DeeSpencer

Most likely our psychologist, David Stiff. 205cm former NBL basketballer

Lindsay, CJ and perhaps Hendo (lower) intensity of VFL) and Cross are the available fresh legs. Perhaps Petty, X Taylor and Laurie could come out for CJ, Lindsay and Hendo and we manage Gawn and Mihocek in game.

I suspect the plan is to give Moose the game time they expected to give him last week before that game got too tight to risk it. But if that isn't the case with Lindsay potentially back in either he or Langdon could go on to a wing for at least part of the game and we could have a look at Culley as the back up ruck for some of the game.

He wasn't moving with anything like the same freedom as preseason, wouldn't surprise me at all if they give him a week off to really freshen up. Big AJ seems a mystery injury/illness. Would love to have him back at Casey.

He was good. The question is was he so good that we have to pick him or can we back in CJ or X Taylor (or both) as the third tall. Xavier probably didn’t quite impact enough in the air and CJ (if fit) is a bit hit and miss aerially. In theory they get a little help with height from Howes and Kolt, but there’s probably not a standout aerialist from that group.

He's a good kick and a pretty reliable set shot, but neither of those goals came off the boot perfectly. Not that I'm complaining!

Harvey's kicking is interesting, one thing he does very well is often makes the right decision in traffic to handball or get it on the boot. When he's running at full pace he can be prone to helicopter them. He also made one of the poorer decisions for him when he bombed a kick long in the 3rd when he had Trelly wide open in the pocket. I'd like to see him balance up a bit more generally but he's a guy without a lot of burst pace (but a nice enough top speed) being asked to play on the wing to learn AFL footy until he physically develops and gets a bit sharper with his inside ball winning and defensive pressure. There's times he'll be getting chased down by speedy wingers and won't be able to balance up. I'll worry more about his kicking if it hasn't improved by the time he's 23 and hopefully is an inside mid who can own the corrdor. I've always been a Chandler fan but he's munged both his goals through late, in his own words. He had the footy gods on his side. He also get a bit slingy with his kicking and can sometimes miss targets he could get. But because he has that left footer slingy action and they can out low and fast he's managed to convince Healy he's some kind of perfect kick.

It was shade of big AJ having a ping vs GWS last year. There was a moment to go to Langford just 15m away on the 50 but Harvey was badly winded by a late hit in the play to get it to JVR. That could’ve been great but also could’ve gone badly wrong. And there was a backwards kick to Lever but he hadn’t chewed up much time and then Lever would’ve only had a few seconds to probably just dump it in the pocket. So ultimately it was have the shot or chip to the pocket. Maybe the tall not on Harris could’ve led to the skinny side pocket and effectively tried to get a mark or boundary throw in.

That one was a straight up shank, even some of the best kicks on the best teams will shank one across goals every now and then. Guys like Sicily, Stewart, Zorko do it plenty of times. As long as it’s the right kind of switch and not a wild aggressive kick into the corridor (the list of our players we trust to do that should be very short) we need to keep taking those kicks on.

Watched the first half. The replay has the commentators ahead of the play which makes it a very difficult watch. Hendo: solid midfield game TMc: got better as the half went on and a class above in the air Cross: think he just played a half and a fair bit of midfield, tackled well, did some nice things. Didn’t seem worried by the thumb. Kentfield: moments of quality including a big grab and a clever goal but just isn’t moving the same way he was before injury. Matthews: has a red hot go, probably just needs to back his pace and elusive ability to get out to space that than going for miracle snaps or handballs. White: he does some crazy early jumping at times but when he keeps it simple he looks promising. Better than expected given the long lay off. Mentha: needs work defensively but starting to look more comfortable across half back AMW: willing competitor but ball use was poor. Adams: not the worst but not making a consistent impact on contests

We don’t have the midfield depth to lose anyone yet alone Koz. But aside from that if he gets weeks it’s 2+ not 1.

Bad missed tackle on Charlie in the last playing half back but I actually really like what Windsor gives us at centre bounces and either around the ground stoppages. I think he gives great defensive cover to Steele and Pickett. He’s playing fairly low TOG most week (usually around 70%) so hopefully we aren’t overloading him.

3 talls was a good call especially Andrews, Gallop and Lester aren’t counter attacking players, so attempting to nullify Harris and take advantage of the other 2 was a good call. And Fritsch on the wing early was worth a look to buy some rotations and make sure we can still pressure up forward. I agree the second efforts and tackling aren’t natural to Jeffo but unlike JVR he has the light feet to do it. Mihocek is such a great role model because he does his absolute best to pressure, if Jeffo can give half the effort on the ground of Checkers he’ll make a big impact on the deck.

2 contested marks is the same as Roo, same as Logan Morris, 2 more than Oscar Allen and only 1 less than Harris Andrews (the best mark in the league). The talent is all there, just a matter of finding the belief and intensity. And he’s a gorgeous field kick and good decision maker. Biggest weakness is set shots, he can help fix some of that from going the snap more inside 35 but he’s too good a field kick to not sort it with the right coaching and mental work.

Footy police are trying to suspend Kozzie but let’s not hope that happens or we are in trouble. X Taylor is unlucky to get dropped but he was only picked because we’re down 5 half back flankers. His ball use, contest and ball winning weren’t ready to debut, and all things considered he fought really hard to make an impact. Some big tackles and he has the athleticism. But nothing wrong with sending him back to Casey to really earn a debut on form.