Fat Tony

Sure Kelly would compliment our midfield beautifully. But The chance of him playing for Melbourne is negligible. He will most likely take the North offer, which is well overs on what he has already produced, and where his father played. Or he will stay with GWS.

JKH and Bugg, as well as Oscar McDonald and Hannan are all at risk of being dropped this week IMO. JKH hasn’t had enough impact in three games. I haven’t stamped his cards as some on Demonland have done, but he needs to go back the VFL and earn another chance. Nev Jetta was in a similar situation and has gone on to play 100 games. Bugg is way too left sided for an outside midfield role IMO and he lacks confidence to kick the ball at AFL level. And I cannot understand why he didn’t take the shot at goal in the third quarter when he was on his left foot. For mine, he needs to play in defence to have any chance at AFL level. I like Hannan’s pace and potential, but he needs to do more. Oscar McDonald did some nice things, but needed to contest harder in the air at times. With the Tom McDonald experiment in the ruck not being successful, I think our team balance would be better with another runner. Kent, Stretch, Harmes and ANB are the players most likely to come in. I would probably look to make all four changes, with the Hannan omission being the toughest call. (He would stay in if Harmes is not fit.)

Zak is very similar to his brother. He's a tough, hard running midfielder with solid skills and he is having a great season. I understand we have a lot of inside midfielders, but he is definitely worth trading for.

"At least it wasn't a final." I have said this four times this year after the game and every time it has bloody hurt. Gawn's loss has really cost us this year and has been compounded by Spencer getting injured. We are going to need to win games against the better sides to make the eight now because we have let too many easy ones slip. We lost because our kicking was so poor in the first half, particularly the first quarter. Sure we overused the handball, but I think this was mostly due to not being able to maintain possession when we were out. I didn't think it was our lack of pressure either. It was our lack of foot skill. We also were poor in the air. Hawthorn either took contested marks or we put to many men flying up at the contest.

I am not a huge fan but ANB was a bit stiff to be dropped after one bad game.

That Hawthorn team looks strong on paper. It is amazing how poor they have been travelling. Wagner might come in for Oscar I think.

At his best Reid is an attractive target, but I strongly doubt he is durable enough to warrant eating $600K p.a. of the salary cap. Personally I am of the view that Jack Watts is a very good relief ruckman and the Gawn/Watts combo is the best in the competition. So I don't see the need for a second ruck being as high a priority as others. (I would not be against drafting such a player with a later pick.) There is also a chance that the AFL change to a last touch rule on the boundary, which would make ruckman even less important.

It would be the next pick after the traded pick. Future trading would have no impact on the compensation. i.e. If Hawthorn finished last this year and lost a Buddy, they would get pick 2 after St Kilda.

We ran with the three talls down back and a seven man backline at times. It was designed so McDonald could effectively be loose and take the ruck in defence and it allowed Pedersen to sneak forward. It was a clever plan.

Selection this week poses a dilemma IMO. Hogan will come in at the expense of either Oscar McDonald or a small. I liked our backline with the extra tall player, particularly given our undersized ruck situation, so I would probably swap Hogan for JKH. It leaves us a slower side, but we are still obviously stronger for Hogan coming back. Otherwise no additional changes.

While TMac is our most important defender, he vastly overrates his skill level and should be taking the easy option more often than he does. I think his ball use has been worse this year. I viewed Stretch's omission as being partly a rest, partly getting more run into the side after a six-day break, partly Bugg's great form in the VFL and partly not winning or squaring one-on-one contests against Richmond. I doubt it was him being too safe with his ball use.

Weideman will be a good player but it will take a bit of time. Josh Kennedy (WCE) took four years to have an impact at AFL level. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-west-coast-eagles--joshua-kennedy Jack Riewwoldt took three years. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-richmond-tigers--jack-riewoldt I would look at trading for a player like Gunstan, Mason Wood or Crameri who could ultimately work with a forward line including Hogan, Watts and a mature Weideman.

Harmes and Stretch are coming off a five day break. At least one will be held in reserve for Sunday, but possibly both.

Zak is tracking a similar trajectory to his brother and has improved a lot in the last 12 months. While there is definitely not a need for us to take on another inside mid, he has reasonable pace. Definitely a yes from me at the right price, which it would be.

Yes we need to share the ruck responsibilities. Shorter ruckman are able to compete when they are fresh but lose their leap as they tire. Pedersen, Watts, T McDonald and Frost may all need to have a turn.

I know we have a lot out this week but we had Geelong on toast but for poor goal kicking without Hogan, Lewis or Hibberd and Gawn being injured early. This should give us confidence. The key to winning is finding a way to negate Daniher, Heppell and Merrett and being able to break even in the centre clearences.

Obviously we should have added another ruckman in hindsight, but I hope there is not a knee jerk over-reaction to this by the club. Carrying a decent quality second or third string ruckman on the list reduces the salary cap space we have available to spend elsewhere. And I feel Watts does an excellent job in the relief ruck role and gives us extra mobility as a team. One other thing to point out in this debate is that the third man up ban rule was changed after the lists were finalised. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-12-21/third-man-up-gets-the-chop-in-radical-rule-change The current predicament would be less of an issue for us now without the rule change. Perhaps the decision would have been different if they had known this when the list management decisions were being made.

I favour playing Tom McDonald as the ruckman and bringing in Oscar McDonald to replace Spencer. I know that Tom McDonald is the linchpin of our defence, but he didn’t have the reach last year against Daniher, so perhaps his brother or Frost is actually better matchup for him. Bugg probably deserves a call up given his performance at Casey, although the opposition was poor, and I am not sure he is well suited to Docklands. He would be my first emergency, particularly if Petracca does not come up. JHK was our weakest player on the weekend IMO but is better suited to Etihad than others. I also think only giving him one game to prove himself is a bit rough. Tyson is slow and out of form and this worries me at Docklands. I am particularly worried about a lack of pace if both Lewis and Tyson are in the same team. We might not have much choice, however, if Viney and/or Jones are injured. I would be keen for Vince to go into the midfield and Lewis to go down back. I think Vince going into the midfield helps reduce our current overuse of handball. And Lewis and Tyson cannot be played in the same midfield IMO due to lack of pace/spread, particularly if Oliver, Viney and Jones are also in there. Kent needs to get a kick in the VFL to earn his spot back. So at the moment I would go with Oscar McDonald in for Spencer, Lewis in for Smith and Pedersen in for Hogan. This all obviously assumes that Petracca, Viney and Jones are all right to play. Hibberd, O McDonald, Jetta Melksham, Frost, Hunt Stretch, Oliver, Salem Neal-Bullen, Pedersen, Kennedy-Harris Garlett, Watts, Petracca T McDonald, Jones, Viney Tyson, Lewis, Vince, Harmes

Any chance it will be on YouTube like last week?

I like Brayshaw and share your concerns about Tyson's lack of skill/disposal given his leg speed. But I watched the second half of the VFL yesterday and Brayshaw fumbled and missed too many targets by hand and foot. He won't get a call up based on his game on the weekend.

Hibberd in for Melksham - Hibberd looked a bit short of a run yesterday, but he is a class above VFL level and Melksham was ordinary on the weekend. Hogan in for Weideman - I think Weideman will be a good player in 12 months or so but he is a liability at the moment. He particularly needs to go out this week given his injury. I am also not of the view that his progression will be accelerated significantly by playing Seniors. I think it will happen naturally with increased fitness and strength over time. Other notes from watching the AFL and the second half of Casey's game: I would consider bringing in Pedersen for Hannan, because I felt he played very well in the VFL yesterday, but I would prefer to go with the extra pace of Hannan. I don't see a spot for Trengove at AFL level despite also playing well yesterday. Perhaps he could come in for Tyson, but I think Tyson adds more grunt at the coalface. Brayshaw needs to be cleaner with the ball (both in disposal and collection) to earn a recall. Likewise Kennedy. Maynard won a lot of the ball but is miles off AFL in terms of skill. Oscar McDonald will be a player with time and was generally good yesterday. As much as I was happy to see Frost come back into the Seniors this week, I think Oscar will be the better player long term. I would prefer to play Vince on the ball or wing and use Lewis in his role down back. This week I would push Salem back in his place. Spencer makes a lot of dumb decisions, particularly giving away free kicks in the defensive 50. It is going to be a long 12 weeks until Gawn returns.

Teams that want to play finals should not be gifting games to kids.

This is also how I always remember Jake unfortunately. Still it happened at Docklands, when we were trying to lose. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I like Lever as a player. He could become one of the best defenders in the competition. He is tough, quick and reads the play well. Of course we should be looking to recruit him. In saying this, I don't see us having any major holes from a list perspective in the future. If anything, I think we are most lacking a quick outside midfielder with class. As frustrating as Oscar is at times, I think he will eventually develop into a better than average AFL player once he gets strong enough. He reads the play very well (which is why he gets so much of the ball) and is generally a good kick. The real issue with Oscar is his lack of intensity and strength in the contest, both of which will improve as he matures. I also think Frost and Smith have a lot of natural talent and can become solid defenders with the ability to counter attack at speed. Likewise Weideman looks a good long-term prospect, which is the other position we look to be lacking in so far in 2017. I would definitely be looking to top up our list with mature talent at the end of the year and I feel we are probably an attractive destination given our expected trajectory. Personally, I think we would be much better of if we could add a bonafide star like Martin or Fyfe, but I would still be making inquiries to Lever's management.

Max is a huge loss. Hopefully Spencer stays fit and shows us he has improved.