old55

Less than "obvious" to me.

OK, any takers to raise the degree of difficulty and do a draft version? @Axis of Bob @TeamPlayedFine39 @Dee Zephyr @Go the Biff @Little Goffy @Greendale @Roger Mellie

It's not rigorous! It's all about midfield dominance. I picked my must have super-stars: Dusty, Fyfe, Danger, Bont, Cripps - that filled my midfield, so I couldn't pick any more mids. And Buddy was a bit of a sentimental pick - he might be passed it. Then I looked at the teams I think have lists with few stars because I needed to find someone there: GC, Adelaide, Port, Essendon, Hawthorn, North, Saints. So select non-mids there from shortlists of their top players. I figured I could then fill the holes from WC, GWS, Brisbane, Collingwood and MFC because there's plenty of talent. Finally. No I don't really rate ruckwork, but I do rate around the ground marking. Grundy and Gawn are the two best but Witts is fine and it's hard to find another GC player. And IMO Oliver is our best player.

Have a go ... B N.Jetta Hurley Jonas HB Laird D.Moore Hurn C I.Smith Fyfe J.Kelly HF D.Martin Franklin Bontempelli F C.Cameron B.Brown Billings R Witts P.Cripps Dangerfield

17 Bennell ?

I believe the AFL assigned experienced non-WA umpires to WC home games a few years ago to stem the clear bias the crowd "BOO!" was causing and their free advantage has moderated. GWS deliberately played pretty unsociable football this year so it's no surprise their differential was up. Beveredge was bleating about it after this year's final. Unsurprisingly he made no comments when the Dogs threw the ball all 2016 and got the greatest armchair ride in that year's GF. Having said all that, AFL football is extremely difficult to umpire and the abuse umpires get is a total disgrace. Grand Final umpires are booed when they are announced on gameday!

Apparently training with defence. Nev's protege?

HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Mark Hutchings F: Oscar Allen, Josh Kennedy, Liam Ryan Foll: Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Tim Kelly I/C: Dom Sheed, Tom Hickey, Jack Petruccelle, Will Schofield And on Oscar Allen and Naitanui/Hickey when they're forward?

There's a hell of a lot more load on the Captain these days than in the past and sharing that load has merit. Captain is not just about internal football leadership, there are big media and sponsorship commitments too.

I think McGowan has done a pretty good job there. I'd prefer Petty to OMac but Petty is training with the forwards. I'd have AVB and Hannan for Hunt and ANB on the bench but they need to get fit to play. There's an opportunity at small forward and someone has to grab it and it could well be Pickett.

He's not materially that different from your traded love child.

Gysberts cops plenty for that pic because of the relatively light weight but it does depend on how many sets and reps he's done.

Yes I do think he's not AFL standard and like @Stretch Johnson said that's not a crime. ANB doesn't run in a straight line at the ball, he is the master of the second tackler in, and fails to convert straightforward goal scoring opportunities. I'm not vilifying him with this description, AFL football is very hard, and I would be far, far worse in all those areas myself. The fact that he gets selected on a regular basis is a reflection of shortcomings in our list that will hopefully be overcome from 2020 forward.

Oh boy, I can buy a Castagna vs ANB comparison, but I think Castagna is a superior player. ANB is not even in the same postcode as Kane Lambert who is a terrific player https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/why-richmond-star-kane-lambert-is-at-centre-of-underrated-debate-between-jason-dunstall-and-mark-robinson/news-story/1fa45505dcd24f5fbaab498f986c266d "Lambert finished second in last year’s Jack Dyer Medal and earned a spot in the All-Australian squad, after finishing third in the best and fairest in Richmond’s premiership winning 2017 campaign."

Castagna is the Richmond whipping boy but I agree he's a better player than ANB, for a start he has genuine pace which makes a huge difference in that role.

Dogs are right in the flag frame for the next 5 years. They've got a great young list and the only important player that will retire soonish is Easton Wood and he's not vital to success. They have an awesome young midfield group, match winning star power in Bont and have covered their deficiencies with Keath and Bruce.

This is a more talented group of players, all coming through together than we've had in any of the previous unsuccessful periods. We don't have any critical players near retirement, Jetta is important but he should have at least 2 good years so there's time to grow or import a replacement. We've got a contested and attacking style that is designed to win finals - I think our good sides in the past haven't played a Grand Final winning style - e.g. too soft in 2000, not attacking enough in 1988. It's true that some sides who have an era don't win the flag e.g. St.Kilda 2009-10, the Crows 2005-6, maybe the Dogs 1997-99, but generally very good teams that contend for an extended period win somewhere. Currently Richmond have at least a couple more years in the frame. GWS should win multiple flags in the next 5 years - if they don't they'll join the 3 teams above. The other teams placed similarly to us are the Dogs and Brisbane. We'll have to beat at least 3 of that set to win a flag in the next 5-8 years. If everything goes right next year to the same degree it went wrong this year then we can win it in 2020.

I'm confident we'll win at least one flag in the next 10 years. Multiple flags is more likely than none IMO.

Russell Robertson is one big example.

No Dusty = no flag is a gross over simplification but he is their match winner and I think they struggle to make top 4 without him and from there it gets much harder. Richmond can run ahead of the ball with confidence because of their incredibly cohesive back 6, proven even without Rance and because they use the ball so effectively going forward. No-one who plays an inside game can touch Dusty in this, the only recent example is G.Ablett jnr, and that has been the cornerstone of Richmond's attacking style. He is ably assisted by Edwards, Lambert and Cotchin. I do think that replace Dusty with Dangerfield or Fyfe and they still win. It's not completely clear if the reverse is true for Geelong and it's obviously not true for Freo.

You are correct however there's still SFA in it.

I'll just remind you that you're comparing him with Collingwood's main KPF. Two can play the selective stat game, Brown wins: Tackles inside I50: 0.8 v 0.6 - I believe this was one of your nominated KPIs? Contested possession: 5.0 v 4.9 1%: 2.9 v 1.8

There's one main reason Richmond have won those 2 flags - Dusty. No Dusty = no flags.

His stats stack up OK with Brody Mihocek who is the KPF at a Premiership contender https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=12&pid1=3121&fid1=P&fopt1=2018&playerStatus2=A&tid2=5&pid2=6553&fid2=P&fopt2=2018&type=A

Interesting to see Norf trade away this year's 1st rounder when they have that mature age profile. I don't expect them to challenge for the flag any time soon. Wonder what they are thinking? Geelong are staring at the mother of all rebuilds. They have 3 2020 Ist rounders. Hawthorn betting the farm on Clarkson and their foreign legion of traded in players. Collingwood running out of flag runway too. Brisbane and the Dogs look well placed for an assault on the summit.