DeeSpencer

I’d personally wait a few weeks to see if he’s got any interest in handballing, tackling and putting his head over the pill before I’d offer a lucrative deal. We can’t have senior players with conditional effort during a rebuild.

For the sake of the exercise I'll assume Kolt and Sharp get the last two bench spots and Melk and Laurie miss out, of those who miss one will possibly be held out or play a half and then be the carry over emergency. FB: AMW Adams Berry HB: X. Taylor T McD C: Onley HF: Mentha Henderson FF: Cross Melksham Matthews Foll: Heath Laurie Injured: Campbell, Jefferson, Kentfield, AJ, White, McAdam, Bowey, Viney Backline has some quality especially when you add the Casey half backs. Even without any genuine talls the forward line can do some damage if it comes in quick. Midfield is super thin though. We'll be reliant on Casey uncovering a couple of hidden gems to have any kind of success this year.

I can see him playing a fold back wing role. I suspect they'll ask Culley, Langford and even Howes (as he did in the practice games) to take on that kind of role at times. XT would be another option. Rivers and Steele will also both play like that from the midfield at times. If we have more than a few half forward injuries I'd just throw him forward and tell him to use his competitive spirt and athleticism to do his best. Richmond did that last year with Luke Trainor. I don't think it would hurt him as a short term thing, and the way he reads the play and attacks the ball at half back would make him a bit of fun across half forward, at least in getting the footy.

From watching some of the better sides in Opening Round I suspect transition defending is basically impossible against good sides (or even mediocre ones). There's a very limited window to get pressure and force a turnover. After that window closes all you can is your best to force teams wider and slower. So then getting an out-number to win the ball back inside your backline and take it the other way is vital. It does make me wonder if we pick a more dynamic small forward in Matthews or Cross purely because of the need to score and create chaos inside 50 in those brief windows you've got to score or force a turnover. That might depend on just what they expect from Latrelle and Kozzie and how far up the ground they play.

They were both GC picks. All our loses did was make Essendon's first rounder better. C'est la vie. I don't think he's far off, but his disposal does run hot and cold and unsurprisingly for a kid he's got to build his tank and strength. I suspect King's adopting the Cats model of making the first year kids wait a while and learn the right habits and behaviours before their heads get too big.

So after all that we’ve ended up with 2 clear cut best 23 out, and as much as Viney would be handy only one in Bowser who could be vital for the way we want to play. And most of the 23 we do pick on the weekend will have done a very solid block of the preseason. Bummer about Luker and Jeffo but it seems they’ve both escaped longer injury and can be back running sooner than later.

If we even use Culley in the ruck (which is just a theory so far) it will almost certainly be with JVR/Mihocek taking the centre bounce before swapping forward. And the key forward rucking inside 50 and a key back rucking inside d50. Unless we are totally disorganised on field I doubt we’d have Culley as the actual centre bounce ruck.

Gosch's Paddock📆 Tuesday, March 10 ⏰ 12:15pm - 1:00pm ⏰ 2:45pm - 3:30pm 📍 Gosch's Paddock 🏃‍♂️ Session type: Light recovery sessions (player choice of session) 📆 Saturday, March 14 ⏰ 11:00am - 11:30am 📍 Gosch's Paddock 🏃‍♂️ Session type: Pre-match captain's run

The success teams have had with a designated 23rd man has me thinking we really might consider Melksham for that role. Doesn't play the first 20 minutes of q1 and sits for a chunk to start the 2nd and 3rd too. Assuming Culley gets the nod the last spot might be down to Kolt, Sharp or Laurie.

There is one thing I’d like to see from Gawn this year which is a couple of extra rests on interstate trips, particularly Perth. We need to look after him and he needs to accept that. But I’m not concerned at all about Heath’s development, let’s see him dominate at VFL level the way Reeves and Moyle do.

No. There’s an argument that Max didn’t sacrifice enough in 2023 with Grundy but that erases just how poor of an effort Grundy made up forward and how sloppy he was in the ruck. (And that we didn’t have the right forwards to carry a second ruck). Very few teams are playing two rucks. Collingwood don’t even have a mature option on the list to back up Cameron. Not the Dogs. If their main guy goes down they take key backs and chuck them in the ruck. No one is crying for the lack of opportunity for Ladhams, Reeves and Ned Moyle. All 3 are older and better than Heath. If they were healthy and demanding a game I’d hope we’d restructure things to give Kentfield or AJ a go in the forward/ruck role. But that’s forward with some ruck, not a second ruck.

I’m not sure that tall trio is scaring anyone. Windhager has the best record of anyone against Koz and Latrelle had 2 touches in the last game he played. At the other end the Pies undersize backline actually helped them take care of Sharman, Higgins and Ryan. Those guys will give us trouble with the right supply. As with most games tho the midfield will be the most crucial factor and the Saints having a hit out helps them a lot. They need a lot more from Nas, Phillipou and Flanders. If they fail to fire it does leave room for the Pickett, Windsor, River, Langford show, I really hope we see it. But Ross Lyon teams don’t let that happen very often.

Playing opening round is a 3-5 goal head start and our most proven midfielder is a guy they just paid to leave (purely for on field reasons). So whilst I think they’ve spent millions of dollars to finish 9th they should be too good for us.

5 of the first 6 teams that might contend this year that are coached by real coaches have gone for extra runners, often on ball. Only Brisbane went with something different and that’s probably because their best side includes Draper so why not give ZZ some minutes in his role. But McCluggage gets injured and they run out of legs. Not sure who our equivalent player is, likely one of Laurie, Sharp or Kolt.

80% Howes. 20% they go with the line up they tried in the first half vs North/second half against Richmond where Howes moves to the wing, Kolt moves to half back. Either way expect us to be zone heavy and fairly open at the back. The idea is that any/all of Howes/Kolt, CJ, Petty, Lever, Turner can latch on to a small/medium and intercept or beat them.