DeeSpencer

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!

If you’ve watched the VFL you’d know Taylor was ordinary and Adams wasn’t much better. Neither are anywhere near selection barring more injuries.

Watched the replay. I think the big structural change was putting Windsor to the back of the stoppage and using a half forward (often Chandler) at the drop. That gave us protection on the defensive side but also speed to run out of the stoppage. Once we ran out of stoppage we hit targets inside 50. Carlton had a strong patch early in the first, then it was an arm wrestle at 18-1, then they had another run late in the first. But it wasn’t a 6-0 goal quarter. Otherwise for most of the first half we just fluffed chances to have plenty of goals on the board. We should’ve had 5-6 by half time.

I think it helps them as Cerra is neither of those things.

Jed was just ok at Casey. The usual story when he’s in great position he can mark or spoil and use it well but the moment he’s out of position he’s a non factor. Yeah he has legspeed but he doesn’t have the footy smarts to put it to work. T Mc comes back in as perhaps our best tall defender and a decent rebounder (if volatile). Petty and Lever move up the ground where they have the footy smarts to make an impact. Sure they might give up some things with pace but they’ll intercept if we can get some pressure on. I’d imagine Petty rucks a fair bit too. The coaches should take the chance to throw Max forward a little to see if he can snag a goal.

A lot of cash. But likely very little to sell in terms of winning prospects. The best thing for us would probably be the Suns holding Humphrey at least one more year.

About as good as possible news for Disco, hopefully only misses 2. Also nice to see AJ progressing, although I'm confused why what was initially reported as a hamstring injury became a knee. Jeffo and Luker making progress too. No Melky on the injury report. Hopefully he's ok.