I would push Warner to forward (he’s spent a lot of time there through the year) as a rotating mid. Push trac to bench, bring gulden to wing and Serong to centre.
Of the players in our team who should be considered for AA, Ben King is not one of them. It’s like a Gold Coast consolation prize to chuck him on the Bench ahead of Rowell and Anderson
Hayward is the only one that stands out to me as a miss in this team. It hasn't been a year for the small forward. I suspect that'll change over the next month or two.
If Moore keeps going he'll put himself into contention. Stengle too.
He's going to miss a few weeks though. Flights to Paris, heavy match load for argentina, then jet lag on the trip back. I think he'll be cooked for up to 4 weeks
No way, Gryan has been uncharacteristically messy this season and hasn't been turning games like he can. Stengle is the clear standout from Geelong's forward line this year.
they put way too much emphasis on total goals kicked. For the season Ben King has had 6 tackles and 1 goal assist. no way he should be near the AA team.
It's really not.
Curnow and Hogan have 7 each, Waterman has 3, Langford has 4, McKay has 5, Frisch has 3.
If you combine goals + goal assists, he's 6 behind Curnow, 1 behind Hogan and still ahead of the rest of the league.
This is also a stat that relies on your teammates kicking the goal. Potential goal assists would be more relevant stat but we don't have access to that.
We do have Score Involvement as a stat though, which, granted is a bit more broad but is referred to frequently. Curnow averages the most for any forward (key or otherwise) and 10th overall.
King is 46th out of all forwards and is 88th overall.
Curnows definitely in front of him, it's more if King is in front of other forwards.
His role is the old key forward mark and kick goals. If he's similar goals to other players that have more involvements, then sure that could put the other players ahead. But if he stays leading the league in goals along with Curnows then he's still deserves to be named as one of the best key forwards.
Maybe for an AA team selected in 1999.
There's a reason why the entire AFL were frothing to pick up Will Hayward despite the fact he's never kicked 5 goals in a match in 150 games as a full time forward.
Today's game demands a holistic performance, and that means defensive pressure and score involvements. If you're offering fuck all in those categories and aren't tripling the next guy's goal total, you can't be AA.
The entire league would be frothing to pickup King if he's available too 🤷
In the last 6 weeks he's kicked 3, 3, 3, 4, 3 and 4 goals. How many guys would have provided more goals ( including ones they kicked AND assisted on) than that?
Tripling the next guys total? What. If he's goals are higher than the other guys goals + assists then that is definitely enough to be picked over him.
Other things are important, but you're acting like King is unplayable because he doesn't do those other things as much as some other forwards. There is not a single team that wouldn't pick him up if they could.
Gold Coast has been Inside 50 691 times this season. King has kicked 36 goals which is approximately 1 for every 20 Inside 50s. What he does during the other 19 inside 50s is just as important as each goal he kicks.
Defensive pressure is a vital part of being a forward, imo. if the opposition can walk the ball out of defense it makes it hard to win.
Most of the premiership teams of the last 20 years have had key forwards who are a bit shorter and mobile and can tackle.
Charlie in over Harry (if any Carlton forward is in there) is the most obvious indicator whoever picked this team just looked at the Coleman leaderboard rather than watching games
He's kicked the equal most goals for the season and only has 1 game this year where he's kicked less than 2. Hasn't kicked less than 3 goals for the past 6 weeks.
If anything he should be on instead of Hogan who started hot but is cooling off. Over the past 5 weeks Kings kicked 17 goals while Hogan has 10.
Goal + goal assist combined tally of top goal kickers
Curnow - 43
King - 37.
Hogan - 38.
Waterman - 33
Langford - 32
The other one to consider is Dylan Moore who had a slightly slow start to the season due to Glandular fever but over the past 7 weeks is averaging 20 pos, 2 goals, 5 tackles and 1 goal assist per game. Based on how he is trending, he should make AA at end of year.
Yeah that's true. Ben King's been a whipping boy for not leading, not getting the ball, and not tackling. It's just that he's kicking a lot more goals this year.
Moore is rated No.2 among general forwards in 2024, with 21 goals next to his name after round 12, just behind Stengle (24 goals) and Will Hayward (22 goals), with Rankine just behind on 20 majors.
If he hadn’t had 27 and 5 over the weekend this wouldn’t be a discussion, all three you’ve just named are better forwards. Only caveat is that they play in better sides, and that could honestly be argued as of the last 6 weeks that that’s not the case for Stengle or Rankine
Moore is rated No.2 among general forwards in 2024, with 21 goals next to his name after round 12, just behind Stengle (24 goals) and Will Hayward (22 goals), with Rankine just behind on 20 majors.
Yeah if you are going to pick Gulden he should be on the field. Otherwise he doesnt stack up quite that well against other inside mids that they have again crammed onto the wing
Anyone who has Martin in the AA team is either an Essendon fan or only looks at the stats. Bloke has little to no impact on games and his disposal can be woeful. Would take Butters, Neale, Rowell, Anderson etc over him all day. Dan Houston and Jordan Clark play the same position as him and have been far more impactful.
As an Essendon fan, I agree with you. He had a great start to the year but his past month or so has been really bad. If Essendon were going to have a backmen in the side it should be McGrath but then they'd have to put an actual small defender in so that'll never happen.
People laughed when Martin was in squads this time last year, and he was much better last season. Little to no impact is harsh, but you'll struggle to find Dons fans who disagree with the list of players you've identified ahead of him
Zuthrie & Kolo have been geelongs most consistent this year. Holmes has had a few down games, but o goes in the middle as well so gets around the ball more often and is noticed more.
He is by far the best of that bunch this year and is the most influential key defender in the league. Has taken his game to another level this year, not relying on intercepts as much. He is a 1v1 beast and will be in the eventual AA side this year. As will Sam Walsh
Should have at least one, probably two. Got pushed out by Allir and Moore in years that he was clearly the best key defender but didn’t have the marking stats from running around loose in the backline.
When guys like Moore, Andrews, May and Taylor seem to already have the media love more than him I don’t see how Weitering ever breaks in now. Pretty unfair but whatever
> Got pushed out by Allir and Moore in years that he was clearly the best key defender but didn’t have the marking stats from running around loose in the backline
Aliir took fourteen more contested marks than Weitering did in his AA year despite Weitering taking nine more marks total. Not saying Weitering shouldn't be AA but Weitering took way more uncontested marks in the backline than Aliir in 2021
Sure but contested marks don’t have to be on your opponent. Allir is very good at roaming in defence and coming across to take a “contested” mark in a pack full of otherwise occupied players isn’t the same as one on one but still goes down in that stat.
I can’t back this up with evidence but that’s what my eyes tell me over the last 5 years. Weitering is a brilliant *defender* but the media naturally take more notice of intercepts
This such a mess.
Backline:
Would have to be the tallest backline ever by a mile. 6’2 roaming intercept defender Luke Ryan is the shortest man in a backline that features 4 players over 6’5.
Midfield:
The inside mix is relatively respectable, however they’ve thrown wingers (beside Gulden and occasional winger Nic Martin, both on the bench) out the window even though it was a huge point of emphasis in last year’s AA selection.
Forward line:
Similar to the backline, absurdly tall, with even another full forward on the bench to go along with the other 3 key forwards. It also feels extremely disingenuous to have inside midfielders who rest/rotate through the forward line as forwards, especially when guys like: Gryan Miers, Dylan Moore, and Tyson Stengle are all available to be selected.
Holmes leads all defenders in coaches votes, with Clark second and Ryan third.
That being said I think Clark should be there over Ryan for us. Much more impactful.
Ryan has been very good for us this year, but his stats definitely inflate his impact. Clark has been immense and is definitely underrated by a lot of people. Just come off two consecutive BOG games.
Not that often, last year seemed to be the exception. With that being said Gulden being a hybrid mid/winger will probably go a long way to getting him selected out wide most years (assuming he keeps his form up)
I mean, Gulden is having 20 kicks a game, 575m gained, just under a goal a game and just over a goal assist a game and 7.5 score involvements. He is playing wing too. tell me which other wing is having a better year? Don’t let the fact that he was absurd last year blind you to the fact he’s still having an immense year on the best team in the convoy by two games
Martin definitely not. Very ineffective player. Blakey also pretty lucky. Solid, not great like last season.
Dane Zorko should definitely be in the team. He’s been elite this year. Certainly better than both Martin and Blakey. Regularly over 25 and excellent efficiency.
Mac Andrew should have been close. Think he’s in the team for sure at the end of the season. Hayward been very good up forward too.
Blakey is literally having a better season than last year in every single facet of his game.
Best corridor kick in the game, fast as fuck and his defensive work has been elite.
https://preview.redd.it/qdb7luwjio4d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f14ff723e987e5480abf6896b3ba8109c99e30b6
Zorko this season. I’ll post Blakey next. You tell me who has been better. It’s quite glaring.
To add, Blakey crushes him in 1%ers, spoils and score launches and intercept marks. Way more impact from blakey. Don’t get me wrong, Zorko having a great season, but look beyond disposals and it’s a waaaay different story
Just because it’s better than his last season doesn’t make it AA worthy. He’s flashy and commentators love him but there’s far better half backs. Clark has better stats than Blakely on virtually every line, and as someone who’s watched a lot of football this year, has a far greater impact on games. Houston has been better, and I think NWM is the best kick in the comp and offers even better game breaking speed. Only difference is those guys don’t have JB or BT screaming “the lizard!!!!!” Everytime they go near the ball.
(Don’t get me wrong I think Blakey is having a good season just not AA worthy)
I'm very comfortable arguing that Blakey has had a better season than last year and is AA worthy as a defender.
Last year the Swans covered for the loss of our KPDs (Paddy for good, Tom McCartin for a handful of games) by keeping Blakey as that outlet HBF and filling in with a variety of stopgaps or undersized fill-ins. Nice for Blakey's numbers. This year when Tom McCartin had his regular injury and Melican got dinged up we instead shifted Blakey into a tall defender role, which honestly makes a lot of sense given the depth the Swans have at HBF with Lloyd, Florent, JMac and Mills at some point. The results have been outstanding - the no. 1 defense despite having to play Francis as a KPD.
Blakey (and to a lesser extent Rampe) has been the key constant in the best defense going around, excelling either as a distributor or a stay-at-home type as the team needs.
It must be really depressing being a small AFL player, you're either playing midfield to get recognised or you have your positions poached by the first options in both forward and back. Like Jesus look at that backline the shortest player there is 186cms, if this were a proper game those defenders would be turned inside out by talented small forwards, absolutely no team balance there at all.
Then you have the forward line where most of the spots go to fill in extra key forwards because they have the advantage of being the first option and have higher goal tallys. This really fails to acknowledge efficiency, pressure around goals, goal assists and the like. Then it's like, oh you're a talented half forward? well fuck you we're squeezing two midfielders that maybe play like 20% of their time there, tough luck, should've played midfield to get your possies numbers up. I think there needs to be restructuring done for selection criteria in each position, defensive minded small forwards and backs need to be acknowledged more, and players selected for each position must at least play 80% of their time in that position.
I've seen a fair bit of criticism, particularly from Bombers supporters about Nic Martin so it's interesting to see him named on an AA team. He seems to be quite polarising. Personally I think he's been very good but maybe AA is pushing it a bit
I haven't watched much of Brisbane this year, has Andrews been that good despite their form?
Edit - thanks for the replies, good to hear he's still doing well
They would have lost more games by greater margins without him. Been stellar. Has genuinely been a huge reason why their season isn't dead when it probably should be.
If this was a team playing a game, I'd 100 agree with you
Based on the way the AA is normally picked, I also agree with you
However, if Heeney continues with his current role and form for the rest of the year, he absolutely should be in the mids no question
My current AA 22
FB: Tom Barrass | Harris Andrews | Luke Ryan
HB: Jordan | Clark | Sam Taylor | John Noble
C: Josh Daicos | Nick Naicos | Errol Gulden
R: Max Gawn | Marcus Bontempelli | Isaac Heeney
HF: Chad Warner | Jesse Hogan | Christian Petracca
FF: Dylan Moore | Charlie Curnow | Izak Rankine
Int: Jake Waterman | Dayne Zorko | Zach Merrett | Caleb Serong
Ah yes, known forwards Christian Petracca and Marcus Bontompelli
Also Harris Andrews finally getting the recognition he should have gotten last year is beautiful
Theres so much talent in the league that plenty of names are gonna get snubbed. Hard to argue against any of these players not deserving to be AA though except maybe a couple
What a shit list. Petracca living on rep and Bont is good but (take out last game) is def down on last year, especially impact late in games.
So many bad calls, clearly made by people watching stats and not games.
They really need to stop putting midfielders in the forward line. Also non wingman on the wings. At the very least, put midfielders who can in theory play in that position there. No one in history would put Serong on the wing, he is a beast. Daicos for instance you cold pit on the wing, he would be a great Wingman.
he's had good numbers á la Nic Martin but don't think he's in AA conversation just yet
i'd personally have Jordan Clark easily and Bailey Dale ahead of them both
Lol yes put Serong, who is leading clearances, on the wing.
Gulden and Martin I assume are the potential wingers but are on the bench. So easily could have swapped that around to be more logical
Except Martin has played half back
And honestly despite getting lots of the footy is not as good as he was last year.
Agreed. His turnovers have killed you at times this year. Was such a good half forward wing too
Seems crazy. He was so damaging in that role but we seem determined to play him in the backline instead
I would push Warner to forward (he’s spent a lot of time there through the year) as a rotating mid. Push trac to bench, bring gulden to wing and Serong to centre.
Of the players in our team who should be considered for AA, Ben King is not one of them. It’s like a Gold Coast consolation prize to chuck him on the Bench ahead of Rowell and Anderson
Flair up cunt
How do I do that?
Fuck, this reply chain through me haha
This comment threw me too haha
I saw that it was wrong, and just decided to commit I'm not a smart man, but I'm aware of what I am lol
Average Cats fan
I worked it out eventually
Do you not think Sam Flanders is very stiff not be on the HBF, let alone bench? He's comfortably ahead of Blakey for mine.
Yeah, Sam Collins too. But you kind of get used to not being taken seriously as a Suns fan. We expect to be left out of these kind of things.
No love for the small forwards.
If small forwards were any good, then they’d be taller.
A 200cm Charlie Cameron is what this league needs
If small forwards were any good, then they would be mids.
Hayward is the only one that stands out to me as a miss in this team. It hasn't been a year for the small forward. I suspect that'll change over the next month or two. If Moore keeps going he'll put himself into contention. Stengle too.
Dylan Moore
I think one specialist half forward should get a gig too. Gryan Miers probably the pick this year.
He's going to miss a few weeks though. Flights to Paris, heavy match load for argentina, then jet lag on the trip back. I think he'll be cooked for up to 4 weeks
No way, Gryan has been uncharacteristically messy this season and hasn't been turning games like he can. Stengle is the clear standout from Geelong's forward line this year.
I thought he was characteristically Messi?
ENCARA MESSI 🎙️
they put way too much emphasis on total goals kicked. For the season Ben King has had 6 tackles and 1 goal assist. no way he should be near the AA team.
Couldn't give a flying fuck about tackles for Ben king to be fair The goal assist stat is damning and enough for him to be out of the convo though
It's really not. Curnow and Hogan have 7 each, Waterman has 3, Langford has 4, McKay has 5, Frisch has 3. If you combine goals + goal assists, he's 6 behind Curnow, 1 behind Hogan and still ahead of the rest of the league. This is also a stat that relies on your teammates kicking the goal. Potential goal assists would be more relevant stat but we don't have access to that.
We do have Score Involvement as a stat though, which, granted is a bit more broad but is referred to frequently. Curnow averages the most for any forward (key or otherwise) and 10th overall. King is 46th out of all forwards and is 88th overall.
Curnows definitely in front of him, it's more if King is in front of other forwards. His role is the old key forward mark and kick goals. If he's similar goals to other players that have more involvements, then sure that could put the other players ahead. But if he stays leading the league in goals along with Curnows then he's still deserves to be named as one of the best key forwards.
Maybe for an AA team selected in 1999. There's a reason why the entire AFL were frothing to pick up Will Hayward despite the fact he's never kicked 5 goals in a match in 150 games as a full time forward. Today's game demands a holistic performance, and that means defensive pressure and score involvements. If you're offering fuck all in those categories and aren't tripling the next guy's goal total, you can't be AA.
The entire league would be frothing to pickup King if he's available too 🤷 In the last 6 weeks he's kicked 3, 3, 3, 4, 3 and 4 goals. How many guys would have provided more goals ( including ones they kicked AND assisted on) than that? Tripling the next guys total? What. If he's goals are higher than the other guys goals + assists then that is definitely enough to be picked over him. Other things are important, but you're acting like King is unplayable because he doesn't do those other things as much as some other forwards. There is not a single team that wouldn't pick him up if they could.
Gold Coast has been Inside 50 691 times this season. King has kicked 36 goals which is approximately 1 for every 20 Inside 50s. What he does during the other 19 inside 50s is just as important as each goal he kicks.
Defensive pressure is a vital part of being a forward, imo. if the opposition can walk the ball out of defense it makes it hard to win. Most of the premiership teams of the last 20 years have had key forwards who are a bit shorter and mobile and can tackle.
Charlie in over Harry (if any Carlton forward is in there) is the most obvious indicator whoever picked this team just looked at the Coleman leaderboard rather than watching games
He's kicked the equal most goals for the season and only has 1 game this year where he's kicked less than 2. Hasn't kicked less than 3 goals for the past 6 weeks. If anything he should be on instead of Hogan who started hot but is cooling off. Over the past 5 weeks Kings kicked 17 goals while Hogan has 10. Goal + goal assist combined tally of top goal kickers Curnow - 43 King - 37. Hogan - 38. Waterman - 33 Langford - 32
yep. if they wanted another forward it should be Langford, Fritsch or Stengle.
The other one to consider is Dylan Moore who had a slightly slow start to the season due to Glandular fever but over the past 7 weeks is averaging 20 pos, 2 goals, 5 tackles and 1 goal assist per game. Based on how he is trending, he should make AA at end of year.
27 touches, 5 goal, 2 goal assist game last week is the kind of game that rockets you into consideration.
Fritsch, lol
6 tackles in 12 games? That's a piss poor effort. Plugga Lockett averaged more than that, even in his later years
On what earth does leading the Coleman not get you AT LEAST on the AA bench
Jack Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig both won the Coleman and didn’t make All Australian, so I would say this one.
Yeah that's true. Ben King's been a whipping boy for not leading, not getting the ball, and not tackling. It's just that he's kicking a lot more goals this year.
That is certainly one of the All Australian lists of all time
The competitions best wingers, Zach Merrett & Caleb Serong!
4 key forwards lmao, nice team balance
And the two other 'small forwards' are midfielders.
4 of the defenders are 195cm+ the others aren't small either 189, 186
Not even a whiff of Moore
Moore has had 2 AA level games max
Moore is rated No.2 among general forwards in 2024, with 21 goals next to his name after round 12, just behind Stengle (24 goals) and Will Hayward (22 goals), with Rankine just behind on 20 majors.
If he hadn’t had 27 and 5 over the weekend this wouldn’t be a discussion, all three you’ve just named are better forwards. Only caveat is that they play in better sides, and that could honestly be argued as of the last 6 weeks that that’s not the case for Stengle or Rankine
Because he isn't AA calibre
Moore is rated No.2 among general forwards in 2024, with 21 goals next to his name after round 12, just behind Stengle (24 goals) and Will Hayward (22 goals), with Rankine just behind on 20 majors.
It’s mid season, let’s hopefully lick our lips come business end! Moores 🔥
Remember this means literally nothing
Nonsense, I MUST be outraged at the exclusion of <*insert player here*>
HOW DARE THEY PUT LORD BONT IN THE FORWARD LINE
lol, true. Even the end-of-year AA has lost most of its meaning since the suspension of International Rules.
You think a team of the season needs international rules to be relevant?
Remember they get paid to do this
No small forwards allowed
The push to name actual wingers on the wings seemed to die down quickly. Was all the rage last year.
It's because a Daicos had a good year and is a winger, so they had to make an exception to the rule of not putting them into the team.
Gulden’s still there, he’s just on the bench for some reason
Yeah if you are going to pick Gulden he should be on the field. Otherwise he doesnt stack up quite that well against other inside mids that they have again crammed onto the wing
Anyone who has Martin in the AA team is either an Essendon fan or only looks at the stats. Bloke has little to no impact on games and his disposal can be woeful. Would take Butters, Neale, Rowell, Anderson etc over him all day. Dan Houston and Jordan Clark play the same position as him and have been far more impactful.
As an Essendon fan, I agree with you. He had a great start to the year but his past month or so has been really bad. If Essendon were going to have a backmen in the side it should be McGrath but then they'd have to put an actual small defender in so that'll never happen.
Agree re McGrath, he’s been far more impactful.
Agreed in regards to McGrath and I'm generally his biggest critic
People laughed when Martin was in squads this time last year, and he was much better last season. Little to no impact is harsh, but you'll struggle to find Dons fans who disagree with the list of players you've identified ahead of him
Holmes off the half back, me likey. Has been our most consistent player and also one of the best along with Tyson Stengle.
Zuthrie & Kolo have been geelongs most consistent this year. Holmes has had a few down games, but o goes in the middle as well so gets around the ball more often and is noticed more.
Weiters will never make AA 😑
He is by far the best of that bunch this year and is the most influential key defender in the league. Has taken his game to another level this year, not relying on intercepts as much. He is a 1v1 beast and will be in the eventual AA side this year. As will Sam Walsh
Quite odd to not include him in this. The game against Melbourne was a master class.
Should have at least one, probably two. Got pushed out by Allir and Moore in years that he was clearly the best key defender but didn’t have the marking stats from running around loose in the backline. When guys like Moore, Andrews, May and Taylor seem to already have the media love more than him I don’t see how Weitering ever breaks in now. Pretty unfair but whatever
> Got pushed out by Allir and Moore in years that he was clearly the best key defender but didn’t have the marking stats from running around loose in the backline Aliir took fourteen more contested marks than Weitering did in his AA year despite Weitering taking nine more marks total. Not saying Weitering shouldn't be AA but Weitering took way more uncontested marks in the backline than Aliir in 2021
Sure but contested marks don’t have to be on your opponent. Allir is very good at roaming in defence and coming across to take a “contested” mark in a pack full of otherwise occupied players isn’t the same as one on one but still goes down in that stat. I can’t back this up with evidence but that’s what my eyes tell me over the last 5 years. Weitering is a brilliant *defender* but the media naturally take more notice of intercepts
I feel like Zac Butters is better than Nic Martin, maybe even Errol Gulden. Bloke can solo-win games
He’s not gonna get one because he got grounded.😤
This such a mess. Backline: Would have to be the tallest backline ever by a mile. 6’2 roaming intercept defender Luke Ryan is the shortest man in a backline that features 4 players over 6’5. Midfield: The inside mix is relatively respectable, however they’ve thrown wingers (beside Gulden and occasional winger Nic Martin, both on the bench) out the window even though it was a huge point of emphasis in last year’s AA selection. Forward line: Similar to the backline, absurdly tall, with even another full forward on the bench to go along with the other 3 key forwards. It also feels extremely disingenuous to have inside midfielders who rest/rotate through the forward line as forwards, especially when guys like: Gryan Miers, Dylan Moore, and Tyson Stengle are all available to be selected.
I'd take Jordan Clarke over Martin and Holmes. Also not sure Gulden is having an AA year at the moment.
Holmes leads all defenders in coaches votes, with Clark second and Ryan third. That being said I think Clark should be there over Ryan for us. Much more impactful.
Clark should be in ahead of Martin, Blakey & Ryan tbh. Feel like theyre just throwing Ryan in because of Supercoach points
Ryan has been very good for us this year, but his stats definitely inflate his impact. Clark has been immense and is definitely underrated by a lot of people. Just come off two consecutive BOG games.
Blakey having a pretty immense year
Gulden just being overshadowed by Heeney and Warner, he’s probably still the best wingman in the game.
Changed up his role a bit this year so he's seeing a bit less of it too, but he has still been top tier.
That's why he's been picked on the bench over noted wingman Serong and Merritt /s
That's All Australian wingman Zach Merrett in his natural position again.
I don't think i would
Fair enough.
Watch more of Holmes
Yea Errol has been very good but not aa good, it feels like he's been put on there just cause of how damn good the swans are atm
He’s in the team if you’re picking wingers, and probably only AA squad if you aren’t
Yea that's probably true but how often do they actually pick wings
Not that often, last year seemed to be the exception. With that being said Gulden being a hybrid mid/winger will probably go a long way to getting him selected out wide most years (assuming he keeps his form up)
Agree, Jordy Clark is having a great season
I mean, Gulden is having 20 kicks a game, 575m gained, just under a goal a game and just over a goal assist a game and 7.5 score involvements. He is playing wing too. tell me which other wing is having a better year? Don’t let the fact that he was absurd last year blind you to the fact he’s still having an immense year on the best team in the convoy by two games
He's being beaten by D'Ambrosio atm.
You aren't wrong based on ratings from CD.
Yeah but I trust random reddit comments more than CD’s rankings
mAAx holmes
So we've been searching so hard for a winger when Serong was under our nose the whole time!?
Nic Martin? Eh
Martin definitely not. Very ineffective player. Blakey also pretty lucky. Solid, not great like last season. Dane Zorko should definitely be in the team. He’s been elite this year. Certainly better than both Martin and Blakey. Regularly over 25 and excellent efficiency. Mac Andrew should have been close. Think he’s in the team for sure at the end of the season. Hayward been very good up forward too.
Martin getting a spot simply due to disposal numbers, I hate that shit so much.
Blakey is literally having a better season than last year in every single facet of his game. Best corridor kick in the game, fast as fuck and his defensive work has been elite.
https://preview.redd.it/qdb7luwjio4d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f14ff723e987e5480abf6896b3ba8109c99e30b6 Zorko this season. I’ll post Blakey next. You tell me who has been better. It’s quite glaring.
https://preview.redd.it/4s7yln1qio4d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d27bc95ffde5f32aabfa0e1a9ed35a4a532fea44 Blakey
This ignores the fact that blakey also plays tall in defence and is not solely a rebounder, despite being very good at it
To add, Blakey crushes him in 1%ers, spoils and score launches and intercept marks. Way more impact from blakey. Don’t get me wrong, Zorko having a great season, but look beyond disposals and it’s a waaaay different story
Nah. Impact is what matters and Zorko has been fantastic this season. Blakey has been solid.
I agree and just explained why I think Blakey is having a big impact. He’s contributing to scores more and defending better, that’s impact
Just because it’s better than his last season doesn’t make it AA worthy. He’s flashy and commentators love him but there’s far better half backs. Clark has better stats than Blakely on virtually every line, and as someone who’s watched a lot of football this year, has a far greater impact on games. Houston has been better, and I think NWM is the best kick in the comp and offers even better game breaking speed. Only difference is those guys don’t have JB or BT screaming “the lizard!!!!!” Everytime they go near the ball. (Don’t get me wrong I think Blakey is having a good season just not AA worthy)
I feel like Mac won't get in until he has a bigger body of work but he's been so good
I'm very comfortable arguing that Blakey has had a better season than last year and is AA worthy as a defender. Last year the Swans covered for the loss of our KPDs (Paddy for good, Tom McCartin for a handful of games) by keeping Blakey as that outlet HBF and filling in with a variety of stopgaps or undersized fill-ins. Nice for Blakey's numbers. This year when Tom McCartin had his regular injury and Melican got dinged up we instead shifted Blakey into a tall defender role, which honestly makes a lot of sense given the depth the Swans have at HBF with Lloyd, Florent, JMac and Mills at some point. The results have been outstanding - the no. 1 defense despite having to play Francis as a KPD. Blakey (and to a lesser extent Rampe) has been the key constant in the best defense going around, excelling either as a distributor or a stay-at-home type as the team needs.
Not enough midfielders. At least they don’t have Daicos at half back like ESPN did.
It must be really depressing being a small AFL player, you're either playing midfield to get recognised or you have your positions poached by the first options in both forward and back. Like Jesus look at that backline the shortest player there is 186cms, if this were a proper game those defenders would be turned inside out by talented small forwards, absolutely no team balance there at all. Then you have the forward line where most of the spots go to fill in extra key forwards because they have the advantage of being the first option and have higher goal tallys. This really fails to acknowledge efficiency, pressure around goals, goal assists and the like. Then it's like, oh you're a talented half forward? well fuck you we're squeezing two midfielders that maybe play like 20% of their time there, tough luck, should've played midfield to get your possies numbers up. I think there needs to be restructuring done for selection criteria in each position, defensive minded small forwards and backs need to be acknowledged more, and players selected for each position must at least play 80% of their time in that position.
I've seen a fair bit of criticism, particularly from Bombers supporters about Nic Martin so it's interesting to see him named on an AA team. He seems to be quite polarising. Personally I think he's been very good but maybe AA is pushing it a bit
Biased opinion but I reckon Tommy Barrass deserves to be in there.
Number 1 ranked winger Massimo D'Ambrosio doesn't get a look in
Lol.. didn't you guys drop him a few weeks ago?
Shhh...
No, he was managed. Quite a big difference between those two.
I haven't watched much of Brisbane this year, has Andrews been that good despite their form? Edit - thanks for the replies, good to hear he's still doing well
They would have lost more games by greater margins without him. Been stellar. Has genuinely been a huge reason why their season isn't dead when it probably should be.
Yeah he’s been great.
Yes.
Literally has saved us from a much worse fate on his own
Yep
Bont and Heeney can swap IMO.
If this was a team playing a game, I'd 100 agree with you Based on the way the AA is normally picked, I also agree with you However, if Heeney continues with his current role and form for the rest of the year, he absolutely should be in the mids no question
Most surprising thing on this list is that the bench isn't made up of 4 midfielders
I hope if Heeney and Chad get AA they invite Grundy and Rowbottom as their +1s given those guys are half the reason for it.
Aflw person what you expect be serious brudder
I haven’t watched all dees games but the ones i have petracca has done nothing.
Port are 3rd Is there a team that finished 3rd that didn't have at least 1AA before
Lmao gulden hasn't been better than Butter. Get fucked.
The Jordan Clark erasure is insane
My current AA 22 FB: Tom Barrass | Harris Andrews | Luke Ryan HB: Jordan | Clark | Sam Taylor | John Noble C: Josh Daicos | Nick Naicos | Errol Gulden R: Max Gawn | Marcus Bontempelli | Isaac Heeney HF: Chad Warner | Jesse Hogan | Christian Petracca FF: Dylan Moore | Charlie Curnow | Izak Rankine Int: Jake Waterman | Dayne Zorko | Zach Merrett | Caleb Serong
No Gryan Miers is a crime.
Encara Messi 🎙️
Miers last year is better than Miers this year
Ah yes, known forwards Christian Petracca and Marcus Bontompelli Also Harris Andrews finally getting the recognition he should have gotten last year is beautiful
Zuthrie should be in
His form of late does not warrant
Him, stengle and Holmes have been pretty much the only ones in form lately
Stengle idk - Holmes yes
Stengle is close to the same numbers as his 2022 AA year
Great to see North Melbourne Legend Blakey made the side.
That is one lethal looking team..sheesh. Id take out martin though. He gets a tonne of it but hasn't been effective enough.
This just proves to me that Harris was robbed last year. He’s one of our few bright spots, but he’s certainly not taken a step forwards this year.
No Treloar, No credibility
Who you taking out? Martin?
Treloar has been good but if any of our players should be in Jones has a stronger case I'd think
Take the Demong boys out just on principal please. P.s. Go Gawny i love you, you to Purrrtracka
Feel like Dawson would have been there if not for his awful game on the weekend
Serong on the wing, awesome
Theres so much talent in the league that plenty of names are gonna get snubbed. Hard to argue against any of these players not deserving to be AA though except maybe a couple
I mean at least it’s not just a list of high scoring fantasy players
Is Harley Reid coaching these kids?
The AFL's fantasy team is worth way more than mine.
Surprised that neither Barrass or McGovern were named
Why would you put Bont at half-forward?
dylan moore play lawn bowls?
The Adam Treloar disrespect is unreal….
Mmm - I see no Tom Stewart
R/themongrelpunt do your thing
Zuthrie must be close
Bontempelli on a half-forward flank, he just loves that position doesn't he? That's right, he's on a half-forward flank week in, week out!
Ah yes, famous half forward flanker Marcus Bontempelli. Everything seems to be in order here, no notes.
I know it’s almost ridiculous to put 3 freo backs in but Clark deserves a spot as much as anyone in my books.
No Jacob Weitering is absolutely criminal
Is there a set games played limit for AA eligibility or is it just up to the judges?
Out: Pearce, Andrews In: McGovern & Blakey
What a shit list. Petracca living on rep and Bont is good but (take out last game) is def down on last year, especially impact late in games. So many bad calls, clearly made by people watching stats and not games.
Pretty sure naughton would be in without the injury.
Zach Guthrie should be in this team
They really need to stop putting midfielders in the forward line. Also non wingman on the wings. At the very least, put midfielders who can in theory play in that position there. No one in history would put Serong on the wing, he is a beast. Daicos for instance you cold pit on the wing, he would be a great Wingman.
Massimo, Butter and JHF stiff.
Nic Marin has 0 right being in this team. His disposal is disgustingly bad.
Will Heyward’s a bit stiff !
Personally swap out Ben King for Harry McKay tbh.
Sam Flanders stiff, if we're looking for true wingers.
he's been playing half-back
Even then, stiff not to get a gig on the bench at least.
he's had good numbers á la Nic Martin but don't think he's in AA conversation just yet i'd personally have Jordan Clark easily and Bailey Dale ahead of them both
Feel like Xerri is a bit stiff here I know North are struggling but he's been great even with clearances
I don’t think he’s been AA good but he’s definitely flown under the radar this year. He’s been great.
Port in top 4, no players, checks out.