They usually pick 1 wing and the other wing goes to a midfielder who ‘could’ play that position.
It’s been going on for a long time.
This year, they’ve managed to screw more positions up in an effort to add more midfielders / stat friendly players.
In the backline…
Only 1 lockdown defender. Just the 1.
And not 1 small defender. Not even an ‘attacking small defender’ (think of someone like Saad).
The wing I’ve already mentioned.
They’ve named 2 midfielders who could ‘play in the forward line’ instead of actual forwards.
There is not 1 defensive small forward.
There are too many good midfielders and they always try cram them all into a team.
It should be simplified.
Two tall defenders, two best medium defenders, two best small defenders. Half of them need to be lockdown players, the other half can be the attacking ones that get all the stats.
Two wings. One can be defensive pocket to pocket runner. The other can be the flashy one that gathers all the stats.
One ruck is fine.
Three CBA midfielders. Would be great if they acknowledge one that is more defensive than ball winning, but it’s unlikely.
Two tall forwards.
Two medium forwards.
Two small forwards. One of them needs to be the defensive small forward, the other, the flashy one that gathers all the stats.
The bench should have the best resting ruckman.
The rest of the bench can be midfielders.
That is roughly how a team is selected more often than not.
You’ll get a lot of players who aren’t stat padders get an award though. Which then brings out the nuffies to ■■■■ and moan about selecting ‘someone who has 10 possessions ahead of someone who has 20 possessions each week’.
They should also simplify the All Australian coach. Just give it to the coach of the team that’s on top of the ladder. Waiting until after Grand Final Day to name the AA coach is just silly.
The selection committee do watch a lot of footy. But they lean towards the ones that are more attacking minded for this award. Anytime there is doubt they lean towards the stats (because that’s what nuffies like us use to compare players).
From the small snippets I saw, Buckley has stated a lot of things about the way the game is played and coached today. He spoke about the importance of the high half forward. He knows how important a wing is to team success.
Unfortunately, there was not 1 high half forward in the AA squad. And there wasn’t a pocket to pocket runner either. There were no back pockets. And only two small forwards. In a game that is heavily weighted towards forward pressure and ground ball gets in the forward line.
He is absolutely a media darling. David King was riding his ■■■■ all season as well as Jono Brown and multiple others. Everybody rates and respects Merrett a lot.
His omission is as much a reflection on how plain the rest of our team is that it allows clubs to sit on Merrett and really blunt his influence. This happened in a number of matches in the final third of the season. It’s no coincidence that the game that the opposition put no time into him against Collingwood he absolutely tore it to shreds. If he’d got in then it’d be fair enough but I don’t think he demanded a spot this year given how many matches his output was quelled.
Zach’s first half of the year was exceptional. Absolutely exceptional and wouldn’t be surprised if he is second in the Brownlow at this point.
The issue is that clubs figured out that no Merrett = no Essendon and started to put a stack of work into him. I reckon he would have been the most tagged player in the comp. Zach just doesn’t have the tricks to shake a tag like, say, a Bont.
Of course it should matter. I honestly thought he would struggle to make it this year and definitely didn’t think he would be in the starting lineup.
I’m sure if he was picked you would be the first to praise the AA team and how good it is.