@ SKT & whips I honestly can't see any problem with selecting Gray, his improved scoring over the 2nd half of season 2011 actually coincided with an increase in midfield time and I expect to see him play there more often in future. Combine an increase in midfield time where he has the ability to win his own ball with the fact that he is capable of kicking a bag of goals should equate to more consistent high scores in future. As for Boak, his scores in 2011 weren't that bad considering he had a severely interrupted pre-season having his appendix removed - and as we all know, a player who can't get a good pre-season fitness base behind them will struggle to perform at their optimum through the marathon that is an AFL season!!!
So having a discussion on a player during the preseason is hype now!!! Fly, i reckon ill def be getting Gray again. He served me well last year and thanks to his slowish start will be cheap. Lets be honest there are no consistent forwards anyway so you can take a punt up there imo
Who do you think will be the six best midfielders in 2012? I reckon the best midfielders will be: Pendlebury Ablett Murphy Selwood Swan Rockliff
@BF Fair call on Boak and Gray esp. Boak. I still wonder if Gray is a bit injury prone but he can certainly turn in some good scores. @ SCSS The answer is: Swan, Pendles, Thomas, Ball, Beams and Wellingham. Well done, you got 2/6
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/126141/default.aspx Not too sure about the others but Dobosz is definately one to keep an eye on in the draft, soccer player most of his life he only switched to AFL about 2 years ago. Talent to burn...
Jack Steven - 2011 Ave - 78 from 20 games Last 14 games - Ave 86 50-79 - 4 times 80-99 - 7 times 100+ - 3 times
Jack Steven should be a solid player next year, I don't think he will average over 95 but he will be a solid contributer.
I'm thinking of getting Chris Masten from West Coast. Averaged 57.3 Will be priced at about $300,000 in 2012 Number 3 draft pick Finished with massive scores of 137 and 188. If he turns out to be a dud, I'll just trade him for a rookie. Any thoughts
Masten has in the past been a better DT than SC prospect because his disposal is worse than average. I do remember when people said that before about Swan and the magpie champ was able to turn it around. Still, I'd not consider Masten for SC this season. DT though, well in the frame. Oh, and in the finals Masten went 78-54-51 (not sure if sub in any of these games)
For those using end of 2011 scoring as a form reference for 2012 (and it seems a few are), below is the top 20 whose Round 15-24 averages showed the greatest uplift compared to their full season average. I hope this presents well enough to read. To qualify, must have played 8 games to Rd 14 and 6 games after that. Name - Team - 2011 Ave - Rd 15-24 Ave - % Uplift Tom Hawkins gee 70 90 29% Brad Ebert wce 64 78 23% Colin Garland mel 73 89 22% David Hale haw 75 89 19% Matthew Leuenb. brl 102 122 19% Heath Hocking ess 90 107 19% Dayne Beams col 101 119 18% Leon Davis col 99 115 17% Robbie Gray pta 90 105 16% Kurt Tippett ade 72 84 16% Scott McMahon kan 81 94 16% Liam Jones wbd 53 61 15% Jake MELKSHAM ess 62 72 15% Jack Ziebell kan 79 91 15% Rhyce Shaw syd 77 88 14% Patrick Ryder ess 91 104 14% Will Schofield wce 61 69 14% Adam Goodes syd 108 123 14% Travis Varcoe gee 72 82 13% Michael Hurley ess 84 95 13%
Good stuff whips. I traded into Ryder when Sandilands went down and was very happy with the SC results.
<blockquote>Quote from Jason on November 16, 2011, 18:56 SKT, how do you see Steven's role in 2012 shaping once Lenny Hayes returns to the midfield?</blockquote> Reckon he will stay in the midfield. Watters is dead keen on playing the kids where they will be playing for next 5+ years. His turn of form coincided with him moving into midfield last year.. I can see Montagna being the one pushed out for Lenny. He might play more off the half forward line. Will def be risky pick, but if he performs preseason might be just worth it. Whats also interesting is his disposal effeciency wasnt that crash hot at time this year when he was getting the ball 25+ times, but was still scoring well. Just needs to turn that around and scores will dramatically improve..
Boak and Gray are ok-good players, not stars! don't think they will score high enough to be worthy spots in my team especially Boak, can't see a 120 ave in such a poor team.
Gray should be solid enough for a forward line spot if he receives more midfield time. It's not like there is 7 bonafied 100+ players to pick from the forward line. It will depend his starting price and my strategy, but surely not the worst forward line selection. I agree with you on Boak though, I can't see him lifting his numbers enough to be in the top7 scorers in the game and he wont be cheap enough to be a value based selection.
Hawkins is an interesting one. Could be junk but could be anything. You'd expect next year he will play for Geelong a role that Roughead played for Hawthorn earlier on in the year. And yeah, with more of the puppy fat gone, a lot more training and mentoring, he might even have a bit more physical presence when he does take his 20 min stint in the ruck. I'm expecting Hawkins to at least improve 10%