Players, Selection, Status, Thoughts?

[mjp]

Player Name	Likely Role	Best 22	Current Status	Pre-Season Score/Status
Adam Treloar	Midfielder	Yes	Injured – calf strain	Incomplete - He's a pro but this is getting 'hard'.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan	Key Forward	Yes	Personal leave	NA
Cody Weightman	Forward	Yes	Active	A - Seems to be 'flying'.
Marcus Bontempelli	Midfielder	Best 1 actually!	Active	A - No concerns I've heard of.
Jedd Busslinger	Key Defender	No	Active	C - Probs a little less than we wanted to see.
Cooper Hynes	Midfielder	No	Active	C+ - Started slowly but skills starting to shine through
Rory Lobb	Key Defender	Yes	Active	B - I've heard nothing to think otherwise
Matthew Kennedy	Midfielder	Yes (well, Maybe but I'm going with yes)	Active	B - Again, nothing bad heard
Ryley Sanders	Midfielder	Maybe	Active	A - Looks fit and seems to have improved.
Sam Darcy	Key Forward	Yes	Active	B - Continues to show good things
Lachie Jaques	Defender	No	Active	B - Really jumped out as a rookie
Harvey Gallagher	Midfielder	Maybe	Active	C==>B - Recovering from injury = late start.
Oskar Baker	Midfielder	Depth	Active	C - Heard nothing bad
Rhylee West	Forward	Yes	Active	B - Kicking goals = big smiles
Taylor Duryea	Defender	Yes	Active	B - Rough EF but seems back to some sort of form
Jordan Croft	Key Forward	No	Active	C - Apparently he's a winger now??
Nick Coffield	Defender	Depth	Active	C - Heard nothing bad, heard nothing at all!
James O'Donnell	Key Defender	Maybe	Active	C - Was hoping to hear he's jumping over the moon but...
Liam Jones	Key Defender	Yes	Active	B - All good things
Ed Richards	Midfielder	Yes	Active	B - Permanent mid now...can only help
Tom Liberatore	Midfielder	Yes (though not according to all!)	Active	C - Heard no bad news
James Harmes	Midfielder	Depth	Active	B - Sounds like he's putting his best foot forward
Laitham Vandermeer	Forward	Maybe	Active	B - Another who always features in reports
Buku Khamis	Key Defender	Maybe	Active	B - Caught in the key defender log jam behind Lones and Lobb
Caleb Poulter	Midfielder	Depth	Active	C - Moving roles can never be a great sign.
Josh Dolan	Forward	No	Active	C - First year, it's gonna be tough.
Joel Freijah	Defender	Yes	Active	B - All good things! Seems to be promoted to DK??
Anthony Scott	Midfielder	Depth	Injured – patella issue	Incomplete. Injuries and such a real worry now.
Lachlan Bramble	Defender	Yes	Active	B - Again, all positive reports from the surprise of 2024
Lachlan McNeil	Forward	Maybe	Active	A - Pre-season specialist strikes again...can he play with confidence when r#01 arrives.
Bailey Dale	Defender	Yes	Active	B - He's a star.
Arthur Jones	Forward	No	Active	C - Wing, forward...what is he again?
Aaron Naughton	Key Forward	Yes	Injured – calf issue	D - Injuries, injuries
Bailey Williams	Midfielder	Yes	Active	C - No good or bad reports. Important player
Luke Kennedy	Midfielder	Yes	Active	B - Sounds like he's really jumped out. He is a kid.
Luke Cleary	Defender	Depth	Active	C - I have heard no real news...wonder where he's at??
Riley Garcia	Forward	Maybe	Active	C ==> B ==> C - Seems either rising or falling on someones list after each session!
Jason Johannisen	Defender	Yes	Injured – hamstring surgery	Incomplete. Was this ever going to be a thing in 2025??
Lachlan Smith	Ruck	No - not even depth apparently.	Active	D - Concerning now.
Sam Davidson	Forward	Depth (at this stage)	Active	B - Eye catching mature ager...multiple roles though make me think there's a few ahead of him.
Ryan Gardner	Ruck	Depth	Active	C - Well, from #5 key back to #2 ruck is one way up the depth chart.
Tim English	Ruck	Yes	Injured – abdominal issue	C - Well, he's done more than he did last year!

I was looking at all the submitted teams and decided to have a go at this...

Thoughts?

[jeemak]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for going to the effort as I hadn't even thought about a bit of quant/ qual review from the excellent updates we get here.

The one that jumps out to me is Lachlan Smith. I appreciate what you're saying, but I wonder what the expectation is given he's still only 19 and raw.

[GVGjr]

mjp Fair ratings, I'd have Richards as an A, Garcia as a B but the rest of the rating it's hard to mount an argument against.

[Stevo]

Would Weightman be slightly overrated in this list? He's missed full sessions for a while

[Bornadog]

I would rate Lobb an A and Buss is bordering on a B.

[The Underdog]

Buss has trained consistently but has seemingly made no progress on getting a senior game. Still about 5th in line for a key position defensive spot. It’s bordering on concerning. C seems right.

[Bornadog]

Underdog, the rating is for preaseaon training and Buss has been training well and doing the right things

[Rusty12]

Great Stuff.

My main change would be Davidson as best 22, between outside mid and no Marra, he just fits.

Libba -B, no concussion is worth it alone.

Freijah - A

What rating would you give the clubs pre-season /position?

I think the injuries are over stated for now, attrition is normal, depth and system should carry you through for now.

Loosing one of darcy, dale, English, naughton, bont or ed, would shift that needle, otherwise, no excuses.

[kruder]

Richards should be AA, he will be at the end of the season.

[Mofra]

I too would have Richards as an A based off his pre-season.
Love the McNeill rating, You just have to reward effort and preparation, he's trained himself into a Round 1 lock.
Bailey Williams - maybe a B? Easily our nest wing option again.
Davidson (yeah I'm bias) might be pushing A given a late draft pick is training himself into a round 1 debut which is ahead of expectations.

Two more:
Croft - a victim of coaching staff trying to be too cute? A KPP who has endurance isn't automatically a wingman. Not at all.
And to be harsh, Coffield - D. He's sadly back to his natural element (the rehab group). It didn't cost us much but I just don't see it. Good positioning, neat kick but doesn't move the needle at all when he's playing for us which is a shame as I really wanted him to make it.

[kruder]

I'm not convinced of our management of Croft so far I agree. Started back in the VFL then forward and now a preseason on the wing?

[jazzadogs]

Cleary is an E. He could be delisted tomorrow and I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

It's interesting how the score seems to take in to account the expectations as well. Only four As - Weightman, Bont, Sanders and McNeil. I would argue for Freijah, Richards, Lobb, Jones, Darcy and Dale to be A - we don't hear much because they are pros. Jones participating in most sessions is an elite preseason in my eyes. Freijah won the time trial and has been in the 'best 7' backline consistently.

Libba should be B, not C - the concerns over him are about head knocks, but there have been no reports that he has slowed down with his running or skills.

[jazzadogs]

Gardner also B not C - injury riddled guy who has completed most sessions, learned a new role and competed well in match sim. If we're just going against expectations he's almost an A in my eyes, but I'd keep him at a B because he hasn't done so well that he's a best 23 lock.

Great concept mjp.

[azabob]

VDM is best 22 last year and has had a full pre-season which suggests he will be best 22 again. WHO has put their hand up to take HIS spot?

I am surprised you are so adamant about Luke Kennedy being best 22. From what I've seen and read I would think Sanders is ahead of Luke Kennedy. There are four active players after two spots - Liberatore, Sanders, L.Kennedy and Garcia.

[Hotdog60]

I like the write up MJP and thanks for the effort. Hard to argue against what you have written.
Interesting about Scott as I had him the better player than McNeil but it just goes to show that you need to be able to stay on the park and McNeil has gone past Scott and the only blight, I can see on his game is that he doesn't make the most of his opportunities.

[Critter]

VDM is best 22 last year and has had a full pre-season which suggests he will be best 22 again. WHO has put their hand up to take HIS spot?

I am surprised you are so adamant about Luke Kennedy being best 22. From what I've seen and read I would think Sanders is ahead of Luke Kennedy. There are four active players after two spots - Liberatore, Sanders, L.Kennedy and Garcia.

I can think of a few who have put their hand up for VDM's spot, given Weightman and West are locks - Matthew Kennedy, Davidson, Harmes & McNeil. All have trained well and, to me, will deliver better value than VDM.

[Bornadog]

Croft - a victim of coaching staff trying to be too cute? A KPP who has endurance isn't automatically a wingman. Not at all.

Forget the wingman stuff, Croft is coming off a bad injury in 2024 and he is being eased back into the fold. That won't be his normal position.

[mjp]

VDM is best 22 last year and has had a full pre-season which suggests he will be best 22 again. WHO has put their hand up to take HIS spot?

I am surprised you are so adamant about Luke Kennedy being best 22. From what I've seen and read I would think Sanders is ahead of Luke Kennedy. There are four active players after two spots - Liberatore, Sanders, L.Kennedy and Garcia.

Sorry mate - that one's (L. Kennedy) clearly an error on my part.

I get all the points about ratings but for me:

C = Average - at expectations at this point of pre-season.
B = Above Average.
A - Elite.

I went into this pretty determined to only award 4-5 'A' level scores...I gave them to Weightman, Bont, Sanders and McNeil. Remember, this is all 3rd hand hearsay courtesy of our track watchers...I'm in Perth - I've seen NOTHING!!

I said Bont was an 'A' not because he is an 'A'-grade player but because when you have someone with his stature still right at the front of the 2km leading the way, that shows an incredible level of leadership and commitment. No-one would bat an eye-lid if he was middle of the pack and building into it.

I can't say Davidson is best 22 'cos he hasn't even played a game - so how do I know? How does anyone know.
I said VDM was a maybe because he is always on the fringe - I have repeatedly said 'he plays every week' in the selection thread but as of right now I don't know what our structure will be...so I'm just not 100% on him.

Croft lining up on a wing is clearly an issue. I get it is a coaching thing etc but if he was braining them as a KPP, he'd be playing there.