Almanac Footy: The AA
The AA
The same old bullshit. The influence of PR over selection makes the whole thing worthless. God, where do I start?
9 midfielders. Cheapens everything. Deprives genuine wingers, forwards, backs of their rightful moment in the sun. INFURIATING!
Daicos, wing? WHY? Oh, because he’s popular. If Cripps and Bont were better, then too bad, too sad. Token and shallow. Every fan knows it. It just shows what a hollow buncha gloss the AFL is today.
Two CHBs, no FB? WHY? Harris Andrews, mate, I feel for ya! Steven May, several others.
Max Gawn first ruck? Why not just pull him off? Not in the best three rucks this year. Not in hitouts, not in anything. Ruckman’s first roll is to hit the ball to a player cleanly. Turn chaos in to sweet order. Then, to tackle and block, clear the packs for the runners. Then mark and run. Max was not the best at any of these this year. Not even close. But pumping someone in the team up as the best of all time (not) is great for PR. (Just think of Sos in the ToC). Max, sometimes, it’s harder to get out of the AA than in.
And no backup ruckman. Why? Oh, THREE MORE MIDFIELDERSS on the bench!
The whole thing reeks of popularity contests. Why not just do it by vote? Or, better yet, all these midfielders, pick the team by stats.
Curnow out is absurd.
Blakey, brilliant dash, but mighty turnovers. Who cares, he looks good!
No forward pockets, AT ALL!
Only ONE Half-forward.
Why? Midfielders.
Just a dog’s breakfast. Not fair on those who missed out, and even more-so, not fair on those who deserved to be in it. This ‘team’ just makes fans angry. Belittles the concept. Imagine being in a premiership team, and all you her from the outer is “What a joke!”.
The AA is a brilliant concept.
This garbage is not fair on anyone.
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Agree old dog. Like they’re bashing a square peg into a round hole.
To be honest I don’t take much notice but a quick review of this team revealed your truths. It’s a gimmick.
The backline is ordinary.
Here here Matt. An absolute farce and insult to the us the poor mugs who cough up their hard earned every year only to put up with rubbish that the AFL spits out. They’ve been asked about the methodology behind the AA selection many times and they still can’t explain it, much like their concussion policy. Cam Wilkie won every one on one contest this year and played every game! McGovern? It beggars belief.
Not that fussed but the backline Zorko and Blakey aside is devoid of pace and a team with genuinely quick and clever small forwards would run riot against them I reckon
I can cop Dylan Moore in the forward pocket but Waterman in lieu of another genuine small forward pocket doesn’t work for me
Daicos should be in the team but not picked as a wingman
Lots of players unlucky to miss out but its hard to fit 40 genuine contenders into 22
Rolled gold Old Dog.
Well said, the AFL is just a meme these days! Just govern the football & leave the rest to the experts. Pretty sure there’s no one in the organisation who’d be worth having a beer with! If you think the AA Squad is compromised don’t look at the Fixture ?
‘Popularity contest” sums it up Matt.
And to driven by stats, without a lot of understanding about what the stats are telling us.
Cheers
My beef was it lacked balance wasn’t picked with a actual game in mind forward line way to tall
Waterman out – Stengle or Daniels likewise lacked dash out of defense- I’m not as critical re Gawn still scored the most coaches votes out of any ruckman -while I totally agree re midfielders interestingly -JHF was the most unlucky imo to miss out
I know these teams always create angst, but personally I feel it’s important to have lots of midfielders included. All footy teams have a cast of thousands in the midfield these days…spread out across half-back, wing, half-forward, interchange, etc. all rotating through the middle. So wouldn’t this mean the selectors are just trying to emulate a modern footy team? In any case, Heeney and Warner I reckon are great choices as half-forwards as they kick goals, big goals. And Dylan Moore simply had to be in there (I don’t think Stengle quite nailed the FP position, as some have said). I agree Waterman ahead of Curnow was surprising – although Charlie’s second half of season wasn’t great and hampered by injury, and maybe Waterman did well to kick his goals in a struggling team.
I felt Merrett was stiff not to be included. I know, another midfielder!
Damian, yeah, I would have picked Merrett over several others. (But not as well as! haha)