No… he’s been pretty good all year and gone to a new level after re-signing… if anything recent form is weighted more than form at the start of the year anyway
If they are going to put any midfielder forward it will be him because he is the best mid/fwd combo in the AFL at the moment / this season, no question about it
Comments about your list.
Bris: Where’s Zorko
Geel: Menegola has been average this year.
GC: Who is Ballard?
GWS: Haynes has been injured and average this year. Form good only recently. Toby Green?
Melb: May has been good, but picked twice good?
NM: Hall has had a solid year for them.
Port: Boak has not had an AA year IMO.
Swans: Heeney has been very average.
C Cameron / Greene / Papley / Tippa would be the top 4 performed genuine small forwards.
Bruce definitely a smokey. 4th in the Coleman going into the last round and spent all year playing as the back up ruckman.
Disagree on Zorko (i hate him), Toby Greene a major omission as is Papley (in the Zorko grouping).
Ballard is the GC Ridley clone.
Hate Zorko or not, he has been in career best form this year.
I think Darcy has a strong chance of beating out Gawn
Nah, Gawn is a lock. Has the runs on the board. Darcey is a Superstar though.
Darcy’s had a better finish to the season than Gawn - think Gawn has been probably just 10% down on his usual output since the bye rounds, where Darcy has just got better. Bear in mind too that Gawn is working with a much better midfield.
46 man squad that I’d be happy with:
Adelaide: Laird
Brisbane: Rich, Lyons, Zorko, Cameron
Carlton: Weitering, Walsh, McKay
Collingwood: Crisp, Grundy
Essendon: Ridley, Heppell, Hind, Parish, Merrett, Stringer, Walla
Fremantle: Darcy
Geelong: Stewart, Guthrie, Dangerfield, Hawkins
Gold Coast: Miller
GWS: Cumming_, Kelly, Greene
Hawthorn: Mitchell
Melbourne: Oliver, Petracca, Gawn, Fritsch, Lever
Norf Melbourne: Hall
Port Adelaide: Wines, Dixon
Richmond: Riewoldt
St Kilda: Steele
Sydney: Mills, Lloyd, Papley
West Coast: Naitanui
W. Bulldogs: Daniel, Macrae, Bontempelli, Dale, Bruce
Will be a joke if Merrett and Parish don’t make the team.
There is roughly 8-10 mids in a team if you include 3-4 on the bench plus 1-2 on the HFF (which I mostly disagree with).
Parish and Merrett are without a doubt in the top 8-10 mids this year.
I think May will not only make the squad but the 22 at FB - he’s had a very good year. Weitering is his biggest danger but not sure how many genuine talls they will go with. Lever has to be close to a lock.
Yeah you’re probably right - I’ll confess he just didn’t come to mind for some reason. But looking at his season - yeah, he’s up there.
Parish will almost certainly make the final team, but they will put him on the HFF, just to squeeze in another mid.
Merrett and Stringer SHOULD make it, but it’s the AFL. Who the ■■■■ knows what they’ll do.
Stringer Ranked #1 Player in the AFL since Round 14
God dammit that’s impressive
I think Parish stands the best chance. Those BOG medal games plus huge numbers all year.
Merrett and Stringer highly deserving and hopefully fit in, Merrett’s been our best player for the season all up. Ridley should make the initial squad.
Its a tough team to select this year but I gave it a go.
Adelaide: Walker, Laird
Brisbane: Andrews, Rich, Cameron, Lyons, Mccluggage, Zorko
Carlton: Weitering, Mckay, Walsh
Collingwood: Crisp, Grundy
Essendon: Ridley, Parish, Merrett, Stringer
Fremantle: Mundy, Darcy
Geelong: Stewart, Hawkins
Gold Coast: Miller
GWS: Greene
Hawthorn:
Melbourne: Lever, May, Fritsch, Oliver, Petracca, Gawn
Norf Melbourne: Hall
Port Adelaide: Dixon, Wines
Richmond:
St Kilda: Steele
Sydney: Papley
West Coast: Naitanui
W. Bulldogs: Dale, Bont, Macrae, Liberatore, Bruce
FB: Stewart Andrews Rich
HB: Hall Weitering Dale
C: Merrett Oliver Walsh
HF: Stringer Hawkins Petracca
FF: Papley Mckay Greene
R: Gawn Bont Parish
Int: Naitanui Macrae Zorko Steele
Stringer is going to end up with 40 goals from 17 games playing as one of the most prolific clearance mids in the comp, but no, watch them name Alex Rance instead.
Parish has to get in. Think he’s on track for most centre clearances ever. From the stats I could find dusty had the most in 2014 with 86 (from 25 games including finals) parish already on 84 and +19 on second.
In saying this I think it’s a relatively new statistic they started recording 
Yeah Parish will be our one nomination, maybe Stringer.
Merrett won’t be far off. Parish has just had such an improved year moving into the guts and is on the radar of most.
Ie if you asked non Essendon fans, Darcy would be our most often mentioned.
a stat that I found interesting is darcy is ranked #2 in the game for score involvements
he’s also leading the AFL for clearances, and centre clearances
there’s absolutely no chance he’s missing. it’s been a dominant year