Top Defenders Poll

[_wato]

Anyone considering Houli? Haven't seen his name anywhere.

Did pretty well in 2015 - but injuries got him last year.

Has one of the better ceilings for a defender, but does tend to waste the ball a little and put in the odd stinker.

I like his bye and POD factor though  ???

Yuck... WAY too many scores under 70 for my liking. The odd 150 makes him look tasty but he is irrelevant imo

[eaglesman]

Lycett firming for me also eagles, not because you mentioned him but because reports out of WA is that he is firming for a start Round 1.

I'm legit considering Lycett and Ryder forward with witts r2. I believe will go 100 so if something goes pear shaped gives me some flexibility.

A lot of water to go under the bridge yet

[RaisyDaisy]

He has a great bye, but I don't think I would be picking Rance

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-21/tigers-play-it-safe-with-gun-defender-after-hamstring-setback

"[Rance] has been looking after a tendinitis thing that he has had," Tigers football manager Neil Balme told News Corp.

"He could play (this weekend) if it were a real (home and away season) game, but he probably hasn’t done the work to do [play] yet.

"We are just trying to get him up to speed so he doesn't have a chronic year."

[Gigantor]

flower, I've had him all year as a POD over Adams because "Adams has never played a full year and Dance never gets injured" haha
Hopefully enough cheap rookies are available so I can go Shaw and Doc

[shaker]

This just compounds the lack of R12 bye players

[RaisyDaisy]

Montagna has a calf strain and won't play until JLT 3

The club expect he will be fine for Round 1

Still, don't like hearing calf problems with players in their 30's...

[jfitty]

Montagna has a calf strain and won't play until JLT 3

The club expect he will be fine for Round 1

Still, don't like hearing calf problems with players in their 30's...

Hmm, the old man calf injury tends to linger.. Might avoid starting with Montagna

[eaglesman]

Well I was starting Montagna and just moved rance in ... not any more

[MC]

Anyone considering Houli? Haven't seen his name anywhere.

Did pretty well in 2015 - but injuries got him last year.

Has one of the better ceilings for a defender, but does tend to waste the ball a little and put in the odd stinker.

I like his bye and POD factor though  ???

Yuck... WAY too many scores under 70 for my liking. The odd 150 makes him look tasty but he is irrelevant imo

Not sure how a defender with a 6-year average of 88.3/20 could possibly be irrelevant.
His durability and scoring over that period rivals most of the premium defender options this year. Add to that the fact that Rance is looking questionable, I think writing him off would be a mistake.
Houli is the bloke that will waltz into my team after a patch of said low scores drops him to the 400-odd k mark, thus making him VERY relevant for me and my squad.

[_wato]

Anyone considering Houli? Haven't seen his name anywhere.

Did pretty well in 2015 - but injuries got him last year.

Has one of the better ceilings for a defender, but does tend to waste the ball a little and put in the odd stinker.

I like his bye and POD factor though  ???

Yuck... WAY too many scores under 70 for my liking. The odd 150 makes him look tasty but he is irrelevant imo

Not sure how a defender with a 6-year average of 88.3/20 could possibly be irrelevant.
His durability and scoring over that period rivals most of the premium defender options this year. Add to that the fact that Rance is looking questionable, I think writing him off would be a mistake.
Houli is the bloke that will waltz into my team after a patch of said low scores drops him to the 400-odd k mark, thus making him VERY relevant for me and my squad.

If he was to go 88 again this year while every other top 6 def prem went 98-110 id be disappointed because i'd be losing so many points throughout the year.

[MC]

Anyone considering Houli? Haven't seen his name anywhere.

Did pretty well in 2015 - but injuries got him last year.

Has one of the better ceilings for a defender, but does tend to waste the ball a little and put in the odd stinker.

I like his bye and POD factor though  ???

Yuck... WAY too many scores under 70 for my liking. The odd 150 makes him look tasty but he is irrelevant imo

Not sure how a defender with a 6-year average of 88.3/20 could possibly be irrelevant.
His durability and scoring over that period rivals most of the premium defender options this year. Add to that the fact that Rance is looking questionable, I think writing him off would be a mistake.
Houli is the bloke that will waltz into my team after a patch of said low scores drops him to the 400-odd k mark, thus making him VERY relevant for me and my squad.

If he was to go 88 again this year while every other top 6 def prem went 98-110 id be disappointed because i'd be losing so many points throughout the year.

I agree, there are a lot of ifs and buts about the whole situation, though I can't imagine many teams will have the top 6 defenders in their squads by season's end. For me it's always been about finishing my team as efficiently & early as possible, and that usually means (for example) picking up a Priddis-type who has been knocked out in q1 and would be plenty good enough for M8.

The other mistake a lot of people make is bringing in those premium options at top dollar, regardless of their ability to maintain the output. Shaw was averaging 117 half way through last year, and Josh Gibson averaging 90, Hannebery 120+... none of those blokes would have been good options to bring in at that stage though, given they were top dollar, and their second half of the year was significantly poorer. Burgoyne on the other hand had a few poor games, and was averaging around 80, he went BANG in the 2nd half of the year (averaged 106 post-bye) to finish with a season avg of 94. T Mac the same, season average of only 89, though would have gotten you 101/game if you brought him in half way ;)

Hindsight is 20/20 though!

[acroyale]

Do we know why Tmac's output was impacted in the first half of 2016. I cant recall any reasons for the drop. Did anything change for his output to improve in the second half of the year.

[RaisyDaisy]

Do we know why Tmac's output was impacted in the first half of 2016. I cant recall any reasons for the drop. Did anything change for his output to improve in the second half of the year.

2015 was very good, then simply just took a while to get into it in 2016 then hit his straps from round 7

I've had him in my team since SC opened, but a few Melbourne people have expressed his role could potentially change a little, so  hoping to see him do well in next two JLT games

[RaisyDaisy]

Furthermore, considering his slow start last year, and his horrible round 11 bye he might actually be better to grab after his bye and storm home in the second half

Hmmm, will have to wait and see

[meow meow]

Poll needs "other" added to it. I guarantee that there's going to be a player outside of this list that ends up in the top 8. Could be Mills, could be Josh Smith, could be Cutler, could be Dawson.