Round 1, 2019 Team

[The Underdog]

Most of the best 22 teams selected don't have Williams in the starting 18 and very few teams if any have Lipinski in the 22.
I get the conjecture about Boyd, English and Trengove but just with both Williams and Lipinski did enough to be in the round one team if fully fit.

The hardest players to select appear to be Lloyd, Duryea, Dickson and Picken which is a great sign that we have some playing depth.

I'm told Dickson is well on track to completing his first uninterrupted pre-season in a couple of years and for what it's worth Trengove is well ahead of where he was 12 months ago.

Some good signs for sure.

Williams could quite easily beat out Duryea on the HBF and I’d rate him higher for sure. I just figure if they’ve brought Duryea in they’ll use him, at least early on. Lipinski could definitely be best 22, I’m just not sure based on the current set-up who he beats out when all are fit and in form.
I had to kick Daniel out to put in Hunter who I forgot. It’s competitive as hell for spots. And that’s without Bailey Dale who I rate highly.

[LostDoggy]

Most of the best 22 teams selected don't have Williams in the starting 18 and very few teams if any have Lipinski in the 22.
I get the conjecture about Boyd, English and Trengove but just with both Williams and Lipinski did enough to be in the round one team if fully fit.

The hardest players to select appear to be Lloyd, Duryea, Dickson and Picken which is a great sign that we have some playing depth.

I'm told Dickson is well on track to completing his first uninterrupted pre-season in a couple of years and for what it's worth Trengove is well ahead of where he was 12 months ago.

Some good signs for sure.

Williams surely has to play but as last years early rounds show, the match committee may not follow the script.
I’m hoping Boyd is good to go.

[Mofra]

Most of the best 22 teams selected don't have Williams in the starting 18 and very few teams if any have Lipinski in the 22.
I get the conjecture about Boyd, English and Trengove but just with both Williams and Lipinski did enough to be in the round one team if fully fit.

I have Williams in the team as part of our midfield rotations, I'm a big fan of his trajectory.

Lipinski I don't yet - surely Lloyd has to play and he seems set to play that high forward rotation with the mids position. I suspect Richards play on the wing as well given our backline prospects.

[GVGjr]

Duryea's interview on the clubs website indicates he is training as a defender
I wonder what we are trying to do with our back line?

Duryea, Crozier, Richards and Suckling are all ironically left foot kicks and highly regarded with the kicking skills
Throw in Johannisen, Wood, Cordy, Morris, Naughton, Williams, Lewis Young and R.Smith we seem to have more than enough players to cover any injuries plus we have a few players like Roberts and Lynch on the fringes

It's highly likely we need to move both Richards and Williams into midfield roles but I wonder how we squeeze some very deserving players into our back line set-up?

[bulldogtragic]

I might review mine by grouping. As far as a generic opponent:

2 tall defenders, 1 medium defender, 3 small/running defenders (6)
2 tall forwards, 1 medium forward, 3 small forwards (6)
2 tall mids/bench players, 3 bigger mids/bench players, 5 small mids/bench players 10)

Tall defenders:

Naughton, Cordy (Young, Roberts)

Mid defender:

Wood (Morris)

Small defenders:

Crozier, Suckling, Daniel



Tall forwards:

Boyd, Schache

Medium Forward:

Dickson/Lloyd

Small forwards (rotating mid):

McLean, Williams, Gowers


Mid/Bench Talls:

English (r), Trengove (b - handyman role across all lines)

Mid/Bench Big Mids:

Bonts, Dunkley, Wallis

Mid/Bench Mids:

Libba, Hunter, Macrae, Richards, JJ



So:

B: Suckling Naughton Cordy
HB: Crozier Wood Daniel
C: Hunter Bonts JJ
HF: McLean Schache Williams
F: Dickson, Boyd, Gowers
R: English, Dunkley, Macrae
Int: Wallis, Richards, Trengove, Libba


Virtually impossible to pick really. If we can stay fit, the seconds/Footscray players kick the door down, players in the selected 22 fight to keep their spots, then one's imagination can run away about what this talented group could do.

[GVGjr]

Strong looking team BT, some good players never made the 22

[bornadog]

I really would like to see Wood freed up and not have to play tall this year. This has prohibited him from his trade mark intercepting.

Lloyd is a good chance to play in best 22, but it should not be a given.

[GVGjr]

I really would like to see Wood freed up and not have to play tall this year. This has prohibited him from his trade mark intercepting.

Lloyd is a good chance to play in best 22, but it should not be a given.

So we would play 3 taller defenders or are you saying he should play as the 3rd tall defender?
From memory you don't want Morris to play tall either.
Playing both ot them as 3rd and 4th tall defenders would slow down the transition from the back line significantly and neither of them are very skilled by foot

[bulldogtragic]

Strong looking team BT, some good players never made the 22

Yeah, I was finding it too hard to pick 22 on reputation only. So breaking it down to the best role players helped. But there's not much of a gap on a Lippa or Lloyd over Dickson. Or Duryea even though I don't rate him personally, he was recruited for a reason. Then leaving aside a mature recruit who could surprise like Cavarra, or a kid bolting like the last few years like maybe a Smith or West. I don't know where to place our older guys like Picken & Morris, although I suspect time will catch them quickly.

The talent and potential is there, getting the players physically right and playing to peak performance is obviously the key (resulting in winning belief). The other interesting point is where Bevo sees the best role or position for (mainly) Williams & Richards, and whether we play them there or for balance have to shunt them around if they're seen as predominantly HBFs.

There's not a huge difference in personnel from 2018 with its goalless halves and goalless quarters. So hopefully my optimism in the growth in lots of talented guys turns out right.

[Mofra]

B: Suckling Naughton Cordy
HB: Crozier Wood Daniel
C: Hunter Bonts JJ
HF: McLean Schache Williams
F: Dickson, Boyd, Gowers
R: English, Dunkley, Macrae
Int: Wallis, Richards, Trengove, Libba


Virtually impossible to pick really. If we can stay fit, the seconds/Footscray players kick the door down, players in the selected 22 fight to keep their spots, then one's imagination can run away about what this talented group could do.

Good effort. Shows how hard it is to pick a team when two players we targetted specifically (Lloyd and Duryea) aren't in a lot of people's teams.

Personally I don't think Boyd plays at the start of the year (injury) and even if fit one of Schache, Trengove or English misses out and Boyd might have missed out anyway.

I have Wallis in the forwards group based on his second half of last year and Williams in the mid rotations. JJ's an interesting one - for team balance we probably want him on a wing but he is a better player behind the ball.

I think Morris and Duryea and Lloyd all play but who (besides Boyd) comes out of the side? Willaims is a lock for mine and apparently Dickson is having his first full pre-season for a few years.

[bornadog]

So we would play 3 taller defenders or are you saying he should play as the 3rd tall defender?
From memory you don't want Morris to play tall either.
Playing both ot them as 3rd and 4th tall defenders would slow down the transition from the back line significantly and neither of them are very skilled by foot

I wasn't talking about Morris, but now that you bring him up, he is a medium height defender

Wood should play a half back flank role.

[bulldogtragic]

Good effort. Shows how hard it is to pick a team when two players we targetted specifically (Lloyd and Duryea) aren't in a lot of people's teams.

Personally I don't think Boyd plays at the start of the year (injury) and even if fit one of Schache, Trengove or English misses out and Boyd might have missed out anyway.

I have Wallis in the forwards group based on his second half of last year and Williams in the mid rotations. JJ's an interesting one - for team balance we probably want him on a wing but he is a better player behind the ball.

I think Morris and Duryea and Lloyd all play but who (besides Boyd) comes out of the side? Willaims is a lock for mine and apparently Dickson is having his first full pre-season for a few years.

If we remain injury free heading into R1, good luck to the match committee!

[GVGjr]

I wasn't talking about Morris, but now that you bring him up, he is a medium height defender

Wood should play a half back flank role.

So as the 4th tall? If so I think that slows down the transition out of the back line significantly.

He hasn't been in good form for 2 years and I think he just has to play as a 3rd tall because he doesn't have the pace or skill level by foot to set-up enough attacking ball movement.

The likes of Suckling, JJ, Duryea, Richards and Crozier are need in the back line to improve the quality of our kicking
Morris and Wood are good defensive players but they don't add a lot to getting the ball moving quickly

[mjp]

If we remain injury free heading into R1, good luck to the match committee!

I've said this before, but the TOP teams pick themselves.

We are having trouble selecting the 22 as there as so many players on our list who have shown FLASHES and have given us reason to be encouraged, but have by no means earned their spot.

I think if you try and nominate 'locks' for positions, you will find that list is relatively small:

Wood - Intercept defender
Morris - Lock down defender
Macrae + Dunkley - Inside mids
Hunter - Outside mid
Maclean - High forward
Dickson - Deep forward
Bont - Everywhere else

Apologies to Libba (injury) as he would be in this list as well...but who else would you say has 'nailed down' a spot? I guess I should say 'JJ - Running Defender' but that is surely needs the '*' of 'against teams who wont tag him'. Who else?

I know everyone is going to tell me that player 'x' or 'y' deserve to play - and you could make a case for a heap of guys with Caleb Daniel atop my personal list - but until they really 'OWN' their role this is going to be a difficult exercise.

[bornadog]

So as the 4th tall? If so I think that slows down the transition out of the back line significantly.

He hasn't been in good form for 2 years and I think he just has to play as a 3rd tall because he doesn't have the pace or skill level by foot to set-up enough attacking ball movement.

The likes of Suckling, JJ, Duryea, Richards and Crozier are need in the back line to improve the quality of our kicking
Morris and Wood are good defensive players but they don't add a lot to getting the ball moving quickly

This, as I mentioned in my post.

Wood - Intercept defender

Wood is shorter than Dunkley and not even 190cm. Yes he has a great leap, but we can't keep killing him playing against the Franklins of the world. Wood needs to be roaming along the Halfback line, taking marks.