Post-draft Best 22

[Alan_Noonan_10]

Of players who’ve played 31 games or less and are yet to establish themselves I hope Langford (31), Francis (5), Laverde (23), Long (3), Mutch (0) get a decent run at it.

Other boys like Redman and Ridley should get a run.

If after 4-6 weeks Myers doesn’t lift his game I’d drop him

One thing is certain, competition for spots will be intense

Why do you hate Begley?

[All_Things_Essendon]

Wanted to include him but the others have been on the list for a couple of years and it’s time to find out if they’re up to AFL standards. There’s just not enough spots to include them all!

[Birch19]

Mutch and Begley are from the same draft mate :). Ridley too actually.

[All_Things_Essendon]

Ha! Ridley can wait then but the thing about Mutch is that he seems ready to go and midfield is a pressing (yesss, improving) area of need.

[samwoods]

Begley is a midfielder, and got games ahead of Kobe last year.

[Fozdog]

I’ll be interested to see how Heppell and Myers come back after their second pre season since the ban. They were down compared to Hurley’s performance. This will be another plus if they lift further.

[andrewb]

I’m very comfortable with our first choice batch of mids and I’m confident that will see big improvement from langford, parish and mcgrath. I’m less certain on stringer as a mid, albeit as a rotation, but confident about Smith. If we get some cameos from Begley and Mutch that will be a bonus.

Hepp, Zerret, Zaha, parish, McGrath, Smith, Langford, stringer, Begley, tippa, Fanta, bj - I think that is likely to be the extended midfield group. It has more than enough of everything needed imo.

The issue for us is the drop off in midfield depth outside of our best 22. It’s basically Myers, Mutch and maybe Clarke. There just isn’t much there at all. More than one or two midfield injuries and we’ll be in trouble. Bj gives us some degree of flexibility to be able to juggle things but it’s pretty thin.

With that in mind it would not surprise to see us take a couple of mature age 22 to 24 year old second tier mids in the draft

Given the unique nature of our list I would be looking to develop groups that constantly rotate through the middle.

Stringer, Langford, Laverde, Begley - medium forward, midfield
Zerrett, Parish, Zaharakis, Colyer - midfield, wing / high half forwards
Fantasia, Smith, Tippa, Green - small forward, midfield
Goddard, Gleeson - medium back, midfield
McGrath, Saad, McKenna - small back, midfield

Set and forget Daniher and Belly as your ruck / forward rotation and Ambrose as key back.

Hurley and Hooker as tall utilities, potentially Stewart as well depending on the match up.

That team would be lethal in terms of its potency, pace and versatility.

[Killer_Mike]

I assume this has been part of the strategy for some time.

It’s why it surprises me when people get upset if we pick-up players like Langford, Laverde, Begley, Fantasia, Walla and the such that can plau dual roles.

Heavy rotations not only keep your side fresh but its also about throwing different looks at teams with more rigid structures.

[andrewb]

I assume this has been part of the strategy for some time.

It’s why it surprises me when people get upset if we pick-up players like Langford, Laverde, Begley, Fantasia, Walla and the such that can plau dual roles.

Heavy rotations not only keep your side fresh but its also about throwing different looks at teams with more rigid structures.

Exactly

We have 11 legitimate, AFL grade forwards on the list now.

Daniher, Hooker, Stewart, Stringer, Langford, Laverde, Begley, Fantasia, Smith, Tippa, Green

3 All Australians (though hooker was in a different position) and 2 who’ve been fringe AA (Smith, Fantasia).

That’s 462 possible 6 player forward lines (11c6), all of which are capable of potency.

[ivan]

Is there a ‘resting’ position though these days? Maybe the deepest forwards playing against a high press if we can’t get it out of defence.

[aboods]

I’ll be interested to see how Heppell and Myers come back after their second pre season since the ban. They were down compared to Hurley’s performance. This will be another plus if they lift further.

Despite being AA, Hurley was well short of his 2015 form as well. Hopefully he can also lift

[G-Unit]

My Best 22:

B: Baguley Ambrose Hooker
HB: Saad Hurley McKenna
C: Parish Zaharakis McGrath
HF: Fantasia Stringer Stewart
F: Walla Daniher Smith
R: Bellchambers Heppell Merrett
INT: Gleeson Goddard Langford Colyer

Pretty sold on this lineup to be honest.

[chris_64]

Cal Twomey has had a go at our best 22 on AFL.com.au

B: Mark Baguley, Michael Hurley, Adam Saad
HB: Conor McKenna, Michael Hartley, Andrew McGrath
C: David Zaharakis, Dyson Heppell, Brendon Goddard
HF: Devon Smith, Joe Daniher, Jake Stringer
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Cale Hooker, Orazio Fantasia
Foll: Tom Bellchambers, Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish
I/C: James Stewart, Patrick Ambrose, Jayden Laverde, Martin Gleeson

DEPTH

General defenders: Matt Dea, Jordan Ridley, Ben McNiece
Key defenders: Mitch Brown, Aaron Francis, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher
Midfielders: Dylan Clarke, Travis Colyer, Kobe Mutch, David Myers, Trent Mynott, Matt Guelfi, Kyle Langford
General forwards: Josh Begley, Josh Green, Jackson Merrett, Mason Redman, Jake Long, Jordan Houlahan
Key forwards: Shaun McKernan
Ruckmen: Matthew Leuenberger, Sam Draper, Luke Lavender

Notes: The Bombers will be one of the teams to watch next year, having altered their trade strategy this off-season and recruited strongly from other clubs for the first time in a long while. The addition of Jake Stringer adds another match-winner to the Bombers list, while Adam Saad and Devon Smith should also be very good acquisitions, not least for the likelihood they could free up other players to play more integral roles. Essendon’s midfield is probably its question mark, but there is undoubtedly a lot of talent in there and it showed last year it can match it when the best teams when firing. - Callum Twomey .

I suppose he realises that Long s training with the mids and Redman is training as a general defender

[LucasLefty]

Yep. I’d have Langford or Begley or Green in before Laverde at this stage.

[aboods]

Yep. I’d have Langford or Begley or Green in before Laverde at this stage.

Agreed. I think he has one too many talls as well. I’d be leaving out Hartley

[stander2]

TBC out, Lewey in.

[aboods]

TBC out, Lewey in.

Interesting call. I don’t think there is much between them, but if they’re at their best, I’d prefer TBC

[LucasLefty]

Yeah I think I prefer Hurley and Ambrose before Hartley.

[Killer_Mike]

I prefer Ambrose over Hartley also.

But if Hartley can iron out a few issues in the preseason then his kicking would be a massive advantage to the side.

So much competition for spots. Love it.

[LucasLefty]

I also think if Mitch Brown can get his body right then he could have a big say in our backline. He was pretty serviceable before going down last season.