DeeSpencer

Former Box Hill and Freo player who trained with the Hawks over summer. His space is special at times just a matter of whether he can do enough of other stuff to be back on a list

Higgins had 2 no scores too from shots inside 50, but our team defence against St Kilda was poor especially in the first half. I agree he made some nice efforts against Amiss. Blind Freddie could handle Hayward right now. He’s looking like he belongs at AFL level, which is nice, I’m happy for him and for us to have another steady member of the side. But it’s year 5 and I’m not sure back pocket in a fairly heavy zone defence is all that difficult. If he starts adding more consistent intercepting and rebounding I’ll be happy to praise him.

I’m not sure a mystery Fritsch injury heals in one week, lots on here said 6. I thought the Petty 23rd man role gave us something really interesting. I’d be tempted to keep that for one more week so Luker and Jeffo are cherry ripe chasing that spot (which might come with Petty back, T Mc out). Rivers in, Kolt forward, Laurie out but only if Riv is training the house down.

12 disposals (ok), 5 intercepts (solid), 120m gained (meh), 16 pressure acts (great). He’s lifted his defensive application, pressure and tackling and looks like he belongs out there (far less fumbles) but let’s be a little realistic. There’s a lot of gears to go through if he’s going to be either a great back pocket or hopefully even more than that by adding an attacking/intercepting game. Ben Long/Gulbin/Lombard aren’t exactly a line up of all star small forwards.

Clear A graders: none Potential A graders: Windsor, Langford Should be at least a nice player: Lindsay Could be anything from quality to fringe player: Jeffo, Kentfield, JVR, Taylor, Latrelle Useful role players: Kolt, Culley Should be useful: Howes Unsure: the rest really. Matthews on draft pedigree hopefully is something. Disappointed by Cross’ injury because he’s a fun player with real scope for improvement. Hopefully we see more of AMW soon. Kalani White is super raw but a mobile skilled 2m+ player is worth developing. It’s a huge year for our key forwards. I believe in all 3 of them but we need to see more than just 1 good JVR game. We’ll know a lot more in 6 weeks time. If we’ve got 2 yet alone 3 genuine prospects the list is looking much better long term.

Those ins don't give much away. Do we play the 4 talls down back? Would be interesting to have a look at it and can always swing Petty or Disco forward if it's not working? That would free up Kolt to play a different role as he did in the first two weeks, perhaps tag but possibly role him right in to the role Cross did last week trying to get a deep forward who can hit a pack and provide some ground pressure. Which gives us the 23rd spot for Heath, Melk, Luker or Laurie with also the potential of a late Fritsch out. Luker in would be very exciting but I'm just not sold on the idea of picking a guy who's been out for 5 weeks for a debut even if he's just set for limited minutes.

I’m a certified Fritsch hater but he’s a career average of 63% accuracy and went well above that when we were a good side. Last season he struggled in a team that couldn’t generate scores. Give him good looks in a functioning forward line and he converts. He should be replaceable but the 2 most likely replacements in Melk and Jeffo aren’t fully fit. Now, the ball hogging I won’t defend! But he does need to be a touch selfish at times to kick goals like the top class finish in the come back.

Hopefully isn’t 6 weeks but I prefer caution rather than playing through a foot issue. Hopefully they scan it fully and get him looked over by a good surgeon. We don’t want to see the repeat of the days where we just wrecked players careers with foot injuries. Silver lining if it is an extended period that’s a huge chance for Jeffo especially (after a VFL hit out or two) to come in and own that role. In the mean time I’m feeling it’s Heath time.

He’s probably a safer option than Kolt to play half back, but the question is what do we do with Kolt? Maybe he plays the Paddy Cross role.

Where would you play a slow player up the ground? No one is loving Salem’s form right now, but until Bowser is back we don’t have a better option. His second half against Carlton was good

Not entirely sure where to go with selection this week but I don’t see the need for another defender unless there’s suddenly a big Rivers recovery or we think we can play 4 talls without losing run. Kolt’s looked comfortable across half back and our midfield has done better without the tagger. I’m a bit doubtful that Disco, or any of the 3 key forwards are ready to go. So I’d give Heath a run to mix up our forwards set up and semi rest the veterans. If he’s ready to go give Matthews a run as the 23rd man, if not go with Laurie and play Sharp and Latrelle a little close to goal.

Harvey took a big step forward on the weekend, so I'm hoping it's just onwards and upwards from here. But I wouldn't be surprised if at some stage he gets sent back to Casey just to play some pure on ball and rack up the footy and clearances for the sake of development. Sparrow B+F doesn't seem too likely but he had a good summer and I hope he can start playing like a genuine full time on baller. If he does that he'll get a lot of votes through his team first stuff.

Any update on Paddy Cross, Ghost-train?

The biggest key to better kicking is better running. Guys are presenting clear options which the kicker is drawn to, the kicker then has more confidence and a bigger margin of error. And our goal kicking on the weekend was the perfect illustration of how ball movement creates better shots, which equals goals, which increases confidence and then you start kicking them from everywhere. Vs the first half, missed shots create more dump kicks and more missed shots.

I'd say who knows about Sparrow, Rivers, Sharp, Kolt or Trelly at this stage. All have plenty of work to do but they can contribute in other ways.