Your preferred structures.

[sabre_ac]

Forward:

HF: Headland Pavlich Mayne
FF: Johnson Bradley Ballantyne

Pretty close to how I would have it

FF: Ballantyne Headland Any crumbing forward
HF: Mayne Pavlich Mayne

Desperate for someone to replace farmer at this stage

Back:

FB: Hayden McPharlin Grover
HB: Duffield Tarrant Broughton

I honestly believe Grover is done and dusted, can't see him playing more than a handful of games.

My backline would be the same but have someone replace grover..Dodd?

C: Ibbotson Haselby Hill
R: Sandilands Palmer Crowley

Starting line up. I agree...I imagine Morabito will have an instant impact and rotate through with Hill.

Might have Suban start before Ibbotston at this stage as well

 

[ballanFYNE]

Don't like Kep in the forward line, only becase he tends to get in the others way. Remember a game last year where he kept leading into Pav's space and letting his defender spoil. Also too much height. Would rather Johno be the second tall and Sonny step up as a second small forward. Or Fyfe maybe as he seems more a pure forward type.

Well he showed a bit playing at Full Forward last year and It would help our Finals chances if we have a full forward that would attract a number of Defenders instead of the best on Pav and if Pav is having a good day then the 2nd best one on Pav.

And i thought that Mayne did well last year out of the goal square.

 

[ballanFYNE]

And maybe Solly's good points do make up for the odd clanger. So long as I don't see him holding the ball up for ages then kicking an up and under down the line I won't mind seeing him out there.

Yes we need him. His Grunt and Hardness kept us in the game against Geelong in round 12. Him and Crowley are the ones setting Example as in Hardness and Crashing packs.

 

[Dormammu]

Pretty close to how I would have it

Need to fix your half forward line boss

 

[The Business]

Cant believe people still have Dodd in the 22!!

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

Cant believe people still have Dodd in the 22!!

yeah, i definetly dont. he is a polarising character though, i cant see why but some people love him

 

[DizzyHB]

I don't have him in my best 22 either but realistically Dodd will at least provide some depth if one of Grover or Hayden goes down.

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

Need to fix your half forward line boss

Mayne can play on both the left and the right flank at the same time. He is that good.

 

[prattsta]

B: Hayden - McPharlin - Grover
HB: Duffield - Tarrant - Broughton

Hayden provides the run from deep out of defense and as always just helps everyone else out. When fit he owns a back-pocket.

McPharlin moves back to his best position, where he gets to take the oppositions second best forward - typically the best forwards in the AFL right now play as CHF's (Reiwoldt, Brown & Franklin).

Grover moves onto the third tall, which he is more suited to. He's in the leadership group, he will play more often than not this season, this is the best role for him.

Duffield takes the least dangerous forward - there is every chance he'll have a defensive forward playing on him anyway - and picks up where he left off last season. Running, marking, kicking and breaking the lines.

Tarrant takes the number one KP forward. Simple.

Broughton takes whoever the most dangerous small forward is - he's more suited to this role nowadays than Hayden is. He'll still be able to rack up 72 positions a game playing a shut down role anyway.

Dodd, Pearce, Johnson, McPhee, Bucovaz, O'Brien and Thornton are the most notable depth players.

C: Suban - Hasleby - Hill
R: Sandilands - Mundy - Palmer

Move Suban up the ground so he can kick goals, deliver the ball into the forward line and generally just get more involved in the play.

Hasleby can do what he always does i.e. win the footy in stoppage situations.

Hill should take a more attacking player than Suban as IMO he does his best work when he starts from a defense POV. Stopping his opponent and then working of him is one of the things I like most about him.

Sandilands as the starting ruck is a no-brainer.

Mundy is about to play his second full season in the midfield. I actually think he'll surprise more than a few people this year. He's provides that big body in the midfield and has the skills to deliver the ball forward - or just retain possession...

Palmer is our hardest runner and 4th best clearance player - Sandilands, Pavlich and Hasleby the only guys ahead of him IMO - fairly obvious position for him I reckon.

Walters, de Boer, Hinkley, Van Berlo and Barlow the most notable replacements.

HF: Mayne - Pavlich - Morabito
F: Ballantyne - Johnson - Headland

Mayne averaged 2 goals a game last year playing a rotating role between HF and FF he's very tricky to match up on, provides great defensive pressure and leads hard. Sounds exactly like a HF to me.

Pavlich. CHF. Lock. It. In.

Morabito is going to get opportunities, this is where I think he's most suited at this stage - rotating with Hill the best alternate.

Ballantyne is our best small forward, no brainer really. I prefer him on the HF line to the FP but there are enough rotations these days to ensure he can get involved further up the ground.

Johnson can play the FF role that nobody else wants whilst rotating through the ruck with Sandilands. He's woeful in ruck contests but decent enough around the ground. Quite simply, Clarke isn't ready yet and I don't like Sandilands, Bradley and Johnson in the same team. When MJ rucks Pavlich/Mayne can play out of the square Headland/Ballantyne can move to HF and Sandilands moves to the FP.

Headland basically needs to prove he's still got what it takes. Talent wise he's one of our best, production wise, not so much. Assuming he's fit - no guarantee given recent history - it's an easy choice putting him in the forward line. He's a good mark, a good height, has good skills and he's creative.

Bradley, Murphy, Fyfe, Thornton, Solomon and Ruffles are next in-line.

I: Ibbotson - Schammer - Crowley - McPhee

McPhee will probably start on-field, whatever, I'm picking this side and I'm starting him on the bench. He's going to play 22 games if he's fit though so if you're not including him at all you're insane.

Ibbotson is an interesting one, if he doesn't start getting some consistency into his game he could very easily be on the outer. I rate him highly though and back him to maintain his position in the 22.

Harvey wants us to be more combative and play more contested footy, which, to me says that Schammer will spend a lot of time rotating through the midfield. He'll never be a first rate midfielder because of his erratic disposal but until the likes of Walters, Morabito, Hinkley etc step up he's still the best of our second string players.

Crowley, give him a job and he simply knuckles down and does it. Complicate things however and he will more than likely bugger it up. He's still our best negating player and he's capable of kicking goals when he goes forward - good mark, good height and just plain sneaky. You'd probably start him on-ball as a tagger, but I wanted to be different; we have enough midfielders capable of playing defensive roles now, so if that's all your bringing to the table you're not getting invited to dinner.

HF: Mayne Pavlich Mayne

Being optimistic in the off-season is fine, but you may be taking it a bit far if you're expecting the club to start a cloning program. Besides, if we are cloning players that bloke in the middle is where we'd start...

 

[Subanite]

I know that Morabito was a first round draft selection, but I keep thinking that other players should be in the starting 22 before him at the moment.

It would not hurt to slowly introduce some rookies over the season. This is assuming there are no injuries of course before the start of the year, this may force the Dockers to introduce rookies earlier.

 

[E Shed]

Beautiful work Prattsta. Can't argue with any of that.
I'd love to see Walters and DeBoer in but you would have to leave out Crowley & Schammer and that's probably not going to happen.

 

[prattsta]

Beautiful work Prattsta. Can't argue with any of that.
I'd love to see Walters and DeBoer in but you would have to leave out Crowley & Schammer and that's probably not going to happen.

Funnily enough, those four names you mentioned, along with Morabito, kept changing in and out of my side.

I originally had Walters at HF, but decided Morabito would be a better option there. We're light on for KPF's but Pavlich, Mayne, Headland, Johnson and Morabito all require an athletic, tall defender which will be a difficult proposition for opposing sides.

Walters IMO is the most likely replacement for Hasleby on our list, which means Schammer could come under increasing pressure if his decision making and disposal doesn't pick up. Making Walters break into the midfield rather than our forward line should also make him a better player as well. Then again given all the pre-season training reports I've seen regarding Walters so far Hasleby's starting spot might be in danger not Schammer's bench spot...

Crowley played some fairly ordinary football prior to getting injured in '09 so he needs to have a big 2010. They both have pretty shaky disposal, however de Boer is faster, a better ball winner and far more creative. Crowley certainly has the runs on the board defensively, but he needs to start contributing more the other way IMO.

 

[salim malik]

The conclusion from the bulk of these posts is that our achilles heal ,the lack of depth has
been addressed by Harvey and co and the future is looking brighter after every training run.The competion for spots is heating up and the C graders are no longer assured of a position.Trying to fit all those who deserve a spot in the 22 is getting down right impossible.Geez I/m getting excited about this season.

 

[Dormammu]

Mayne can play on both the left and the right flank at the same time. He is that good.

By George you're right!

Let's christen the Roberts Road flank the Spanish Mayne in recognition of his swashbuckling attack on the ball.

The Subiaco Road side can be the "D'OhMayne!", being the usual phrase uttered by opposition defenders when he effortlessly outclasses them

 

[GeorgeGrljusich]

By George you're right!

Let's christen the Roberts Road flank the Spanish Mayne in recognition of his swashbuckling attack on the ball.

The Subiaco Road side can be the "D'OhMayne!", being the usual phrase uttered by opposition defenders when he effortlessly outclasses them

Foxtel should create a new pay per view channel called The Mayne Event, because surely only Freo supporters should be able to watch his awesomeness on free to air.

 

[theGav56]

Prat, there are so many things in your post that I like the sound of. I suspect the only real questions for me are around the ability of the guys who have been introduced over the past couple of seasons to maintain their progress, and at this stage they look like they will. The most stunning thing about your post is the depth that is available.

A couple of comments for me;

I would be playing Bradley at FF. It is the biggest gap for us, and I just think he is a chance to succeed there. I also like the idea of rotating a couple of others through there at times including Headland, Mayne, Johnson and Sandilands. Given we don't have a classic FF perhaps a strength for us can be the lack of predictability and possible mismatches in that position. I also think that we have enough ground level firepower in the forward line for Bradley to be doing enough if he is simply competitive, and I think that is his strength; he competes

The thing I am most nervous about with Pavlich playing forward is that we could become one-dimensional again. Not necessarily by design, but it seemed in the past that the midfield were simply drawn like magnets to Pavlich.

I am very keen to phase out players like Solomon, Dodd, Grover, etc and give any opportunities to Bucca, Mora, and co. And if we are struggling after halfway through the year I would be adding Headland and Hasleby to that list. Because of the stage of careers of Pavlich and Sandilands, we need to be finals competitive in the next 3 years, and if the old guard can help provide that now, awesome, but if they can't we better move on.

 

[prattsta]

Prat, there are so many things in your post that I like the sound of. I suspect the only real questions for me are around the ability of the guys who have been introduced over the past couple of seasons to maintain their progress, and at this stage they look like they will. The most stunning thing about your post is the depth that is available.

Yeah, how the younger players perform is the biggest question mark over this season IMO. Our best 22 looks pretty decent on paper (I'll get to this) but it relies on younger players improving, which will create a more competitive environment around the club, giving Harvey more flexibility when he's at the selection table. Poor performances by senior players just can't be accepted if we're going to move forward and the kids are the key to this.

If you look at the actual performances over the entire 2009 season of guys like Hill, Suban, Ibbotson, de Boer etc they don't really stack up against the top AFL players - which is obviously to be expected. They're young, they're inconsistent and whilst good for young players at the moment they are just average players in broader AFL terms. Suban just isn't going to play like he did against Essendon every week. He averaged 12.5 disposals and 2.5 marks last season, sure he should improve on that in 2010, but how does that stack up compared to someone like Lindsay Gilbee?

On the depth side of things, I've certainly named a decent amount of players, only about 3 (Bradley, Thornton & Solomon) are experienced AFL players though. Depth is such a hard thing to measure because it can vary so greatly within any given side. In Fremantle's case, we have good depth in 3rd talls and flankers but everywhere else it's pretty light on.

All sides will struggle when the star players go down, but the mid-level players are just as important in some cases. What happens to Fremantle if Johnson gets injured again? That's a key forward option and a back-up ruckman who's now unavailable. Sure, Bradley can come in, and this actually comes back to what I was saying before, but all of a sudden there is a lot less pressure on him to perform.

A couple of comments for me;

I would be playing Bradley at FF. It is the biggest gap for us, and I just think he is a chance to succeed there. I also like the idea of rotating a couple of others through there at times including Headland, Mayne, Johnson and Sandilands. Given we don't have a classic FF perhaps a strength for us can be the lack of predictability and possible mismatches in that position. I also think that we have enough ground level firepower in the forward line for Bradley to be doing enough if he is simply competitive, and I think that is his strength; he competes

I do like Bradley at FF, he's a difficult match-up and does the uncanny stuff (both good and bad). If he was able to establish himself as a permanent forward, that we were able to structure around, sure, you can make the 3 way with Sandilands/Bradley/Johnson work. It then becomes a battle between MJ and Clarke as the back-up ruck. If Bradley's just going to be rotating through there though, well personally I prefer MJ and an extra midfielder.

Can we really carry two players who aren't really good enough to be key forwards (at this stage) aren't good enough to be ruckmen (MJ 0.8 h.p.g. Bradley 2.0 h.p.g.) and are only decent around the ground? If you're doing that wouldn't we be better served playing Clarke as a back-up ruckman (8.0 h.p.g) and whoever is better as a FF out of MJ, Murhpy, Sibosado and Bradley?

I don't know Gav, I can see ways where a Sandilands/Bradley/Johnson combo could work but at the same time see a lot where it doesn't.

The thing I am most nervous about with Pavlich playing forward is that we could become one-dimensional again. Not necessarily by design, but it seemed in the past that the midfield were simply drawn like magnets to Pavlich.

I don't know, I think Pavlich has a better supporting cast in what I named than he did in '06 when we made a preliminary final. If J-Lo hadn't broken down then it'd be a different story but it was really only Pavlich and Farmer with a cameo from Spud.

Mayne averaged 2.0 g.p.g. last season, Headland averaged 1.4 g.p.g. (more than '06), Ballantyne averaged 1.3 g.p.g. throw in Sandilands and Johnson/Bradley and it's as multi-pronged as most in the league. The other thing is other than Farmer in '06 none of our other major goal kickers were any good at ground level, whereas Mayne, Headland, Morabito and Ballantyne are all great when the ball hits the deck.

Our midfielders are more skilled (though this will be countered by them winning less of the ball) and most (Hill, Suban, Palmer, Crowley, Morabito and Hasleby in particular) are goal kickers themselves as well.

I am very keen to phase out players like Solomon, Dodd, Grover, etc and give any opportunities to Bucca, Mora, and co. And if we are struggling after halfway through the year I would be adding Headland and Hasleby to that list. Because of the stage of careers of Pavlich and Sandilands, we need to be finals competitive in the next 3 years, and if the old guard can help provide that now, awesome, but if they can't we better move on.

Dodd might find it tough getting back into the side and depending how Solomon goes in the first few weeks (I think he'll be given an opportunity) he'll probably be forced out of the side if a guy like Morabito proves he's up to it. Grover will be pretty hard to displace from the 22 if he's playing on the 3rd tall every week - plus he's not in the leadership group to play in the WAFL...

 

[bigkev bleeds purple]

Great work, prattsta.

I think the most encouraging thing is that when I looked at prattsta's team he posted, my first thoughts were "what about Solomon/Kepler/de Boer/Walters?" All of these guys could easily be first 22, but will be forced to earn their places through blood, sweat and tears on the track. Never has the fact that 26 doesn't go into 22 given me so many good vibes. Oh, the glory of simple mathematics.

 

[duncs]

I looked at building a team in another way. Firstly, pick the players who are a certainty for a 22, the ones who will definitely be picked if they are fit. In that category, based on last year's form and reputation I put in:

Ballantyne Broughton Duffield Hasleby Hayden Hil lMcPharlin McPhee Palmer Pavlich Sandilands Suban Tarrant
There are arguably some others that could go in there but I don't think may people would argue with those. That's 13, so 9 spots to fill in a 22.

Then pick those who are a definite no. Basically in this category I had the last couple of years draftees, have included Ruffles purely based on injury.

Bollenhagen Bucovaz Crighton Fyfe HallHoughton Roberton Ruffles Thornton

I'd say the five below would also be definites, Schammer, Ibbo and Mundy cop it on the boards but were solid last year and deserve a shot, Mayne surely has a spot in the forward line sewn up, Crowley deserves first shot as a tagger:
Crowley Mayne Mundy Schammer Ibbotson

So we're down to 4 spots remaining, which I would break down as:
1 of Bradley/Johnson as backup ruck and spare tall
Headland as another forward/hard body ahead of Solomon
1 of Dodd/Grover as 3rd tall down back
1 of Morabito/Walters as another midfielder.

That's not including the rookies, I would say either SIlvagni to replace Dodd/Grover, or one of Pearce/DeBoer/Barlow to be another midfielder could be a shot.

Which leaves Clarke, Murphy, Hinkley, O'Brien in reserve as well.
Some quality names being left out, which is an encouraging sign.

 

[theGav56]

So we're down to 4 spots remaining, which I would break down as:
1 of Bradley/Johnson as backup ruck and spare tall
Headland as another forward/hard body ahead of Solomon
1 of Dodd/Grover as 3rd tall down back
1 of Morabito/Walters as another midfielder.

That's not including the rookies, I would say either SIlvagni to replace Dodd/Grover, or one of Pearce/DeBoer/Barlow to be another midfielder could be a shot.

Which leaves Clarke, Murphy, Hinkley, O'Brien in reserve as well.
Some quality names being left out, which is an encouraging sign.

I don't mind your logic duncs, but assuming no fitness issues, Johnson, Headland and even Grover would be in.

 

[Freo Blood]

Nice work Duncs.

I don't see why Grover needs to be in. Taz, McPharlin and tallish backup from Dodd/MJ/McPhee down back.
I think Dodd should be in as he can play tall and small.
A also don't think we need Solly any more with the return of some size and experience in the 22, therefore go for Headland.
Kepler v MJ is a hard choice. Kep for rucking but MJ is better all around the ground including defence. Sandi rucks 85%-90% of the time anyway so I would go for MJ.
I would also play Mora as all games are good experience for younguns.

Overall the team looks good with plenty of competition for spots. I think DeBoer/Walters/Barlow are next in line for midfield berths.

As a PS - we are light on for true talls but I think harvey will have us playing a running game, particularly at Subi. I would prefer to see MJ or McPhee as tall forward options, even Mundy when resting.

 

[Freo Blood]

Another PS. If Solly gets a game I think Harvey will be exposed for playing favourites - he should be depth only and not best 22.

 

[Kickett Punches Read]

Another PS. If Solly gets a game I think Harvey will be exposed for playing favourites - he should be depth only and not best 22.

i dont agree with this... our team has often been criticised for losing when in winning positions, when the going gets tough, you need tough players who will put their body on the line when it matters most. nobody does this better than solly. if there is a 50/50 to be won i would back solly in every time... would you back MJ in that situation? what about des? or mundy?...... we need players like dean solomon, which of our players could you rely on to make that desperate tackle to hold the play up? schammer? mcpharlin?.... solomons true value to our team is in the areas that we seem to struggle in the most, the one percenters, unfortunately it is also the area which is chronically underrated by fans in general, on this board and otherwise..... look at geelong for instance... do you reckon mark thompson loves max rooke any less than gary ablett? i dont think so, every team needs a solomon, im just glad we have the original and not a wanna be hack like beau waters