Lil_red_fire_engine

Beat me to it

This is what I expect to happen. I will be proud if we just keep cracking in but expect their mature class will drag them over the line.

I said today was all about intent and the development of those who matter. Hard not to be satisfied to half time. We are making errors and they will start to make us pay more but as long as we keep up that intent and effort and don't drop our heads that's all you can ask. Brayshaw is a machine. Can only imagine the damage he will do when he has the muscle and endurance to fit with the intent. Spencer showing why he should play ahead of Jamar. Gawn showing why he should play ahead of both of them.

Good start even though Jones, McDonald and Lumumba are costing us with poor errors. Keep the effort up and keep the disposal first option and simple.

Aside from his marking ability Howe has not shown anything that would see him rated as a top 20 pick or a player of significant spend. Anyone that thinks he is, is looking at his highlight reel and not his output. He is not a key position, not a midfielder, he has been hit and miss both forward and back. His work rate I would think is close to worst in our current starting side as are the defensive aspects of his game. I don't think a lot of this is development, I just think marking ability and natural leap aside he is limited. Other clubs will see his marketability (as all on here do for us), they will also see the potential (as some on here do) and that is why he has more worth than most and why some clubs (Giants, Lions, Suns) will pay significant overs for him. I love witnessing his highlights but if we want to improve our list as a whole he is the expendable player with the best market value.

We are less capable to cover a deep injury list than they are. Even with Kelly and Bartel out they have better mature players and leadership. Put their best 22 and our best on the park and the gap is much reduced. Put the named teams out there and we should hold our own at the contest but will struggle to retain the ball and when we go forward have no one to kick a score. I will be focussing on intent and further improvement from those that are in our future plans rather than the score as I cant see how we will kick one.

Hunt is clearly a delist and rookie option. Was speculative when we got him, has great attributes we don't have but a run of injuries that really haven't allow us to gauge whether he can apply them at AFL level.

I think we would have to pay well overs for him. Before looking at Suckling I would look at how well Malceski is doing at the Suns. These types of players always look alot better in good sides.

Where did I say throw him away? I trust the people in charge to know what they can get and maximise this for the betterment of our list. Bernie Vince cost us what pick?

My point which you obviously missed, whilst his stats on paper look good, the majority of people watching the game can see his impact has been negligible. Demonland votes (I see as a general punter who watches us regularly) was the closest thing to look at but if you like I can dig out how many times he has been named him in the official bests or wait to see how low he is in the B&F (which I suspect will be low). Where did I say to ignore all stats? I am highlighting not to look at them in isolation? If we do want to talk stats I would be keen to know where he sits on defensive acts. How have you rated his season? Where would you rank him in the list of important players on our list?

Ignore that stats and watch his impact on games. As an indicator 22 players are ahead of him the Demonland Player of the Year votes. Then ask how much you would be willing to pay for him? He is inconsistent in his offensive and defensive intent and lacks football smarts and clean disposal. He always has been and does not appear to be better for the last 18 months development. He will not be the reason we play finals in the future but he is icing. I would not pay overs for a third tall highlight reel and would take a top 20 pick and run if available.

Its called some context and also perception without the emotion of a close loss.

A StKilda mate of mine said post game "we basically had our best side in and our 2 best players on the day are north of 30. I know which team I would rather support".

The 40 seconds was a perfect storm of lack of leadership, football intelligence and plain bad luck. However the more I think about it the more it was purely lack of communication from bench to field on how long was left. How many games have had 26 minute quarters this year? Without knowing the time left I would have assumed there could be 3-5 minutes of game time so as a player who didn't know why would you put numbers behind when you would think there is still plenty of time? Whilst you train this how many games in the last 2 years have we had to defend a one goal lead in the dying seconds? The last play all comes down to why were the players not aware as no one has confirmed they were (aside from maybe Cross coming off the bench) Take the last 40 seconds out I left more frustrated with our lack of attack in the first 15 minutes of the last quarter to attempt to win the game rather than save it. We let StKilda dictate terms and crowded the ball in our defence or handballed in panicked circles until we kicked it back to their spare man. They were a worthy winner as one tried to win it the other tried not to lose it.

Agree on ANB and Billy but Max's current output is already better than the Russian's output earlier in the year, and he should only get better.

Out: Pederson, Michie In: Dawes, Bail I would prefer we stuck with ANB and Stretch with one as sub instead of just bringing in others who we know what they will give at this level. Bail for more run against Cats and because Michie probably played the least impacting game as a sub I have seen. Dawes needed to reduce chances of Taylor, Rivers zoning off to Hogan.

I love how kids having 11 and 16 possies in their first and second games is seen as out of depth. They could obviously find some ball but need to rid themselves of nerves and touch at a higher speed and intensity. This I would think is expected at AFL level to take more than a couple of games. If I learnt anything yesterday it is whilst injuries are cutting deep we should develop them in the seniors over players like Michie and Riley who are very limited. Whilst not third year, Toumpas is showing the benefit of consistent games in the seniors in understanding the speed, strategy and team mates. Whilst the spots are there they should be played, even if one as the sub.

Lumumba was awful today. He runs into trouble and then kicks it to the opposition.

Do you think with 30 seconds to go the players need the coach to tell them what to do? Thats what on field leadership is about. No one told anyone to roll back.

6. Hogan 5. Viney 4. Toumpas 3. Vince 2. Watts 1. Cross NB: Many will give Jones votes but I thought whilst he got a lot of ball and cracked in he played a selfish one way game.

It is pretty obvious we lack any form of decent on field leadership. This is not just the last play, we lacked any intent in the last quarter to win the game and instead players were looking for someone else to do it for them.

I would want Jack Grimes, Viv Michie, Alex Neal-Bullen, Aidan Riley. Expecting ANB to sub but hoping if he plays we see him start.

And Garland is this weeks surprise injury with a broken hand and surgery before the injury list is published but still not on the list. Salem also confirmed as doing his other hammy before this was published. I dont know why they bother publishing it.

Jamar is best at negating the hit out of his opponent and is passed his best. Spencer is best at following up at ground level of the stoppage and is probably at his development peak aside from games experience. Gawn is best at hitting the ball to advantage and is not close to his development peak. More than one game needed to judge fairly but its pretty clearly Gawn for me if his effort and intensity level are retained or improve.

Both rumours were seperately mentioned on SEN. I dont think there has been a week where there hasn;t been an unpleasant surprise compared to the published injury list.