All-Australian spots still up for grabs in final fortnight of the season, says selector Buckley

Nathan Buckley has provided some insight into where things sit with the All-Australian squad, with the selectors meeting during the week for the penultimate time.

They will meet again after Round 24 to finalise the team and Buckley says they have most of the team nailed down, but there are spots still up for grabs in the final fortnight of the season.

“This is my third year, so where you try to get to now it’s like the last selection meeting on any given week as a coach. You spend a fair bit of time on your 21st, 22nd and 23rd, and there’s a lot of worthy candidates that have come out,” Buckley told SEN Mornings.

“There’s two rounds left which is nine per cent of the season, there’s still two games to go. We have about four spots on the field where there’s two magnets on that spot and we were 50-50 on which way to go, and we’re looking at the last couple of weeks.

“We have probably got five magnets for two spots on the bench, so there’s probably down to a squad of 27 or 28 at the moment that are going to fit into the squad of 22 – we don’t select the sub. So that’s where we’ve got to, and that’s full transparency without names.”

Buckley says they are aiming to pick a team that reflects the modern game and would make sense positionally on game day.

“I think one of the mandates, and one of these I’m big on, is I would want to look up at the 18 in particular and feel like it’s a really balanced side,” he said.

“I like the idea of when you see a selected 23 and you’ve coached, you can sort of go ‘see we’ve got this guy that is the seventh rotation for the back, we’ve got this guy who can rotate through the forwards’, and I think that’s important to look at because there’s always players that have had All-Australian years.

“Midfielders is generally where it is and they might have had All-Australian years, but they’ve just got three or four guys in front of them who have had slightly better years. Have they played off the back? Have they played wing? Have they played high forward? So, you’ve only got one or two or three guys there that you’re trying to work out if they fit into the final 22 and that’s part of the discussion and part of the challenge.

“The bench is where you think you haven’t been a player that has earned a first 18 spot there, and so going to the bench. But you want to make sure the bench has got some difference in it as well that it’s got a back rotation, a forward rotation and not just for mids sitting there.

“We’ve gone through that, and we’ve largely got to where we want to be. As I said, there’s probably four or five or six spots, a couple of bench spots that are up for grabs.”

Buckley confirmed that the final fortnight of the season could still swing some key positions in the final 22.

“One more meeting, we will meet after Round 24. We think we will need an hour and a half because we had three hours yesterday off the back of four or five hours mid-way through the year.

“Great debate, great conversations and you just realise how many great performers there have been throughout the season. The other thing that has been there is a pretty even representation across the board and we were looking at the squad as well, and we pretty much got it down to a 45-man squad at the moment.

“I feel honoured to be able go through and that we get a chance to champion some individuals that have had an awesome block of footy, that have taken steps whether they’re the guys who have been there done that or they’re guys who are breaking new grounds. I think it’s been a dynamic year and it was proven in our conversations (on Monday).”