still waiting for some positivity about the squad...
OK - here goes!
Goalkeepers; if Moss is indeed injured, then these are probably the best 3 keepers around - especially as I doubt that Gleeson would be released to play, as Portlands number 1 is out injured.
Defenders; I'll say this upfront; I would have picked Tommy Smith. Having said that, Anfony has ruled him out so will go with that. I'm a bit 50/50 on the Reid omission, but can see the reasons behind it. Ricki pissed Michael Fitzgerald off. Anfony pissed Durante and Sigmund off. Storm Roux and Deklan Wynne are injured. Musa is ineligible. Old is shark. Aside from Adam Mitchell, I don't know who else is worthy of selection in defence? Right back is thin. Left back is thin (a shame that Hogg went off the boil). Centre of defence is thin. But who else is sticking their hand up? Maybe Nikko Boxall, but I'd wager none of us have ever seen him.
Midfield; Keat is injured, Thomas is injured, Cameron is injured......Henderson will probably get injured, Chris James definitely worth a shot, rather than Dyer. I'm surprised more isn't made of Benji vdB? Playing second level Holland must count in his favour? OK, apparently he is unpopular....but I chalk that up to him being of a different culture, and sometimes these things happen. In my work we have different ethnicities, and it's hard to meld them together sometimes - humour is different, outlooks are different. It seems that if a player is hard work, or differently motivated, then Anfony doesn't want them which seems to raise questions over his man management?
Forwards; With de Vries ineligible, I am thinking only Tyler Boyd and Hamish Watson can be considered unlucky here. Brockie would consider himself unlucky, but is he really? We aren't blessed for natural attackers, but the forwards Anfony has selected aren't too bad. Would Jai Ingham at Melbourne be worth a shot? Andre de Jong? Both are punts.
It's been mentioned by everyone that our defence is terrible - but under the current parameters of all our senior defenders out for a variety of reasons, the ones selected seem to be about the best Plan B available?
Our midfield should be stronger, and it seems that the coaches one-size-fits-all approach might backfire there
And the forwards could be tweaked, but it's a matter of opinion as to how much improvement can be made
so positives.......it's about 80-90% as good a squad as it could be under the circumstances? (yes, circumstances brought about by the current regime, but hey-ho)