Solid as a Rock

[lacrow]

I was reading one of the other posts here and saw that someone had put together a potential team and it just struck me that we now have gone from being a team in serious decline to one that looks pretty damn rock solid.

The team in question was:

Torney Rutten Bassett
Johncock Bock McLoed
Mattner Goodwin Burton
Porplyzia McGregor Perrie
Edwards Welsh Hentschel
Biglands Riccuito Thompson

Clarke/Meeson, Hart, Reilly, Knights/Shirley/Van Berlo

Just look at that list people... it's pretty good, IMHO. And this doesn't even include guys like Gibson or Hudson or Bode (Hudson due to injury of course).

The back six is untouchable... with 4 guys who can play at AA level (Rutten, Basset, McLeod and Bock).... 5 if you include Johncock. And Torney is a stud.

The center looks really good as well - although this will become a problem in a couple of years as Roo, Goody, et al, retire. A few tough nuts in Roo, Goody, Thompson, and the Hitman. Throw Knights and Reilly in there, plus Shirley is turning out to be a very good tagger who can get his own ball too.

Only potential problem area is the forward line... but as we saw last year... Kenny Mac is turning out to be a pretty good option. Plus, with the emergence of Hentschell and being able to play Welsh on a 2nd or 3rd defender, we should be better than expected, IMHO.

It's even looking like we might have a little depth this year. Yeah.. I know... shocking!

Thoughts?

 

[Gets!]

I think we have an awesome team this year and think Porps will make a big impact on the AFL world.

Very exciting times ahead...looking over that list is very pleasing

 

[- PC -]

The mantra is and always will be

The team that plays as a team will excel over those more experienced and complete

 

[rayven]

very good thread

i will add this
theres a saying "a week is a long time in football"


well our week was so bloody destiny changing it aint funny

i mean rnd 2 of 05 to round 3
after rnd 2 our coach our list our style of play was regarded as pretty crap and going nowhere.
after round 3 we never looked back and now we got a formidable outfit,not influenced by draft picks or trading or poaching a coach, simply by character,commitment and hard ffing work

 

[RoosterLad]

to me that team looks like Porplyzia is walking straight into the As, yeah he was superb for Westies last year, but don't go overboard

 

[Stiffy_18]

very good thread

i will add this
theres a saying "a week is a long time in football"


well our week was so bloody destiny changing it aint funny

i mean rnd 2 of 05 to round 3
after rnd 2 our coach our list our style of play was regarded as pretty crap and going nowhere.
after round 3 we never looked back and now we got a formidable outfit,not influenced by draft picks or trading or poaching a coach, simply by character,commitment and hard ffing work

That win in the Showdown certainly got us heading in the right direction but we were still playing good but not great footy. We were still capable of losing what we shouldn't and we still managed to just win what we should have won comfortably. For me the turning point was that loss against the Cats in Geelong. Welsh got spanked by Scarlett and Thompson played by far his best game for us. His heroics were not enough and we lost by 4 or 5 points IIRC. From then on we just went up another notch and didn't drop a game for the entire home and away season.

That game did something to us as we were a different side on the field than we were prior to that game even though the side in tersm of personel was pretty much the same.

 

[- PC -]

. For me the turning point was that loss against the Cats in Geelong. Welsh got spanked by Scarlett and Thompson played by far his best game for us. His heroics were not enough and we lost by 4 or 5 points IIRC. From then on we just went up another notch and didn't drop a game for the entire home and away season.

That game did something to us as we were a different side on the field than we were prior to that game even though the side in tersm of personel was pretty much the same.

Nope.. both teams played to lose that game.Then the umpire stepped in. But I agree we didnt lose another game until the Finals series

The game for me was the St Kilda TD game. The turnaround against a team touted as Premiership favourites showed that by remaining committed you can fight back in any situation. If it wasnt for the Cats loss the St Kilda game would have been the start of the streak

 

[AdelaideFan]

Just like to comment on our forward line. I feel our forward line is the stonrgest it has been for years. We have a lot of options and our current setup is very hard for opposition back lines to match up on. This is mainly due to the introduction of some new blood into our backline which allowed us to move some more experienced and skilled players into our forward line. Bock and Rutten have played a major part in allowing us to put mcgregor and hentschel forward by providing solid perfomrances down back.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Nope.. both teams played to lose that game.Then the umpire stepped in. But I agree we didnt lose another game until the Finals series

The game for me was the St Kilda TD game. The turnaround against a team touted as Premiership favourites showed that by remaining committed you can fight back in any situation. If it wasnt for the Cats loss the St Kilda game would have been the start of the streak

Fair point that

 

[sworc36]

Nope.. both teams played to lose that game.Then the umpire stepped in. But I agree we didnt lose another game until the Finals series

The game for me was the St Kilda TD game. The turnaround against a team touted as Premiership favourites showed that by remaining committed you can fight back in any situation. If it wasnt for the Cats loss the St Kilda game would have been the start of the streak[/QUOTE]
I agree and it also gave us supporters hope that our coach will react and make the changes necessary before the game gets too far out of reach.

 

[Truck Rutten]

That win in the Showdown certainly got us heading in the right direction but we were still playing good but not great footy. We were still capable of losing what we shouldn't and we still managed to just win what we should have won comfortably. For me the turning point was that loss against the Cats in Geelong. Welsh got spanked by Scarlett and Thompson played by far his best game for us. His heroics were not enough and we lost by 4 or 5 points IIRC. From then on we just went up another notch and didn't drop a game for the entire home and away season.

That game did something to us as we were a different side on the field than we were prior to that game even though the side in tersm of personel was pretty much the same.

Just on Scotty's performance in that game: he had 34 touches, took 9 marks and kicked 3 goals, yet didn't figure in the umpires votes

 

[Ants]

You don't think Skipworth will get in the 22?