This thread has lost any chance of getting any credibility
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Cutler isnt in the best 22
But if a defender got injured its basically out of Cutler and Zerk to come in.
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Any chance you could change your display pic? Even I’m getting confused now!!
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Respectfully, he was not one of our best defenders in the last 4 games. He did average 20 disposals but he doesn’t win his own ball and rarely plays close to his opponents. He plays like a wingman not a defender, he is a sloppy tackler and most tackles do not stick. He is a good kick, there are 8 better potentials in defence. My comment is that if he is good enough to be in our best 22, then we will not have a strong team, as he would find it difficult to get a game in at least the top 10 teams. And hard to see him played on the wing, with Cox, Durham and others ahead of him for that spot.
He’d do it for the nookie.
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but this is the bit of your logic thats flawed. we were playing top 4 football at the back end of last year WITH cutler, thats not a exaggeration.
We were one of the form teams if the competition, so regardless of whether you rate him or not, this team has already proved that they can play at a high level with him in it.
i honesty dont know if cuts is best 22, i think he is, but i may me wrong. but to say we’d be bottom 4 if he’s a regular is ridiculous after we’ve proven we are a good side with him in it already. he’s not some kind of barometer and i can guarantee you, if he’s a regular in our side its because he’s playing very well, which he did late last year
this is also coming from someone who wanted this guy delisted at the mid way mark of last year.
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Think your memory is a bit flawed.
Last six games in 2021 we won three and lost three. Win over Bulldogs was good, but lost to Sydney, GWS and Bulldogs in final. We did also beat Gold Coast and Magpies, but not sure it was top 4 football at all.
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IMO, our best backline 7 is:
Ridley, Laverde, Stewart, Kelly, Heppell, Hind & Redman.
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if you dont realise we were one of the form teams heading into finals i cant help you. lost to Sydney by bugger all and same with GWS, they were the only games we lost whilst still playing good footy. our last 3 wins were great footy. our form overall after the bye was for the most part, very good.
Either way, cutler is hardly the difference is he, and saying we’re bottom 4 if he plays this year is stupid as bottom 4 footy is certainly attributed to more than tom fkn cutler. But i really dont think your giving him enough credit for his form reversal
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Fair enough
i think cutler is best 22 - but we’ll have a good idea after the pre season. he’s probably borderline but at worst he’ll be good depth
Assuming no Walla & Hurley for the time being:
B: Ridley Stewart Kelly
HB: Hind Laverde Heppell
C: Langford McGrath Cox
HF: Stringer Wright Shiel
F: Snelling Jones Smith
R: Draper Parish Merrett
Int: Francis Perkins Caldwell Redman
Sub: Durham
Emg: Hobbs Guelfi Cutler
- Shiel & Stringer to rotate through the midfield
- Cutler arguably the most unlucky, given his form towards the end of last season
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Cutler may not be best 22 but he could well be best 23
FB: Redman Stewart Ridley (Pretty reliable group - Stewart probably last season being a regular before Reid comes on in 2023)
HB: Heppell Laverde McGrath (Heppell offers great leadership down back, Laverde solid and McGrath can provide some run and dash, can be like his 2017 year. Needs to polish up his disposal - there’s not much room for him in the midfield.
C: Hind Merrett Durham (Hind and Durham on the wings. Hind’s pace can break through some zones, Merrett ever consistent, and Durham knows how to hold his line and width out on the wing.)
HF: Stringer Wright Snelling (Stringer to play 2/3rds in the forward line, he offers that X factor. Wright hopefully can become more consistent making a contest, and Snelling pushes up to stoppages and is quite footy smart.)
FF: Smith Francis Perkins (we’re really lacking a quality small forward if Walla doesn’t play - pressure is on Devon to become team oriented. Francis has the ability to be a good forward, just needs to find some inner belief, Perkins still early in his footy journey.)
R: Draper Parish Caldwell (great group)
Int: Cutler Cox Shiel Langford (leaning towards Cutler over Kelly at this stage for the seventh defender, Cox as the third wingman, Shiel the fourth mid, Langford rotates between on-ball and half forward when Stringer is on ball.
If Walla is fit, he comes in for Cox. If Jones is fit, he comes in for Perkins. Much prefer having three tall forwards if we’re fully fit- stretches the defenders of the opposition more.
Sub: Hobbs
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Hoping to see a 23 something like this our first real competitive hitout of the year on Wednesday against the Dogs;-
Ridley Laverde Kelly
Redman Zerk McDonagh
Durham McGrath Ham
Perkins Langford Martin
Francis 2MP Snelling
Phillips Caldwell Hobbs
Bench: Heppell Cutler Lord Waterman
SUB: Guelfi
Is it a 23 or do we get 28 players for these matches?
Good decision by list management to hold on to the Zerk.
Might Ridley, Laverde and Kelly at a pinch be enough to suffice in term of KPP defence for round one if need be?
Francis could also help as a worst case scenario. Jeremy Cameron doesn’t play tall and Lav got the job on Hawkins at stages from memory last year.
I doubt Zerk is needed.
IMO it’d be a struggle. We give away a fair bit in terms of height and weight.
Hawkins 198cm 104kg
Ratugalea 198cm 108kg
Cameron 196cm 94kg
Ridley 195cm 93kg
Lav 193cm 91kg
Kelly 190cm 89kg
Zerk 195cm 89kg
Cutler 192cm 89kg
Francis 193cm 92kg
Stewart 199cm 99kg (most likely unavailable, edit, apparently that’s wrong, he trained fully today.)
IMO Ridley is the best matchup on Cameron in terms of height and weight, and Ridley’s reading of the flight of the ball could help against Cameron’s arial presense.
Hawkins is very good at shoving his opponent in the chest to gain a meter of separation before leading into space and taking an essentially uncontested chest mark.
I know Lav is strong, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to rely on size and strength to outbody all of Geelong’s forwardline in 1v1 matchups. We’ll be looking for clever positioning (and possibly running a 7th defender) to intercept, pressure from our midfield to force errors into their forward 50 entries etc.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how Kelly defends in the practice matches.
My best 23:
Kelly Stewart Lav
Hep Ridley Hind
Cox Parish Merrett
Langford Jones Stringer
Snelling 2MP Smith
Draper Caldwell Shiel
Redman McGrath Durham Hobbs Francis
Francis as Sub because he can play both ends of the ground if we lose a tall. Could replace 2MP with Bryan based on the intraclub. Zerk\Cutler to replace Stewart if he’s unavailable. Hobbs to bury Selwood without giving away a free kick and he ascends into EFC folklore.
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