That wasnt the point, Birdman. The point I was making was that the Crows have prospered despite a lack of top 10 picks.

The Crows have probably had more of those regrets than any other current team, though

No team goes into a rebuild looking for late first round picks. Top 5 picks are what they are after and the Crows have done a terrific job of building a team without these

Tough on the Crows. Had they not lost Dangerfield, Gunston, Davis, Bock and Tippett, they may well have had a crack at the premiership.

FB: Lever, Talia, Cheeney
HB: Laird, Davis, Brown
C: Atkins, Sloane, Milera
HF: Cameron, Walker, Gunston
FF: Betts, Jenkins, McGovern
FOL: Tippett, Dangerfield, M Crouch
INT: Smith, Douglas, Knight, Seedsman

Apart from GWS, that would be comfortably the best team in the league. Dominant through the middle, forward and back, with plenty of height and pace. Obviously it hasn’t worked out, but the Crows recruiting with no single-digit picks has been outstanding.

On the Dogs, they weren’t exactly dominant throughout the 2016 season, they finished 7th. There are certainly hole’s in the Dog’s best 22 that can be exposed and they are certainly no lock for the grand final.

Technically Crouch wasnt a top 10 pick in the national draft

Stop what you’re doing, mate, because it is far less important that watching Top Gun

Going head-to-head with the Crows is a recipe for disaster. Since the Crows changed from their pure slingshot gameplan in round 8 last year, their 3 losses came against teams that beat the Crows defensively. In those 3 losses, the Crows averaged 69 points and their forwards were completely shut down.

They way to beat the Crows, is pressure them around the ball, man up that outside runner they have at contests, and force them to kick long. As good as they are, the Crows talls struggle under the high ball, with Walker and Lynch preferring to overwork their opponents and lead up at the ball.

The keys for the Hawks will be their backline and midfield, which, from the looks of round 1, are both lacking

I don’t think we’ve seen the Hawks defend like that for 5 years. They were woeful. Their back six struggled with even the basics on the night. They let the ball go over the back too many times (see Fantasia’s drop kick goal at the end of the 1st quarter as just one example) and at times just seemed to lack effort. Burgoyne was fumbly, slow and very poor defensively and Frawley had some bad moments too. Fantasia was excellent, but 3 of his four goals came from horrible efforts from the Hawk’s back six

Could it have just been some round one rust? We will find out this week in the biggest test in the competition (The Crows forward line – not the entire team)

Wayne Milera was one you missed in the “Five Impressive Youngsters”, Jonty. He’s only played 9 games and would have been close to a rising star nomination. Every one of his 23 touches was gold. The way me glided across the ground, danced around tackles and delivered the ball was poetry in motion. He’s got about 12kg behind him, but once he adds some size and starts rolling through the centre, he will become a very special player. His only other knock, is that he doesn’t seem to realise just how talented he is. TAKE THE GAME ON, BOY!

Oh Zaine Cordy! My apologies! With him the Dogs won’t concede a goal all year!

Paul W, a 193cm, fourth round pick, key defender in just his third year is not going to stop Jenkins from kicking 8, and no one expects him to. The fact is that the Dogs can struggle against key forwards. For goodness sake, even Stanley kicked a bag against them.No team is perfect and I am just highlighting an area of the Dogs lineup that can be exploited by other clubs.

But yes, I had the wrong Cordy in mind, my apologies. It does highlight the Dogs struggles in the Ruck however

By an absolute mile

He was clearly lacking motivation at the Pies and, when up and going, is one of the competitions most dangerous key forwards. If Beverage can get the best out of him, he could be a force again

I Hate Pies, considering they could find no answer for Jenkins and conceeded 11 goals to 2 player, my point is far from mute.

Paul W, Cordy playing 11 games speaks for itself. Ruck department in trouble. Yes, the small defenders provide plenty of run and scoring opportunities, but it is clearly a double edges sword that can be exposed. In their loss to the Giants, Cameron kicked 5. Hawkins bagged 4 in one of the Cat’s wins against the Dogs and Stanley (yes, even stanley kicked a bag against the Dogs) kicked 5 in the other win. Reiwoldt had 4 against them in the Saints win.

Yes, the Dogs clearly made the GF, but you cannot deny that there is this hole in their best 22.

I agree that the Dogs are very very unlikely to fall outside of the 8, but dont think they are a lock for top 4 like so many are suggesting. In terms of personnel, I rate their best 22 behind GWS, Sydney, West Coast, Adelaide and Geelong and on par with the Hawks.

Beverage’s game plan is what got them to the Grand Final, but requires a full team buy-in. Any lapse in concentration from the players and they will be in serious trouble

Roberts was playing when Jerka kicked 8 and Cordy is far from a dominant ruckman

Paul W, that wasn’t the point, but Roberts still gives away plenty of size and strength to Jenkins.

You don’t put them up forward either mate. Apparently its through the guts, no matter how big they’re getting.

The Tigers haven’t, and won’t, move Rance, simply because you don’t move someone when they’re in that good form. It’d take a couple preseasons for Rance to understand the leading patterns and gain some cohesion the other forwards, but, with his marking and athletic traits, im sure he’d be an excellent forward

I have made the same comments, Cam, suggesting that the Dogs are no certainty for the final dance as many are predicting, however I can’t see Beverage letting his team slip from the 8 altogether.

One point you failed to raise, was the strength of the Dog’s best 22, which, if you look closely, is a little underwhelming compared to other finals contenders.

FB: M Boyd, M Adams, E Wood
HB: R Murphy, D Morris, J Johannisen
C: L Hunter, M Bontempelli, J Macrae
HF: L Dalhaus, T Boyd, L Picken
FF: J Stringer, T Cloke, T Dickson
FOL: J Roughead, T Liberatore, M Wallis

INT: S Biggs, C Daniel, C Smith, M Suckling

Down back, it is undersized and can be caught out against power forwards. Against a team like the Crows, Adams gives away 7cm to Jenkins, Morris 4cm to Walker, Wood 5cm to McGovern and then someone else has to tackle the 191cm Lynch. When they played last year, it was Jenkins with 8 and Lynch with 3.

Through the middle, they are hard workers (apart from Bontempelli), but lack pace and polish. Without the 3rd man up, they will struggle in the ruck too.

Up forward, there’s a question mark over who will kick the goals. Tom Boyd hasn’t shown promising signs this preseason and Stringer only performs once a month. The rest, again, are hard workers.

They made their finals assault last year off dominating the contested ball and simply outworking the opposition across the ground. Any lapse in their concentration and commitment after the Grand Final will see them worked out very quickly.

Do you agree that Priddis was THE BEST player in 2014, Cooney in ’08 and Woewodin in ’00??

I agree that 6 is perhaps a bit steep and that I’d certainly have Lynch ahead of him. I was more commenting more on “if your a really exceptional key position talent then you’d be a forward”

Wood is perhaps on par with Rance in terms of offensive output, but lacks Rance’s defensive prowess. Rance can play tall or small and is the best stopper in the game, giving him the edge over Wood.

I agree, in a similar way that pinpointing a 60m kick is one of the easiest things for Hurn on the field. While most can read the play well, there seems to be a big difference in the ability of Harry Taylor and Daniel Talia, even though you could make a case for both being “natural footballers”

If intercepting the pill is just a standard task for all defenders, why did you rate Rance as a top 10 player? Surely just punching a ball every now and then wasn’t enough to get him there

But, I agree that Mills had one of the easiest jobs of any first year player, but my thinking was more towards the cheap uncontested possessions half-back’s often get. Having his immense talent would’ve helped too

With the exception of the odd kick that goes wildly off course, a kick to a key forward very rarely gives the defender the advantage. While not every kick is “undefendable” most give the forward some sort of advantage. To be able to out mark a forward in this situation is extremely difficult and something that only very few can do.

Coming third man up is certainly easier, but knowing when to go and reading what the kicker is going to do before they do it is a terrific skill that not all defenders possess.

As I mentioned below, intercepting the ball is becoming more and more important in football and those that can do it regularly are invaluable

Yes, punching a ball is easy and doesnt take much skill, but the role of the key defender has changed. The difference between an ok defender that just gets the job done like Lynden Dunn and an elite defender like Rance is staggering. Not only does Rance defend, but he intercepts and provides rebound.

Intercepting the ball in the air is a truly difficult and underrated task. As a key forward, you lead, get the ball put to your advantage and take the mark, but as a defender you are already behind the 8 ball. Playing one-on-one, you must out position your opponent or, as a spare man, you must anticipate where the ball is going to land and often put yourself in the path of a 100kg animal set on destruction.

Yes, it is not always that straightforward for a key forward, but it never is for a key defender. Top 10 is a fair assessment of Rance.

In a game where intercept possessions are becoming more and more important, the games biggest butcherer of the ball (Dustin Martin) does not deserve to be labelled as a top 10 player.

In 2015, 57% of all scores came from turnovers and the number was even greater last year. Even when chasing kicks in the back-half of the ground, Martin had more clangers than any other player in the competition. When he didn’t butcher the ball, it was just a long kick up the wing to a contest. Nothing dangerous about that.

– On a side note, it would be interesting to know the % of a players possessions were retained by the team (i.e. in how often richmond stay in possession of the ball after Martin disposes of it)

While players like Sloane, JP Kennedy and Pendlebury do not share Martin’s explosive power, they lower their eyes more often and hit the more dangerous target. All 3 finished in the top 15 for score involvements last year while Martin was back at number 54.

There are plenty of players in the competition who can find the ball like Martin, but the difference between them and a top 10 player is the ability to dispose of the ball efficiently and put their team in a much better position. I view him more as a 15-20 player, require that bit more polish to push into the true elite of the game

Most people seem to overlook the performances of the Crows and the Dogs during the 2016 home and away season.

After readjusting their game plan at round 8, the Crows lead the league in clearances and inside 50. During this stretch, the Crows dominated a Giants midfield that champion data ranks as the 3rd best in the competition. In fact, the only team that the Crows found themselves unable to compete with throughout the year was the Cats. Yes, they staggered late in the year against the Eagles and Swans, but both times it seemed to be a lack of intent at the start of the game, rather than an inability to compete, that saw the Crows lose.

As for the Dogs, while they had an outstanding finals campaign, their regular season was far from a team with a 0% chance of missing finals. They finished 7th and were far from flag favourites. When you look at their list, they are far from being the most talented team in the competition. Their defence is undersized and can struggle against big forwards, the midfield has a lot of hard workers (and Bont), but probably lacks the class of GWS, Geelong, Collingwood and Sydney and the forward line is also undersized. The Dogs found themselves in the Grand Final thanks to Beverage’s outstanding defensive system and an ability to outwork and outmuscle the opposition. If there is any sort of a premiership hangover, the Dogs could be in strife

The Crows forward line is far from top heavy. While there are 4 talls, Lynch is mobile and spends more time up the ground and McGovern is an athletic freak who was initially brought into the team for his defensive pressure. Him, along with Betts, Cameron and Douglas provide more than enough pressure

Huge call on the Suns. The only reason they were so low this year was their horrible run with injury that had them worse off than the Bombers at times this year.

Through the midfield the Suns have Ablett, Swallow, Barlow, Lyons, Miller, Hall and add in top 10 picks Bowes and Brodie

Ablett is perhaps the best player of all time when injury free, Swallow is tough and classy, as is Miller and Barlow is a workhorse. Lyons was statistically one of the best midfielders at impacting the scoreboard this year (up there with Dangerfield, Zorko and Gray), while Hall has pace to burn.

In terms of key pillars, Lynch is one of the best young key forwards in the compeition, while Day and Wright are improving and have shown some exciting moments. May and Thompson are solid down back.

Around all that, the Suns have some serious talent in Jack Martin, Hanley, Ah Chee, Kolodjashnij, Saad and more 2016 top 10 draft picks in Ainsworth and Scrimshaw.

With that much talent in a team, only another horrific year of injuries could see them fall to 17th on the ladder