AFC Positional battles

[Wallace]

One mans look at the positional battles that may be fought out during the preseason at the AFC.

The following is a look at how ther positional board for the crows may look now with the players in brackets representing the players that are pushing for a spot in the starting line up in round one.

Players with no alternate players in brackets appear to be safe to hold their spot barring injury. Where there are players in brackets this is where I see the real positional battles taking place. The players not in brackets may at the start of the pre-season be in the side. Those in brackets will push during triaining.

Obviously no draftee's have been included but it not many draftees make round one at Adelaide due to Craigy's reluctance to throw them in too soon

Obviously all pretty subjective but helps to pass the boredom of the cricket season.

Anyways here it is


FF T.Walker (J.Sellar) - K.Tippett - P.Dangerfield (J.Jacky / R.Douglas)

HF S.Goodwin - N.Gill (T.Hentschell) - J.Porplyzia

C B.Vince - S.Thompson - N.Van Berlo

HB A.Mcleod - N.Bock - B.Symes (J.Petrenko/A.Kite)

FB G.Johncock - B.Rutten - S.Stevens

Ist R I.Maric - T.Edwards - M.Doughty (R.Shirley)


IC B.Moran (J.Griffen) - D.McKay - B.Reilly - C.Knights (A.Otten)



Feel free to rip away

 

[Mad Fan of AFL]

Very good. spot on i think.

 

[Deaneus!]

Does that mean this is basically your round one team? Will Walker play from day one? Based on his form at Norwood last year, i hope so!

 

[seababoon]

i like our depth.. a lot of teams have about 5-8 players that arent really ready for afl.. i think apart from cook and jacky (who even might be ready), that everyone can do a job.. mind you i do realize we're going to draft another 5-6 players, and at best, one can only hope two of them might possibly be ready first year

 

[Geoffa32]

i like our depth.. a lot of teams have about 5-8 players that arent really ready for afl.. i think apart from cook and jacky (who even might be ready), that everyone can do a job.. mind you i do realize we're going to draft another 5-6 players, and at best, one can only hope two of them might possibly be ready first year

I Kite ready? I know he did some good work at SANFL league level, but AFL??

 

[Riggy1]

This is my team.

FF Edwards Tippett Walker
CHF Gill Hentschel Porplyzia
C Goodwin Thompson Knights
CHB McLeod Bock Symes
FB Stevens Rutten Johncock
R Maric Van berlo Vince
INT Moran Dangerfield Reilly Shirley
EMG Griffen Petrenko MacKay

SANFL Cook Jacky Otten Kite Sellar Gallman Armstrong Doughty Douglas

Injured Burton

If Walker dosnt go good in the preseason than i would move hentschel to the pocket, gill to CHF move Dangerfield onto the flank and bring MacKay into the team.

Im not sold on Rutten. Unless were playing a team with 2 good big forwards (hawthorn, essendon or brisbane) i wouldnt play him. Didnt Gallman just go good in the 3km time trial? if he did throw him into the defence.

 

[cammo84]

Im not sold on Rutten. Unless were playing a team with 2 good big forwards (hawthorn, essendon or brisbane) i wouldnt play him. Didnt Gallman just go good in the 3km time trial? if he did throw him into the defence.

Rutten plays regardless of who we're lining up against. Even if we have to use him up forward due to no defensive matchup, he gets a game every week if fit.

 

[Eastern Crow]

Except for couple of positions I believe that all spots in the team should be declared open.

I want to see competition for spots, I want an environment where a veteran needs to win his spot or a young player has the opportunity to leap frog a veteran

I want Maric to work hard and earn the #1 ruck spot

I want to see Hentchel, Tippett and Walker work their butts off to win the KP Forward positions

I want Kite to earn the right to take Bassett's role

I want to see Radar force his way back into the midfield rotation

I want Gallman to put Robert Shirley under intense pressure for his spot

I want to see Otten, Cook and Dangerfield putting pressure on all HF, Midfield and HB players as true utility players

 

[Eastern Crow]

This is my team.

FF Edwards Tippett Walker
CHF Gill Hentschel Porplyzia
C Goodwin Thompson Knights
CHB McLeod Bock Symes
FB Stevens Rutten Johncock
R Maric Van berlo Vince
INT Moran Dangerfield Reilly Shirley
EMG Griffen Petrenko MacKay

SANFL Cook Jacky Otten Kite Sellar Gallman Armstrong Doughty Douglas

Injured Burton

If Walker dosnt go good in the preseason than i would move hentschel to the pocket, gill to CHF move Dangerfield onto the flank and bring MacKay into the team.

Im not sold on Rutten. Unless were playing a team with 2 good big forwards (hawthorn, essendon or brisbane) i wouldnt play him. Didnt Gallman just go good in the 3km time trial? if he did throw him into the defence.

I would be if D-Mac was not in our round 1 team

D-Mac is a GUN as so highly regarded by club officials

 

[Captain Poopybum]

Except for couple of positions I believe that all spots in the team should be declared open.

I want to see competition for spots, I want an environment where a veteran needs to win his spot or a young player has the opportunity to leap frog a veteran

I want Maric to work hard and earn the #1 ruck spot

I want to see Hentchel, Tippett and Walker work their butts off to win the KP Forward positions

I want Kite to earn the right to take Bassett's role

I want to see Radar force his way back into the midfield rotation

I want Gallman to put Robert Shirley under intense pressure for his spot

I want to see Otten, Cook and Dangerfield putting pressure on all HF, Midfield and HB players as true utility players

What you want and what we may see may be two completely different things.

 

[betterthanu]

I would be if D-Mac was not in our round 1 team

D-Mac is a GUN as so highly regarded by club officials

My face would also resemble that baring injury

 

[RoosterLad]

Riggy I like the way you select your team.

"Gallman ran 3km hella fast, that means he will be good in defence let's play him!"

I like Gallman obviously but his form this year was not as good as last year, quite a long way from getting an AFL gig. Hopefully he can start off the 09 Rooster season with a bang and put his hand up for a spot, but dropping a top quality defender like Rutten for an unproven youngster like Gallman is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[adelaide_40]

My face would also resemble that baring injury

Me as well.

 

[relapse]

I think Kite has looked good from the few times I have seen him. Apparently he was a late pick that Rendell stuck his neck out for.

 

[Hondo]

My thoughts are it's better to group the guys into zones rather than do a position-by-position analysis. No-one has a fixed position any more these days. So FWIW, my thoughts on the side in the first post are:

- Sellar, Gill, Hentschell , Tippett and Walker are competing for 2-3 marking forward spots. Burton will be in the mix too at some stage.
- Dangerfield is competing for a spot in the midfield rotation, not as a specialist forward like Jacky.
- Doughty and Shirley are not competing for the same position. I assume Doughty will run off HB again.

The rest of the side seems OK at this stage, well thought out.

 

[cmndstab]

- Dangerfield is competing for a spot in the midfield rotation, not as a specialist forward like Jacky.

I would not be at all surprised to see Dangerfield brought in as a small forward playing the sort of role Douglas did this past season, or alternatively as a running defender. They'll start to rotate him through the midfield after a while but I doubt he'll get much gametime there initially.

 

[Coopers]

Im not sold on Rutten. Unless were playing a team with 2 good big forwards (hawthorn, essendon or brisbane) i wouldnt play him. Didnt Gallman just go good in the 3km time trial? if he did throw him into the defence.

You don't leave AA fullbacks out of the team.

serious wtf there.

I'd even consider him to pinch hit up forward.

 

[Jars458]

Both Doughty and Shirley will be in our round one team. Put your house on it.

 

[ok.crows]

Both Doughty and Shirley will be in our round one tea. Put your house on it.

Quite right.

http://www.afc.com.au/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4417/Default.aspx?newsId=68591

They finished 5th and 7th in the 2008 best and fairest for the club after all. Why would the club drop two of its best 10 performers?

 

[Tails14]

As silly as it sounds Mcleod and Johncock have an enormous amount of pressure on them with Petrenko, Gallman, Kite , Dangerfield in the back half and throw in Moran or Stevens and it becomes a tight squeeze.
Up forward you have Burton, Sellar and Hentschell and Goodwin lookn over their shoulder with Walker, Otten, Jacky . So all up it is a very competitive situation that might force senior players to lift or be replaced !
No wonder NC is so relaxed and smiling at training by7 all reports .

 

[Bomberlicious]

My thoughts are it's better to group the guys into zones rather than do a position-by-position analysis. No-one has a fixed position any more these days. So FWIW, my thoughts on the side in the first post are:

- Sellar, Gill, Hentschell , Tippett and Walker are competing for 2-3 marking forward spots. Burton will be in the mix too at some stage.

Sellar played Ressies at the Bays nearly all last season, & Hentschell still has injury concerns, as does Gill.

To me, it's obvious; play Tippett & Walker. Hentschell & Gill still need to prove they are fit, and Sellar needs to prove himself in the SANFL.

If Sellar can replicate the form he showed in Dubai, he'd surely be one of the first picked for Glenelg. All the talk of him not fitting into Mickan's structure is crap. He needs to take a leaf out of Walker's book, and play well enough to warrant selection in front of the SANFL-based Bays players

 

[-CG-]

If Sellar can replicate the form he showed in Dubai, he'd surely be one of the first picked for Glenelg. All the talk of him not fitting into Mickan's structure is crap. He needs to take a leaf out of Walker's book, and play well enough to warrant selection in front of the SANFL-based Bays players

For him to have been selected for the league side, he obviously needed to be doing well in the reserves. The only problem was that he was being played all over the place and could never find any consistency. The games in which he had a go at playing in the one position, usually up forward, he was a lot better, but those were unfortunately rare occasions.

 

[RoosterLad]

"The form he showed in Dubai" = one match against a Collingwood team who were not very interested.

 

[Mismatched]

Sellar played Ressies at the Bays nearly all last season, & Hentschell still has injury concerns, as does Gill.

To me, it's obvious; play Tippett & Walker. Hentschell & Gill still need to prove they are fit, and Sellar needs to prove himself in the SANFL.

If Sellar can replicate the form he showed in Dubai, he'd surely be one of the first picked for Glenelg. All the talk of him not fitting into Mickan's structure is crap. He needs to take a leaf out of Walker's book, and play well enough to warrant selection in front of the SANFL-based Bays players

IIRC Sellar actually played more League games than Ressies games, when he was finally dropped back to the ressies after numerous games where he'd get 5 mins a quarter, I believe his possession count normally around the 20-25 mark, almost earning himself a recall for the League GF. I'll agree that he needs to show a lot more this season, but I don't think the theory that he didn't fit into the Mickan "structure" is all crap.

Glenelg weren't exactly begging for tall forwards and quite rightly from their perspective didn't want to gift Sellar a spot in the forward line so he could "develop". They did need a second ruckman though for about 5 mins a quarter, which is the role Sellar was largely given. Yes it would have been nice to see him step up and demand that forward spot, but then he's not a natural forward like Walker and lets face it, how many 18 year olds have kicked as many goals in the SANFL as Walker did? IIRC none.

 

[cmndstab]

IIRC Sellar actually played more League games than Ressies games, when he was finally dropped back to the ressies after numerous games where he'd get 5 mins a quarter, I believe his possession count normally around the 20-25 mark, almost earning himself a recall for the League GF. I'll agree that he needs to show a lot more this season, but I don't think the theory that he didn't fit into the Mickan "structure" is all crap.

Glenelg weren't exactly begging for tall forwards and quite rightly from their perspective didn't want to gift Sellar a spot in the forward line so he could "develop". They did need a second ruckman though for about 5 mins a quarter, which is the role Sellar was largely given. Yes it would have been nice to see him step up and demand that forward spot, but then he's not a natural forward like Walker and lets face it, how many 18 year olds have kicked as many goals in the SANFL as Walker did? IIRC none.

The problem was his 20-25 possession games (which were not every week in the ressies either) were generally ones where he played ruck, a position he is clearly not going to play at either league or AFL level. If he's not doing anything at league level, by all means have him play ressies, but wherever he plays, chuck him in a forward position and keep him there.

Personally I'd be quite happy to see him moved from Glenelg.