looking forward: under 25 as at grand final day 2016- update 3/7/17

[M Malice]

thought would be interesting exercise. i have included j. schache, b. keays and e. hipwood on list as virtually certain to be on list in 2016.

B. d. gardner j. clarke h. andrews

HB. l. dawson d. mcstay t. cutler

C. n. robertson b. keays b. evans

HF. l. taylor j. freeman j. green

F. m. close j. schache j. mcgrath

R. a. smith s. mayes r. lester

INT. e.hipwood j. jansen m. paparone j. clayton

depth. j. watts j. mcginness c. hanley m. hammelman h. beasley j. walker

the only areas of the ground we need covered long term are ruck and midfield, although a lot of our midfield is only a year or 2 older than this side. players like dawson, cutler, taylor and mcgrath should be able to transition to more full time roles in the midfield with a few more years in the system. also 2016/17 drafts we have 2 absolute potential guns j. allison and c. ballenden from the academy coming in. this is some of the best young talent we have had since the glory days, not all doom and gloom for the lions moving forward. stay the course jump on board good times coming.

 

[Milux]

I like your effort. Thats not a bad list of young kids.

 

[pOleK]

thought would be interesting exercise. i have included j. schache, b. keays and e. hipwood on list as virtually certain to be on list in 2016.

B. d. gardner j. clarke h. andrews

HB. l. dawson d. mcstay t. cutler

C. n. robertson b. keays b. evans

HF. l. taylor j. freeman j. green

F. m. close j. schache j. mcgrath

R. a. smith s. mayes r. lester

INT. e.hipwood j. jansen m. paparone j. clayton

depth. j. watts j. mcginness c. hanley m. hammelman h. beasley j. walker

the only areas of the ground we need covered long term are ruck and midfield, although a lot of our midfield is only a year or 2 older than this side. players like dawson, cutler, taylor and mcgrath should be able to transition to more full time roles in the midfield with a few more years in the system. also 2016/17 drafts we have 2 absolute potential guns j. allison and c. ballenden from the academy coming in. this is some of the best young talent we have had since the glory days, not all doom and gloom for the lions moving forward. stay the course jump on board good times coming.

if this is what our future is looks like we look pretty good for our next few years

 

[Jman78]

I like the look of the future list, but am I alone in thinking that C.Hanley could be a real gem simply based on the fact that his brother will push him? If he is as good as Pearce I'll will truly over the moon

 

[PattyKwasagun]

I like the look of the future list, but am I alone in thinking that C.Hanley could be a real gem simply based on the fact that his brother will push him? If he is as good as Pearce I'll will truly over the moon

I think on the proven probability of Irish players becoming solid AFL contributors, we'd be doing incredibly well if Cian became even half the player Pearce is. It's more likely than not that he won't make the grade at all, let alone reaching the heights of one of our best. Sad, but the number of recruits from Ireland who make it shows it's the case. Would love to be wrong though.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Why not just say under 24 now?

 

[Slitherin9]

thought would be interesting exercise. i have included j. schache, b. keays and e. hipwood on list as virtually certain to be on list in 2016.

B. d. gardner j. clarke h. andrews

HB. l. dawson d. mcstay t. cutler

C. n. robertson b. keays b. evans

HF. l. taylor j. freeman j. green

F. m. close j. schache j. mcgrath

R. a. smith s. mayes r. lester

INT. e.hipwood j. jansen m. paparone j. clayton

depth. j. watts j. mcginness c. hanley m. hammelman h. beasley j. walker

the only areas of the ground we need covered long term are ruck and midfield, although a lot of our midfield is only a year or 2 older than this side. players like dawson, cutler, taylor and mcgrath should be able to transition to more full time roles in the midfield with a few more years in the system. also 2016/17 drafts we have 2 absolute potential guns j. allison and c. ballenden from the academy coming in. this is some of the best young talent we have had since the glory days, not all doom and gloom for the lions moving forward. stay the course jump on board good times coming.

It's amazing the list turnover isn't it? I reckon Leppa is on the right track and has even been helped by injuries (anyone think Andrews plays without Merrett's injury??) By my count there are 12 players still on the list(primary and rookie) from when Leppa joined.

 

[M Malice]

Why not just say under 24 now?

was going to do it as of now, round 1 2016 or GF 2016 chose the latter, no particular reason thats just the one that popped into my head.
#cantremember

 

[M Malice]

Still on a high from yesterdays win so thought I would be a little bit self indulgent and bump and update this thread. A few changes from my team in the OP from late 2015, Justin Clarke.
2015-
B. d. gardner j. clarke h. andrews

HB. l. dawson d. mcstay t. cutler

C. n. robertson b. keays b. evans

HF. l. taylor j. freeman j. green

F. m. close j. schache j. mcgrath

R. a. smith s. mayes r. lester

INT. e.hipwood j. jansen m. paparone j. clayton

depth. j. watts j. mcginness c. hanley m. hammelman h. beasley j. walker

2017- all under 24.

Back 6.
Sam Mayes, Sam Skinner, Tom Cutler.
Alex Witherden, Harris Aandrews, Dan McStay.

Mids.
Oscar McInerney, Hugh McCluggage, Ben Keays.
Jarrod Berry, Rhys Matheison, Nick Robertson.

Forward 6.
Lewis Taylor, Josh Schache, Cedric Cox.
Reuben William, Eric Hipwood, Jake Barrett.

Bench.
Jacob Allison, Mitchell Hinge, Corey Lyons, Darcy Gardner.

Depth.
Cian Hanley, Matthew Hammelmann, Josh Clayton, Liam Dawson, Archie Smith, Marco Paparone, Michael Close, Jonathan Freeman, Jared Jansen.

outs from 2015- Justin Clarke, Billy Evans, Josh Green, Jayden McGrath, Ryan Lester (too old now), Josh Watts, Josh McGuinness, Josh Walker (too old too), Hugh Beasley.


Areas still of need IMO.
Still need some more midfield star power and depth. Need outside run and speed but maybe Allison and Cutler will provide that in the future. Small pressure forwards, Cedric Cox? Hopefully Freeman, Close or maybe Ballenden can step up as another tall forward option.

 

[John_Proctor]

You mean that midfield star power in zero, beams, rockliff. While I understand it's an u-24 team no point ignoring the full list.

Our 2020 team looks potentially genuinely exciting including on some of those key age/games metrics if you project forward.

Even those older guys still have time in 2020 Zorko starts 2020 season aged 31, beams and rockliff 30.

Also have 3 top 20 picks to address some of the positional or physical (speed) needs.

 

[M Malice]

You mean that midfield star power in zero, beams, rockliff. While I understand it's an u-24 team no point ignoring the full list.

Our 2020 team looks potentially genuinely exciting including on some of those key age/games metrics if you project forward.

Even those older guys still have time in 2020 Zorko starts 2020 season aged 31, beams and rockliff 30.

Also have 3 top 20 picks to address some of the positional or physical (speed) needs.

Agree, I just wanted to gloat about our abundance of special young talent and as you say a few more to come this off season.

 

[POBT]

Still some pretty big holes on that list in terms of quality. A number of the guys you've named are far from being sure things at AFL level.

We're definitely better off than what we were, mainly due to the quality recently added in the midfield who are showing much more promise than we could have hoped for at this early stage of their careers.

 

[BuntonRules]

Plus a coupla more top 3 to 8 draft picks to come.