Analysis Mid season: Best 22 for Premiership Success

[Woodson]

It's been marvellous ride so far with an imposing 10-1 start but I'm sure that without the defensive side structure tightening significantly this season, North could easily be 7-4 at best.

From what I gather, North MUST continue to experiment with certain set ups even if it costs North a win or two to determine who really fits into the BEST TEAM AVAILABLE come the business end.

You'll notice that I have left out Benny Brown, Lindsay Thomas and Brad Mckenzie.
Why??

These guys are lacking intensity / speed to go the other way when the screws tighten. LT needs to be MORE than just a CAMEO player along with playing for keeps (team player first… get rid of his selfishness) plus not relaible under packs as he use to be, has let himself down with regulation misses. Can do a hECK of a LOT better!! It's called practise, practise with players giving him grief at training.

Benny Brown is very vulnerable on two fronts for mine. Gets underneath the flight of the ball / clunks marks too often for my liking. He is a liability when the opposition have the ball. Too slow. His accuracy from SET SHOTS is amongst the best (currently second) with a 20.9 return but I think Garner and Wood in tandem can offer better scoreboard - pressure impact - goal generation than Brown. I'd like to see Garner and Wood play together to prove my point.

Garner brings defensive pressure to help Waite and Petrie (only real guys regularly bringing the heat when they don't have the ball).

With Daw on the bench, I prefer Goldy resting up fwd / better goal avenue than Brown. Daw has FOUR UPSIDES better than Benny Brown

1: Speed
2: Stronger presence
3: Better overhead mark
4: Much better Ruck

LMac has earned his spot by playing better this season and allows Brad to rotate the back six with LMac picking up the weakest fwd of the opposition. LMac gives more spoil / physical value than McKenzie but I know that McKenzie is much more cleaner… but speed is essential too.

Gibbo is the team greyhound who can run the game out… very important when ENDURANCE is the key in that final quarter.

Jacobs is clearly the league's best tagger. Gibbo is plan B.

Thoughts?

 

[Moti]

Good side. Would love to squeeze Anderson in there somewhere but lucky for us, if he gets the job he would have earned it.

Thomas won't get dropped IMO though.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Like the team, only change I would make is Gibson out.

With Jacobs back that would take away one of Gibbos roles he can do.
Would bring in a more attacking player like LT or Anderson or Turner

 

[Mr. Blonde]

You lost me at "no Ben Brown".

 

[Woodson]

Good side. Would love to squeeze Anderson in there somewhere but lucky for us, if he gets the job he would have earned it.

Thomas won't get dropped IMO though.

Like the team, only change I would make is Gibson out.

With Jacobs back that would take away one of Gibbos roles he can do.
Would bring in a more attacking player like LT or Anderson or Turner

I see where you're going on this call.. Andersen is our 'X-factor' at this stage… plenty to prove. Easily replaces a couple in this line up if he LIVES UP TO HIS POTENTIAL!!

 

[Woodson]

You lost me at "no Ben Brown".

I've already explained why. Believe me.. I'd love to include him but he is too one dimensional. If the ball isn't in his hands.. doesn't give the team nothing but goal accuracy. I have faith in Garner, Higgins and Wood to do equally as well. 3 is better than 1. That's the Honda principal. Swinging Goldy fwd with Daw in the ruck. Brown isn't reliable enough in the ruck.

 

[Firestarter]

Like the team, only change I would make is Gibson out.

With Jacobs back that would take away one of Gibbos roles he can do.
Would bring in a more attacking player like LT or Anderson or Turner

Jacobs doesn't do the gut running and option role. Or as well.

 

[Spitter9]

Brown definitely stays in over Majak.

I don't think Lindsay will be dropped. Although, whoever misses out for him will be super stiff (most likely wood I'd imagine)

 

[Mr. Blonde]

I've already explained why. Believe me.. I'd love to include him but he is too one dimensional. If the ball isn't in his hands.. doesn't give the team nothing but goal accuracy. I have faith in Garner, Higgins and Wood to do equally as well. 3 is better than 1. That's the Honda principal.

I know you explained why, but I completely disagree.

Brown brings us someone with game sense and footy smarts. He knows where to lead, when to lead, how to work with the other forwards and his ground level work in amazingly underrated for a big guy.

Majak Daw, while I'd love to find a spot for him in the team, does not even get close to taking Ben Browns spot in my opinion.

 

[Moti]

Brown definitely stays in over Majak.

I don't think Lindsay will be dropped. Although, whoever misses out for him will be super stiff (most likely wood I'd imagine)

Higgins may struggle to come up if we are up and running.

 

[Spitter9]

Higgins may struggle to come up if we are up and running.

No chance. Higgins is a lock

 

[Woodson]

I know you explained why, but I completely disagree.

Brown brings us someone with game sense and footy smarts. He knows where to lead, when to lead, how to work with the other forwards and his ground level work in amazingly underrated for a big guy.

Majak Daw, while I'd love to find a spot for him in the team, does not even get close to taking Ben Browns spot in my opinion.

It's a great debate Mr. Blonde. How many goals would you expect Brown to kick for the remainder of the H&A ? I have him at 50 at least. Last year he kicked 32 + 9 in the finals. Already has 20. Needs to be more imposing with his grabs. Daw is a lot more imposing in the contest.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

We'll get a good indication on Thursday this week If Daw is going to get an extended crack at it at the expense of Browny. If Daw is out this week I doubt he will play a big part in our 22 this year unless we get injuries.

While I would love to see Garner and Wood in I highly doubt that will be the case. Scott loves Thomas and he isn't going to be out of the team any time soon even though I think Garner/Anderson/Turner will be able to provide more physical pressure.

Going to be very interesting how this team evolves as the season goes on. I love the look of that side though.

Food for thought though who would be the three emergencies? Brown, Anderson, Thomas? Mckenzie/Mullett/Dumont are excellent depth

 

[Moti]

We'll get a good indication on Thursday this week If Daw is going to get an extended crack at it at the expense of Browny. If Daw is out this week I doubt he will play a big part in our 22 this year unless we get injuries.

While I would love to see Garner and Wood in I highly doubt that will be the case. Scott loves Thomas and he isn't going to be out of the team any time soon even though I think Garner/Anderson/Turner will be able to provide more physical pressure.

Going to be very interesting how this team evolves as the season goes on. I love the look of that side though.

Food for thought though who would be the three emergencies? Brown, Anderson, Thomas? Mckenzie/Mullett/Dumont are excellent depth

Pressure comes from losses. Until we have them, the status quo usually wins. For instance, the tall forwards have done bugger all personally for 6 weeks. But we need them there for structure. If that doesn't change, could a Maj change its success?

 

[Woodson]

Like the team, only change I would make is Gibson out.

With Jacobs back that would take away one of Gibbos roles he can do.
Would bring in a more attacking player like LT or Anderson or Turner

With the 'more attacking player'.. Garner has that. have you watched closely how imposing he is in the contest? He has better footy smarts than most are aware of. With Kayne missing a fair bit of footy down the stretch.. only injuries to our smalls will give him a shot but I think he's shot himself in the foot.
Anderson is one player I can't judge. All the talk is just that. Will want to be close amongst the B.O.G's in the second half of the season to win me over.

 

[Sugar2Sideshow]

Great team. The way I see it is that Daw/Brown are fighting for the same spot.

If Anderson comes good, he, Thomas, Garner and Wood are fighting for 2 spots.

There are always unlucky players in premiership winning squads, if we make the GF we will be no different.

 

[Woodson]

Pressure comes from losses. Until we have them, the status quo usually wins. For instance, the tall forwards have done bugger all personally for 6 weeks. But we need them there for structure. If that doesn't change, could a Maj change its success?

Would you think it's best Petrie gets a couple breathers before August? I'd like to see what Garner, Wood and Daw can do with Goldy playing deep. Brad is blessed with such a dilemma at this stage. I'd want Petrie to be ultra fresh even if that means not playing him this week.

 

[Moti]

Would you think it's best Petrie gets a couple breathers before August? I'd like to see what Garner, Wood and Daw can do with Goldy playing deep. Brad is blessed with such a dilemma at this stage. I'd want Petrie to be ultra fresh even if that means not playing him this week.

Short answer is yes. It would have been 100% this week if Drew played poorly but he put in his best performance for the year last week so Brad will be reluctant to mess with that.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Pressure comes from losses. Until we have them, the status quo usually wins. For instance, the tall forwards have done bugger all personally for 6 weeks. But we need them there for structure. If that doesn't change, could a Maj change its success?

to give Daw more of an opportunity I wouldn't be against resting Petrie to manage his neck and body or resting Brown for a month and giving him a solid block of weight training to build up his strength. The benefit of that being Petrie comes back refreshed or Brown comes back stronger, whilst also seeing what Daw has to offer in the forward structure.

 

[Woodson]

to give Daw more of an opportunity I wouldn't be against resting Petrie to manage his neck and body or resting Brown for a month and giving him a solid block of weight training to build up his strength. The benefit of that being Petrie comes back refreshed or Brown comes back stronger, whilst also seeing what Daw has to offer in the forward structure.

That's what I'm talking about… Glad I have someone with that 'outside the box' ideology of hunger for a serious tilt with FRESH and HUNGRY KPP's set to TEAR IT UP…. the media haters need to learn their lesson.

 

[tazaa]

Anderson or Brown in over Daw. Thomas also? Wood has been good but whether he holds his spot in a best 22 is arguable.

 

[Rooboy 96]

You may be on a winner here Woodson, some very big calls:
Garner in for LT
Wood in for Brown
and Maj on the Pine

I am not convinced that LT would be the player going our for Garner, as NDS would have to play more like he did on Friday night and Garner would have to show he can get hold of the ball a tad more then he has.
I don't mind the other selections and see the logic, I doubt many in here will agree with you though, but if we rotated Drew, Daw, Brown, Waite and Wood through the four tallish spots in our forward line for the next 10 weeks, we will know by finals. We can't keep on guessing what is best.

 

[Rooboy 96]

Great team. The way I see it is that Daw/Brown are fighting for the same spot.

If Anderson comes good, he, Thomas, Garner and Wood are fighting for 2 spots.

There are always unlucky players in premiership winning squads, if we make the GF we will be no different.

Some may see it that Daw/Brown/Drew/Wood are fighting for three spots come finals and NDS Thomas and Garner fighting for the two spots if Higgins comes good.

 

[Woodson]

You may be on a winner here Woodson, some very big calls:
Garner in for LT
Wood in for Brown
and Maj on the Pine

I am not convinced that LT would be the player going our for Garner, as NDS would have to play more like he did on Friday night and Garner would have to show he can get hold of the ball a tad more then he has.
I don't mind the other selections and see the logic, I doubt many in here will agree with you though, but if we rotated Drew, Daw, Brown, Waite and Wood through the four tallish spots in our forward line for the next 10 weeks, we will know by finals. We can't keep on guessing what is best.

I'll back the coaches/ selectors judgements regardless but WE ALL KNOW we're only in second gear much of the time on game day this season.

I'd like North to execute with precision for four quarters and put an opposition to the sword before august arrives.. not to appease the stupid monkees in the media but for the players to understand that it doesn't take much to >> 'embrace KILLER INSTINCT'. In 20 years time.. this playing group will want to look back and remember some scorching performances which includes 100 point hammerings. We owe Collingwood BIG!! They're ripe for the slaughter!!

 

[Moti]

Some may see it that Daw/Brown/Drew/Wood are fighting for three spots come finals and NDS Thomas and Garner fighting for the two spots if Higgins comes good.

Why is Wood in this conversation? He is more in line with Garner/Higgins than the big boys.