Top 5 Midfields 2024

[Jeremias]

Newcombe doesn’t chase or defend. His opponent regularly gets 25+ and kicks goals. He has a long way to go. He isn’t a plodder but he isn’t close to A grade.

Averages of 5.6, 4.6 and 4.3 tackles per game across his 3 years at AFL level is very strong from a midfielder, and would indicate that your assertion that he doesn't defend isn't particularly accurate.

 

[Anynameyouwish]

It's a bit perplexing to me why a couple of Hawthorn posters look down upon Pedlar, the Hawks produced the 2nd greatest working class midfielder I have ever seen (after Diesel) in their coach Sam Mitchell.

Criminally underrating Swan and AFL great Paul Kelly.

You’re not the first and won’t be the last to forget how great Kelly was.

 

[VinnieB]

Averages of 5.6, 4.6 and 4.3 tackles per game across his 3 years at AFL level is very strong from a midfielder, and would indicate that your assertion that he doesn't defend isn't particularly accurate.

Anyone who sits at the feet of ruckman at a stoppage will simply stand and tackle. Tom Mitchell for instance gets 6 tackles a game. Do you think he is chasing and tackling?

I have seen Newcombes opponent running through the centre going into an empty centre half forward area on his own while teams are attacking and he simply jogs after them or lets them go. Doesn’t attempt to apply any pressure. Don’t need to tackle to be defensive.

 

[citizen-erased]

1-Port (soldo, butters, rozee, jhf, houston, drew, wines, boak, bergman)
2-Bris (big O, neale, ashcroft, dunkley, clug, rayner, dev, berry, fletcher)
3-pies (ruck? - daicos, daicos, pendles, sidey, de goey, crisp, mitchell)
4-dogs (english, bont, macrae, libba, smith, treloar, harmes, williams....and quietly I really rate their '23 draft haul)
5-Dees (gawn, tracc, oliver, brayshaw, viney, sparrow, langdon, hunter, billings)
---
To round out a top 8
6-freo (darcy, serong, brayshaw, young, brodie, jaeger, erasmus, o'driscoll, johnson) still young but primed imo
7- Blues (tdk/pitt, walsh, cripps, acres, cerra, both hollands', hewett)
Edit forgot the giants;
8-GWS (briggs, green, cog, kelly, perryman, callaghan, ward, xav)
9- crows (ROB, laird, dawson, sloane, crouch, berry, keays, rankine).

Also, i wanna believe in the suns
Witts, miller, anderson, rowell, Humphrey, davies, flanders...should be top 5.

Dons too
Draper, merrett, parish, tsatas, martin, hobbs, setterfield, duursma, shiel, caldwell, durham, perkins.
Please work

 

[gungho]

The Darcy, Jacko, brayshaw, serong, young, Johnson, Erasmus combo is coming with a bullet in 2024-2030.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

I mentioned this already I think. Barring injuries still going to be

Daicos
Neale
Petracca
Bont
Cripps

And look out for Josh Daicos

7

Josh Daicos

Age

25

Ht

178cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.6

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

7.3

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.6

5star

CL

1.3

3star

D

16.2

4star

K

9.2

4star

HB

7.0

4star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.5

4star

CL

1.5

4star

D

13.8

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

6.2

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

4.2

5star

CL

1.2

4star

too. He won't like his brother getting all the glory. Happy in some respects. But he's a competitive beast at heart. He'll have a big one.

Someone from the Crows will go haywire too.

 

[Orange crush]

I mentioned this already I think. Barring injuries still going to be

Daicos
Neale
Petracca
Bont
Cripps

And look out for Josh Daicos too. He won't like his brother getting all the glory. Happy in some respects. But he's a competitive beast at heart. He'll have a big one.

Someone from the Crows will go haywire too.

And as mentioned earlier it’s midfields NOT midfielders

 

[Blackhawk42]

Newcombe doesn’t chase or defend. His opponent regularly gets 25+ and kicks goals. He has a long way to go. He isn’t a plodder but he isn’t close to A grade.

There’s a reason why teams kick big scores against the hawks, and the forwards struggle. The delivery to forwards by the midfield is ordinary and apart from Ward, they don’t run hard enough to support the backline.

Way overrated midfield who many of you judge by clearances. Richmond were the dominant team winning 3 premierships and were lowly ranked for clearances. Pies won the premiership and aren’t ranked highly for clearances.

Come on mate, you're aware of how bad of a call that is.

He's rated as an A grader by Champion Data.
He's a top 20 player in the league according to the umpires.
He's a top 20 player in the league according to the coaches.
He's a top 20 midfielder according to the All Australian panel.

I'm not here suggesting he's going to win 3 Brownlow medals, but he's a 22 year old kid with 50 games to his name who does every part of the game well and looks every bit of a future elite player.

Because you've decided he doesn't chase or defend it means you've completely disregarded every other area of the game he does well.

 

[tiger_tough]

Nankervis, Taranto, Bolton, Hopper, Prestia, Baker, Martin is top 5

 

[DQ 4EVER]

Centre square with combinations of Darcy, Jackson, Fufe, Serong, Johnson, Young With help from Erasmus, O"Meara & Brodie is looking good to me.

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

1-Port (soldo, butters, rozee, jhf, houston, drew, wines, boak, bergman)
2-Bris (big O, neale, ashcroft, dunkley, clug, rayner, dev, berry, fletcher)
3-pies (ruck? - daicos, daicos, pendles, sidey, de goey, crisp, mitchell)
4-dogs (english, bont, macrae, libba, smith, treloar, harmes, williams....and quietly I really rate their '23 draft haul)
5-Dees (gawn, tracc, oliver, brayshaw, viney, sparrow, langdon, hunter, billings)
---
To round out a top 8
6-freo (darcy, serong, brayshaw, young, brodie, jaeger, erasmus, o'driscoll, johnson) still young but primed imo
7- Blues (tdk/pitt, walsh, cripps, acres, cerra, both hollands', hewett)
8- crows (ROB, laird, dawson, sloane, crouch, berry, keays, rankine).

Crows more likely to be ROB (Thilthorpe 2nd ruck), Dawson, Laird, Crouch, Soligo, Rachele, Jones, Pedlar, Rankine

Sloane will struggle to make the side & has been training as a defender.

Berry likely depth.

Keays has been playing mainly as a forward like last season.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I mentioned this already I think. Barring injuries still going to be

Daicos
Neale
Petracca
Bont
Cripps

And look out for Josh Daicos too. He won't like his brother getting all the glory. Happy in some respects. But he's a competitive beast at heart. He'll have a big one.

Someone from the Crows will go haywire too.

Hopefully Dawson who is one of the most damaging midfielders when on song. He's our Bont.

 

[Orange crush]

1-Port (soldo, butters, rozee, jhf, houston, drew, wines, boak, bergman)
2-Bris (big O, neale, ashcroft, dunkley, clug, rayner, dev, berry, fletcher)
3-pies (ruck? - daicos, daicos, pendles, sidey, de goey, crisp, mitchell)
4-dogs (english, bont, macrae, libba, smith, treloar, harmes, williams....and quietly I really rate their '23 draft haul)
5-Dees (gawn, tracc, oliver, brayshaw, viney, sparrow, langdon, hunter, billings)
---
To round out a top 8
6-freo (darcy, serong, brayshaw, young, brodie, jaeger, erasmus, o'driscoll, johnson) still young but primed imo
7- Blues (tdk/pitt, walsh, cripps, acres, cerra, both hollands', hewett)
8- crows (ROB, laird, dawson, sloane, crouch, berry, keays, rankine).

Interesting take.

Briggs, cogs, green, Kelly, Callaghan, Ward, Perryman, Daniels, O’Halloran doesn’t make the best 8 …. Last year was just a good patch of form?

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Interesting take.

Briggs, cogs, green, Kelly, Callaghan, Ward, Perryman, Daniels, O’Halloran doesn’t make the best 8 …. Last year was just a good patch of form?

Yeah, GWS top-5 imo.

I would rank above Bulldogs.

 

[Orange crush]

Yeah, GWS top-5 imo.

I would rank above Bulldogs.

I reckon we at least push top 5 …. Might not be quite there yet

Expect more from Green and Callaghan this season

 

[citizen-erased]

Interesting take.

Briggs, cogs, green, Kelly, Callaghan, Ward, Perryman, Daniels, O’Halloran doesn’t make the best 8 …. Last year was just a good patch of form?

Gulp.
I knew id forget to add the giants while I was doing this

 

[citizen-erased]

Crows more likely to be ROB (Thilthorpe 2nd ruck), Dawson, Laird, Crouch, Soligo, Rachele, Jones, Pedlar, Rankine

Sloane will struggle to make the side & has been training as a defender.

Berry likely depth.

Keays has been playing mainly as a forward like last season.

I like the stints keays can do in the mid. And meant to add soligo who im a big fan of
My oversight of the giants would push the crows down one spot, despite being my favourite team to watch

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I like the stints keays can do in the mid. And meant to add soligo who im a big fan of
My oversight of the giants would push the crows down one spot, despite being my favourite team to watch

Won't get any argument from me as our midfield is around the middle of the pack, but on the rise.

 

[citizen-erased]

Won't get any argument from me as our midfield is around the middle of the pack, but on the rise.

Seeing your post has reminded me of our chat during the redman free agency thread.
Need to revisit the wineries you mentioned whilst im up in the barossa

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Seeing your post has reminded me of our chat during the redman free agency thread.
Need to revisit the wineries you mentioned whilst im up in the barossa

Come & join us on our Wine thread if you want...

The Wine thread

I feel like there has been enough chatter about wine and we live in close proximity of a number of excellent wine regions That we need a non pretentious wine thread. My first question is what wine do you drink at the footy. As for recommendations I'll start local with two go to wineries no...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Jeremias]

Anyone who sits at the feet of ruckman at a stoppage will simply stand and tackle. Tom Mitchell for instance gets 6 tackles a game. Do you think he is chasing and tackling?

This is a very simplistic attempt at analysis.

Yes, I think Tom Mitchell can play as a defensive mid.

I have seen Newcombes opponent running through the centre going into an empty centre half forward area on his own while teams are attacking and he simply jogs after them or lets them go. Doesn’t attempt to apply any pressure.

So you’ve seen instances of players running off Newcombe and therefore he’s not capable of applying pressure?

I’ve seen Patrick Cripps and Lachie Neale tagged out of games. I guess both can’t handle a tag because of those isolated incidents?

Care to delve deeper with examples or are we just going to speak in sweeping absolutes?

Don’t need to tackle to be defensive.

No, but if the player does tackle it’s a pretty good indication that he is not as offensively-minded as you are suggesting.

 

[jakson68]

Come on mate, you're aware of how bad of a call that is.

He's rated as an A grader by Champion Data.
He's a top 20 player in the league according to the coaches.
He's a top 20 player in the league according to the coaches.
He's a top 20 midfielder according to the All Australian panel.

I'm not here suggesting he's going to win 3 Brownlow medals, but he's a 22 year old kid with 50 games to his name who does every part of the game well and looks every bit of a future elite player.

Because you've decided he doesn't chase or defend it means you've completely disregarded every other area of the game he does well.

You lost me at Champion Data.
Then to top it off, you had to repeat the coaches statement in case we missed it.

He is a very good player but far from elite.

That tag gets used way to often.

 

[Blackhawk42]

You lost me at Champion Data.
Then to top it off, you had to repeat the coaches statement in case we missed it.

He is a very good player but far from elite.

That tag gets used way to often.

Typo. Was referencing Brownlow votes so that should have said umpires.

I'm arguing that he's an A grade mid. Not elite yet. But he has elite traits and is still at the beginning of his AFL career.

 

[HeHateMe]

Hoping Hawthorns midfield can step up again this year and start rivaling some of these lists. It has the bones, I think the next step is getting it upto scratch in other positions so we can increase rotations. This is something that makes Collingwoods midfield elite.

Newcombe, Day, Nash, Worpel, Ward, Mackenzie, Macdonald, Maginness (Moore, Weddle, Amon, Jiath)

Day is already ready, Newcombe showed some progress as a HF last year, if Macdonald and Moore can rotate through the middle more they add extra flexibility to the unit, if Jiath moving upto the wing and Amon moving back works out that will also do the same, extra preseason into Weddle, Ward and Mackenzie.

 

[jakson68]

Typo. Was referencing Brownlow votes so that should have said umpires.

I'm arguing that he's an A grade mid. Not elite yet. But he has elite traits and is still at the beginning of his AFL career.

My opinion is that he is going to be a gun and I would love to have hi.
Just not just yet.
I just don’t rate CD