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Opinion Rank the AFL midfields

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On paper like this I start to feel that the Geelong and Hawthorn midfields look a little old and injury prone (ie I don't feel that guys like Hodge or Chapman can get back to their best). But I know that the rest of their lists can probably make up for these guys.

To me Collingwood, Adelaide and WCE look the best to me
 
Fremantles midfield is looking very special next year - for five reasons:
1. David Mundy - Had a bad start to 2012 due to recovering from injury... but watch the last few games.
2. Danyle Pearce - Good at Port, what will he do at Freo surrounded by a better quality midfield?
3. Barlow - also recovering from injury
4. Morabito - more of Bito.
5. Who do you tag now, boys - Hill or Pearce? Fyfe? Mundy? You can only stop one.

This is, of course, conjecture. If based solely on 2012 performance, I wouldn't disagree with Freo's place in the rankings given by other posters before this.
However, our midfield at the end of 2012 was very strong, and with the addition of D Pearce and another pre season will only improve.

Other clubs have draftees to fill the gaps (eventually), some clubs (example Essendon) might have the same depth coming back from injury that we did in 2012.
But, and correct me if I'm wrong, Fremantle's midfield in 2012 was already good, and have just suddenly gained the potential to be ... significantly... better.
 
_Wildcard_ said:
Fremantles midfield is looking very special next year - for five reasons:
1. David Mundy - Had a bad start to 2012 due to recovering from injury... but watch the last few games.
2. Danyle Pearce - Good at Port, what will he do at Freo surrounded by a better quality midfield?
3. Barlow - also recovering from injury
4. Morabito - more of Bito.
5. Who do you tag now, boys - Hill or Pearce? Fyfe? Mundy? You can only stop one.

This is, of course, conjecture. If based solely on 2012 performance, I wouldn't disagree with Freo's place in the rankings given by other posters before this.
However, our midfield at the end of 2012 was very strong, and with the addition of D Pearce and another pre season will only improve.

Other clubs have draftees to fill the gaps (eventually), some clubs (example Essendon) might have the same depth coming back from injury that we did in 2012.
But, and correct me if I'm wrong, Fremantle's midfield in 2012 was already good, and have just suddenly gained the potential to be ... significantly... better.
Click to expand...

Replace Morabito with Fyfe and I'd agree. Mora can't get his body fit to even get on the field, where as Fyfe is a proven game changer. As for the improvement from 2012, most teams expect to be significantly better, it's how much more X improves compared to Y.

Going into 2013, Collingwood is clear in front as the best, especially if Ball can come back strong.
 

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1 Collingwood
2 Sydney
3 Adelaide
4 Hawthorn
5 Carlton
6 West Coast
7 Freo
8 Geelong
9 Richmond
10 North
11 Bombers
12 Saints
13 Brisbane
14 Western Bulldogs
15 Port Adelaide
16 Gold Coast
17 Melbourne
18 GWS
 
eaglespremiers said:
1. Sydney
2. Collingwood
3. Hawthorn
4. Adelaide
5. Carlton
----------------
6. Essendon
7. Geelong
8. Richmond
9. West Coast
10. North Melbourne
11. St Kilda
12. Brisbane
13. Fremantle
14. Western Bulldogs
15. Port Adelaide
16. Gold Coast
17. Melbourne
18. GWS

I'm sure I've upset someone here
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Essendon 6th? I'm not sure we are that good yet, potentially we could be, but currently we are not there.

Watson, Goddard, Stanton, Zaharakis, Heppell, Howlett, slowly coming along.
 
The Bomb said:
Essendon 6th? I'm not sure we are that good yet, potentially we could be, but currently we are not there.

Watson, Goddard, Stanton, Zaharakis, Heppell, Howlett, slowly coming along.
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EFA.....

I'll do Norf's:

Tier 1.

Swallow, Wells, Ziebell, Cunnington, Adams, Greenwood, Atley, Wright, Harper, Harvey.

Tier 2

Anthony, Gibson, McKenzie, Mullet, McMillan, Garner, Wood, Jacobs, Gysberts, McDonald.


Handy depth.
 
ArjenTheGreat said:
EFA.....

I'll do Norf's:

Tier 1.

Swallow, Wells, Ziebell, Cunnington, Adams, Greenwood, Atley, Wright, Harper, Harvey.

Tier 2

Anthony, Gibson, McKenzie, Mullet, McMillan, Garner, Wood, Jacobs, Gysberts, McDonald.


Average depth.
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EFA...

Honestly, just give it a rest.
 
scaryness said:
Rank the midfields of the AFL. I picked 7 midfielders from each club to make it easier to compare. It's going to be tough I think.

Adelaide:
van Berlo, Thompson, Dangerfield, Sloane, Wright, Vince, Douglas

Brisbane:
Black, Rockliff, Redden, Rich, Raines, Zorko, Moloney

Carlton:
Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Carrazzo, Scotland, Simpson, McLean

Collingwood:
Pendlebury, Swan, Ball, Beams, Thomas, Sidebottom, Young
Click to expand...
If you can include Young for Collingwood, then I'd move in Robinson for Scotland. Scotland is better used as a sweeper to mop up and deliver like Yarran. Our midfield was at it's best with Carrazzo, Robinson, McLean and Curnow adding muscle and hardness at clearances. Curnow doesn't hit the scoreboard and hurt sides, but his defensive running, hardness and ability to win the ball in a run with role reminds me of Carrazzo. Finally adding more muscle, grunt and endurance after we found Bell last year.

When we're on, our legspeed, attacking game and transition was arguably the best in the business. If Yarran can move to the wing like Jetta, then we could go to another level. Just need to bring the mindset we used to upset Collingwood who aren't mugs.
 
mufassa said:
WCE and Hawks are 4th and 5th.
I would rank them - 1 - Mitchell, 2 - Kerr, 3 - Hodge, 4 - Priddis, 5 - Sewell, 6 - Wellingham, 7 -Lewis, 8 -Selwood, 9 Shuey, 10 - Burgoyne, 11 - Gaff, 12 - Embley, 13- Shiels, 14 - Whitcross.
Hawks = 53
WCE = 52
Close - lowest score wins for me.

Crows V Hawks.
1 Mitchell, 2 Dangerfield, 3 Thompson, 4 Hodge, 5 Sewell, 6 Van Berlo, 7 Lewis, 8 Solane, 9 Burgoyne, 10 Vince, 11 Douglas, 12 Wright, 13 Shiels, 14 Whitecross

Hawks = 53
Crows = 52

Close again - for me Shiels and Whitcross really hurt the Hawks.
Click to expand...
Surprised you have Wellingham in front of Lewis.
I'd also have WhiteX in front of Burgoyne in both groups, under rated.
Your opinion and that's fine.
 

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The Bomb said:
Collingwood have clearly the best midfield
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It's interesting when we played them last year I thought we beat them easily with our use.(all three games)
They accumulated more of it but our players were much more damaging.
I really don't care if you rank my side 1st or last it's just interesting the different ways people perceive what is better.
 
pacman said:
It's interesting when we played them last year I thought we beat them easily with our use.(all three games)
They accumulated more of it but our players were much more damaging.
I really don't care if you rank my side 1st or last it's just interesting the different ways people perceive what is better.
Click to expand...
I keep seeing people going on about how good Beams played against you guys but when I was watching that game I thought he was pretty average. So many of his possessions were just throwing it on the boot to go forward with more thought than that. But when the hawks brought the ball back the other way they just sliced them open.

I keep thinking that individually the Collingwood midfield is better, but the Hawks played so much better as a team
 
3 is more than enough.

Adelaide: (Strong inside group. Could do with something more outside but one of the better midfields)
Dangerfield, Thompson, Sloane

Brisbane: (Inside group deep. More outside quality needed)
Redden, Rockliff, Black

Carlton: (Strong midfield with some excellent high end options. Could do with another high end inside extractor as well as something extra on the outside)
Carrazzo, Murphy, Judd

Collingwood: (Very strong high end options and some depth. Could do with a powerful, young inside midfield and a speedy outside linebreaker who can do some damage)
Pendlebury, Swan, Beams

Essendon: (Still a couple of quality midfielders away but one of the more underrated midfield groups going around with a good inside/outside balance. Could do with a fraction more pace/skill though)
Watson, Goddard, Zaharakis

Fremantle: (Good but not great midfield with the strength being more in the outside running with more outside runners than they need. Could do with more quality inside types)
Fyfe, Mundy, Barlow

Geelong: (Aging midfield but plenty of quality youth coming through. Lacking a second star mid which after Selwood I'm not seeing)
Selwood, Kelly, Bartel

Gold Coast: (Some quality youth coming through but still more of an outside midfield on the whole with more high end inside mids still needed)
Ablett, Swallow, Bennell

GWS: (Packed with more youth than any midfield and so many who can win their own ball. Once developed will be competitions best through the midfield)
Ward, Greene, Treloar

Hawthorn: (Exceptional midfield group but aging and in need of next generation stars which I'm not seeing)
Mitchell, Sewell, Hodge

Melbourne: (Completely lacking top end midfield options with Viney, Toumpas and Trengove the possibles)
Trengove, Jones, Grimes

North Melbourne: (Balanced midfield with strong depth and plenty of youth. Top end could be stronger though)
Swallow, Wells, Harvey

Port Adelaide: (Need more top end quality. No star power here with Wines and Wingard the better chances)
Cornes, Ebert, Boak

Richmond: (Strong top end mids. Need more AFL standard midfield options though)
Cotchin, Deledio, Martin

St Kilda: (Aging and in need of more quality youth)
Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna

Sydney: (Very deep, very strong midfield. Clearly among the best in the comp)
Kennedy, Jack, McVeigh

West Coast: (Deepest midfield in the league. Could do with stronger top end mids though)
Kerr, S.Selwood, Priddis

Western Bulldogs: (A real quantity of strong midfield youth. Top end options could be stronger though)
Griffen, Boyd, Wallis
 
mufassa said:
WCE and Hawks are 4th and 5th.
I would rank them - 1 - Mitchell, 2 - Kerr, 3 - Hodge, 4 - Priddis, 5 - Sewell, 6 - Wellingham, 7 -Lewis, 8 -Selwood, 9 Shuey, 10 - Burgoyne, 11 - Gaff, 12 - Embley, 13- Shiels, 14 - Whitcross.
Hawks = 53
WCE = 52
Close - lowest score wins for me.

Crows V Hawks.
1 Mitchell, 2 Dangerfield, 3 Thompson, 4 Hodge, 5 Sewell, 6 Van Berlo, 7 Lewis, 8 Solane, 9 Burgoyne, 10 Vince, 11 Douglas, 12 Wright, 13 Shiels, 14 Whitecross

Hawks = 53
Crows = 52

Close again - for me Shiels and Whitcross really hurt the Hawks.
Click to expand...

Wellingham better then Lewis? :eek: Lewis all day, everyday.
 
The Pies would rank no.1 for me, having both stars and depth. The swans may have just timed their midfield mix perfectly in 2012 but I'm not sure OKeefe, Bolton and McVeigh can maintain their very best for another year. Mitchell, Sewell and Lewis mean the Hawks will get plenty of first use, and add Yarran and Robinson to the Blues midfield and there are plenty of rotation options. GWS will be frighteningly good in 4-5 years.
 

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mufassa said:
17) Port - Ebert had a good year and Cornes picked his career back off the mat. Wingard should be in front of Thomas or Broadbent.
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Broadbent had a breakout year in 2012 (19.8 dpg/21 goals/11 goal assists) and is only 22. Might be our best midfielder come this time next year.
 
Knightmare said:
3 is more than enough.



Hawthorn: (Exceptional midfield group but aging and in need of next generation stars which I'm not seeing)
Mitchell, Sewell, Hodge
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Strange you would only want to look at 3 midfielders when in reality it is between 10-12 who either play in the middle or rotate through the middle during the course of a game.

Hawks core mid group would be; Mitchell, Sewell, Hodge, Shiels, Lewis, Smith, Savage (replacing Young)

Others spending a considerable amount of time as mids; Burgoyne, Rioli, Whitecross, Suckling, Breust, Birchall, Ellis (when in the side)

Breust is a potential midfield star, I would expect him to spend more time up the ground this year. Shiels also has been taught the Hawthorn way as a mid, given a taste... then given run with roles, I expect him to be released a bit more as a ball winner in 2013.
 

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Opinion Rank the AFL midfields

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