Pretty pumped after the Ashcroft News today. Now we are at the tail-end of the season how does everyone think we might or should shape up next year? I doubt this will be what happens and I don't believe I know more than our coaching staff etc. Would love to see what guys in our admittedly limited knowledge come up with.
Personally I am not convinced of the 3 tall forward line unless our 3rd best tall is better than most teams 2nd best tall. I'm not sure that we can/will trade in someone before next season who is at that level, especially given the pick matches we will need to do. These are the thought of someone who is stuck on a site 'supervising' with nothing to do. So I apologise for what will likely turn into a wall of text.
FB: Zorko Andrews Payne
HB: Ah Chee Adams Coleman
C: Berry Neale McCluggage
HF: McCarthy Hipwood Bailey
FF: Cameron Daniher Robertson
Foll: McInerny Rayner Starcevich
Int: Ashcroft, Prior, Lohman, Matheison or Fort.
Although Zorko has certainly slowed down I believe at this stage of both their careers he could offer more as a back pocket than Rich does currently, simply because of how slow Rich is. Zorko and Coleman more than make up for Rich's left foot weapon but both IMO are more defensively sound. Rich would become an excellent depth player and a great general in the VFL. If Zorko isn't able to perform I would probably have Answerth or another young guy come in for him as first 22. I think Cockatoo looks pretty good down back as well but I'm not sure if he is an upgrade on some of our younger fella's or not. Same goes with him in the forward line as well.
Rayner in the middle is something I would at centre clearances particularly at the start of each quarter and only for parts of the game. I would have him spend most of his time in the forward line playing as a hybrid 3rd tall marking option. I don't think we need him to have the tank for full time mid mins if we can utilise him effectively elsewhere. His lack of defensive run means he probably won't have the tank next year either. I would have him roll forward after centre bounces while Dev goes up to the midfield where his defensive run and efforts are needed. When Rayner is in the midfield that's where Lohman would fill that FP space as well as rotating with Cameron, Bailey and Linc. All those guys can also rotate through the midfield as required. Just as a thought, I wonder if we played our HFs as basically full time wingers, would that create pagans paddock type space for our forwards to lead into without getting into each others way so much while helping with our defensive run? Or is that basically what they're already expected to do?
I'm sure I have read something about Fagan talking about Starce into the mid as a possibility. Based on the info I have seen Starce is one of our best runners in both distance per game and top speed. His defensive run would be huge for us as would his ability to shut down an opposition midfielder. I have confidence that Ah Chee can play the current Starce role pretty effectively. If one of the gun mid/small forwards was really getting on top of Ah Chee, we could have Starce take that role while Ah Chee goes up to the wing, Clugg and Berry would have more inside mid mins.
I think Clugg is good as an inside mid and is a great option there while Neale is off the ground. I think he is a great winger though and with him, Berry and Prior rotating through the wing and inside mid mins as required for Clugg and Berry we could easily have the best wing combination in the game. Prior could rotate with our HBFs as needed.
Matho has been killing it in the VFL this year but I still believe that Dev has a far bigger upside and we need to get games into him in the first team as a mid. I'm not sure if we can go with one ruckman or not. The dockers did it with Sandilands for a long time. If we need a backup ruck then Fort is a no brainer over Matheison.
Ashcroft is an obvious choice to have in the best 22. I'm sure that is what has been promised to him.
I would love to see us blooding more youth next year and rotating some of our guys through next year regardless of form. I understand the want or even need to have your best 22 available players on the park at all times but we could get stagnant and/or lose some promising young players over the next couple of years if they don't feel like their a chance to get a game regardless of theirs and others form.
Edit to add: Also Neale to get the captaincy.
Personally I am not convinced of the 3 tall forward line unless our 3rd best tall is better than most teams 2nd best tall. I'm not sure that we can/will trade in someone before next season who is at that level, especially given the pick matches we will need to do. These are the thought of someone who is stuck on a site 'supervising' with nothing to do. So I apologise for what will likely turn into a wall of text.
FB: Zorko Andrews Payne
HB: Ah Chee Adams Coleman
C: Berry Neale McCluggage
HF: McCarthy Hipwood Bailey
FF: Cameron Daniher Robertson
Foll: McInerny Rayner Starcevich
Int: Ashcroft, Prior, Lohman, Matheison or Fort.
Although Zorko has certainly slowed down I believe at this stage of both their careers he could offer more as a back pocket than Rich does currently, simply because of how slow Rich is. Zorko and Coleman more than make up for Rich's left foot weapon but both IMO are more defensively sound. Rich would become an excellent depth player and a great general in the VFL. If Zorko isn't able to perform I would probably have Answerth or another young guy come in for him as first 22. I think Cockatoo looks pretty good down back as well but I'm not sure if he is an upgrade on some of our younger fella's or not. Same goes with him in the forward line as well.
Rayner in the middle is something I would at centre clearances particularly at the start of each quarter and only for parts of the game. I would have him spend most of his time in the forward line playing as a hybrid 3rd tall marking option. I don't think we need him to have the tank for full time mid mins if we can utilise him effectively elsewhere. His lack of defensive run means he probably won't have the tank next year either. I would have him roll forward after centre bounces while Dev goes up to the midfield where his defensive run and efforts are needed. When Rayner is in the midfield that's where Lohman would fill that FP space as well as rotating with Cameron, Bailey and Linc. All those guys can also rotate through the midfield as required. Just as a thought, I wonder if we played our HFs as basically full time wingers, would that create pagans paddock type space for our forwards to lead into without getting into each others way so much while helping with our defensive run? Or is that basically what they're already expected to do?
I'm sure I have read something about Fagan talking about Starce into the mid as a possibility. Based on the info I have seen Starce is one of our best runners in both distance per game and top speed. His defensive run would be huge for us as would his ability to shut down an opposition midfielder. I have confidence that Ah Chee can play the current Starce role pretty effectively. If one of the gun mid/small forwards was really getting on top of Ah Chee, we could have Starce take that role while Ah Chee goes up to the wing, Clugg and Berry would have more inside mid mins.
I think Clugg is good as an inside mid and is a great option there while Neale is off the ground. I think he is a great winger though and with him, Berry and Prior rotating through the wing and inside mid mins as required for Clugg and Berry we could easily have the best wing combination in the game. Prior could rotate with our HBFs as needed.
Matho has been killing it in the VFL this year but I still believe that Dev has a far bigger upside and we need to get games into him in the first team as a mid. I'm not sure if we can go with one ruckman or not. The dockers did it with Sandilands for a long time. If we need a backup ruck then Fort is a no brainer over Matheison.
Ashcroft is an obvious choice to have in the best 22. I'm sure that is what has been promised to him.
I would love to see us blooding more youth next year and rotating some of our guys through next year regardless of form. I understand the want or even need to have your best 22 available players on the park at all times but we could get stagnant and/or lose some promising young players over the next couple of years if they don't feel like their a chance to get a game regardless of theirs and others form.
Edit to add: Also Neale to get the captaincy.
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