Deespicable

Just hoping Goody bites the bullet on a few non-performing players who were originally part of his best 22 thinking. And being a night game it will be greasy, so there's no need for the three bigs up front format and we also need to send Hunt back to defence to cover at least one of Richmond's pacey forwards - Rioli/Castagna or Butler if selected? I suspect they will bring back Oscar to play on Tom Lynch, but I'd prefer this doesn't happen given the pressure that will be applied at night. If T.Mac passed his mobility test then he could play back there but my suspicion is that T.Mac needs two weeks of serious agility training before playing again. That would leave Frost on Riewoldt and we could try Hibberd on Tom Lynch with a view to him providing run off him and Gawn/Preuss dropping back to support him in the down the line aerial battles. I reckon a tough decision has to be made on the Wagners. Corey works his butt off, but hasn't done quite enough, while Josh has been serviceable but with our plethora of left-footers down back we need a right-footer. Happy for him Josh to play as a defensive forward on Houli though if they decide ANB isn't right for that role. Harmes and Brayshaw can play back and the former is an obvious match up for Dusty when he rests there. Unless Lewis or Jones is sore from Saturday, then both should play with Lewis a good match up for Caddy or Baker and Jones suited to Ellis on a wing. Out: Jetta (inj) T.Mac (rested?), Weid, Spargo, C.Wagner, J.Wagner In: Stretch, Lockhart, Garlett, T.Smith/Keilty, ANB, Sparrow B: Hunt Hibberd Hore HB: Harmes Frost Salem C Jones Oliver Fritsch HF: Melksham T.Smith/Keilty ANB/J.Wagner F: Garlett Petracca Preuss Ru: Gawn Brayshaw Viney Int: Stretch (mid), Lockhart (forward/mid), Lewis (back), Sparrow (fwd/mid)

Interesting comments by many on Goody and I'm sure he will now be rethinking his game philosophy as will Longmire, Brad Scott, Bevo and others. What few have made a point of is that so far this season we have had a predominantly warm and dry start to the season, so our emphasis on stoppage work has been less integral to the outcome of most games. What we have all seen is how our high press has been exposed on the counter and we haven't had enough pace to stop this flow on effect. This is not a new problem, go back to when we were 2-3 last year after our loss to the Tigers and you will find the comments about being exposed over the back the same. All sides now are getting better at playing soccer-style triangles in defence which means it's harder to get intercepts and you have to wonder if our press is working - maybe that's one of the big adjustments required, although wet weather and night games sees the ball spill and the high press become more beneficial. Certainly we are not getting any benefit out of superior forward entries - partly because of a lack of quality talls (Mac and Weids failure) and lack of quality smalls (Spargo and ANB and Sparrow before him), which forced Hunt to be sent into that role and will most likely mean Jeffy gets another shot at it on Wednesday. The other point I'd make is that we need more out of Oliver. He still wins clearances but he has to take the game on and risk getting caught. He is our most damaging mid and he's playing safe with dinky gives that help his stats but do nothing for the team. We need him to take ownership of going forward and it's not happening and my worry is that he won't have time to make the adjustment to his game for this season. But please, even if we fail again dismally throughout this season, don't call for Goody's exit. As with other coaches, he needs time to re-strategise and come up with a more long-lasting style, just as Hardwick did in 2017, Simmo and Bucks did in 2018 and Chris Scott, Hinkley and Richo have done this year.

Obviously Goody has to restructure again and decide on whether he will stick loyal to a few players whom he had pencilled in as his best 22 at start of the year. He also has to make a few tweaks to his game plan, but that's difficult in four days. But I have four certain outs. T-Mac - I said three weeks ago he does not look fit and by that I mean speed and agile fit. He's had turf toe and whilst I suspect he can still run a very fast marathon, I can guarantee you he would not be able to pass any zig zag test with speed at the moment. He should not be allowed to play VFL or AFL for two weeks, he has to go back to getting his body right. He carried a huge weight for us last year but he's been carried for five weeks now and Goody has to say no more. Spargo - Another coach and fan favourite who has to get the chop. I love the way he goes about it, but he's just not able to break from tackles and he's not impacting on the scoreboard. His inboard kicking howler made the VFL non-negotiable. Weid - yep he looks like Tarzan but unfortunately he just can't get it and the dropped mark off the inspirational Petracca play made it clear he has to go back to the twos and get some confidence back. Five goals in five games is bad enough but one tackle and just 15 pressure points tells the other story. The other out for me is Corey Wagner and it's not that he doesn't have a strong work ethic, it's just that he just isn't providing the link up excellence that we need. I also suspect Nev will be out injured and to be honest we can't carry injuries at this time and especially given the short break will mean at least one player from either side will most likely get sore very early. The three certain ins are: Garlett - Spargo gets to the crumbs but hasn't got the pace or strength to break free. Jeffy isn't clean but invariably gets free and we need his pace up front and it will allow Hunt to go back and take one of their very quick forwards. Stretch - A straight swap for C.Wagner. Billy is cleaner with the ball and makes position well. Goody doesn't rate him, (we know that because he has been given so few chances in the past three years) but he deserves a decent shot at it. The Richmond game will probably get ugly but he's the only guy in the twos at the moment who can probably make a difference if he can step up a level. Lockhart - Over his injury and ready to again have a solid crack at it. The fourth in is between Keilty and Oscar. Oscar will probably get the nod because Goody has always rated him and will have to play on Tom Lynch because Riewoldt will be back. The good thing is that Lynch is still slow in movement from his knee, so that gives Oscar a chance of keeping up with him. Assuming Nev is also out, then the final spot comes down to either Sparrow or Keilty and conditions should determine that. Personally I'd still have ANB in because even if he butchers it a bit, he will cover 14-16km and the night conditions suit his style more.

Put myself through the replay last night to check if my eyes weren't deceiving me and came up with following. 6 Salem - Our only defender who regularly laid a tackle. 5 Brayshaw - our only midfielder with the confidence to go forward - unlike Clayton who looks as if he is in fear of being tackled and flicks it off sideways/backwards nearly every time. 4 Frost - The critics won't like it but there were no major howlers and he worked really hard on Bruce (two marks). 3 Petracca - Yes he made mistakes, but he was our only lively forward all day and the only one who looked dangerous even if he ballsed it up on occasions. 2 Hore - Plenty of intercepts and in general safe with his kicking. 1 Viney - Huge first half trying to lift the guys. Preuss had some memorable moments early but faded again and big Max spanked Marshall, but the stat that worries me was just 11 pressure points.

6 Gawn - Our only clear winner, although their three rucks nullified him after half time. But a brilliant first half by our big boy. 5 Brayshaw - Would have liked him to have hit a few more targets, but he kept having a go. 4 Hunt - Our liveliest forward all night. 3 Oliver - Great second term with his run and carry but went back to his pissy little handballs after the long break. Not sure but he may have been a bit of a downhill skier in second half as well. 2 Hibberd - I suspect he got a major rev up from Goody at half time, because he was one of the few that lifted after the break. 1 Harmes - spanked by Shiel but least he did work hard to the end.

We all sat through some impressive pre-season videos that made us all think we'd arrived and Champion Data backed it up saying our list depth made us flag favourites. Well it's fair to say that won't be happening now. I have four big requests for next week, not that it matters now as the errors have been made and a mid-table finish is all we can hope for now. The intensity in our game is gone and it's almost like we've morphed back into the nice old Demons. I am aware that this is borderline trolling, but it has to be said by someone. 1) Tom Mac - Yes he has a big heart, but he is injured. He has never been a superstar that the club and media made out pre-season, but he has shown enough as a forward to make us all think he can play a key role. But so far this year he has been carried. he is not fit, he can barely run and his return - two goals in three games is abysmal, What's worse is that Hurley went to our only reliable target in Melksham, that's how little the Dons were worried about T-Mac. If he plays against Sydney, there is no point even turning up. 2) KK - An inquiry should be done into who decided to rush him in two weeks ago and that person should have to write 1000 times "I must apologise to Billy Stretch". KK is loping around the field like Jack Watts. He looks good except he rarely gets it and his decision not to take the game on in the second term made you wonder why he is even on our list. He started wing and when he finally got his first effective kick in the third term it was a ripper - he thumped it 60m across ground and you got a glimpse why he was highly rated at Gold Coast as a defender. So what do we do, we send him forward to be largely ineffective, although he did kick one long goal. But FFS, why was he rushed in. He's barely played for two seasons because of concussion issues and we throw him and the team in the deep end after just one VFL practice match. He still might be a player, but Goody please make him earn it via the VFL. He is the biggest selection rush since Petty v St Kilda last year. And we know what a mistake that was back then. And if and when he does regain his mojo in the VFL, let's see him play where he once made it with the Suns - in defence. 3) O-Mac - You can't have a defender who is the slowest in the league and also possibly the least intense being the cornerstone of your defence. He is an unbelievably accurate kick, but he lack's strength physically. He is Brent Grgic 2.0. He has played more than 60 games but will never make it to the top tier. He just doesn't have AFL level intensity and he's too slow to be part of our zone. It is now time to stop hoping his skill level will win through and just accepting you got it wrong - Neale Daniher did the same thing with Grgic. Try him as a forward Goody if you have a contract stipulation that you must play him for a certain number of games, but please, don't keep insulting us. 4) ANB - Yes we all love his workrate but he's just not linking up how we hoped when he was brought into the role by Goody three seasons ago. He needs to go back to the VFL for confidence and I'm sure he will play useful games for us down the track - just not at the moment. A run on the ball is not such a bad idea, but it needs to be after a few weeks of Lachie Neale type stats in the twos. Nibbler is such a hard worker that I give hime three games tops before he is banging the selection door down again. Other than those four, everyone else had their moments when they looked the part and moments when they looked like Old Melburnian Amos standard. Weid - Started the game dropping the simplest of marks on a lead from Salem. But he did take a couple of marks later in the game and even won some clearances in the ruck. His long goal from a tight angle in the third made him look like a superstar again. But that's the problem, he looks like a beauty but so far he's not even averaging a goal a game. Jonesy - Started like a million dollars finding the pill on his wing, creating and linking like Ablett in form. But after quarter time you had to check if he played and when thrown on to the ball in the third quarter, he lost a couple of clearances that made you wonder where to now. Goody won't drop him yet, but it's getting close. Olly - He looked a class above everyone else in the second term with his run and carry but then he went back to his poxy short handballs and quick kicks and if that's where he's at, our season is over. He will lift next week I'm sure but he just has to realise that he's a gun, he has to act and play like one. Parish outplayed him tonight - my god I can't believe I said that! Frosty - He had an incredibly good second term when he got on tops of their bigs and became a defensive wall but after that he's lucky that his cohort in defence Oscar made him look respectable. Must have given away three stupid frees at least. But until May returns, he must play, it's as simple as that. Trac - Had a chance to be a hero in the first term and couldn't hold the mark and later that term dropped a Jonesyesque sitter. But from then on he did actually contest and whilst there's no doubt he's down on confidence, it is hard to see how you could say he wasn't worthy of a spot based on that game. I won't keep going on, but I was rapt with Gawny's first half and Hibberd did return to his AA form in the second half after looking disinterested up to half time. Hunt applied pressure and was dangerous up forward but we lost his dash from defence and Lockhart has a go, although he may be too small to really make it as a player long term. Corey Wagner had a super first term and was a terrier until then as well but I think he got a bad corkie (injuries will confirm this). Angus and Salem both were among our best, yet neither was able to grab control of things and Harmesy could not contain Shiel but he did end up kicking a couple of late goals to also be one of our better players.

Yes I liked McGuane's assessment and agree it was almost laughable the dominance in the third quarter followed by the ball going up the other end for a goal via a dubious Rohan free kick (dubious because the umps also missed the Hawkins shove in the back on May before he and Hunt collided high on Rohan. But here's my issue, our forward line is malfunctioning and yet we made just the one minor change to it for tonight (Sparrow out), so Goody and the selectors in part are hoping that playing a lesser opponent that is down on form and on our home ground will help solve the scoring problems of the first two rounds. He's also decided to stick fat with underperforming forwards - something that will be highly credible if they turn things around tonight, but seem ludicrous if they don't. Hopefully we will turn things around and win easily, but there's also a chance that we will again dominate the midfield and struggle to score, rendering the game a tight, tense low-scoring affair that will be won on the flip of a kick or the mouth-whistling ability of an umpire. Of course, Goody and the players may have already made adjustments, but given how reluctant we are to swing players around these days (and practice in their three set groups) I can't really see much of a change. That means the spotlight will once again be on our four down-on-form forwards. If they succeed tonight it is happy days for Sydney, if they don't, the same hard questions will arise. Petracca - why hasn't he been sent down to VFL to try and remedy some serious flaws in his game and at the same time dominate at the lower level to restore confidence. This has been a lament of mine for two years no with him. Among his flaws are his high ball drop which causes him to at times, when harassed, misqueue his kick. He also still fails to get back on his mark far enough when he gets a free or takes a mark and on occasions his opponent on the mark touches his low flat pass to a leading opponent. Obviously we'd all love him to find an extra yard of pace, but that may not be possible (genetically) and it's not a death sentence even if it is. Please note that ultimately, Trac is our best chance on our list of providing the Stringer/De Goey type forward and with both Hannan and Joel Smith out, there are precious few options. On paper at this stage, finding another player of this type (eg: Cats and Rohan last year), is now our No.1 recruiting need. Weideman - he spent all of last year learning the back-up ruckman craft but his form against Port in this area was abysmal and the Dons have added a third ruck (Zac Clarke) to their set-up for tonight. His manager pestering for a $700K contract would also be distracting, but more than anything he needs to get back to working again on his agility like he did pre-season last year and it is a surprise to me that Goody has persevered with him this week ahead of going with the Preuss option. Neal-Bullen - Almost everyone's most hated player but I have always loved his workrate and believe that you need at least one small forward playing this type of sacrificial role each week on your forward line. Obviously we'd all like it if his disposals were neater like Robbie Gray, but it ain't happening at the moment. He may need time in twos for a confidence boost, especially now that the 6-6-6 has stopped him getting involved by running off the back of the square. T-Mac - It's been clear that he's not quite as maniacally fit this year and a turf-toe relapse and shoulder ops obviously hasn't helped, plus he now cops the No.1 tall defender each week. To me, the solution is to give him a week down back and the obvious swap is with Oscar, who Goody seems to have forgotten was a forward for much of his time in the TAC and is a lovely kick and has high endurance running-ability, even if his speed off the mark is now being questioned. Playing Oscar forward for a bit would be an extra part in his evolution as a defender anyway, giving him a close up look at how opponents are blocking and positioning on him. Playing T-Mac down back is not a long-term solution (we all recall that he mixed moments of courage and class with a high clanger kicking rate), but it may get his marking confidence back and give him a refresher in the importance of pressure before he returns to the forward line. I haven't included Melky in this group, because I've been pretty impressed by how quickly he's come back from his pre-season setbacks and his body-positioning on opponents taller than him is superb. Based on the side chosen tonight, I imagine Lockhart and Corey Wagner will also play as small pressure forwards, although I wouldn't be surprised if Goody sends Hunt or Fritter forward at some point. But to me if our forwards malfunction again, it really is time for Goody to experiment again, just as he did at the start of last season. And by that I basically mean, removing Weid for a bit and playing Preuss - I don't expect this to be a fail-safe move as I am aware BP is slow, but he does bring a presence and fear factor that Weid can't provide and when on the ball he allows Gawn to spend time up front where he is also a fear-factor presence for opponents. With Joel Smith and Hannan out for a while yet, Goody has to decide if he can switch his best Petracca-replacement options from their current roles. By this I mean whether he is willing to rob Peter to pay Paul and send one our our quality midfield troika - Harmes, Oliver, Brayshaw - forward to play the third/fourth tall role that Trac has failed in. Such a move is not ideal, but in the short-term it may be necessary. But alas we should win tonight and the mild conditions will help our forwards, so such experimentation by Goody may not be required - at least for another week or two.

So far he's kicked 17 goals in 21 games and his ruck work, as we saw last week, needs a lot of work. The Pies wouldn't offer more than 300K a season for him on those figures, but if they are really keen then I'd suggest we offer a direct swap for Mason Cox!

The key factor missed here is that, as with the prelim final, it was mild night. Richmond's manic press works best under greasy conditions and both times against the Pies they copped perfect conditions for kicking and marking and both times they went small in the hope that the ball would be spilling onto the ground - which it wasn't.

Happy with the side's balance and hopefully we have a bit of a bounce back from last week, although down there I can cope with a loss - I just want to see our key troika (Gawn, Oliver and Viney) being competitive again. Clearly we have deficiencies, but so long as we are winning the clearances, then our season is going to be fine, even at 0-2. But if we can't win the battle in the middle, what hope have we got as that's our strength. We don't have bookends like Rance/Riewoldt to save us. Nor do the Tigers now! We have options down back and if there's problems up front we can always put Hibberd on to Rohan and send O-Mac forward. Jetta on Ablett with Salem on Dahl are my two favourite matchups along with HarmesvSelwood 2.0. It's a night game and with weather turning, I suspect it will be intense with plenty of kicking errors from both sides. Lockhart is a very good ball user and may end up on Atkins (I think he matched up on him last season in VFL) but I just don't get why we don't start with our more senior players (eg: Stretch) and then go the kids and rookies. It must be so deflating for Billy right now. Could Jonesy be a surprise small forward for us - he reads the game well?

Always tricky for coaches after round 1 to throw your best-laid plans out the door. So while I am pushing for four changes, it would not surprise me to see just two - May and KK in. We all know that Goody has preferred OMac's precision kicking over Frost's dash and dare, it took six goals from TomaHawk at the Cattery last year before he finally conceded Frosty was better one-on-one than OMac. Frosty's two big howlers on Saturday will cost him, so unfortunately we are stuck with the slow and steady OMac - 63 games now but has anyone ever really warmed to him for his workrate and intensity. He'll play on Esava and May will take Tom-a-Hawk. Clearly we were also smashed at the stoppages, but I expect a response from Gawn, Oliver and Viney. If they don't, we won't be playing finals, but they will fire up because they are all competitors. Our lack of outside run will require at least one change. KK is a cert and Billy must be pretty close to coming straight back in to provide more run. The tricky thing is to find room for them. Hore was badly beaten a couple of times against Port and I can't recall too many successful intercepts. The Cats new small forward set up won't really suit him match-up wise and Fritter can play his role anyway. That frees up one wing for KK. Spargo is yet to show the same crumbing and evasive ability in four games ( 3 pre-season) as last year, so it's time for him to go back and dominate in VFL for a few weeks. Sparrow was handy as the small forward and Wags junior worked his butt off even if he wasn't able to impact much. I'd play Wags Jr as a pressure small with ANB and free up the other wing/midfield rotation for Billy. The final change is whether we need a protector up forward as well as a better back-up tapman than Weid who conceded two goals through ineffectual work when rucking. Like others I don't quite see why we dropped the Gawn/Preuss experiment so quickly - it worked so well against the Pies. Sure Preuss is slow, but he's a scary body and down at the Cattery we need that. Being a night game, I'd have plans two sets of plans according to the weather. If it's still a mild night, then play the three bigs - Weid, T-Mac and Preuss - and leave out Christian Petracca - how many games is he going to get before he has to work on his weaknesses at VFL level. But if it's wet or greasy I'd leave out Weid because his ruck work is so poor that Esava will exploit him. In: May, KK, Stretch and Preuss Out: Frost, Hore, Spargo and Petracca (Weid if wet).

I didn't hear Lyon, but if he rated Oliver the best he's seen at Deeland, then he's pretty much on the money in my opinion. Garry would never have seen Ronald Dale or Brian Dixon and I doubt he saw Stan Alves or Greg Wells in demon colours, so there's really only one player ahead of him and it's already been pointed out that 'Tulip' Robbie Flower was very much an outside mid. Gerard Healy's final year at our club in 1985 was Oliver-esque but much of his early years were spent as a forward, so i've left him out of my list below, but he's the only other player who can be mentioned in the same breath as these guys. Also left out on a positional basis were Adam Yze, Steven Febey (best work as half back), Brett Lovett (same) and Glenn Lovett (half forward). I also remember more of Willow as our gifted umpy-appealing forward, even though he was a pure mid for his Brownlow year with us and flipped spots a bit. My 10 best Dee mids I've seen (which dates back to 1971) are: 1) Robbie Flower - Kept our club alive with hope in the 70s and early 80s. Could do anything, just watch any state game highlights. 2) Clayton Oliver - only a small sample, but his past two years have been huge and he's getting more confident in taking the game on. 3) Todd Viney - a bit wonky with his kicking at times, but grunt work was exceptional. Made everyone walk taller when he played. 4) Greg Wells - an unbelievable mark for his size and he didn't even have a leap - just great at positioning his body. 5) Stan Alves - one of the first to realise the importance of fitness and out on his wing, he found space. 6) Jack Viney - if he can keep injury free then he'll climb up the order. He's our Joel Selwood. 7) Stephen Tingay - when he was hot during the early 90s, so were we. Had courage and a damaging kick on the run. 8) Nathan Jones - we all know he's a hard worker, but he's also very elusive for a bloke who's not exceptionally quick. 9) Shane Woewodin -OK, the haters are going to hate, but his 2000 year was inspiring and we did make the GF largely because of him. 10) Andrew Obst - a tremendous work ethic over a number of years and better in traffic than Sugar Healy IMO. Likely to be on this list in a couple more years: Gus and Harmes

The content for the magazine (released on Saturday) had to be submitted by Feb 1 - hence why the Feb 12 interview with Simon Goodwin answered Robbo's question - Wonder how coach Simon Goodwin reviewed it — watched it with the players with the remote in his hand to highlight the jumpy moments?

Zero chance of playing next week, although encouraging signs from both of them. Next week we will pick close to our best possible line-up because it's our last trial game and the fringe players will miss.

Yes, Joel's been the standout performer in the sessions I've been to. The issue now is where he will play and today he played as a forward - albeit in a limited match simulation drill and with Melky, Trac, VDB and Brayshaw unavailable to take part today and play that role. And he nailed it in the short drill - only lasted about 15 minutes - mega quick leads, one lovely mark and turn and another hang time spoil of a tall defender about to mark - ball spilled to ANB who goaled. But he needs game time - he has barely played - not just with us but even before he came with his NBL aspirations. I had him slated to play a Rampe-type defensive role, but I reckon he will start the season as our third tall up forward behind Weid and T-Mac. I've altered my Rd 1 line-up - assumes everyone's available except Lever. B: Jetta May Hibberd HB: Fritsch O-Mac Salem C Jones Oliver Brayshaw HF: Melky Weid J.Smith F: ANB T.Mac Trac Ru: Gawn Harmes Viney Int: Frost (def), VDB (mid), KK (mid), Spargo (fwd)

Can't make it on Friday so decided to have a last look before 2019. It was slightly windy, but the standard of kicking appears up a notch - it was only four years ago when the only blokes likely to hit another player lace up were Jonesy and Wattsy. Now almost everyone can nail a pass keeping it low. Everyone has their favourites, but my two standouts on the track were Joel Smith - he played as a forward in a short spell of close to genuine match practice - and Bayley Fritta - whose left foot passing from a very undermanned midfield was Salemesque. Most of our young heroic midfielders - Angus, Olly, Trac and Harmesy trained with the remedial group early along with hardworkers VDB and Stretch plus big O-Mac, Jayden, Jetta and Marty Hore. It was possibly our best ever rehab group and Marty looks class - a bit reminiscent of Warren Dean. he wil add to our left-foot clearance contingent. Pleasingly Jayden kept the ball low and hard all morning - maybe someone has been advising him. Olly and Baker primarily did laps. Lever and Jack Viney made very short appearances. Jake just did a few kicks and Jack did a few run throughs, although dad Todd lasted the whole session, catching up with Matt Jones at one stage. No sign of Jordy or Melky. It was hard not to notice how lively both Weid and Frosty were, Hibbo was also very impressive and while he may hunch over like an old man a lot, our new boy Steven May hit more targets than Michael Diamond. Two other things stood out to me. The sense of calm watching training that now exists because we now have a back-up ruckman. I am not sure Preussy's athleticism is going to let him play as a forward, but if Gawny does get injured at some stage next season, we now don't have to alter the game plan. And Casey midfielders are going to love him. The other thing was that T-Mac has taken his lack of fashion to a new level - he has added pink boots to his white sock repertoire. Not quite Warwick Capper, but a job in Richmond as a meter made awaits him when he retires.

Ok, I couldn't find room for Preuss so title is somewhat misleading. And KK will be battling with Hunt and Joel Smith for that quicker defender type spot in defence and may be pushed on to the wing. Given the whisper is that we will play the Pies in Rd 1, we will almost certainly go quick. Hence no room for both Lewis and Jones - I chose Jonesy because of the plethora of lefties we have. I'm a big fan of Frosty and it's obvious that with May in, he will be squeezed out down back, so I think he'll have to do a fair bit of work as back-up ruck/forward in the off-season, just as he did under Roosy initially. Hopefully the coach also trials O.Mac in that role as well. And yes I cheated a bit by not naming Lever, whom I suspect will be touch and go to play by then. My team B: Jetta May Hibberd HB: Hunt O.Mac Salem Ce: Brayshaw Oliver KK HF: ANB Weid Petracca F: Melky T.Mac Hannan Ru: Gawn Harmes Viney Int: VDB (mid rot), J.Smith (def rot), Frost (fwd/ruc rot), Jones (mid rot). Emerg: Fritsch, Spargo, Stretch Depth: Lever (inj), Lewis, Preuss, Wagner, JKH, Maynard, Baker

You have to factor in that Ross Lyon was on a hiding to nothing if he took another player with off-field issues and if it backfired as it did for him with Lovett, Sylvia and Bennell, it was bye-bye Ross. I was hoping that we would nail a deal for Andrew Brayshaw and pick 11 (onpassed for May) and have given them our future second rounder in return which I felt was pretty fair, but alas it ain't happening. The only good thing is that Jesse clearly knows (as Dusty found out a few years ago), that the interest in damaged off-field goods is not high. Maybe as Dusty did to devastating effect, he will knuckle down and try to show he really is deserving of another top-end contract with us. He has the talent. It's just the application. If he doesn't figure life out, then he might as well be Jack Potts next season, just waiting to be released for a second rounder at season's end. Hopefully though we can still do a second round deal with the Suns for KK as he was a ripper and it's worth a shot to see if we can right him and maybe if they decide they really don't care too much about May, they will accept our No.1 pick next season for him.

Give Goody some credit please - he will know whether it's worthwhile taking Colyer or not and if he wants him so be it - he does have a couple of credits already in knowing which Bombers to take. In theory the switch for Tyson is a good one - I just hope we get a little more in return - ie: they don't have a third rounder so a switch of second round picks - we get 31 and they get 33 would seem pretty fair.

Go back and have a look at Geelong EF game and you might work it out. Or if you are going to take that sort of attitude, have a look at the GC v Melbourne game this year - at what point as Jesse and Tom Mac shared eight goals between them, did you think, gee, Steven May is a must have that we will give up heaps for. That's not to say that Steven May isn't any good, all I'm saying is that if you are going to treat footballers like a meat market (as clubs and fans are forced to do each October) then you have to decide what is the valuable commodity that we need. I would have thought a qualify mid (outside/inside) or a quality running forward/defender was our main priority at the moment. Effectively in taking May we are saying that with Lever and May in the key defensive spots, let's use up $1.6million plus of our salary cap each year and send O-Mac and Frost to the magoos.

Way more excited about us getting KK than May. I can actually see KK fitting into our side without impacting on key players and he provides pace that we need. May is also quick for a big bloke, but I don't quite get why we need him - we have Frost, O.Mac, Lever when he returns and Joel Smith and we also have two VFL standard back-ups already - Petty and Kielty. Is May going to play CHF and be part of the T-Mac, Weid mix? Is O-Mac going to finally to be tried in that role. Either way I don't get why you'd give a up a first rounder and $800K for May when we are already over-catered for in that area. But I do get why we would give KK another chance at reigniting a career for $300K and a second or third round pick.

So assuming he tells us he needs to move for family/business reasons, which player is worth more Zak Jones or Vanders. If it was last season, Jones wins hands down, but he lost form this year and his crude tactics have lost him points. My view is that Zak (a former No.15 pick) would now be worth about the figure you have suggested for Vanders. Zak will be 24 in Rd 1, Vanders 27. Straight trade? Or do we have to sweeten deal with a swap of our third round (50) for their fourth round (67)?

Wrote this a few weeks ago and bit worried now that we are really back in 1987. Thankfully this time we don't have a loveable mad Irishman to spoil things, although I suspect the umps will have a big bearing on the result.

I think he was shattered at first when he got wind of the deal to offload him by the Crows five seasons ago, but he quickly got over his disappointment at moving states (hanging out with a social livewire in Wattsy helped) and turned the move into a positive that has extended to his new real estate career. He also has been humble enough to still cop demotion to the backline and then demotion from the team and kept smiling through it all. Rapt that he got to play 100 games for us and also won a best-and-fairest. Let's hope we make it to the prelim so that he can go out with a flag for Casey. Good with media, good with fans and a good bloke.

I suspect I'm not alone in thinking this year has the same feel about it as our 1987 experience. Back then we were desperately trying to break our finals drought for Robbie Flower. We had recruited well with three young guns in Todd Viney, Earl Spalding and Warren Dean giving us better depth than previous years. But we lost Chris Connolly to a knee injury early (shades of Lever), then lost the dash of star wingman Alan Johnson (up stepped Graeme Yeats to fill that void a bit) and then on that fateful day at Whitten Oval in Rd 22, saw our star youngster Garry Lyon break his leg. But we managed to win that day. A ball heading for the boundary in the third term bounced at right angles and Robbie pounced to provide a bit of magic and turn the tide our way. Jason Dunstall helped us a bit down at Kardinia Park as well and hey presto we were in the finals again. Those who were around then will recall how our side suddenly developed faith and confidence and we played like champions in the finals against North and Tommy Hafey's Sydney the following week. It's fair to say that if our game goes up a notch on reaching the finals this year, then book your ticket now for the trip west to play West Coast in the prelim, because it will happen. Then all we have to do is hope that the same ill-luck doesn't befall us as it did that day out at Waverley against the Hawks in 1987. Whilst our 1987 side had some absolute greats (Flower, Todd Viney and a couple of Brownlow medallists in Jimmy and Willo) and an outstanding back six, I reckon our current side is a tad better, although you'd hope so given the amount of time they work on their skills. Imagine if DL was around back then, it would have gone into overdrive with all the kicking errors! For those of you of my vintage, let us know if my comparison stacks up. 1987 PF team B: B.Lovett Hughes Wight HB: Stretch Spalding Grinter ? Yeats Chiron Newport HF: Flower Dean Bailey F: Jackson Wilson Stynes Ru: O’Dwyer T.Viney Greg Healy Res: Eishold, Campbell Back-ups: David Williams, Doug Koop Injured: Lyon, Johnson, Connolly, Moore Brett Lovett/Nev Jetta Have a look at a video of the Rd 22 Footscray game and you’d realise how good Brett Lovett was. So disciplined, so clever. Nev has similar niftiness, but doesn’t get quite as involved in offence. Danny Hughes/O.Mac Our nominated full-backs. Hughes in 1987 was up their with the best in the business back then. Both a tad slow, both thumping kicks capable of clearing the defensive 50. Hopefully Oscar’s confidence can continue to grow in the finals. Sean Wight/Sam Frost Hard not see the Wight resemblance in the way Frosty plays. Both gung-ho risk takers and excitement machines. Both capable of stunning turnovers as well, but even in today’s precise game, you sometimes have to take the good with the bad. Stephen Stretch/Christian Salem Salem has been our best defender this year. Stretch was our club champion in 1987. Stretch gave our defence amazing run launching us forward with his long- kicking, Salem is not as quick, but his footskills are cleaner and he hits harder. Rod Grinter/Michael Hibberd Rodney provided the fear that all defences needed and evened up the score a little against the Hawks in the PF, sending Chris Mew to LaLa land. He also had a good leap and thumping kick. Hibberd has provided a great mix of aggression and run to our current side. Both would be among first picked each week by coach. Dean Chiron/Jordy Lewis Both came to us from other clubs and both played their role with distinction. Jordy has given us elite distribution skills, Chiron (highly unskilled by comparison to Jordy) was the fearless tagger in the days when clubs needed at least two or three nullifiers, bordering on dirty. Earl Spalding/Tom Mc One of three gun recruits that came to us that year. The WA started out as a CHB that year and was moved to CHF in 1988 because he was an amazing mark – possibly the best we’ve had. He wasn’t always so reliable with his kicking and Northey got jack of him in the early 90s. Carlton realised his worth and he was a key part of their ’95 flag. T-Mac has already transformed into a gun forward and he is also a strong mark, judging ball flight better than just about anybody I’ve seen. Graeme Yeats/Angus Brayshaw Yater had a career-best season in 1987 having been moved from the back-pocket to the wing. He provided great run, was a handy mark for his size, and apart from that PF miss, was generally a pretty reliable kick. He was a significant midfield upgrade that year. Angus has done the same this year but is bigger and classier. Brett Bailey/ Jake Melksham Bails was a tough mid who drifted forward and kicked a heap of goals that year. He was the glue in our 1987 side and was the hero of our night grand final win, kicking the winner. Melky has come of age this year and is the glue up forward with his bullet passes. Simon Eishold/Alex Neal-Bullen Eishold held his spot throughout the 1987 finals despite some dissenters. He was a workhorse half forward whose kicking occasionally let him down, significantly the one from 10m out in the PF. ANB is a prolific workhorse and also has his dissenters, but has a little more evasiveness about him and despite what some DLers say, has some neat kicking skills. Stephen Newport/Dom Tyson Newy came off the bench to replace Garry Lyon in the Footscray game and had what some will say was his best game that day on the wing with Dean shifted to CHF. He was a thumping kick (just like Dom), but didn’t have his inside skills. Robbie Flower/Clayton Oliver Hard to believe that he had to wait 270 games to play his first final. He was the player that kept fans believing throughout the dreadful 70s and 80s. And he stepped up big time in his first two finals before being sniped by Gary Ayres in the prelim. Olly hasn’t had to wait long for a final, but there is already a case being made that we are looking at similar genius. Warren Dean/Mitch Hannan Dean’s arrival as a wingman in 1987 with Todd and Earl helped turn us around. He was very clever with the give and a thumping kick and had to play CHF in the 1987 finals once Lyon went down. He injured his knee in 1988 and never really recovered. I sense with Mitch that after nearly two years of adjusting to AFL, this might be his time to shine like Dean did that September. He has the tools – the leap, the pace, the accurate long kick – he just needs to put it together more often. Brian Wilson/CP5 Both have the hips that don’t lie and are showmen of the highest order. Willo won a Brownlow Medal in the middle and then became a mercurial baulking forward. Trac is just as mecurial. Ricky Jackson/Charlie Spargo We all loved tricky little Ricky and his pace caused mayhem back then. Charlie has the same cult following and whilst he’s not as quick, he has way more skill. Tony Campbell/ Bayley Fritsch Tony was used pretty much everywhere at the Dees, full-forward, wing and then as a key defender and on his day he was a pretty handy player. I never really got over the fact he didn’t handball to Robbie in the goalsquare in time on against the Hawks. Bayley gives us the same flexibility and is a much more skilful player – almost Floweresque. Jim Stynes/Sam Weideman OK, in 1987 Jimmy was still a baby and was brought in mid-season from VFA side Prahran. But he gave us a glimpse of his ability that season and his mobility meant he could pretty much play anywhere and he kicked 15 goals that year. Weid won’t be a Jimmy Stynes, but I was struggling to find a similar player from that year to marry him up with. To me, Weid has a bit of the TomaHawk about him, but let’s wait and see whether his game can go up a cog this final series. Steve O’Dwyer/Max Gawn Gawny would no doubt prefer the Stynes comparison, but Strawb was huge in 1987 (when not suspended) and gave us someone who could win the taps and dish it out to his opponent as well. Obviously Gawny has way more class about him and marks more like Jimmy. Todd Viney/ James Harmes Two young bulls. Todd, like Jack, was a well-developed teenager in 1987 who loved charging through packs and Harmes of the past few weeks has shown similar attributes. Harmesy is a better kick, but he has a long way to go to match Todd’s huge career. But I wouldn’t put it beyond him. Greg Healy/Nathan Jones Both are/were clever ball users and Sugar was already showing the leadership in 1987 that would see him replace Robbie as skip. Nathan’s career is nearing the end, although I’m expecting a final instalment as a defender to start next season. David Williams/Aaron Vandenberg Injury cost David his best years at the Dees, although he did kick nine one day. He wasn’t quite big enough to play FF, so often had to play as a half forward and I have a feeling he was dropped for the prelim, although maybe he was injured. Vanders has had similar luck with injury so far, but I’ll give you a tip – if we make the prelim, he won’t be dropped under any circumstances. Doug Koop/Dean Kent A talented player who Northey got plenty out of including a strong effort against the Dogs. Dropped for the prelim, he would have been the most likely inclusion for the injured Robbie or Willo had Jimmy not run over the mark and we had made the GF. We all got a reminder out west of what Kenty can do and hopefully he can keep bringing it for the next four games. Absent five Garry Lyon/Jesse Hogan Our Gaz was still a teen but already a gun when he broke his leg in the Footscray game. There are a lot of what ifs in footy and I just reckon that if Alan Johnson and Lyon were playing, we might well have stolen the ’88 GF. Jesse is a different story, but like Gaz, integral to our forward line. Whether Weid can continue to replace him with such vigour remains to be seen. But at least he isn’t showing signs of grizzling about the umpiring. Alan Johnson/Jack Viney For a while it looked like Johnno was never going to be able to get his hamstrings right. Ditto Viney with his foot issues. But the best of Jonno came not as the wingman who won his first Bluey in 1983, but the running defender who altered the way footy was played from the back in 1988 and 1989. Perhaps a healthy Jack can do a similar reformation. Chris Connolly /Jake Lever Connells had become a mainstay down back as a small defender and did his knee in Rd 5 that year and never really got back to the same level. Lever showed in half a season that he’s a terrific mark and spoiler and let’s pray he gets back to that level next season. Peter Moore/Joel Smith Having turned 30, Moore had a few back issues and missed much of the season which ultimately helped because Strawb and Jimmy got goes. Smith’s season has gone the reverse. He finally got his chance when Lever went down and showed us all what he can do with his leap, speed and tackling ability. Will be interesting to see whom he replaces in coming weeks. Peter Giles/Bernie Vince As with Moore, Gilesy’s career as a gutsy defender who could occasionally be sent forward and turn games was coming to an end, although he played a key role in the night GF win in 87. Injury has seen Bernie miss his final shot at glory, but he has been a similarly revered asset in the rise of the club in his 100 games.