Surprises me that many have McGrath in the team when he has not played a game of senior footy. He can play that is for sure, but he has no form against men, and may need sometime to get used to the pace of senior footy.
And after watching the Bulldogs win a GF with pace and rapid ball movement, I reckon that classic players like Stanton and Goddard may struggle to keep up. I would replace Goddard with Langford or perhaps Francis after we have a look at him in pre-season.
My 22 in November 2016 is
B: Bags Hartley Brown
HB: Kelly Hurley Gleeson
C: Colyer Watson Parish
HF: Zaka Daniher Langford
F: Fantasia Hooker Walla
R: Luenburger Heppell Zerrett
INT: TBell, Myers, Laverde, Green
Surprises me that many have McGrath in the team when he has not played a game of senior footy. He can play that is for sure, but he has no form against men, and may need sometime to get used to the pace of senior footy.
And after watching the Bulldogs win a GF with pace and rapid ball movement, I reckon that classic players like Stanton and Goddard may struggle to keep up. I would replace Goddard with Langford or perhaps Francis after we have a look at him in pre-season.
My 22 in November 2016 is
B: Bags Hartley Brown
HB: Kelly Hurley Gleeson
C: Colyer Watson Parish
HF: Zaka Daniher Langford
F: Fantasia Hooker Walla
R: Luenburger Heppell Zerrett
INT: TBell, Myers, Laverde, Green
Parish played 20 games in his first season. Generally, pick 1ās are ready to go and should line up pretty much immediately in the seniors. From all reports, McGrath is physically ready made and should have no problems adapting to the speed of senior football. The other consideration is that he absolutely fills a need in the backline, where we are crying out for some speed and quick ball movement.
Yeh i feel like our development might be stagnated because of all these more seasoned guys coming back. Plus the fact they all have longer term deals that they would not otherwise have.
It may sound harsh, but if i had the choice strictly on an on field development type of call, i would only take back hooker, hurley, colyer, watson, heppel. The rest of the spots would be left to continue on the development of the young guns from last year. I hope its not one step forward two steps back for your laverde types.
Seems most are in the go youth camp, but I doubt the club has gone to all the effort of supporting the suspended guys and resigning all of them just to tell them sorry were going in a different direction and your playing reserves.
My guess is all of them will be given first chance to prove themselves wether thats Watson or Howlett or Bellchambers. You can say its sentimental but you donāt think the club would have a massive boost from all 10 returning players lining up round 1 together?
We can still be ruthless and demand high standards, just give the senior guys first crack, if their form isnāt up to scratch quickly replace them. Happy to give them the first game or two to find form, but not half a season.
Yeah of course it makes sense from a sentimental point of view, but thatās not going to mean much at all tbh. Most of the returning boys probably will lineup anyway, but definitely not all 10, and we know for one thing that Woosha isnāt really one to involve the emotion in things - he will pick the best available side regardless.
Seems most are in the go youth camp, but I doubt the club has gone to all the effort of supporting the suspended guys and resigning all of them just to tell them sorry were going in a different direction and your playing reserves.
My guess is all of them will be given first chance to prove themselves wether thats Watson or Howlett or Bellchambers. You can say its sentimental but you donāt think the club would have a massive boost from all 10 returning players lining up round 1 together?
We can still be ruthless and demand high standards, just give the senior guys first crack, if their form isnāt up to scratch quickly replace them. Happy to give them the first game or two to find form, but not half a season.
I find this doubtful. Everyone within the club is talking about how itās a fresh start and the lineup and players roles are a real unknown quantity at this stage. The most likely outcome is that guys are played according to form regardless of their history, but with room for a fair degree of experimentation with the lineup over the early stages.
It would seem that many of those in the youth camp are forgetting how good many of the returning players are and in particular importance of consistent performance and the on field leadership that these guys provide. Of course Blitz has always been a bit that way at the best of times.
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.
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.
I doubt they'll have any real idea what the best lineup looks like that early on, but yes, strongest team available.
Iād almost be inclined to say Laverde over Zaka every day of the week too.
Wow.
I just keep thinking back to that last game of 2015 where Hocking showed exactly why he was important to the side.
I think Zaka suffered from being the main focus opposition taggers. He does need to learn how to cope with them. It will interesting to see how things pan out over the preseason.
Intra club matches will be very very interesting. For the first time in a long time the depth is so substantial that the line by line scraps will be both intense and fascinating. Canāt wait
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 donāt see who they push out of the round 1 side. I prefer Parish and McGrath to be developed in the starting side. The two Lās 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, youād easily have Langford ahead of him, and likely Laverde as well. But yes, fitting them both in is difficult.
Yup, Laverde should be in ahead of Francis, quite easily, so far francis has struggled to last VFL games- only if he can get real fit and completely dominate the NAB should he be in consideration for round 1
also, not sure if Myers makes round 1 either ahead of Langford- Myers hasnt played footy for two years, and his form has only been average to good when he ahs been playinā¦, IMO anyway, theres still huge question marks over his game
There is no difference between Ainsworth and McGrath! same height , I don't know about the others dud Essendon drafted. but see who the rest of the club drafted,BenLong to St Kilda & k Kirby collingwood ready made players.
Intra club matches will be very very interesting. For the first time in a long time the depth is so substantial that the line by line scraps will be both intense and fascinating. Can't wait
Yeah, and those injuries? - they were no accident, my friendā¦
Agree that pre-season will show us more. Imagine (fingers crossed perhaps) if Stewart sets the world on fire at CHF. That would change everything.
Josh Bruce left the Giants due to both lack of opportunity and gws not being too fussed about him, within two years heās StKildaās best forward. Letās hope Alf can have a similar kind of impact!
Ambrose is not best 22 replace with Francis
Brown is not best 22 replace with Stanton (I donāt think Stanton is best 22) who will be played on sentimentality. Would be surprised if Hocking doesnāt play, but where do you fit him in?
Picking a best 22 is like politics, you just know someone is going to disagree with you.
I would say these are the 12 core, not negotiable players in the best 22. the rest can fight it out in the pre-season, intraclub matches and the NAB series to make up the team.
Picking a best 22 is like politics, you just know someone is going to disagree with you.
I would say these are the 12 core, not negotiable players in the best 22. the rest can fight it out in the pre-season, intraclub matches and the NAB series to make up the team.
Picking a best 22 is like politics, you just know someone is going to disagree with you.
I would say these are the 12 core, not negotiable players in the best 22. the rest can fight it out in the pre-season, intraclub matches and the NAB series to make up the team.
Picking a best 22 is like politics, you just know someone is going to disagree with you.
I would say these are the 12 core, not negotiable players in the best 22. the rest can fight it out in the pre-season, intraclub matches and the NAB series to make up the team.