Supercoach Season Preview 2012 - West Coast

2012 Supercoach Player Ranking Chart

 

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2012 List Analysis:

Two more teams to go, and here is one of the best 4 from last season, the West Coast Eagles.   They have had a rough few weeks losing two of their better forwards in Le Cras and Nicoski, likely for the season.   Its hard enough for a team like Collingwood to replace two crumbers, but I"m not convinced the Eagles can cover their loss.   The Eagles did well last season with a combination of a brilliant collection of vintage players in near career best form, along with some of the best young talent in the league.

West Coasts claim to finals success could still be there in 2012, and thats mainly because they are the team best placed to exploit the forward press.   They have the best ruck combination in the competition, along with tall forwards (great to kick long to), and midfielders who are great at getting the ball and pushing it forward.   The query is whether the small forwards can get in and put the pressure on.   Youd imagine that a good opportunity awaits Stevens and Weedon.

West Coasts list rating is 43 and they have a depth of 23.   This places them 5th for their best 22, and 4th in terms of depth.   West Coast are at that time in their list development that a premiership is an option.  Hence, they need to ensure this opportunity is not wasted, because players of the class of Cox, Embley, Glass and Kerr are not always going to be able t0 churn out good form.

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2011 Supercoach Statistics:

PPG Average: 1714 (Ranked 5)

DEF Average: 411 (14) - 24%
MID Average:  797 (1) - 46%
FWD Average: 296 (14) - 17%
RUC Average: 211 (1) -  12%

An almost non existent defence and forward division, but able to finish top 4.  It shows that if you have the best ruck combination, it can feed the midfield, and with the right tactics (forward press) you can achieve success.  The question is if the defence and forwards can improve enough to not be significant weaknesses.   This would be finding defensive rebounders with the ability to support Hurn (who appears to be playing like Heath Shaw did a few years back when he was the only real playmaker, and forever getting tagged), and cover those small forward losses.   Im thinking that players of the calibre of Le Cras and Nicoski wont be easy to cover.  Worsfold will probably have to rework the game plan to include players such as Hill providing that pressure.

2012 Fixture Analysis:

Fixture Analysis has been completed on 2011 Finishing Position (GWS is ranked 18)

Highlights:

- West Coast have a fantastic draw up until the very end of the season.
- The finish is a little brutal, but it may not matter, because finals should have already been sewn up.  It could hurt the top 4 prospects though in the run home.
- West Coast have the bye in Round 11, meaning that normally one would see their players as good upgrade options.  Not sure this tactic would work with the games around their bye looking fairly easy.

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Games have been grouped as the average finishing position of their opponents, sorted in a 5 match collection, apart from the first and last 4 games, which are listed to see which teams can really start and end the year with a bang.  Start represents the round number to begin the analysis, and stop means the round number to end.   If a team played GWS and Gold Coast, then their ranking for 2 games would be 17.5 rounded to 18.   If a team played Collingwood, Geelong, Carlton, Hawthorn and WCE in a run of 5 games, the ranking for these would be 3 (the average finishing position of last years top 5).   Anything close to 18 is good.  Anything close to 3 (or even 1 or 2 in the first 4 or last 4 rounds) is bad.

Purple: Less than 5 games to assess
Yellow: Key trading period
Green: Easy run of matches
Red: Difficult run of matches
Orange: Medium difficulty run of matches

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West Coasts Top 5 Players for your Supercoach Team:

1 - Dean Cox (RUC) - The premier Ruckman in the competition.  Dean Cox is a player who can anchor your ruck division through the season.

2 - Matt Priddis (MID) - This player just keeps getting the ball - probably because hes well fed by a great ruck division.  Hes a very consistent scorer, and worth considering as a starting midfield premium.

3 - Shannon Hurn (DEF) - Hes probably one of the very few Round 11 defenders.  A real upgrade option.

4 - Koby Stevens (MID) - Ive missed him from the depth chart, but dont miss the chance to have him in your team.  With no Le Cras, and no Nicoski, this kid should get a good run.

5 - Nic Naitanui (RUC) - He will eventually take the league by storm, the question is will it be this season, or one of the next 3?   I certainly think he could be one of the top 5 ruck scorers this season, and capable of averaging over 100 points per game.

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