Problem with some of these best 22, not enough midfield bulls in the paddock.
Reckon after essentially 2 years out of the game Myers will have a good ‘18.
With Watson gone Bird could got some games to reestablish himself … probably not.
Goddard will likely need to do some heavy lifting as well.
Who knows, Langford may actually have a breakout year in the guts.
Laverde too.
Clarke and Mutch will probably get exposure as well.
And of course Stringer in bursts.
Essendon haven’t tried to lure extractors because they may think they’ve got enough on the list or maybe they’re developing a game style less reliant on the midfield bull. They do seem heavily focussed on run and gun types. Great to watch but not sure how it holds up in finals
Finals pretty much showed that requirement for running game and pressure more important than the midfield bulls
Swans who are reknown for it got belted by the Cats in the finals.
Richmond in the GF were rotating Martin & Caddy between fwd/mid, as well as had that young bloke Jack Graham playing a tagging role on Sloane
So basically 3 only. If we have Stringer, Langford & Hep that’s enough.
Cotchin was rabid at the contest but he is no bull, and Prestia also was hard at it, Parish & Zerrett could effectively do same. And Zaka. And McGrath. And now Smith!
Run run run to pressure/out number and to provide options/ overlap when get footy back.
The mix of tall backs is the hardest task for me…my thoughts:
I desperately want to leave Hooker at FF, simply because the forward line functioned so well.
But Hartley didn’t stand up to the task in 2017…what about the forgotten man in Brown? If he was uninjured, would he have been selected for the gorillas ahead of Hartley? Can Brown bulk up a little more, because it’s mainly the wrestling that worries me…he’s clearly got more smarts than Hartley.
Should Hurley and Gleeson both play in the same backline, when they both tend to play as a tallish interceptor? IMO, I want Gleeson to get stronger again this preseason, but continue with the current level of intercepting…whereas Hurley I feel needs to play a bit tighter, wrestle, and ensure that he beats his man.
Don’t care who you support… that is a damn fine team on paper… scary good.
Also mostly ‘proven’… questions are whether Gleeson keeps developing, Smtih stays healthy and transitions to midfield, begley bigger tank and does Goddard have another year left. Langford probably the biggest question out of the lot… and we have 4-5 quality options waiting in the wings…Colyer not even an emg?