Analysis Best forward lines of 2024

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You're selling West Coast a bit short I think. I'd rate them higher than the bolded teams for 2024.

Allen, Ryan, Brockman, Maric, Long, Reid is pretty dynamic.

Given a half decent midfield they'd be able to kick winning scores semi regularly.
That group has played 226 games in total. Allen and Ryan responsible for 171 of them.

Yuk.
 
Honestly it's still Geelong and by a long way

Key talls: Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins
Mediums: Oliver Henry, Gary Rohan
Smalls: Brad Close, Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Shaun Mannagh

S tier: Geelong
A tier: Brisbane, Collingwood, Adelaide, GWS
B tier: Carlton, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Richmond
C tier: Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Essendon
D tier: Melbourne, North Melbourne, Fremantle
F tier: West Coast

What's the justification for the Dogs being so low?

Current stars
Naughton
Ugle-Hagen
Weightman

Next Generation
Darcy
Croft
Clark

Resting forward
Bontempelli
Lobb
English
Smith

They underachieve, but it's far better than what Hawthorn have been putting up for example. Jury is still out on how Chol and Ginnivan will really adapt to a new club. Hopefully very well! But nothing is a guaranteed..
 
brisbane, adelaide and geelong probably have the best combinations overall between good kpf and dangerous smalls. geelong and adelaide would be hoping hawkins and walker respectively can keep their form up going into 2023 as that is who they structure around and both of them are in the twilight of their careers. a dropoff from either of these two could see their respective forward lines suffer.

richmond is a bit behind the first 3. if lynch misses significant games like he did in 2023 they will struggle to cover him once again, but they have multiple avenues to goal and their forward pressure game has always been strong

collingwood and gws have servicable kpf but elite mosquito fleets. this is probably going to be the way the game is played more in the future, with a greater emphasis on small forwards who bring pressure and can lock the ball in forward 50, we are seeing speed, pressure and team defence become more important each year in the afl - quality small forwards provide all of these

beyond this 6 it gets a lot more difficult but i would rank them:

1. geelong
2. brisbane
3. adelaide
gap
4. richmond
5. gws
6. collingwood
 

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What's the justification for the Dogs being so low?

Current stars
Naughton
Ugle-Hagen
Weightman

Next Generation
Darcy
Croft
Clark

Resting forward
Bontempelli
Lobb
English
Smith

They underachieve, but it's far better than what Hawthorn have been putting up for example. Jury is still out on how Chol and Ginnivan will really adapt to a new club. Hopefully very well! But nothing is a guaranteed..
their small / medium forwards are crap outside of weightman who although a good player, i would not describe as a 'star'. hawthorn's on paper seems to have a much better mix between decent talls and smalls
 
Playmaking centre half-backs are just as if not more valuable than spearhead forwards these days. I agree Naughton would be a better defender than he is forward, and the Dogs have the luxury of having other highly rated forwards already at their disposal. They wouldn’t be robbing Peter to pay Paul

Problem is that Naughton due to his lack of kicking skills isnt a play making centre half back, not only is he an inconsistent kick but also he's not a penetrating kick. He would be a liability in defence.

His forward pressure is A+, Hugely underrated element of his game.
 
What's the justification for the Dogs being so low?

Current stars
Naughton
Ugle-Hagen
Weightman

Next Generation
Darcy
Croft
Clark

Resting forward
Bontempelli
Lobb
English
Smith

They underachieve, but it's far better than what Hawthorn have been putting up for example. Jury is still out on how Chol and Ginnivan will really adapt to a new club. Hopefully very well! But nothing is a guaranteed..

How many goals are the “next generation” going to produce next season? Croft won’t play a game and will probably play defence anyway. Clarke has not played a game. Darcy has had extremely little exposure and won’t play while Naughton, JUH and Lobb are in the side.

You’ve named three established players who if they are stars, are on the lower end of being stars, and then some rolls of the dice that may or not produce.

I’d rather the Hawks set-up on the end of the Bulldogs’ midfield any day. Mitch Lewis is a stud albeit injury plagued, Breust and Moore are small forwards better than Weightman. Ginnivan is a potent goal kicker. If Ginni, Chol and Gunston are weak links, they’re still better than the likes of Scott and West who regularly feature in the Bulldogs’ front half.
 
It’s extremely unproven. Rating on what’s been dished up so far, it’s the league’s worst. Allen is a stud; Ryan’s best is sensational but we haven’t seen it for three seasons. Rest is all potential.
You’ve got Cripps and Darling to add in there who are pretty proven

A forward line of

Cripps - Darling - Reid

Ryan - Allen - Waterman

with Maric / Long / Brockman in reserve is better than a few out there
 
Honestly it's still Geelong and by a long way

Key talls: Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins
Mediums: Oliver Henry, Gary Rohan
Smalls: Brad Close, Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Shaun Mannagh

S tier: Geelong
A tier: Brisbane, Collingwood, Adelaide, GWS
B tier: Carlton, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Richmond
C tier: Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Essendon
D tier: Melbourne, North Melbourne, Fremantle
F tier: West Coast
Collingwood are B tier at best. More likely C tier.
Only Mihocek kicked more than 40 goals, Hill and Elliot in the 30's, then you had Mids kicking just as many goals as any other forward.

Edit: was going to post this before the McStay news which is pretty horrible.
 
Collingwood are B tier at best. More likely C tier.
Only Mihocek kicked more than 40 goals, Hill and Elliot in the 30's, then you had Mids kicking just as many goals as any other forward.

Edit: was going to post this before the McStay news which is pretty horrible.
No McStay drops it to B tier. He was kicking 2 goals a game after returning from injury.

What’s better? To have one or two individuals kick 40 goals, or to have 4 or 5 kick 25+? Collingwood’s forward spread is a killer, with several players on any given week a chance to kick 3+. Each forward contributes up the ground too. McCreery is the only constant forward member that isn’t a consistent goal kicking threat but his pressure is elite and he’s frequently roughing up and tackling opponents. A forward group lead by Mihocek, Hill, Elliott and Schultz is very dangerous. Clearly one of the better ones going around.
 
No McStay drops it to B tier. He was kicking 2 goals a game after returning from injury.

What’s better? To have one or two individuals kick 40 goals, or to have 4 or 5 kick 25+? Collingwood’s forward spread is a killer, with several players on any given week a chance to kick 3+. Each forward contributes up the ground too. McCreery is the only constant forward member that isn’t a consistent goal kicking threat but his pressure is elite and he’s frequently roughing up and tackling opponents. A forward group lead by Mihocek, Hill, Elliott and Schultz is very dangerous. Clearly one of the better ones going around.
I think Collingwood's an example of a middling forward line on paper suiting perfectly what you've got in the rest of the ground.

You've got a defence that's elite especially with the rebound it provides. Then a midfield that is solid inside but great in transition.

That leads to a decent number of inside 50s with an open forward line where guys like Hill, Elliott and Mihocek thrive. I wonder if opponents drop men behind the ball more and try to create more congestion next year to challenge that forward line in a different way.
 

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Honestly it's still Geelong and by a long way

Key talls: Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins
Mediums: Oliver Henry, Gary Rohan
Smalls: Brad Close, Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Shaun Mannagh

S tier: Geelong
A tier: Brisbane, Collingwood, Adelaide, GWS
B tier: Carlton, Sydney, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn, Richmond
C tier: Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Gold Coast, Essendon
D tier: Melbourne, North Melbourne, Fremantle
F tier: West Coast
Come on Bro...It's the only good line we've got, I've our mids improve again this year, we'll start kicking some good scores.
Our defense however! Once Gov get his usual injury and TB is coving 4 spots at once. Uggggh.
 
Nope that's the worst forward line by a mile.
Jack Darling had a stinker last year playing with one arm and a bad back and still managed to average the same number of goals per game as Harry McKay. When we get the ball in there we’re more efficient than most, it’s our midfield that’s the problem.
 
Problem is they have Naughton, JUH, Darcy and now Croft. Realistically you only really want 2 of those 4 in the forward line, 3 at a pinch but even then it is super top heavy and you would not want the ball to hit the deck.

Croft is miles away from a debut and will be developed as a backman. Darcy 'should' play more games this year. Probably at the expense of Lobb.

I think the ball hitting the deck is fine with Naughton's ability to pressure and tackle. Jamarra isn't too bad either. It's the Darcy/Lobb types that become liabilitys when the ball hits the deck.
 
gunston won 3 flags and was the weakest link in brisbane's forward line for most of 2023. relevance?
But Gunston looked cooked & nowhere near the player he was during his premiership years.
 
Port Adelaide's forward line will be superb next season.
Welcome back Georgiades and with improvements from Marshall & Lord, they now have added flexibility with Ratugolea able to play multiple positions (ruck, forward, back) if injury happens to cut any key tall down at any stage.

In fact, overall, Port Adelaide nailed it during the 2023 trade period.
 
Port Adelaide's forward line will be superb next season.
Welcome back Georgiades and with improvements from Marshall & Lord, they now have added flexibility with Ratugolea able to play multiple positions (ruck, forward, back) if injury happens to cut any key tall down at any stage.

In fact, overall, Port Adelaide nailed it during the 2023 trade period.
No Dixon and their forward
Line crumbles .. but they have a lot of goal kicking mids to keep them winning
 

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Analysis Best forward lines of 2024

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