Opinion Hill will not be best 22 in 2013.

[BigBirds1987]

Lynch & Nicoski are going to retire soon, Hill is good replacement.

 

[Belltower]

Our entire team other than Kerr and Glass are in terrible form. Yes Hill had a poor game but most of our players did. Even Schofield was relatively quiet to his usual standards. It's easy to pick out the guy who's had question marks on his endeavour in the past - we should be sinking the boot into other players as well.

Naita and Cox?? Couple of quiet games but have carried us all year

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Lynch & Nicoski are going to retire soon, Hill is good replacement.

Hard to say with Nicoski, has injury issues but general fatigue wouldnt be an issue.

Is Hill 192cm?

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Our entire team other than Kerr and Glass are in terrible form. Yes Hill had a poor game but most of our players did. Even Schofield was relatively quiet to his usual standards. It's easy to pick out the guy who's had question marks on his endeavour in the past - we should be sinking the boot into other players as well.

Perhaps, but Schofield is pretty safe in the 22. Hill isn't at this stage.

 

[the harry]

People are aware that Hill missed games right? It's not that he played and didn't get a touch.

 

[MaxHunt]

I like him in the team. Gives us the option to release Lecca to the flank or on the ball without losing marking power up forward. Our mids do not have the same marking strength or judgement of the cats, pies or swans etc most of them are smallish. So rotating them up forward in Lecca absence might tip the balance a bit.

I'm trying to work out where Darlings best position will be once the fwd line returns in 2013.

 

[Suma Magic]

I think he's best 22 in 2013. But he will be one of the last picked. He could miss some games potentially, but it's unlikely we will have zero injuries. In keeping with my love of listing teams, here is one I osted in another thread:

My starting lineup, Round 1 2013

Glass Mackenzie Waters
Hurn Schofield ?
Shuey Priddis Gaff
Masten Darling LeCras
? Kennedy Cox

Naitanui S. Selwood Kerr

3 players to fill the ? in the forwardline and two spots on the bench. A fourth to be sub:
Hill, Rosa, Embley, Nicoski, Lynch, Sheppard, Newman.

2 players to fill the ? on the HBF and the last spot on the bench:
A. Selwood, Butler, Brennan, Smith.

Players definitely not best 22:
Hams
McGinnity
Swift
Stevens
Brown
etc.

 

[Prem87]

Lynch is definite best 22 - so vital to our structure, as is Rosa.

 

[tesseract]

I'm trying to work out where Darlings best position will be once the fwd line returns in 2013.

I like seeing Darling as a HFF. This way he acts as a second CHF in that he provides a strong, reliable, marking option when he leads up the ground during transition from the back half. It also gets him involved in the play more often due to where he's doing most of his work.

Darling did a fair amount of this kind of work last year, even more so than this year. It worked well, and he still managed to get into the F50 often enough to snag a goal or two.

 

[Prem87]

I like seeing Darling as a HFF. This way he acts as a second CHF in that he provides a strong, reliable, marking option when he leads up the ground during transition from the back half. It also gets him involved in the play more often due where he's doing most of his work.

Darling did a fair amount of this kind of work last year, even more so than this year. It worked well, and he still managed to get into the F50 often enough to snag a goal or two.

With everyone back in the forward line next year we can hopefully also experiment with him through the midfield in short stints. He loves the tough contested action so why not through him in the guts (mainly around the ground throw ins/ball ups rather than pure center square clearance players, for now..).

 

[Coaster2012]

Dude's kicked enough goals to be I believe. His passion to dive for the ball is a little concerning though, but we are surely to get injuries next year as well. Do you really expect us to go next year injury free?

 

[kranky al]

Yeah i do. You know hardwood has to do with the structure of the tree's cells rather than how hard the timber is.

balsa is a hardwood

 

[Suma Magic]

Lynch is definite best 22 - so vital to our structure, as is Rosa.

Yeah I'd have to agree. That leaves Hill, Embley, Nicoski, Sheppard and Newman fighting for one spot on the bench, and the sub position. That's a pretty strong group of fringe players assuming a fully fit squad. I'd probably choose Embley and Hill, but preseason form could change things.

 

[Coaster2012]

Yeah I'd have to agree. That leaves Hill, Embley, Nicoski, Sheppard and Newman fighting for one spot on the bench, and the sub position. That's a pretty strong group of fringe players assuming a fully fit squad. I'd probably choose Embley and Hill, but preseason form could change things.

I'd go with Embley & Nicoski, but only if we are 100% full strength, which if history tells us anything, is never the case, so Hill will jump in.

 

[beatlesmith]

I guess the question is whether we bring Kennedy in for Hill and return to the land of the giants setup we had before, or we replace the fairly out-of-sorts Lynch and have Kennedy, Cox and Darling (and to a lesser extent Hill and Lecras) as our marking targets.
Personally I prefer the second option, as while I understand that people regard Lynch to be structurally important, I think that is more down to the importance of his role as a CHF pushing up the ground (reminiscent of Ashley "MVP" Hansen) rather than his ability. If we put Darling or Kennedy into that role they would be regarded as similarly important, but in my opinion would play the position better as while I like Lynchy, he doesn't have anything that Kennedy/Darling don't other than being able to kick it a bit further and the ability to pinch hit in the ruck (although Kennedy did this at Carlton).
As a result I believe that our defensive accountability in the forward line would improve, along with our scoring ability from crumbing and counter-attacks. As Hill and Lecras can also lead and mark and Naita has become a force to reckoned with in the air, I don't think we'd be in danger of losing potency in the air.

Other than that, Lecras to come in for Hams and hopefully Nicoski/Dick to come in for Mcginnity.

My ideal forward line:
Cox, Kennedy, Dick/Nicoski
Lecras, Darling, Hill

...with Masten and Shuey rotating on the half forward flanks and Naita resting in Cox's forward pocket.

 

[ziad]

JK in frees up Darling and Hill who will both take lesser defenders and lesser structural roles (Bigger opportunities)

Hill is fine by me.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

I guess the question is whether we bring Kennedy in for Hill and return to the land of the giants setup we had before, or we replace the fairly out-of-sorts Lynch and have Kennedy, Cox and Darling (and to a lesser extent Hill and Lecras) as our marking targets.
Personally I prefer the second option, as while I understand that people regard Lynch to be structurally important, I think that is more down to the importance of his role as a CHF pushing up the ground (reminiscent of Ashley "MVP" Hansen) rather than his ability. If we put Darling or Kennedy into that role they would be regarded as similarly important, but in my opinion would play the position better as while I like Lynchy, he doesn't have anything that Kennedy/Darling don't other than being able to kick it a bit further and the ability to pinch hit in the ruck (although Kennedy did this at Carlton).


Other than that, Lecras to come in for Hams and hopefully Nicoski/Dick to come in for Mcginnity.

My ideal forward line:
Cox, Kennedy, Dick/Nicoski
Lecras, Darling, Hill

...with Masten and Shuey rotating on the half forward flanks and Naita resting in Cox's forward pocket.

Can you try fitting that into a best 22?

Brennan Glass Schofield
Waters Mackenzie Hurn
Gaff Priddis Rosa
LeCras Darling Hill
Dick Kennedy Cox

Naitanui Kerr, S.Selwood

Int: Shuey, Masten, A.Selwood Sub: Embley

And I'd prefer Darling as a third tall forward thanks, Cox, Naitanui, Kennedy and Lynch drawing tall defenders leaves Darling with mediums who either lack the ability to match his height or his strength.

In the end I think Darling will do a better job on a flank than Hill and someone taller would do a better job at CHF.

 

[ziad]

Can you try fitting that into a best 22?

Brennan Glass Schofield
Waters Mackenzie Hurn
Gaff Priddis Rosa
LeCras Darling Hill
Dick Kennedy Cox

Naitanui Kerr, S.Selwood

Int: Shuey, Masten, A.Selwood Sub: Embley

And I'd prefer Darling as a third tall forward thanks, Cox, Naitanui, Kennedy and Lynch drawing tall defenders leaves Darling with mediums who either lack the ability to match his height or his strength.

In the end I think Darling will do a better job on a flank than Hill and someone taller would do a better job at CHF.

No Lynch. I suspect his infleximility and inability to chase will limit his life as Darling matures and JK returns. We also have young talls to consider.

 

[beatlesmith]

Can you try fitting that into a best 22?

Brennan Glass Schofield
Waters Mackenzie Hurn
Gaff Priddis Rosa
LeCras Darling Hill
Dick Kennedy Cox

Naitanui Kerr, S.Selwood

Int: Shuey, Masten, A.Selwood Sub: Embley

And I'd prefer Darling as a third tall forward thanks, Cox, Naitanui, Kennedy and Lynch drawing tall defenders leaves Darling with mediums who either lack the ability to match his height or his strength.

In the end I think Darling will do a better job on a flank than Hill and someone taller would do a better job at CHF.

That's pretty much the best 22 I'd put out, actually.

Darling is a single centimetre shorter than Lynch and is comfortably a better contested mark, so I don't think height is really an issue (unless you're talking about McInnes/Mcgovern). What Lynch is there to do is to take simple marks on the lead, usually outside 50, to make a contest in other instances and when he has the ball, to either shoot from range or pump it inside 50.
Darling can do that job. In addition to the aforementioned responsibilities, he'd be much more adept in ground-level situations, both contested and uncontested, and we wouldn't have guys burning him off going the other way like we do with Lynchy.

In terms of defenders, Kennedy will draw the best one. Most teams won't be foolish enough to trust manning Cox with a 3rd defender deep in the forward line, especially given that 3rd defenders tend to be smaller than their KPD counterparts. What I am trying to get at is that the person who is on the team-sheet as the CHF doesn't necessarily have to draw the best or second best defender, and in this case I doubt he would.
So Darling should get an easier run than he does currently and I think will be able to perform considerably better than Lynch is currently in a role that is structurally important.

The overall outcome in my mind would be that we'd still be a very good marking team, but we'd be considerably more dangerous and accountable at ground level.

 

[jaxxon]

I'd prefer Hill in the forwardline over Lynch and Nicoski. If he gets the fifth or sixth defender, he would be very, very dangerous. I'd prefer Embley up the ground rather than in the forwardline, and Cox / NicNat > Lynch for the third tall spot.

 

[tesseract]

Hill is fine by me.

So long as he keeps his work rate up defensively.

 

[Mighty Eagles]

As this season and 2010 proves, you never know with injuries.

It was only a few weeks ago when Nicoski, Strijk AND Hill were all on the sidelines with injuries.

That would've been a perfect opportunity for Strijk to get a run, but he too was injury.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

I'd prefer Hill in the forwardline over Lynch and Nicoski. If he gets the fifth or sixth defender, he would be very, very dangerous. I'd prefer Embley up the ground rather than in the forwardline, and Cox / NicNat > Lynch for the third tall spot.

Poor Lynchy. Gets us over the line against Geelong and he still can't get some love.

When Kennedy comes back in Lynch will play further up the ground, as will Darling who will play a kick or so behind him.

The idea is we pull the taller defenders up the ground because of Lynch's and Darlings marking prowess and if we get clean breaks we have a better chance of isolating Kennedy against one tall defender.

If they let Lynch and Darling go, then we have easy targets to hit.

We park one of rucks deep for stages of the game and that only adds to the chaos. Both of them are clearly improved forward of the ball.

Three tall forwards was the genius of our 2011 season.

 

[Natho]

Anything can happen from now to next season. Hams and hill would be worrying coming into preseason when they see lecca, niko and brad dick training the house down. (hopefully )