Madison Twatter
PhD
Hi All
Out of interests sake I thought I'd do a little research and pull up an experimental U22 All Australian Side to see which club had the best of the next (proven) young crop coming through. I chose 1994 as the cut off year of birth (22 years old or younger as of 2016) as it well and truly gets rid of any compromised drafts and shows us what shape the list of a club is in when it comes to proven young talent. Of course this means that I'm going to get the inevitable "But what about players who are just a bit too old like Jeremy Cameron (22yrs 10months) and Chad Wingard (22 yrs 6 months), you sad jabroni!?!??" comments but I had to cut it off somewhere and 1994 was the best for post expansion draft domination. It also ignores the most recent draft of kids or players yet to play, including players like Jacob Weitering and Christian Petracca who might not have shown anything yet but should at the very least be solid, serviceable players who make this squad in the future. This of course means its not a perfect system because it leaves off players just outside the range which could significantly improve the young list profile of a team (ie GWS or Port Adelaide) and it also leaves off 2015 drafted players who are yet to show their wares but who should, at least theoretically, improve a list as well (ie. Carlton or Melbourne). Having gotten my disclaimer out of the way, no system is perfect so here we go:
ALL AUSTRALIAN U22 SIDE
FB: Marco Paparone (Brisbane) ; Jackson Thurlow (Geelong); Nick Vlastuin (Richmond)
HB: Tom Langdon (Collingwood); Kade Kolodjashnij (Gold Coast); Christian Salem (Melbourne)
C: Jaeger O'Meara (Gold Coast); Marcus Bontempelli [C] (Footscray); Lewis Taylor (Brisbane)
HF: Jackson Macrae (Footscray); Jesse Hogan (Melbourne) ; Zachary Merrett (Essendon)
FF: Jake Stringer (Footscray); Joe Daniher (Essendon); Isaac Heeney (Sydney)
Fol: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood); Patrick Cripps [VC] (Carlton); Oliver Wines (Port Adelaide)
Int: Brad Crouch (Adelaide); Jack Viney (Melbourne); Angus Brayshaw (Melbourne); Cameron McCarthy (GWS)
Emg: Jake Lever (Adelaide); Billy Hartung (Hawthorn); Dominic Sheed (West Coast)
Unlucky: Jordan De Goey (Collingwood); James Aish (Collingwood); Jack Martin (Gold Coast); Touk Miller (Gold Coast); Lachlan Hunter (Footscray) Jayden Laverde (Essendon); Troy Menzel (Adelaide); ; Matt Crouch (Adelaide); Lachie Whitfield (GWS); Jack Steele (GWS); Jake Neade (Port Adelaide); Luke McDonald (North Melbourne); Sam Mayes (Brisbane); Luke Dunstan (St Kilda); Jack Billings (St Kilda); Jack Lonie (St Kilda); Hugh Goddard (St Kilda); Ben Lennon (Richmond).
Of course a lot of these can be disagreed with and some unlucky players could be swapped in for some picked players (I struggled to choose between Paparone or Lever on the field for example and struggled to decide between Sheed, Whitfield and Mayes for the final Emergency spot) but that's why I am posting it here to get some second opinions.
Looking at this lineup one can see that the Melbourne (4) and Footscray (3) lists are looking very good for solid, (semi)proven young talent. Footscray especially with 2 stars of the future in Bontempelli and Stringer (two players you could build a team around) looks to be in great shape. Melbourne of course have arguably the best player in the squad in Hogan and three solid performers in Salem, Viney and Brayshaw as well. Carlton also have an absolute star in the squad and if they unearth a couple more solid young players in the future (Curnow? Weitering?), could really improve the health of their list.
When it comes to teams struggling for proven talent it is better to include the unlucky players that missed out as this gives a broader perspective. The unlucky players are mostly those who have not quite lived up to expectations yet (Troy Menzel, James Aish etc) or those who have not quite shown enough to make it into the squad, although they have shown a high level of ability (Jayden Leverde, Ben Lennon, Jack Billings etc.). It comes as no surprise that Geelong (1), West Coast (1) and North Melbourne (1) have very little players in the squad or the unlucky list as they are teams that are currently pressing for a flag. This makes for an interesting predicaments this and next season. Will the aforementioned three teams make the top 6 (or preferably the top 4) as they need to do to make use of their older lists? Will St Kilda's promising youngsters improve enough to step out of the unlucky list and up to the level of players already in the squad? Will Carlton have some first or second year players that start to shine next to Patrick Cripps?
Are there any players I missed in this squad or have overated (I did try to pick in true positions as much as possible so I dont have 20 midfielders on the field)? Any differing opinions are much appreciated.
Out of interests sake I thought I'd do a little research and pull up an experimental U22 All Australian Side to see which club had the best of the next (proven) young crop coming through. I chose 1994 as the cut off year of birth (22 years old or younger as of 2016) as it well and truly gets rid of any compromised drafts and shows us what shape the list of a club is in when it comes to proven young talent. Of course this means that I'm going to get the inevitable "But what about players who are just a bit too old like Jeremy Cameron (22yrs 10months) and Chad Wingard (22 yrs 6 months), you sad jabroni!?!??" comments but I had to cut it off somewhere and 1994 was the best for post expansion draft domination. It also ignores the most recent draft of kids or players yet to play, including players like Jacob Weitering and Christian Petracca who might not have shown anything yet but should at the very least be solid, serviceable players who make this squad in the future. This of course means its not a perfect system because it leaves off players just outside the range which could significantly improve the young list profile of a team (ie GWS or Port Adelaide) and it also leaves off 2015 drafted players who are yet to show their wares but who should, at least theoretically, improve a list as well (ie. Carlton or Melbourne). Having gotten my disclaimer out of the way, no system is perfect so here we go:
ALL AUSTRALIAN U22 SIDE
FB: Marco Paparone (Brisbane) ; Jackson Thurlow (Geelong); Nick Vlastuin (Richmond)
HB: Tom Langdon (Collingwood); Kade Kolodjashnij (Gold Coast); Christian Salem (Melbourne)
C: Jaeger O'Meara (Gold Coast); Marcus Bontempelli [C] (Footscray); Lewis Taylor (Brisbane)
HF: Jackson Macrae (Footscray); Jesse Hogan (Melbourne) ; Zachary Merrett (Essendon)
FF: Jake Stringer (Footscray); Joe Daniher (Essendon); Isaac Heeney (Sydney)
Fol: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood); Patrick Cripps [VC] (Carlton); Oliver Wines (Port Adelaide)
Int: Brad Crouch (Adelaide); Jack Viney (Melbourne); Angus Brayshaw (Melbourne); Cameron McCarthy (GWS)
Emg: Jake Lever (Adelaide); Billy Hartung (Hawthorn); Dominic Sheed (West Coast)
Unlucky: Jordan De Goey (Collingwood); James Aish (Collingwood); Jack Martin (Gold Coast); Touk Miller (Gold Coast); Lachlan Hunter (Footscray) Jayden Laverde (Essendon); Troy Menzel (Adelaide); ; Matt Crouch (Adelaide); Lachie Whitfield (GWS); Jack Steele (GWS); Jake Neade (Port Adelaide); Luke McDonald (North Melbourne); Sam Mayes (Brisbane); Luke Dunstan (St Kilda); Jack Billings (St Kilda); Jack Lonie (St Kilda); Hugh Goddard (St Kilda); Ben Lennon (Richmond).
Of course a lot of these can be disagreed with and some unlucky players could be swapped in for some picked players (I struggled to choose between Paparone or Lever on the field for example and struggled to decide between Sheed, Whitfield and Mayes for the final Emergency spot) but that's why I am posting it here to get some second opinions.
Looking at this lineup one can see that the Melbourne (4) and Footscray (3) lists are looking very good for solid, (semi)proven young talent. Footscray especially with 2 stars of the future in Bontempelli and Stringer (two players you could build a team around) looks to be in great shape. Melbourne of course have arguably the best player in the squad in Hogan and three solid performers in Salem, Viney and Brayshaw as well. Carlton also have an absolute star in the squad and if they unearth a couple more solid young players in the future (Curnow? Weitering?), could really improve the health of their list.
When it comes to teams struggling for proven talent it is better to include the unlucky players that missed out as this gives a broader perspective. The unlucky players are mostly those who have not quite lived up to expectations yet (Troy Menzel, James Aish etc) or those who have not quite shown enough to make it into the squad, although they have shown a high level of ability (Jayden Leverde, Ben Lennon, Jack Billings etc.). It comes as no surprise that Geelong (1), West Coast (1) and North Melbourne (1) have very little players in the squad or the unlucky list as they are teams that are currently pressing for a flag. This makes for an interesting predicaments this and next season. Will the aforementioned three teams make the top 6 (or preferably the top 4) as they need to do to make use of their older lists? Will St Kilda's promising youngsters improve enough to step out of the unlucky list and up to the level of players already in the squad? Will Carlton have some first or second year players that start to shine next to Patrick Cripps?
Are there any players I missed in this squad or have overated (I did try to pick in true positions as much as possible so I dont have 20 midfielders on the field)? Any differing opinions are much appreciated.
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