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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It's obvious how much better DEF n FWD looks running 4 premo mods but everytime I do it it doesn't last for me....M5 finds a way back in
Yeah I have to say I just feel like 4 is not deep enough in the mids, it just looks like you're not capitalising on the point scoring part of the ground. You're also relying on there being 7 viable midfield rookies, which seems like a stretch given we might need to put a mid/fwd rookie in the forward line given how bad rookie scoring is there.
 
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Let's hope the Marsh series sheds a little light on which rookies look likely to get games early - probably need one or two more than I currently have to make it work...
 
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Does part of the rehab group always mean injured or just being managed?
i think soreness not injured. Expect thats the case when u havent played much footy. Some risk he doesnt string a few games together and is in and out in the team. Not worst case such as injured.

Always a balance with returning injured players, need to factor their injury history. Hill and Cockatoo are in one camp whereas a Mitchell, Doc are likely a different camp.
 
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Had a really close look at Darcy Byrne-Jones last night and I think how he scored from rounds 9 til the end of year is more complex than the absence of Ryan Burton at various stages. I really liked him until it was pointed out to me that most of his good scores came without Burton in the side.

Basically with Burton injured in round 9 it seemed to give DBJ a different role in the backline, but then from round 11 Houston also moved out of the backline to the midfield. At around the same time (round 13) as this Hartlett returned from injury, another player who plays a half back role.

Whereas at the start of the year DJB was playing in defence with Houston and Burton in the 2nd half of the year he played stretches with Burton and Hartlett or just Hartlett, both half-back types.

He more or less scored pretty well with both Hartlett and Burton playing alongside him in the backline with the exception of the game against North where he scored "7". How or why this happened is very bizarre and I don't understand it. In the 6 other games he played with both of them he scored 84, 80, 117, 121, 130 (with Burton injured at 1/2 time) and 97. From rounds 9-23 If you were to remove the 7 score he averaged 102.

There's three reasons why I think you still can't trust him as a pick. There was a very large jump in scoring at the age of 24, in the 2nd half of his 6th year in the system, to me that's a bit late in his career to trust. The later in a career you see a breakout the more likely it is to be a short term anomaly than a predictor of long-term improvement. He had a change in role from more of a lockdown defender and occasional tagger to a rebounding half-back and there's the risk with the amount of half-backs Port have that he changes role. Lastly in different years he's put up some really poor scores, with a few in the 40's and 50's as well as a "20" in 2018, meaning that 7 might not simply be an aberration.

I still reckon that there's enough evidence from last year, including his scores with Burton and Hartlett and the possibility he simply "broke out" at the same time Burton was injured that he can be a player who averages close to 100 this year. You'd only look to him if there's an injury or to save money but I'd probably avoid him. Has upside and is a genuine POD but there are several risks.
 
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@Goodie's Guns

Hi mate , did you start a all rookie defence last season (and if so how did it go ?)

any thought of doing the same this season ? (depending on rookies being named of course)

Ash * , Hill * , Mcasey , Young , Starcevich * , Day (?) , Williamson , Brander * , McLennan , Gould , Rivers * etc etc could be potentially viable.

Maybe start Houston as M6 & Dawson F2 as a bit of insurance.

Cheers

EDIT

or Docherty + 7
 
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Milera taking kickouts.

400k & averaged 95 early before injury then was chucked around forward & back.
D/M $ 402,500.00

has all the talent in the world , play him in the correct position he could be anything
 
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Milera taking kickouts.

400k & averaged 95 early before injury then was chucked around forward & back.
Milera is interesting. I'm also pondering Lachie Weller, who I actually had in my side for a few weeks last year. His age/stats fit the profile of a breakout, but tricky price point. I get the feeling that he could potentially outscore or equal someone like Houston at a similar price. As I've pretty much locked Houston, perhaps have both ? My problem with the Crows and Suns though, is that I think both sides will almost certainly be bottom 5 this year and will their scores suffer accordingly ? Also don't like the fact that I'm considering so many players from both teams, particularly Adelaide where I'm thinking about some of Doedee, B Smith, Jones, Milera, Laird ....
 
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