Akum

Must admit I'm a bit surprised with Geelong's VFL side. It's like the boulevard of broken dreams. I had the impression that their young brigade with Bews, Murdoch, Delaney, Horlin-Smith, Motlop, Kersten, Lang & Cowan were future stars all, primed to take over seamlessly from their seniors and lead them away from the cliff. Even if like us, they've just got not much injuries, it's still a mild surprise that none of the above are in their current best 22. And is their CHF a certain journeyman and former recruiting coup who was going to assure them of future success at one stage? If there is a God, he will line up against Dunn, who will be inside his head the whole game. Could be messy.

I see your point. But Brisbane now are more like where we were about 3 years ago. 2017 for them will be like 2014 for us, when we had to build from the foundations up with more solid defensive structures. Dunn & Garland & Grimes may not be the right picks for us in 2016, but as good one-on-one players, they were the right men for the job in 2014. We obviously won't get "Crazy Vossy" prices for them, but their prospects for regular games would surely be better at Brisbane.

Excellent post. Agree with the implications of the first part that Toigs seem to think that they need just a top-up rather than a rebuild. They're still looking for the spectacular Hail-Mary punt to redeem them, without the hard work & pain of bottoming out. And agree too with all your points about outside noise.

Worthy suggestions all. But honestly, which of them is definitely & significantly better than Spencer?

Well, they did pay the moon & stars for Carlyle. That should keep the fans happy.

Will this be before or after the Hird hagiography??

Really? You think all clubs do it to the same extent as Essendrugs? See, even with the routine matter of re-signing a desired and apparently willing player, seems they just can't help themselves in being deceptive although there's absolutely no need to be. You really think that all clubs do that?

He's got the type of attributes we need, and he wouldn't cost much. But he seems like an "in-between" type of small forward who may well end up just doing well for Casey. I'm all in favour of regularly trying out unloved C-graders from other clubs (e.g. Michie, BenKen, Newton), on the grounds that one of them one day might make the big leap up to become A-grade. Let's face it, you don't trade players like this in because you need another C-grader; it's because you hope that one of them will thrive in a different environment, or given a better chance. It's just that the hit rate isn't all that high. Almost all the time, you do end up with just another C-grader. On the other hand, trying to find the "next" Isaac Smith is going to cost a whole lot less than the "real" Isaac Smith.

Yep ET, I think this is the most likely scenario. Twelfthmond weren't staring into the abyss on May 27.

Er, no. Hunt, Stretch, Tyson & Salem (and Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Weid) still have massive upside to come. This is not the case with O'Meara. We'd be crazy to trade any of them before we know more about where their ceiling is likely to be. Can understand why you'd believe that the grass must be greener on the other side of the fence, though.

Is it possible, for example, that we offered him a stratified "incentive-based" contract where he's paid according to performance, while Toigs just offered him a flat wage irrespective of whether he plays or not? If it's reasonable money, he'd choose us, but if Toigs are offering insane money, then like Scully he'd be insane not to take it.

Two words - "Cooney" and "Adam". Sensational mid before, competent mid after.

Meh. If nothing else, it just shows the deceptive & underhanded way that this club - far far more than any other - chooses to go about its routine business.

I reckon Tracc's dog would have to be in the team as well. He's merciless at blocking lay-ups.

They'll work it out through their "Ministry of Integrity".

Hmmm ... two top ten picks or equivalent, and $700K p.a., for someone who has been out injured for 2 whole seasons? Now which club could possibly be that desperate & idiotic??? ...

... or else they might not make the finals next year!

Spencer won't be in, for three reasons. First, nobody on our list who doesn't have either a bushranger beard or a stuttering run up just isn't going to take enough contested marks to make that much of a difference. If Spencer got 2 goals from contested marks, he'd be way above expectations. Has he ever got two goals in a game? Second, Harry T would be virtually a free man in defence and simply run off him all game and launch a dozen dangerous attacks unopposed. It would be playing right into their hands. Third, if Spence is up there, we won't be able to resist the temptation to bomb the ball high into the f50. The Cats' defence has been second-to-none for about a decade now, picking off the long bomb and using it to launch attacks on the rebound. Spence has a vitally important job at the club as backup for Gawn. We're lucky that we've got such a capable second string if - God forbid! - we should ever need it. We have to beat them like we did last time - smash them in contested ball (with Gawn winning the ruck), then rapid accurate ball movement way from stoppages, and looking to hit targets. And they will be busting every sinew to stop us doing this, but if we continue to do it as well as we've done for the past two games, they won't be able to stop us, unless Selwood wins an academy award or Dangermouse gets 50 possessions (or unless they're smart enough to tag Tyson rather than Viney or Jones or Vince!) Anyway, Carlton. If we don't beat them, we may as well play Spence.

It's clear that for them the loss to us really stung. It's also interesting that for a coach of Clarko's experience and for two of their senior players, they're really struggling to come to terms with it. All the things that usually work so well for them when they're in trouble - the behind-the-play snipes, the staging for frees - were completely ineffective, and they just ran out of answers. Heard another "version" of this Hawthorn spin on SEN afternoon, would have been the Monday or Tuesday after the Hawthorn game. Harf and whoever it is he's on with wanted to know who are the "most valuable players in the AFL - not the best but who are the players who, if they're missing, your side is going to struggle to win". The first one they came up with: Paul Puopolo! Yeah, right. The next was a Saint, Jarryn Geary I think. Then the next ... James Frawley!! Then the inevitable Toigs supporter rang in and offered Deledio. Then Harf said: Ben Stratton, who "just never gets beaten one-on-one" (like Watts did a couple of times in the first two quarters). So according to Harfthorn, three of the players in the AFL, without whom any team would struggle to win, are Puopolo & Frawley - who of course were injured & didn't play - & Stratton, who was off injured from late in the 2nd quarter. So the Hawks' "most valuable players" actually aren't Mitchell, Rioli, Hodge, Gibson, Lewis, Birchall, or Gunston - they're the three players on their list who happened to take little or no part against us! This is when you know you've really got a side's measure.

You could probably unclench your teeth by now.

Think this makes good sense, and can understand why we'd baulk at guaranteeing him the captaincy.

Totally agree that this has been happening, and that it's been essential to our improved midfield performance. Earlier in the year they were all trying to get first hands on the ball. Now they seem to have decided who goes for first hands (usually Viney or Tyson, but also Oliver - I love it, by the way, when they put Oliver, Petracca & Brayshaw together at the centre bounce, with Hunt streaming off the back of the square), and the others work to get the receive or to break away or to stop oppo breakaways. Have to complement Chunk here - it must go against all his footy instincts to resist jumping into the fray, and instead be the one who receives & breaks away from the stoppage. Not only will this make him a much more dangerous player, especially once he tidies up his disposal; it may also prolong his career by preventing him being bashed around so much.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but do they judge RS award on which of the nominees they think has performed best over this year, or on which of them they think will be the best prospect in the years to come?

Great bump. Tyson has been massive this year, especially in the past month or 6 weeks. See, at the moment, I'm quite happy if other sides feel that they have to tag Viney & Jones, because IMO Tyson is a more damaging mid, just because his disposal is so much better, and because he brings other mids into the game. This was well-illustrated by the Port game where Viney was tagged right out of it and Jones spent a lot of the first three quarters butchering the ball, but our midfield didn't miss a beat and we smashed them in clearances & contested ball. Viney to me is a bit one-dimensional at stoppages. When he gets the ball, he simply tries to crash through the stoppage and then bomb it in as far as he can to another contest. Now, he's absolutely fantastic at doing that, but it's not difficult to counter, which is why we still have trouble against teams that stack their d50 and launch their attacks from half-back. The times when Viney does lower his eyes and look for targets, and try to work his way through stoppages rather than crash his way through them, he's unstoppable. But there were a few contested situations against Port where one of his teammates was about to work the ball free from a stoppage, only to have Viney crash in and lock the ball up. Tyson, on the other hand, looks to get the ball from stoppages into space, and thus brings his fellow mids, and the players downfield, into the game more. I'm not saying that Tyson is "better" than Viney - it's like trying to argue who is better out of Mitchell and Hodge, they just complement each other so well. It's just that to me, having Viney taken out of the game is nowhere near as damaging for us at the moment as having Tyson taken out of the game. And we show every sign of having an unbelievably multifaceted midfield involving the likes of Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw & Salem, as well as Viney, Jones & Tyson, that is going to be incredibly difficult to counter. I also think that he past 5 or 6 games (perhaps since West Coast) is the only time in the past 10 years or so that we've actually had a midfield, rather than just a combination of midfielders.

He is getting held & blocked & scragged like no one I've ever seen. It's not even like his opponents are in the least bit subtle about it. I have a theory that it's worth keeping Dunn on the list, for no other reason than to niggle and hold and scrag Hogan at training until he works out a way of dealing with it. I think it's absolutely essential for his future - if he can work out how to combat these tactics, he'll be unstoppable in the years to come..