McGrath looks like the only one likely to be best 22 next year and even then he will have to push out Gleeson, Kelly, Baguley, Walla or myers for that role.
I think he pushes out Gleeson, I was really impressed by Gleeson this year he made fantastic progress and will be a big part of the future but I think McGrath is probably ahead of him in every way (that sounds a little harsh but I’m not sure where Gleeson would have an edge over him)
B: Baguley - Hartley - Hurley
HB: McGrath - Ambrose - Kelly
C: Parish - Watson - Colyer
HF: Zaka - Daniher - Langford
F: Fantasia - Hooker - Tippa
R: Berger Zerrett, Heppell
Int: Myers, Hocking, Stanton, Goddard
EMG: Laverde, Green, Brown
VFL
B: McNeice Freezer gleeson
Hb: McKenna Brown Dea
C: Merrett Bird long
Hf: Laverde Francis Begley
F: Green Stewart Redman
R: Bellchambers O’Brien Heppell
int: McKernan, Mutch, Clarke, Morgan, Ridley
FB: Bags Hurley Ambrose HB: Kelly Brown McGrath C: Zaka Myers Goddard HF: Colyer JD Langford FF: Fantasia Hooker Watson Foll: Leui Heppell Zerrett Int: Tippa, Stants, Bird, ParishHurley and Hartley are both FB. Don’t see them both in same side.
Francis was gifted games when we were missing a dozen players. He is grossly unprepared for senior AFL football. Laughable to suggest he is best 22. Will not play more than 3-4 games in 2017.
Bird was excellent in 2016. Ahead of Hocking and Howlett for mine.
So bookies have Francis as favourite for the rising star this year. Pretty sure he can’t win it from the VFL.
FB: Baguley - Hurley - Walla
HB: McGrath - Hooker - Kelly
C: Parish - Watson - Colyer
HF: Myers - Daniher - Francis
FF: Fantasia - Stewart - Langford
FOL: Berger, Zerrett, Heppell
INT: Zakka, Hocking, Stanton, Goddard
EMG: Laverde, Ambrose, Gleeson
My updated best 22 after many drinks and tantrums with myself lol
B: Baguley, Hartley, Kelly
HB: Stanton, Hurley, McGrath
C: Parish, Watson, Colyer
HF: Zaka, Daniher, Tippa
F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis
Foll: Leuenberger, Z Merrett, D Heppell
Bench: Goddard, Langford, Myers, Laverde
In reality with injuries we will have 30 players play quite a few games rotating. This will involve below:
Bellchambers
Stewart
Ambrose
Dea
Hocking
Howlett
Bird
Gleeson
Brown
McKenna
Green
Players that could easily surprise is Morgan, Begley & Redman. Begley a hunch.
What we have is an Essendon list that is extremely stronger than I would say in the last decade.
Bellchambers maybe the most likely for Woosha to have in 22 but I wanted another kicking forward and have Hooker and Daniher play 5 mins in ruck if need be. Woosha will likely disagree
My updated best 22 after many drinks and tantrums with myself lolB: Baguley, Hartley, Kelly
HB: Stanton, Hurley, McGrath
C: Parish, Watson, Colyer
HF: Zaka, Daniher, Tippa
F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis
Foll: Leuenberger, Z Merrett, D Heppell
Bench: Goddard, Langford, Myers, LaverdeIn reality with injuries we will have 30 players play quite a few games rotating. This will involve below:
Bellchambers
Stewart
Ambrose
Dea
Hocking
Howlett
Bird
Gleeson
Brown
McKennaPlayers that could easily surprise is Morgan, Begley & Redman. Begley a hunch.
What we have is an Essendon list that is extremely stronger than I would say in the last decade.
Bellchambers maybe the most likely for Woosha to have in 22 but I wanted another kicking forward and have Hooker and Daniher play 5 mins in ruck if need be. Woosha will likely disagree
You could add Green to that list too. Amazing depth.
Back
Reckon Hooker,Hurley, Harts should anchor the backline. Smalls led by Bags, Walla and throw young Mcgrath in. Can’t waste that pace and he will be surrounded by some hard men for support.
Middle.
Heppell,Parish,Zachy boy, king Jobe and Langford(who is cherry ripe to break out). Use Buddha as more of a tagger who will be like a bull at the gate. Loonie obviously #1 ruck, but here is hoping Tommy B puts his hand up.
Up forward JD, Trav, Raz, someone like Goddard and hoping Francis/Brown/Stewart/Redman or even Tommy bell can be 2nd/3rd Tall.
Have some quality on the bench like pops,Myers, Laverde, Zaka.
Rinse and repeat.
B: Baguley, Hartley, Goddard
HB: Kelly Hurley, McGrath
C: Parish, Watson, Colyer
HF: Zaka, Daniher, Z Merret
F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis
Foll: Leuenberger, D Heppell, Myers
Bench: Stanton (outside rotation), Tippa (fwd rotation), Hocking (inside rotation), Gleeson (back rotation)
Gleeson not in our best 22 players but needed for team balance to be the rotation in back line.
I see a lot of love for Laverde and Langford in others best 22, but don’t see who they push out of the round 1 side. I prefer Parish and McGrath to be developed in the starting side. The two L’s need to replace Stanton, Hocking, Myers, Goddard, Kelly etc and they are not there yet for mine. Hopefully the have strong seasons and demand to be in the best 22 by seasons end.
Side looks good except the back line looks a little too slow. If only we had a new player we could inject in there that has pace.
Edit: Looks like some have already got him in there.
If Myers is fit, he has to be in the Best 22. And shame on you Special Agent Johnny for not even having Stanton in the team.
B: Baguley, Hartley, Goddard HB: Kelly Hurley, McGrath C: Parish, Watson, Colyer HF: Zaka, Daniher, Z Merret F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis Foll: Leuenberger, D Heppell, Myers Bench: Stanton (outside rotation), Tippa (fwd rotation), Hocking (inside rotation), Gleeson (back rotation)Gleeson not in our best 22 players but needed for team balance to be the rotation in back line.
I see a lot of love for Laverde and Langford in others best 22, but don’t see who they push out of the round 1 side. I prefer Parish and McGrath to be developed in the starting side. The two L’s need to replace Stanton, Hocking, Myers, Goddard, Kelly etc and they are not there yet for mine. Hopefully the have strong seasons and demand to be in the best 22 by seasons end.
Francis is the answer to your question. Sure, he may be awesome by the end of the preseason. However on current exposed information, you’d easily have Langford ahead of him, and likely Laverde as well. But yes, fitting them both in is difficult.
B: Baguley, Hartley, Goddard HB: Kelly Hurley, McGrath C: Parish, Watson, Colyer HF: Zaka, Daniher, Z Merret F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis Foll: Leuenberger, D Heppell, Myers Bench: Stanton (outside rotation), Tippa (fwd rotation), Hocking (inside rotation), Gleeson (back rotation)Gleeson not in our best 22 players but needed for team balance to be the rotation in back line.
I see a lot of love for Laverde and Langford in others best 22, but don’t see who they push out of the round 1 side. I prefer Parish and McGrath to be developed in the starting side. The two L’s need to replace Stanton, Hocking, Myers, Goddard, Kelly etc and they are not there yet for mine. Hopefully the have strong seasons and demand to be in the best 22 by seasons end.
Funny, I was actually about to comment that I don’t see enough love for particularly, Laverde in a lot of best 22s. I thought he was decent coming back from injury last year and more to the point, has the present attributes to be a quality HF (with perhaps a move into the midfield). I also think that Goddard being on a lot of benches with Kelly starting, undervalues his performances a bit last year.
Will be a very interesting pre-season to see where certain players are at. So hard to pick a best 22 at the moment.
McGrath looks like the only one likely to be best 22 next year and even then he will have to push out Gleeson, Kelly, Baguley, Walla or myers for that role.I think he pushes out Gleeson, I was really impressed by Gleeson this year he made fantastic progress and will be a big part of the future but I think McGrath is probably ahead of him in every way (that sounds a little harsh but I’m not sure where Gleeson would have an edge over him)
Sure. Martys spot is in a bit of danger , but that ignores progress Marty will make over the preseason. Marty is 13-15 cm taller than McGrath and he can also jump.
I mean we all think of Marty as this little guy in 2013 :
But this is Marty now. ( has also put on some upper body size in the gym in the last 3 months. )
B: Baguley, Hartley, Goddard HB: Kelly Hurley, McGrath C: Parish, Watson, Colyer HF: Zaka, Daniher, Z Merret F: Fantasia, Hooker, Francis Foll: Leuenberger, D Heppell, Myers Bench: Stanton (outside rotation), Tippa (fwd rotation), Hocking (inside rotation), Gleeson (back rotation)Gleeson not in our best 22 players but needed for team balance to be the rotation in back line.
I see a lot of love for Laverde and Langford in others best 22, but don’t see who they push out of the round 1 side. I prefer Parish and McGrath to be developed in the starting side. The two L’s need to replace Stanton, Hocking, Myers, Goddard, Kelly etc and they are not there yet for mine. Hopefully the have strong seasons and demand to be in the best 22 by seasons end.
Francis is the answer to your question. Sure, he may be awesome by the end of the preseason. However on current exposed information, you’d easily have Langford ahead of him, and likely Laverde as well. But yes, fitting them both in is difficult.
Agree they are probably ahead of Francis.
However I had him in my team for balance, could easily be Tbell, Stewart, Brown etc, not Francis playing the third KP fwd, back role.
The balance between tall/small, experienced and contested/quick is really hard.
B- Baguley - Hooker - Goddard
HB - Gleeson - Hurley - McGrath
C - Parish - Z Merrett - Zaharakis
R - Leuenberger - Watson - Heppell
HF - Laverde - Ambrose - Langford
F - Fantasia - Daniher - Francis
I - Tippa - Stanton - Kelly - Myers
I think I said this before…Langford. Laverde. Parish. Francis. Fantasia. Tippa and potentially McGrath must get atleast 20 games to develop further . Hopefully they don’t miss out on any games due to older players
Langford over Hocking every day of the week.
I’d almost be inclined to say Laverde over Zaka every day of the week too.
I think I said this before...Langford. Laverde. Parish. Francis. Fantasia. Tippa and potentially McGrath must get atleast 20 games to develop further . Hopefully they don't miss out on any games due to older players
Rubbish pick the best players for the team to win each week.
If that means Green > Francis then so be it.
or Hocking > Langford
If players are good enough they will get a game or opportunity.
The best way of developing and keeping these guys is to be successful, if Essendon finish 4th in 2018 I doubt journos will be writing articles about McGrath potentially leaving for more cash from St Kilda due to Connors shopping him around.
Parish, Fantasia & Tippa have shown enough to be pencilled in the best 22 already, Laverde & Langford are very close to best 22 if they are not in it and should get plenty of games, Francis will depend on his preseason IMO he just needs continuity of football and to stay injury free.
I can see Worsfold resting older players during the year, like he did with Kelly last year. That includes - Stanton, Watson, Kelly, Goddard who will be rested during the season IMO. And potentially McGrath as well.
B- Baguley - Hooker - GoddardHB - Gleeson - Hurley - McGrath
C - Parish - Z Merrett - Zaharakis
R - Leuenberger - Watson - Heppell
HF - Laverde - Ambrose - Langford
F - Fantasia - Daniher - Francis
I - Tippa - Stanton - Kelly - Myers
Ok… I’ll play the fish and you just reel me in… Ambrose forward?
I think I said this before...Langford. Laverde. Parish. Francis. Fantasia. Tippa and potentially McGrath must get atleast 20 games to develop further . Hopefully they don't miss out on any games due to older playersRubbish pick the best players for the team to win each week.
If that means Green > Francis then so be it.
or Hocking > LangfordIf players are good enough they will get a game or opportunity.
The best way of developing and keeping these guys is to be successful, if Essendon finish 4th in 2018 I doubt journos will be writing articles about McGrath potentially leaving for more cash from St Kilda due to Connors shopping him around.Parish, Fantasia & Tippa have shown enough to be pencilled in the best 22 already, Laverde & Langford are very close to best 22 if they are not in it and should get plenty of games, Francis will depend on his preseason IMO he just needs continuity of football and to stay injury free.
I can see Worsfold resting older players during the year, like he did with Kelly last year. That includes - Stanton, Watson, Kelly, Goddard who will be rested during the season IMO. And potentially McGrath as well.
We need to make a statement Round 1. Absolutely the best 22 based on form, no games gifted, no token positions. After that, as is usual pick a team to win with only one spot on the bench allowed for a debutant when appropriate. None of this "learning and developing " stuff. We will be playing for sheepstations.
