My best 22 for 2007

[Go_Dogs]

Morris, Harris, McMahon
Gilbee, Wight, Boyd
Eagleton, West, Giansiracusa
Murphy, McDougall, Cooney
Akermanis, Johnson, Darcy
Minson, Cross, Griffen
Power, Higgins, Robbins, Grant

Montgomery, Hahn, Hargrave

Morris: The perfect lock down defender, good closing speed, plays tall and small, but needs to work on his disposal at pace.

Harris: Our best key backline player, strong and can create, just needs to find that consistency to regularly string good games together.

McMahon: One of our fastest and most skillful players, always creating play from the back half. Can play midfield too, needs to reduce the amount of unforced errors he occasionally makes, although not a big issue.

Gilbee: Another skillful runner from the backhalf, who can play on taller opponents and burn them with his skill and speed. One of our most important players.

Wight: Our developing CHB has come along way over the last 6 months, and his courage was on display again last week. He compete's hard, and really looks an exciting package with good endurance and agility for a big bloke.

Boyd: Had to squeeze him on the park, but he would more work floating around the clearance situation and following the ball a bit. Good overhead, strong tackler and hard at the ball. One of our best players.

Eagleton: Our attacking wingman, who is capable of kicking long goals with his sweeping left foot. Not many who are better at it, and his run and carry is also top notch. His ability to break games is always important.

West: What do I need to say, the ball magnet owns the centre sqaure.

Giansiracusa: His silky skills, ability to run the ball, win a clearance and kick a goal make him very important. Hopefully he stays injury free and shows how good he really is.

Murphy: Another classy player who does the right things at the right times, good on the lead, great hands and positioning and a good shot on goal. Missed a lot last year.

McDougall: He showed his worth last week - although only a practice game, he did well, creating a contest, showing his agility and generally doing the right things. He needs to work on his disposal, and be sure he measures his kicks.

Cooney: He's excellent on the ball, however due to his marking ability, I would like him to play a Cousins type role, drifting around half forward and on the ball - especially as he overcomes injury. He could kick 35+ goals for the year.

Johnson: Our main target in the forward line, will finally be able to battle in his own weight division. Expect him to play up the ground a bit more, and again be our leading goal kicker.

Darcy: Will play forward for a portion of the year, and will also be thrown into the ruck at times as well. He'll be crucial to our chances, and if he can play out of the centre square, it will drastically help our clearances.

Akermanis: Aker will play forward and up in the centre too, he'll be able to crumb goals and add that golden touch to our already skillful line up.

Minson: Will have to be our #1 ruck again this year, and looked good on the weekend. He's improved his mobility and quite a few times he got involved in the play. Needs a big year, and a bit of help from Darce.

Cross: Cross will again work harder than anyone, gather quality possessions and put his body on the line. A crucial cog in our midfield who always works hard.

Griffen: This guy is going to be one of the best players, ever. He's so quick, so good on either side, a great goal sense, good defensive skills, hard to tackle, and has a very strong core. So important to our chances this year.

Power: Gets the nod on the bench ahead of players like Hahn and Monty due to his height and ability to play at either end of the ground. His quick hands and good vision make him a useful addition.

Higgins: Another midfield / forward option who can be rotated through different areas. Knows how to kick a goal, and looks very composed.

Robbins: Gets the nod due to his ability to take marks, apply forward zone pressure, and kick very truly. Anyone who kicks over 40 goals in a year deserves a spot, and he can fill a forward role whilst others rotate into the centre.

Grant: Our spare parts man, either up forward or down back. Don't expect him to play brilliantly all year, but he'll do the hard things, put his body on the line, and get the job done when it needs to be.


Monty, Hahn and Hargrave, and also Ray, are all unlucky to miss out, but would all add some different positives into our team. I think at this stage the above mix would be our best. Just my opinion, so please don't bite my head off!

[Dry Rot]

Morris, Harris, McMahon
Gilbee, Wight, Boyd
Eagleton, West, Giansiracusa
Murphy, McDougall, Cooney
Akermanis, Johnson, Darcy
Minson, Cross, Griffen
Power, Higgins, Robbins, Grant



Monty, Hahn and Hargrave, and also Ray, are all unlucky to miss out, but would all add some different positives into our team. I think at this stage the above mix would be our best. Just my opinion, so please don't bite my head off!

IMO, at his best we need Hargrave in an undersized backline.

And no Street? At this stage, IMO Minson is not a great ruckman.

All this shows that we competition for spots the like of whcih I cannot recall for the Dogs.

[alwaysadog]

I wonder if we will ever have anything close to our best 22 together at the one time. I'd have Hahn, Hargrave and Street in my best 22.

[GVGjr]

I wonder if we will ever have anything close to our best 22 together at the one time. I'd have Hahn, Hargrave and Street in my best 22.

I agree. McMahon23, any reason why these guys don't make the list?

I suppose there can be an argument for Street not playing but to me one ruckman isn't enough and I don't think McDougall can do too much as a ruckman.
Hargrave to me is a requirement and Hahn at his best or somewhere near his best creates match-up problems.

All in all it's not easy to assemble a best 22 at the moment because there will be a couple of very good players missing out

[bornadog]

McMahon 23 probably has Darcy as the back up ruckman, but I would also include a Street. I would also include Hargarave, ahead of Power. Power hasn't proved he is amongst our best 22 at this stage, he has a loooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg way to go.

[bulldogtragic]

McMahon 23 probably has Darcy as the back up ruckman, but I would also include a Street. I would also include Hargarave, ahead of Power. Power hasn't proved he is amongst our best 22 at this stage, he has a loooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg way to go.

If the comparison of Shaggy & Sam is as a tall-ish defender, than i agree Shaggy gets the nod.

But if the comparison is all round value, running HBF, midfield, HFF or utility then surely Sam adds more value than hargrave.

While Shaggy's string is very strong to his bow, Sam has more strings.

[Dry Rot]

Not disagreeing, but we'll need Hargrave down back.

[Go_Dogs]

IMO, at his best we need Hargrave in an undersized backline.

And no Street? At this stage, IMO Minson is not a great ruckman.

All this shows that we competition for spots the like of whcih I cannot recall for the Dogs.

In regards to Hargrave, he was probably one of the hardest to leave out. He is definitely a very important part of our backline structure, however due to our needs to be more flexible, and the fact that both Grant and McDougall could drop back into the whole, he just missed out in favour of another player who is slightly more versatile. With Harris, Wight, Morris and Grant down back, I don't think we would be too worried about giving away too much height.

I prefer Big Will to Street, Will has much more potential, puts his big body on the line, and uses it to his advantage, unlike Street. Street is a good tap ruckmen, but he doesn't help us win any ball in the centre for mine. Minson is helpful clearing guys out the way, and throwing his weight around. Like I mentioned in my summary, I have Darcy playing the other role in the ruck. This is of course highly hypothetical, but if by finals he can share the duties with Minson, we suddenly have a very dangerous ruck tandem up there with the best of them.

Hahn is an interesting one, and if he was going to get a spot, it would probably have to be at the expense of either Higgins or Robbins. Hahn played some excellent football prior to his injury, and I very much admire his ability to crash and bash. However, I feel that players like Boyd and Cross offer similar elements, but have more skill, fitness and speed that Hahn. Plus, Robbins is surely getting a spot for his goal kicking ability, whilst Higgins offers us another crumber, and midfield rotation. That said, Hahn could easily slot into this 22 w/o it losing too much. I just feel that after his injury, combined with our style of play, that he may just miss out ahead of some others when our squad is fully fit.


The comments re: Power not being in the best 22 - I feel that this has to be his year. He's flexible in that he can play almost anywhere, and I was pretty impressed with his defensive work on O'Keefe, and he has been doing a lot of work with Johnson practicing as a defender over the summer. He looks bigger, fitter and with his vision I think he's going to be a very important player for us this year, if he keeps working hard.


Thanks to everyone for their comments, let's keep the discussion going.

[bornadog]

All I can say is Power is yet to prove himself and is not in our best 22. By the end of year I hope he proves me wrong, but to date I think he has probably played less than a handful of good games.

[LostDoggy]

All I can say is Power is yet to prove himself and is not in our best 22. By the end of year I hope he proves me wrong, but to date I think he has probably played less than a handful of good games.

I hope he proves you wrong to.He was far from our worst last night and I still hold high hopes for him to come good for us.

[Go_Dogs]

I thought Power was good w/o being spectacular last night. His quick hands were excellent to help us through the pressure the Lions were putting on the ball carrier at times through the middle. He also did some ok defensive work, and generally did some good things.

Hargrave was very impressive last night though, that's for sure.

[dog town]

Hargrave was very impressive last night though, that's for sure.

Makes you wonder how much his ankle impacted on him last year.

[GVGjr]

Makes you wonder how much his ankle impacted on him last year.

He played with the injury for the last half of the season. Copped a fair bagging when his form was a bit patchy as well. Given that it's taken since September until now for him to get back into game type fitness it must have been a fair type of injury.

He was rated the 2nd fastest at the club over 20mtrs last year and while we have added some more speedsters to the group it will be interesting to see if the injury slows him down any.

[bornadog]

Ok McMahon #23, are you going to revamp your best 22? In Hargarve out Power

[southerncross]

All I can say is Power is yet to prove himself and is not in our best 22. By the end of year I hope he proves me wrong, but to date I think he has probably played less than a handful of good games.

I'm not so sure. I think Power has been in good form and worthy of a spot.
Not sure that he has made one position his own but he can play a variety of roles for us and is a player we still haven't seen the best of yet.