Deespicable

How good was Gawny - although it may have been partly the case that Goldy has lost major ground since their epic Hobart duel two years ago. I've said before, but I will say again - ANB is becoming more and more like Robbie Gray. And Harmesy field kicking was superb - imagine if Hoges could kick like that? Lever showed why we took him and with Hibberd gives us two quality footballers in our back seven - the other five are good as well - but these two are elite. The only downside to that is that Frosty is way out of favour - as he was late last season. He's got a big job now to get back in the mix and will probably need an injury or a massive opposition side to get in ahead of Lever and O.Mac. Clearly Goody is still [censored] off with him. It was a great team effort, although we were playing a bottom four side from last year and potentially the spooners this year. We'll get more of an idea from St Kilda game. Of those who played and didn't cement spots for Rd 1, I have the following: Angus Brayshaw - nothing wrong with his game, but nothing you'd rave about either. Wags - handy early and more precise with his kicking, but not as influential after quarter time. Jetta still well ahead and replaces him barring other injuries. Hannan - the coach loves him so he probably will play Rd 1, but I didn't like the way he hung off the back of the pack waiting for glory when Gawn unloaded with his 70m torp. Bugg has to be picked ahead of him and if they decide on a fab five small forward set up then Bayely Fritsch is also in the mix now. Our best four small forwards today were ANB, Melky, Buggy and Fritsch. Assuming Jeffy is fit by Rd 1, that should be our five to go with supporting T-Mac and Hoges. Salem, Maynard and Billy all had their moments, but I suspect one and possibly two (if Viney is fit) will miss Rd 1. Biggest mistake - wasting about six centre clearances by putting Hoges in there. Hoges is our worst decision-maker and disposer in the entire squad and he gets a gig in there ahead of Trac, Angus and others. Ridiculous stupidity and worthy of the club leaders going up the coach and having a word about it. If he's in the middle against Geelong, it's game over. Jesse is a great mark, has natural fitness and has presence on the forward line - but the rest of his game needs major work and as he is our laziest trainer. Rewarding him is the worst possible outcome and makes a mockery of getting rid of Jack Watts.

Hopefully the reason why Goody is thinking of having him through the midfield is that he's our second best pack mark behind Gawny and if he's in the ruck while Gawny rests, then the idea makes a fair degree of sense because he is naturally fit and fellow ruckman will not play close to him like a key defender who's aim is to push him under the ball and negate him. As a result he could be a handy weapon - and a slight tangent on T-Mac's stint on the ball. T-Mac is more work horse. But if the idea is for Hoges to play as a genuine midfielder, then it is fatally flawed because as good a mark as he is, he is among our worst disposers/decision makers with the football and we have a bevy of handy midfielders who are better suited to that hard grind.

Apologies for the late comment but busy day yesterday. Just expanding to what Demon Jack said, the most pleasing thing for me at training yesterday was watching Jack Viney do a large portion of the session with the remedial group - Sam Weideman and Dean Kent. Jack took part in some less vigorous tackling drills and was re-strapped around ankle straight afterwards. But after that he emerged again and did several kicking drills, jumped for marks confidently and then finished with a few lengthy run throughs. There was no signs of him whimpering in pain - he's hardly likely to show that anyway - and as with last year he looked a tad on the Naim Sulemanglou side in his run-throughs, but when weights and Alter-G are all you've been allowed to do, then that is fair enough. I imagine the key now for him is not pulling up sore post-session, but at least he does still exist and whilst Rd 1 might be a stretch, you can understand why he is hopeful of returning by that date. Other comments: Weids looks more athletic than last year, but the key for him is whether he can develop the agility required at top level. Bayley Fritsch is an exquisite talent (yes, exquisite is a Robbie Flower permitted word). He's still really light and he got schooled a bit in tackling sessions, but he's our new Jack Watts, minus the No.1 pick investment which means he doesn't have to carry the weight of our expectations. Injuries permitting, he'll play AFL at some stage this year. Tom Bugg and Melky both worked hard and looked good, but I'm sorry I'm an ANB fan - I think he's our Robbie Gray in the making. But Buggy may end up being our full-forward for a lot of this season - who knows how many games Jesse the Drama Queen will play this year. Frosty the go man looked good again - gees it's going to be a hard task for Goody deciding which two of Lever, O.Mac and Frosty play Rd 1, although he may end up going all three bigs down back, especially if Cats go tall. And our other big defender back-up, Bill Keilty looks to have grown in confidence at this level. The two key players missing again were Dom Tyson and Vanders. I think all the rest were involved in some capacity.

I headed down by bike for first session since last season and as Saty has mentioned, it was primarily a skills session with most of the work divided into 3 groups - forwards, mids and defenders. AFL is becoming a bit like NFL in that you train majority of time with your chosen group. Those of you who have been regulars at training will know this already, but for those of you who haven't been much this year, the conclusions you can draw are: Jordy and Vince are training with defence and will start season down back. Bernie was working feverishly in most drills, so overlook from your Rd 1 team at your peril. The other player to catch the eye was Jake Lever. Gees he moves well and his hands are so clean and given the way he was encouraging others, he's a monte to be part of our new leadership group. Oscar wasn't there today, but all the other keys were - Joel Smith doing running work so not part of the squad today but I'm told by Saty that he has been on other days and he looks mega ripped. Wags also impressive, but boy it's going to be hard for him to get in this year. Both Salem and Angus were training with midfield group, who were practising boundary throw set up with Plappy for a lot of session. Olly was being a bit of a dick, but his push and shove games with Salem, Tracc and Billy are all part of what happens when the real stuff begins, so he was a likeable nuisance. Maynard moves well, but like Wags, he will have to hope for injuries to get a gig methinks. Viney wasn't there and Tyson was another absentee today. But Tracc is training with the mids, so will he play there? Baker getting more tuition than really joining in - same as Petty with defenders. The forward group included Bugg, JKH, Melky and Spargo for those trying to figure out Goody's early mindset. Lots of snaps and goalkicking practice for them and ANB, Melky and JKH were my best workers on a hot day when both Hoges and Jeffy finished up a little early - Jeffy did running drills afterwards so no issues there. T.Mac clearly a leader of this gp and he will doubtless again be in leadership squad with Viney, Jones, Gawn and Lever and then maybe one of the defensive oldies as well - ie: Lewis or Vince. Hannan doing laps/fitness work with Tim Smith, while Weed did more hardcore running. I didn't see Kent. Of all the recruits, aside from Lever, the only one I reckon is a chance for Rd 1 action is Bayley Fritsch - he's mega fit. I suspect he will get a trial pre-season and if he performs, a spot may appear with Hannan playing recovery catch up. Bugg may be preferred to them both though because he can lay a mean tackle, as we know. Postscript: I just realised I didn't spot Harley Balic - help Saty!

A great topic Big Carl and you did a superb job. Obviously all of us will differ in our view - but I'm in the lucky boat of being the right vintage for this one, as you may be as well. Almost all of your line-up I agree with, although I did struggle with a few and have made three changes and swapped a couple on the bench. I'm sorry but I can't have Graeme Yeats in this side. He was handy, but occasionally was dropped as a defender, although his superb 1987 year as a wingman helped turn things around for the whole side. But he can't get the wing role for obvious reasons. The tricky thing is deciding whether his spot goes to a tall defender or a small one. Ultimately I suspect Jake Lever or Michael Hibberd will get the spot, but the only good, tall intercepters we have had are Jared Rivers and Clint Biz and whilst they had their days, they weren't quite dominant enough. I think any side of this 50-year era has to consider Laurie Fowler. Dumped by the Tigers, he was as tough as nails, won a few B&Fs and was a long clearing kick. He'd also back into anything - Neil Balme included. He's the only one I feel comfortable enough to propose for the other back pocket besides Alan Johnson, who is a monty. The full-back spot is also a troubling one. Danny Hughes was tough and a great kick, but he was mighty slow - that's why Northey decided against playing him on Dunstall in the 1988 GF. He did have a few cracking QB games on Brian Taylor though. Peter Giles was tight-checking and good enough for Lethal to decide to wipe him out. But I like Sean Wight most of all - he kept Ablett goalless one game and his attack on the footy was inspiring. While our depth came on in 1987 and hence everyone played a part in that revival, it was Wight that turned us into a counter-attacking side - a bit like Alex Rance today. Frawley of 2011 also was worthy but his other years were solid, not amazing. I eventually agreed with your choice of half-backs. Brett Lovett was slow, but did all the fundamentals right and enjoyed playing on Peter Daicos. I think he was probably a tad smarter than Tony Sullivan, though cut from the same cloth. The running half-back spot is a toss up between Steven Febey and Stephen Stretch, although Jayden may go past both of them in time. Stretcher was a better kick and had a bigger leap, but Febel could run all day and kept presenting and with brother Matt and Nathan Brown, gave us the run that propelled Daniher's side to finals. Both lacked the mongrel touch though. Grinter, however, was considered by other fans to be more mongrel than footballer but he was a pretty handy kick on the run plus he could take a hanger, so you could probably forgive him the fact that his hip invariably wound up making contact with opponents. Adem Yze also had a sensational year in 2000 off a back flank but played way more as a forward and a bench spot in this side beckons for him. Gary Hardeman is somewhat lucky. The taxi driver was a wonky kick and probably wouldn't even get drafted today because of it, but he was a good mark, played tight, was pretty quick and also was reliable enough when playing for the Vics. He fared well in the Brownlow, but I reckon even he would say that he wasn't as good as a runner-up and third place suggest. But who has been a better CHB on a regular basis? Wight was good there in 87 but played most of his footy at FB, Lyon was exceptional when switched there and Neiter had that one game on Carey in 1994 that everyone thinks makes him a CHB guru, but he was way better as a forward. Spalding wasn't quite quick or mobile enough, hence got sent to CHF. The centreline is hard to argue with. Alves and Wells were premiership players, albeit it after the skippers left to finish their careers in glory. Flower was a God. But that leaves us with a problem because Willo in 1982 was amazing and he was very good for a few more years, often in the uncanny small forward role, where his big baulking hip-swivel was lethal. But I'll take Willo on the bench. The other hard luck story is Stephen Tingay, who was hard and gave his all, but just missed both our grand finals - too young for 88, too old and injured for 00. I've named him emergency to keep the hard luck theme going. The choice of CHF is a lot harder than most young people realise. Officer Greg Parke was amazing in the early 70s, he had sticky fingers but his errant boot often let us down. I accept Schwarter at CHF as he was the most amazing player I have seen though until his knee and he did fight back bravely to win our B&F. I can just cop Parke's omission - but I think if enough people of my age were online, then I reckon he probably would get the nod. I've gone with Gerard Healy on a flank. He often played that spot for the Vics after his 77-odd goal season as a forward pocket next to Whacko Jacko in 1982. In 84 and 85 he was virtually unstoppable as a ruck rover before heading to to the Swans. Seven years and 130 games for us - yep that's enough I reckon to make this side, even though his first couple of seasons on the wing were very much developmental years. In fact I'd say he's the third best footballer we've seen in this 50-year period behind Robbie and Garry Lyon. Neiter gets the full forward spot hands down. If only Hoges had a thumping kick like David did! And the whiz was Mr Magic for us - also for seven seasons - and his 2000 year was phenomenal. You could make a case for Aaron Davey as a small forward and even though he never kicked a swag of goals, he did change the game with his forward pressure. That's why he's in my 22. Then I get controversial for you Big Carl. I'm sorry but I disagree on Allen Jakovich's inclusion. Sure he was amazing once he got his chance in 1991, but four seasons and 47 games isn't a team of the century stat. I'd be happy for him to be in our most mercurial or talented team of the century, but I don't think that's what this topic is about. It's for that reason that Russell Robertson gets my vote - keep your feet, Robbo. Sure Robbo benefitted from having Neiter next to him, but he did win four club goalkicking awards and played more than 200 games - not bad for a guy spotted taking a nice hanger. Brad Green also goes close, but he spent a lot of time as a winger. The ruck's a given, the ruck-rover is also easy as Todd Viney was bigger than Jack and just as tough, although his kicking let him down. I loved the Obstetrician as a player and Glenn Lovett was clever as well, but neither can match Nathan Jones for workrate or heart nor, as some of you have seen, the kicking skills. Henry Coles and Sugar Healy had their moments and Junior Mac was a great leader ... but Jonesy is a three-time B&F winner for good reason. The last spot on the bench goes to a defender for balance and Grinter just pips Stretch and Hughes, but really I'm splitting hairs now. So here it is In bold are players that you picked that I agreed with Big Carl, although Healy and Viney have swapped positions - Todd was never as good as a forward. B: A Johnson S.Wight D Hughes L.Fowler G Yeats HB: B Lovett G Hardeman S Febey C: S Alves G Wells R Flower HF: G Lyon D Schwarz Gerard Healy F: J Farmer D Neitz R Robertson A Jakovich R: J Stynes T Viney N Jones Int: B Wilson R Grinter, A. Davey A Yze J McDonald, Emerg: S.Tingay G.Parke, S.Stretch A Obst, E Spalding OK, a few other comments on those that other have mentioned but miss out IMO. Gary Baker - A lovely mark, but was usually beaten in hit-outs because he was quite short compared to other tapmen. He also wasn't mobile enough to hold down CHF or CHB - something that Jimmy did a bit of early in his career. We've had a long list of handy ruckmen - Big Carl, Peter Moore, Jeff White and Strawb O'Dwyer, but only one so far can match Jimmy and big Maxy needs to do it for quite a few more years yet to challenge him. Ray Biffin - The problem is he can't get a gig as FF because we have Neiter in that spot and even then, his kicking for goal was sporadic at best. As a FB, he played some handy games, but he wasn't fit enough to be a flying intercept mark or rebounder and hence misses out. Stephen Smith - Ultimately a bit of a tease like Jack Watts. Under Skilton we thought we had a superstar in the making at CHF, but then he was never quite able to nail down the spot, eventually being sent to defence where he was reliable in a very ordinary side. His best game was on Leigh Matthews and we all should know where that ends - just ask Gilesy or Allen Jarrot.

Given your criteria is the best seasons of the past 30 years I will exclude Gerard Healy's 1985 season which was simply amazing and sadly we did an Adelaide and altered our B@F votes that year because of his Sydney move. Like you I couldn't fit Woey into the top 10 and our midfield batted pretty deep that year. I cheated with No.10 and would hope that Olly's best years are ahead of him even though he was mega handy this year. Apologies to Brad Green and Chip Frawley on 2010 when they had exceptional years/ 1. Garry Lyon 1990 - the lynchpin of Northey's side as he switched roles from forward to defence to save games or had a run on ball. And up until then, he was injury free pretty well apart from his 1987 broken leg. In 1990 he even carved up Gary Ablett. All subsequent years he was impeded a bit by injury and was forced to play full-forward to limit his body destruction. 2 Jim Stynes, 1991 Agree with this as it was his Brownlow year and he was clearly the best ruckman in the game at the time and his fitness was extraordinary. Plenty of other good years, but this was the one where the whole league took notice. 3. David Schwarz 1994 - Led competition in marks, kicked 60 goals at CHF, dominated the first two weeks of finals. A few regarded him as the equal to Wayne Carey. Schwarter was more flamboyant and had a bigger leap, but Carey, regardless of the field antics, was a superstar enforcer - hence why North won flags and we didn't. 4 Alan Johnson 1989 - Came back from two hamstring-riddled seasons and turned his new role of back pocket into a weapon. Tagged throughout our finals campaign, such was his impact. 5 Todd Viney 1998 - He had many fine seasons with the occasional hamstring tear, but he became our enforcer in the middle and whenever he missed a game, we lost. 6 Sean Wight 1987 - While Stretcher provided the long precise kick and Grinter the hard edge, Wight and his gung-ho attack on the contest was a main reason for us emerging into a force that year - ending our 23-year finals drought. 7 David Neitz 2002 - 82 goals, AA full forward and a rare Coleman Medal for the Melbourne Football Club. Became a great leader and one of the comps best enforcers and most intimidating big men. B and F. His Luke McCabe bump in Rd 1 was the defining moment. 8. Max Gawn 2016 - A dominant season, winding the clock back to the days of the great Jimmy Stynes. He's still got a way to go to match Jimmy, but he could be the best marking tapman since Gary Dempsey. Hopefully not a one-season wonder! 9 Nathan Jones 2014 - First year under Paul Roos and he took his game up a notch, becoming an elite ball-mover. His game on Marc Murphy in our upset win against Blues was a season highlight. 10. Allen Jakovich 1991 / Jeff Farmer 2000 - Both electrifying and crowd favourites and like almost all forwards, prone to running hot and cold and incurring the wrath of the tribunal.

He fits our urgent outside run and speed need and then it gets down to whether his kicking skills are deemed good enough. I'd be happy if we took him as even if he is a bit of a bust, he improves our depth, but Tubby Taylor would be a better judge on this.

We now have two great Adelaide games to attend. One we involve laughter at the Crows expense, the other will involve tears. Goody just tore us apart. Don't ask me, you know it's true. But some of us don't know why.

Sorry I may need to explain more. Richmond had Hampson and Maric as dinosaur-style rucks and chose not to play either, instead opting for Nank, who they brought in as a likely forward/ruck before altering their makeup to use in tandem with Grigg. They have retired Maric and are deciding on whether to bother keeping Hampson. The Dogs had Campbell and Minson in 2015 and chose neither, instead turning Roughead from a defender into a ruck. As with the Tigers they wanted more mobility. We have plenty of back-up tapmen already - we saw how good Pedo played this season and T-Mac was very competitive when he was used their as well. Both Frost and O-Mac can also be used in the role - especially now that we have Lever and we also have Weid, if he can get fit enough. So we don't need two young dinosaur-style back-ups in King and Flipper on top of all the others IMO. It is an old-school list approach that is overkill and it gives me the s... if we are trying to oust Garland for their sake. Yes Flipper and King are on peanuts, but we could have had two potentially hardworking forward/mids instead and also pay them peanuts and Casey would get way more benefit out of that.

Not sure if you have seen the 2016 or 17 GFs yet, but if you do you may have noticed that tall, immobile, dinosaur ruckmen are obsolete, unless they are incredibly talented or can play forward as well - eg: Roughead and Nank. Not sure either if you saw a VFL game, but if you did can you let me know which game you thought King showed promise. I watched a fair few and I can't recall many moments when I thought "Gee, he's a talent". Not sure if you watched Flipper train pre-season before he got injured, but I know I did. One back-up dinosaur is a luxury. Two is downright stupid. And even more so given we already have the best dinosaur-style ruckman in the business and there is now no VFL development league.

This is the result of the club not being willing to make a hard call on either King or Filipovic. As a result a guy that could have been majorly important to Casey's chances of faring well next season is being cast aside for two guys who will be lucky to get a game at Casey this season. With no VFL development side this year, I hope they realise that one of our ruck back-up back-ups will be sitting watching each week. And I hope that if they offer Garland a coaching contract, they also secure his services as a playing assistant coach at Casey under Rawlings. He was majorly missed down there this season.

Always a favourite for us dreamers - the Rd 1 side, selected four months out. As much chance of it coming up as ... Richmond winning the flag in 2017! Now that we have got our man I thought I'd go for it. Note: I'm one who rates VDB because of his gruntwork and his scary tackling and, barring injury, I reckon he's a monte. B: Jetta Frost Hibberd HB: Jones Lever Hunt C: Brayshaw Oliver Lewis HF: VDB T.Mac Nibbler F: Garlett Hogan Petracca Ru: Gawn Tyson Viney Int: Salem, Harmes, Melky, Vince Emerg: O.Mac, Hannan, Maynard

Love the way Lever plays and given we were smashed in the air this year, then it's nice to know we have a guy who has a presence in this area with his leap. Apart from T-Mac going forward, I hope they prepare O.Mac pre-season to play as a forward/back-up ruckmen as well. Unless Frost or Lever is injured, then O-Mac will be required to head forward on occasions and last year for some stupid reason, players like Weid and O-Mac and T-Mac did no work on the back-up ruck role pre-season. It was only when Gawn went down that we started work in that area.

My top request is: A bye the week after Rd 12 QB Monday v Pies and then a trip to either GC or Brisbane so that we can have a mid-season training camp in a warmer climate leading into that game - similar to the camp the Cats had this year. And if that doesn't come up, have the camp in Darwin leading into our fixture there - and please Dees spend the money on having virtually the whole list up there and work their butt off - local footy clinics with most players involved as well.

Jason Taylor did exceptionally well plucking Olly and withstanding the pressure to go for Essendon's Parish. But he so far has shown absolutely no sign of judging talls - Sam Weideman before Charlie Curnow, both Kings, Hulett, Filipovic. Even Prenderghastly was better in this area - he can lay claim to Gawn, T.Mac and Howey - all for second or third rounders. So while there's a chance that if he was drafting in 2008, JT would have overlooked Wattsy, there's also a reasonably high chance that he would have passed on NicNat that year as well. Probably would have passed on Hurley as well and gone straight for Chris Yarran!

David Schwarz won our best and fairest the year after he was touted as being part of a Wayne Campbell trade. Having said that, I still think once a coach decides to farm out a player, there's very little chance of them switching that position.

Robbie will never be lost while people my vintage are still around. Greatest Demon in my time with Gaz Lyon at No.2.

The big surprise to me is that we haven't as yet delisted one or both of King and Filipovic. Richmond showed us there's room for only one genuine ruckman and we already have a ready-made back-up in Pedo and two others - T-Mac and Weid - who could play there if required. All are infinitely better than anything King has shown to date and Flipper did not endear me as a project player pre-season before injury. If the club rates one of them long-term, fine keep one. But there's no no excuse to have two back-up dinosaurs on a list that already has the best dinosaur ruckman in the game.

Sounds pretty fair all round to me. Lever's a gun. If the Swans feel hard done by then they get back pick 34 (35).

We already have two first rounder available - this year's 10 and next year's - and if we are worried about the quality of next year's draft being too good then we should ask for their 2018 second rounder back in return. We also are yet to play the "trade player" card with them, although I suspect Ben Ken has been offered up behind scenes. But given they are also losing Charlie Cameron's run, then maybe we have to consider giving up another SA player - Billy Stretch comes to mind, even though I like the way he goes about his footy - sometimes to get something you really want, you have to give up something you like.

It's a really hard one on so many levels with Jack. We are all know that he doesn't play the man enough defensively, instead trying to intercept an errant handball or hold back from crunching someone - how many 50m penalties has he given away for a crude late tackle after the kick - I suspect zero in 10 years. We all know that he's the most skilled player at the club and in theory, if your team has the footy, then that's what you want - a player who keeps it or improves our position with it. We all know we love it when he plays well as it's so nice to see other supporters have to eat humble Pie when he kicks goals against them - QB being a case in point. We all know that he has had to wear the mantle of being a No.1 pick, been bullied, been verbally abused on the field (let alone by many Demondlanders) and we all know he's taken such batterings in his stride with dignity. And therein lies part of the problem - Jack is a gentleman in a footy era when there is almost no room for such a person. He is Peter McKenna in the wrong era. That gentleman Jack image also doesn't really go hand-in-hand with what our club wants to achieve as its calling card - hard and clinical is what most clubs want from their modus operandi. I could tell pre-season watching Goody ask VDB (before he went down) and Watts to bash into each other in a repetitive marking one-on-one drill that our coach knew he needed Watts to toughen up and to his credit he did ... for a while. But once he came back from his hamstring injury, it was as if he'd gone back to his schoolboy no-contact days and as we all know, it is not good to get on the wrong side of a coach late in the season - which he clearly has. My worry now is that we have encouraged him to look at a club - Port - that can offer virtually nothing in terms of trade fairness - pick 29 is not quite enough and won't help much getting the Lever deal done. And pick 29 might be gone for their Motlop trade anyway. Perhaps if they were offering their No.1 pick for 2018 it would be appropriate. Or maybe Jackson Trengove's early second round pick - assuming he goes to the Lions. And like others here have said, there is a chance that at 26 with 151 games behind him, Jack is ready to finally make it - just about the same time and games as Bernie Quinlan was traded to the Lions in one of the mistakes of last century. It is a risky decision to send him elsewhere, but we can only assume that Goody has tried and tried and tried to get him to work that much harder in his chase and he just doesn't want to flogging a dead horse. Sadly though, I don't think he's a dead horse and he will probably fire up in a new environment and start realising his potential.

Fantastic idea and effort by you Clint Bizzell. Personally I think you haven't quite taken into account that older players have virtually no trade value - just ask Jordy and Sam Mitchell. That's why I'd disagree the most with Hibberd being an early first rounder and Jones late first round, but otherwise you are not that far off the mark for a hypothetical column. To me there are five players everyone would want - all first rounders - and possibly each requiring two first rounders - although thank christ this is hypothetical as they are the keys to our future. The five are: Olly, Trac, Hoges, Viney and Gawn. They are our untouchables. I'd almost be willing to add Jayden and Salem to that list.

Here's my take on Goody's first year - please note I have never met the guy just watched and observed (stalked if you like!) Gameplan - Overall the plan to move the ball quickly forward (unlike Roosy) was a winner and not too different to Dogs of 16 and Tigers of 17. Initially we switched play regularly as well but we seemed to lose our way and got impatient with that style. Instead we often attempted to handball our way backwards or through traffic, rather than using the chip kick - that Adelaide uses so cleverly. Only Lewis looked comfortable with the chip kick and he's had 10 years of it at the Hawks. Overall I liked Goody's desire to break hard and pick players that have dash - not sure why we dropped Frosty late in year who was integral to that style. Turnovers through middle proved costly and we don't have a Rance or Lever (yet) to win the ball back via an intercept. As a result teams got out the back and beat us or spotted up a tall on the lead too easily and only Frosty and Hibberd had the pace and bodywork to have a chance of spoiling that lead. Tricks - excellent use of two-off the back of square early in the season, not quite sure why it was used less frequently once Gawn returned - was it arrogance that we'd clear it or just that we lost too many hardworkers with Vince and Jones got injured? I didn't notice any fresh tactics later in season and agree with RPFC that we failed some windy-game basics, especially against North - we don't have many great marks, so not sure why T-Mac wasn't swapping between defence (against wind) and offence (with wind). Forward line - RPFC says it is schizophrenic and it certainly was. Part of that is because the game is evolving quickly and we still have two schools of thought on forward lines - the balanced one that Adelaide offers with genuine bigs and the small, frenetic offering of Richmond and the Dogs last year. Goody seemed a little unsure which way to go. At first he thought he needed bigs (Weids, Hoges, Watts for first few weeks) but then via injuries he went small and we actually had our best run with just two - Pedo and Watts or T-Mac and Pedo for a bit. Once Hoges came back we went back to conventional, but here's the rub, unless Hoges and Watts lay more tackles ad work hard once the ball hits the ground, then we are virtually two men down up forward anyway. Media - Don't be too harsh on Goody's low-key persona first year. It took Neale Daniher several years to become a great orator. I don't think he really only became well-known as the Reverend in his fifth season when he realised that if he he needed to spruik the club to get attendances because we were heading off a cliff. Goody is a bit of a lad post-game, but he hardly waxes lyrical and he's not yet confident enough to add wacky humour (eg: Mrs Hardwick says) into his repertoire. It may just be the honeymoon thing, but he didn't really cop it for not explaining the Watts omission (twice) or why he persevered with Melky down back initially. A bit of self-depreciating humour on his mistakes would have absolved him anyway, given we all get things wrong at times. But he's not like the Scott brothers who are so smart, that they try to fool you into thinking they are answering the question, even though they clearly have other agendas. I personally prefer the honest approach with a touch of humour. But really at the end of the day, the most important thing is that he had a rapport with the players. And he does seem to have that with almost all of them. But ultimately you have to have the cattle and I reckon we still are a little short in some areas. One area is our marking prowess - Howey was criticised here at times for his lack of pressure, but the loss of him saw us lose a marking intercepter - Gawn can't be everywhere. At least it seems that we are making that role our No.1 aim post-season with the play for Lever. Let's hope it comes off as it will mean T-Mac can go forward on a more permanent basis or be traded to Sydney with his brother, if that is Goody's behest - which I doubt. Another area is our outside run - hence the Gaff debate. Don't underestimate the role of VDB in this as well. If he gets back then he is a little like Kane Lambert - tough, quick and scary when tackling. Finally we need a better run with injuries - particularly Hoges. He needs to be fit and fired up all year and he and Wattsy need to be told by Rawlings that not only do they have to practice marking against each other at training, they also have to practice hitting the ball spill hard - too me that is one of our biggest weaknesses. Goody will be across all these things - he is a clever, savvy AFL bloke. He also won't allow players to take the easy boat at training, especially after our late-season fadeout this year. I suspect that we will make use of a late-season trip to a warmer interstate environment, in a similar fashion to how the Cats used their late-season time on the Gold Coast to achieve an even higher level of fitness pre-finals.

Interesting opinions on Demonland and I'll add to the list. Firstly to Poita - you are aware that VDB has never been dropped since he came to the club and has been a key player in almost all of our big wins - v Richmond in 2015 and v Hawthorn in 2016 - missed the Cats game of 2015 with injury. If he's fit, he's in our 2018 side. Spencer was hardly disappointing. He showed amazing character to come back from one of the most embarrassing debuts ever when he stubbed his toe shooting for goal and the ball dribbled about five feet. His game against St Kilda, about five years ago now, showed that even with his ungainly (another way of saying uncoordinated) frame, he could contribute and his hit on Big Boy McEvoy was one of the best hip and shoulders I've seen. He was unlucky this year when in some great form he got injured against Richmond and I think his poor form in VFL finals this season was reflective of him already being told to shop around for next year. Trenners was always a team player and that's what excited us in his first two years but he always had pace issues - his sister is a marathoner after all. He's a great bloke and if he's interested in staying in Melbourne then I hope we offer him the Casey captaincy for next year. Maybe even try and lure Jack Grimes back to Casey and make them co-captains - now that would be a nice story! White was a lovely bogan in black socks at training with a beautiful left boot but like Trenners, and so many players these days, not blessed with quite enough speed to make it. Hulett was one of the best kicks we've ever seen, but also struggled for pace and even more crucially for a forward, he didn't have a leap. He also is reflective of the old era when big power forwards were the rage - nowadays they have to have an explosive lead as well to have any chance. He looked the part in his first pre-season - many of us were beguiled, like Tubby Taylor, by his natural ball skills and strong physique. Clearly, along with our Weid choice, Taylor made a misjudgement of where bigs were going in the game - he's not the only recruiting officer to have erred on that one and his meal ticket still lives on his No.4 pick of 2015. I am not sure of what is going on with Kennedy, but I suspect Adelaide are considering him and won't comment officially until after the season - quite understandable on their part if that's the case.

One of Goody's biggest battles next year I suspect. Our most talented player with Watts and as with Petracca has an air of arrogance that we all love and the side needs. But, off-field issues aside, his lack of second efforts are a huge issue. He's naturally the fittest bloke at the club, yet it's almost impossible to get him to work hard the minute the ball hits the ground. Instead his hand go up in a gesture of disgust to the umps and the ball and his opponent are already long gone. At some point Goody will have to decide if it's time for tough-love - just as he has shown to Wattsy. In a perfect world he won't need to do that and Hoges will naturally be fired up by the fact that Joe D and Ben Brown have gone way past him in the best young forward rankings.