Intraclub Practice Match - Friday 19th February, 2016

[ManDee 7,101]

7 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

It'd be interesting to know what percentage of time Spencer's been injured since we drafted him. Seems to struggle with injuries every year.

You could say much the same about Gawn.

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

20 minutes ago, ManDee said:

You could say much the same about Gawn.

There are quite a few on our list who that sentence applies to. I'm just curious about Spencer in particular as he never seems to be able to get a good run at it.

[DeeSpencer 23,642]

4 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

There are quite a few on our list who that sentence applies to. I'm just curious about Spencer in particular as he never seems to be able to get a good run at it.

Did the ACL in 2011 and the ankle took out most of his 2014, but played a good number of games in 2012, 2013 and 2015. But certainly hasn't had full preseasons (which is common for ruckman).

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

20 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Did the ACL in 2011 and the ankle took out most of his 2014, but played a good number of games in 2012, 2013 and 2015. But certainly hasn't had full preseasons (which is common for ruckman).

Interesting...for some reason I thought that he'd been injured much more often than that. Perhaps my perception has been clouded because he's so frequently in and out of the seniors. 

I hope his injury isn't too serious. While he's no world beater, we really need to have him available in case Gawn goes down. 

[dazzledavey36 49,742]

2 hours ago, Good Times Grimes said:

It'd be interesting to know what percentage of time Spencer's been injured since we drafted him. Seems to struggle with injuries every year.

And we seem to still keep him on the list every year too.

Bizzare 

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

3 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

And we seem to still keep him on the list every year too.

Bizzare 

I rate him as a handy enough back-up option and love his intensity, and we really don't have too many others that are yet capable of running out full games in the ruck at senior level.

 

On somewhat of a side note, I was reminded of this tackle when replying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUG3EzY8UQE 

[pineapple dee 2,892]

15 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

And we seem to still keep him on the list every year too.

Bizzare 

And we Kept Fitzpatrick on the list too although he's more an athlete than a footballer. Spencer is agressive (one of his more prominent traits ) which is what you want your ruckmen to be. What we need is the agression of a Mark Lee or Monkhorst combined with the leap of Natanui and the skill of Sandilands or Goldstein. Simple!!

[dazzledavey36 49,742]

16 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

I rate him as a handy enough back-up option and love his intensity, and we really don't have too many others that are yet capable of running out full games in the ruck at senior level.

 

On somewhat of a side note, I was reminded of this tackle when replying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUG3EzY8UQE 

Hes had 8 years on a AFL list for a return of 35 games. Nothing but a list clogger. I hate going back to the Neeld days, but i laugh at how quick he was to get rid of Stefan Martin yet we kept Spencer...

Thank god those days are way behind us.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

I agree that the reason Spencer has been on the list for so long is because of our shockingly shallow ruck stocks for such a long time.

And we're certainly in no better position going into this season. Gawn has the ability to become one of the game's most influential and dominant ruckman. 

If he gets a serious injury this year, it will impact the team hugely. Spencer is not a footballer. He cannot influence games like Gawn can. Spencer contests well enough but has zero football smarts and runs around like a headless chook usually.  

I think it's something we definitely need to address next year, especially now that Jamar has left. We'll need a mature ruckman who has more ability than Spencer.

Gawn playing a full season for us this year will do wonders for the team's chances in climbing the ladder.

Edited February 22, 2016 by stevethemanjordan

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Hes had 8 years on a AFL list for a return of 35 games. Nothing but a list clogger. I hate going back to the Neeld days, but i laugh at how quick he was to get rid of Stefan Martin yet we kept Spencer...

Thank god those days are way behind us.

I don't see him as a list clogger in that he provides us with some very important backup. Like I said, I don't think he's a world beater, but I see his value to the club. He's a free agent this year and it will be interesting to see what the club decides to do with him.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Good Times Grimes

[dazzledavey36 49,742]

12 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

I don't see him as a list clogger in that he provides us with some very important backup. Like I said, I don't think he's a world beater, but I see his value to the club. He a free agent this year and it will be interesting to see what the club decides to do with him.

Hopefully get rid of him.

I don't put him into the important back up category . He is not someone that can push forward and kick a goal as he has zero football smarts. If Gawn goes down you can almost kiss our season goodbye.

I know this may sound hard but its the reality on Spencer. 

Petet Wright from the GC is reportedly homesick and could be looking to come back home. I would absolutely jump at the opportunity at him. 

[Coq au vin 754]

Which players will get the major injuries in the preseason games? There's usually one or two.

[Good Times Grimes 2,396]

5 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Hopefully get rid of him.

I don't put him into the important back up category . He is not someone that can push forward and kick a goal as he has zero football smarts. If Gawn goes down you can almost kiss our season goodbye.

I know this may sound hard but its the reality on Spencer. 

Petet Wright from the GC is reportedly homesick and could be looking to come back home. I would absolutely jump at the opportunity at him. 

I put him in that category due to the lack of other viable options, not solely as a result of his ability. At this stage it seems that ruck is the main position that we need to address in the offseason regardless of what the club decides to do with Spencer. Wright would be a great pickup, but would probably come at quite a high cost. I'd be happy to see us go through the rookie draft to find a competent mature aged player to support Gawn. Hopefully one of the Kings comes on well. 

[Coq au vin 754]

27 minutes ago, Good Times Grimes said:

I don't see him as a list clogger in that he provides us with some very important backup. Like I said, I don't think he's a world beater, but I see his value to the club. He a free agent this year and it will be interesting to see what the club decides to do with him.

Hopefully they'll delist him.

[boydie 653]

Getting a decent backup ruckman would be pretty hard these days, how do you go about recruiting an experienced backup ruckman when all you're really offering them is a chance to change clubs? In reality they're still playing the same role as they are at their current club, baring injury you wont get a game unless by some miracle they haven't developed yet and could become you're number one ruckman.

I think there will be less experienced ruckman on trade table this year as most of those backup types changed clubs this offseason, Currie to GC, Simpson to GWS, Giles to WC, Gorringe to CAR, Smith to GEEL.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,022]

The Lions won three flags without a gun ruckman. 

Spenser stays until we develop or draft an alternative.

[rjay 24,185]

7 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

The Lions won three flags without a gun ruckman. 

Spenser stays until we develop or draft an alternative.

Mr Finals...Keating wasn't too bad 'Bombay'

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,213]

Spencer is huge, aggressive, dirt cheap and if he was required to play during the year, while not a match winner, he wouldn't be smashed in the ruck.  We have talls on our list to develop and Spencer is a bit of protection until they emerge.

The only issue is that if he and Gawn go down we're in a bit of trouble.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,022]

4 minutes ago, rjay said:

Mr Finals...Keating wasn't too bad 'Bombay'

He had one trick Rjay all be it a good one, smash it forward as far as he can. Mycomnent was directed at the chorus of "no Gawn no Melbourne" we need to be better than one player.

[Ron Burgundy 8,584]

We simply cannot afford for either Gawn or Hogan to go down for an extended period this year.

Not sufficient cover/back up options for these two.

 

[Redleg 38,472]

We need the two Kings to come on pretty quickly.

[FarNorthernD 5,848]

1 hour ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

Spencer is huge, aggressive, dirt cheap and if he was required to play during the year, while not a match winner, he wouldn't be smashed in the ruck.  We have talls on our list to develop and Spencer is a bit of protection until they emerge.

The only issue is that if he and Gawn go down we're in a bit of trouble.

I must admit I am in the Spencer-is-a-good-back-up camp. At this stage it seems to be a group of not many. As TPF39 says he is super aggressive and won't get pantsed by anyone aside from the elite rucks. Who knows perhaps he can build on the contested forward line mark and goal in the Cats game. 

There is no way that Gawn will play all 22 games (+ finals?) and Jake will prove his worth I believe. We will shortly see what life is like without him as Gawn will play a max of two Nab Cup games. 

[mo64 5,280]

If Spencer wasn't under contract, I reckon we would have delisted him, and rookie listed a mature aged ruckman (24yo +) from the state leagues. I'm sure that there are some out there with a better skillset than Spencer.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,534]

56 minutes ago, Redleg said:

We need the two Kings to come on pretty quickly.

Would we be better with an ace or two Kings?

[daisycutter 28,723]

13 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Would we be better with an ace or two Kings?

well a lay-down misere hasn't helped us much the last few years