Best/Starting 23, Round 1 2024

[jeemak]

Playing catch up. We both do love a beer at the Ascot Vale Hotel.

I'm never that far off the mark........

[weltschmerz]

FB: Richards, Jones, Coffield
HB: Dale, O'Donnell, JJ
C: Poulter, Liberatore, Treloar
HF: West, Naughton, Sanders
FF: Weightman, JUH, Lobb
F: English, Bont, BSmith
IC: Macrae, Daniel, Harmes, Williams
Sub: Scott

Lot of players quite stiff to miss out. Scott sub because he can generally slot in and play a role. Poulter is the one with the weakest position in the side and could be pushed out if someone like Freijah or Gallagher has a great pre-season. Sanders, Macrae, and Harmes rotate through the inside midfield, HFF, and bench, or Harmes plays on the most dangerous opposition midfielder.

[bornadog]

FB: Richards, Jones, Coffield
HB: Dale, O'Donnell, JJ
C: Poulter, Liberatore, Treloar
HF: West, Naughton, Sanders
FF: Weightman, JUH, Lobb
F: English, Bont, BSmith
IC: Macrae, Daniel, Harmes, Williams
Sub: Scott

Lot of players quite stiff to miss out. Scott sub because he can generally slot in and play a role. Poulter is the one with the weakest position in the side and could be pushed out if someone like Freijah or Gallagher has a great pre-season. Sanders, Macrae, and Harmes rotate through the inside midfield, HFF, and bench, or Harmes plays on the most dangerous opposition midfielder.

Pretty good team.

[CM Punk]

FB: Richards, Jones, Coffield
HB: Dale, O'Donnell, JJ
C: Williams, Liberatore, Treloar
HF: West, Naughton, Harmes
FF: Weightman, JUH, Lobb
F: English, Bont, Smith
IC: Macrae, Daniel, Sanders, Scott
Sub: Poulter

[GVGjr]

FB: Richards, Jones, Coffield
HB: Dale, O'Donnell, JJ
C: Williams, Liberatore, Treloar
HF: West, Naughton, Harmes
FF: Weightman, JUH, Lobb
F: English, Bont, Smith
IC: Macrae, Daniel, Sanders, Scott
Sub: Poulter

I like this team accept for Treloar on a wing. I'd also be trying to to squeeze Darcy to a role on the bench

[mighty_west]

Ok here goes......

B : Richards - Jones - Coffield
HB : JJ - O'Donnell - Dale
C : Williams - Liberatore - Poulter
HF : Treloar - Naughton - West
F : Weightman - Jamarra - Darcy

FOLL : English - Bont - B.Smith

INT : Lobb - Daniel - Sanders - Macrae

Always interesting to see how our tall forwards will function together, who leads, who stays back, will 3 big guys get in each others way and jump for the same ball, really liked the look of our "3 headed monster" a few seasons back with Timmy as that 3rd tall forward, but with Darcy hopefully going the next level should create some excitement and issues for the opposition, Lobb obviously gives English a chop out with Timmy at times helping out the defenders, Scotty Wynd style.

Weightman also needs to be smarter and not get in the talls way, obviously he's not your typical small crumbing type, likes to lead out or try and jump on heads, hopefully the forward group really train up on leading pattens even to the point of being predictable but backing themselves to win most contests, there is nothing wrong with playing a predictable brand of footy as long as you're good enough.

Treloar, Bont, Sanders to rotate between forward line and mid, really want Baz Smith to play mid and get back to his best.

Feel like we added depth this year so there should be quite a few knocking down the door.

[SquirrelGrip]

It's interesting to see close to 100% of us selecting JOD in our Round 1 teams, mostly key position at CHB. I love his potential but are we expecting too much from a second year player to be that big bodied key defender? I'd love the thoughts of those watching training if he is training the house down ahead of the other BAD Boys. How do they compare so far in pre-season?

I know he have it in for Keath and Gardner, and we are wishing for Buss and Darcy to step up, but is there merit in having a stronger defence-first player tall like Gardner there (if he can play at his peak?).

This isn't a criticism of JOD as I'd love him to be that player, but I question our expectations.

[Axe Man]

It's interesting to see close to 100% of us selecting JOD in our Round 1 teams, mostly key position at CHB. I love his potential but are we expecting too much from a second year player to be that big bodied key defender? I'd love the thoughts of those watching training if he is training the house down ahead of the other BAD Boys. How do they compare so far in pre-season?

I know he have it in for Keath and Gardner, and we are wishing for Buss and Darcy to step up, but is there merit in having a stronger defence-first player tall like Gardner there (if he can play at his peak?).

This isn't a criticism of JOD as I'd love him to be that player, but I question our expectations.

I think you are probably correct. The match committee will likely select Keath or Gardner as Jones/JOD/Coffield (and maybe Darcy) as the KPDs would be a big risk. I like the idea of the teams being selected but I'm not sure the players are ready yet.

[hujsh]

It's interesting to see close to 100% of us selecting JOD in our Round 1 teams, mostly key position at CHB. I love his potential but are we expecting too much from a second year player to be that big bodied key defender? I'd love the thoughts of those watching training if he is training the house down ahead of the other BAD Boys. How do they compare so far in pre-season?

I know he have it in for Keath and Gardner, and we are wishing for Buss and Darcy to step up, but is there merit in having a stronger defence-first player tall like Gardner there (if he can play at his peak?).

This isn't a criticism of JOD as I'd love him to be that player, but I question our expectations.

It's a great point. I guess it's easy to see the end to last year and project forward/extrapolate a bit from that. One potential point in his favor though is that while it's his second year on the list he's also not a 19 year old. He's 21. He's been an athlete the entire time even if in a different sport and was able to come straight into AFL without having played for years. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Gardner isn't the worst depth/backup but we also know his limitations/ceiling to some extent and JOD is already pretty close to that IMO.

[Warrnambulldog]

Some questions;
Could Darcy be like cats De Konig, does he have the pace off the mark to be a key defender? Be interested to hear what onlookers over the summer think his speed is like with hopefully an injury free run at it.


Where is Caleb Daniel best used? I get nervous about him one on one but is top shelf with ball in hand. Guess you start him on the pine and plug him in half back/forward depending on who we’re playing.


Harmes; seems like a good character/professional, but not really sure what spot he plays in. Guess he allows us to have a tagger for the likes of Nick Daicos, that’s about the only role I see him excelling in

[TheColonel]

Some questions;
Could Darcy be like cats De Konig, does he have the pace off the mark to be a key defender? Be interested to hear what onlookers over the summer think his speed is like with hopefully an injury free run at it.


Where is Caleb Daniel best used? I get nervous about him one on one but is top shelf with ball in hand. Guess you start him on the pine and plug him in half back/forward depending on who we’re playing.


Harmes; seems like a good character/professional, but not really sure what spot he plays in. Guess he allows us to have a tagger for the likes of Nick Daicos, that’s about the only role I see him excelling in

Personally I don’t think Darcy has the speed to be a key defender. I’d much prefer him to be forward (future ruck) and them train Croft as the future CHB. Croft has the speed and athleticism to be an incredible lockdown/intercepting defender.

[Bulldog Joe]

Some questions;
Could Darcy be like cats De Konig, does he have the pace off the mark to be a key defender? Be interested to hear what onlookers over the summer think his speed is like with hopefully an injury free run at it.


Where is Caleb Daniel best used? I get nervous about him one on one but is top shelf with ball in hand. Guess you start him on the pine and plug him in half back/forward depending on who we’re playing.


Harmes; seems like a good character/professional, but not really sure what spot he plays in. Guess he allows us to have a tagger for the likes of Nick Daicos, that’s about the only role I see him excelling in

I don't see Darcy having the pace off the mark to defend a leading forward.
If he plays back he will need to rely on reading the play and intercepting. This becomes very dependent on pressure from up the ground on the kicker.

Caleb probably needs to be the fix it guy off the bench to get the ball to when he is on. He needs to avoid being tagged out, although that could free up someone else. The key is to have multiple options and for Caleb it is ability to play where the team needs him.

Harmes, I see as the player to use as a tagger. I would consider him starting on the wing but then going to whichever midfielder we thought we needed to stop. For round 1 against Melbourne I would see him suited to running with Viney or Oliver.

[Bigdog]

Very concerned our small forwards won’t be good enough.

I like VDM as a pressure forward and want to see Weightman push higher on a half forward to get more involved.

Outside of those two the cupboard seems very bare (most don’t even have any faith in VDM). It sounds like Artie due to injury will be a way off and Clarke still isn’t ready.

I really don’t see makeshift half forward line with mids working. We might be able to hide one mid but not multiple. Chances are we will role harmes through there who’s skills are pretty average or Macrae and west who don’t have the speed to compliment the 3 talls.

[Critter]

B: Johannisen - Jones - Darcy
HB: Richards - JOD - Coffield
C: Dale - Libba - Poulter
HF: West - Naughton - Harmes
F: Lobb - JUH - Weightman

R: English - Bont - Treloar

Int: Sanders - Smith - Macrae - Daniel
Sub: Williams

I think JJ plays best when he plays deepest.

Playing Darcy deep provides cover for Jones when the latter is tracking his opponent up the field.

JOD displays great athletic capability and football smarts. I believe he will fully blossom this year and own CHB.

Dale on the wing is a try-it-and-see, but with a huge upside. His aerobic capacity and skills make it worth considering.

To me, Poulter and Williams are line-ball but Poulter doesn't seem to drift in and out of games as often as Williams.

Harmes was recruited to give us some grunt, which we sorely lacked. I'm reasonably certain he will play.

[Warrnambulldog]

Agree with this, crumbing/pressure forward is my biggest positional concern going into next year. We have our Jamie Elliott type in Weightman but need to find a Bobby Hill type equivalent. Need someone like Artie Jones, O’Driscoll to standup. Hope he proves me wrong but feel like we’ve been down this unsuccessful path with VDM before. Feel like Gallagher is another with speed that could play the role but sounds like we’re experimenting with him higher up the field at the moment

Very concerned our small forwards won’t be good enough.

I like VDM as a pressure forward and want to see Weightman push higher on a half forward to get more involved.

Outside of those two the cupboard seems very bare (most don’t even have any faith in VDM). It sounds like Artie due to injury will be a way off and Clarke still isn’t ready.

I really don’t see makeshift half forward line with mids working. We might be able to hide one mid but not multiple. Chances are we will role harmes through there who’s skills are pretty average or Macrae and west who don’t have the speed to compliment the 3 talls.