DeeSpencer

Darcy Moore is one of the best high marks in the game, he has a slight susceptibility to body contact which is why he’s better playing more zone. But his run and jump is elite. Watch this cut up of O’Sullivans game. Excellent positioning. Gorgeous hands at ground level, the way he holds, shimmies and releases handballs is better than just about any mid in this draft. But starting from the first few contests and throughout the video he’s letting the ball get over the back or getting out marked in contests. Very rarely does he get a clean spoil or leap (Lever) or push bodies out of the way (May) to intercept mark. Teaching him to spoil shouldn’t be too hard, he’s in position and has the athleticism, but teaching anyone to take contested marks is very hard.

But was it horrible kicking for goal or horrible forward efficiency? Because Gawn had a Gawn set shot. And the spoil on Oliver’s shot (which was mostly his fault but also the teams for not having multiple players on the line). And otherwise Fritsch missed a couple of what are probably 50:50’s for most players but more like 70:30’s for him. Quite possibly he was down 20% due to injury/match fitness. On expected score I think we were about 3 goals under. That’s significant, but hardly a massive butcher job when so many were low percentage. Im much more worried about the players inabilities to take risks with the ball up field and moving quickly to marking forwards than I am pure goal kicking. But I’m also of the belief that a couple of healthy key forwards and a fraction more class and speed from midfield and half back fixes that problem.

It’s his 4th year? He has some talent, but a little flighty, he benefits from the attention Toby, and Hoges get and the Giants ball movement. Nice pick up by GWS but the opportunity to get him out of there cheaply has well and truly gone.

Moves a whole lot better when the ball is on the ground than Harris thankfully, but doesn’t high point the ball in the air like Harris. Ethan Read is the best key back in this draft, forget the fact that he’s a ruck as a junior. He could be a good forward/ruck or a very good ruck, but he can be a great CHB because he reads and reaches for the ball perfectly. O’Sullivans handballing and movement with the ball on the deck is freakish for a tall. Very good athlete. Good enough kick. Reads the play well. But if you watch closely in aerial contests he doesn’t mark or cleanly spoil overhead with the proficiency you’d expect for a 198cm with good movement. That’s why he’s 7-10 not 3-7 draft range. Same knock on Curtin. Heck of a back flanker, not all that flash as a key tall. Should be developed as a midfielder.

Niners Giants Saints

1 - Reid (yes) 2 - Walter NGA 3 - Duursma - maybe, VFL form wasn’t good and needs muscle and a role to play. Potentially too light for wing, too flaky defensively for half forward in year 1. 4 - McKercher - yes, but to what extent? He’ll be ready to play but probably struggles to impact at half forward and can’t lock midfield minutes. Yes for years 2/3 tho. 5 - Watson - maybe, he’s so small, will earn games but with what impact? 6 - Curtin - yes, will effectively be a tall back flanker from day 1 7 - Sanders - yes to playing, no to meaningful impact is my guess, like most top mids it’s years 2/3/4 more than year 1. 8/9/10 - Caddy, Read, O’Sullivan - doubtful to all Rumour is North’s recruiters want to bid on Read and I think that’s correct, he’d be close to my 2nd rated player in the draft. Plus a compo pick for McKay Suddenly you’re trading for 7 to go with 8. If it’s to take one of Watson or Sanders to go with one of the talls or a winger/flanker from the next group then forget about it. No point selling multiple first rounders and change to draft outside the elite bracket of talent.

Out of contract. The ‘work we have to do’ to get him is deciding if we want to use a 3rd or a future 3rd. That’s it. Will be one of the less difficult trades of the trade period.

The big thing we need is to run and use the ball in to space. Run creates run, space creates space. The windows to target forwards get far larger. It’s a small margin, really it’s probably 10-20% more running for and giving handballs. Kicking gets all the attention but it’s run and handballing through the initial wave of pressure or from intercepts that create the chances for kicking the ball to space.

No one? Sparrow went in to a couple of Carlton floppers when they were trying something and Walsh dived in to the fence. It’s very tricky to intimate without flop artists milking it and costing you goals.

I wish we had the Giants half backs, wings and midfield depth. Whitfield, Ash, Himmelberg, Perryman from half back, Kelly, Cumming and Callaghan through the wings and a commitment to run and link the ball in to space makes playing as a small half forward a lot easier than bludgeoning it down the line. When the Giants ran out of legs in the second half yesterday the opportunities for Bedford largely dried up.

He’s not the full package yet but Pickett fought through awful form issues mid year to play 2 good and almost great finals. Small forwards rarely produce in big finals. May rebounded from a stinking first month to play very well towards the end of the year. Lever played on a man when required, which he’ll likely have to going forward. Hunter actually produced an ok and good final after spudding it up most of the year, he might even go up a level if we add more run around him. Tracc got through some of his goal kicking problems and nearly dragged us over the Pies by himself. Chandler is at least useful. Viney was huge until the last month or so unfortunately. There’s some positives

I think I’d prefer Brisbane if Zorko can get suspended and miss the grand final. But I’m all in on GWS winning next week

His VFL midfield games have been really strong, with inside and outside ball winning, goal kicking and controlling the contest. He’s still really young and has the kind of big body that will keep getting stronger and more powerful until he’s 25. Has a huge tank. I’m not overly worried about losing him because right now he’s probably only depth and we need to use the assets in other areas, but there’s a decent chance he still becomes a good mid once he’s played there for a consistent period. If he goes to the Saints he could be turned in to a solid tagger or defensive winger by Ross the boss.

Up on her feet celebrating goals is good, but she’d also be celebrating in a coma Clicked with the wind in the last, a little surprised we didn’t look more fluent running and carrying in the 1st and 3rd but sense the players knew they had nothing to worry about. Slight doubts on the backline but we are really punishing bad sides with a lot of avenues to goal.

Yeah they were all absolutely spent. Probably could’ve taken a short to Langdon but that’s about it. If he went short to Langdon then Gawn would’ve had more time to get down the line, can potentially force a throw in. But at the same time we scrapped and won that contest and Viney somewhat picked a decent option to move it on quickly on his right and short in to space along the boundary. Unfortunately it came off his boot at exactly the wrong speed and went straight to Weitering. There’s a lesson in the value of dual sided skills that I hope our kids are being trained up in. Viney came to the club when good development was not completely ruining a player within 3 years.

And she does!

Hope Banno has avoided serious injury. Running game hasn’t clicked today in to the wind. And a slack period with it. Backline needs some fresh legs I think. Godly has lost a yard and Birch continues to decline.

Pretty sure this started because some Crows nuff on Twitter thought McAdam for Petty and a pick is a good deal. Adelaide being such a small town it then bounces around and comes back as some form of valid rumour.

Hoping we get big Stuey Dew in for the mids or forwards. Always played us tough and plays a no nonsense long kicking style (that didn’t work but was fun). Not sure if he’ll move from NSW but Mark McVeigh did a good job as caretaker of the Giants and is now coaching the Swans academy and Allies under 18’s. He’d bring some fresh ideas.

My understanding is he’s made improvements but isn’t there yet, I don’t think he’ll ever have the tank for a wingman, could have the tank for a mid who rests forward. Or a back who takes on ball spurts. I just think he’s very valuable down back and the rush to get him in to the middle is a bit misconceived. But it also depends on who we draft this year, if we take a mid or a forward mid who’s somewhat ready to play then keep Riv back. If we go tall, a back or a small forward we might be looking at Riv in to the midfield mix sooner

Retire: Hibbo, BBB, McDonald Delist: Dunstan, D Smith, ?K Turner Trade: Grundy, JJ (FA), Harmes, Tomlinson 9 or 10 out. Trade for: 1 x ruck (replacing Grundy) 1 x forward/ruck (T Mc) 1 x quality tall or barring that a swing man tall (BBB) 1 x McAdam 1 x midfield depth Take 4-5 picks in the drafts including at least 2 quality picks (ie. 1/20, 6/7, 6/15/20)

Tom started the last quarter on the pine, played 5 minutes in the ruck during which he was fine, then one quick stint forward before back to the pine. The opportunity was to go small up forward and we stuck with that. Schache on would’ve meant one of Smith or Fritsch comes off or we go taller and lose defensive pressure and shape. Should’ve they have picked Grundy over Tom or as sub? Maybe, because you’d trust him to ruck for 5 minutes a quarter better than Tom, but they had no faith in Grundy up forward. Should they have gone with a small sub? Hibbo, Laurie or Woey. Again, maybe. But Hibbo isn’t helping our backline coming on fresh and is no use if we have an early injury to a non defender. Laurie clearly no use for an early injury. They went the tall as sub because that was the most use if we copped an early injury. After last week it was perfectly understandable why they chose the sub for insurance rather than a last quarter impact. And the only player they could’ve subbed off was T Mc who they stuck with for 2 short stints.

Not sure they correlate. Bedford was flighty at the contest and butchered it. He needed more time developing before a chance came. Not a different position. If Rivers runs like a mid and we have half backs he’ll play mid, but I suspect he’s actually a half back. Sparrow might’ve got too much midfield time. Not idea what happened with Kosi mid year, maybe off field stuff, but he bounced back well. Can’t wait to see him in rounds 2-3 next year. The biggest issue is how half forward is nearly purely a defensive spot for us because we don’t use it fast enough to get them in space. Half back and midfield bounce opens attacking space for the half forwards. We could have Tracc, Fritsch, Pickett and Petty across half forward next year, one of the most dynamic half forward lines in the comp and the plan all summer should be send it to them.

I doubt we’re getting even a high 2nd given his injuries and in that case we’d only be doing it for cap relief/list turnover. Salo had a really nasty knee injury (thanks to a sliding in Tarryn Thomas), got OP when he came back, had his health issue and then copped injuries this year. Awful 2 year stint. There’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a change of luck. We are at our best when he’s getting 30 touches and controlling things from half back. I wouldn’t change that unless we have a plan on how the cap space can be better spent.

A big worry going forward is if Gawn can’t grab it from the middle he’s basically a traffic cone in their. Clarry lost his chemistry with the other mids and was rusty. Whoever the back up ruck next year is needs to do more centre bounces for Max before pushing forward. And we need pace in there, have to commit to Pickett. I’d love to see Chandler who’s underrated at stoppages. And some fresh talent.