Any Fletcher love? Eligible for pension payments in the near future, but he continues to score adequately. If only he took those dirty little tripping tactics out of his game. Duffield seems like the logical alternative to Broughton.
I would not start with both Broughton and Duffman. One or the other. Only problem I see with Duffman is if he gets hit with a fwd tag his scores can plummet. However if let off the leash he can go bananas.
Enrights performance, or lack thereof, on the weekend has favoured Broughton even further in my opinion. That out of bounds kick he took in the cats defensive 50 against the saints on Saturday night and kicked across the face of goal directly to a Saints player who marked and goaled, was unforgivable. Granted we didn't get a chance to see Broughton play, but I for one was not happy with Enrights performance at all. But remember, the cats were missing a number of stars against a pretty strong saints unit so he wasn't the only one underperforming on the night for the cats. With Enright being earmarked for some midfield time, it could help him improve his scores in the season proper. I can see Scott starting him in his usual rebounding defender role and then if the opposition decides to put a forward tag on him, which we know he doesn't cope well with, then Scott could move him into the middle and throw someone such as Kelly back.
Kelly and Enright and Bartel and Johnson and Duncan are all earmarked for more midfield time. I call rubbish. Johnson will be needed up forward. They've already lost 40+ goals from GAJ, they can scarcely afford to lose 60 from SJ Enright will probably be needed to patch holes down back. Drifting forward maybe through an occasional midfield run. Selwood, Bartel and Chapman I'd have as the A1 midfield at the Cats and without GAJ they are going to need them all going with both barrels. I'd say Corey is the next line of midfielder with Kelly. And Ling of course, who I can't see playing a defensive forward role, though others might. After that then you're looking at Duncan/Christensen etc. So yeah, I'm not convinced about Enright getting more mid time, I'm also thinking he will be forward tagged more than Mackie. Both will cop a fairly defensive forward in any event. The Cats form is hard to read because they have so many missing with injury. Again, doesn't sound great. Hoping they get their players on the park because their first 5 games are tough as: Saints, Freo away, Port (easier), Sydney away and Hawthorn
The only argument I'd make as to agree with the reasoning of giving Enright more time, is that when he does cop a forward tag, he's as good as tagged out of the match and therefore has minimal impact. At least by throwing him into the middle during those games (and I'd suggest there would be more of them now teams know he's taggable) he either pulls the tagger out of the defensive 50 into the midfield with him so that whoever replaces him (kelly, for example) can play his role without a tag, OR the tagger plays on Kelly who may or may not be able to cope with it more effectively than Enright. I agree with SJ being needed to stay up forward too, Lucas. However I reckon Enright and Kelly could well be rotated between playing in the midfield and playing the rebounding defender, swtiching with each other as appropriate. Bartel and Selwood you would think will have to play predominantly in the midfield, while Chappy should continue to a goal kicking midfielder role who rests up forward when recovering. I'm not sure what role Lingy will play this year. Is he too old to play his famous tagger role? He showed glimpses last year that he could be damaging in the forward line from memory, so perhaps that's where the cats will make up a few goals a game?
I think Ling, good servant though he has been, has agreed to stay on for one year too many. A la Brad Johnson, very similar decision. The way that Ling was carved up in the finals last year spoke volumes to me. I think that Enright will have a season in 2011 much like Simon Goodwin did last year. He will still get some big 100+ scores, but the consistency will drop off and also his overall average. I still see him as a 90ppg player, but I don't think he can really improve on his start price. He would need someone like Mackie to return to form and take away some of the defensive forward heat, if Enright were to get back to 100ppg in 2011. Possible, just not something that I would say is probable.
I think the top SC teams in 2011, will inevitably have Enright. It's a matter of jumping on him at the right time, he will be hot and cold this season. And you'd want to be on him when he is hot.