He had a horrific last season with injuries and still strung some scores together. At his price he is hard to ignore. Loss of Clark only adds to his appeal. He is a champ and won't step out of the action for a developmental role I reckon. But you're picking him to be a keeper - so will he be in the top 10 forwards of the year?
Fingers crossed JB is a keeper. His body is still young enough and he is the natural target for every Lion up the ground. Retzlaff, Karnezis et al still have a lot of developing to do. He wil be double tagged but if the Lions delivery does improve JB will benefit. Having said that, watch him do his hammy in round 1!
The only question for me on JB is whether or not he will stay on the park. History suggests no, but if he can pull his head in just a little bit (pun intended) and play close to 22 games, then he will finish in the top 10 forwards without a doubt. I think he has done a full pre season for the first time in years and as Dekka said because he has missed so much footy his body is still 'young'. He is in my team at the moment.
For me JB score may depend on weather Voss plays Leue/Hudson combo resting up forward.NAB cup may give an indication.Other possible forwards for Lions in 2012 being x Hawk Jordan Lisle(95kg)played forward in trial,Patrick Karnezis who has put on 8kg(now 88kg)played 11games in 2011 for 17g10b.Hopefully JB will get more one on one contests in 2012.On a side note JB co owns a Gym in Bris which has recently installed a High Altitude room which i am sure he will spend time in throughout 2012.He is in my team at present but is a gamble.
AC for me. Will fill Ling's place in the Mid rotations at Geelong just fine and when he wasn't a sub last season did very well. J
Im a big fan of Christensen, especially after his grand final performnce. Really want him in my team, but I'm still not sure he wont get the green vest some games.
Shannon Brynes? Worth a look? Can get a decent score. Clearly only want him for a few rounds until I can upgrade him.
AC for me too, very impressive kid! I don't think, even with the retirements that byrnes is in they're best 22. Be careful, he may be in the round 1 side but dropped soon after.
Am I crazy in considering not picking Franklin? He's the lock that everybody has but he has a tough start to the season and will most likely drop about 100k by week 8. Last year Impromptu made a similar move with Goddard and it worked. Could one get away with not fielding Franklin?
Swert I've thought about not putting Buddy in. Then I realise that he generally does OK against Collingwood and Geelong and may not go down by that 100k. You could get away with that sort of move, but you'd need to find something to offset the fact that even a diminished Franklin will probably score more than any other forward in the comp.
One other thing about Franklin, we often see the scores of pure key forwards fluctuate. If Franklin is to spend more time in the midfield he may have fewer down days.
Agree whips, particulary on the back of what Clarko said during "On the couch" this week, he basically stated that they were using him through the middle to get involved in games where there may not be a lot of forward deliveries coming in or he himself might be having a quite game. Its the same rational behind using cyril off half back in games when he is quite. He also mentioned it would be better for the mids to not have Buddy down there all the time so they'd forced to look for the best option, rather than being so "Buddy-centric"
That is very true scottishboy - he is very prone to giving away frees while tackling, hopefully his training with the midfield group this summer has helped his technique improve...
I agree that Buddy could get more free kicks against through the midfield, but let's look at the overall. Realistically, he'd only go there for brief patches and on days where he was being negated up forward (as is possible for all key fwds.) One would think his positive output would outweigh the free kicks against. The net effect is to provide a period of scoring increase on a day when he might normally have a 'relative' shocker. Surely we're looking for changes which can have a positive impact on the year prior. IMO, a brief trip to the mids is highly unlikely to deliver negative output before he returns forward. So if the "only problem" is a few extra free kicks against, I don't see it as a problem at all.
I know to be sceptical about his injuries but not one mention of Rioli out of all these comments is amazing. It's a lot of fun cheering him on especially when he's in my team. I'm undecided whether to punt on him. Thinking Chappy perhaps a little more reliable at the same price. Anyone else going to risk Dids? Thinking its out of him or Porps for my team.
I'm currently tossing up between Boomer, Beams and Rioli. I see potential pros and cons for each of them.
Guys a query which i noted today and was wondering if anyone a) has found this problem and b) has found a viable way around it yet.... i was looking through my starting forwards and the forwards i would be looking at trading in to, all going to plan ill maybe have 1-2 spots remaining to be upgraded when the byes come around. All my starting forwards and forwards im looking at trading into all have the r12 and r13 byes. Pretty much leaving 2 donuts for both those weeks or something like that. Not ideal. Thoughts?
I have the same issue jk, at the moment the valid choices come from; Josh Kennedy WCE Giansiracusa/Higgins WB Harvey/Petrie/Adams NM Hurley/Crameri/Monfries Ess Dangerfield Ade Power GWS None great standouts, and if you pick them you're probably stuck with them for 1/2 the season. Atm I am leaning towards Power, only because he has less around to take points off him, but I am still waiting to be convinced on him too..