Has Setants retired for some health reasons or was that a load of s%#t. I'm sure i read it somewhere

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The climbing has alread began

Setanta is still on the list. That's about all the news related to him.

There's no news of his post season op in Germany; has he? hasn't he'? will he? wont he?

I look forward to a fit and healthy Setanta in 2009 to bolster our talls in defense, and provide some versatlity when required further up the ground, let alone depth.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

My two bob's worth:

B: Thornton, Jamison, Scotland
HB: Bower, O'Hailpin, Walker
C: Waite, Murphy, Stevens
HF:Russell, Kruezer, Gibbs
F:Houlihan, Fevola, Betts
Foll: Warnock, Judd, Grigg
Int: Cloke, Hadley, Simpson, Browne

A fair side capable of beating most teams, at last!

That leaves Wiggins, Fisher, Bentick, Carrazzo, Armfield, Anderson, Hampson and a few other promising youngsters in the Ants, a good mix of youth and experience and assumes that our first rounder will take some time.

Too tall in defence!

Both Hawthorn and Geelong initiated most of their attack from defence. Neither side has Gorilla's or too many large defenders. They are also all able to run the ball out and be attacking.

I have issues with Thornton and Setanta in these roles, although handy they do not HURT the opposition.

For me Bower can take any tall (did great jobs on Franklin & Cloke last year) along with Austin/Thornton. Jamo can play tall or small.
Walker can also assist and would be a good match up for Riewoldt types. Bannister can shut down similar types like Cornes.

The rest should be attacking runners who can use the ball and run off the opposition forwards.

Guys like Anderson, Browne, Armfield, Scotland, Hadley, Russell, Gibbs (in a Hodge type role), Grigg, Simpson can all fight for those spots!

O'Hailpin and Bower are both quick and agile, Jamison and Thornton both cool heads with top disposal skills which are vital coming out of the back half.
Scotland is tough and hard, gives plenty of run and also has excellent foot and hand skills, Walker is very quick with great defensive and offensive skills.
It's horses for courses of course and the side will change depending on match ups but I see O'Hailpin as by far our best prospect at CHB.
That's if he's still with us of course.
I don't think Austin's good enough, but that's another story.

just a thought for 09,

browne jamison bower
walker austin anderson
waite gibbs simpson
stevens hartlett hadley
betts fevola kreuzer

warnock judd murphy

grigg hampson armfield [hurley/zibell/vickery/sidebottom]

hope hartlett can cement a spot and provide an option up forward as he has good height, if not then maybe cloke comes in.
went with stevens and hadley across the flanks as both have fantastic foot skills.
warnock and hampson to share the ruck duties with kreuzer to ruck up and play forward.
grigg as a stopage player [ling/cornes type].
austin is going to be a great defender so get him in and if he needs a hand there is plenty of support for him.
walker in defence for his height and speed.
browne and armfield to rotate with each other to play on the small forwards.
waite to float across the midfield to give us great options.
starting to look good for 09 and beyond for the blues.

Your back 6 has 150 games experience between them , and Walker has more than half of them.
Your bench has 46 games between the 4 of them.
Back to the 20 goal thumpings?

budsyblues,
ok lets play bannister,wiggins,o'hailpin,carrazzo and bentick should make all the difference right?

Yeah, good idea.

I'll be happy if o'hAlpin and Carrazzo are playing. That should imply they are fully fit and injury free; one 199cm mobile tall and a proven ball winner/ tagger.

It's hard to fit 'em all in, but we had that problem before the season until the reality of probable injuries hit us hard in the physical game they call Aussie Rules.

I guess the important thing when picking the team is to pick a squad of 25 like they do for Sunday games.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

B: Chris Johnson Michael Jamison Paul Bower
HB: Bret Thornton Jarrad Waite Heath Scotland
C: Kade Simpson Nick Stevens Bryce Gibbs
HF: Jordan Russell Cameron Cloke Ryan Houlihan
F: Eddie Betts Brendan Fevola Brad Fisher
R: Robbie Warnock Chris Judd Marc Murphy

I/C: Matthew Kreuzer Richard Hadley Andrew Walker Shaun Grigg

In: Chris Johnson and his left foot
Out: Andrew Carrazzo and his two left feet

grigg as starting rover??

what is it about him that makes you think he'd be better in that position than gibbs or stevens or walker??

i'm also a fan of grigg's, but just interested in why you rate him so highly.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

I think Grigg has the potential to be our stoppage king, apart from Judd of course.
He could also be a very good tagger, although I think Russell will eventually fill that role.
IMO Stevens, Walker, Gibbs and Simpson are better used running off rather than winning the ball in close.
We won't be winning a flag any time soon so the more time Grigg spends on the ball the better.

If you look at the side I nominated I only have O'Hailpin from that list of players you mentioned, no Bannister, Wiggins, Carrazzo or Bentick, no Fisher either but certainly not Hartlett until he shows much more than he has to date.
The side you suggest is far too inexperienced and would get smashed more often than not.
We'd be back to 2005.

hmmm, i was thinking grigg would be earmarked for more of a half back flank/wing role and rotate through the middle. he has a booming left foot kick and like you say has a good defensive game. also, doesn't have any standout weaknesses and can break the lines. i was thinking along the same line about gibbs. i think he could be our stoppage king and the more time he spends in the middle better. i think once gibbs gets his fitness up to where it needs to be for an elite midfielder and builds up his body he will be unstoppable in the middle. all in all, we're blessed to have 2 such wonderful players who we could use in the middle.

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Last edited by true_blue3 on Mon Sep 26, 1981 5:07 pm; edited 92 times in total

Which of those blokes takes the opposition's small forward?

Johnson doesn't squeeze out Carrazzo; he'd probably knock off Scotland's spot on the ground in your team.

Assuming we got Chris Johnson I think our side would look more like this:

FB: Carrazzo Jamison Thornton
HB: Bower Waite Johnson
C: Gibbs Murphy Scotland
HF: Simpson Kreuzer Houlihan
FF: Betts Fevola Walker
R: Warnock Judd Stevens
Int: Cloke Armfield Hadley Grigg

Emg: Bannister Browne Fisher

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

You're right in that I forgot to pick a small defender, but I'd have Johnson in the team because he's such a lovely kick and user of the ball.

The Hawks don't pick a genuine quick defender there just to hold a small forward.

Guerra and Ladson are smalls, but they are also selected as defenders because Hawthorn play their best kicks in their backline.

Armfield, Carrazzo or Anderson would burn it more than Johnson.

Chris Johnson would also take over the kick-ins to keep Synbad happy.

Browne would be my replacement for Hadley in a Ladson or Guerra role if he doesn't stand up next year.

Not much room for another small mid in Joseph if you have better kicks in Murphy, Betts, Stevens, Browne, Simpson, Scotland and potentially Hartlett or Yarran on your primary list.

And Carrazzo and Armfield.

We have far too many players who are 180 cms and 182 cms players as it stands.

We need more height and skill than Joseph, Pfeiffer and Blackwell provided.

Your dropping of Fisher is a poorer effort than forgetting to pick a back pocket.

Russell will play HFF/midfield as well.

I see Gibbs a little differently, but as with most things I could well be wrong.
He's an elite footballer for sure but I'm not certain his best value to us will be in the middle.
He has fantastic goal sense and his finishing skills are very good considering the games he's played, and I reckon he could be a goal kicking forward in the Jeff Farmer class but also provide better defensive pressure in our forward half than Farmer ever did.
Add Gibbs to Fevola, Betts and Russell and the ball will have more trouble leaving our forward half, now if we could only do something with Fisher!
With Judd, Murphy, Stevens, Simpson, Grigg and Hadley we are well served for midfielders especially when Gibbs, Russell, Betts, Walker, Scotland and Houlihan can all have a spell there as well, but to win games we need to kick goals, and I reckon Gibbs could kick stacks of them.

Chris Johnson is suddenly in our best 22 when he only got a game at Melbourne when they had injuries .
A couple of reasonable games in the last weeks of last season and he's a star !
He's not even on our list yet , and thats the way it should stay .

Exactly.. Grab him if he's cheap.
Play him in the Pre Season and Bullants and if a change of club turns him into a solid player. At the moment he's not in our best 22, no chance! hes Melbournes 23rd best player.
Hopefuly he can come good with a new coach and new mates and ill be wrapped.. And shocked.

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Better late than Cerra

Agree....he has been given the flick from the bottom team whose skill level is zero yet commands a place in our best 22 according to some.. ahead of a B and F winner who has hardly played a bad game in the past couple of seasons.
I'm all for looking at what other teams are doing right and how they distribute the ball from the backline etc ie Hawks with Ladson, Guerra, Birchall, Young etc but lets get some perspective on Johnson...apart from being a so called great kick etc can he actually mind a man, tackle and match it with A grade players?

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen