Round 1 Team, 2025

[bulldogtragic]

Assuming CD, Jack & Smith get traded and no mature players come in. Still looks solid with 100% effort.


B: Dale L. Jones JOD
HB: Bramble Lobb Freijah
C: Williams Libba Sanders
HF: West Naughton McNeil
F: Darcy Marra Weightman
R: English Bont Treloar
I: Richards VDM Gags/Garcia Doc Harmes
E: Coff Khamis Garcia/Gags

Depth: JJ?, Keath?, Scott, Baker, Poulter, Gardner, Smith, Cleary


Pups to surprise?: Buss, Sanders, Croft, Clarke, A. Jones
Draftees x 4-5
DFA: Small forward would be nice for depth; McHenry, Taylor, J. Jones available & maybe Konstanty too

Garcia & Harmes take the fringe roles vacated by CD & Jack.


If we can get some development in our good kids, some kids in the fringe force themselves into the 23 and nail most of picks then things look pretty good. There?s plenty of cash to keep trying to attract players next year and then of course West and possibly Cooney the year after.

[JanLorMill]

Keath again is a worry.

[Axe Man]

Keath again is a worry.

There is a fair chance he's not on the list next year but even if he is he is going to be a fair way back in the KPD depth chart. That would be the least of my worries.

[Axe Man]

Assuming CD, Jack & Smith get traded and no mature players come in. Still looks solid with 100% effort.


B: Dale L. Jones JOD
HB: Bramble Lobb Freijah
C: Williams Libba Sanders
HF: West Naughton McNeil
F: Darcy Marra Weightman
R: English Bont Treloar
I: Richards VDM Gags/Garcia Doc Harmes
E: Coff Khamis Garcia/Gags

Depth: JJ?, Keath?, Scott, Baker, Poulter, Gardner, Smith, Cleary


Pups to surprise?: Buss, Sanders, Croft, Clarke, A. Jones
Draftees x 4-5
DFA: Small forward would be nice for depth; McHenry, Taylor, J. Jones available & maybe Konstanty too

Garcia & Harmes take the fringe roles vacated by CD & Jack.


If we can get some development in our good kids, some kids in the fringe force themselves into the 23 and nail most of picks then things look pretty good. There?s plenty of cash to keep trying to attract players next year and then of course West and possibly Cooney the year after.

The wing that Williams isn't on is still a concern. We need Sanders to get games but I'm not sure he's suited to the wing. There are a few candidates but no clear choice. Hopefully someone will emerge over the preseason.

[dukedog]

JF on a wing. CD if he stays to HB. Sanders on the interchange. Harmes Emergency.

Either Keith or Gardner delist. Buss needs game time if jones or lobb go down.

Darcy to kick 50+ goals next year if he stays fit.

I can see Jamarra going to Tassie and croft being good to go by then. 2 first round picks on good young mids to come through for Libba replacements.

[Axe Man]

JF on a wing. CD if he stays to HB. Sanders on the interchange. Harmes Emergency.

Either Keith or Gardner delist. Buss needs game time if jones or lobb go down.

Darcy to kick 50+ goals next year if he stays fit.

I can see Jamarra going to Tassie and croft being good to go by then. 2 first round picks on good young mids to come through for Libba replacements.

Gardner is contracted for 2 more years, he won't be delisted.

[bornadog]

Keath again is a worry.

There is a fair chance he's not on the list next year but even if he is he is going to be a fair way back in the KPD depth chart. That would be the least of my worries.

He was cooked two years ago

[Rocco Jones]

Breaking it down into roles, here are my thoughts:

KPDs

Would be awesome if Jones and Lobb can stay to a similar level to this season. Worried about Jones being a bit cooked, hopefully it was more his knee and he is able to get over it.

With the 3rd tall we seemed to like to go with a medium/tall type in JOD or Buku. Makes sense for the spot but I didn't think either bought enough when it mattered. They were able to take intercept marks when we were on top and the delivery from opposition was predictable but struggled otherwise.

To me it's like playing an allrounder who can't really bat or bowl well enough for a spot in the side. I'd like to see Buss in the side if we believe he has the confidence to go for intercept marks in AFL. Lacks mobility but at least gives us a strength. 3 talls who can take an intercept mark when it gets tough.

Smaller defenders

Dale looked back to being an elite HBF. Doc looked at least passable/serviceable as a small defender and having more of the same next season would be a W. Bramble also passable as a foot soldier type there. Would like to free up Freijah to play on the wing. If JJ stays fit, I think he will still be quality with his ability to breaking lines. A massive if though.

CBA guys

Bont, Adz and Ed the main guys. Hope we are more proactive with their time outside of CBAs, like not moving Bont forward just when he is tagged out of the game. Really need Ed to step up when Bont is down. Leaves one main spot free and thinking it's time for Libba to exit and Sanders to get a real crack at it.

Wings

Truck and Freijah could be our best wing duo for awhile.

KPFs and ruck

Bundling them in.

Pretty clear now English isn't really a pure R1. Positive is, he has the attributes to influence the game forward and most would have seen him more as a ruck/fwd hybrid, maybe time to really see how that goes. I'd like to see Darcy and English share the ruck if we see Sam as able to take on a bigger load there. Perhaps time i based on how game is going, a bit harder to predict for the opposition. Using our lack of a constant R1 as a bit of an advantage.

Marra and Naughts in the other two roles and we just need to extract as much as we can from the four. Could receive a massive boost in this area or continue to be frustrated/realise perhaps they are overrated and/or unbalanced as a collective.

Smaller forwards

Probably go in with Cody, a deeper small forward and two high HFFs/pressure act types.

A bit of a view we are top heavy with the 3 tall forwards. Cody's poor games really heightens the issue imo as he kinda plays tall. He has been really poor when we've struggled. Would love to see him get a bigger crack at pre-season to cover more ground. Need him to have some influence in games other than kicking 2-3 goals.

West is a bit goals or nothing too but can bob up when we are struggling. Not as dangerous as Cody.

I think the MC are aware that McNeil and Vanders, particularly the latter, are not world beaters but perhaps two of the only players on our list able to play the HFF/pressure forward role with their speed, agility, stamina and intent. Would love to have options for this role that fill the prerequisites and also impact the scoreboard. Might be a factor in chasing XOH. Arty there too.

Fringe guys

Wonder what we do with players like Harmes and Garcia. I am huge on using VFL to replicate what you want to see in AFL and it does my head in seeing our guys have a stack of CBAs in VFL then playing wing/HFF/small fwd in AFL. I get it for young players as you are balancing short and long term but not anyone else.

Do we see Garcia and/or Harmes as getting CBAs in AFL at all? Perhaps Garcia but can't see if for Harmes. I'd just play him forward in VFL if that's the case. Really give him a crack at it. Same as Daniel for whatever role we see for him.

[bornadog]

Great post RJ and a good summary of the team.

We really need to build up some young mids for the future, an area that could be a problem, especially if we have injuries.

A Duryea and JJ replacement is the other area we need to cover in the future. Is this an area that either Harmes, Gags or Garcia can be played?

Just on JOD, most people are surprised to see that he is 197cm but seems to play like a midsized HBF/BP. We need him to develop more and take the next step. He is only 22 and played 26 games, so he has lots of development left.

[Rocco Jones]

Yeah, forgot to mention Gags too.

I'd love to see a bit more purpose with how we use Garcia, Sanders, Gags and Harmes. Daniel too if he stays.

Playing VFL in a role that's setting them up for AFL. Sanders a bit different as an eye on the future too but if we are planning to play him on the wing and/or forward in the AFL, replicate that more with his time in the VFL.

[azabob]

Gardner is contracted for 2 more years, he won't be delisted.

Prove it.

[MrMahatma]

Are we excited by Sanders still? If he was in the year's draft at our pick, would we take him?

I feel like he needs to overtake Libba now. If he's too good for VFL (which I think he is) so should be in the AFL, then I think Libba is likely to get the Jacko/Daniel treatment next season.

[GVGjr]

Are we excited by Sanders still? If he was in the year's draft at our pick, would we take him?

I feel like he needs to overtake Libba now. If he's too good for VFL (which I think he is) so should be in the AFL, then I think Libba is likely to get the Jacko/Daniel treatment next season.

Very excited by having Sanders on our list and it was great to get some games of development in him before the 2025 season. We will now have a vastly better idea of what he needs to work on over the summer.