2023: SC Planning Thread
- Thread starter Gruffles
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Very good list - have nearly of those players on my radar also.
Macrae with no Dunkley appeals, will be his lowest starting price for a few years
Keen on Toby McLean & Ben Cunnington as bargain priced fwds
Sinclair had the perfect role last year, expect Ross will use him the same way. Daicos the other obvious defender I will consider, kid is such a jet - expect him to go to another level next year.
Macrae with no Dunkley appeals, will be his lowest starting price for a few years
Keen on Toby McLean & Ben Cunnington as bargain priced fwds
Sinclair had the perfect role last year, expect Ross will use him the same way. Daicos the other obvious defender I will consider, kid is such a jet - expect him to go to another level next year.
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McLean is one I forgot to mention, if he’s fit he’s definitely high on my radar. Cunnington I’m worried about his price, I believe he’ll be around 450K, which means you can’t really pick him, if I’m wrong I’ll certainly look at him. I.e. Newman played 2 games and averaged 23 in 2020 and was priced at 415K in 2021
Sinclair is one I had classified as peaked too late in his career to start BUT that can be a bit different for players who move to half back, I should think about him more.
Daicos im currently tossing up with Young but I’m worried about his late season scores where he was either tagged or game planned for a lot more, he averaged 86 in his last 8 including finals. There’s heaps of arguments for him including natural improvement and the fact he may play midfield. Walsh went 86 and then 101 his first two years so no reason he can’t do the same
Young I like due to natural improvement with age and the talent he shows with the eye test. Given his kicking is a strength there’s a chance his kick out numbers improve as well
McLean is one I forgot to mention, if he’s fit he’s definitely high on my radar. Cunnington I’m worried about his price, I believe he’ll be around 450K, which means you can’t really pick him, if I’m wrong I’ll certainly look at him. I.e. Newman played 2 games and averaged 23 in 2020 and was priced at 415K in 2021
Sinclair is one I had classified as peaked too late in his career to start BUT that can be a bit different for players who move to half back, I should think about him more.
Daicos im currently tossing up with Young but I’m worried about his late season scores where he was either tagged or game planned for a lot more, he averaged 86 in his last 8 including finals. There’s heaps of arguments for him including natural improvement and the fact he may play midfield. Walsh went 86 and then 101 his first two years so no reason he can’t do the same
Young I like due to natural improvement with age and the talent he shows with the eye test. Given his kicking is a strength there’s a chance his kick out numbers improve as well
I am red hot on Bont who I haven't seen mentioned too much
Dogs have brought in Lobb who will play backup ruck minutes, a task that at times also fell to Bont. Plus with the expected continual improvement of Ugle-Hagan and Darcy as well as Naughton their tall forward stocks are now quite strong as opposed to previous years and he wouldn't be required to spend time there. Dunkley being gone is one less guy that needs midfield minutes as well.
Can see a full time midfield Brownlow season for Bont coming up
Talks of Tarryn Thomas training as a running defender with kickout duties, I think that role suits his pace and flair so I'll be watching that
Will also be watching how the Grundy/Gawn split works. Early thought is Gawn is a much more capable forward than Grundy so I'd expect Grundy to be the main ruck at 501k is more intriguing than most expected when he went to Melbourne and put a line through him
Other than those its the usual suspects for me that have already been mentioned a lot
Dogs have brought in Lobb who will play backup ruck minutes, a task that at times also fell to Bont. Plus with the expected continual improvement of Ugle-Hagan and Darcy as well as Naughton their tall forward stocks are now quite strong as opposed to previous years and he wouldn't be required to spend time there. Dunkley being gone is one less guy that needs midfield minutes as well.
Can see a full time midfield Brownlow season for Bont coming up
Talks of Tarryn Thomas training as a running defender with kickout duties, I think that role suits his pace and flair so I'll be watching that
Will also be watching how the Grundy/Gawn split works. Early thought is Gawn is a much more capable forward than Grundy so I'd expect Grundy to be the main ruck at 501k is more intriguing than most expected when he went to Melbourne and put a line through him
Other than those its the usual suspects for me that have already been mentioned a lot
He's bloody expensive tho is Sinclair. Don't think you can fit more than two of Sinclair, Dawson, Stewart and Sicily. The Ross factor could still be a bit of an unknown with him. Personally Dawson for me is locked, potentially even a bit underpriced as he didn't play in a settled position for the first couple of months last season.
Don't mind a lot of those, but is someone like LDU picked as a keeper?
Just feels like you've not left enough room to trade in Oliver, Neale, Laird, Macrae and probably Bont, who all feel +10ppg better without stretching the imagination much at all.
And yeah, Roos are going to be pretty rubbish again this year
Just feels like you've not left enough room to trade in Oliver, Neale, Laird, Macrae and probably Bont, who all feel +10ppg better without stretching the imagination much at all.
And yeah, Roos are going to be pretty rubbish again this year
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Don't mind a lot of those, but is someone like LDU picked as a keeper?
Just feels like you've not left enough room to trade in Oliver, Neale, Laird, Macrae and probably Bont, who all feel +10ppg better without stretching the imagination much at all.
And yeah, Roos are going to be pretty rubbish again this year
Just feels like you've not left enough room to trade in Oliver, Neale, Laird, Macrae and probably Bont, who all feel +10ppg better without stretching the imagination much at all.
And yeah, Roos are going to be pretty rubbish again this year
Hopper is a stepping stone player, so I still have 4 vacant midfield spots, which I feel is enough to trade in 4 of those big players. I don’t think all of Macrae, Oliver, Laird and Neale will go 115+ and I expect only 2-3 are must trade ins, but there will be other players who step up
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I agree with your views on "the Bont". He is a player I have locked in to my starting mids especially now Dunkley has moved to Brisbane. The Dogs shouldn't need him floating forward as much with their off season additions and he is clearly in the best starting mid set up with English, MacCare and Libba. We just nee the coach to leave him in the guts where he does his best work (also locked in MacCrae as I think he should eb in the same boat). I hope "the Bont" becomes a POD for us. Good luck.
Very true re Sinclair - Stewart with his bye situation is a lock for me, Dawson I really like with the crows early draw/lots of home games to start the year. Realistically budget wise, I may have to settle for Daicos or Hayden Young - big fan of both. Young's finish to last season was excellent & I see big upside in him, Freo have a nice early draw also which further adds to his appeal.
As others have said, English as R1 for me. His early season injury and then concussion hampered his season and scoring last season. I think with a clean bill of health and no other main ruckman to contend with (I think Jordon Sweet is their number two), he can be the top scoring ruckman next season.
R2 seems to be the problem. If we have a clear indication that Meek will be solo rucking for the Hawks then he is tempting, I think they like the look of Reeves though and Meek can play up forward.
Sean Darcy can only be considered if Jackson is used almost exclusively as a forward. Marshall again with King going down might need to play more forward, Grundy and Gawn probably cancel each other out. It's a pretty difficult one. Still leaning towards Marshall, if played primarily as a ruckman then he's pretty underpriced.
Looking at Comben as an F8/R3 (assuming he still has DPP) at this stage. North didn't seem to draft or trade for any key tall forwards, I think they see him as one so he could be playing early on, probably wont score great but is a warm body for the bench.
R2 seems to be the problem. If we have a clear indication that Meek will be solo rucking for the Hawks then he is tempting, I think they like the look of Reeves though and Meek can play up forward.
Sean Darcy can only be considered if Jackson is used almost exclusively as a forward. Marshall again with King going down might need to play more forward, Grundy and Gawn probably cancel each other out. It's a pretty difficult one. Still leaning towards Marshall, if played primarily as a ruckman then he's pretty underpriced.
Looking at Comben as an F8/R3 (assuming he still has DPP) at this stage. North didn't seem to draft or trade for any key tall forwards, I think they see him as one so he could be playing early on, probably wont score great but is a warm body for the bench.
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I'm fairly settled on Marshall and Cameron (as a fwd/ruck cover) at this stage. Both are the clear number 1 ruck option at their club, and have shown scoring capabilities when playing that role. I thought similar with Meek moving over to Hawthorn, that he could be a cheap R2 (similar to a Witts a few seasons ago), but upon reflection I see that being fraught with danger.
Hawks have three young rucks in Reeves, Lynch and Meek, all of whom that have shown some ability at the top level as a ruck, are young and inexperienced and having not really shown much forward scope. Wouldn't be out of the realms of probability to see the Hawthorn ruck line up changing every week as they try to establish a clear pecking order, potentially leaving coaches stranded with a ruck not playing (or playing inconsistently), not making cash and forcing a reliance on moving a DPP Fwd/Ruc to that position full time.
I might start Marshall and Cameron as R1/2 and wait to see another clear ruck emerge, and then swing Cameron to the FWD line when I bring in another premo ruck.
Hawks have three young rucks in Reeves, Lynch and Meek, all of whom that have shown some ability at the top level as a ruck, are young and inexperienced and having not really shown much forward scope. Wouldn't be out of the realms of probability to see the Hawthorn ruck line up changing every week as they try to establish a clear pecking order, potentially leaving coaches stranded with a ruck not playing (or playing inconsistently), not making cash and forcing a reliance on moving a DPP Fwd/Ruc to that position full time.
I might start Marshall and Cameron as R1/2 and wait to see another clear ruck emerge, and then swing Cameron to the FWD line when I bring in another premo ruck.
I agree with the thought that hawthorn trading for him would probably have him at the front of the queue for round 1 at this stage, my concerns are more towards rounds 3-5 and beyond. If he’s slow to get going could he be jumped by Reeves/Lynch in the side? Or could he be partnered with one of them resulting in slow (or minimal) cash generation, as his scoring would be limited sharing ruck duties.
If we have confirmation from Mitchell that Meek would be the number 1 solo ruck for a prolonged period, then I think he’d be worth consideration, but until we have the confirmation he’s far to risky imo
If we have confirmation from Mitchell that Meek would be the number 1 solo ruck for a prolonged period, then I think he’d be worth consideration, but until we have the confirmation he’s far to risky imo