players that are critical to your club

[sydney-dog]

Members

I've selected three players from each club which I believe are critical to there clubs 2007 chances

Adelaide
Johncock - If the crows can release him to the midfield this will give the side an attacking midfield option
Maric - Obviously needs to stand up in Bigland's and Clarke's absence
Meesen - Highly rated Junior, Third pre-season, mature body, might be worth a try up forward

Lions
J Brown - showed last year on one leg he could destroy sides, fully fit will be scarey
Brennan - shows flashes of brillance, needs to stay fit and hopefully consistency will follow
Charmers - can't remember the last time the lions have had a fully fit ruckman for the season

Carlton
Walker - #2 pick in 2003, needs to step up and live up to his draft ranking
Murphy - class kid, in his second year has the ability to step up to the plate from rnd 1
Waite - shows plenty of promise but needs to stay fit and provide Carlton a second option in attack

Collingwood
T Cloke - best out of the Cloke brothers, can play both ends and in the ruck
Russling - needs to step up and replace Tarrant
Thomas - great first year but the Pies will need his pace through the midfield

Essendon
Llyod, the bombers showed last year how much they rely on this one player
Kepler Bradley - drafted 6 in 2003, needs to demand a regulkar spot in the side
Courtney Johns, bombers have showed plenty of faith in the kid, keen to see what he can do fully fit

Fremantle
Hasleby - has struggled for fitness but fully fit is a ball magnet
Tarrant - was drafted to deliver a premiership
Longmuir - is starting to mature and will be dangerous against the 3rd defender

Geelong
N Ablett - Cats desperately need a tall to stand up and kick 40-50 goals
Harley - Injured for most of 2006, but will need to show strong leadership
King - has not had a full year for 4-5 seasons, fully fit, minus captain responsibilities, could capture best form

Hawks
Campbell - No Spida, Bailey gone for the year, Campbell will lead the ruck
Roughead - May need to go down back as the Hawks are thin down back
Franklin - showed flashes of brillance, attitude is the only concern

Kanga's
Wells - consistent 2006 but needs to step up to the elite bracket, is the class player on the Kanga's list
Hay - key to the Kanga's backline, experience and size to take strong body forwards, confidence is the issue
Edwards - 100 plus goals in the VFL, could prove to be the ideal foil for Thompson

Melb
Bizzel - poor 2006, Demons desperately searching for tall defenders
Dunn - showed some solid form in 2006, plenty of improvement left in this player
Miller - took 14 marks against Freo in the finals, needs to make CHF his own

Power
Motlop - poor 2006, handed Wanga's #4 jumper, lets hope he rewards the clubs faith
Chaplin and Carlile - Power bit thin n tall defenders, both these boys need to step up

Tigers
N Brown - fully fit, is the tigers class player on the list
Polak - drafted to fill void at CHB, must take the biggest forward
Tambling - highly rated junior who has not fired a shot

Saints
Hamill - bad run with injuries, is the saints spiritual leader
Kosi - needs to find his home at CHB in the absence of Goose
M Clarke - may take the saints some time to get used to playing with a ruckman

Swans
Everitt - swans love stoppages, Spida is ideal for there style of play
Richards - showed in the GF that he is the tall defender the club has been screaming for
Grundy - hard to fit in to a star forward line but may give this attack another dimension

Eagles
Priddis - won the WAFL Medal by a record amount in 2006, another quality player to add to the best midfield in the comp
Hurn - quality junior with mature body and a raking kick, may free Hunter up to play forward
LeCras - had a quality game against the tigers in rnd 22 (5 goals), Eagles forward line has plenty of room for improvement

Bulldogs
Darcy - if fit, up forward, will be hard to stop in the goal square
Cooney, #1 draft pick, needs to improve fitness and work ethic and deliver on his #1 ranking
McDougall - can play either end or in the ruck, which is critical given the dogs run with injuries last year (Talls)

[Rushby Hinds]

Bulldogs
Darcy - if fit, up forward, will be hard to stop in the goal square
Cooney, #1 draft pick, needs to improve fitness and work ethic and deliver on his #1 ranking
McDougall - can play either end or in the ruck, which is critical given the dogs run with injuries last year (Talls)


Cooney is really really struggling with OP at the moment, has lost tons of weight and condition off his legs.

Will have a lousy year, when/if gets on the park.

[Rik E Boy]

Good call on the Cat three syd. We also need Mooney to have a decent year as well as he is so adaptable. NAblett is about ready as was shown in the VFL finals last year, his marking is a treat and he can kick straight too. With Mooney we need his agression chanelled at the ball and not at doing stupid things to the opposition who might have gotten the better of him in a particular contest. Harley is a very reliable player who if he can stay on the park will provide great leadership for Geelong. As for King, having the captaincy removed from his shoulders will be of benefit for the big man but fitness is always the problem for the big Cat.

regards,

REB

[sydney-dog]

REB

I made the assumption that Mooney would have a pretty good year, so I tried to focus on players who may of missed the majority of last season through injury, players that may play a different role, players coming through that had the ability to go to another level or new recruits

[Rik E Boy]

Pretty big assumption there syd. Who knows what that clown will do on the football field? One thing I've learnt about the Geelong football club is this..never assume anything! Except, 'we won't the flag' that one seems to come true a lot DOH.

regards,

REB

[am Bays]

Chris Mcdermott is critical of our our club.....

oops sorry mis-read the statement critical TO [our] club.......

[Dutchy]

Kanga's
Wells - consistent 2006 but needs to step up to the elite bracket, is the class player on the Kanga's list Agree, really think this will be his year and will have benefited the most out of the hard long pre-season to improve his engine, looking for a big year and break into the Top 30 players in the comp

Hay - key to the Kanga's backline, experience and size to take strong body forwards, confidence is the issue
Im hoping not expecting him to be good this year, I would try him early but would not persist with him with plenty of options including, Brown, Watt, Petrie, and even Gumbie for the defensive half
Edwards - 100 plus goals in the VFL, could prove to be the ideal foil for Thompson
Yes also the Liston medal winner should be a great pick up, he could easily be the recruit of the season or the dud of the season, kicking 100 goals at 6 foot in any comp is a fair effort so if he could convert that to 40 goals in the AFL Ill be rapt...

Im expecting this to be a sound year, not challenging for the spoon with Carlton, but at times to be yapping at the bottom end of the 8, not a huge laidley fan but seems like he has changed a lot of things down there in the off season so hope he can get the boys up for '07...plus playing Port in the first round is a good leg up!!!!...although our draw is terrible

[our_longreach]

Crows
riccutio: we are useless without him
welch: critical that he is delisted from the club

[Booney]

Not too shabby on the Power boys either Syd.

Motlop needs to kick 35-40+ goals,has the ability,does he have the mind/body to do so?

Pearce will have taggers all over him like Lara Bingle at a boys 18th Birthday party.Needs to,and,IMHO will stand up to being a top level mid fielder.

Carlisle,this one was right on the money Syd.With Wakelin set to retire at years end,Chaplin looking a yard slow to take the Reiwoldt's of the world,Carlisle and Pettigrew (who is noticably stronger) will need to step up quick fast.

[Dutchy]

Motlop needs to kick 35-40+ goals,has the ability,does he have the mind/body to do so?

No...will be a good recruit for North next season

[Blue Boy]

Members

I've selected three players from each club which I believe are critical to there clubs 2007 chances

Adelaide
Johncock - If the crows can release him to the midfield this will give the side an attacking midfield option
Maric - Obviously needs to stand up in Bigland's and Clarke's absence
Meesen - Highly rated Junior, Third pre-season, mature body, might be worth a try up forward

Syd

I rekon I would @ least sneak the Roo in to that 3. We need him fully fit and playing the whole season. He will be critical to our forward line structure and im sure he will be used as a bit of a pinch hit in the middle occassionaly.

[mighty_tiger_79]

i used to think it was when LING had a good game the cats went well, I then changed that to CHAPMAN, but i personally think that when Joel Corey has a good game in the midfield we generally play well.

[Blue Boy]

After some more thought on this Ive also added the Birdman to my top 3 important players for 2007.

He also needs to be on the park as much as possible and not be injured or suspended.

I think the best way to sum up Burton is that he has the freakish ability to bamboozle every one including himself sometimes. His ability up forward makes it hard for teams to match up on him and lets another player from the crows to probably step up and kick goals as sides can become Burton concious when he turns it on. Obviously also his arobic capacity also speaks for itself.

[Interceptor]

Crows
riccutio: we are useless without him
welch: critical that he is delisted from the club

Yes, Welsh is injury prone and has failed to deliver, but my number one pick for delisting/trade is Ian bloody Perrie.
The Crows' court jester has to get the chop.

[Blue Boy]

Crows
riccutio: we are useless without him
welch: critical that he is delisted from the club

Yes, Welsh is injury prone and has failed to deliver, but my number one pick for delisting/trade is Ian bloody Perrie.
The Crows' court jester has to get the chop.

Perrie goes alright - before he got injured was rating pretty high amongst the other leagues CHF's last year. He came back to soon last year and he may pay the price for it this year.

[Rik E Boy]

Not too shabby on the Power boys either Syd.

Motlop needs to kick 35-40+ goals,has the ability,does he have the mind/body to do so?

Pearce will have taggers all over him like Lara Bingle at a boys 18th Birthday party.Needs to,and,IMHO will stand up to being a top level mid fielder.

Carlisle,this one was right on the money Syd.With Wakelin set to retire at years end,Chaplin looking a yard slow to take the Reiwoldt's of the world,Carlisle and Pettigrew (who is noticably stronger) will need to step up quick fast.

Motlop?? What a blouse! Pearce. What a gun!

regards,

REB

[Rik E Boy]

Crows
riccutio: we are useless without him
welch: critical that he is delisted from the club

Yes, Welsh is injury prone and has failed to deliver, but my number one pick for delisting/trade is Ian bloody Perrie.
The Crows' court jester has to get the chop.

Perrie goes alright - before he got injured was rating pretty high amongst the other leagues CHF's last year. He came back to soon last year and he may pay the price for it this year.

Perrie is shit plain and simple. His habit of digging his knee into his opponents back (just ask James Kelly in the NAB final) caused him to get hurt and I for one say suck shit.

regards

REB

[Wedgie]

Perrie's crap, get no argument from me.
Christ, did I cop some stick from fellow North supporters last year for suggesting that.

[Blue Boy]

Crows
riccutio: we are useless without him
welch: critical that he is delisted from the club

Yes, Welsh is injury prone and has failed to deliver, but my number one pick for delisting/trade is Ian bloody Perrie.
The Crows' court jester has to get the chop.

Perrie goes alright - before he got injured was rating pretty high amongst the other leagues CHF's last year. He came back to soon last year and he may pay the price for it this year.

Perrie is shit plain and simple. His habit of digging his knee into his opponents back (just ask James Kelly in the NAB final) caused him to get hurt and I for one say suck shit.

regards

REB

Are you talkin about Perrie hurtin his knee - if so Im pretty sure he hurt it against Fremantle round 4 !!!

[Rik E Boy]

Yep, Perrie hurt his knee against Freo as you said..check out the replay with the knee dug right into the opposition player's back, just as he did when he dislocated Kelly's shoulder blades during the NAB cup. To me this is either poor technique or a dog act. Normally I don't revel in the injury to footballers but I can't say I felt too sorry for Perrie that day. Of course putting the knee into the back is nothing knew but to me Perrie's method was exaggerated, you don't see to many players copping knee injuries on the leading knee when flying for a mark.

regards,

REB