The top 10 players in the competition?

[Go_Dogs]

Thought it could be a good chance to perhaps revisit this thread, based on what we have seen over the course of the first 6 rounds.

My top 10 as it stood before the season:

1. Gary Ablett
2. Nick Riewoldt
3. Lenny Hayes
4. James Bartel
5. Luke Hodge
6. Lance Franklin
7. Sam Mitchell
8. Adam Goodes
9. Joel Selwood
10. Chris Judd

As of right now, I would probably go for something like this:

1. Ablett
2. Riewoldt (pre-injury obviously)
3. Brown
4. Hodge
5. Hayes (although a quiet start, was great on the weekend - still their best mid IMO)
6. Judd
7. Chapman
8. Pavlich
9. Sandilands
10. Bartel

Mitchell has been affected by injury and his form was a little down (still big numbers though), whilst Goodes and Franklin have both had inconsistent starts to the year whilst there have been some impressive performances by the big, key forwards in Pavlich and Brown. Selwood just misses out due to, with Chapman having been very damaging thus far.

Goddard pretty unlucky as he's certainly around the mark.

[hujsh]

Pavlich forces his way into my top ten at the expense of Dal Santo

[Mofra]

1. Ablett
2. Riewoldt (pre-injury obviously)
3. Brown
4. Hodge
5. Hayes (although a quiet start, was great on the weekend - still their best mid IMO)
6. Judd
7. Chapman
8. Pavlich
9. Sandilands
10. Bartel

Very hard to argue with that list, although Montagna has a right to feel aggreived that he's missed out (perhaps an in at the expence of Riewoldt?). Riewoldt had legitimate claims to the no 1 spit before his injury this year, he was flying.

[Rocco Jones]

I was thinking about revisiting it as well. Here is my new top 10. It Rooless obviously due to his long term injury, doubts about how he will come back and because he is a girl.

1- Gary Ablett
2- Jonathan Brown
3- Chris Judd
4- Aaron Sandilands
5- Matthew Pavlich
6- Brendon Goddard
7- Luke Hodge
8- Paul Chapman
9- Lenny Hayes
10- Ryan O'Keefe

[Bulldog Revolution]

7- Luke Hodge

OK I am cheating here by not going into the full top ten discussion, but I believe Luke Hodge is one of the most overrated players in the competition. Sure I think he is a very good player, but he's a rebounding defender who plays loose man a lot of the time.

I think if he were the star everyone thinks he is, he'd be genuinely able to play midfield and have an influence, but to suggest he is a midfielder in my eyes is ridiculous.

As a result I think guys like Swan, Mark Muprhy, Judd, Cooney, Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Hayes, Dal Santo, Boyd etc all have more influence on the game than him

[Mofra]

OK I am cheating here by not going into the full top ten discussion, but I believe Luke Hodge is one of the most overrated players in the competition. Sure I think he is a very good player, but he's a rebounding defender who plays loose man a lot of the time.

I think if he were the star everyone thinks he is, he'd be genuinely able to play midfield and have an influence, but to suggest he is a midfielder in my eyes is ridiculous.

As a result I think guys like Swan, Mark Muprhy, Judd, Cooney, Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Hayes, Dal Santo, Boyd etc all have more influence on the game than him

Disagree - he's played every position on the ground this year, and at 185cm you need to be damn good to play CHB/CHF and ruck at times in 3 consecutive weeks.
Most players struggle when thrown around, yet Hodge has not just managed, but performed well in every position. The guy has the heart of a lion and when given time & space will cut teams up. Would be leading their B&F by a big margin already.

[Sockeye Salmon]

OK I am cheating here by not going into the full top ten discussion, but I believe Luke Hodge is one of the most overrated players in the competition. Sure I think he is a very good player, but he's a rebounding defender who plays loose man a lot of the time.

I think if he were the star everyone thinks he is, he'd be genuinely able to play midfield and have an influence, but to suggest he is a midfielder in my eyes is ridiculous.

As a result I think guys like Swan, Mark Muprhy, Judd, Cooney, Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Hayes, Dal Santo, Boyd etc all have more influence on the game than him

I'm with Mofra, Hodge is a superstar.

He does play midfield often and when he does he can rip it up there as well.

[LostDoggy]

I'm with Mofra, Hodge is a superstar.

He does play midfield often and when he does he can rip it up there as well.

Stunk it up last week though, got towelled up when he went into the middle, then got killed by Gumbleton when he went back. Lucky Supercoach doesn't deduct points for getting outmarked...

He's definitely a gun, having said that. But I'm not rating him ahead of Bartel, Hayes, Swan or Judd as a pure mid. What was my top 10 again...

[LostDoggy]

Edited version of my original post:

1. Gablett
2. Riewoldt
3. Hayes
4. Pavlich
5. Brown
6. Goodes
7. Fevola
8. Bartel
9. Enright
10. Swan

Brief notes:

• Franklin and Hodge were next in line
• Scarlett is clearly as good a full-back as any running around, but Lakey was better than him in 2009 and he would barely make my top 10. Goddard not really close at this stage.. bloody good player, but not (yet) elite, especially since he runs around without a tag and struggled when Griff played on him in last year Prelim.
• Juddy gathers lots of possessions but that's about it, and it's not really enough these days, Jolly may well force his way into the top ten but at this point is not better than any of the guys on that list, and Cox would have been a shoo-in every other year but barely played last year so can't possibly be named for now -- if he's not playing he's a non-factor.
• Nathan Bock would have been on that list on 2008 form, influence on a game and versatility, but his 2009 was a bit meh.
• Only Dogs player that would make the list based on actual 2009 output would be Lakey, probably at no.8. Boydy and Morris would just miss. Coons pain-free would probably make the list too, but he hasn't been pain-free for a while now, and a fit Murph (and consistent Griff) can definitely crack the top 10.

Looks okay except for Fev and Enright. At this stage Juddy and Hodge would probably go back in in their place, behind Swan and Bartel who would move up to no 7 and 8 respectively.

Jolly and Hille are miles away, Scarlett has been sight unseen, Lakey and Goddard still not quite there, Bock has disappeared, Boydy, Coons and Morris have been only okay.

Griff is closing fast.

[chef]

Random order.

Jonathan Brown
Adam Goodes
Nick Riewoldt
Gary Ablett
Matthew Scarlett
Dean Cox
Chris Judd
Buddy Franklin
Luke Hodge
Lenny Hayes


Apologies to
Simon Black
Brendon Fevola
Craig Bolton
Bernie Vince
Andrew Macleod
Matthew Pavlich
Marc Murphy

Only thing I would change is Pavlich in and Cox out.

[Bulldog Revolution]

I'm with Mofra, Hodge is a superstar.

He does play midfield often and when he does he can rip it up there as well.

We'll have to agree on some elements (that hes a good player) and disagree on others (that he rips it up midfield).

I think he is a really good player, but I think because former footballers love his knockabout country bloke image he is overrated by the media, and I think Hawthorn have encouraged this so they dont get the negativity from having overlooked Judd to pick him.

I also think that if he'd been anybody but him he would have been suspended for punching Welsh in the back of the head last week on a wildly failed spoiling attempt.