The 22 for round 1 vs Brisbane

[PRANKSTER666]

I think it's difficult to use Syndey as an example in many cases because they are an anomaly with their style/brand of footy. But I think it is fair to say that the multiple brownlow medalist Goodes is a champion.

In regard to Cox and Kerr being champions, as I stated many will argue but I believe while they are stars or even superstars at their best, they are not champions, there is a difference in my opinion.

 

[Underdog]

I personally think it's the quality of the players from 16 to 22 which is the major key to a premiership.

 

[larrikin]

I personally think it's the quality of the players from 16 to 22 which is the major key to a premiership.

Agree to an extent. Because they only come into play if you have those topline players.

 

[DrTomSwift]

I think Collingwood are a good example of this, great even list but lack the stars to put them up with the Bulldogs, Geelong and the Saints.

 

[zero]

no bones, nicoski or hansen please

judging by their good preseason form and wooshas comments ("is there a spot for hansen?" "if hes good enough") i think all 3 will start round one and all 3 will have the blowtorch on them to absolutely kill it or be dropped, perhaps forever.

each one is about 3 weeks of poor form from the end of their careers as first 22 players. unless they find and maintain good to very good form early, they will play out their contracts as backups.

i mean, the coaching staff have said this is another year when player development is more important that results

(of course, the best possible thing for the young player development is a final or 2, which means we need wins, but you get my drift)

 

[zero]

Futher food for thought... its a pretty easy exercise to list AFL legends that did not taste premiership success.

well of course but thats got nothing to do with it really. being an elite player doesent mean you were part of an elite team.

i tend to agree with prankster (and in fact if you look back i have made the same "we need 2 of <young players> to become superstars to get us to a flag" post a good few times)

for the (obvious) record, i think nicknat has shown enough to suggest that he will be one of those superstars, and i am waiting with baited breath for one or two of masten, shuey, swift or ebert to take that next step. every one has shown a bit at the top level, enough to tantalise us....

mastens month of 30 poss/game last year,
shueys preseason form
swifts pack-carving games against essendon, bulldogs and his BOG against the tigers,
eberts 28 poss, 6 tackle, 1.1 game v crows 2 weeks after he turned 18

really, how far this group can go depends a great deal on these 4 guys, how good they end up and how effective this lot can be as a group, just depends so much on the engine room

yes mcginnity and scooter will probably be decent players, yes we have aging stars kerr and cox, but really, having hurn, brown, le cras and kennedy is going to come to naught unless scotty burns can mould nicnat, masten, swift, shuey and ebert into one of the top 4 midfields in the AFL.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Based on credits earned in previous years and also the pre-season form - this is my 22 to play Brisbane.

The only conundrum is where to play Brown.

FB: Butler, Glass, Waters
HB: Brown, McKenzie, Hurn
C: Rosa, Masten, Embley
HF: McKinley, Kennedy, Nicoski
FF: LeCras, Lynch, Cox

Ruck: Naita, Kerr, A.Selwood,

Interchange: Swift, Priddis, McGinnity, Shuey

Emerg: Ebert, Hansen, SSelwood


Edit: Starting Cox out of the ruck - only due to assumed fitness.

 

[Prem87]

Ebert is in our best 22.

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

Lot's of talk about the battle between Schofield / McKenzie / Spangher with McKenzie seemingly getting the nod in a lot of people's opinion.

Just a thought, didn't Schofield have a good patch late last year as a tall running wingman?

 

[sTeeL]

TFS is close i think. McKinley swap with Le Cras every day of the week. Priddis is starting 18. And I don't like Cox as a FP. Rather Waters there to bust some nuts and have a more steady BP.

Ebert is DEFINATE best 22. Those who have watched him this year have noticed his pace increase. Big bodied and strong midfielders are definately needed and he seems to have the best goal-kicking mind out of our young mids.

McKenzie gets first pick probably because of the amount he played last year but I'm not sure which to go for out of the 3. Its a shame because if you rolled all 3 into one package they would be brilliant. McKenzie's spoiling and defensive efforts, Spanghers incredibly good rebound, and Schofields ability to play both ends and running.

Cox is going to have to play second fiddle to Naitanui while he is getting match fitness back I am afraid. Pretty weak NAB series from the big fella. Regardless of his last few years, he needs to get his fitness back up to play the link up role he does so well.

The queries on Kerr are ridiculous. Apart from the one game when Priddis wasn't playing(and no other mid of note showed up) and Kerr got tagged into the ground he was good-great for all his other games. Same for 08. He just didnt play as much. Will be back to being our no 1 mid as well.

Prefer Hansen to Lynch at FF. Proceed to abuse me.

 

[BOND 007]

Based on credits earned in previous years and also the pre-season form - this is my 22 to play Brisbane.

The only conundrum is where to play Brown.

FB: Butler, Glass, Waters
HB: Brown, McKenzie, Hurn
C: Rosa, Masten, Embley
HF: McKinley, Kennedy, Nicoski
FF: LeCras, Lynch, Cox

Ruck: Naita, Kerr, A.Selwood,

Interchange: Swift, Priddis, McGinnity, Shuey

Emerg: Ebert, Hansen, SSelwood


Edit: Starting Cox out of the ruck - only due to assumed fitness.

I agree with lineup and positional placements with the exception of Brett Jones for Waters. Worsfold will want some experience down back not only for 1st game but beacause Brissie will be a fairly experienced team.

Normally I would have Ebert in and McGinnity out - but I reckon young Patrick may just be given a job on following around one Daniel Rich.

 

[Marlin01]

Normally I would have Ebert in and McGinnity out - but I reckon young Patrick may just be given a job on following around one Daniel Rich.

That would make for very interesting viewing IMO. McGinnity seems like the type of player that would stick to his task.

 

[PRANKSTER666]

Obviously you still need that good core of players to win a premiership (16-22 players as somebody stated), but it is not easy to win a premiership with that alone, you still need champions to win you the tough games and they are all tough when you come to the final series.

 

[Wirra for PM]

FB: MacKenzie Glass Jones
HB: Butler Brown Hurn
C: Embley Priddis Masten
HF: Nicoski Kennedy Ebert
FF: McKinley Lynch Lecras
Foll: Cox Kerr Selwood

I/C: Naitinui Shuey McGinnity Swift/Rosa/Waters/Spangher/SSelwood

Quite good depth and battle for positions.

This is about right. I'm not keen on Bones getting a spot but they'll give the experienced guys a chance to stake their claim. Personally I have Mackenzie in the more defensive KP role and Brown as third tall, but then it's more about match ups anyway.

Agree Rosa for the fourth bench spot, so Swifty will miss out this time. In due course Nico will drop out of the 22 IMO, Embley will then take over that HF spot and Swift will come in on the wing.

Paddy should be our main tagger, he's shown he can do the defensive stuff and still find the ball. Selwood needs to be freed up, with the form he's shown so far he'll be our key mid this year.

 

[Underdog]

Obviously you still need that good core of players to win a premiership (16-22 players as somebody stated), but it is not easy to win a premiership with that alone, you still need champions to win you the tough games and they are all tough when you come to the final series.

Sure, but are there many or any recent premiers with a list of stars surpassing Kerr, Cox and Glass?

Ablett, Bartel, Selwood and Scarlett is one.

Franklin and Hodge are Hawthorn's only real stars.

Sydney had Hall, Goodes and Kirk.

 

[paran]

Butler Glass Scooter
Selwood Brown Hurn
Rosa Priddis Masten
Embley Kennedy Ebert
LeCras Hansen McKinley
Cox Swift Kerr

NicNat Shuey McGinnity MacKenzie/Waters

E: Nicoski Bones Lynch

 

[sTeeL]

Kind of agree with leaving Swift out till nicoski loses form. He's been a bit back of last years end of season form so no need to rush him into round1. Bones and nicoski won't be there long I think if they even make round 1

 

[zero]

i tend to think that nic nat, shuey, swift, masten and ebert (along with emac and brown) should be on the development fast track and should play every game, barring injury. even if they have some poor weeks they are too important to get games into to not be playing really. the sooner we get those guys up to 60 games, the better the side will be

scooter, mcginnity, bones, nico, spangher, dalziell... let them compete hard for the last couple of spots, but those guys first mentioned need to play and play often

 

[PRANKSTER666]

Sure, but are there many or any recent premiers with a list of stars surpassing Kerr, Cox and Glass?

Ablett, Bartel, Selwood and Scarlett is one.

Franklin and Hodge are Hawthorn's only real stars.

Sydney had Hall, Goodes and Kirk.

But we don't have the core group to support these guys atm.

Making the 8 hinges on good years from Cox and Kerr but not sure too many ppl on here are confident these two will be injury free this year let alone play to their best ability.

When and if we get that core group these guys will not be elite anymore so we need new stars.

 

[NYJetsfor2029]

Considering new developments:

FB: Brett Jones, Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie
HB: Shannon Hurn, Mitch Brown, Sam Butler
C: Matt Rosa, Matt Priddis, Chris Masten
HF: Mark Nicoski, Josh Kennedy, Andrew Embley
FF: Mark LeCras, Quinten Lynch, Ben McKinley

RR: Nic Naitanui, Daniel Kerr, Adam Selwood

INT: Tom Swift, Brad Ebert, Will Sullivan/Dean Cox, Beau Waters

EMG: Ash Hansen, Luke Shuey, Patrick McGinnity


I don't think we would have upgraded Sullivan unless we'd pay him in the event of an unfit Cox.

The rest is pretty much the most experienced team we have. It's their spot to lose.

If Priddis isnt fit bring in Shuey, Paddy in for Waters likewise.

 

[bigburger]

I think thats pretty much right except I would have Scooter Selwood in front of Paddy M and probably close to being in front of Beau Waters. Would love to see Shuey in there but who would you drop at this stage? Nicoski has earned his spot and I think the real man in danger would be Brett Jones.

 

[MoraMora]

Nicoski is lucky you guys didnt pick up Nathan Brown, otherwise he wouldnt be getting a gig.

 

[bigburger]

Nicoski is lucky you guys didnt pick up Nathan Brown, otherwise he wouldnt be getting a gig.

Hahaha. Well played sir. I won't back down from that though I reckon he would have been a pretty good temporary fix.

 

[joeyavalanche]

I really dont know how many chances people need to give Nicoski.
Although i didnt see the final game against Melbourne.

Everything else from last year and this pre season shows he is making the same blunders and decisions.

I think our HFF's should be Embley and Ebert.
Both are more damaging, more composed and make better decisions than Nicoski going off track record.

They are also more flexible to be rotated in other positions.
Its common knowledge Nicoski is a liability down back, if HFF isnt working for him, he's useless to us.

Unless he genuinely a better prospect than either of those two.
I dont know why he is getting a game.

 

[Audacious]

Just so long as the big red hack doesnt play ill be happy.

Would be nice to have Shuey and NickNat play all 22 games.