All-Australian Squad

[John Crow Batty 8,879]

Clarrie is being punished for his tweets. 

[P-man 13,366]

Oliver has to be one of if not the worst ever omission from a squad. The second ranked player in the league for contested possessions. Farcical.

But it's Melbourne so you can never bank a player for AA selection.

[What 18,810]

No Oliver.....

Wow.   The whole AA team is now meaningless.

[Deeoldfart 8,065]

The non-selection of Clarrie in the squad shows the selectors up as fools. They will have to scrub the yoke of their collective faces when he polls top 10 in the Charlie and wins his first Bluey.

[Ash35 425]

Certainly Oliver should be in the squad. Very similar to Zach Merrett missing last years squad. It's as if the selectors want these young guys to back it up a couple of seasons in a row to earn their spot. Which is dumb, the team should be picked on that seasons performances, nothing else.

Garlett lucky, Bont lucky, Seb Ross perhaps lucky.

I'd replace those 3 with Oliver, Fantasia and Cotchin.

Awesome to see Hibbo in there.

[jnrmac 20,189]

4 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

Hibberd will make the 22. Not Jeffy or Nev.

Too many quality midfielders to fit in Oliver. Plenty of years ahead for him to make it.

They said that about Yze

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Garlett in is just as baffling as Oliver not in.

[Wilson7 2,688]

Not surprised Oliver missed when i noticed they had a moronic [censored]  like Danny Frawley on the selection panel.

[Big Demon 197]

Congratulations to Hibbo, Jeffy and Nev. Well deserved.

[Redleg 41,461]

11 minutes ago, DavidNeitz9 said:

Not surprised Oliver missed when i noticed they had a moronic [censored]  like Danny Frawley on the selection panel.

That explains it. Clarrie once met Rod Butters at a footy function. 

[RalphiusMaximus 6,088]

I'll post this here rather than derailing the Hibberd thread.  He deserves the positive affirmation after an awesome season. 

The rest of the AA selection on the other hand... 

They've selected three tall defenders and three rebounding half backs.  That looks like a very top-heavy defence to me and they have nobody to stop players like Betts, Garlett and Fantasia who can tear a game open. 

They've put two players on the wings who don't play wing.  They say that apparently wing isn't a position any more and you can just put more mids in there. 

They've kept up with the tradition of naming extra mids in the forward line.  Three tall forwards, two midfielders and Eddie Betts. 

Gill made a big deal of saying that they were going to name a balanced side that could actually play games.  This side is about as far from balanced as you can get.  They don't have enough clearance players on the park, so even if Ryder wins the ruck, they will struggle to get the clearance.  They have two very good contested marks in the forward line, but only one genuine small forward to crumb off them.  They will be very reliant on Kennedy and Daniher taking marks.  The backline is top-heavy with Hurley, Rance and McGovern, while at the same time lacking a genuine small defender.  They should be able to use Rance as third man and intercept mark, but if the ball hits the ground they will struggle. 

Basically this is a side that would be capable of big scores against bad opposition but could well fall apart against decent sides. 

[beelzebub 23,383]

Rance ...capt

Fmd ....AA just became a joke

[Chook 15,022]

1 hour ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I'll post this here rather than derailing the Hibberd thread.  He deserves the positive affirmation after an awesome season. 

The rest of the AA selection on the other hand... 

They've selected three tall defenders and three rebounding half backs.  That looks like a very top-heavy defence to me and they have nobody to stop players like Betts, Garlett and Fantasia who can tear a game open. 

They've put two players on the wings who don't play wing.  They say that apparently wing isn't a position any more and you can just put more mids in there. 

They've kept up with the tradition of naming extra mids in the forward line.  Three tall forwards, two midfielders and Eddie Betts. 

Gill made a big deal of saying that they were going to name a balanced side that could actually play games.  This side is about as far from balanced as you can get.  They don't have enough clearance players on the park, so even if Ryder wins the ruck, they will struggle to get the clearance.  They have two very good contested marks in the forward line, but only one genuine small forward to crumb off them.  They will be very reliant on Kennedy and Daniher taking marks.  The backline is top-heavy with Hurley, Rance and McGovern, while at the same time lacking a genuine small defender.  They should be able to use Rance as third man and intercept mark, but if the ball hits the ground they will struggle. 

Basically this is a side that would be capable of big scores against bad opposition but could well fall apart against decent sides. 

Lucky they'll never play a game.

[Lucifers Hero 40,364]

5 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Rance ...capt

Fmd ....AA just became a joke

 

And what is with the school boy blazers.   Cameron Schwab  must be advising them!  They look hideous!

How they left out Sloane...but included Selwood.

And Rance being captain...

Clearly, they 'reward' the name not the performance.

#ditchtheblazer, better still #ditchtheAA 

 

Edit:  Daniher for Brown...?  Anything to keep the "$4m profit Ess" juggernaut in the limelight.

#ditchtheAFL

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Lucifer's Hero

[KingDingAling 3,758]

On 8/28/2017 at 11:38 AM, the rolling fog said:

I hope Max reflects on the fact that Kreuzer has been named in the squad 

I had Kreuzer in my supercoach this year. I watched him very closely. Hard to believe he wouldn't be AA number 1 ruckman. I also had Patrick Ryder in my team, and as good as he was - I wouldn't have him anywhere near Kreuzer.

I also didn't think there was a lot splitting Josh Kelly and Clayton Oliver this year. The fact Oliver didn't even make the squad of 40 is laughable, but not surprising. I don't really rate the judges. I would have had Oliver on the interchange. He definitely had a better year than Selwood and Bontempelli.

[spirit of norm smith 16,589]

Congratulations to Michael Hibberd. 

Definitely deserved his spot on AA team. Had a great year. 

[jane02 3,749]

7 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Rance ...capt

Fmd ....AA just became a joke

Agree 100% - Rance OMG.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Shiel and Selwood should not be in the team.

Again, I still can't believe Oliver didn't make the squad.

[Wiseblood 24,637]

Normally the selections aren't too bad, but they buggered up big time this year.  Some seriously baffling selections.

9 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I'll post this here rather than derailing the Hibberd thread.  He deserves the positive affirmation after an awesome season. 

The rest of the AA selection on the other hand... 

They've selected three tall defenders and three rebounding half backs.  That looks like a very top-heavy defence to me and they have nobody to stop players like Betts, Garlett and Fantasia who can tear a game open. 

They've put two players on the wings who don't play wing.  They say that apparently wing isn't a position any more and you can just put more mids in there. 

They've kept up with the tradition of naming extra mids in the forward line.  Three tall forwards, two midfielders and Eddie Betts. 

Gill made a big deal of saying that they were going to name a balanced side that could actually play games.  This side is about as far from balanced as you can get.  They don't have enough clearance players on the park, so even if Ryder wins the ruck, they will struggle to get the clearance.  They have two very good contested marks in the forward line, but only one genuine small forward to crumb off them.  They will be very reliant on Kennedy and Daniher taking marks.  The backline is top-heavy with Hurley, Rance and McGovern, while at the same time lacking a genuine small defender.  They should be able to use Rance as third man and intercept mark, but if the ball hits the ground they will struggle. 

Basically this is a side that would be capable of big scores against bad opposition but could well fall apart against decent sides. 

Couldn't agree more, Ralphy.  I know some will say that it's a team that will never play a game, but at the same time it needs to selected like a side that would.

Rance being captain makes me want to vomit.  There are 15 blokes in there you make captain before him.

[poita 3,902]

I don't really mind the team, at least you have defenders in defence, forwards in the forwards line. It's an improvement on a few years back when they named 16 midfielders.

Selwood is probably the glaring error, and I'm not sure that Betts had a great year, by his standards. I'd probably have Greene ahead of Betts, notwithstanding the games he missed.

Congratulations to Hibberd, although I thought Jetta might have got in as a lockdown small defender instead.

[Ash35 425]

On ‎31‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 6:21 AM, Lucifer's Hero said:

Daniher for Brown...? 

The selectors explained Danihers ability to play back up ruck contributed to his selection, and it was in fact Kennedy who kept Brown out, not Daniher.

The numbers show Joe deserved his spot over Brown.

Disposals - JD : 335, BB : 256

Marks - JD : 147, BB : 120

Hit Outs - JD : 77, BB : 35

Score Involvements - JD : 167, BB : 141

Scoring Shots - JD : 99 (62.37), BB : 93 (63.30)

Inside 50's - JD : 69, BB : 45

Meters Gained - JD : 7063, BB : 4239  

 

FWIW, I agree Selwood in particular was a bit lucky, perhaps picked on reputation rather than performances this season.

And as for Rance being captain, I have no idea what the criteria is for choosing the AA captain, but he was a baffling choice.