Hey Guys, it dawned on me recently that the most successful teams over the past few years have had a great deal of stability in their sides. They generally have a core defensive group and similarly the same group of players up front, week after week. These have generally remained fairly consistent. It has been the on-ballers who have been rotated throughout each game and from week to week.
I have been researching the last 6 years and particularly the Cats, who have been the most successful during this period. The key component that I have identified is that they have had a regular core of 4 Defenders, 4 Forwards and 2 Rucks. Naturally there has been the balance of the team filling the Wing/Centre, Flanks/Pockets and Interchange. If you do the sums, you would soon nut out that they have at least 12 in their rotation, which assumes that the 10 previously accounted for spend up to 80% of time on the ground. There have been a few exceptions, where one of their rucks get a rest on the pine and they use a forward (Sticks style) as the backup. Hawkins filled this role this year. They also have a number of players who can match up on tall and small opponents.
So, I ask these questions: How does our squad compare with the Cats? Do we have the 4, 4, 2 & 12? If so, are they as good? How deep do we bat? Now of course if you are as positive as me, you will say we pantsed them two out of the past three, with that couple of points loss this year. Finals of course are a different ball game.
The next issue is to sort our squad out and assuming all players are fit and available, who makes the cut. For the exercise, I left out all the Rookies. This is not to say that Zac and Ed won’t force their way in dependent on form and injuries. Very hard to leave the Irishman out particularly, but like the selectors, we need to pick a squad/team that fits the above criteria.
So, by numbers; this is the squad that I came up with. Some surprise omissions and inclusions, but once you have a go at this exercise, you will see how difficult it is now to fit them all in.
Initial Squad of 25: Walker, Russell, Murphy, Gibbs, Judd, Simpson, Kreuzer, Lucas, Warnock, Robinson, Yarran, Laidler, Bower, Betts, Hampson, Henderson, Armfield, Scotland, Waite, Thornton, Diugan, Garlett, Jamieson, Ellard, Joseph.
Apologies to the following: Watson, McLean, Collins, O’Keefe, McCarthy, Mitchell, McInnes, Davies, Curnow, Kerr, Casboult, Tuohy, White, Carrazzo, Carter, Bray.
4 Defenders: Jamieson, Henderson, Duigan, Laidler.
4 Forwards: Waite, Hampson, Thornton, Garlett.
2 Ruckmen: Warnock, Kreuzer.
12 Rotations: Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Simpson, Walker, Robinson, Betts, Yarran, Russell, Scotland, Ellard, Lucas.
Emergencies: Bower, Joseph, Armfield.
FB: Laidler......Jamieson......Duigan
HB: Yarran......Henderson....Russell
WC: Simpson.....Gibbs.........Robinson
HF: Walker.......Waite..........Thornton
FF: Garlett.......Hampson......Betts
RR: Warnock......Judd...........Murphy
INT: Kreuzer..Scotland..Ellard..Lucas
Emergencies: Bower, Joseph, Armfield.
I look forward to your feedback and of course squads/teams and the final result.
Have Fun!
