They should have started developing Long as a defensive forward two years ago.
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Iām not sure you can call Bags a defensive fwd. itās not like he is playing a lockdown role on opposition dominant HBF, heās simply playing small fwd and hitting scoreboard well at that for someone new to a role
I would say Redman is an attacking defender, Stringer is an inside mid, and we donāt know what Lavender is yet.
Pressure forward then.
I can only assume his primary function is more defensive than attacking. Who knows though.
Our midfield has been crying out for forward pressure for longer than I can remember.
It was no surprise to me that we played our best football when both Walla and Baguley were down there.
Just took Woosha forever to realise it.
I think the plan has shifted slightly - and he is now seen as a potential attacking defender. I may be wrong.
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I see him as the most defensive forward we have on our list.
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I donāt mind that.
I think they persisted to long with him in the VFL on a wing.
Thatās where I have them also - Stringer is difficult to place in a spreadsheet, because is a mid-height forward who is working into inside mid. My chart didn;'t have the place to slip him into 
I see Lavender as being more Def than Fwd, but as you say - who knows.
Hey well done. Thatās a nice conversation piece.
I think youāve been pretty kind to Long and Mossie. Both have to be red in my opinion.
Iām uncertain if you need 3 spots on the list for defensive forwards. Iām not sure we even need one spot. Forwards should be attacking by nature, and have a defensive responsibility.
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Good job.
But I would consider Tippa primarily as a defensive fwd (who can go through midfield, not to mention doing freakish things in attack)
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Iād argue that Saad and McKenna are definitely 1st 22 but not eliite by AFL standards, and Joe needs to kick straight consistently before he gets called elite.
I also think that Guelfi although still developing is a 1st 22 player. Heās done more than enough to justify his place in the team.
Thatās a great piece of work 
You are waaaaay too hard on Saad and Daniher.
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Iād suggest we need a quick lock down defender too. Saad has performed well on Betts in the past and did quite well when moved onto Breust and Walters after they were carving us up early in games last year but when asking Saad to be that lockdown defender, we also lost his attacking, daring run which set up forward thrusts. Thatās a nice sheet too Deckham.
I think you have pretty much nailed all the issues for creating a best 22.
I would put Guelfi in the best 22, but instead of pushing out Lav, I would have him pushing past Bags (although I acknowledge the case for Bags as best 22 in that position) in with the possibility (hope/hype) that Mozzie might sneak past him this year if not next.
Instead of Lav in the team I would be looking at Redman or Ridley, but if Lav can perform as an inside med rotating with Langford forward and on the bench I could be swayed, but at the moment I would prefer the versatility of Redman or Ridley if we were adding to the defensive options, and Ridley is also up against Gleeson for a spot, but that would depend on fitness and form of each, with Gleeson getting first preference at this stage if both fit.
Iām hoping Stewart comes on, but on exposed form Smack and Brown are ahead as a KPF in partnership with Joe and may well both get first go if Joe is still building his fitness come round 1, but on 2018 best form, I would start with Smack (especially with his ability as a relief ruckman).
And again on exposed form Myers gets a guernsey, but if we are looking to the future, we can cover his ball winning and improve on disposal with the players you mention, but I am very happy to have him available while we sort out our best midfield and have more depth than ever.
Given how we will be playing a new and improved whole team defense with Truck taking care of that this year, I am curious if we can rotate backs as well as forwards in the midfield as a potential strength of our team given the likes of Saad, McKenna, Francis, Gleeson, Ridley, Redman, McGrath, Heppell and Guelfi could all be highly effective as midfielders as well as defenders. This is in addition to the forwards and mids who can play both roles: Stringer, Langford, Lav, Walla, Raz, and also having the option of Bags and Brown going back if needed. A number of players like Guelfi, Bags, Walla, Raz and Francis could play on all 3 lines.
This would be interesting in terms of how well we can run out games with more on-field rotations and more flexibility with the shape of the team to defend a given opposition, and provide numerous difficult and changing match ups in the forward line.
Iām sure Sheedy would like the idea.
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Really like what you have done.
Not sure that we have 11 Elite Players, but farked if I know who I would drop off the Elite Tag
In fact, if Stringer hit his best form, he would be Elite making 12 !
Not sure that we have 11 Elite Players
Most fans at all clubs say they have more elite** players than they actually have. On average each of the 18 teams will have about 4 elite players. One club has none, a couple have 6, most have 3,4 or 5.
** An elite player is generally defined as being in the top 10% of the AFL listed players, however you could define it as 25%, then we probably would have 11.
I would be tempted to add McGrath as another potential top 10%er, but there are even a couple more smokies (Francis, and Zakka could have a blinder).
I would be happy with 14 elite playersā¦
But in reality half that amount is a lot, but they all have that potential if everything goes right.
Yep - when doodling with that chart, the āeliteā bit was my way of noting down our internal āeliteā, if you know what I mean. I might have called them āKey Playersā or something, instead of using the media phrase.
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I actually like Elite.
While maybe the best of Hooker and Hurley may be gone, they could be called Elite defenders. Though those media as swipes never saw Fletcher as Elite.
The rest do have solid claims at āElitenessā, and if they all had Elite years, we would not lose a game.
If you look at the 2000 team, more than half had an elite year.
Iām not sure I agree that with splitting ādefensive forwardsā from other forwards.
Defence needs to be a mindset from 22 players, 100% of the game.
Not sure Iāve ever seen tippa do much as an outside player, either. When heās in the midfield, heās in the guts, not on the wing.
As far as Iām concerned, thereās big forwards, and small forwards, and maybe one spot for a mid sized forward. (Which puts Begley and Laverde in an awkward spot).
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