Selection trouble

[LeeARM]

An article was posted on essendonfc.com.au that talked about fitting in McVeigh, McPhee and possibly Lonergan into the side this week. If we're having trouble fitting in players now I'm wondering what will happen when Gumbleton, Reimers, Hurley, Welsh, Prismall and Laycock are back. Keeping in mind we'll want to get games into Neagle as well and any other players who are playing well in the VFL at the time.
I'm glad we have so many options and possibilities but I wanted to ask everyone which 22 (with everyone fit) is the best in terms of preparing for the future, having a good team structure and still having the best players possible?

 

[Kaiser Powser]

it's a welcome problem

 

[LeeARM]

it's a welcome problem

it definetly beats having not enough players.

 

[efcboy]

think the problem here is bringing in two blokes mcveigh and lonergan who have missed gaining some match fitness (particularly mcveigh) and dropping a hard fit bloke like dyson. i'm thinking they are best to just bring in the one which would have to be mcveigh on talent to avoid running out of legs etc. lonergan wasn't brilliant in R1 so i don't think one week in the vfl would hurt too much.

 

[Kong]

Driving home from the game on Saturday, I was most excited knowing that we still had Welsh, McVeigh, Lonergan, Reimers, Prismall, McPhee, Gumbleton and Hurley - not to mention players such as Houli and Neagle who create even more pressure for spots -still to return from injury. How's that for depth?!

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

There's no trouble fitting them in at all.

Myers, Nash, Dyson, Jetta aren't good enough at the moment and are only getting a game due to injuries.

When Reimers and Laycock become available then we might have a few headaches.

The form of Pears and Daniher might see Hurley playing a lot more VFL than first planned. Again not a bad thing because it means the other 2 are getting the job done.

 

[LeeARM]

i've been wondering about hocking, he's been playing great and when welsh comes back i can't really see where he fits into the team. it'd be nice if we could fit him somewhere instead of sending him back to Bendigo.
oh well.

 

[TechnoViking]

Hurley will be the no 1 young tall picked every week me thinks!

All three of them will play

 

[Smokin]

having such a horrid run last year was always going to pay off sooner or later - and now we have many players with senior experience providing depth.

Look on the weekend, with already 7-8 first 22 selections out, we could make a late repacement for quinn and could choose between the likes of Nash and Nat Rat, with guys like Houli playing 2's.

There will be room, as a couple ie Myers, Jetta and Nash would be hanging by a thread one would think.

Wouldnt be suprised to see Daniher trailed up forward in games once Hurley comes back. I think he may have the raw ingredients to be a very hard matchup.

 

[Skeeta Olly]

Had a look at the replay of the match last night and noticed some things.

Myers had a pretty good night when he had the ball. He set up the Lucas' goal from half back, running along the wing and following up from rebounding the 50.
On another occasion he received the hard ball and passed it off into space. This time though instead of following up he decided to sheppard off 2 Carlton players, giving room for his team mate to get an uncontested possession.
Mentioned on here before, he's a bit top heavy and needs to do some sprint training. Looked a bit slow out there when chasing.

As for Dyson, he was good but I've given up arguing his case, as I think I'm the only one that thinks he's playing well...

 

[Colin D'Cops]

It's a lovely situation to be in isn't it?

 

[Skeeta Olly]

The form of Pears and Daniher might see Hurley playing a lot more VFL than first planned. Again not a bad thing because it means the other 2 are getting the job done.

You would have to be 99% sure that he'll get some game time this year to learn off Fletcher, Knights wouldn't deny Hurley of that needed help and experience.

 

[JimmyHird]

I can't wait for the day when we have a close to fully fit squad with competition for a lot of places in the 22. It's hopefully not too far away in the near future

 

[danzan22]

think the problem here is bringing in two blokes mcveigh and lonergan who have missed gaining some match fitness (particularly mcveigh) and dropping a hard fit bloke like dyson. i'm thinking they are best to just bring in the one which would have to be mcveigh on talent to avoid running out of legs etc. lonergan wasn't brilliant in R1 so i don't think one week in the vfl would hurt too much.

An unfit Mcveigh>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>a fully fit Dyson

 

[Boucks09]

Just watched the replay again on Fox Sports which confirmed a few things for me in regards to selection:

- Myers struggled. He did a few nice things but many of his errors were due to the fact that he was constantly fatigued. He gave away a few free kicks, made a couple of bad decisions and his skills weren't spot on. He needs to get some 'conditioning' (Knighter's favourite word) in the VFL.

- Leroy struggled. Again he made some poor decisions. His tackling pressure was great, but with Alwyn firing I'm not sure that is enough to keep him in the side.

Going off Knight's comments today the following appear obvious:

- McPhee will play
- McVeigh will play
- Lonergan will play VFL
- 1 of Houli, Quinn and Nat Rat will play

The most interesting things for the remainder of the season for me are the following:

- Can we play Hurley, Pears and Daniher all together in defence? It would be great as they are the nucleus of our backline in the next 2-10 years. I think Darcy could play on a smaller forward, Pears on the monster, Hurley at full back and Fletcher doing WTF he wants to

- Does Laycock play? I am an abashed Laycock fan. However Knight's seems intent to play Ryder as the second ruckman at the moment rather than Bellchambers which raises an interesting point RE Laycock. Given my first point about the 3 young defenders, it appears Ryder won't play CHB, so does he play permanent forward if Laycock comes into the team?

- Neagle. Lloyd said yesterday that the experiment with him at full forward hadn't worked. Whilst it is disappointing that he is playing so poorly, it could work out ok. Lloyd has been forced to go back deep and has now found form. With Lloyd's form, Lucas will also gain confidence. So if Neagle finds form he can come into the team with both senior forwards in form and able to adapt better to a change in roles much easier than they were able to at the start of this season. He will get opportunities when he derserves them.

- Hocking vs Lonergan. Didn't see this one coming but I've got a feeling both players are playing for the same spot when Welsh comes back. Ignoring Hocking's ability to tag a player, he is clearly an in and under clearance player in the same ilk as Lonergan. The gap is closer than many think.

-Monfries vs Skipworth. I think that with many solid midfielders to come into the side, there is only room for one of these two as a small forward who gets plenty of posession through the midfield. Both have been great so far this year, so it could go either way depending on form throughout. I'm favouring Gus just at this stage but have been wrapped with the Skipworth selection.

So at this stage (lots will change but this is from around Round 12 onwards) my best 22 for this year are:

Backs: Slattery, Hurley, Daniher
Half Backs: Fletcher, Pears, Dempsey
Centres: Prismall, Watson, Stanton
Half Forwards: Lovett, Lucas, McPhee
Forwards: Davey, Lloyd, Monfries
Followers: Hille, McVeigh, Welsh
I/C: Ryder, Winderlich, Reimers, Lonergan
Emerg: Depending on opponent

Notes:

- I don't think Gumbleton or Laycock will get fit enough to play seniors this year. Even if they do make a comeback they would have to hit great form to force a way in.

- I think that one of the 3 young KPP will be dropped occasionally depending on matchups, in which case a Houli/Nash/Quinn would come in depending on form.

- Neagle will get a run on occasion with Lucas/Fletcher to rest some games with short turnarounds. When Fletcher rests, Ryder may go back to help.

- Myers and Jetta still have a way to go to forge a permanent spot in the team.

-Nat Rat plays games when one of the kids is showing signs of a long season (e.g. Pears as he is coming of a short preseason)

- Zaharakis keeps pressure on Lovett to stay dedicated

 

[abers47]

Sensational - how long since we have had this 'problem'?

 

[abers47]

Another pressing for selection should be Hooker - good game in the VFL!

 

[zaharakamania]

dont think my boy will be going anywhere in a hurry & the one out i really wouldnt want to see would be that of hocking - he has really started to impress imho


& aint it great how quickly a clubs fortunes can turn around - touch wood!!

 

[the diddy]

At long last we have selection pressure, blokes will be picked more on performance, likely to see McPhee, McVeigh and Lonergan to play this week, hopefully we can stay injury free the next few weeks and then the selection problems will get very serious.

 

[Smyth94]

The form of Pears and Daniher might see Hurley playing a lot more VFL than first planned. Again not a bad thing because it means the other 2 are getting the job done.

Only, and only because Hurley will need the extra conditioning. Talent wise, he's the first one picked out of the three.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Only, and only because Hurley will need the extra conditioning. Talent wise, he's the first one picked out of the three.

Well he might be a better natural footballer but the others are better athletes. They might end up having better careers... it's too early to predict.

As long as they are doing the job, then I find it hard to fit all three in the same side and somethings got to give.

He might be unlucky and I'm not too fussed about having a first year KP kid only playing 4-6 games. I'd rather ease him in then put an enormous amount of strain on his body.

We should aim to get 15-20 games of football into him at any level.

Similar with Zaharakis, maybe 8-12 games AFL and then interchange him with Houli, Jetta and the like.

 

[Smyth94]

Well he might be a better natural footballer but the others are better athletes. They might end up having better careers... it's too early to predict.

As long as they are doing the job, then I find it hard to fit all three in the same side and somethings got to give.

He might be unlucky and I'm not too fussed about having a first year KP kid only playing 4-6 games. I'd rather ease him in then put an enormous amount of strain on his body.

We should aim to get 15-20 games of football into him at any level.

Similar with Zaharakis, maybe 8-12 games AFL and then interchange him with Houli, Jetta and the like.

Yeah I agree with that. I just think Knights will want him in the side more often than not because of the Fletch factor.

We're also a more dangerous team with Hurls in the side coming out of defense because he takes the kick in and can spot up Fletch from 50-60m, Fletch will be then able to spot up Lloyd/Lucas/Ryder with another 50-60m pass.

Tayte and DD can't do that. If there's no match up for him down back, give him a go up forward, where he is supposed to be pretty good too.

There's always a place in your side for a bloke that can kick the ball like Hurley.

 

[Darealrath]

Something is going to have to give in our midfield. Have you tried picking a best 22 assuming all of McVeigh, Welsh and Prismall return fit and in the form they had last season? Bloody hard.

I honestly think Lonergan could be in a bit of trouble, and one of McVeigh and Welsh
may have to move back/forward while only pinch hitting in the midfield to keep the balance right (as far as pace goes).

Very nice problem to have!

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Yeah I agree with that. I just think Knights will want him in the side more often than not because of the Fletch factor.

I'm not sure about the Fletch factor. If he's a natural footballer and already knows how to position and all of that then he won't need Fletch's assistance as much.

Maybe Pears and Daniher will benefit a lot more from Fletch than Hurley and it'll be better for us in the long run.

 

[Thrust]

Myers had a pretty good night when he had the ball. He set up the Lucas' goal from half back, running along the wing and following up from rebounding the 50.
On another occasion he received the hard ball and passed it off into space. This time though instead of following up he decided to sheppard off 2 Carlton players, giving room for his team mate to get an uncontested possession.
Mentioned on here before, he's a bit top heavy and needs to do some sprint training. Looked a bit slow out there when chasing.

As for Dyson, he was good but I've given up arguing his case, as I think I'm the only one that thinks he's playing well...

I'm one of Dyson's biggest critics but I agree, also that pass to skipworth was sensational. Still don't think he'll make it but can't drop him after that game.