Fish and Akers are already proven players though

1. Cottrell: I thought he cemented his spot in the team last year and improved as the year progressed. He looked stronger before Xmas and He must have some belief he belongs. He has pace and stamina to burn and his disposal is good. Can take a forward mark and kick a goal. When he gets over his cautious recovery I expect he will play wing ahead of LOB and Hollands.

2. Motlop: he also cemented his spot once he debuted. He was a baby last year and was fearless with his tackling. Has completed his first full preseason so expecting to see a better version of Motlop in 2023.

3. I feel the HFF is Martins to lose. His body is precarious and injury will happen the way he throws his body in. Reckless but effective. I just don’t think he will stand up and club will manage him to play cameo in Finals. There’s an opportunity for a HFF. I liked what I saw of Henry in all the games he played in 2023. I didn’t think that during season but changed my view after I watched all games again.

4. To play Docherty in the midfield, and maybe 7th defender, we need to unearth a HB. I expect Boyd to relieve Newman or Plowman on small forwards but until he gets back from injury I wouldn’t be surprised to see the mature Cincotta earn a spot and hold onto it. I love his physical attack on man and ball, he breaks tackles and has speed. Most important he has elite disposal on both sides of the body

Kemp as 3rd tall was good last year. Wasn’t his fault he was last man standing and was undersized against opponents like Taberner and resting rucks. He is behind Gov, Marchy and S.Durdin is for the g
Big boys. 3rd tall? He’s behind TDK and Jack imo. I think Kemp will be a big bodied mid like Cripps and Kennedy…. Not this year.

We need Pitto and TDK to improve their ruck craft and hold marks in 2023. They will make the biggest difference to a team that oozes talent on every line, except ruck.

Fisher hasn't proven anything other than he isn't reliable and should be kicking more goals

I expect a lot from many. My Take

LOB will become a more competent player and go to next level. He has put on muscle and looks ready
Jesse Motlop to establish himself as a dangerous X factor small forward
Cerra to become an elite midfielder

There are more but that is my top 3

The Dow discussion has possibly been done to death, but the problem for him is he is a one trick pony; it’s inside midfield or bust. He is good enough to play AFL in that role, but not with us. I can’t see him going ahead of Cripps, Cerra, Hewitt or Kennedy - so he becomes simply injury backup. He would get a regular game for us if he could play another position (eg. wing) while rotating through the centre square. Unfortunately he always looks lost when in other positions. It’s such a shame because we all want him to succeed.

I don't see that as an issue being an injury back up, we still need depth.
Out of our starting inside mids you can pretty much bet we will lose 1-2 of them per year to injury so he will have a role.
However, based on last year he still needs to work on his defensive game and 2 way running first.

I feel there is a lot of depth in theory, but not much depth that right now I feel confident I can trust….
…..on paper I think we have about 16 or so genuinely good players, and then there is a stack of fringe depth, but not a lot of these guys have stepped it up, and I don't think we will become a real contender until a handful of these guys surprise and really emerge.
People always say it is about your bottom 4 or 5 players. The players ranked 18-22 in your 22. But really that group is about 15 deep.

Related to my earlier post, about our depth players lacking experience, this article and analysis would suggest while we might be a likely final 8 side this year, our chances of going all the way in 2023 might be slim, given our avg games played is well off the traditional average of premiership sides...

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the ... 5cke9.html

Very cryptic!

Related to my earlier post, about our depth players lacking experience, this article and analysis would suggest while we might be a likely final 8 side this year, our chances of going all the way in 2023 might be slim, given our avg games played is well off the traditional average of premiership sides...

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the ... 5cke9.html

Agree we need depth and he provides it. I guess my point is that there will need to be a series of unforeseen (and unfortunate) events for Dow to ‘surprise’ in 2023.

Sorry abns, I just don't think he'll have a set position all year. I think Hamill, Clarke and Hansen will all have Kemp in their huddle as line coaches throughout the season and Voss will move Brodie's magnet around a fair bit on that whiteboard. He's got a reasonably good footy IQ from what I understand, and was moved around as a junior so I don't have an issue with the utility approach.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't been this excited about a number 17 since Frida Lyngstad donned Rod Galt's XL back in March '77.

We may have more A Graders than we think.
Our spine is A Grade.
Our midfield group is A Grade
Our Defensive group is A Grade.

Injuries rob us, which implies depth is our achilles heal, perhaps experience with our bottom 6.

Related to my earlier post, about our depth players lacking experience, this article and analysis would suggest while we might be a likely final 8 side this year, our chances of going all the way in 2023 might be slim, given our avg games played is well off the traditional average of premiership sides...

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the ... 5cke9.html