DeeSpencer

Happy to play the rest of them but: 1. Salem is running up and down on the spot right now. He needs the week off and some speed training. 2. We have to at least consider resting Gawn given his value to the side and age. We’ve got Grundy to use if we need him.

There's a risk of that but I think every player makes bad decisions going inside 50 from time to time and often Fritsch has been marking as the deepest forward and has barely anyone to kick to. If we can get it to him quick at CHF with some of all of Melk/JVR/Chandler inside 50 he might pick out targets. It's not like he hasn't produced some lovely kicks at times. The way I see it all of Smith, Tomlinson, Hibbo or Turner are probably giving away 2+ goals through some faults. I thought Tommo had a stinker today and gave up far more than 2, getting beat on the lead, getting beat in contests and so often getting caught up the ground not handing over to a winger or half forward and getting back to occupy bodies to help the interceptors. At his best he's a good rebounder but in finals pressure and pace it's hard to see him running the ball out. Smith's good for 1 howler and a couple of other brain fade errors that threaten goals and he doesn't provide a lot of rebound. Hibbo lack of speed and size. If we expect that Disco will give up a couple from lack of strength, not great one on one defensive traits and inexperience then he's not worse than the others and he has an intercept marking game and ground ball tackling/handballing game that I really like. Kicking's not perfect but he'll get some kicks too. It might be as simple as match ups. Tommo for a lumbering tall. Hibbo for a medium forward. Smith for a quick athletic forward. Disco for a skinny tall.

North have a stack of young talent. They’ve never needed more young talent to begin with. But a valid argument has been that the Jamarra academy, Daicos F/S, JHF quitting after 1 year has robbed them of the most elite talent. So Reid helps with that. Also gives them a confidence boost in to next year. When we were rubbish the afl quoted our picks and young talent (and coach I believe) as reason we didn’t need extra help. All North need is some marginal help to secure some experienced players. Extra list spot, a 2nd or 3rd rounder and maybe some sneaky cap space for a year or two to grab some veterans. It would be crazy to give them more elite young talent when it’s not what they need at all. I could go either way on an AFL lottery. It’s not an absolute need. But a heavily weighted to bottom sides lottery could cut out some of the stuff that has happened with Eagles and North fans wanting to lose games this year.

Consistent ball movement seems to be our biggest challenge. I hope Salo can be back near his best come finals as well as Bowey and for the improvements Lever and May have shown at times to stick. The big room for improvement is in our midfield spread and run. The Hawks ran like crazy for a half today and apart from Viney we were flagging. I’d like to see Fritsch as a flanker/de facto CHF and leave Melk as is rather than Fritsch at full forward. That would allow more Tracc on ball and hopefully in combination with Oliver at near his best we get our midfield charge game back.

I'd be annoyed if we got rid of Laurie based on what I saw today. He's building strength in his tackling and at the contest and he has genuine tricks that can work. A few stuff ups but a couple of lovely spins and fakes today. Right now he's too slow and doesn't have enough power to make up for it. There is a genuine chance he'll always be too slow. But the tank and the build are seemingly heading in the right direction - just how much speed can he gain with another preseason or two? And more games to get his intensity up. I thought he came in because they wanted his off ball running to go side to side with the Hawks kicking game and whilst he wasn't perfect defensively due to lack of speed I thought he did a solid shift of work

Out: Tomlinson, he's done. We could win 1000 in a row with him in the side, that's correlation not causation. In: Disco Turner! Out: Laurie In: Fritsch Out: Salem (rest) In: Hibbo Sub: Laurie or Woey. With Fritsch in allowing Petracca back on ball and Oliver hopefully building fitness I still think there's a Brayshaw to the wing move with Hunter out and another mid/forward in (Woey, Laurie, JJ) but that seems less likely. No to Tom McDonald this week. Another run at Casey to build confidence before a finals return if he's up to it.

We had a pair of number 1 picks and didn't win anything. We had picks 2, 3 (which would shouldn't have got but we did deserve a top 10 pick for Chip) and traded up from pick 6 I believe for pick 4 to get Oliver and we win a flag. If anything that franks the argument that a lottery that still sees the bottom 4 clubs prioritised but doesn't guarantee the top pick to anyone is a good idea. I mean, assuming we didn't stuff their development we would've had a far better side in the early 10's with Dusty and Nic Nat than our pick 1's.

Very funny until you realise how accurate it is.

If his job was to be completely pantsed by a young ruck and converted key defender then yeah, he did his job. We've got a tricky decision to make about that spot come finals.

Ziebell already got the retired/assaulted. LDU out last week. Shouldn't be hard to add a few more.

The bad news is we aren't getting Reid. The good news is the league doesn't have to give in to North's woe is me sooking for priority picks. No more Ben McKay pick 2 compo. No more nonsense with Colonel Sanders. We should get a fair crack at pick 4 or pick 5, which will then ease out at least one spot with Walter from the Suns but that's better than McKay compo and Sanders off the board.

6. Lever - solid throughout and controlled the game in the second half 5. Rivers - looked the only player who could run with the Hawks in the first half 4. Melk - poor finishing and some drop marks cost him but he was all over Sicily early and the best forward 3. ANB - crucial contest wins and some very good ball use. Didn't finish off his own shots but did enough other important work 2. McVee - held Breust to 2 (one from a shove in the back), won a number of vital contests when out numbered and had some lovely use too 1. JVR - solid and important in big moments Gus, Viney, Langdon, Gawn unlucky but it wasn't a day for the mids

He can play 80% midfield and get 30 with ease, the issue what do you do with Viney, Oliver, Gus, Sparrow and Tracc if he does that. Also if he is getting 30 at the coal face then Viney, Oliver and Gus aren’t unless they are handballing to each other in circles. Even with Tracc playing predominantly forward we don’t need another full time mid. The only move to create midfield opportunity is to send Gus to a wing or possibly half back

I’d have him 30-1 to play at best. But we haven’t seen him up forward to know. Obviously the tank isn’t there but he’s playing 50-60% ruck minutes and doing really well. The bar to getting a game - play 50% up forward and don’t be completely terrible, has never been lower.

Schache should ruck the second half to get him in the game. Verrall - who looks a proper talent - should play forward to see how he goes. If he can compete forward he’d almost be a crazy chance to play next week Big Kyah has no place at this level, back to the talent league please

The Harmes and Munro spud off has been compelling. Casey have done well to scrape 3 of the last 4 goals, just need to settle down around the ball and trust their forwards. George Gray has been very good to get Casey back in the game

Smith had a couple of very bad lost moments. One on Martin in the second. One leaving Curnow in the 3rd (caused by May charging up to spoil Rivers). I really think 10-20 straight backline games would largely fix it but Hibbo is probably the preferred option just lacking fitness and Smith is likely required forward (or sub). So it’s hard to see him getting that continuity down back. That’s always been the issue for Joel, he needs one continuous run of games down back and has never had it. If we get T Mc and Fritsch back in round 24 I’d like to see JVR, T Mc, Fritsch, Smith combo with Melk sub. The mobility of Smith would take the load off T Mc and he’d provide much needed tackling pressure in a tall line up like that. Which then lets Kosi have a midfield roam.

Try the Avenue in Parkville, risk a 2hr park in Princes Hill or worse case scenario go the zoo

He had some exceptional marks and contests in the wet last night. Once he gets a tank to play genuine CHF he’ll get more easy footy. Wish we had 2 of him. I don’t care if he’s hopeless let’s give his brother a try in the draft!

He really really doesn’t. We have 4 elite ball winners in the midfield. We need run and skill. JJ at least has run. Dunstan has neither

Backline and forward line have issues but we aren’t really going to solve either of them. Have to live with a backline that is mostly good but doesn’t have the personnel (no clear 3rd tall) or elite form to be great. Have to live with whatever difficult choices the coaches go with up forward. The big question mark is do we change up the midfield mix or hope improvement in Clarry is enough to get it done? The current set up just can’t string together quality kicking and run. Especially on a wet night. Not enough dual sided players or creative players who find space for themselves and find team mates.

T Mc needs 2 Casey hit outs, no point picking him off a good first up effort to only have him battle big time second up.

Geez you’re an [censored] to suggest selecting a kid who gets 5 touches a week. Grow a brain

Hibbo to start. Smith to sub. Schache tomorrow playing for his chance next week. Harmes, Laurie, Spargo and Moniz-Wakefield playing for JJ’s spot next week. Id have Hunter out, Gus to the wing and Woey on ball rotation. Hunter continues to provide absolutely no drive with everything backwards and sideways. He’s simply too slow and soft to play in finals. And Gus is too slow to play as a midfield runner when Oliver is pill hunting. Balance between contested and uncontested on ballers is way off. We need someone, anyone to link a handball and run the ball through the middle or we’ll never score against good back lines. Salem could do with a rest but we’re out of half back options.

It’s really not