DeeSpencer

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.

It might take until Steele moves out but Langford mostly needs some work on his defensive pressure and tackling, if/when that happens he’ll move inside. I wouldn’t totally rule out Kolt, they’re giving him the tagging jobs for a reason and he has moments that look like a strong midfielder. Windsor has already added lots of size, he’ll end up a strong boy. He’ll never be a bull but hopefully he learns a few more ways to win contested ball. Kozzie has all his spins, taps and weaves to win clearances without relying on strength.

I bet we wouldn’t. After his early goal he was basically a tackling dummy for Steele. I suspect King only wants 2 out of his 4 main mids to be bigger bodies, one as a defensive mid and one as an explosive type. At his best Cripps had some explosion, but for a while now he’s just a big lump who gets little value for his possessions.

There really is no best 23 this year. Kentfield, Jeffo, AJ, Henderson, AMW, Melksham, Heath, Taylor, Matthews can all find a way in to our team if they’re fit and firing. We should take a look at a heap of players in different spots. Kolt at half back is one of them already. Howes as the defensive winger could really work now he’s a bit stronger over the ball, just need a small/medium defender. Culley and Langford on ball once the pace of the game slows a bit.

He doesn’t read the play well enough. He’d have been a beast in the 90’s if he just charged out behind an old school full forward and used his pace to spoil. Every now and then he reads something correctly and makes a big spoil or intercept mark, but usually he’s slow to react. And even full back in the VFL involves playing on forwards who are consistently moving the way the game is played today.

I’ve been dead against 2 rucks but we don’t have a bye for ages and we’ve got 2 big games against Essendon and Richmond in our next 4. We need Max ready to go in those games not spending all his tickets against Witts and super physical Suns team. The Suns game seems a perfect opportunity to give Heath a go for 50% game time and take some load from Max and Mihocek. Max can play some forward too. And use Roo up the ground hitting up as he was in preseason. Kolt replaces CJ across half back. Paddy Cross was super in the role they made for him but I’d be keen to see him with some more game time and a go across half forwards and Trelly and Sharp are both flirting with becoming useful players, no point leaving them on the pine too much!