2025 Starting Line-Up

[Uninformed]

Seems it is JOD/Buss/Buku/Coffield/Gardner for the one spot?

[Grantysghost]

SO:
- Kennedy rotates inside and creates a bit of a 5-way with Richards so there is always one mid in the forward 6?
- Garcia rotates forward?
- Freijah rotates back. Or outside?
- Sanders rotates ???

I'm not sure how that works mate. We need a defensive rotator and someone to help on the wings...

Hey hey I was just trying to squish in all the good players, go away with your fancy rotations mumbo jumbo !

I'll make it work

Difference from EF side.

Out : Daniel, Macrae, Gallagher, Harmes, LVDM
In : Sanders, Kennedy, JJ, Garcia, West

[GVGjr]

Seems it is JOD/Buss/Buku/Coffield/Gardner for the one spot?

I would have thought so a couple of weeks back but Gards is the direct opponent for English on the match sims so it might means he's more of a KPD than a 3rd tall defender if needed.

He might be seen as an Alex Keath defender and occasional ruck and perhaps even a break the glass forward.

[FrediKanoute]

Seems it is JOD/Buss/Buku/Coffield/Gardner for the one spot?

Gardy is an interesting one. He has almost been forgotten for a couple of seasons. He is no nonsense though

[jeemak]

B: Duryea, Jones, Bramble
HB: Dale, Lobb, JOD
C: Williams, Treloar, Freijah
HF: Richards, Naughton, VDM
F: Weightman, Darcy, JUH
R: English, Bont, Libba

Int: McNeil, Kennedy, West, Coffield
Sub: JJ

This is how I think/ hope (maybe) things turn out for us if everything goes well post Christmas.

Plenty of run on the bench with a bit of forward cover across McNeil, Kennedy and West (plus JJ as sub - mainly defensive cover but we played well at times with him in the VDM role a few years ago) and some defensive cover with Coffield.

Reckon Kennedy will be in front of Garcia, McNeil will be as well. Not sure but have a sneaking suspicion Gallagher will be favoured again if fit (but misses out initially).

I do have concerns over JOD, but I think he'll end up favoured to start with over Busslinger - who I want to get games into badly.

First rotation - Richards in, Libba off, Kennedy to HF. Then Richards off, Kennedy covers briefly, Libba back in, Kennedy HF. Repeat.

Second rotation - Kennedy steps back in, Treloar off, West on, Weightman off and McNeil on. Kennedy has to work across two rotating groups to be the brief midfield cover, then gets a breather.

[jeemak]

Gardy is an interesting one. He has almost been forgotten for a couple of seasons. He is no nonsense though

Posted earlier in this thread or another one, if Gardner's fit I think he'll be suitable cover for Lobb or Jones if injured, or if Lobb has to go into the ruck if English goes out. Get our pressure/ system right, he'll be able to cope.

[mjp]

Appreciate the comments mate - love talking this stuff!

It’s obviously going to be a squeeze for talls which is healthy competition. I think I would love to see JOD and Buss play in the same team.

That's fine - so are you dropping Jones or Lobb?

We can't play with 4-tall backs. This is why MC is hard - at this time of year there aren't enough spots for all the 'good players'. After round 6 we don't have enough depth to name 22! I'm all for your plan of JOD and Buss and that's probably the future. I just can't see how it's 2025.

I said earlier that I like the pressure McNeil and VDM bring but their disposal lets them down they’re is to far apart between there best and worst footy, we need some polish and I think sanders brings that.

Happy enough with this explanation I just don't see Sanders as a forward. To me he is 'clever' in traffic but not great at finding space ahead of the ball...basically I don't think he has the craft to make it as a full-time forward and he doesn't hunt the oppo enough to make it as a pressure forward...plus - he 'wants' to get the ball 25x ('cos that's what he's always done). It sounds stupid I know but sometimes you need role-players who are happy to go on dummy leads 70m out of position where the ball is UNLIKELY to go just to create space...VDM in particularly will do that. Because Sanders wants to HAVE the footy, he (seemingly) wont.

I think Weightman, Garcia and West could play that pressure role and hope to see improvement in their tank.

West has certainly done well in that role. Weightman is just a good player. Garcia is a mid though, let's be honest and whilst he plays tenacious footy hunting the oppo isn't really his go. He's a ball winner first/second/third.

[mjp]

Hey hey I was just trying to squish in all the good players, go away with your fancy rotations mumbo jumbo !

I'll make it work

Umm - betcha wont.

If you go in unbalanced you can MAYBE figure it out. If everything is going well. Get an injury or have an oppo getting away and needing a move? It goes pear shaped.

Your best 23 players on paper don't necessarily make up the best footy team you have available. Everyone needs a role and they each need to know WHAT THAT ROLE IS!!! The coaches need to know as well. Going into a game with too many players in one area of the game wrecks rotations and ends up wrecking a line...too many mids generally wrecks a forward line cos they have to play 'somewhere'...so they end up in an unfamiliar line and don't play for the team, Forward play is about structure and movement (well, structure, structure, structure and movement) and it only takes one person to stuff it up.

[jazzadogs]

If we look at last season...

Played every game:
Bont, Dale, Williams, Bramble, VDM - these guys are all surely in the round 1 side pending fitness. That's 5 spots out of 23 (2 mids, 2 def, 1 fwd).

Played 20+ games:
Treloar, English, Duryea, Jamarra, Richards, Darcy, west, Jones, Naughton, Gallagher. Again, you would think if you've played that many games you are highly likely to be in the plans for round 1. Gallagher, Marra, Darcy all having interrupted pre-Christmas training but everything depends on what they're doing in Jan/Feb. Gallagher the main one in this group who is under pressure for their spot. That's 15 out of 23.

15-20 games:
Macrae, Libba, weightman, Buku, Caleb, Lobb. So Libba, Lobb and Cody are all locks. Macrae and Daniel are gone, and those games will need to be replaced. Buku is up for the battle.

Others below 15 games:
Sanders 14 - will need to impress during pre season in roles outside the centre square to get in round 1 imo
Jod 14 - battling with Buku. Bit of a nil all draw feel to it.
Freijah 13 - absolute lock in my eyes
Garcia 12 - similar to Sanders, and probably battling each other for a spot - but need to prove they can be impactful as high half forwards, not as inside mids.
Mcneill 12 - played half as many games as vdm - if it's only one of them, I'm confident our MC choose VDM.
JJ 9 - injury affected, he plays round one if fit
Harmes 9 - injury affected, if he is fit then there is a role for him but I'll be shocked if he plays more than 9 games next year.

So my 23...
Defenders (7)
Locks - Jones, Lobb, Dale, Bramble, Freijah
Spots up for grabs -
Buku vs JOD/Coffield/Busslinger. There's only one spot available for these guys. I've got Buku ahead, but not enthused about any of them.
Duryea vs ...well, does anyone want to put their hand up to fill this role and get consistent AFL game time? Jaques unlikely to play round one and like to play taller.
JJ gets a spot if fit, and I would push Freijah to the wing (pending pre season match sim etc, but I hope they try it).

Mids
Locks - English, Bont, Libba, Treloar, Richards, Williams
Spots up for grabs -
The second wing. I'm picking Davidson as our pre season bolter, but Poulter, Baker, Scott, Arty Jones, Croft are all moderately capable wings.
The high half forward/5th mid. The Macrae role. I don't actually think this is up for grabs, Matt Kennedy has it. But Sanders, Garcia, Harmes, Gallagher all want it.

Forwards
Locks - Naughton, juh, Darcy, weightman
Spots up for grabs -
VDM vs Mcneill, West. I think we only pick one of VDM and Mcneill. Their inability to finish means we can't carry both. West is close to a lock for me, because he actually tries to crumb, and has skill with ball in hand.

So my team - I think 15 spots are locked, and 8 up for grabs to varying degrees.

Duryea Jones Buku
Dale Lobb Bramble
Williams Libba Davidson
Kennedy Naughton VDM
Weightman Darcy Jamarra
English Bont Treloar

Richards (mid) Freijah (wing, can also cover back) JJ (back) West (forward)
Sub: whichever of the mids is next in line - Sanders, Garcia, Harmes, Gallagher

[mjp]

B: Duryea, Jones, Bramble
HB: Dale, Lobb, JOD
C: Williams, Treloar, Freijah
HF: Richards, Naughton, VDM
F: Weightman, Darcy, JUH
R: English, Bont, Libba

Int: McNeil, Kennedy, West, Coffield
Sub: JJ

This is how I think/ hope (maybe) things turn out for us if everything goes well post Christmas.

Plenty of run on the bench with a bit of forward cover across McNeil, Kennedy and West (plus JJ as sub - mainly defensive cover but we played well at times with him in the VDM role a few years ago) and some defensive cover with Coffield.

I still think we're too tall with Coffield as the defensive rotator. If you select JJ in this spot you have a bit more speed and versatility and - in terms of break glass - you already have Freijah in the side so you have cover for the Coffield role already on field.

This would enable you to play a different sub:
- Sub guidelines: Experienced player, mature body who can run.

Outside of the Coffield thing I think this is a team that could actually take the field...I really appreciate the details of how youre rolling those mids etc.

[Mofra]

Posted earlier in this thread or another one, if Gardner's fit I think he'll be suitable cover for Lobb or Jones if injured, or if Lobb has to go into the ruck if English goes out. Get our pressure/ system right, he'll be able to cope.

TBH I think he'd roll with JOD/Buss or even Khamis ahead of him - he does take a long time to dispose of the ball at the exact time we're transitioning to a gameplan of moving the ball faster.
He's a real effort type guy and gives his all but I'm not sure he's immediately plan B in the event of injury.

[Rocco Jones]

Your best 23 players on paper don't necessarily make up the best footy team you have available. Everyone needs a role and they each need to know WHAT THAT ROLE IS!!! .

I think a lot of fans see inside mids/CBAs are a lot less finite than they actually are. There's enough time for 4 players to go through there if that's going to be their role for the vast majority of time.

My question to the posters wanting Garcia and Sanders in the side. Where do they play for the vast majority of the time? If it's inside mid, where do we play Libba, Bont, Adz and/or Ed?

I am not trying to speak as if I am wiser than than the common fan, it's hard for fans who perhaps aren't super into the analytics etc to see Sanders rack up 40 disposals in the VFL with ease when guys like Vanders seem to be doing little.

[Grantysghost]

Umm - betcha wont.

If you go in unbalanced you can MAYBE figure it out. If everything is going well. Get an injury or have an oppo getting away and needing a move? It goes pear shaped.

Your best 23 players on paper don't necessarily make up the best footy team you have available. Everyone needs a role and they each need to know WHAT THAT ROLE IS!!! The coaches need to know as well. Going into a game with too many players in one area of the game wrecks rotations and ends up wrecking a line...too many mids generally wrecks a forward line cos they have to play 'somewhere'...so they end up in an unfamiliar line and don't play for the team, Forward play is about structure and movement (well, structure, structure, structure and movement) and it only takes one person to stuff it up.

My ins and outs were pretty close in role to the EF is how I did it.
Loving your critiques, albeit I'm a little afraid.
Sanders is the one that I think I would change based on the feedback.
Probably a Vanders in as he just plays if he's fit.

[Rocco Jones]

With Sanders and/or Garcia, do we reduce the CBAs of a Bont and/or Ed who can offer us something forward?

The cohesion between mids and fwd can be an issue. Do we give Bont a bit more time forward, a bit like Trac? Say a 55/30 split TOG wise? Do we use Ed a bit more in bursts? Give us a bit more quality outside and/or forward? Say 45/40?

I think an issue is we get so very little out of the inside mids we play elsehwere rather than Ed and Bont.

[Uninformed]

I would have thought so a couple of weeks back but Gards is the direct opponent for English on the match sims so it might means he's more of a KPD than a 3rd tall defender if needed.

He might be seen as an Alex Keath defender and occasional ruck and perhaps even a break the glass forward.

So Gards as back up for if Jones or Lobb get injured?