Best midfield

[Fat Red]

Dan25 says Port has arguably the best midfield in the AFL, and with Francou and Stevens roving to Primus that could be right.

Some would argue that Essendon themselves are better: J. Johnson, Misiti, Hird etc.

Big raps also on Carlton: Ratten, Camporeale and Koutoufides are pretty useful, as are Bradley and Hulme.

Or what about Brisbane's Voss, Black, Akermanis etc.

 

[Asgardian]

It's hard to go past Brisbane with Michael Voss in the team, he is a wonderful player in great form

It's also hard to go past putting some of the hard earned on Voss to win another Brownlow

 

[Jabso]

Collingwood's isnt the best but its cetainly should be up there.

 

[Dan26]

If all players are fit and firing, Carlton have the best mid-field in the AFL. .....IF........

 

[Chris_23]

Originally posted by Dan25
If all players are fit and firing, Carlton have the best mid-field in the AFL. .....IF........

Yep, agreed. Brett Ratten...words can't describe how good he is, he almost won the game off his own boot today, he is sensational.

 

[Shinboners]

For me, it's very hard to split between Essendon and Brisbane, but for sheer consistency of performance over the past couple of years, Essendon gets the nod from me.

 

[Fat Red]

Who are you "other" people voting for? I really struggle to see that Adelaide, Collingwood or anyone else is better than all the 4 above: if they are, why don't they win more games??

IMBO it is Carlton: Ratten, Camporeale et al rack up the possessions and hit targets week after week. Ratten is also not given credit for how skilful he is: he very rarely misses a target by foot, and what about today's goal! Well supported by Kouta, Hulme, Bradley, etc.

Given Carlton's forward line, the credit for their success is with these blokes.

Bias aside, Brisbane would get my next vote. Voss is a superstar, and Black's pretty handy as well. Their support crew are also high quality.

Essendon next. While J. Johnson and Misiti are high quality players, the support crew IMHO is not quite so good (unless you count Hird of course). Who needs them to be though with the quality of forward line and back line Essendon have.

Then Port. Very hard working underrated group, especially Francou and Stevens. But do lack the star quality of the above three.

I'd probably have Adelaide next. Ricciuto and McLeod are class players, but it falls away pretty quickly.

Then Richmond, North, Collingwood, and the field. Really can't see that anyone's better than the 4 named, but let's hear the arguments.

 

[sabre_ac]

LOL
well here goes nothing.

In my opinion the best midfielf by a mile is without a doubt Carltons.

But I would suggest that Freos certainly isnt 16th, I would even say it is top 8.

Bell,Haselby,Fletcher,Black,Cook and Walker.Make a pretty good match up.

Going out on a limb I would say we have the best in and under players in the league, or combination.
Bell,Fletcher,Haselby and Cook are second to none.

Then why you ask are we winless??

We have a young gun ruckman learning the ropes, he is probally better suited to the forward line and pinch hit ruckman.Awesome talent but at least a year away.

Lack of a target in the forward line.

But strongest IN AND UNDER combination in the league.

 

[ant]

Originally posted by sabre_ac


But strongest IN AND UNDER combination in the league.

That's probably your problem, everyone going in and under to get the ball, but no one to give it to once you have it, except maybe the opposition......

 

[ant]

Originally posted by Fat Red
Who are you "other" people voting for? I really struggle to see that Adelaide, Collingwood or anyone else is better than all the 4 above: if they are, why don't they win more games??

In terms of the Crows Fat Red, I say we don't win more games because we have a crap forward line, or at least one which is less productive than most other teams. After Roo, McLeod and Goodwin you have Edwards, Johnson, Burton can play as a wingman, Bickley occasionally is in there, young Gallagher is handy and Stenglein is our midfield tagger (doesn't get a lot of it but is handy). Not one of the top few in the league, (which in my opinion are Bris, Carl, Port and Ess in order) but one which is reasonably deep and versatile.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Brisbane for me....Voss, Black, the Scotts and to a lesser extent Akermanis and McRae....that's pretty hard to stop.

 

[TheKoutaman]

Oh well I'm biased in this, but Dan25 is right. If our midfield is fit and firing then I've no doubt our midfield is the best in the league. Voss is brilliant, but when firing Kouta is amazing. Ratten, amazing. Camporeale, brilliant. Matty Allan, great ruckman. Bradley, Hulme, great backup.

But as Dan said, "IF".....

It might be worth pointing out that Carlton's midfield had destroyed Brisbane's each of the past 3/4 times we've played them.

 

[Pornstar]

In my opinion the best indicator of the quality of the midfield is the inside forward 50s:

Carlton 965
Adel 957
Bris 957
Essendon 941
Sydney 908
Port 896
Bulldogs 895
Collingwood 892
Geelong 870
Kangas 860
Melbourne 850
Hawthorn 840
St Kilda 835
Richmond 828
Fremantle 818
West Coast 725

Some of these figures may be bolstered by playing on small grounds (ie. OO, SCG). But this table looks roughly accurate anyway. I think Carlton has the edge over the others because their midfield probably has the most goal scoring ability (Camporeale, Kouta, Bradley, Ratten).

 

[Pessimistic]

Most underrated... Hawthorn

In fact Hawthorn and Port are the most underrated teams. They look set to rule the AFL over the next decade.

Mike Sheahan today ... Effective without being Impressive... Is it really that hard Mike ? Still it's on a page with another great lie... that all is well at Melbourne.

 

[Sly77]

As much as I hate to say it - I believe Brisbane have by far the best midfield going around. The majority of their wins have been attributed to their ball carriers in Voss, Black and Akermanis and their support players in Chris Scott and Notting. Without these guys firing as they have this season I believe they would have been sitting down the bottom of the 8 on the ladder.

 

[Captain Sensible]

We have easily the best mid-fielders in the league. Darcy, West, Johnson and Brown would kill any other mid-field/on-ballers. Its just that we dont play them there.

 

[TheKoutaman]

Are you serious dude???

Luke Darcy -- Matty Allan
Scott West -- Brett Ratten
Johnson -- Koutoufides
Brown -- Camporeale/Bradley/Hulme

If all was equal, all players playing reasonably close to their best, do you really seriously think the Doggies could prevail in these matchups? Let me tell you localyokel, Kouta would destroy them all on his own if he was firing, let alone needing Ratten or Camporeale or Bradley to help.

I think I'm a little bit biased, but i know you are extremely so. Well, based on that post at least.

 

[Blues2001]

Carlton for sure (no bias here I swear...its just obvious).

The three sides you mentioned (Bris, Ess and Port) have all lost out to Carlton's midfield this year.

Camporeale, Koutoufides, Ratten, Allan and throw in Hulme and Bradley, I can't see any other side claiming this title.

I'd put Brisbane second (even though they struggle against our midfield), Essendon next (thanks to the gun J Johnson) and then Port.

Carlton's midfield certainly did the job against the Hawks, putting it inside 50 a lot more than they did (actually that is a guess, I don't have the stats) but the forwards couldn't finish off the work with accurate kicking unfortunately.

 

[Blues2001]

Originally posted by Blues2001

Carlton's midfield certainly did the job against the Hawks, putting it inside 50 a lot more than they did (actually that is a guess, I don't have the stats)

My guess was right.....

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Originally posted by Blues2001


My guess was right.....

That stat doesn't mean much, Hawthorn gets beaten in the inside 50's nearly every week, but because our defense is pretty good it usually rebounds out a lot. Midfield was like the game really, Carlton on top for the majority, but Hawthorn, thanks to Thommo, Crawf and Campo going quiet getting on top in the last 20 minutes.

If Kouta was fully fit they might have a better midfield than Brisbane, but at the moment I think the Lions get the nod.

 

[BIG DADDY]

So who cares

Originally posted by Pornstar
In my opinion the best indicator of the quality of the midfield is the inside forward 50s:

Carlton 965
Adel 957
Bris 957
Essendon 941
Sydney 908
Port 896
Bulldogs 895
Collingwood 892
Geelong 870
Kangas 860
Melbourne 850
Hawthorn 840
St Kilda 835
Richmond 828
Fremantle 818
West Coast 725

Some of these figures may be bolstered by playing on small grounds (ie. OO, SCG). But this table looks roughly accurate anyway. I think Carlton has the edge over the others because their midfield probably has the most goal scoring ability (Camporeale, Kouta, Bradley, Ratten).

So what does this prove........

Adelaide 2nd with inside 50's can't score goals to save their life

Just goes to prove that there is no point in having the best midfield if the rest of the team is **** !

 

[Joel]

Originally posted by sabre_ac
LOL
well here goes nothing.

In my opinion the best midfielf by a mile is without a doubt Carltons.

But I would suggest that Freos certainly isnt 16th, I would even say it is top 8.

Bell,Haselby,Fletcher,Black,Cook and Walker.Make a pretty good match up.

Going out on a limb I would say we have the best in and under players in the league, or combination.
Bell,Fletcher,Haselby and Cook are second to none.

Then why you ask are we winless??

We have a young gun ruckman learning the ropes, he is probally better suited to the forward line and pinch hit ruckman.Awesome talent but at least a year away.

Lack of a target in the forward line.

But strongest IN AND UNDER combination in the league.

That is the biggest bunch of crap that has ever been written on Bigfooty. In the future you might have a great midfield but at present it is pathetic. At the moment the whole team kicks short, drops easy marks, misses targets 15m away, and generally has very bad disposal not too mention some of the players you mentioned are a tad overweight.

 

[Jabso]

Collingwoods midfield is one of the best, its not very consistant though and Josh needs to toughen up. It problably will be the best in the coming years.
Heres a good set of midfielders=====
Buckley
Fraser
O'Bree (he reminds me of Camporeale)
Licuria (always beats his man and can collect 30+ possesions in a back pocket/flank.
And w Rintoul/Steinfort/N.Davis/Benny Johnson for back up and the wings. Pretty good huh?

 

[blues^rock]

i have to agree with Dan25 as well in saying taht when our midfield is in form we are-without adoubt- the best in the league, at teh moment, however, camporeale hasn't been playing up to his standards and seemed to be running half pace, Kouta is injured, obvioulsy, and i don't think he will be back to his old form soon, if ever, ratten is still a star and the little guys hulme and plunkett have been doing alright recently as well as some other young guys brought in oto support our injury truobles...after all that i'd have to say that AT THE MOMENT brisbane have the best midfield in the league and if we ere to play them right now, their midfield would probably beat us, lucky for us we don't have to play them til finals time

 

[Roos2001]

Brisbane Lions by a long way..........