Position Defender Discussion

Which players caught your eye after Marsh 1...?

  • D Houston

  • D Byrne-Jones

  • J Dawson

  • J Crisp

  • H Clark

  • L Weller

  • C Blakely

  • W Milera

  • J Short

  • None of the above


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I think i was probably the only schmuck here who punted on him last year (for disastrous results) so won't be going near him until we see an absolutely huge preseason, backed by Longmuir saying something very similar to what Hinkley said about Houston.

Yes, still bitter :ROFLMAO:
Well Freo has no defence at the moment with Hamling, Pearce etc all out with injury and unlikely for the first few rounds. I would say that brings Blakely and Logue under the spotlight and playing def not mids. Suspect it also brings Hayden Young into the picture. A good preseason and he would be a big chance at starting.

And here is an interesting comment from a training report on BF. Lots of short chips.. Interesting. Skills were one of the things Freo sucked at under Ross Lying. Now they are going to be handling more than ever? Might be a good thing for your Dream Team.

There have been lots of ball movement sims with short chips to clear the ball out of congestion in defence. I would get use to a lot more short kicks out if defence and TBH when you have Ryan,Hill,Logue,Young and Wilson all with beautiful kicks then we are mad to bomb the ball to congestion particularly with no Sandi to Palm the ball out of bounds.
 

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I can't remember exactly (mainly cos I don't want to) but I might have gone Milera > Blakely.
Sounds like you had a year to forget like me. I ran both Milera and Blakely for a good part of the year and it pretty much ruined any joy i was getting from SC...and when you're ranked 30k, there isn't a lot of enjoyment as it is.

Never again...well, maybe not never..but at least in the short term anyway.
 
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Sounds like you had a year to forget like me. I ran both Milera and Blakely for a good part of the year and it pretty much ruined any joy i was getting from SC...and when you're ranked 30k, there isn't a lot of enjoyment as it is.

Never again...well, maybe not never..but at least in the short term anyway.
That sounds rough....
 
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Well Freo has no defence at the moment with Hamling, Pearce etc all out with injury and unlikely for the first few rounds. I would say that brings Blakely and Logue under the spotlight and playing def not mids. Suspect it also brings Hayden Young into the picture. A good preseason and he would be a big chance at starting.

And here is an interesting comment from a training report on BF. Lots of short chips.. Interesting. Skills were one of the things Freo sucked at under Ross Lying. Now they are going to be handling more than ever? Might be a good thing for your Dream Team.

There have been lots of ball movement sims with short chips to clear the ball out of congestion in defence. I would get use to a lot more short kicks out if defence and TBH when you have Ryan,Hill,Logue,Young and Wilson all with beautiful kicks then we are mad to bomb the ball to congestion particularly with no Sandi to Palm the ball out of bounds.
Potentially Fyfe ... and then who ...
 

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Well Freo has no defence at the moment with Hamling, Pearce etc all out with injury and unlikely for the first few rounds. I would say that brings Blakely and Logue under the spotlight and playing def not mids. Suspect it also brings Hayden Young into the picture. A good preseason and he would be a big chance at starting.

And here is an interesting comment from a training report on BF. Lots of short chips.. Interesting. Skills were one of the things Freo sucked at under Ross Lying. Now they are going to be handling more than ever? Might be a good thing for your Dream Team.

There have been lots of ball movement sims with short chips to clear the ball out of congestion in defence. I would get use to a lot more short kicks out if defence and TBH when you have Ryan,Hill,Logue,Young and Wilson all with beautiful kicks then we are mad to bomb the ball to congestion particularly with no Sandi to Palm the ball out of bounds.
That does sound pretty promising for DT and maybe Ryan who is one i've got on my watchlist. Any observations on how a Hamling and Pearce-less backline might affect his scoring?
 
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Sounds like you had a year to forget like me. I ran both Milera and Blakely for a good part of the year and it pretty much ruined any joy i was getting from SC...and when you're ranked 30k, there isn't a lot of enjoyment as it is.

Never again...well, maybe not never..but at least in the short term anyway.
Those 2 and starting Dunkley over Boak (who I had in my starting team 1 day before lockout) ruined my year. I did manage to get to around 7-800 round 22, 1300 odd round 23 but certainly no help from those guys. I'm trying very hard this year not to go with too many speculative picks, so guys like Dawson, Roberton, even Sicily/Laird/Lloyd/Hurn/Houli/Daniel/Stewart/Ryan are not in my team cos I'm a bit 'gun shy'. I think it's worthwhile waiting for a bit and seeing who is playing the right roles. I've gone with Zilliams (he's a risk too) Doc and Houston (I don't think he's a gamble, bit like Boak last year) as my starting premos who I think will be top 6 Def's. No doubt I'll stuff it up again and be miles behind the pack from the get go.
 
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That does sound pretty promising for DT and maybe Ryan who is one i've got on my watchlist. Any observations on how a Hamling and Pearce-less backline might affect his scoring?

Sorry IDIG cannot help you there. With JLo taking the reins not sure anyone knows how they will line up. You would assume Ryan takes the best forward. Don't think they play any teams with monster forwards in the first few rounds so maybe they can get away with it till Hamling gets back.
 

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That sounds rough....
I don't really have anyone to blame haha

It's a funny thing when you cop a bit of a bad run with injuries, like i did early last year. The damage probably isn't that significant at the time but the snowball effect can be huge, especially for someone like me who can be pretty reckless when i want to be!
 
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I don't really have anyone to blame haha

It's a funny thing when you cop a bit of a bad run with injuries, like i did early last year. The damage probably isn't that significant at the time but the snowball effect can be huge, especially for someone like me who can be pretty reckless when i want to be!
I just mean they both had promise as picks and really really failed to deliver. Combination of being risky and being unlucky.
 

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Those 2 and starting Dunkley over Boak (who I had in my starting team 1 day before lockout) ruined my year. I did manage to get to around 7-800 round 22, 1300 odd round 23 but certainly no help from those guys. I'm trying very hard this year not to go with too many speculative picks, so guys like Dawson, Roberton, even Sicily/Laird/Lloyd/Hurn/Houli/Daniel/Stewart/Ryan are not in my team cos I'm a bit 'gun shy'. I think it's worthwhile waiting for a bit and seeing who is playing the right roles. I've gone with Zilliams (he's a risk too) Doc and Houston (I don't think he's a gamble, bit like Boak last year) as my starting premos who I think will be top 6 Def's. No doubt I'll stuff it up again and be miles behind the pack from the get go.
Great rank considering you had both Milera and Blakely mate (y)

I like Williams. Contract year and after missing all of 2018, should still have some natural improvement in him i think. His price is a bit of a sticking point for me but if funds permit, i'd definitely be grabbing him over a speccy type like Dawson or Greenwood depending on where you've got Hill.

Interesting (and long) list of speculative picks you've got there. I quite like Sicily and Hurn and consider them quite safe. Any reason you're not into them?

Sorry IDIG cannot help you there. With JLo taking the reins not sure anyone knows how they will line up. You would assume Ryan takes the best forward. Don't think they play any teams with monster forwards in the first few rounds so maybe they can get away with it till Hamling gets back.
Sorry mate, thought you were a Freo supporter for some reason and was thinking gee it it's odd you keep referring to Freo as 'they' instead of 'we'. It's late and past my bedtime lol
 
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Sorry IDIG cannot help you there. With JLo taking the reins not sure anyone knows how they will line up. You would assume Ryan takes the best forward. Don't think they play any teams with monster forwards in the first few rounds so maybe they can get away with it till Hamling gets back.
I reckon Logue and cox (who has been training back this preseason) take the key posts til hamling/Pearce return. Then it will be a combination of Ryan/duman/Hughes/Conca as 3rd tall...young and Ryan doing most of the distributing you’d think...maybe aish plays a role too. Wilson needs to fit back in at some stage too. Bit of uncertainty with injuries to key players and some new faces to fit in...so a bit of a guessing game at this stage
 
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Great rank considering you had both Milera and Blakely mate (y)

I like Williams. Contract year and after missing all of 2018, should still have some natural improvement in him i think. His price is a bit of a sticking point for me but if funds permit, i'd definitely be grabbing him over a speccy type like Dawson or Greenwood depending on where you've got Hill.

Interesting (and long) list of speculative picks you've got there. I quite like Sicily and Hurn and consider them quite safe. Any reason you're not into them?


Sorry mate, thought you were a Freo supporter for some reason and was thinking gee it it's odd you keep referring to Freo as 'they' instead of 'we'. It's late and past my bedtime lol
Haha, sorry to reply after your bedtime but I'm sure you'll see it on the morrow.

I have doubts on all of the players that I mentioned, obviously for varying reasons. With regard to the two that you mentioned, Sicily has not been proven yet as having that same intercepting role and cheap + 6's that he had in 2018, things are pointing that way and he's an obvious watch but for me ATS he's speculative. Hurn is getting on I think he's 33 this year, has had calf issues and missed 5 games in the 2nd half of last year plus his scoring was putrid and whilst his scoring might get back to his best I don't think he's worth the risk.

*Edit.....Hill is at D4 or F5, but my plan is to keep him as late season cover on my bench.
 
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Well Freo has no defence at the moment with Hamling, Pearce etc all out with injury and unlikely for the first few rounds. I would say that brings Blakely and Logue under the spotlight and playing def not mids. Suspect it also brings Hayden Young into the picture. A good preseason and he would be a big chance at starting.

And here is an interesting comment from a training report on BF. Lots of short chips.. Interesting. Skills were one of the things Freo sucked at under Ross Lying. Now they are going to be handling more than ever? Might be a good thing for your Dream Team.

There have been lots of ball movement sims with short chips to clear the ball out of congestion in defence. I would get use to a lot more short kicks out if defence and TBH when you have Ryan,Hill,Logue,Young and Wilson all with beautiful kicks then we are mad to bomb the ball to congestion particularly with no Sandi to Palm the ball out of bounds.

Short effective kicks don't score well in sc do they as compared to 40+ meter ones?
 
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I reckon Logue and cox (who has been training back this preseason) take the key posts til hamling/Pearce return. Then it will be a combination of Ryan/duman/Hughes/Conca as 3rd tall...young and Ryan doing most of the distributing you’d think...maybe aish plays a role too. Wilson needs to fit back in at some stage too. Bit of uncertainty with injuries to key players and some new faces to fit in...so a bit of a guessing game at this stage
Thanks for your thoughts on that as a Freo supporter. I forgot about Cox.
 
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Short effective kicks don't score well in sc do they as compared to 40+ meter ones?
Kick long to advantage +5

Long (40m) kick to contest +2

Effective long kick +3

Effective short kick +3

Effective backwards kick +1

BUT when scaling comes into effect the short kicks are one of the first things to feel the pinch.
 

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Haha, sorry to reply after your bedtime but I'm sure you'll see it on the morrow.

I have doubts on all of the players that I mentioned, obviously for varying reasons. With regard to the two that you mentioned, Sicily has not been proven yet as having that same intercepting role and cheap + 6's that he had in 2018, things are pointing that way and he's an obvious watch but for me ATS he's speculative. Hurn is getting on I think he's 33 this year, has had calf issues and missed 5 games in the 2nd half of last year and whilst his scoring might get back to his best I don't think he's worth the risk.
Haha i'm still up!

You seem to be across it all but think the hawks have picked up a couple of players in the off season which should see Sic return to that intercepting/rebounding role. In theory anyway but iirc he was thrown forward at times last year which ruined his output but sounds like that is less likely with Patton there now. i like Sic personally, feels like he's underpriced.

I didn't realise Hurn was that old. It's been a running joke for some time now that he's looked that age for years but seems the years have now caught up to him and he's looking his actual age. During my research i did see that he'd stepped down as skipper and mentioned he no longer felt he could commit to the role, which to me says he wants to concentrate on his footy but perhaps it's him saying he wants to concentrate on getting his body right, possibly. Either way, his price makes it tough to justify starting him without much room for improvement.
 
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Haha i'm still up!

You seem to be across it all but think the hawks have picked up a couple of players in the off season which should see Sic return to that intercepting/rebounding role. In theory anyway but iirc he was thrown forward at times last year which ruined his output but sounds like that is less likely with Patton there now. i like Sic personally, feels like he's underpriced.

I didn't realise Hurn was that old. It's been a running joke for some time now that he's looked that age for years but seems the years have now caught up to him and he's looking his actual age. During my research i did see that he'd stepped down as skipper and mentioned he no longer felt he could commit to the role, which to me says he wants to concentrate on his footy but perhaps it's him saying he wants to concentrate on getting his body right, possibly. Either way, his price makes it tough to justify starting him without much room for improvement.
These are just my opinions and I certainly don't think that I'm across it all. Sicily is certainly a watch for me.
 
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