All Australian side

[mighty_west]

Re: All Australian side

Interesting Luke Darcy's comments at the function... If Rocket was still there Will would have been moved on...

Yeah but in fairness Will did struggle at times under Rocket being dropped quite a few times with poor form, but has really taken the next step being the number one ruck after Huddo retired.

Just makes Gold Coast Suns decision to take Josh Fraser over Will even more ridiculous.

[Missing Dog]

Re: All Australian side

Well done Big Will and Griff

[ratsmac]

Re: All Australian side

Pumped for the lads. Well done fellas.

[Remi Moses]

Re: All Australian side

Well done to both and thouroughly deserved.
Libba was dead stiff not to at least get in the forty.
The consensus will be that players are picked out of position, but lets be honest every team has about 15 midfielders. Thought Crowley should have been in, and Fyffe.

[Remi Moses]

Re: All Australian side

Interesting Luke Darcy's comments at the function... If Rocket was still there Will would have been moved on...

He would have been shipped off to GC.
Another tick for the coach getting him up and about

[KT31]

Re: All Australian side

Well done to both Wil and Griff very well deserved.
Hopeful both will back it up and make the side next season, bar Johnno we seem to get a player in one season and forgotten about the next .

[Topdog]

Re: All Australian side

So you would have him ahead of Cloke, Cameron and Roughead?

Ahead of Cloke and Cameron for sure. Not ahead of Rough.

[Ozza]

Re: All Australian side

So you would have him ahead of Cloke, Cameron and Roughead?

I would certainly have had him in front of Cameron. Cloke came home with a bit of a rush and might have edged Riewoldt out of CHF in the last couple of rounds. But it shouldn't be understated that Riewoldt was able to take more marks than any other player in the league, despite a very very weak side and no support from another regular tall forward.

Its hard to fit them all in.

Cameron's effort to kick 60 goals was great in a hopeless side - but he didn't do anything other than kick goals - and there were plenty of games when he didn't get a kick- Riewoldt was consistently good.

[Mofra]

Re: All Australian side

Fyfe or Libba in for Mackie would have been my change. Hard task, congratulations to Will & Griff.

You do really need two years of performance to get into the AA team, hence Libba's omission.

[Bulldog4life]

Re: All Australian side

Congratulations to both Will & Ryan. Very well deserved. Great to see them recognized by the Australian selectors.

[Sedat]

Re: All Australian side

Fyfe or Libba in for Mackie would have been my change. Hard task, congratulations to Will & Griff.

You do really need two years of performance to get into the AA team, hence Libba's omission.

In terms of pure mids, I have Libba behind only Ablett, Pendlebury, Selwood, Jack and Griff. AA selection should be about brilliance in the season in question - this absurd notion that previous years should count is rubbish. The ultimate measure of midfield brilliance is clearances and contested possessions - Libba has the entire field covered on those measurements, and he's top 5 tackler in the competition to boot.

The truly ridiculous selection in this team is Watson. Firstly because on actual performance, he dropped off significantly in the 2nd half of the season due to both form and injury (his 1st half of the season was absolutely AA-worthy). Secondly, he has a question mark on him as a potential doper. What if he is found to have doped in 2012 and has received artificial benefits of this doping program in 2013? Do we then take away his AA selection? What do you expect when you have fawning sycophants like Luke Darcy on the selection panel - if it was up to him, he'd have Hird as coach of the year due to his ability to handle pressure.

Enright is a brilliant player but his 2013 season was not AA worthy - maybe this is payback for losing out to Nick Maxwell in 2009 (the worst AA selection of all time). Mackie has been a better rebounding half back in 2013.

[Topdog]

Re: All Australian side

Wait Watson got AA. He only played 18 games (19 really but injured after 10 minutes) and had a number of poor games just before the injury and towards the end of the season.

[Scorlibo]

Re: All Australian side

I would certainly have had him in front of Cameron. Cloke came home with a bit of a rush and might have edged Riewoldt out of CHF in the last couple of rounds. But it shouldn't be understated that Riewoldt was able to take more marks than any other player in the league, despite a very very weak side and no support from another regular tall forward.

Its hard to fit them all in.

Cameron's effort to kick 60 goals was great in a hopeless side - but he didn't do anything other than kick goals - and there were plenty of games when he didn't get a kick- Riewoldt was consistently good.

I agree. For players to get into the side purely as get-ball-kick-goal kind of players I would have thought they'd need to kick more than 60.

Riewoldt averaged 9.6 marks per game while the next best was Cloke on 8.6. Would have been a deserving inclusion for mine.

The selectors weren't afraid to put Wingard in the side in his second year of AFL but wait for Libba to back up? Crazy that he wasn't in the squad, absolutely crazy.

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: All Australian side

Did the selectors feel that they couldn't include three players from one of the poorer sides in the squad, especially if two of them were likely to make the final side?

[LostDoggy]

Re: All Australian side

Did the selectors feel that they couldn't include three players from one of the poorer sides in the squad, especially if two of them were likely to make the final side?

Maybe so, but if so, another bullshit reason,