Craig talks up Callinan

In a recent Neil Craig Q&A on the Crows website Neil talks highly of Callinan pushing his claims for a birth in my Dream Team for 2011. Is he on your radar?

The club has an opening on its senior list to play a nominated rookie as early as round one of the season proper. Rookies Ian Callinan and Matt Wright both played in the first round of the NAB Cup, but is it fair to say Callinan is leading that race?

"Ian has been very good in his preparation the whole pre-season and I thought his performance the other Friday night…the longer he played the more comfortable he looked and that was to be expected.
He certainly noticed the change in speed compared to the SANFL, but he adapted really well. Whether he can continue the improvement to warrant a position on the senior list and to fill that vacancy, I'm open minded about it. From what I've seen so far Ian should've been in the system four or five years ago. Senior coaches, recruiters and I owe him an apology. I had an opportunity to recruit him just as all the other clubs did five years ago, but we thought we were too smart."

Later in reference to Adelaide's forward line set up Craig also mentions McKernan as well as Callinan so both look to be in his plans.

"If we can keep Jason Porplyzia up there fit and healthy with Dangerfield, Ricky Henderson, Chris Knights, Taylor Walker, Shaun McKernan - because I thought he showed a bit last weekend - and maybe a Callinan… we've got those types of players who can go through the forward line, so we have some talent there. We've just got to make sure we don't just rely on Kurt to be able to take a strong contested mark. We need to share the workload."

As stated in my recent post Callinan comes in at the juicy Mature Rookie price of $80,400 (M/F)
McKernan in his 2nd year is also dual Pos. and is priced at $97,600 (F/B)

Mature Age Rookies on the Radar

Ian Callinan (FWD/MID, $80,400) ADEL
Won Jack Oatey Medal as best afield in this year's SANFL grand final and finds himself in career best form at the ripe age of 27. Touted as a possible goal scoring replacement for the Porpz, enabling him the freedom to move to the midfield. Callinan was taken at pick 64 in the rookie draft and after his impressive itra club match last week looks to have a foot in the door to a round one birth.

Paul Puopolo (DEF, $92,500) HAW
Recruited from Norwood and taken by Hawthorn at pick 66, 22yr old Puopolo looks to be the front runner to grab the hole left be the departure of Campbell Brown to the Suns. He was a stand out in Hawthorn's intra-club game in Tasmania. He is hard at the ball and is blessed with a nice turn of foot.

Nick Duigan (DEF, $92,500) CARL
Another Norwood recruit Duigan is 26 and comes to Carlton with pick 70 in the 2010 National Draft, Duigan showed talent as a youngster but injury set backs have severely hampered his career to date. He is known for his strong mark and rebound out of defence. Nick is another one to keep a close eye on in the NAB Cup.

Tendai Mzungu (FWD/MID, $92,500) FREO
MATURE-AGE Fremantle recruit Tendai Mzungu looks to be first in line to replace injured teammate Roger Hayden across half-back for Fremantle this season. The 24-year-old, has been a standout runner and looks well suited to the half-back role. Mzungu polled 20 Sandover Medal votes last year and won WAFL club Perth's best-and-fairest. Despite his Fwd/Mid classification Mzungu played more of a mid/back role for Perth in doing so amassing 28 possessions per match. Could be a more than handy Dream Teamer with DP as a bonus.

Wayde Twomey (Mid, $80,400) CARL
Made the switch from Werriby to Swan Districts in the WAFL at the end of 07 and is looking to have a similar impact to that of ex team mates Barlow and J-Pod. Wayde is 24 yrs old and is determind to prove himself in what may be his only crack at the big time. He had a run with the Western Bulldogs in 2006 and '07 after showing promise as a youngster with Werribee. Twomey is a mid come rebounding defender and was a shock pick at 51 in last year's AFL rookie draft.

One for the Watchlist!

Bryce Gibbs

If Bryce's new B/C classification wasn't already enough to have him locked into your Dream Team the talk that he will be spending a lot more time in the midfield surely will.

Kane Lukas may also be worth consideration as talk of regular mid-field roll is also mentioned. He will also come in way under value after his 6 and 7 both scored when struck by injury. So look for massive improvement from the youngster if he can keep those hammies in good shape.

One for the Watchlist!

Nick Duigan

Mature age players are on every Dream Team coach's radar this yr. After the likes of J-POD and Barlow last season put the gun state league players in the spotlight we are all looking for this yrs versions. Nick played a cracking finals series for Norwood in the SANFL last yr and was picked up at pick 70 in the this years pre-season draft.

Mature-aged recruit Nick Duigan was also impressive, as he amassed a number of possessions and displayed great composure off half-back.
The 2010 draft smoky can consider himself a certainty to be named in Carlton's NAB Cup team to face Richmond and Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on February 12.
"As a 26-year-old he sees the opportunity as a big one in his life and you can see that in the way he plays," Ratten said.
"He's very hard at it and wants to make a big splash at our football club."

So keep a close eye on him during the NAB cup as he is sure to be priced at rookie price but with the hard body of a senior AFL player.

AFL Dream Team Check List:

1. Make sure you have at least one absolute gun. I would normally recommend Swan but with his 2 byes by round 13 alternatives like Montagna or Boyd may be an option. An investment in any of these players is well worth it. Keep in mind if you do stick with the Swan as pricey as he may seem. You are in-effect getting 2 of him once you put the (C) next to his name. double 100 = 200 but double 115 = 230. So for the the extra 50k or so you are getting 30pts per week. 2. Add up future upgrades. Look at your team across the board. Count the number of players you will need to upgrade to have it filled with guns by season end. Any more than 7 or 8 is a bit too much. I will be  reserving around 8 swaps for injuries. the other 16 will be used for upgrades and downgrades. This is a reasonably aggresive approach. If you are more in it for the league win you may want to leave a few more trades for upgrades and play a more conservative approach. 3. Check the fixture card. When choosing your rookies this is very important. When you are looking at ditching a rookie who is close enough to maxed out by about round 7 a player who's team with a friendly run to start the season might be the way to go. Of course the dreaded byes will also play a big part in this decision this year if you are tawn between two rookies you like but have room for just one the one with the byes price will ofcourse take that extra week to rise so it may be the deciding factor. 4. Check for injuries. Even if it means doing a GOOGLE news search every player in your list. you may even discover an off season injury that has interrupted one of your players pre-season. Meaning there score output may not be at the level you are expecting. 5. Cross your fingers when those teams come out. With a bit of luck all your team will be named and you want have to make a mess of your perfectly selected Dream Team at the last minute.

Walker into Dream Team Calculations!

Taylor Walker would not be one on many peoples Dream Team watch lists this pre season. He was just OK last year possibly making his owners enough cash before dumping his inconsistent cash cow arse. He finished the year averaging 51 and comes to this season with the fairly reasonable price tag of $221,000. This may not seem like great value when you think of the stay at home full forward type Walker was last season. But with Tippet making the goal square his own walker has been forced further up the ground meaning he has had to develop more of an all-round game. Walker has done just this. Reports are that he has worked extremely hard on strengthening his body as well as his endurance. Running 3km time trials equal to that of the mid-fielders. According to assistant coach David Noble the plan is for him to play more of a McLeod like Half Forward come Mid-Field role.  I'm not saying lock him in or anything crazy but with some more game time in the last NAB cup round he may just hit a decent point return and show us a glimpse of things to come. Slotting him in to the Dream Team over the likes of Ballantyne and Dangerfield may be a gamble but Walker may just repay the faith.