2014 team selection

[Dry Rot]

Well, now we know who we have for next season, so what will our team look like?

Putting Williams to one side, down back I would have thought Roughead, Morris and Talia select themselves as the 3 talls as we don't have any else.

If JJ is a lock too, then if 2 of Goodes, Fuller and Young can be creative bringing the ball out, then Murphy can forward.

A half forward line then of Murphy, Crameri and Grant looks quite interesting. Or Murphy, Crameri and Stringer, as Stringer looked good on the HF line in the VFL kicking it to Grant.

That would leave the forward line as Grant, Campbell and Dahl/Gia/Higgins/Dickson etc.

So going on all that, you might have

JJ Roughead Morris
Fuller Talia Young

down back and say

Murphy, Crameri, Stringer
Grant Campbell Dahl

Up forward. Add Minson and that's 13, leaving 9 mids including a sub.

Libba, Griff, Cooney (if his knee is OK) would all be locks, leaving 6 mids in no particular order from 12 players by the end of the season:

the Rat, Wallis, Stevens, Picken (tagger), Macrae, Tutt, Higgins, Boyd, Smith (when he returns), and later in the season Hunter, Darley and Bontempelli. Might even if only 5 if Dickson or Gia is selected.

I cannot recall such competition for midfield places for us, and there's at least a reasonable argument to select each one.

Who would you select?

[GVGjr]

Re: 2014 team selection

We do appear to be getting something depth across the list. While I think we can challenge the quality we do have emerging players but then again with a few players in their twilight of their careers we need this in our list.

I think we might look something like this at the start of the season

Defenders
Morris - Roughead - Talia
Murphy - Williams - Cooney
(Goodes - Fuller - Young - Johannisen - Darley - Wood)

Mids
Minson - Griffen - Liberatore
Wallis - Boyd - Higgins
(Hrovat - Stevens - Macrae - Picken)

Forwards
Dahlhaus - Jones - Crameri
Dickson - Grant - Stringer
(Giansiracusa - Campbell - Hunter - Tutt)

Emergencies
Giansiracusa - Picken - Stevens - Campbell

Injured/ On the fringe
Smith - Prudden - Pearce - Cordy - Roberts - Howard - Bontempelli - Honeychurch

Rookies
Austin - Redpath - Greenwood - Jong

[ReLoad]

Re: 2014 team selection

I was just thing about this the other day and our start of the year team is going to look rather different to our end of year team, so here goes on my start of the year team:

B: Morris, Roughead, Talia
HB: Murphy, Willams, Johannisen
C: Wallis, Boyd, Griffen
HF: Stringer, Jones, Crameri
F: Dahlhaus, Campbell, Grant
Foll: Minson, Liberatore, Macrae

Int: Darley, Cooney, Hunter
Sub: Gia

There is a lot of talent that could miss out, and of course based on opponent there may be match up changes.

There are some borderline choices in there, I consider Jones very lucky to be there, but I can see our forward line becoming amazingly potent and difficult to match up on. (lets just hope they get their groove going)

A few players that i cannot see taking part unless there is injuries or major form slumps:
Goodes and Dickson.
Players that we need to get game time and legs into:
Macrae, Stringer, Bontempelli, Hrovat, Smith, Roberts

[Scorlibo]

Re: 2014 team selection

What I'd like to see...

B - Morris - Austin - Goodes
HB - Johannisen - Williams - Young
C - Wallis - Liberatore - Murphy
HF - Dahlhaus - Roughead - Crameri
F - Stringer - Grant - Dickson
Foll - Minson - Cooney - Griffen
I - Boyd - Macrae - Wood - Hunter

The way I usually assess the back six composition is as follows - you require:

- 2 key defenders
- 2 versatile small/tall defenders (preferably 1 offensive and 1 defensive)
- 2 small defenders (who each rebound but at least one with the ability to lock down)

The key defensive positions ought to be filled by two of Williams, Talia, Austin and Roughead.

Of the two versatile spots, Morris has played that role so well and should continue in 2014. Young and Wood I also put in this category - Young takes a spot in the back six on 2013 form but I see Easton Wood as a more viable Dale Morris replacement whereas Young should be played in more of a Hargrave role in my opinion. (ie. Wood should become the defensive versatile player whereas Young can be the offensive).

Johannisen has staked his claim to hold down one rebounding position. The other for now rests with Goodes but I'm hoping that through the year he will have some pressure placed upon him from Fuller, Darley and even Howard with their form at Footscray.

Up forward I think a lot will depend on whether Tom Williams stays injury free. If he does, that means that Roughead might be free to play as a forward/ruck (Williams could also play this role). This in turn pushes Tom Campbell out of the side. On the question of Liam Jones, I'm torn. On one hand I think he may be assisted by having three tall-medium types in the forward line. On the other, one of Grant, Stringer and Crameri is bound to suffer. On form, Jones doesn't deserve a spot.

In the midfield, I really hope we get to see Bob Murphy own a wing and bring some class to the middle. Aside from that deficiency I think we have a good mix of players and selection at this stage is fairly straightforward.

[A Ford]

Re: 2014 team selection

We are in trouble if we are starting Goodes,Williams and Roughead in the Jones position. If Jones doesnt deserve a place on form then why put Roughead there when has no form at all there.
Austin as well.

[always right]

Re: 2014 team selection

I don't see any role for Tom Williams up forward this year...and certainly not as a relief ruckman with his injury history. Playing him in this role will simply deprive Campbell of development time.

If Tom is good/fit enough to get a game surely it has to be in defence where we lack big bodied defenders to play on key forwards.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Re: 2014 team selection

I was just thing about this the other day and our start of the year team is going to look rather different to our end of year team, so here goes on my start of the year team:

B: Morris, Roughead, Talia
HB: Murphy, Willams, Johannisen
C: Wallis, Boyd, Griffen
HF: Stringer, Jones, Crameri
F: Dahlhaus, Campbell, Grant
Foll: Minson, Liberatore, Macrae

Int: Darley, Cooney, Hunter
Sub: Gia

There is a lot of talent that could miss out, and of course based on opponent there may be match up changes.

There are some borderline choices in there, I consider Jones very lucky to be there, but I can see our forward line becoming amazingly potent and difficult to match up on. (lets just hope they get their groove going)

A few players that i cannot see taking part unless there is injuries or major form slumps:
Goodes and Dickson.
Players that we need to get game time and legs into:
Macrae, Stringer, Bontempelli, Hrovat, Smith, Roberts

This looks good. I would start Griffen on the ball with Macrae to occupy a wing position.
Assuming JJ isn't right to start the year then it could be an opportunity to start Fuller as a rebounding half back. I would also play Hrovat who oozes class instead of Darley. I hope that Roberts has a solid pre-season as I would like to think that he could play at CHF or CHB.

[Ozza]

Re: 2014 team selection

I think Dickson and Young get under the radar a bit in the best 22 considerations.

I would have thought, at this point in time, both are walk up starts until someone takes their spots. Particularly Young, who has slotted very comfortably into the backline, and gives us flexibility and some poise back there.

[Go_Dogs]

Re: 2014 team selection

Really hard to know how things will end up, but at this stage my crack would be something like this:

B: Morris, Roughead, Goodes
HB: Johannisen, Talia, Murphy
C: Wallis, Boyd, Cooney
HF: Stringer, Jones, Dahlhaus
F: Crameri, Grant, Hunter
R: Minson, Griffen, Liberatore
I/C: Campbell, Young, Macrae, Stevens

Couldn't fit in Picken or Gia but I'm sure both will play a lot of footy throughout the year. Same goes for Wood and Dickson.

It's a really difficult exercise as there are a lot of developing players I would like to add in, including Tutt and Hrovat, and some coming back from injury in Smith, Higgins and Williams who are also going to have strong cases when fit to be straight into the side.

We also have Fuller, Roberts, Pearce, Howard and Darley who will all be wanting senior opportunities this year.

Hopefully the competition for spots helps push some players to take that next step and become genuine best 22 players and it would be a great outcome if a few can have breakout seasons and really make their mark on the AFL as top line players.

Going to be a very interesting year selection wise balancing our on-going need for player development but also continuing to push up the ladder.

[soupman]

Re: 2014 team selection

At this point I see it as

FB: Young, Roughead, Morris
HB: Goodes, Talia, JJ
C: Murphy, Liberatore, Wallis
HF: Crameri, Jones, Dahlhaus
FF:Grant, Campbell, Stringer
R: Minson, Griffen, Cooney

I: Picken, Boyd, Smith, Macrae (sub)

Hunter next in line.

Fuller fighting with Goodes and JJ for a rebounding spot.
Williams fighting with Talia and Young for a tall defender spot.
Stevens, Hrovat and Higgins fighting it out for Smiths and Macrae's spots.

Not sure if Darley is going to be rebounding defender or a mid.

[Happy Days]

Re: 2014 team selection

I can't see Gia not playing round one.

[ratsmac]

Re: 2014 team selection

This is too hard.
I've loved reading everyone's teams. If our improvement continues on from where it left off last year, our team selectors are going to have their work cut out. This was the last thing I would have thought would be hard this time last year.

Exciting times on the horizon!

[Mofra]

Re: 2014 team selection

This is difficult:

FB: JJ, Roughead, Morris
HB: Goodes, Talia, Young
C: Cooney, Liberatore, Picken
HF: Crameri, Jones, Dahlhaus
FF:Grant, Campbell, Stringer
R: Minson, Griffen, Wallis
I: Murphy, Boyd, Stevens, Gia (Sub)

I'm assuming Smith wont be ready, Higgins & Williams will be injured.
Em: Macrae, Fuller, Hrovat

Could change depending on how Darvey trains, I've excluded him as I don't have a handle on his game

[always right]

Re: 2014 team selection

This is difficult:

FB: JJ, Roughead, Morris
HB: Goodes, Talia, Young
C: Cooney, Liberatore, Picken
HF: Crameri, Jones, Dahlhaus
FF:Grant, Campbell, Stringer
R: Minson, Griffen, Wallis
I: Murphy, Boyd, Stevens, Gia (Sub)

I'm assuming Smith wont be ready, Higgins & Williams will be injured.
Em: Macrae, Fuller, Hrovat

Could change depending on how Darvey trains, I've excluded him as I don't have a handle on his game

I know rotations probably render this meaningless but Murphy couldn't make your best 18?

[Mofra]

Re: 2014 team selection

I know rotations probably render this meaningless but Murphy couldn't make your best 18?

It was a hard call and it's like shooting Bambi but having three senior guys on the bench instead of on the field was deliberate (Boyd, Murph & Gia). They'll provide the settling influence in games at first rotation.

One other player: I really wanted Dickson in there and think he's a better than even money chance to play round 1; Stringer will be managed through the year I suspect so Tory will get plenty of gametime.