DeeSpencer

‘Could’ based on reports he had a look around last year. The way I see it is we won’t keep both JJ and Harmes. But I’d also be surprised if both go unless we line up a replacement. Harmes is contracted but depending on loading we’d possibly even have to eat a bit of it, JJ isn’t and is a free agent.

Absolutely. And we aren’t going to be at our best every week. I just think we should toss out the 3 junk games. 4-2 is a strong record against some pretty good sides. Sydney and Richmond on the MCG and up and about for big games were pretty solid and spirited contests

Take away the 3 easy beats and we’re 4-2 with a couple of nice wins and a couple of less impressive ones. 2 ordinary losses where we looked slow in the midfield, shaky down back and iffy going forward (and as importantly keeping it there). The next month will show a lot more if we are contenders or pretenders. Drawing conclusions about our ‘explosive’ style of play from smashing the Hawks or any other battling side isn’t wise.

T Mc, BBB, J Smith, Melksham, Schache or no one (with Tracc probably forward more). I probably lean towards Tommy if he’s had a couple of good weeks on the track given Petty has mostly played more of a lead up CHF role. Maybe Schache if he hasn’t? Schache played defensive forward or Aliir in the Dogs prelim final win. If the Dees coaches are reading this, go pull out the tape of that game and watch big Schach.

I went back and had a close look at the first time you see him limping is when he’s walking back towards goal as Spargo lines up to kick the first. The limping as he leads out when the kick goes to Fritsch before the stoppage and his subsequent goal. Just before that he’s in a big marking contest as Bowser pumps it in but didn’t appear to be stood on or in pain when he lands.

That same tackle is required for Cripps or Dangerfield (or Petracca and Viney who Sparrow routinely trains with). Its an issue with the rules and the game. We’ve got midfielders built like rugby players or NFL running backs who play that way. Then we’ve got guys like Day who is really only starting to fill out his lanky frame attempting a similar rugby style move. Footballers didn’t use to try to break tackles in this way before they did a heap of core strength and weight training. The game was about evading tackles not breaking them and moving the ball on. Now coaches are so afraid of turnovers they tell players to hold the ball. Rugby players can absorb these tackles cause they have 10kg+ more muscle on them. It’s why I think holding the ball has to go back to something that sadly resembles bit like kids playing tiggy. If you’ve had prior and get caught you’re gone. The footage shows what easily used to be construed as a throw too, there’s very little fist on that handball.

Umpires routinely miss dangerous tackles, one is trained to keep their eyes inside attacking 50, the 2 in the centre of the ground are watching the ball, so their eyes naturally follow the footy not the tackle (which went it a completely different direction) and they might be obscured by players. It’s really up to the one umpire in the defensive 50 to see it and they might not have seen it from 70m away. Or with enough confidence to call it. The umps on the weekend missed at least 20 frees so it’s hardly a surprise.

It will be, but the sling is initiated by Day, feeling pressure behind him and rather than kicking or handballing to the ruck who’s running free, Day (who’s had plenty of prior) raises his arms and spins 180 degrees attempting to burst through a tackle from behind and leaves Sparrow who’s locked on his hips with little option. The league will say Sparrow has a duty to lower him softly and they’ll win, even though that’s nearly impossible to do. It’s pretty crazy to me that a skinny young player like Day has immunity to attempt to shred a tackle and doesn’t have the strength to protect his head at the end of it. If we’re really keen to stamp out all dangerous tackles and head knocks then the MRP should start issuing statements on both players involved.

They changed that years ago. I believe it’s now 10k in fees if you lose, out of the soft cap too. If there’s any kind of vision of Day’s head hitting the ground then as stupid as the suspension is I don’t think we should bother challenging.

Apparently Day was slow to get up which will be shown on the down the ground cameras, as well as something that will look like his head hitting the ground (which happens when you go to ground in almost every tackle of course). With the way the tribunal has upheld tackle suspensions this year that’s really all they need

Bont, Merrett, Pendles, Rozee..the list of classy pure on ballers is pretty short. If we had that player I think we’d play them! I’m hoping for more Rivers rotations and him becoming a mid in time. I’d also love to be creative with Salem once he’s fully fit too. I’d even consider Chandler getting a Pickett style one or two rotations a quarter - his left foot could give us balance when Viney isn’t in there. The only player on our list who could come in and provide class as a mid is Laurie but he’s just not there yet. Misses tackles, not strong enough in the contest and gets caught flat footed. The thing that’s overlooked with Sparrow is his phenomenal defensive running compliments our gun mids in a way that’s as important as skill. Viney’s a great defender at the contest but he’s not an elite runner. Oliver’s now turned in to a pretty special runner but he’s not always switched on with defensive positioning. I hate to say it but Tracc is labouring around the ground defensively these days. Sparrow’s always flat out to pressure and block the corridor. JJ or Harmes can fill in this week but my guess is it will be straight back to Sparrow the week after.

I’d have to watch the replay but I saw a guy sprawling in to the ground with minimal resistance. I would love to drop Fritsch again. His defensive efforts were once again abysmal and the way he goes at the ball in ground contests with one arm just wafting is so far below the team standard it’s not funny. He should’ve had 3 shots at goal in the first quarter from very good forward play but he fluffed the marks and then was largely invisible until junk time. He sure did look great when the game was well and truly over though. I challenge anyone who doesn’t agree with me about how poor Frisch is defensively to get a good seat with a nice aerial view and watch how often his man is the pressure release valve for the other side. And now I’ll get accused of hating him or some such nonsense. Nothing could be further from the truth. He’s an exceptionally talented forward and I love his skills and strong aerial work. But if he could just get up to AFL standard when the ball is on the deck or with his defending he could go from a very good to a great player.

Yeah sorry I’m not part of the MFC fitness team, what a surprisingly revelation

North had an afl midfield in their side in their last game. About as good as their actual side. I get there’s a little frustration about some fringe guys not getting a game but our kids and the ageing key forwards all needed the rest.

17 disposals, 3 turnovers, 2 frees against including one directly in front of goal. Very little quick ball movement or corridor kicking. Probably only ahead of Fritsch and Grundy for worst on.

I'm not expecting him to take contested marks, I'm expecting him to compete with the best of his ability. He's 6 foot and had a decent leap in his early days, now he can't get off the ground or put his body on the line. Langdon is listed as a cm shorter and isn't a natural at marking contests at all but will often get a fist in. Aerial ability for a winger is a very handy attribute to be good in, or at least not bad in. Hunter is trending toward the bad when it comes to providing some defensive aerial help. I never professed to be a fitness expert but I thought it's pretty common knowledge that there's a balance when it comes to maximising endurance without sacrificing speed and power. The fitness staff tailor training and gym loads to not over do players. Hunter is playing high TOG% which is good for rotations but in combination with what I suspect was a far bigger preseason for him this year than his recent ones at the Dogs is it unreasonable to think he might be far more fatigued in his current role than how he was asked to play the wing at the Dogs? Just being on the MCG compared to Marvel alone would require a lot more kms and more so in the way we get our wings to drop right back compared to the Dogs aggressive up the ground zone. Someone said he might not be fit enough. From watching the games I said fitness isn't the issue as he won't stop going up and back, but he lacks the pace or confidence to get the ball on the run and keep it moving in the way Langdon does. I don't have to be a fitness expert to see that, it's clear as day from watching it out on the ground. Whether that's a training thing or just the fact that he isn't Langdon (no one else really is) I don't know.

Langdon’s role hasn’t changed at all. They’re both playing wings and running forward and back as the game requires. Helping out the mids? He’s really poor at the back of stoppages because his lack of burst and toughness sees him miss tackles and get caught in traffic. He’s Zoolander out there with his inability to ever go on his right, not just with kicking but he won’t handball on his right either. He’s going to ground and giving away the kind of dumb free kicks that veterans who have lost it in the legs do. He’s utterly inept in marking contests. And honestly some of that would be ok if his kicking was a weapon like when he had time and confidence in preseason. Now it’s at best 1 great kick followed by 3 slow little up and unders and a turnover. I doubt they drop him just yet but for the last month he’s not giving us anything more than JJ did last year.

The other thing is May and Lever usually play close to 100% game time. Other sides usually have 4 talls, comprised of 1-2 rucks and 2-3 tall forwards. If they all play 80% time on ground then it’s only 20% of the time with 3 up forward. Last week Dixon 100%, Marshall 82%, Teakle 81%, Finlayson 73%. So 336%. 36% of time Hibbo would be on a tall. When Salem comes back in and gives us another left footer and hopefully more skill and composure things might chance. Before that I don’t expect it to.

It looked very good in the first half. Petty was playing the perfect CHF game we’ve needed. Not sure who will come in for him if he’s out but it’s super frustrating he had just put together a fantastic half

Marshall went off concussed but I assume Dixon comes back in? Whilst Disco could have another go I suspect we’ll go with Hibbo on Finlayson or Lord. The added mobility and run seems our best backline set up.

They were a factor by umpiring very poorly. A stack of missed holding the balls. Poor control of manning the mark. A lot of holding off the ball. Poor positioning. Was never going to be 60 frees given it was a lot of kick to kick but they missed a dozen easily. It was a young and inexperienced crew for the worst game of the week doing their best, but not paying free kicks is just as bad as paying wrong ones

Fitness isn’t the problem, if anything he might be too fit and we might’ve trained the speed out of him. A week off or cutting his game time down towards 70% could help. But we might have to wait until the bye to see if there’s much change with a freshen up.

AFL tightened the appeal rules last year. So I’m not expecting an appeal. Strongly worded statement is required tho. JVR needed a freshen up too I reckon. The shame is it’s 2 weeks. It’s BBB time

If Viney had missed 8 weeks plus preseason with a combination of a medium term injury and serious illness… then absolutely yes, off to Casey. There’s not a single player on our list that I’d pick for a round 9 game under the circumstances Salem has had.

The lack of Casey game this week is unfortunate but I think he has to play VFL next week and then could be ready on the back of 1 VFL game and a lot of training to come in after that. He might take 2 or even 3 VFL games…I mean, I doubt it, but let’s let his Casey form determine it. No way would I be messing around with having him as sub.