The Roar
The Roar

Adrian Polykandrites

Expert

Joined February 2016

230k

Views

144

Published

186

Comments

Adrian loves to settle into an elevated seat looking down on the wing and regularly commutes between Docklands and the MCG. You can follow him on twitter at @adrian_poly where he complains too much about how bad footy is on TV. He likes to rank things.

Published

Comments

Good pick up. Jordan Russell at 9, Chris Egan at 10.

Not all AFL picks are created equal

They also drafted Hannebery at pick 30, Parker at pick 40 and got Josh Kennedy for peanuts because the Hawks saw him as surplus to needs.

Not all AFL picks are created equal

Thanks Cam. Definitely think games played is somewhat inflated for pick ones in particular. Teams are usually garbage the year after as well so “hey, look what we’ve got!”

I steered clear of B&F winners because they’re easier to win in bad teams.

Not all AFL picks are created equal

Patton has just turned 23 and has had two knee reconstructions. I think it’s too early to make a call on him either way.

Not all AFL picks are created equal

Some additional notes for anyone interested
Pick 1: Adam Cooney, Brett Deledio, Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs, Matthew Kreuzer, Jack Watts, Tom Scully, David Swallow, Jonathan Patton, Lachie Whitfield
Pick 2: Andrew Walker, Jarryd Roughead, Dale Thomas, Scott Gumbleton, Trent Cotchin, Nic Naitanui, Jack Trengove, Harley Bennell, Stephen Coniglio, Jono O’Rourke
Pick 3: Colin Sylvia, Ryan Griffen, Xavier Ellis, Lachlan Hansen, Chris Masten, Stephen Hill, Dustin Martin, Sam Day, Dom Tyson, Lachie Plowman
Pick 4: Farren Ray, Richard Tambling, Josh J Kennedy, Matthew Leuenberger, Cale Morton, Hamish Hartlett, Anthony Morabito, Andrew Gaff, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Jimmy Toumpas
Pick 5: Brock McLean, Lance Franklin, Scott Pendlebury, Travis Boak, Jarrad Grant, Michael Hurley, Ben Cunnington, Jared Polec, Matt Buntine, Jake Stringer
Pick 6: Kepler Bradley, Tom Williams, Beau Dowler, Mitch Thorp, David Myers, Chris Yarran, Gary Rohan, Reece Conca, Chad Wingard, Jack Macrae
Pick 7: Kane Tenace, Jordan Lewis, Patrick Ryder, Joel Selwood, Rhys Palmer, Daniel Rich, Brad Sheppard, Josh Caddy, Nick Haynes, Ollie Wines
Pick 8: Raph Clarke, John Meesen, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Ben Reid, Lachlan Henderson, Ty Vickery, John Butcher, Dyson Heppell, Billy Longer, Sam Mayes
Pick 9: David Trotter, Jordan Russell, Mitch Clark, David Armitage, Ben McEvoy, Jack Ziebell, Andrew Moore, Dion Prestia, Adam Tomlinson, Nick Vlastuin
Pick 10: Ryley Dunn, Jordan Russell, Marcus Drum, Nathan Brown, Patrick Dangerfield, Phil Davis, Jake Melksham, Daniel Gorringe, Liam Sumner, Joe Daniher

Not all AFL picks are created equal

No doubt 2010 and 2011 in particular were compromised. Having said that, if Wingard went earlier, it only distorts the numbers further in the favour of the top 5. Wingard is the only pick 6 in 2003-2012 to be All-Australian.

Not all AFL picks are created equal

North play GWS in the final round this year, Ryan has suggested North might be resting their players in the final round as they did last year. I think they’ll still have plenty to play for in that final game. It wasn’t a slight on North.

The predicted rise and fall of AFL teams in the second half of 2016

Good stuff Ryan. What’s the number required to constitute a blowout?

The GWS run home is a very nice one, but I doubt North have the luxury of rest this year, plus there’s that stupid pre-finals bye anyway.

The predicted rise and fall of AFL teams in the second half of 2016

Nowhere in this story did I refer to anyone as flat-track bullies. I merely suggested that GWS would likely need to start beating good teams away if they are to finish in the top four. There’s no shame in having a great home-ground advantage.

Are GWS the Eagles of the east?

I meant that St Kilda this is year is probably the best team GWS have beaten away from home. That doesn’t necessarily make it their best win. Apologies.

Are GWS the Eagles of the east?

It means to stamp something and make it official. Thanks for reading.

Forget what you thought you knew

I’ve got a lot of predictions wrong the past two years, but I was pretty confident Waite would be good for North. Great recruiting.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the Crows look pretty darn good

Absolutely nothing in the tangle (if you could even call it that) between Breust and Murphy. Dogs should be much more concerned with why Murphy was left 1v2 in the defensive 50 while they were trying to hold a three-point lead in the final two minutes.

Murphy's Law: Cruel beast cuts down Western hero

The Bulldogs were denied the right to play at their home ground only months ago, Samantha. Most Etihad tenants don’t get to do so. Same goes for Sydney being forced to play at ANZ Stadium in the past.

'West Coast are flat-track bullies': The AFL media's biggest cop-out

Macca, that’s probably true given this is a development year for the Blues. And perhaps I’m imagining him in a stronger team as a halfback. For example, I think if you swapped him and Shaun Burgoyne, the Hawks would hardly skip a beat. Stick him at halfback for the Tigers, Dogs, Crows, Swans or Power and he’d be a star. I really like him as a player.

Bryce Gibbs: Stud or spud?

You can’t hold the No.1 pick against him. I think he’s a good to very good player. My frustration isn’t with him, but with his coaches. I think Gibbs could have been (and still could be) a great halfback, potentially the best in the game – he’s underrated one-on-one, reads the play well and is a beautiful ball user. I wonder if that’s where he would have played most of his career if he was pick 12.

Bryce Gibbs: Stud or spud?

anon, I don’t think you’re on the money saying the Hawks haven’t played any decent teams at Etihad.

2013
Essendon was a very good team derailed by the injections saga. They still won 14 games.
Carlton took their place in the finals. They weren’t bad either.
West Coast and North were middle of the road. St Kilda stunk.

2014
Essendon and North both played finals. North made it to a prelim.

2015
North again played in a prelim
Port mid-table team.
Carlton and St Kilda crap.

Why can't the Western Bulldogs win it all in 2016?

A bit of luck is always required, and the Dogs got that in the heavily compromised 2010 draft with Mitch Wallis (pick 22) and Tom Liberatore (pick 41) as father-son selections. Nonetheless, they’ve hardly missed at the draft since then.

Why can't the Western Bulldogs win it all in 2016?

Good stuff Nick. Really keen to see how the Dogs’ defensive structure holds up on the MCG when they finally get there. Don’t underestimate the importance of Dale Morris both as a defender and instructor in the back half. Morris’ ability to play tall (though not as effectively as earlier in his career) and small makes him just about the perfect “smallball” defender.

The Dogs’ defence suddenly has a lot of pre-Frawley Hawthorn about it: Lake-Adams, Gibson-Wood, Stratton-Morris, Burgoyne-Murphy, Birchall-Johannisen, Mitchell-Boyd. It’s not as good – and there’s no Luke Hodge – but it’s not a surprise Beveridge has constructed such a similar set-up. It’ll be interesting to see if Beveridge reverts to a more traditional set-up if any of Kieran Collins, Joel Hamling or Fletcher Roberts warrant selection.

Understanding the Western Bulldogs' defensive 'smallball' system

I think as good as their mids are, they are perhaps missing at least one speedy, linebreaking runner – a Lewis Jetta type. Hannebery is more of an endurance beast than a linebreaker. It’s something that could potentially be exposed on the MCG and why I’d rate the Hawks’ midfield ahead of the Swans’. But Sydney’s midfield is top-notch. We’ll find out more about the defence as the season rolls on.

Grow up or stay down: the many aspects of maturity

Priddis and Kieren Jack both very close. I think top-10 is the way to go. Hopefully earlier in the week going forward.

AFL player power rankings: Round 1

Going around in circles a bit here. No, not every injury should be looked at. I’ve been pretty clear in that. But the action should be. It’s the action that I have a problem with. AFL says it looked at the action and it wasn’t worthy of suspension, I’m ok with that. I wasn’t satisfied with the explanation, but that’s the case with most of what comes from the AFL.

I wrote about this play because I thought it was worth discussing, plain and simple.

Duncan deserves a suspension for breaking Hodge's arm

I attend a lot of games involving teams I don’t barrack for, including this one. Same goes for the person I was with.

Duncan deserves a suspension for breaking Hodge's arm

“Looked like the elbow was raised, that didn’t actually do any damage to Luke Hodge.”
“It wasn’t a great action, but he was very fortunate that he didn’t actually get Luke Hodge in the head.”

As I’ve said Samantha, I’m not saying he should be suspended, but neither of those explanations cut it for me.
If he’d broken his nose – which is a less significant injury – he’d be gone?

“He was entitled to be in that contest … it wasn’t in any way careless.”
I call complete BS on this; I think it was a weak act by Duncan. If he’d thrown a fist at the ball, he could have KO’d Hodge and I would have thought nothing of it, because at least he was making a play on the footy.

“Unfortunately sometimes accidents do happen on the football field … and we can’t penalise all the accidents.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this. One of my pet hates is that the AFL often doesn’t consider a free kick a sufficient penalty and pushes a suspension.

I may not have been eloquent enough in my article, but I wasn’t trying to rub Duncan out, simply trying to say that it should be looked at and that it should just be given the OK because it wasn’t a head injury.

It should be more nuanced that “hit in the head = gone” “Everything else = part of the game”.

Duncan deserves a suspension for breaking Hodge's arm

“I have not seen the incident but, based on what I have read, it seems Duncan delivered a fair hip and shoulder bump in the course of play”

This is what I take issue with more than the incident itself: The commentary that it was “just part of the game”. I’m not saying Duncan should have been suspended, but he most certainly did not deliver a “fair hip and shoulder bump”.

Duncan deserves a suspension for breaking Hodge's arm

close