OAKLEIGH Chargers have a wealth of current and recently retired players in their All-Star Team of the AFL Draft era. Over the past decade, a heap of new players have really come to the fore, with not many 1990s representatives, but have bolstered their draft numbers since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n
The Chargers have plenty to like about their side, with a strong midfield, and lots of damaging smalls and medium types. Their key position line is a little short, with their most damaging players being sub-195cm. However they also have some great versatility across the field and would be really difficult to match up on most days.<\/p>\n
The defence has an old-school feel to it, with just one current player in the back six. That player being Collingwood key position utility Darcy Moore<\/strong>, who holds down centre half-back with just 71 games – to start the year – to his name, the least of any player in the side. He joins Carlton 189-gamer and reliable full-back Bret Thornton<\/strong> there as holding down the key posts, whilst two-time best and fairest winner and one-time All-Australian Josh Gibson<\/strong> can operate as the third tall and loose man.<\/p>\n The talls will have some freedom given the three other players have the capability of locking down on their respective opponents. Nick Smith sits in a back pocket after 211 games and an All-Australian nod and premiership with the Swans. On the flanks, Hawthorn and Gold Coast’s Campbell Brown<\/strong> and Carlton’s Andrew Carrazzo<\/strong> round out the defensive line. The versatile David Mackay<\/strong> is also coming off the bench which could help with rotations in that back six.<\/p>\n The midfield is simply elite, and hard to squeeze just five midfielders around Todd Goldstein<\/strong> as the standout ruck. Goldstein is a best and fairest winner and All-Australian with almost 250 games to his name. He will ruck to Carlton captain Marc Murphy<\/strong> – who has two best and fairests and an All-Australian – and Jack Macrae<\/strong> – one All-Australian – onball.<\/p>\n The centre line is three-time All-Australian Dan Hannebery<\/strong> in the middle, flanked by Andrew Gaff<\/strong> and Luke Shuey<\/strong> on the wings. The West Coast duo have played 400 games between them, and also combined for three best and fairests, two All-Australians and four All-Australian 40-player squad nominations.<\/p>\n With versatility being the strength of the side, 300-gamer and Chargers’ club games record holder at AFL level, Luke Power<\/strong> is able to play off half-forward – his All-Australian came in a forward pocket – whilst the nearly all of the forward six could play through the middle. Throw in Heath Black<\/strong>, Jack Viney<\/strong>, Tom Phillips<\/strong> and Daniel Jackson<\/strong> off the bench, as well as Mackay, and the Chargers have a wealth of midfield options at their disposal.<\/p>\n Whilst not tall, the front six has plenty of X-factor and an ability to do some serious damage there. Adam Tomlinson<\/strong> is the major key position player, but could rotate with Moore in defence, or have Moore thrown forward for extra size. The only other key position tall is Ashley Hansen<\/strong> off the bench, but the lack of height is not an issue considering the smalls running around in there.<\/p>\n Although not all of the players are ‘smalls’ as such, with the almost-key position height of Jordan De Goey<\/strong> chosen at full-forward, flanked by equally damaging talents in Toby Greene<\/strong> and Jack Billings<\/strong>. All three have the capability of winning games off their own boot. The same could be said for Power at half-forward, alongside Robbie Gray<\/strong> on the other flank. Gray may well be the most accoladed player of the lot, with four All-Australians and three best and fairests, putting his claim in as one of the best Port Adelaide players of the modern era.<\/p>\n Whilst the 24 players that made the squad deserve it, there are a lot of unlucky players missing out. Many of whom were strong role players over the journey, such as Jamie MacMillan<\/strong> (157 games), Sam Gibson<\/strong> (135), Ryan Lester<\/strong> (126) and Sam Power<\/strong> (123). Also just missing out on the side were other 100-gamers in Robin Nahas<\/strong>, Stephen Gilham<\/strong> and Dom Tyson<\/strong>, whilst the likes of Luke McDonald<\/strong>, Jack Sinclair<\/strong>, Darcy Byrne-Jones<\/strong>, Toby McLean<\/strong> and Jake Kelly<\/strong> are among current players who could force their way into the side over the next few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" OAKLEIGH Chargers have a wealth of current and recently retired players in their All-Star Team of the AFL Draft era. Over the past decade, a heap of new players have really come to the fore, with not many 1990s representatives, but have bolstered their draft numbers since the turn of the century. THE TEAM The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":69066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11797,7949,8,11595],"tags":[12749,12745,12746,12753,12742,12744,12747,12754,636,641,12751,6531,12752,911,4525,12739,12363,12740,9263,1021,12741,1174,60,12748,3946,8215,12743,48,12650,12651,1588,8379,12077,7531,12737,12738,12750,1802,12649,1825],"class_list":["post-68995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-star-teams","category-nab-league","category-news","category-oakleigh-chargers","tag-adam-tomlinson","tag-andrew-carrazzo","tag-andrew-gaff","tag-ashley-hansen","tag-bret-thornton","tag-campbell-brown","tag-dan-hannebery","tag-daniel-jackson","tag-darcy-byrne-jones","tag-darcy-moore","tag-david-mackay","tag-dom-tyson","tag-heath-black","tag-jack-billings","tag-jack-macrae","tag-jack-sinclair","tag-jack-viney","tag-jake-kelly","tag-jamie-macmillan","tag-jordan-de-goey","tag-josh-gibson","tag-luke-mcdonald","tag-luke-power","tag-luke-shuey","tag-marc-murphy","tag-nab-league-boys","tag-nick-smith","tag-oakleigh-chargers","tag-oakleigh-chargers-all-star-team","tag-oakleigh-chargers-all-star-team-voting","tag-robbie-gray","tag-robin-nahas","tag-ryan-lester","tag-sam-gibson","tag-sam-power","tag-stephen-gilham","tag-toby-greene","tag-toby-mclean","tag-todd-goldstein","tag-tom-phillips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}MIDFIELD<\/strong><\/h5>\n
FORWARD<\/strong><\/h5>\n
DEPTH<\/strong><\/h5>\n