just my opinion but i only count 8 who are lock ins. they are players who are clearly in front of everyone else or there are no other real options for the role.
we cant replace deledio, cotchin, martin, foley, in the midfield. we wont replace our captain newman. jack is a lock and id say so is vickery two tall forwards. rance is a lock as quite simply put there is no one else capable or ready to play fb.grimes not ready and only rookieright who looks like a fb.
other than those 8 id say there is genuine competition for the other spots.
chb - griffiths, astbury. post, mcguane.
third tall - grimes moore darrou, the first two both coming off injuries and may not be right for rnd 1. grimes if fit probably has it locked up as there arent many other options. thats 9 lock ins.
kpf or third tall. - miller, griffiths, elton, astbury.
sml/med defenders - batchelor, dea,ellis, morris, webberley, verrier, heslin. houli, deledio, they are all not lock ins.deledio and houli are likely to play elswhere. batchelor is coming a good first yr and would have front running. so add batchelor, thats 10 lock ins.
rucks - maric, derikx, graham, brown, based on his record i dont see maric as an automatic selection.
sml/med for. king, maric, turner, macdonald, ohanlon, connors, conca, white most would say king is a lock. but i say hes in competition.conca a part of midfield rotations.
the rest of the mids - ellis, houli, jackson, arnott, nahas, grigg, edwards, helbig, conca, tuck, probably need 3 to 5 as part of rotations. nahas houli and tuck have clearly shown their worth over the others. ellis will be given plenty of games and conca will be given games.
so lockins if fit are
b grimes - rance - newman
hb ***** - ***** - batchelor
c deledio - cotchin - *****
hf ***** - riewoldt - *****
f vickery - ***** - *****
r ***** - martin - foley
int/
for me 12 spots up for grabs. theres two or three that are likely but they at least have some competition.
