2025 Starting Line-Up

[Grantysghost]

I genuinely think, if VDM or McNeil are in your best 25 players, your are not a preliminary final team. Same goes for Poulter, Baker and Arty Jones, all good depth pieces, and can play a role at some stage, but that is it.

Thumbs down !

McNeil was definitely best side late last year. And yes I pretend to get upset when anyone bags my boy !

[Rusty12]

Thumbs down !

McNeil was definitely best side late last year. And yes I pretend to get upset when anyone bags my boy !

Haha, fair enough, we like what we like. If Mcneil was in our best 22 players last year, and is again this year, I gues I am saying that team is not a top 4 team, or until he improves or we find better, we won't be a top 4 team.

[Cmac1297]

I think McNeil is good enough to play at the level just needs to find that consistency.

[GVGjr]

I think McNeil is good enough to play at the level just needs to find that consistency.

If he fixes his field kicking by just 10% and his goal kicking accuracy by 20% then he's best 22 without much doubt

[Cmac1297]

If he fixes his field kicking by just 10% and his goal kicking accuracy by 20% then he's best 22 without much doubt

I agree, set shots definitely need some work not just for him though there’s a lot that need to improve their goal kicking accuracy.

[Guest]

I actually believe McNiel was showing good improvement towards the end of the year. He got an extended spot in the team and actually started making better decisions by foot. Needs to clean up his goalkeeping as do alot of our players but I can see the potential. Vanders is the one who could be on the outer. While still pacey he has seemed to have lost confidence in his body to give it a full 100% similiar to like Dickson did towards the end of his career. Soft tissue injuries can play on your mind i guess. Garcia is one player who needs to play every week. Has serious talent and is a ready made replacement for Libba who is 1 head knock away from retirement.

[Brody23]

If he fixes his field kicking by just 10% and his goal kicking accuracy by 20% then he's best 22 without much doubt

Couldn’t agree more, he brings all the right attributes to play the ‘6th’ high half forward role, what stops him being a lock is his set shot goal kicking…but love his speed and defensive side of the game. I have him in my best 23 at this stage.

[Stevo]

Couldn’t agree more, he brings all the right attributes to play the ‘6th’ high half forward role, what stops him being a lock is his set shot goal kicking…but love his speed and defensive side of the game. I have him in my best 23 at this stage.

It's taken a while for him to command a spot but he does possess a lot of the attributes that we need. He tackles and has plenty of pace and in a position where most players don't get a lot of the footy he's been good.
We need to have players like McNeil, Vandermeer and West in the side because they bring that added bonus of defensive pressure.

[Stevo]

Haha, fair enough, we like what we like. If Mcneil was in our best 22 players last year, and is again this year, I gues I am saying that team is not a top 4 team, or until he improves or we find better, we won't be a top 4 team.

It's good to have differing views and I hope his performances next season impress you enough so see his value. There are a need to role players and possession numbers aren't the be all in how players bring value.

[mjp]

Team selection stuff that is driving me crazy. So here's my "How to suck eggs" guide to selecting your best side.

This is very much an "Old Man shouts at cloud" type post but I find it so hard to comment on some teams when the sides are completely unbalanced or some of our core players are placed in roles where they aren't going to play.

- Naming more than 3x talls down back.
If you have Jones, Lobb and JOD...you can't also have Buss, Coffield, Buku, Gardner etc. We rolled with 4 for a bit last year and it was alright till it wasn't...it's not happening because Buku and JOD (who are most likely) battle vs small-medium players. Just pick your 3.

- Not naming M. Kennedy.
He's an experienced AFL player who we targeted and just finished top 10 in another finals team's B&F. Just put him in - he's playing.

- Naming Liber anywhere but inside mid or bench.
He's playing inside mid. If he was going to be a starter forward of the footy he would have showed SOMETHING in that role in he previous 12-seasons. He's playing mid.

- Naming Treloar as anywhere but inside mid or bench.
He's playing inside mid. Just mark it down. He's played there his whole career, he was AA in that role last year...stop sticking him on the wing 'cos despite what we tried when he first came to the club he's pretty much exclusively an inside mid.

- Messing with Richards.
Why would we move him to the forward line or outside? He had an amazing year...just stick him in the middle. And yes, if you're counting that means our mids are Bont, Liber, Treloar and Richards. There will be cameos (of course) but that's what we've got and that's what we're going with. If Sanders wants to be part of it well it's pretty simple. Play BETTER.

- Jamarra is annoying but he kicked 43 goals last year.
43. That's a lot. Assuming he gets his off-field right, he's going to start the year standing in the cage. I'm not sure why perceptions of his effectiveness (which seem to be that he is poor) are over-riding the reality (he took a heap of catches inside 50 and needs to kick straighter)...was his performance vs Hawthorn bad? Of course it was. Can we move on now??

- Worrying about Ruck#2
We're gonna make it up. Lobb will help, Darcy will help. Bevo's gonna go with an extra runner 'cos that's what he does. Longmuir plays 2-rucks at Freo as he has Darcy and Jackson. We don't have Darcy and Jackson so we're gonna play 1.

I'm all for throwing guys around - have at it...I love seeing suggestions and some creativity. But don't move Liber forward so you can insert Weightman as a mid. Include in the notes that in YOUR plan Weightman will get some midfield time...100% get it.

[Sedat]

- Worrying about Ruck#2
We're gonna make it up. Lobb will help, Darcy will help. Bevo's gonna go with an extra runner 'cos that's what he does. Longmuir plays 2-rucks at Freo as he has Darcy and Jackson. We don't have Darcy and Jackson so we're gonna play 1.

I'm too worried about Ruck #1 to even think about Ruck #2

[Mofra]

It's taken a while for him to command a spot but he does possess a lot of the attributes that we need. He tackles and has plenty of pace and in a position where most players don't get a lot of the footy he's been good.
We need to have players like McNeil, Vandermeer and West in the side because they bring that added bonus of defensive pressure.

Whatever a player does, he keeps that reputation for years afterwards (see Gia).
McNeill was a massive improver in 2024 and has put in the hard yards this pre-season so if he gets picked round 1, he deserves it.
We'd roll out the improved 2025 version of McNeill, not the 2023 version. Bramble took a whole season to shake off his 'just ok' first month and was excellent for us once he settled, but was still copping for months.

[Rusty12]

I hope McNeil continues to improve as many hope and helps to push the team towards a top 4 finish or preliminary final. Looking at his player ratings, he was a lot better than I was giving him credit for, and around a 20% gain would do the trick, as someone mentioned above. Happy to concede on him, and he has VDM covered.



In regards to Marra, 43 goals, playing deep forward in a team with as much ball as the Doggies win or inside 50s they generate with a player rating of 6, is very MID. Toby Greene had a "off year" and had 44 goals with a player rating of 10, Jake Stringer 42 goals, with a player rating of 10, and the Dons were giving him away. His performance sits similar to Oli Henry at Geelong or Joel Amartey at the Swans, a solid player, nothing more. I hope he takes a bit step forward and is a walk-up start, but my stock is in Darcy

[GVGjr]

I hope McNeil continues to improve as many hope and helps to push the team towards a top 4 finish or preliminary final. Looking at his player ratings, he was a lot better than I was giving him credit for, and around a 20% gain would do the trick, as someone mentioned above. Happy to concede on him, and he has VDM covered.



In regards to Marra, 43 goals, playing deep forward in a team with as much ball as the Doggies win or inside 50s they generate with a player rating of 6, is very MID. Toby Greene had a "off year" and had 44 goals with a player rating of 10, Jake Stringer 42 goals, with a player rating of 10, and the Dons were giving him away. His performance sits similar to Oli Henry at Geelong or Joel Amartey at the Swans, a solid player, nothing more. I hope he takes a bit step forward and is a walk-up start, but my stock is in Darcy

Rusty, we probably should be looking at Marra's performance a bit differently than just comparing him to players that kicked similar number of goals
He's playing alongside of both Darcy and Naughton who kicked 38 and 35 goals themselves. In our forward set-up it more about the spread of goal kickers which will limit how many goals some players will kick
Each team has a different forward set-up. GWS get the majority of their goals from Hogan and Greene with a few from the emerging Cadman
Essendon with more mid sized forwards like Langford and Stringer and not much else from others.

We have loaded up in terms of our financial spend and contracts with forwards so we need to get them all functioning as a unit a bit better. Improve the goal kicking accuracy and we would win more games.

[Brody23]

Team selection stuff that is driving me crazy. So here's my "How to suck eggs" guide to selecting your best side.

This is very much an "Old Man shouts at cloud" type post but I find it so hard to comment on some teams when the sides are completely unbalanced or some of our core players are placed in roles where they aren't going to play.

- Naming more than 3x talls down back.
If you have Jones, Lobb and JOD...you can't also have Buss, Coffield, Buku, Gardner etc. We rolled with 4 for a bit last year and it was alright till it wasn't...it's not happening because Buku and JOD (who are most likely) battle vs small-medium players. Just pick your 3.

- Not naming M. Kennedy.
He's an experienced AFL player who we targeted and just finished top 10 in another finals team's B&F. Just put him in - he's playing.

- Naming Liber anywhere but inside mid or bench.
He's playing inside mid. If he was going to be a starter forward of the footy he would have showed SOMETHING in that role in he previous 12-seasons. He's playing mid.

- Naming Treloar as anywhere but inside mid or bench.
He's playing inside mid. Just mark it down. He's played there his whole career, he was AA in that role last year...stop sticking him on the wing 'cos despite what we tried when he first came to the club he's pretty much exclusively an inside mid.

- Messing with Richards.
Why would we move him to the forward line or outside? He had an amazing year...just stick him in the middle. And yes, if you're counting that means our mids are Bont, Liber, Treloar and Richards. There will be cameos (of course) but that's what we've got and that's what we're going with. If Sanders wants to be part of it well it's pretty simple. Play BETTER.

- Jamarra is annoying but he kicked 43 goals last year.
43. That's a lot. Assuming he gets his off-field right, he's going to start the year standing in the cage. I'm not sure why perceptions of his effectiveness (which seem to be that he is poor) are over-riding the reality (he took a heap of catches inside 50 and needs to kick straighter)...was his performance vs Hawthorn bad? Of course it was. Can we move on now??

- Worrying about Ruck#2
We're gonna make it up. Lobb will help, Darcy will help. Bevo's gonna go with an extra runner 'cos that's what he does. Longmuir plays 2-rucks at Freo as he has Darcy and Jackson. We don't have Darcy and Jackson so we're gonna play 1.

I'm all for throwing guys around - have at it...I love seeing suggestions and some creativity. But don't move Liber forward so you can insert Weightman as a mid. Include in the notes that in YOUR plan Weightman will get some midfield time...100% get it.

Great post haha love the passion. I pretty much agree with 90% of this… the only exception being the Richards role, he often started on the groin in a HF position moving up to support stoppage allowing Treloar and Bont to push hard forward. You can see this on the behind the goals vision.