I think you missed the part about consistent. I agree with KM. Langford, Gleeson or guelfi wouldn’t get a game in top 8 sides and the other guys you mentioned have yet to prove their consistency at a high level. I agree on redman, he’s consistent. Mcgrath is very good too, and we hope parish becomes what we want but hes yet to still be consistently good. I wouldn’t be pinning any hopes on Joe or raz, the two most injury prone guys at the club. It’s a huge bonus of either of them play regular footy, but I highly doubt that’s ever gonna happen
We’ve got a lot of guys who are very good, on their day. But rarely string it all together consistently
Finals aren’t played in January…March 21 is still a fair bit away.
Hooker and Zaka end of January should be right to go with the main group. Being senior players they will prepare their bodies right in time to be available rd 1.
Heppell will be right for the JLT, as will Merrett, Fantasia and Gleeson.
Only major concerns are Daniher and Stewart of the senior players really not knowing when or if they’ll be back before the halfway mark of the season proper.
Most clubs with 9 players or less in age of 27+ weren’t up there.
This includes us, that’s were your talent lacks not the up to 25’s who are still developing and will take another 1-2 years of experience to show their full talent.
Yes I’d assume they are near peak. After three preseasons you see the near peak of most midfielders, you will get marginal gains from that point forward. It seems to be about five years for talls.
Injury interruptions to Joe and Raz mean we haven’t seen it but 2017 is a good rough guide to performance
We may see a bit of a jump for Parish with more game time and for McGrath with another year’s midfield experiende
In a year or two Hurley, Hooker, Heppell, Zaca, Smack, Phillips and Ambrose will be 29 or higher. Sheil and Walla will be 28-29 also. That’s a significant part of our list and also important players past their prime.
You can paint your argument any way you like but Richmond have a younger list than ours and in the past 3 years they have won two flags.
A lot has to go right for us to challenge for premierships.
Yea, fair enough. I don’t share your enthusiasm as I still have concerns over us actually putting runs on the board but I desperately want to be proven wrong.
A lot of our gains will come in the form of development and tactics so a lot is riding on Rutten and Cara.
Not just assistance, but fitness, new head coach effectively next year as I believe Woosha will be more on the bench like this season with Rutten working the box
Firstly by senior players, I didn’t mean best 22 players, I meant our most experienced players. 100+ gamers.
Secondly, being named to play and being prepared are two very very different things. JLT is not meaningless, nor is pre-season, it is preparation for the real thing. We haven’t been prepared for the first month of footy for a few years, and this year will be no better.
You didn’t say if they were near their peak…you stated are they consistent and proven.
I would argue they are consistent and Proven. Ie they should play every week in the 22, have established themselves and proven at AFL level.
Are they at their peak…no, I still believe their is lots of potential there.
If you said there are only 3 players who are stars of the competition in their position, then I agree with you on Saad, Merrett and Mckenna, but would also add - Fantasia, Daniher and stringer but acknowledge they are not always consistent, but thats forwards for you, gotta rely on the mids to bring the ball up and deliver etc.
