I can only scratch the surface of what Horse will do 
Honestly have no idea.
You can add Mills dealing with achilles issue and struggling for round 1. Basically means that right now we've got Parker from our 1st midfield unit fit and at the club and that we've got Rowbottom from the 2nd unit realistically.
First question is where in the midfield we plan to play Heeney. If it's inside, then I think he is a straight replacement for JPK and would expect them to essentially swap roles with JPK probably getting 30% midfield time. JPK is a solid forward, leads well and strong one on one mark with obviously great stoppage work. He's not Heeney for sure but Heeney should provide more dynamism in the midfield and we need that.
Stephens seems to be leading for a wing role, Dawson was the best wing in the league over the last 10 rounds last year so it's a big role to fill, Stephens does not have his size or kicking skills so there is no like for like going on, which is why I do suspect Heeney might play a lot of wing as we desperately need that midfield marking target type still. Stephens could end up inside as well, my comparison for him is kind of halfway between Macrae and Gaff, not going to hit their level this year though I wouldn't think, aka I'd be absolutely shocked if he did.
I would expect it would be Rowbottom to get the defensive role, assuming he's in the best 22 (I don't think he should be but that's another story) and realistically it's probably his best path to staying in the best 22, he's a team oriented guy and doesn't really have any tangible offensive skills but is a good contested player, basically the profile.
Logically that's the spots filled. I expect we could see an awful lot of Gulden through the middle and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he pushes premium numbers this year, his first year was among the best I've seen and he's got all the natural SC sloot skills, contested, tackles, elite kicking and he did all that in his first year and I don't know if I've ever seen Horse rave about o***eason improvement the way he has about Gulden. I'm excited to see it but it wouldn't surprise me if he has a very good role.
Midfield group is very speculative though right now. Mills is elite, Parker is somewhere around that and Heeney could be the best of the 3 if he's fit but it does fall away after that so if Gulden can step up to be the 4th, some JPK mixed in and I'm personally still hopeful that Warner is the 6th guy based on last year and that's a good group. With McInerney, Stephens and Florent manning the wings and hopefully some Heeney, I don't want him forward because he's less dangerous as a goal scorer when there.
Need to see how we go though, I think the backline is pretty settled, I expect we see Rampe, T. McCartin, Lloyd, Cunningham, Blakey with McInerney pushing through and whoever wins the 2nd KP role out of Reid, P. McCartin and Melican. Forwards I also think are fairly well set, be surprised if it's not Buddy, Ladhams, Papley, Hayward and JPK with whoever wins out of Reid, McDonald, McLean and Amartey as the 2nd KPF.
Looking forward to the matches for some clarity. Horse's biggest positive is he is almost always honest about roles, doesn't try and hide things in preseason and while not always a positive will stubbornly persist with things to ensure he's wrong before changing it which gives guys longer than they'd normally get in roles to work it out.
Stephens definitely in the mix and should have a good role if he makes the cut. Would expect he's an on-field level rookie pick, as essentially a mature ager he really should be capable of pushing 80 I'd think. From what I've seen he's a far more natural accumulator than Florent who pushes that region of scoring.
Honestly have no idea.
You can add Mills dealing with achilles issue and struggling for round 1. Basically means that right now we've got Parker from our 1st midfield unit fit and at the club and that we've got Rowbottom from the 2nd unit realistically.
First question is where in the midfield we plan to play Heeney. If it's inside, then I think he is a straight replacement for JPK and would expect them to essentially swap roles with JPK probably getting 30% midfield time. JPK is a solid forward, leads well and strong one on one mark with obviously great stoppage work. He's not Heeney for sure but Heeney should provide more dynamism in the midfield and we need that.
Stephens seems to be leading for a wing role, Dawson was the best wing in the league over the last 10 rounds last year so it's a big role to fill, Stephens does not have his size or kicking skills so there is no like for like going on, which is why I do suspect Heeney might play a lot of wing as we desperately need that midfield marking target type still. Stephens could end up inside as well, my comparison for him is kind of halfway between Macrae and Gaff, not going to hit their level this year though I wouldn't think, aka I'd be absolutely shocked if he did.
I would expect it would be Rowbottom to get the defensive role, assuming he's in the best 22 (I don't think he should be but that's another story) and realistically it's probably his best path to staying in the best 22, he's a team oriented guy and doesn't really have any tangible offensive skills but is a good contested player, basically the profile.
Logically that's the spots filled. I expect we could see an awful lot of Gulden through the middle and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he pushes premium numbers this year, his first year was among the best I've seen and he's got all the natural SC sloot skills, contested, tackles, elite kicking and he did all that in his first year and I don't know if I've ever seen Horse rave about o***eason improvement the way he has about Gulden. I'm excited to see it but it wouldn't surprise me if he has a very good role.
Midfield group is very speculative though right now. Mills is elite, Parker is somewhere around that and Heeney could be the best of the 3 if he's fit but it does fall away after that so if Gulden can step up to be the 4th, some JPK mixed in and I'm personally still hopeful that Warner is the 6th guy based on last year and that's a good group. With McInerney, Stephens and Florent manning the wings and hopefully some Heeney, I don't want him forward because he's less dangerous as a goal scorer when there.
Need to see how we go though, I think the backline is pretty settled, I expect we see Rampe, T. McCartin, Lloyd, Cunningham, Blakey with McInerney pushing through and whoever wins the 2nd KP role out of Reid, P. McCartin and Melican. Forwards I also think are fairly well set, be surprised if it's not Buddy, Ladhams, Papley, Hayward and JPK with whoever wins out of Reid, McDonald, McLean and Amartey as the 2nd KPF.
Looking forward to the matches for some clarity. Horse's biggest positive is he is almost always honest about roles, doesn't try and hide things in preseason and while not always a positive will stubbornly persist with things to ensure he's wrong before changing it which gives guys longer than they'd normally get in roles to work it out.
Stephens definitely in the mix and should have a good role if he makes the cut. Would expect he's an on-field level rookie pick, as essentially a mature ager he really should be capable of pushing 80 I'd think. From what I've seen he's a far more natural accumulator than Florent who pushes that region of scoring.
