Prediction Round 1 2022 Team

[bird_man]

Paton has been training with the mids apparently. I think he plays (leg and fitness dependent) so hes probably the bench spot.

If were going off the most recent form (yesterday) Ross is behind both of them.

What has them both ahead of Ross now?

Both were clearly behind him last year IMO

 

[Tommy Wigs]

What has them both ahead of Ross now?

Both were clearly behind him last year IMO

Personally think Byrnes will pole-vault past him whether there is evidence of that yet or not. Ross would have more of an argument v Bytel, but different roles of course and might depend on structure. Most likely 1-2 miss early on and then more as the season goes on, so Seb might play, but he doesn’t feel actual 22 any more to me.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Personally think Byrnes will pole-vault past him whether there is evidence of that yet or not. Ross would have more of an argument v Bytel, but different roles of course and might depend on structure. Most likely 1-2 miss early on and then more as the season goes on, so Seb might play, but he doesn’t feel actual 22 any more to me.

Byrnes doesn't need to do a lot to cement a spot IMO.

Bytel is more relying on an injury from Crouch , Hannebury , or Jones ( So almost a lock ) .

 

[aussierulesrules]

Sooooo, it seems as though Paddy is every chance of not being available for round 1, so what do we do in the event that he’s not ready?

Play the Campbell and Roma combo?

Play Roma in the ruck and bring Hayes in to play forward/ruck?

Go with Roma in the ruck and play both Coops and Wood and have Cooper do the backup rucking?

Given the fact that we’re coming up against the Grundy/Cameron/Cox and Darcy/Lobb combos in the first two rounds, you’d have to lean towards us going with option A.

Far from ideal.

 

[BrutThough]

Sooooo, it seems as though Paddy is every chance of not being available for round 1, so what do we do in the event that he’s not ready?

Play the Campbell and Roma combo?

Play Roma in the ruck and bring Hayes in to play forward/ruck?

Go with Roma in the ruck and play both Coops and Wood and have Cooper do the backup rucking?

Given the fact that we’re coming up against the Grundy/Cameron/Cox and Darcy/Lobb combos in the first two rounds, you’d have to lean towards us going with option A.

Far from ideal.

I'd go with your 3rd option - Marshall with Sharman and Wood.

Marshall can dominate rucking 90% by himself. Sharman and Wood offer the most to the forward line. The midfield will just have to be good enough to shark some taps when the stop gap is rucking.

 

[aussierulesrules]

I'd go with your 3rd option - Marshall with Sharman and Wood.

Marshall can dominate rucking 90% by himself. Sharman and Wood offer the most to the forward line. The midfield will just have to be good enough to shark some taps when the stop gap is rucking.

Marshall dominate Grundy and Darcy?

 

[BrutThough]

Marshall dominate Grundy and Darcy?

He's a very good ruckman.

 

[bird_man]

I'm happy with either option but it probably makes sense to play the 2 rucks if that's the plan all year.

Campbell is an upgrade on Hunter and can be a pretty good tap ruck.

Not sure how I feel about throwing another Goat to the Wolves playing him in the ruck either

 

[Savage Kent]

B: Paton, Battle, Wilkie
HB: Hill, Howard, Sinclair
C: McKenzie, Steele, Clark
HF: Gresham, Marshall, Higgins
F: Membrey, King, Butler
R: Ryder, Crouch, Jones

Int: Billings, Byrnes, Sharman, Bytel
Sub: Webster

 

[aussierulesrules]

He's a very good ruckman.

So are they.

 

[OxSaint]

B: Webster Howard Wilkie
HB: Hill Battle Sinclair
C: Byrnes Steele Dmac
HF:Gresham Membrey Billings
F: Butler King Marshall
FOL: Ryder Jones Crouch

Int: Higgins, Hanners, Sharman, Paton/Clarke

Gee it’s hard to leave out a Paton or Clarke and Highmore. Loved the aggressive ball movement and courage Highmore brought to the team.

I think Crouch is in for a battle to keep his spot with Clarke, Bytel, Byrnes, Gresh, Ross all wanting mid time at afl level.

 

[gringo2011]

He's a very good ruckman.

I disagree, he's not a "very good" ruck man, he's a gun player but I'd say his tap work is probably the least of his assets. His ability to shark his own ball and play like an extra mid and his around the ground marking and field play are excellent but as a ruckman he's only good. He's always struggled against the best rucks and I'd probably have Campbell in to back him up. I was totally against Ryder but he make a pedestrian midfield look a much better set up.

 

[CursingFijian]

i've swung a few changes on the whiteboard what do you think

That team looks like a fine tuned machine to me. I’ll bet it purrs like a Royals Joyce.

 

[CursingFijian]

Need to be 4-1 atleast, I reckon we go 5-0, we want 7-4 as minimum from first 5, realistically should be top 4 at the half way point, I suspect we'll be 8-3

I’ve already set my sights on a Round 14 blockbuster!

 

[borderbarry]

The team looks alright, but SHarman should be starting on the field not the bench. Brownlow vote in his last game Puts him ahead of every other forward named.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

The team looks alright, but SHarman should be starting on the field not the bench. Brownlow vote in his last game Puts him ahead of every other forward named.

It makes no difference where he starts, except sometimes you might want to start a more versatile player there.

 

[phantom13]

If Ryder isnt right to go you gotta play a proper second ruck.

 

[botts]

If Ryder isnt right to go you gotta play a proper second ruck.

I disagree. Let Marshall go one out with grundy and have Hayes pinch hit around the ground

 

[hangdog]

I disagree. Let Marshall go one out with grundy and have Hayes pinch hit around the ground

Seconded. Marshall is a top 4 ruckman in the comp and prefers to play the lone ruck role.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

In 2019 , Marshall was pretty much solo ruck.
He had 569 hitouts vs 829 to Gawn.
He had 110 clearances , compared to 104 to Gawn.

BUT.....
Its fair to say that when we played Melbourne the first time , Gawn spanked him.
Second time he was better , but Gawn still had the upper hand.
Saints won both games.

In 2020, Gawn had more hitouts than both Ryder and Marshall combined.
Saints lost.

Hunter's game against Melbourne 2021, his second AFL game, was probably not much worse than Marshall's first one in 2019 in terms of hitouts, tackles and clearances.

 

[phantom13]

To be clear, i dont really care what they do and there is alot of depth for positions outside of ruckmen. I think a dominant "ruckman" (in the tap sense) can be pretty overrated but id worry about smashing RoMa physically and mentally just getting bashed by two teams with pretty good 2-3 man rotations. Much like you can win the flag in the first 5 rounds but you can arguably lose it youre not going to make an AA hybrid ruck in April but you might destroy him.

Horses for courses and if it was say.... the Dogs, yeh dont play Campbell or whatever, but if were going to recruit someone like Campbell were going to play him if one of our Rucks cant play against a 2 or 3 headed monster.

 

[WRFL Indentity]

B: Webster, Howard, Wilkie
HB: Sinclair, Battle, Hill
C: Membrey, Crouch, McKenzie
HF: Billings, Marshall, Butler
F: Higgins, King, Sharman
R: Ryder, Steele, Jones

I: Gresham, Wood, Paton, Clark

E: Highmore, Ross, Connelly, Brynes, Bytel, Campbell, Hannebery, Geary, Joyce, Kent, Long.

If Ratten insists on having a taller wingman, I think it's Membrey. He can drift forward across the front of packs and can do the same as an intercept mark in the back half. This makes Highmore's spot less of a requirement and allows him to develop further stings to his bow. Looks a bit stiff, but the above team works to the current game plan. McKenzie is the work-horse.

Ryder to ruck and rest on the bench with Marshall to go when required and rest forward. Would like to see King ruck a little more too as I believe if we get his brother, it will be a 3-way rotation of Marshall/King/King. May as well get him used to it. Until of course Heath comes along, which changes the dynamic yet again.

Wood gets a game due to what he brings in terms of height and tank. When in the zone, a really good link up option and creates a mismatch at most spots he has the ability to play.

Anyway, this entire thought process came about due to Wood starting on the wing against Carlton and my preference (as with Ratts) to see a tall, mobile wing with the ability to create a mismatch coming out of defence, but to also potentially fill the intercept role we seem to not have working just yet.

 

[hayes]

A tall winger is a great idea because of all the premiership teams with tall wingman in them…….wait what.

 

[Veer Right]

In 2019 , Marshall was pretty much solo ruck.
He had 569 hitouts vs 829 to Gawn.
He had 110 clearances , compared to 104 to Gawn.

BUT.....
Its fair to say that when we played Melbourne the first time , Gawn spanked him.
Second time he was better , but Gawn still had the upper hand.
Saints won both games.

In 2020, Gawn had more hitouts than both Ryder and Marshall combined.
Saints lost.

Hunter's game against Melbourne 2021, his second AFL game, was probably not much worse than Marshall's first one in 2019 in terms of hitouts, tackles and clearances.

Your basing that on stats. Marshall was the reason we won, he spanked Gawn around the ground. Gawn was copping criticism for that very fact on the dees forum.

You only have to watch Grundy play as an example of inflated stats with so so impact.

 

[WRFL Indentity]

A tall winger is a great idea because of all the premiership teams with tall wingman in them…….wait what.

I liken it to the modern, 6'2ish midfielder. Wasn't a thing until it was. When it finally works, everyone will try it.