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Crowds will dive and so will viewership. Make it one bucket, and then the clubs will be more amenable to spreading around the Friday Night and Saturday Night games, but, remember, the AFL is always going to want to maximise attendances and viewership.

Don't get sidetracked by that extra $118k for Geelong's vets. Everyone has had that option - designed to keep players in the game. The real crux of this equalisation matter is, as Ryan eloquently wrote: This is where we should not allow Eddie to have his way - if he wants all the Friday night games (and so does Seven) then fine, but the money made on that night goes into a general pool that is equally distributed amongst the clubs. Collingwood can keep the money its makes off merch and sponsorships, just not on the money they get from their favourable draw.

The 'backlash' has been about 5 posters bemoaning the fact that we are fundraising from Members in yet another way. That is the sum of it. If they can't afford it, they won't be apart of it. Personally, I would love to see a full court press on getting new members but I don't hate this pledge idea. I certainly like it better than the $200 raffle ticket that I have bought in the past few years and outright donations.

Don't be apart of it.

It's fine. Jarka has said that people can make changes up until the draft - it is a gratuity that we give ourselves a week to look at the available number of players. We simply do not need to make this so draconian.

I sincerely hope your account has been hacked...

Try again.

And what a few on here are saying is that they are frustrated there is another fundraising inititative aimed at a tapped resource. Nothing more.

Ok, this is something I have said before - if Howe is such a star, how long do you think he will have the 4th defender playing on him?

I think you are simplifying the concerns, or frustrations, that posters have with this type of scheme. And it is designed to make money from winning games - it won't win any games itself. The posters on here, I dare say, would be members of the variety that give to the club in good times and bad. This particular policy is aimed at members to give to the club, it is a valid point that this is aimed at a already tapped resource. Strategies aimed at supporters who are not members would be the better strategy in their eyes. And they are right, but I am sure we are doing that too - this would be in conjunction to that, but it doesn't mean that they don't have a good point that the club is going to the Members well once more - as it is also true that a lot of us are more than willing to give. They don't need a lecture on engagement with the club.

If I am oversimplifying ruckmen in 2014, you are overestimating them. I just don't see many ruckmen out there that this limited footballer couldn't compete with.

Heads up - Redden selected for one of my keepers ahead of Sidebottom. I am reactionary, what can I say.

How is that?

I can see where he is coming from. We are asked to give as a direct result of getting better, what have we been doing when we have donated in the past? But incentivising winning is a good way to go, and people are happy to fork over cash when they are, well, happy...

Your idea of 'use of the ball' includes spoiling? I think you have pushed the parameters of the word 'skills' so far off the mark that you have rendered the term useless.

Mumford didn't impress me last year, and apart from Ryder, I can see Spencer being able to nullify all of those other names. I really think you overrate some of those ruckmen, remember, all I said was Spencer would be able to compete with them, give us some clean footy, and follow them around the ground.

That's fine. My aside was innocuous too, I am not about to judge people on their use of well trodden cliche.

This is why it is such a low mark to be a competent ruckman. Unless he comes up against a Sandliands et al. he will hold his own against ruckman as limited as he. If Spencer wins his spot by being the best of a bad lot, so be it - he won't be a weak link. Until we play Freo or WCE...

Leaving war analogies to one side - we have seen Georgiou once against AFL competition. We are discussing some very limited footballers here. Garland, Frawley, McDonald, and Grimes are the solid foundation. Dunn is there on form and competence. Strauss, Terlich, Clisby, Georgiou, and Nicholson are fighting one or possibly two spots depending on match ups, injury, and midfield rotation. There are question marks on all 5 at the moment, good luck to them in the couple of weeks.

McDonald can be a terrible kick, certainly worse than Dunn. The premise is wrong - McDonald importance has nothing to do with his terrible foot skills, it is in spite of it. That is how good his one on one work is and that is how good his endurance running is - you can't just line up and pick players based on their foot skills. Generalisations are easy to poke holes in.

Shaun Hampson was their ruckman and he was meant to dominate Spencer. He didn't, and has copped flak because of it. And skills are a distant third desirable for a ruckman behind how one uses their body in contested situations and tap work around the ground. Getting riled up because he screws up half of his 4 kicks a game is pointless. Compete in the middle, give us some footy around the ground, follow your man and you are a competent to good ruckman.

I wrote the above in May 2011. Things didn't change...

He always relied on others to get him the ball, and when you are built like that you are meant to get it yourself or have the ability to get on the end of plays - this he struggled to do because of the aforementioned limited running capacity. So, yeah, a great ten years... Fun.

Spencer will be first ruck. That is the only conclusion one can draw from what we have seen so far in Pre-Season. And while there is a month to go - Jamar hasn't suited up, Gawn has been playing forward, Fitzpatrick is a forward, Clark is looking at a Rd 6 start, and King is a baby.

As long as Spencer competes well in the ruck and doesn't let his opposite number rack up the touches - he will be fine. The gameplan can survive a ruckman with kicking limitations. He is a big bloke who uses his body well. I think he will surprise a few people this year. He will get plenty of time to establish himself with Jamar, Clark, and Gawn not being ready to play ruck - as far as I can see - for the first few weeks of the season. He is not a world beater, but he is a solid ruckman.