It's The Spinal Countdown - Number 16
A comment was posted previously about the strength of the St Kilda spine. So here is a countdown of the spines for the AFL teams, going from worst and ending up with the first.
Some teams don't have a set spine, others only play with one tall forward, so naming and ranking the spines is a bit tricky. When the 2008 season games begin, there could be a few teams that have a different look than expected and others that perform much better than their ranking here.
The term "spine" often means different positions to different people, but the spine here is the usual four key positions and a centreman. In many games today, there is no real player who specializes in the centre so to select the onballer that is most suited the selected teams from last season were used and who the teams named in the centre was often the one selected here.
As a bonus, and it has no effect on the spine ranking of teams of today, the spine of the teams from just over a decade ago is shown.
Melbourne
Full Back - Nathan Carroll
Centre Half Back - Jared Rivers
Centre - James McDonald
Centre Half Forward - Michael Newton
Full Forward - David Neitz
Melbourne are in a rebuilding phase, so they are seeing what they have with their young players and planning to replace some of the old. Melbourne may not be in the best shape at the moment, but in a few years they could be very high in the rankings with a team built around Frawley, Rivers, Moloney, Morton and Newton.
1997
Full Back - Marcus Seecamp
Centre Half Back - Anthony Ingerson
Centre - Todd Viney
Centre Half Forward - David Schwarz
Full Forward - David Neitz
Some teams don't have a set spine, others only play with one tall forward, so naming and ranking the spines is a bit tricky. When the 2008 season games begin, there could be a few teams that have a different look than expected and others that perform much better than their ranking here.
The term "spine" often means different positions to different people, but the spine here is the usual four key positions and a centreman. In many games today, there is no real player who specializes in the centre so to select the onballer that is most suited the selected teams from last season were used and who the teams named in the centre was often the one selected here.
As a bonus, and it has no effect on the spine ranking of teams of today, the spine of the teams from just over a decade ago is shown.
Melbourne
Full Back - Nathan Carroll
Centre Half Back - Jared Rivers
Centre - James McDonald
Centre Half Forward - Michael Newton
Full Forward - David Neitz
Melbourne are in a rebuilding phase, so they are seeing what they have with their young players and planning to replace some of the old. Melbourne may not be in the best shape at the moment, but in a few years they could be very high in the rankings with a team built around Frawley, Rivers, Moloney, Morton and Newton.
1997
Full Back - Marcus Seecamp
Centre Half Back - Anthony Ingerson
Centre - Todd Viney
Centre Half Forward - David Schwarz
Full Forward - David Neitz
The full back spot there is unsettled, as Frawley could get the spot while Holland has also been effective in some games.
Neitz has had a long career, and his best is a while back now, but he will still play an important part for them in 2008. While the spine up forward may not be the strongest around, the Demons can win games if Davey, Bruce, Green and Robertson are kicking goals.
And with a full team on the park, Melbourne is set to win a lot more games than it did last year.
And with a full team on the park, Melbourne is set to win a lot more games than it did last year.
While health is important, and the Demons will be much better there this year, Neitz is still old and there isn't someone ready to take his spot. But with a new coach, and new ideas, the Demons could suprise some people.