Carlton Supporters Club

Problem with Lewis Young is you don't know what version you'll get from him. His form from a couple years ago was brilliant. His form since then has been largely terrible.
Picking him might give you cover for an injury if he is playing well.
Picking him might also lose you the game with the amount of goals he leaks if he is not playing well.

Marchbank is more consistent, but there isn't always a matchup for him.

Problem with Lewis Young is you don't know what version you'll get from him. His form from a couple years ago was brilliant. His form since then has been largely terrible.
Picking him might give you cover for an injury if he is playing well.
Picking him might also lose you the game with the amount of goals he leaks if he is not playing well.

Marchbank is more consistent, but there isn't always a matchup for him.

cowan was another who had quite a few moments that cost big time.  He's probably one who could go out without a match up. 

Weitering and TDK are in doubt for this week.

"Small defenders are scarce." Don't agree, largely for reasons that you identify in the remainder of your post.
"Docherty is out." True
"Williams is now a forward." Yes, but if we need a small defender more than his current role he can slot back in.
"Cincotta is a tagger now."  Ditto Williams comment.
"We have Boyd and Saad who are more of the blokes you want going up the field disposing. Then you have newman and cowan playing more of a lockdown role." So there's 4 small defenders just there, plus Williams and Cincotta.
"Looking through the rest of the list, and that's about it. Cupboard is bare behind them."  Pretty true, though Billy Wilson looks a likely prospect not quite ready yet, ditto Lord although he is more a mid I could see his determination and defensive nous translating into defence as long as he isn't matched up on someone with pace as he isn't quick.  There's also a few more players who are more naturally suited to other parts of the ground who can be pressganged into service if need be.
Even if you mean quality small defenders are scarce I would disagree.  Saad and Newman are clearly quality.  I am a big fan of Boyd, we should be using his lovely kicking more.  Cincotta was doing a great job as a lockdown defender before getting shifted on-ball.   Williams has shown in the past he can be a weapon of half back, albeit he was badly out of form before being moved forward.  I am a rap for Cowan though he is still young and has some rough edges.  It's not the 1981 brigade (Hunter, Klomp both reigning All-Australians, Doull,, English, and Austin, with G Whitnall in reserve and Harmes and McConville available to shift into defence if needed - the talls being reigning All-Australian Geoff Southby, Woof Perovic, and Tatts Bortolotto with Scott Howell slotting in as a late replacement for Southby in the GF to stand Peter Moore quite effectively and Swan McKay able to swing back if needed.  Any wonder we were in the middle of 3 flags in 4 years?)

@ianh,

Part of my post which i didn't really include (that i was using to make my arguments) was everyones age.

That is....
The 4 oldest players on are list are...
Newman - 31y5m
Docherty - 30y8m
Saad - 29y11m
Williams - 29y9m

so in a couple years, they may all be gone.
Then we would be left with the following players who will all be 2 years older than their listed age here....
Cincotta - 27y6m
Boyd - 25y9m
Cowan - 19y7m
...and even if you include Billy Wilson - 19y you can see what i'm talking about.

Remove the top 4 from our 'best 22' and suddenly we are in all sorts
We need to ensure we have a couple lockdown players available to go in a couple years time. Cincotta will be 29-30 by then, so its not really a viable option long term either.