Mike Sheahan's Top 50

[Mantis]

Mike is releasing 11-50 today (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/mike-sheahans-top-50/story-e6frf9jf-1225844230666), with the top 10 being released tomorrow.

1. Gary Ablett (Geelong)

2 . Nic Riewoldt (St Kilda)

3. Lance Franklin (Hawthorn)

4. Chris Judd (Carlton)

5. Jonathan Brown (Brisbane)

6. Joel Selwood (Geelong)

7. Adam Goodes (Sydney)

8. Matthew Scarlett (Geelong)

9. Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)

10. Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs)

11. Paul Chapman (Geelong)

12. Lenny Hayes (St Kilda)

13. Dean Cox (West Coast)

14. Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs)

15. Jimmy Bartel (Geelong)

16. Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)

17. Brendon Goddard (St Kilda)

18. Daniel Kerr (West Coast)

19. Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)

20. Dale Morris (Western Bulldogs)

21. Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney)

22. Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda)

23. Steve Johnson (Geelong)

24. Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)

25. Sam Fisher (St Kilda)

26. Simon Black (Brisbane Lions)

27. Heath Shaw (Collingwod)

28. Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)

29. Brent Harvey (North Melbourne)

30. Luke Power (Brisbane Lions)

31. Brendan Fevola (Brisbane Lions)

32. Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)

33. Craig Bolton (Sydney)

34. Leigh Montagna (St Kilda)

35. Dane Swan (Collingwood)

36. Corey Enright (Geelong)

37. Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn)

38. Marc Murphy (Carlton)

39. Darren Jolly (Collingwood)

40. Mitch Clark (Brisbane Lions)

41. Kurt Tippett (Adelaide)

42. Shaun Higgins (Western Bulldogs)

43. Alan Didak (Collingwood)

44. Paddy Ryder (Essendon)

45. Barry Hall (Western Bulldogs)

46. Bernie Vince (Adelaide)

47. Aaron Davey (Melbourne)

48. Robert Murphy (Western Bulldogs)

49. Mark Le Cras (West Coast)

50. Brad Sewell (Hawthorn)

[chef]

3 Dogs already, not a bad start(not that it means much).

[Throughandthrough]

what!


That's outrageous!


He has no idea!



How has player XXX gone up/down by XXX spots over the summer?


(will come back in a few days and edit this post when i've looked at the rankings)

[comrade]

Boyd and Cooney are locks, as is Brian of course. Morris and Shaggy also have claims.

[chef]

Boyd and Cooney are locks, as is Brian of course. Morris and Shaggy also have claims.

I'd even have Harbrow in there with a chance too. Wasn't Griffen a top 10 one year?

[comrade]

I almost added both of them, but didn't want to go over the top.

[chef]

14. Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs)
20. Dale Morris (Western Bulldogs)
24. Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
42. Shaun Higgins (Western Bulldogs)
45. Barry Hall (Western Bulldogs)
48. Robert Murphy (Western Bulldogs)

Assuming that Cooney will be in the top 10, this would have to be the most Dogs ever in a Sheahan top 50.

[chef]

This should be his top ten(in no particular order)

Ablett
Riewoldt
Cooney
J. Brown
Franklin
Goodes
Selwood
Judd
Hodge
Scarlett

[mjp]

Assuming that Cooney will be in the top 10, this would have to be the most Dogs ever in a Sheahan top 50.

Are we convinced of that?

[chef]

Are we convinced of that?

Yes, well I am.

[Go_Dogs]

I'd even have Harbrow in there with a chance too. Wasn't Griffen a top 10 one year?

I don't believe he was a top 10, but he did make the list a couple of years ago. From memory he was ranked somewhere around the 40 mark.


I think Mike does a pretty admirable job with these lists, and this one again looks pretty good. The pre-season ones are always very interesting because it involves a bit of crystal-balling on his behalf, to identify which players may indeed be in the Top 50 come seasons end.

[chef]

I don't believe he was a top 10, but he did make the list a couple of years ago. From memory he was ranked somewhere around the 40 mark.


I think Mike does a pretty admirable job with these lists, and this one again looks pretty good. The pre-season ones are always very interesting because it involves a bit of crystal-balling on his behalf, to identify which players may indeed be in the Top 50 come seasons end.

Yeah, i just checked and he was number 42 at the start of last year.

[Go_Dogs]

Yeah, i just checked and he was number 42 at the start of last year.

I was going to say 43. My photographic memory is slipping slightly ;) :D



I'm actually surprised that Mike hasn't included him this year, based on his pre-season form this year, and finals form late last year. Who knows, perhaps Mike will pull a huge surprise out the hat and name him in his Top 10 - stranger things have happened - although the 10 you named above looks pretty accurate for mine.

[mjp]

Yes, well I am.

10th!

As I was reading down the list I was half expecting to see he had been left out...shouldn't be behind Judd and Selwood.

[chef]

10th!

As I was reading down the list I was half expecting to see he had been left out...shouldn't be behind Judd and Selwood.

Agree.

[Go_Dogs]

Overall, I say he's done a fairly good job. He looks to have named most of the players we identified as Top 10 inside his Top 20 or so.

[Mofra]

This is probably one of his better efforts - very difficult task.

Personally I think both Kerr & Judd are a little high, and I'd prefer Jolly & Tippett were bumped a little higher. Shame Josh Kennedy (WCE version) wasn't included, I rate him highly.

I'd expect the end of year version to be substantially different - Cyril will be out altogether (how much mileage on one good year in 2008?) with Hall & Goddard to climb a few spots.

[LostDoggy]

Agreed that it's a tough list to compile, but sometimes Mike's just not very logical -- how does Brendan Fevola fall from no.6 in last year's pre-season top 50 to mid-30s, and how did Franklin go from the mid 40s at the end of the season top 50 to no. 3 in the pre-season top 50, jumping a whole 44 spots in three months without playing a single official game? And how did Paddy Ryder go from nowhere into the top 50 based on a handful of games before injury (and if he's better than Murph and Sewell -- who is way too low -- I'll eat my hat). Is the post-season top 50 based on revealed 2009 performance, and the pre-season top 50 based on predictions of 2010 performance? It's very confusing and he doesn't provide clear criteria for his selections.

Also, if Selwood is better than Coons and Hayes (and Bartel and Pavlich and Goodes and Hodge), I'm not watching the same game as Mike. He's a media darling, Joel is, just like Rioli.. his one touch equals two in their eyes. Waaay over-rated. Joel Selwood is at best between 23 and 30, about where Mike's placed Boydy, Steve Johnson, Simon Black, Sam Mitchell, Brent Harvey, those types of guys, who do exactly the same quality of job as Selwood does week in week out, and have done so for a lot longer than he has. He's an elite young player, not the 3rd best midfielder in the comp.

[EasternWest]

This is probably one of his better efforts - very difficult task.

Personally I think both Kerr & Judd are a little high, and I'd prefer Jolly & Tippett were bumped a little higher. Shame Josh Kennedy (WCE version) wasn't included, I rate him highly.
I'd expect the end of year version to be substantially different - Cyril will be out altogether (how much mileage on one good year in 2008?) with Hall & Goddard to climb a few spots.

I'm not sure about top 50, but I agree with you Mofra. I like Kennedy a lot.

FWIW Mike annoys me a bit with his ubiquitousness (I don't know if that's spelled right and I'm too lazy to check), but I like that he stands by his selections and always responds with "well, that's my opinion" or words to that effect. I'm always interested to read his top 50.

[MikeSheahan]

Tough audience.

[The Coon Dog]

Tough audience.

You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

[Go_Dogs]

Tough audience.

I thought we were fairly reasonable. :)

Like I said, it's a fairly good list and a very hard task, and as such I think you've done a pretty good job.

[EasternWest]

Tough audience.

In fairness Mike, most have acknowledged what a tough job it is to pick them all.

And of course, you got it all worng!:D

[EasternWest]

You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Or is that fool them?;)

[Topdog]

Is the post-season top 50 based on revealed 2009 performance, and the pre-season top 50 based on predictions of 2010 performance?

Yes that is how it is done.

[LostDoggy]

Yes that is how it is done.

Still bizarre that Franklin would go from 2nd best player, to 47th best, back to 3rd best in a little over one season.

[soupman]

Still bizarre that Franklin would go from 2nd best player, to 47th best, back to 3rd best in a little over one season.

Not really. It just shows that Franklin failed to meet expectations last year.

Coming into 2009 he was the dominant premiership key forward who had kicked over 100 goals for the year. Of course he was going to be rated in that top echelon. His season was underwhelming however, so his ranking got pushed behind all the players that had better seasons. And now Sheahan obviously expects him to regain that dominant 2008 form this season. This is just a prediction of his end of year ranking. Really this is just an expectation on where he will be at 6 months from now, not currently.