DeeSpencer

Viney, Oliver and Tracc have shared the ball more at stoppages but under pressure in general play they revert to bad habits. Our forwards lead until they see the ball fly over their head at which time they doubt themselves and stay under the high ball so they can compete. There’s a degree of coaching but more so we encouraged Viney, Oliver and Tracc for years to play a certain way, now they’re older, slower and stuck in their ways. And aside from first year kids - who are wisely being developed on the wings - we don’t have options.

Salem on his worse day at least looks like he’ll win a one on one on the deck and wants the ball. Had a poor game today but has looked better this year. Howes has Salem’s apathy but no class. He doesn’t have a strength to his game to hang his hat on.

Because the list is worse than the coaching. Name a coach that can summon a midfield from fresh air? It’s just not possible

I’m a Goody defender but he brings pressure on himself when he keeps going back to the well with guys who clearly aren’t getting any better. Lever was rushed back. Now he rushes Viney back. In fairness to the coach there’s almost nothing at Casey. Jeffo is building, the rest aren’t. And the kids in the side are fatiguing. Viney, Oliver, Tracc is now more stale than Brown and McDonald were yo forward. We never replaced those 2. Now we need to replace our midfielders Rivers having a stinker and Pickett going MIA doesn’t help. But we need trades, delisted pick ups whatever we can do to find mids who don’t just constantly butcher the footy.

Borderline insipid footballer, another Tim Lamb special Because McVee’s mostly been on him. 4 intercepts from Howes. 2 score involvements. 170m gained from 10 kicks so he’s pretty much only going sideways. Panics under pressure. Doesn’t impact in the air despite plenty of height. He’s pretty much just doing cardio out there.

Should be realistic that he’s old as hell, sub only on 6 day breaks.

Had an arm free, didn’t try. The mistake was running clear of traffic when you wanted a ball up. If he just moved in to the pack he’d have been fine. But Jack’s small brain tries to cash cheques his body can’t any more

Viney, Oliver and Tracc. Going nowhere whilst these 3 chew up most of our midfield minutes and a huge chunk of salary cap. Viney shouldn’t have played this week and the other 2 have done nothing to improve their horrendous decision making and skills in years.

Viney did a good job on Butters for a quarter but he’s upset the balance of the midfield and now we’ve got one pace lumps playing half forward and no pressure. Lever still not up to speed and Viney probably running out of puff. We have to stop picking players on name reputation. Personally didn’t mind giving Disco the go on Georgiades. Hasn’t worked. But McVee on JHF wouldn’t have been great either. As I’ve said for a while, we need a back pocket (and it sure ain’t Howes, he’s awful). Anyway, had our grand final last week, Port get an 8 day break. This result always likely

Borderline insipid footballer, another Tim Lamb special

I wouldn’t say great kick, and he’s not the smartest player. If we got him I think the aim would be to eventually have him replace Melk and have Jeffo take over from Fritsch. Kind of a swap of the current skillsets but you’ve got the athleticism of Brown and the class of Jeffo as your 3rd and 4th talls. Throw in a JVR/AJ or Petty type too. But still think we’re lacking the main man.

Midfield rivers is frustrating but there’s signs it might all click soon, I think it’s imperative not to change it. Similarly I’m a huge Howes skeptic but it seems like his manager is sniffing around for someone to give him a deal. If we have any desire to keep him he needs to play and earn a contract. If Lindsay needs a rest just flip him with to sub Caleb. Unless he’s in to tag Butters and Tracc, Koss and Langdon play forward more I just can’t see the need for an underdone Viney. That’s the kind of move that people hammer Goodwin for. In Jack’s prime - sure. But now - nah, let him go back to Casey.

It’s a free kick, even if Hill took a dive, but it’s not a dangerous tripping action worth even a minor fine.

Lindsay fine for a tackle that slipped down and a massive Dobby Hill dive is the icing on the officiating [censored] Storm. Nonsense

You don’t trade the only prime age key tall on your list for 2 late first round picks in a thin draft when you’re already taking a Windsor and Tholstrup with earlier picks. What were we going to do with those picks? We’ve had the picks and cash for a key forward and haven’t found one. Those crows picks have become Darcy Wilson who can’t get a game for St Kilda right now and Charlie Edwards who’s not doing a lot in the sanfl. Crows probably wanted a second rounder back too. So many bigger issues with our list management than hanging on to a tall who still helps us play a lot better as a forward (look at our scoring before and after he went forward this year) and is a decent defender too.

We were a goal away from being right in finals contention having beaten the top 2. It’s far too early to make selection calls on next year. Jeffo was likely covering someone sore like Melk. He’s had 5 and 4 touches, he can easily be worse than JVR, still 11 games to go, there’s heaps of time for him to get some experience

The issue with that backline is you’ve got 3 players who like to intercept more than they do really defend one on ones. And of the 3 only Disco is an above average kick or runs with the ball and even he probably needs to minimise aggressive kicks. I haven’t seen terrific defender in Petty since 21 or 22 maybe

When he first went forward he led at the ball, but eventually seeing the ball sail over his head or breaking his foot from a Sparrow hospital kick he’s now reluctant to lead. He puts in a decent aerial contest against lesser defenders but struggles to impact against good ones. Goal kicking is poor for a guy who kicked very straight when he first went forward too. Mentally doesn’t project any kind of confidence. His pressure and tackling are important tho, he genuinely puts in effort there. The real concern is he looked slow down back and is a reluctant rebounder and doesn’t like to stand under the footy as a defender either. Teams would’ve offered plenty for him as a defender in the past as we know when the crows did. Mind you I still think turning down those picks was the right call in that very shallow draft. A full preseason as a forward to see if he can get back to leading? Time in the vfl to really earn his position despite the replacements giving less than he does? Or we just go along knowing he does provide some contest but isn’t improving?

T Mc forward is a disaster, please, let it go. Jefferson will play when he demands a spot, we’ve seen him this year, he doesn’t offer more

They both played well the last couple of vfl games. Of course JVR was picked because he can fill a role in the side. Jeffo can’t so needs to bash the door down which he’s yet to do, hopefully he’s in the process of doing it right now.

The ceiling for Roo has only ever been a role player and whilst he’s a strong lad he’s still got plenty of physical development left - especially once he’s stopped adding bulk and then can trim him up and focus on refining his movements. Plus he clearly lost all confidence early this season, you can see he’s not playing with any instinct. And our expectations are high. Mihocek and McStay barely touched it at their end either. Mihocek is the player I want Roo to be too. They’re over similar stature and athleticism, the one thing Mihocek has is confidence to lead hard at the ball because he has a team that can kick. I thought he made a step forward on previous occasions in terms of actually jumping at the ball. We need to shop if we can. We need a main man up forward to take over from Melk but they’re nearly impossible to find.

Using half the bench for tall forwards, great strategy that! Disco is settled down back, let’s stop this idea of moving him, he looks legit down back. Jeffo’s time will come when he demands a spot over the likes of Fritsch and Melk. Not some made up bench role that doesn’t exist

He was better than average against Preston, he took 13 marks across half forward. Yeah, he came in for AJ who was hardly setting the world on fire. So stick with him for a couple more weeks. Then make the change to Jeffo if he continues strong VFL form against better opponents

Doesn't fill me with confidence that he's ready to perform.

JVR had a rough first half but came in to it a bit more and looked more confident fighting for position and jumping at the ball. I'd give him another week. He only played 60% game time, so take out the stints in the ruck and he actually wasn't forward all that much. Where's the Viney was only a 1 week injury coming from? Official update is TBC. I wouldn't pick him until after the bye. He needs touch work after such a long time out, and I'm still not entirely sure how he fits in our midfield balance. I think the big question is whether they want to persevere with Howes and what they want to do with Windsor. Obviously the bye is coming up after next week but I'd probably go with Windsor on the wing and Lindsay as sub and then reassess after the bye.