First 22 in 2023

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Over the first 20mtrs Payne would be one of the fastest in the squad He has powerful first steps, remnants of his shot put days. Also I read recently Payne has had an injury interrupted pre-season. However he has another eight weeks to catch up with his fitness come round one.
 
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Over the first 20mtrs Payne would be one of the fastest in the squad He has powerful first steps, remnants of his shot put days. Also I read recently Payne has had an injury interrupted per-season. However he has another eight weeks to catch up with his fitness come round one.
Dunkley mentioned that in his interview during this week.
I have been to a few training session before Christmas and he appeared to be doing all of the work at that stage of pre-season.
So I don’t think his issues must have been many thing too much.
 
BRISBANE LIONS

Lions football boss Danny Daly recently suggested there wouldn’t be too many positional shifts and role changes this year. Although it will be interesting to see where Conor McKenna plays should he get an early gig. Brisbane already has two well-established rebounding defenders in Keidean Coleman and Daniel Rich, so McKenna might have to play further up the field if he earns a spot in Brisbane’s senior team.

Reading that small bit of Lions information, maybe it's the authors opinion that McKenna may play more up field, not necessarily Danny Dalys.

I wonder where McKenna has played in the match sims and which group he is training with.
 

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The thing with Andrews, which I picked up through video analysis last season, was that he was getting negated by smart opposition tactics. In previous seasons he would play wide of his direct opponent and either make up ground late to spoil or drift across for intercept marks. Playing like that, he was an All Australian in 2019 and 2020. What opposition coaches then did to negate him was to designate forwards whose job was to get between him and the drop of the ball when the opposition sent the ball to a key forward contest. Forwards effectively filled the space between Andrews and his opponent and killed his run to the ultimate context. This is why last season in particular, on a number of glaring occasions, Andrews was three or four back and his opponents were marking without Andrew being able to spoil or make the contest. Andrews was effectively tagged out of contests, it was working and it caught on. No wonder he looked frustrated in so many games last season. For Andrews, the solution is to give his opponent much less width and to play a more negative, body contact style of defence. I would be surprised if we didn’t see that this year.

Lot of direct shoving and holding on Harris to keep him out of drifting across the pack too. Gets infringed against a lot.

I agree with Briz that he can get burned on the lead but he’s never going to have the speed to be great at closing that down. We need our team defence to put more pressure on the opp so they are bombing it to packs he can crash.
 
AFL
B Gardiner Andrews Starcevich
HB McKeena Payne Rich
C Mcluaggage Neale J.Berry
HF Bailey Daniher McCarthy
F Gunston Hipwood Cameron
FOLL Mclernery Lyons Neale
I/C- Zorko, Rayner, Ashcroft, K.Coleman

VFL
B Ah’Chee Joyce Answerth
HB Wilmot Lester Madden
C Prior Robertson Sharp
HF Lohmann Fort Cockatoo
F B.Coleman H.Smith Fullatron
FOLL- Lane Tunstill Mathieson
I/C- Fletcher, Brain, McDowell-White, Michael
 
AFL
B Gardiner Andrews Starcevich
HB McKeena Payne Rich
C Mcluaggage Neale J.Berry
HF Bailey Daniher McCarthy
F Gunston Hipwood Cameron
FOLL Mclernery Lyons Neale
I/C- Zorko, Rayner, Ashcroft, K.Coleman

VFL
B Ah’Chee Joyce Answerth
HB Wilmot Lester Madden
C Prior Robertson Sharp
HF Lohmann Fort Cockatoo
F B.Coleman H.Smith Fullatron
FOLL- Lane Tunstill Mathieson
I/C- Fletcher, Brain, McDowell-White, Michael
The AFL side you have up is pretty close to the one that I would pick except you left Dunkley out & have Neale in twice. ;):think: My only grey area would be McKeena however should he bring good form into the pre-season games, i think he will start as you predict.:thumbsu:
 
AFL
B Gardiner Andrews Starcevich
HB McKeena Payne Rich
C Mcluaggage Neale J.Berry
HF Bailey Daniher McCarthy
F Gunston Hipwood Cameron
FOLL Mclernery Lyons Neale
I/C- Zorko, Rayner, Ashcroft, K.Coleman

VFL
B Ah’Chee Joyce Answerth
HB Wilmot Lester Madden
C Prior Robertson Sharp
HF Lohmann Fort Cockatoo
F B.Coleman H.Smith Fullatron
FOLL- Lane Tunstill Mathieson
I/C- Fletcher, Brain, McDowell-White, Michael
I would have Dev and Dunkley in front of Lyons, and Wilmot just ahead of McKenna (unless he has killed it at training). Wow when you see both teams on paper and consider we have a reasonable draw, GF for me to show we have improved.
 
I would have Dev and Dunkley in front of Lyons, and Wilmot just ahead of McKenna (unless he has killed it at training). Wow when you see both teams on paper and consider we have a reasonable draw, GF for me to show we have improved.
Lyons is a certain starter if fit. (in my opinion) Dunkley a certain starter as well however he would take the spot of either Neale in the 22.
 
AFL
B Gardiner Andrews Starcevich
HB McKeena Payne Rich
C Mcluaggage Neale J.Berry
HF Bailey Daniher McCarthy
F Gunston Hipwood Cameron
FOLL Mclernery Lyons Neale
I/C- Zorko, Rayner, Ashcroft, K.Coleman

VFL
B Ah’Chee Joyce Answerth
HB Wilmot Lester Madden
C Prior Robertson Sharp
HF Lohmann Fort Cockatoo
F B.Coleman H.Smith Fullatron
FOLL- Lane Tunstill Mathieson
I/C- Fletcher, Brain, McDowell-White, Michael
Shows that we should be fairly comfortable covering inside mids / forward flankers should injury strike.

However, pray to the Old Gods and the New we keep our KPDs on the park.
 
Shows that we should be fairly comfortable covering inside mids / forward flankers should injury strike.

However, pray to the Old Gods and the New we keep our KPDs on the park.
We now have a pretty phenomenal reserves team. I predict a 3 peat grandfinal win 🥇 in the same year in that we will win the 1sts, reserves and ladies premierships in the same year. 😉
 
We now have a pretty phenomenal reserves team. I predict a 3 peat grandfinal win 🥇 in the same year in that we will win the 1sts, reserves and ladies premierships in the same year. 😉
I’d be waiting to see if we keep everyone in the AFLW team, before prognosticating on next season.
 

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Lyons is a certain starter if fit. (in my opinion) Dunkley a certain starter as well however he would take the spot of either Neale in the 22.
Would have to be absolutely killing it imho. I noticed you mentioned Rayner as being both important and a liability the other day. I see Lyons in a similar way tbh. Even in 2021 when he was playing well there were times when I felt he wasn't the answer long term. I think Zorko covered over a lot of cracks in our midfield in 2021.
 
Would have to be absolutely killing it imho. I noticed you mentioned Rayner as being both important and a liability the other day. I see Lyons in a similar way tbh. Even in 2021 when he was playing well there were times when I felt he wasn't the answer long term. I think Zorko covered over a lot of cracks in our midfield in 2021.

I think the difference is if Lyons can be fully fit and able to run better, he'd be an absolute luxury 5th string midfielder. In 2022, he was in the starting 3 which ultimately is no longer his position (unless proven otherwise).

I see us going:
Neale - Dunkley - Bailey
Berry - McCluggage - Rayner/Lyons

Not a bad position to be in.
 
Lot of direct shoving and holding on Harris to keep him out of drifting across the pack too. Gets infringed against a lot.

I agree with Briz that he can get burned on the lead but he’s never going to have the speed to be great at closing that down. We need our team defence to put more pressure on the opp so they are bombing it to packs he can crash.
There's been a lot of frustration crept into his game because he gets strategically niggled out of contests but as soon as he touches anyone the ump blows the whistle. The way we probably set up this year there's not likely much way around it with the personnel we have because he's not going to get a lot of help from anyone with the height and skills.

If you've got someone at his age and physical attributes with 2 AA's we need to find a way to get him into positions where he can use them.
 
I think the difference is if Lyons can be fully fit and able to run better, he'd be an absolute luxury 5th string midfielder. In 2022, he was in the starting 3 which ultimately is no longer his position (unless proven otherwise).

I see us going:
Neale - Dunkley - Bailey
Berry - McCluggage - Rayner/Lyons

Not a bad position to be in.
I'm in the sceptics camp with Lyons but obviously if he can get himself right and in form he's a weapon against most of the teams.

I dunno about him against the top teams as a starting midfielder unless it's 5th banana but it all depends on how well those we're hoping on improve in 2023 are going.
 
I think the difference is if Lyons can be fully fit and able to run better, he'd be an absolute luxury 5th string midfielder. In 2022, he was in the starting 3 which ultimately is no longer his position (unless proven otherwise).

I see us going:
Neale - Dunkley - Bailey
Berry - McCluggage - Rayner/Lyons

Not a bad position to be in.
I like the sound of it but personally I’d want more versatility in a 5th string midfielder. With the 6 you’ve mentioned I think Ashcroft will earn genuine midfield minutes this season as well.
 
Would have to be absolutely killing it imho. I noticed you mentioned Rayner as being both important and a liability the other day. I see Lyons in a similar way tbh. Even in 2021 when he was playing well there were times when I felt he wasn't the answer long term. I think Zorko covered over a lot of cracks in our midfield in 2021.
Totally different scenario with Lyons last year because he wasn't playing fit. His first 5-6 games last year (before he got injured) he was averaging 25 possessions a game and was named in our best 3 times. Providing he's fit, his game is worthy of a spot in our 22 100%.
Should he bring back the form he has shown over the last 2-3 seasons (again when fit) he is a real valuable player in our line up.
Comparing Rayner's weakness's to Lyons from last year are very very different in my opinion. In 2020, JL was runner up in the B&F and in 2021 he finished 3rd. B&F votes awarded by Fagan and the other line coach's so they think differently for sure. That on its own speaks for how good he is when fit.
 
Totally different scenario with Lyons last year because he wasn't playing fit. His first 5-6 games last year (before he got injured) he was averaging 25 possessions a game and was named in our best 3 times. Providing he's fit, his game is worthy of a spot in our 22 100%.
Should he bring back the form he has shown over the last 2-3 seasons (again when fit) he is a real valuable player in our line up.
Comparing Rayner's weakness's to Lyons from last year are very very different in my opinion. In 2020, JL was runner up in the B&F and in 2021 he finished 3rd. B&F votes awarded by Fagan and the other line coach's so they think differently for sure. That on its own speaks for how good he is when fit.

All well and good but we have Dunks now and he can do everything Lyons does and more.

Even at his best Lyons had his flaws. Rocky played some good footy for us but I'm not sure I'd want him back at his peak
 
All well and good but we have Dunks now and he can do everything Lyons does and more.

Even at his best Lyons had his flaws. Rocky played some good footy for us but I'm not sure I'd want him back at his peak
Time will tell for sure...seems like if the side was picked by our BF Supporters, JL will be playing VFL all year. Interesting to see how it all unfolds come season starter.
 
Time will tell for sure...seems like if the side was picked by our BF Supporters, JL will be playing VFL all year. Interesting to see how it all unfolds come season starter.
I think ultimately it comes down to whether he is fit enough to run both ways and put pressure on defensively as well.
Because there are others who will.
And let’s not forget that this is the main area why he was let go so easily by Gold Coast.
 

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