Our Best 22

SEN have put forward their best teams of 22 for each club
The have listed the side below as our best, what are your thoughts?

FB: Easton Wood, Alex Keath, Hayden Crozier
HB: Caleb Daniel, Zaine Cordy, Bailey Williams
C: Jason Johannisen, Marcus Bontempelli, Lachie Hunter
HF: Rhylee West, Josh Bruce, Laitham Vandermeer
FF: Mitch Wallis, Aaron Naughton, Mitch Hannan
FOL: Stefan Martin, Bailey Smith, Josh Dunkley
INT: Adam Treloar, Jack Macrae, Tom Liberatore, Tim English

*On the brink: Taylor Duryea, Cody Weightman, Ed Richards, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Patrick Lipinski, Lachie McNeil, Bailey Dale, Ryan Gardner

The depth in the midfield at Whitten Oval is near-unprecedented, and Adam Treloar will add more of the combustion Bailey Smith introduced two years ago. Injuries will test that depth and Luke Beveridge has never shied from positional rotations, so balance is unlikely to be an issue. Ruck recruit Stefan Martin and incumbent Tim English appeared to have already built some chemistry in Wednesday's practice match against Hawthorn.

The forward line looks more like a forward line; Mitch Wallis’ goalkicking chops are now firmly established, the Aaron Naughton experiment appears set to extend into a third season, and Mitch Hannan fulfils the need for an experienced pest despite his 190cm stature. The players who make up the balance will indicate how Beveridge intends the line to function.

Queries around the height of the backline remain, but Alex Keath and Zaine Cordy can skewer opposition thrusts if the Dogs’ midfield can deliver territory dominance and minimise corridor turnovers. Jason Johannisen will drop back as the seventh defender after centre-bounces, while making the best of the stand rule to launch his team forward.

The coach loves to throw a newbie into the fury early, so watch out for Lachie McNeil.

Nathan John

Aaron Naughton experiment? It is no experiment that is for sure.

I still think Duryea is best 22. He really controls the backline when he is there. who comes out? West for me.

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Originally Posted by bornadog

Aaron Naughton experiment? It is no experiment that is for sure.

I still think Duryea is best 22. He really controls the backline when he is there. who comes out? West for me.

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It's still an experiment. We know he'd likely be a top few in his class type defender right now, and it's an area of the ground we'd benefit from parity at least or dominance in. He's still an inconsistent forward who could be anything, but his development will take time meaning we could get better bang for buck now with him holding up the defence.

And I guess it's unknown whether we'd be better off, hence it being an experiment.

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Originally Posted by jeemak

It's still an experiment. We know he'd likely be a top few in his class type defender right now, and it's an area of the ground we'd benefit from parity at least or dominance in. He's still an inconsistent forward who could be anything, but his development will take time meaning we could get better bang for buck now with him holding up the defence.

And I guess it's unknown whether we'd be better off, hence it being an experiment.

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He played as a defender when he was 18, is that also an experiment?

I just think the word experiment for a young player is not the right description, as all 18/19 year olds should be called an experiment.

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Originally Posted by jeemak

It's still an experiment. We know he'd likely be a top few in his class type defender right now, and it's an area of the ground we'd benefit from parity at least or dominance in. He's still an inconsistent forward who could be anything, but his development will take time meaning we could get better bang for buck now with him holding up the defence.

And I guess it's unknown whether we'd be better off, hence it being an experiment.

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He was drafted as a key defender and performed well in that role in his first season and I can recall it was preseason game at Ballarat where Bevo reached out to him to fill the key forward role for us and he filled that role admirably for the season

The real swingman for us and I suspect no matter where we play him there will be a high number of people who think he should be at the other end of the ground.

From my perspective, it should be easier to cover him as a defender than to find someone who can take the marks up forward and contribute to the scoreboard that he is very capable of.

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Originally Posted by GVGjr

He was drafted as a key defender and performed well in that role in his first season and I can recall it was preseason game at Ballarat where Bevo reached out to him to fill the key forward role for us and he filled that role admirably for the season

The real swingman for us and I suspect no matter where we play him there will be a high number of people who think he should be at the other end of the ground.

From my perspective, it should be easier to cover him as a defender than to find someone who can take the marks up forward and contribute to the scoreboard that he is very capable of.

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It should be, but Naughton could well be in the best 5 defenders in the comp and the players replacing him are only just (or not quite) competent AFL players.

He could well be in a similar boat up front, but I think we have a little more depth in that zone to at least make the area effective.

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Originally Posted by Mantis

It should be, but Naughton could well be in the best 5 defenders in the comp and the players replacing him are only just (or not quite) competent AFL players.

He could well be in a similar boat up front, but I think we have a little more depth in that zone to at least make the area effective.

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I think you're correct given Schache looks surplus to how we might set-up this year but I don't envy the position Bevo is in because whatever decision he makes will be questioned by so many

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Originally Posted by bornadog

Aaron Naughton experiment? It is no experiment that is for sure.

I still think Duryea is best 22. He really controls the backline when he is there. who comes out? West for me.

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I don't think he is required anymore given the rise of Daniel. Everything goes through Caleb and with Wood playing our structure should be solid. For me, West provides that hardness and desperation that only a few players possess. He also has skill and can hit the scoreboard. I'd play him based on his form in the practice game and if he continues his upward trend he'll be a massive bonus for us.

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Originally Posted by 1eyedog

I don't think he is required anymore given the rise of Daniel.

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They aren't competing for the same role though are they? Daniel is a chief distributor out of defence and possibly also our major playmaker on the field.

Duryea is more of the general defender type (i guess Bailey Williams role). He is one of the few defenders we have who we can trust to not lose the contest (Wood is ok at this, Daniel is despite his height, Keath is ok, the rest I feel would lose more than they win) and is decent with ball in hand. Our defence also seems to run better with him in it, unsure if that is due to his leadership or the better balance he brings.

I reckon we can move on from Duryea. I don’t really think he’s that great a defender and goes to ground far too easily. If last season is any indication he should be competing with Wood for a medium defender spot and I’d far prefer Wood in that role.

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Originally Posted by 1eyedog

For me, West provides that hardness and desperation that only a few players possess. He also has skill and can hit the scoreboard. I'd play him based on his form in the practice game and if he continues his upward trend he'll be a massive bonus for us.

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Don't get me wrong, I think West is all of those attributes, but he is yet to show any consistency with his game. I am sure he can fight his way in, but for me he needs to show more.

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Originally Posted by Happy Days

I reckon we can move on from Duryea. I don’t really think he’s that great a defender and goes to ground far too easily. If last season is any indication he should be competing with Wood for a medium defender spot and I’d far prefer Wood in that role.

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I think many underrate what he actually brings our back line. Both he and Crozier are very good at relaying the messages from the coaches when they come off the interchange bench and the other defenders look to them for guidance on where they should be positioned

I think Wood really isn't a best 22 player but knowing that he will be picked there perhaps Duryea then becomes surplus to our set-up

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Originally Posted by Happy Days

I reckon we can move on from Duryea. I don’t really think he’s that great a defender and goes to ground far too easily. If last season is any indication he should be competing with Wood for a medium defender spot and I’d far prefer Wood in that role.

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Ideally yes, but move on to whom though?

Maybe we eke out one more campaign with Duryea / Wood as gaffer tape for the back six but who's remotely ready to nudge them aside?

Richards?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Originally Posted by Rocket Science

Ideally yes, but move on to whom though?

Maybe we eke out one more campaign with Duryea / Wood as gaffer tape for the back six but who's remotely ready to nudge them aside?

Richards?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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We played with one small defender too many last year anyway. We can move on to no one and stop shoehorning Crozier and JJ (who is still good btw) into the forward line.

Depending on practice match and training form I would be tempted to swap Josh Schache for Rhylee West. Give Schache room to move, and an area to lead into. Bruce's opponent is then left an unenviable choice. It would certainly assist both players to play one out and avoid being two teamed. However Rhylee West is much to good a prospect to leave out. I would drop Mitch Hannan (for now) for Rhylee in the forward pocket, rotating through the midfield. Our new Clay Smith if you like.

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Originally Posted by Jeanette54

Depending on practice match and training form I would be tempted to swap Josh Schache for Rhylee West. Give Schache room to move, and an area to lead into. Bruce's opponent is then left an unenviable choice. It would certainly assist both players to play one out and avoid being two teamed. However Rhylee West is much to good a prospect to leave out. I would drop Mitch Hannan (for now) for Rhylee in the forward pocket, rotating through the midfield. Our new Clay Smith if you like.

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No way we can play Bruce, Naughton, English and Schache forward. 3 of them may already be too many.

I want to find a way to get Richards into the back six. He can actually defend and is good in contested situations, which Crozier/Williams/JJ/Cordy are not. Richards' biggest issue is staying involved/accumulating enough ball further up the field, but he competes well and his highlights would show him winning 1-v-1s and 1-v-2s more often than not.

The back 6 really, REALLY concerns me.

Keath - Best of the lot, picks himself, but should be a second KPD who can read the play to take intercept marks. He can't play to his strengths under our current setup.

Williams - Good player who can take a mark and rebounds well, but still isn't a great defender.

JJ - Questionable if he's consistently in our best 22. At his most prolific sure, but we don't see it enough. He's not a good defender at all.

Daniel - Good defender and does almost everything right, but size counts against him. The Saints final burns and is an insight into how even ordinary players (Geary) can exploit this.

Crozier - Decent player but had a poor 2020 for the most part. He isn't a great defender but his ability to leap hides this a little.

Wood - Questionable he's best 22. No longer an intercept player, has done some OK lockdown roles at times.

Cordy - Shouldn't be best 22. Not a good defender at all. Has some aggression which is the reason he gets games (along with the fact that we have so few KPD options).

Duryea - Agree he does go to ground too often, but he's really our only small-medium defender who defends first, attacks second. Injury prone which doesn't help. I think we need him because of how imbalanced we are and I rate his leadership.

My back six for round 1 is:

Williams Keath Crozier
Daniel Gardner Richards

with both Duryea and JJ on the bench.

I think half back will be the making of Richards as a player. Just doesn't have the ball winning ability to play further up the field and under pressure, his kicking can be very hit and miss. Setting up from defence, he has more time and space to use his speed and left peg as a weapon.

It's a very precarious defensive group and can easily get torn to shreds if the midfield doesn't do it's part.

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Originally Posted by The Bulldogs Bite

I want to find a way to get Richards into the back six. He can actually defend and is good in contested situations, which Crozier/Williams/JJ/Cordy are not. Richards' biggest issue is staying involved/accumulating enough ball further up the field, but he competes well and his highlights would show him winning 1-v-1s and 1-v-2s more often than not.

The back 6 really, REALLY concerns me.

Keath - Best of the lot, picks himself, but should be a second KPD who can read the play to take intercept marks. He can't play to his strengths under our current setup.

Williams - Good player who can take a mark and rebounds well, but still isn't a great defender.

JJ - Questionable if he's consistently in our best 22. At his most prolific sure, but we don't see it enough. He's not a good defender at all.

Daniel - Good defender and does almost everything right, but size counts against him. The Saints final burns and is an insight into how even ordinary players (Geary) can exploit this.

Crozier - Decent player but had a poor 2020 for the most part. He isn't a great defender but his ability to leap hides this a little.

Wood - Questionable he's best 22. No longer an intercept player, has done some OK lockdown roles at times.

Cordy - Shouldn't be best 22. Not a good defender at all. Has some aggression which is the reason he gets games (along with the fact that we have so few KPD options).

Duryea - Agree he does go to ground too often, but he's really our only small-medium defender who defends first, attacks second. Injury prone which doesn't help. I think we need him because of how imbalanced we are and I rate his leadership.

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In furious agreement, not least of all with regard to who replaces Duryea & Wood who, despite our keenness to move on both still command a spot because our ranks of blokes who can actually defend is anxiety inducing and the fact we've still no natural opponent for any quality tall or small who happens to be in the mood and needs quelling.

Maybe the plan is to simply play a lot of 'keepings off' this year.

So how do we see it after today's game?

For mine, I think our best 22 for rd 1 looks like this right now:

Williams Keath Duryea*
Daniel Naughton Richards
Smith Libba Hunter
Bont English West
Wallis Bruce Cavarra
Martin Macrae Treloar
Dunkley JJ Vandermeer Lipinski

* I have Crozier missing

How I think we'll line up:

Williams Keath Scott
Daniel Gardner Duryea
Macrae Libba Hunter
Dale Naughton West
English Bruce Wallis
Martin Bont Treloar
Dunkley Smith Vandermeer Lipinski

B: Williams; Keath; Wood (if available)
HB: Daniel; Gardner; Scott
C: Hunter; Bont; Smith
HF: Lipinski; Naughton; Liberatore
F: Wallis; Bruce; English
R: Martin; Macrae; Treloar
Int: Dunkley; McNeil;Dale; West

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Originally Posted by Ozza

B: Williams; Keath; Wood (if available)
HB: Daniel; Gardner; Scott
C: Hunter; Bont; Smith
HF: Lipinski; Naughton; Liberatore
F: Wallis; Bruce; English
R: Martin; Macrae; Treloar
Int: Dunkley; McNeil;Dale; West

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Vandermeer misses due to injury or not in your best 22?