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11
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Thryleon -
Quote from: Lods – on
We're talking about the opening round.
And it's clear we do have options.
The question is, will Dean play from the get-go or will the Key backs be a Weitering/ Young or Weitering /Haynes combination.

I suspect Dean will be in the side but on the bench.

I still have hopes for Lewis Young in 2026
And while he may not be a long term prospect...
He's very much a confidence player.
He played the best quarter of football of any Carlton player I saw in the VFL last year before he was injured.
He's proven in the past he can handle the position.
He was in everybody's best 23 a few years back.
It will be interesting to see if he's in the side for the opening round.

I see it a bit differently to most.   If we are selecting for horses for course, I think we will select a spine based on strategies.  It makes picking our side for opening round difficult, as exposed form vs our opponents, will also be a variable, and ordinarily it wont happen until round 4 where you get an idea of whats going on. 

When building our team, I list the spine then fill in the gaps.

So:

BP ---------- Weitering-------------BP
HBF----------Young/Dean/HOF------HBF
C--------------C---------------------C
HF------------Skull/Kemp---------HF
FP-------------Mckay------------FP
Fol:----Pittonet/Rieddy--------X----------X

Int:  P-----P-----P-----P----P


Its possible that once you select your first choices, that the players not selected in the spine roles, will get selected elsewhere.  i.e.  Kemp, Dean, Haynes might get a game at the key roles, or in the peripheral roles based on what we think our opponent is doing or the rest of the team balance.  
12
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: LP – on
We can only speculate based on the tactics of the past, but that weas a list with a very different structure.

Most of our list have AFL capabilities, they might not be the capabilities that fans want but whether they succeed or not tends to be more about how the MC and Coach put them to use and not so much about the opinions of fans.

Yep
That's very true.
Hayward, Ainsworth and Florent may not be superstars but they have more AFL game experience than most of our side.
They've been good enough to play 150 games+ at the highest level.

We don't need two AA level backs forward and back.
It'd be nice, but few sides have that luxury.
And Brisbane have proved this last year you don't need it to win flags.

If one of our elite goes down we get the "We'll be screwed" notion.
The fact is others will step up and fill the void, so it's never a total loss of the key player....it's always only ever the difference that can't be made up.
And that's never as great as some may think.
13
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by LP -
We can only speculate based on the tactics of the past, but that weas a list with a very different structure.

Most of our list have AFL capabilities, they might not be the capabilities that fans want but whether they succeed or not tends to be more about how the MC and Coach put them to use and not so much about the opinions of fans.
14
The Sports Desk / Re: God help me - the Test Cricket thread
Last post by LP -
Doesn't it change things when you give a bit of new blood an opportunity?

For too long in regard to squads, the ECB, BCCI and CA have behaved like defenders of a cartel, not selection panels.

We keep getting told there is nobody, no other options, already it's the best available, until the opportunity arrives!
15
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Lods -
We're talking about the opening round.
And it's clear we do have options.
The question is, will Dean play from the get-go or will the Key backs be a Weitering/ Young or Weitering /Haynes combination.

I suspect Dean will be in the side but on the bench.

I still have hopes for Lewis Young in 2026
And while he may not be a long term prospect...
He's very much a confidence player.
He played the best quarter of football of any Carlton player I saw in the VFL last year before he was injured.
He's proven in the past he can handle the position.
He was in everybody's best 23 a few years back.
It will be interesting to see if he's in the side for the opening round.
16
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by kruddler -
Quote from: Lods – on
Quote from: kruddler – on


Weitering is a no brainer.
Haynes is the next best.
How do you fit both young and dean in the backline as well....and everyone needs to stop with the haynes on the wing nonsense, its not a legitimate position change.
....and there is always a potential for mcgovern as well.

To me, young just cant get in ahead of dean for any length lf time.

It's a shame we don't have tall depth in the backline. :D

We have Weitering.
We have a guy that will retire at the end of the year
We have a guy who hasn't played a game.
We have a guy who has played 6 games and done his knee
We have a guy who was told to look elsewhere, but is still around.

We haven't had this many options for a while, but its hardly what you would call solid depth.

With a bit of luck Dean and HOF turn out as good as we all want and Weitering plays on for another 7 years.
Anything short of that we still need to give ourselves options.
17
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Milhanna13 -
Quote from: shawny – on
Quote from: Milhanna13 – on
Newy        Weeters     Cowan
Saad         Haynes      Dean
Cotters     Crippa      Acres
Ainsworth   Gov        Zac
Hayward      H          Mots
Pitto          Hewitt     Walsh
int : Cerra   OHollands  Jagga  Florent
emerg:  Kemp   Moir  O'Keeffe  Lord

inj :  OFarrel

depth :  Evans, Caroll, Chesser, Fogarty, Campox2,  Young(F&L), EHollands(?), Charleston, Wilson, Boyd, Reidy, Ison,


Handy bench

excited by the 15 depth plus 4 emerg that you could legitimately (?) say could play decent AFL footy.   of course, injuries could make a mess of that!!!
18
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: deepbluesee – on
The one pick I am seeing that surprises me from most posts is Saad. While I have loved his endeavour and his output I was thinking 2025 may have been his final year - seemed he didn't finish that strongly and may have gone out on a 'high'. Glad he stayed on for 2026 but I question him being an auto pick each week. Seems most posts here put him in the starting team for round 1 (or is that zero). I'm putting Newman and Cowan ahead of him at this stage. Then there is O Hollands and Florent.
Fingers crossed for a big 2026 for Saad - the team is def stronger when he is moving the ball quickly out of defence.

I think it's a bit of a wait and see with Saad
Was his contribution last year affected by injury, or was it more a case of age catching up with him.
At or near his best he's definitely worth a spot.
19
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by Lods -
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: Lods – on
It wouldn't surprise to see L Young playing first up.
They may use Dean off the bench in the early stages, but I think he'll be somewhere in the Round 1 side.

Weitering is a no brainer.
Haynes is the next best.
How do you fit both young and dean in the backline as well....and everyone needs to stop with the haynes on the wing nonsense, its not a legitimate position change.
....and there is always a potential for mcgovern as well.

To me, young just cant get in ahead of dean for any length lf time.

It's a shame we don't have tall depth in the backline. :D
20
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: Name your team for Opening Round
Last post by deepbluesee -
The one pick I am seeing that surprises me from most posts is Saad. While I have loved his endeavour and his output I was thinking 2025 may have been his final year - seemed he didn't finish that strongly and may have gone out on a 'high'. Glad he stayed on for 2026 but I question him being an auto pick each week. Seems most posts here put him in the starting team for round 1 (or is that zero). I'm putting Newman and Cowan ahead of him at this stage. Then there is O Hollands and Florent.
Fingers crossed for a big 2026 for Saad - the team is def stronger when he is moving the ball quickly out of defence.