Interesting re Steele, I was thinking something similar on Steele but then thought I could easily want him before his bye, in which case trying to start without him due to the byes is sort of pointless. I could try to go without him and hold off til after the bye but theres no way to know if that works. Someone like Ridley is someone I don’t see myself needing early in the year. Steele’s early draw is incredibly favourable unless he gets a tag or two (which is a possibility)
It's definitely not a reason to not start him but as far as the tie breakers go, it's up there.
The early start of course is a strong counter-point to that tie breaker though.
Then of course there is his epic finish to the season where he averaged 137 post bye or 138 over the last 12. The big question on him for mine is whether that round 5-10ish period where he spent a lot of time forward was management and can be expected again this year or if it was injury and should be excluded.
Do Stephens and Magginess have terrific job security?
I think Stephens should work but I'm a bit worried by only two contested possessions in yesterday's game when it was the inability to win his own ball which was the implicit criticism from Longmire when interviewed about him this preseason. I'm not sure if Magginness plays round 1.
Stephens has a position to lose, he was really good yesterday, it's an odd criticism from Horse given it's not his job, kind of like being critical for Buddy for not having enough spoils in defensive 50. He's definitely not a lock or a must have, I think he is the cheapest of the strong rookie options though, so that works in his favour.
Maginness I don't see as anything remotely close to a lock, I'd be genuinely surprised if he played after the weekend. The number one fear I have when watching rookies is when they're playing positions that don't exist in the real stuff and him playing HBF for the Hawks is an absolutely textbook example of that given there might not a team in the league that's deeper at any position than the Hawks are at HBF.
One of those guys who even if he played round 1 I'd probably only be looking at if no one else is possible.
It's that really tough one, do you prefer a Macdonald in a really bad role that might be available or Maginness in a much better role that almost certainly shouldn't be.
Just looking at their team:
B: Hardwick Hartigan? Frost
HB: Scrimshaw Sicily Jiath?
C: Phillips Mitchell Shiels
HF: Wingard Gunston Breust
F: Moore Lewis? McEvoy
R: Reeves? O'Meara Worpel
Hartigan is going to be one of Hartigan, DGB or McEvoy (Kosi forward) from what I've seen.
Jiath could easily be Day, Impey, Bramble, Morrison, Howe or Maginness I guess.
Lewis could be Kosi
Reeves could be Lynch.
Interchange would come from: Newcombe, Brockman, Day, DGB, Kosi, Howe, Macdonald, Maginness, Morris, Morrison, Nash, Ward and Bramble.
You can make cases for a few of those guys in the starting 18 for sure but really it's switching names. I have a hard time looking at that list and saying that it wouldn't be the more experienced guys in Newcombe, Day, Impey or Howe that I pick and I'd say that Ward should be ahead of the other kids by a fair margin on performance/potential. That would mean that Morrison and Nash miss out who would likely be ahead of the kids also.
Now I can buy cases for Shiels, Phillips and Jiath out to accommodate some of them but I wouldn't anticipate it and I'm still not sure you're getting to Maginness and Macdonald unfortunately!
Admittedly there's a couple of injuries floating around to a few of those guys but I'd argue that worse than them being picked in a genuine best 22, I'm not buying any case that has Maginness or MacDonald holding the spot once Day is fit or Impey given his ability to play either end or Bramble as probably the best kick in the side.