DeeSpencer

My new changes is drop all the players gladly sipping champagne on the news. Gather round sell outs can stay in Adelaide permanently. Edit: or course, can’t be champagne, sparkling Murray tap water

Brown for McDonald Gawn or Schache for Melksham Lever for Tomlinson Petty to settle down back for the week Mid/forward changes. I’d start with JJ in for Spargo. If Sparrow misses then Laurie too.

Yep pretty much everything else he does looks up to scratch but his kicking is a shambles. It will improve with a string of games but has to take a big step forward

Bill Laurie our short little fast hands king has had himself a big couple of quarters since going on ball more. Still not convinced he’s ready for AFL midfield time but geez he does some great stuff

Nice ‘pass’ by Jeffo. Did like the way he fought to halve the marking contest

Nizard has had a shocker with his disposals today. Deak Smith playing one of his better games

Some lovely hands and run from Harmesy that he nearly botched by going for the big Harmesy power fend, but credit to him for setting that up. Like the way Taj won the clearance to start it off too

Nice assist by Swooper Steele and nice finish by Dunstan

Essendon player got all the candies for Valentine’s Day

Schache just the one mark but 2.1 and drawing free kicks with his large frame.

Harmes very good and Disco strong from what I’ve seen when the camera has been on the play. Laurie playing a lot forward. Sestan, Howes and plenty of others getting midfield time

Might need to put him in a time machine to early 2021 to find his leadership. Best thing he’s done as a captain since then is stay on the bench in the bang bang bang time

I worded that poorly but Rivers, Brayshaw and McVee are all flexible enough against a smaller Richmond side that they could go either Turner or Howes in to the back 7, then shuffle the others to the right roles. I’d imagine Turner is still a lot more likely to slot in and get Cumberland or Martin if Richmond don’t bring in a 2nd tall forward. But Howes can play a flank, push Rivers in to what was Hibbo’s role and Gus in to more of an intercepting role which has always been his best spot down back anyway. If Gawn really is right I expect Petty will be in the backline so it won’t matter this week anyway.

BZT, Laverde talls 195/193 Ridley 3rd tall interceptor 195cm They aren’t huge talls but they’re all good size and need 3 talls to counter. Remember JVR has to ruck and Grundy rest so when you play 3 talls you only have 2 out there most of the time. With Kelly, Heppell, Redman all 187+ flankers which means they have a fair bit of height down back. Our 3 tall set up has worked well all year, including when Melk has been subbed on. Laurie isn’t a pressure forward either. He’s a high half forward flanker who can endurance run to fill some gaps but isn’t a speedy forward pressure player. If he was he’d probably get more of a run at afl level by now. He’s got to build up his contested work and become more of a midfield type player which is what he’s doing at Casey. 2 weeks ago at Casey he played a lot of half forward, had 8 touches in 3/4’s and was largely unsighted. Last week as a mid he was great. He’s developing his midfield game.

Are you ready to entrust one of the most important roles in the side to a 2nd gamer on one ok VFL game? Petty was a good choice as the interceptor. Tomlinson made sense to use his height/strength on the resting ruck. Glad Gaz called that our for the big flop that it was tho.

Oh please. Oliver’s been the most prolific player in the comp all year and gets tackled without it constantly. Daicos plays without an opponent at half back and has been shifted on ball or forward to beat tags, he’s a receiver more than a ball winning in the middle too, he’s also just really good. Petracca’s been up and down. Playing a lot forward, it’s a very long year. With Tracc I’d like to see more improvement in ball use rather than caring about his ability to get in and win it.

Tricky one, definitely ducked and hung the neck in a bad position too, but it wasn’t a high tackle, it was as a clattering in to. Probably ok with the free against, awful umpire not to halt play.

Sparrow’s a defensive running machine, he consistently blocks the corridor and covers off for a midfield that isn’t great at that. They haven’t used Pickett much in the middle the last 2 weeks. Maybe it’s a matter of match fitness after missing 2 weeks, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we desperately need his speed forward. Rivers is part of the back 7, he’s only getting 1 rotation on ball per quarter. Until we have a midfielder who can swap back the other way it’s silly to expect more than that.

Melksham played as the 3rd tall forward and when we moved the ball he looked as likely as any of our key forwards. BBB struggles to stay upright in the dry, I’m completely fine with that change. Not sure why you’re comparing him with noted key forward 180cm Bill Laurie. I wasn’t impressed with Tommy Mc and he’s just about impossible to pick again any time soon, but if Schache’s the answer we’re probably just as stuffed. His VFL form has been good not great and he’s still iffy at the contest. How long has been on an AFL list without getting a regular gig? Totally agree on Disco, but the plan looked fairly simple. Use Tomlinson on the resting rucks. He towelled up Lobb, surely he won’t struggle too much with Phillips and Draper? That allows May to play full back and Petty to play as the interceptor. Disco also had 1 game back from a 3+ week lay off, it’s not unreasonable for him to play a second VFL game. For his own sake as much as the teams. His second ever AFL game going in underdone? That’s not a recipe for success.

Howes and Turner are both competing for the 3rd tall defender if Petty goes forward and we want a Hibbo replacement. Turner more ready for that job. But would love to see Howes start to demand a go. We’re yet to give JJ a second full game, I don’t see Harmes or Laurie jumping him. Unless Laurie is just blistering and they want him in Spargo’s role. Schache a small chance if they want to keep Petty back. Moniz-Wakefield? I’d love to see it

In: Brown, Lever, Turner, JJ Out: T Mc, Tomlinson, Melksham, Spargo FB: Turner May McVee HB: Rivers Lever Brayshaw C; Langdon Petracca Hunter HF: ANB Petty Pickett FF: JVR Brown Fritsch Foll: Grundy Oliver Viney Int: Bowey, Sparrow, JJ, Chandler Lets not panic and pick Gawn too early

6 day break and bad habits after beating a WAFL side and Essendon aren’t bad. Backline missed Lever and Hibbo Forward line missed Petty and BBB. Midfield were flat as a tack against a side with an underrated midfield. My greater concern is the lack of composure down back and lack of sharing the ball forward. Most of the rest can be fixed with a fresh start and getting some talent back.

Yep Hunter, you’re not up to it, scared of contact

May often struggles when he doesn’t have a big name opponent or a bad full forward to play on. He gets caught between trying to do his duties for the zone and manning up a mobile opponent. When the up field pressure drops off he gets in [censored] spots

We’ve changed a lot over summer, maybe we just change back to how we played against Sydney?