine, but losing Walsh has further weakened that area. Williams and Boyd hardly played last year, but not having access to them doesn't help.

I was hoping guys like Carroll, Honey and Cuningham would have been kicking the door down for forward/mid roles. The balance with Pitto, TDK, JSOS and Kemp actually gives us less run than last year. Jack slimming down tells us they want him running more and presumably not playing in the ruck. All the pre-season noise around him has been positive and good on him for working his arse off. He was dropped in round 20 and had a shocker in round 23 though, so he can't be considered a certainty.

The suggestion from someone close to one of the players, was we would use the 2 genuine rucks. So where are we creating additional run from? If Marchbank was fully fit, he is a very good endurance runner and therefore might nudge out Kemp (you said this, so we wait and see on that one). I just can't see how playing all of TDK, Pitt and JSOS allows us to achieve our objective of adding more run. If Martin can't get his calf right, then maybe he goes out.

If we assume (in my scenario) one of the above 4 misses out to allow another elite runner, then it depends on where Doc plays. If he plays mid, then we need a running defender. To me that is not Plowman, so the next cab given injuries, is Cowan. If Doc plays back, then it opens the door for Carroll or Hollands to come into the mid/wing rotations.

The MC probably don't know which way they will go at this stage, which is likely why even Doc seems uncertain. Big opportunity for those young guys in the practice matches.

 

[JuddgementDay]

This is not picking on your team, but the trouble I see with most best 22's, is they are essentially the same as last year - minus the injured Walsh and Cottrell.

We already had an identified lack of run. Acres replacing Cottrell is fine, but losing Walsh has further weakened that area. Williams and Boyd hardly played last year, but not having access to them doesn't help.

I was hoping guys like Carroll, Honey and Cuningham would have been kicking the door down for forward/mid roles. The balance with Pitto, TDK, JSOS and Kemp actually gives us less run than last year. Jack slimming down tells us they want him running more and presumably not playing in the ruck. All the pre-season noise around him has been positive and good on him for working his arse off. He was dropped in round 20 and had a shocker in round 23 though, so he can't be considered a certainty.

The suggestion from someone close to one of the players, was we would use the 2 genuine rucks. So where are we creating additional run from? If Marchbank was fully fit, he is a very good endurance runner and therefore might nudge out Kemp (you said this, so we wait and see on that one). I just can't see how playing all of TDK, Pitt and JSOS allows us to achieve our objective of adding more run. If Martin can't get his calf right, then maybe he goes out.

If we assume (in my scenario) one of the above 4 misses out to allow another elite runner, then it depends on where Doc plays. If he plays mid, then we need a running defender. To me that is not Plowman, so the next cab given injuries, is Cowan. If Doc plays back, then it opens the door for Carroll or Hollands to come into the mid/wing rotations.

The MC probably don't know which way they will go at this stage, which is likely why even Doc seems uncertain. Big opportunity for those young guys in the practice matches.

I hear what you are saying, but I don't necessarily agree

We have lots of talls on our side, but most of our talls are agile and relatively quick.
Aside from that, we've got to 10-2 last season from memory, where was the lack of run issue then?

If we get to the ball first and have first possession - our team become amazingly quick when others are chasing us
Our issue were general fitness as the season progressed and the loss of too many players due to injuries

 

[Earls Smother]

I hear what you are saying, but I don't necessarily agree

We have lots of talls on our side, but most of our talls are agile and relatively quick.
Aside from that, we've got to 10-2 last season from memory, where was the lack of run issue then?

If we get to the ball first and have first possession - our team become amazingly quick when others are chasing us
Our issue were general fitness as the season progressed and the loss of too many players due to injuries

Bulldogs round 2 we nearly got rundown, Hawthorn caught us before we got our nose back in front. Port nearly got us.

We destroyed teams in a football sense early on, but our running late in games was a liability.

It's not really me you are disagreeing with, it is Voss.

 

[TENACIOUS]

Think we will go...

Round 1.

FB McGovern - Weitering - Newman
HB Docherty - Young - Saad

C Hollands* - Cripps - Acres
OB Pittonet - Cerra - Hewett

HF Durdin - Curnow - Martin
FF Silvagni - McKay - Motlop

Inter
Kemp, Kennedy, Fisher, De Koning

23rd player
O’Brien

Think Voss has shown he likes to play and rotate 2x Rucks and 3x Wingers...

On training form you would think they'd be...
2x Rucks - Pittonet & De Koning
3x Wingers - Hollands, Acres & O'Brien

* I'd have O'Brien starting over Hollands... Although I'd hope we aren't that team, that has a first gamer as a Sub...

 

[The Blue Weirdo]

We've both forgotten Cunners - he should be in there somewhere - if fit

Sounds like Dow is ahead of both Carroll and Cunners in pre season form so far.

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

Sounds like Dow is ahead of both Carroll and Cunners in pre season form so far.

Hollands is ahead of all three

 

[The Blue Weirdo]

Hollands is ahead of all three

Agree, we need good runners, but Hollands looks almost to skinny to play VFL to me,. Not round 1 AFL, which I expect to be fairly physical.

 

[Arr0w]

Sounds like Dow is ahead of both Carroll and Cunners in pre season form so far.

Carroll still ahead of Dow from what I have seen so far

 

[macky99]

Bulldogs round 2 we nearly got rundown, Hawthorn caught us before we got our nose back in front. Port nearly got us.

We destroyed teams in a football sense early on, but our running late in games was a liability.

It's not really me you are disagreeing with, it is Voss.

Pretty sure we went to the draft to improve this area Hollands/Binns/Acres, l would expect Hollands to play early on, most people here are selecting the same team as last year, l would hope we have 3-4 relatively new players in the team by mid season, l would expect Hollands to be one of those.

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

Agree, we need good runners, but Hollands looks almost to skinny to play VFL to me,. Not round 1 AFL, which I expect to be fairly physical.

I actually think he’d be a great sub for round one if the plan is to take off Pittonet or TDK.

 

[The Blue Weirdo]

Carroll still ahead of Dow from what I have seen so far

Hanging out for the praccy-matches, might be a 4 way shootout for a bench spot between Carroll, Dow, Cunners and Hollands?

 

[Arr0w]

Hanging out for the praccy-matches, might be a 4 way shootout for a bench spot between Carroll, Dow, Cunners and Hollands?

Round 1, Carroll or Hollands, coin toss

Praccy games will be interesting

 

[4flagsin5yrs]

This is not picking on your team, but the trouble I see with most best 22's, is they are essentially the same as last year - minus the injured Walsh and Cottrell.

We already had an identified lack of run. Acres replacing Cottrell is fine, but losing Walsh has further weakened that area. Williams and Boyd hardly played last year, but not having access to them doesn't help.

I was hoping guys like Carroll, Honey and Cuningham would have been kicking the door down for forward/mid roles. The balance with Pitto, TDK, JSOS and Kemp actually gives us less run than last year. Jack slimming down tells us they want him running more and presumably not playing in the ruck. All the pre-season noise around him has been positive and good on him for working his arse off. He was dropped in round 20 and had a shocker in round 23 though, so he can't be considered a certainty.

The suggestion from someone close to one of the players, was we would use the 2 genuine rucks. So where are we creating additional run from? If Marchbank was fully fit, he is a very good endurance runner and therefore might nudge out Kemp (you said this, so we wait and see on that one). I just can't see how playing all of TDK, Pitt and JSOS allows us to achieve our objective of adding more run. If Martin can't get his calf right, then maybe he goes out.

If we assume (in my scenario) one of the above 4 misses out to allow another elite runner, then it depends on where Doc plays. If he plays mid, then we need a running defender. To me that is not Plowman, so the next cab given injuries, is Cowan. If Doc plays back, then it opens the door for Carroll or Hollands to come into the mid/wing rotations.

The MC probably don't know which way they will go at this stage, which is likely why even Doc seems uncertain. Big opportunity for those young guys in the practice matches.

Reckon you're over thinking it.

We lost the Suns and Crows games because the team collectively got ahead of itself and thought they just had to turn up.

The Saints was a loss due to poor kicking.

Dees - no Kennedy or Hewett - 2 of our 5 best mids. And still should have won it!

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Why did it go even 35 minutes? (Dees timekeeper?)

Pies - no Hewett, Bam Bam or Walsh. And still should have won it!

 

[JuddgementDay]

Bulldogs round 2 we nearly got rundown, Hawthorn caught us before we got our nose back in front. Port nearly got us.

We destroyed teams in a football sense early on, but our running late in games was a liability.

It's not really me you are disagreeing with, it is Voss.

Yes, Voss and the recruitment team have gone out and got a lot of runners

There's layers to our game plan, but from a personnel perspective - I would have thought that we are tinkering with our best available team from 2022 is what we are aiming for vs substantial changes.

The availability of best available and fully fit players will change the dynamic of our team.
And the addition of new players have a cascading effect

e.g.

• A fit McGov - changes how we play out of defense
• The inclusion of Acres covers one wing and has a knock on effect on our previous wingers e.g. they become winger #2 etc
• Natural players improvements

Anyway, exciting times - bounce the ball already!

 

[Earls Smother]

Reckon you're over thinking it.

We lost the Suns and Crows games because the team collectively got ahead of itself and thought they just had to turn up.

The Saints was a loss due to poor kicking.

Dees - no Kennedy or Hewett - 2 of our 5 best mids. And still should have won it!

View attachment 1607780

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Why did it go even 35 minutes? (Dees timekeeper?)

Pies - no Hewett, Bam Bam or Walsh. And still should have won it!

My thinking is based on what Voss said.

He didn't say it after round 4 or at the bye, he said it post-season leading into the draft. Is he over-thinking it, or does he actually know more than us about the team's strengths and deficiencies?

 

[WalshYouLegend]

It was a hard decision but I’ve come up with 22 with a mix of old and new and everything else. I think this team beats the Tiges!


Round 1.

FB Bootsma - Malthouse - Pagan
HB Cincotta - Bolton - Teague

C Acres - Voss - Simpson
OB O”Keefe - Dow - Judd

HF Carey - Fevola - Brown
FF Son of SOS - SOS - Dad of SOS

Inter
Whitnall, Hird, Swan, Demetriou

 

[Earls Smother]

It was a hard decision but I’ve come up with 22 with a mix of old and new and everything else. I think this team beats the Tiges!


Round 1.

FB Bootsma - Malthouse - Pagan
HB Cincotta - Bolton - Teague

C Acres - Voss - Simpson
OB O”Keefe - Dow - Judd

HF Carey - Fevola - Brown
FF Son of SOS - SOS - Dad of SOS

Inter
Whitnall, Hird, Swan, Demetriou

Watch supporters from other teams scrambling to get Cincotta, Dow and O'Keeffe in their fantasy teams

 

[thylacine60]

It was a hard decision but I’ve come up with 22 with a mix of old and new and everything else. I think this team beats the Tiges!


Round 1.

FB Bootsma - Malthouse - Pagan
HB Cincotta - Bolton - Teague

C Acres - Voss - Simpson
OB O”Keefe - Dow - Judd

HF Carey - Fevola - Brown
FF Son of SOS - SOS - Dad of SOS

Inter
Whitnall, Hird, Swan, Demetriou

No Wayne Brittain just proof you have no idea.

 

[DirtyLeeds]

Think we will go...

Round 1.

FB McGovern - Weitering - Newman
HB Docherty - Young - Saad

C Hollands* - Cripps - Acres
OB Pittonet - Cerra - Hewett

HF Durdin - Curnow - Martin
FF Silvagni - McKay - Motlop

Inter
Kemp, Kennedy, Fisher, De Koning

23rd player
O’Brien

Think Voss has shown he likes to play and rotate 2x Rucks and 3x Wingers...

On training form you would think they'd be...
2x Rucks - Pittonet & De Koning
3x Wingers - Hollands, Acres & O'Brien

* I'd have O'Brien starting over Hollands... Although I'd hope we aren't that team, that has a first gamer as a Sub...

Reckon you nailed it Tenacious, only a late injury would change that team. Been calling for Hollands to be in the round one team since December, he only gets better on the track, big watch in the Pie hit out next week

 

[FitzroyBlueBagger]

It was a hard decision but I’ve come up with 22 with a mix of old and new and everything else. I think this team beats the Tiges!


Round 1.

FB Bootsma - Malthouse - Pagan
HB Cincotta - Bolton - Teague

C Acres - Voss - Simpson
OB O”Keefe - Dow - Judd

HF Carey - Fevola - Brown
FF Son of SOS - SOS - Dad of SOS

Inter
Whitnall, Hird, Swan, Demetriou

Can’t see them losing a game…

 

[Coona Blues]

Geez Pitto gave a massive wrap to Dutchy Hollands during the Summer Sessions podcast. Didn’t think we would rush it, but sounds more and more like he is a huge chance for round 1.

I really can’t fit them all in.