Sadly, the ability to kick a 60 metre set shot does not in itself warrant game time. I seem to remember Michael Newton taking mark of the year, and look how that turned out.

. No, but you said he did nohing memorable. His kick was memorable was it not? I agree that he will struggle to play week in week out but roos likes hard workers so if he works as hard as he did Friday night who knows?

He got slightly more than a handful of touches and did nothing memorable with them. Back up tallish utility at absolute best.

Those who were watching him report that he led constantly up the ground and took his defender with him. His possession count doesn't reflect his real contribution. Doesn't make him first 22, but the guy is certainly working hard this year to hold a spot on the list.

He kicks the ball pretty well, he marks pretty well especially in defense with the ball coming to him but he's just so slow. His speed makes it hard for him to find separation and find the ball up forward and makes it hard for him to match up on good forwards down back.

I expect he settles in to Casey at CHB when we have some players return from injury and plays really well at VFL. Whether he's found that extra yard to be more competitive down back this year will be interesting.

The unfortunate reality is if he was on a one year deal when he came over we could hear cut him and filled his spot with Joel Tippett for example. Yet we can't even do that at the end of this year.

Credit where it's due. When he flew into that pack running the wrong way I was gobsmacked. It just shows you what a different mindset can achieve.

He does have talent and is certainly excellent depth.

I sat on the wing/flank in the Essendon game which was 1st or Second match of the year IIRC.

I saw him and Gillies were not in shape and it showed .

For all Neelds talk neither of these guys were ready for an AFL game.

I think the big anti-Neeld feeling comes from the fact that he tore up the list and got these two in as well as Byrnes.

He tried to break everyone down mentally and physically in an attempt to build them in his own image.

The gameplan was negative and when Clark went ,the plan was redundant.

Pedo is either a sweeper or a pinch hitter up forward.

Anyway he is contracted and I have seen worse players get to 50 or 100 games of AFL.

Messy drugs was the second game in 2013. It the game we lost by over 140 points, which was the biggest loss of the season.

So I can understand why you had forgotten it

Those who were watching him report that he led constantly up the ground and took his defender with him. His possession count doesn't reflect his real contribution. Doesn't make him first 22, but the guy is certainly working hard this year to hold a spot on the list.

I spoke to Cam at the Family Day, that was his role, to go anywhere except the goal square. so the smaller nippier guys could get one on one and maybe nick a few goals, worked to perfection, couldn't belileve his luck when he got what he considered a soft free kick, and knew he could kick the 9 pointer with ease....he is like everybody else just wants to play his role and get a game, and like the rest feels like he is at a new club this year

Last year Pedersen was strongly and rightly criticised for that incident where he tapped the ball on with both hands rather than mark it when he heard footsteps. On Friday night he crashed a pack and nearly took out Vickery.

I think every player should be entitled to a clean slate under Roos, who seems to have the capability to bring out new levels of commitment from his players.

BTW, love the way Vickery can mark a Melbourne player's head in both hands and not give away a free.

Yes, huge kudos for nailing Vickery.

That's one he can strike from his Bucket List...

But all this fuss for a depth player has been overblown, even his oh-so-awful 3 year contract would be modest that it simply comes down to a matter of spots on the list and we have had plenty of those.

Leave him to play his role, wherever that may be...

According to Dermott he was working hard off the ball which is good.

He looks to have replaced a fair bit of fat with muscle, handy depth at the very least.

Yes he may have played his role in leading away from the danger area and clearing up space, so I will give him credit for his work rate, but really you need more than that at AFL level.

You still need to have an impact on the contest when the ball is in your area and in this regard I thought he was really poor on Friday night.

He dropped marks and failed to get effective touches. Even little things like knocking the ball out to a teammate or dishing off little handballs would have been handy, but I really didn't notice any effective play other than clearing up space.

I've seen him play some really good games in defence for Casey but I'm yet to see him really offer much as a forward.

According to Dermott he was working hard off the ball which is good.

He looks to have replaced a fair bit of fat with muscle, handy depth at the very least.

He also mentioned (numerous times) how hard he was blowing and how stuffed he was. That started not long after half time. Not good enough.

Yes he may have played his role in leading away from the danger area and clearing up space, so I will give him credit for his work rate, but really you need more than that at AFL level.

You still need to have an impact on the contest when the ball is in your area and in this regard I thought he was really poor on Friday night.

He dropped marks and failed to get effective touches. Even little things like knocking the ball out to a teammate or dishing off little handballs would have been handy, but I really didn't notice any effective play other than clearing up space.

I've seen him play some really good games in defence for Casey but I'm yet to see him really offer much as a forward.

Agreed, admirable hard work and role playing, but just doesn't seem to be AFL standard for mine. Hopefully wrong.

Yes, huge kudos for nailing Vickery.

That's one he can strike from his Bucket List...

But all this fuss for a depth player has been overblown, even his oh-so-awful 3 year contract would be modest that it simply comes down to a matter of spots on the list and we have had plenty of those.

Leave him to play his role, wherever that may be...

We've had spots on the list but often too many contracted players than needed I think besides the end of 2012 when we had spots galore and filled some with kids but too many with rejects.

We are using all the main list spots and 4 rookies instead of 38 main list and 6 rookies. I'd rather have Pedersen and Nicholson as rookies like we've done with Jetta and on expiring one year deals. As part of the overall plan of being more ruthless I'd like to see us use our first 38 spots for the 28 or so players who are in or around the best 22 and for 10 project kids in their first 3 or so years.

Can't see Pedo being much more than a gun VFL player/depth player.

He also mentioned (numerous times) how hard he was blowing and how stuffed he was. That started not long after half time. Not good enough.

Remember he probably played more minutes than anyone else. We had plenty to rotate through the midfield and backline (for example Tommy McDonald was often unsighted for large parts of the game) but Spencer, Howe and Pedersen probably played the most minutes. It's also the first match even the fittest guys often start blowing early as match fitness is a whole new level of fitness. It's hard when you watch on TV but I didn't ever see Pedersen give up on a chase or stop leading. I don't think it''s really fair to attack his fitness based on Friday night. I remember the training I saw in December and I think he was either in the second best group or running it out strongly at the head of the third group, he certainly didn't seem unprepared.

hope we keep playing him in the forward line in the NAB rounds to see if he can consistently make a presence.

Creating space is important, but a different strategy is needed against other teams. He must still be able to provide good one on one contests and win his own ball.

Who was he matched on against Richmond? . IE was it their number 1,2,3,or 4 defender? Who was it he was taking off the play?

Stuie in all fairness I don't know if you have ever played football but to be blowing hard even after half time in your first pre season game for the year is no issue at all. Every first game you play everyone will be blowing up hard. Its the nature of not playing for 6 months. Even though he has trained pretty strongly, AFL intensity is a complete different level to training intensity. Pedo was working really hard so its a good thing he was blowing hard. Even the commentators were saying how hard Dustin Martin was blowing up in the first qtr.

He also mentioned (numerous times) how hard he was blowing and how stuffed he was. That started not long after half time. Not good enough.

CHF in first pre season game blowing hard in the third term.

Stop the presses...

Remember he probably played more minutes than anyone else. We had plenty to rotate through the midfield and backline (for example Tommy McDonald was often unsighted for large parts of the game) but Spencer, Howe and Pedersen probably played the most minutes. It's also the first match even the fittest guys often start blowing early as match fitness is a whole new level of fitness. It's hard when you watch on TV but I didn't ever see Pedersen give up on a chase or stop leading. I don't think it''s really fair to attack his fitness based on Friday night. I remember the training I saw in December and I think he was either in the second best group or running it out strongly at the head of the third group, he certainly didn't seem unprepared.

So if he did play a lot of minutes, is 8 disposals and 1 mark enough? No. It's not. Especially with 50% disposal efficiency.

Stuie in all fairness I don't know if you have ever played football but to be blowing hard even after half time in your first pre season game for the year is no issue at all. Every first game you play everyone will be blowing up hard. Its the nature of not playing for 6 months. Even though he has trained pretty strongly, AFL intensity is a complete different level to training intensity. Pedo was working really hard so its a good thing he was blowing hard. Even the commentators were saying how hard Dustin Martin was blowing up in the first qtr.

CHF in first pre season game blowing hard in the third term.

Stop the presses...

The point being, he wasn't making contests after half time because he couldn't keep up with the other players WHO WERE ALSO playing their first preseason game.

We've had spots on the list but often too many contracted players than needed I think besides the end of 2012 when we had spots galore and filled some with kids but too many with rejects.

We are using all the main list spots and 4 rookies instead of 38 main list and 6 rookies. I'd rather have Pedersen and Nicholson as rookies like we've done with Jetta and on expiring one year deals. As part of the overall plan of being more ruthless I'd like to see us use our first 38 spots for the 28 or so players who are in or around the best 22 and for 10 project kids in their first 3 or so years.

Ditto

Can't we leave past history, most of the players on Friday night gave it their best, including Cam Pedersen, I posted what his role was, he seemed to do it ok, Roos says 'If you don't play your role, you won't play'

Of course he may be given a different role against another team, but he carried out what it was on Friday night, that's the whole idea isn't it?

He dropped marks and failed to get effective touches. Even little things like knocking the ball out to a teammate or dishing off little handballs would have been handy, but I really didn't notice any effective play other than clearing up space.......he knocked the ball free for Barry to pick up and handball lto Howe for a goal

As for blowing hard, it was the first game of the season and he is carrying 98kg around, dear me

I am not sure which bit some posters on here don't get, Roos is all for role players, we are praising him for it, we had one big forward on Friday night, the coaching was excellent, he led away from the goal square and probably had two defenders looking for where he was and we looked for smaller nippier options who ended up one on one with an opponent, and space to work with behind....Howe 4, JKH 3, Blease 1

Pedo and Chip are pretty much the same age, weight, and height.

Both played 88% game time.

1 player had 25 touches at 92% efficiency. The other had 8 touches at 50% efficiency.

Can you guess which one is which?

Pedo and Chip are pretty much the same age, weight, and height.

Both played 88% game time.

1 player had 25 touches at 92% efficiency. The other had 8 touches at 50% efficiency.

Can you guess which one is which?

Does that really tell us one was fitter than the other? Or does that tell us one is far better than the other?

And having played both positions - CHF is the hardest position on the ground to play especially in terms of the ground one has to cover while being covered.