DeeSpencer

Burst out of the blocks the first few weeks before some really grinding games, but I think he’s settled in the last month or so with some byes freshening the legs. His forward pressure on the weekend was a couple of levels above anything I’ve seen from him before that. If he can develop that aspect of his game as well as finding more of the ball he’ll be a lot closer to playing with the big boys.

I’m not dropping him because he’s been poor, I’m moving him to sub because he’s important and is 30+ with a history of injuries the last few years. And because Smith is equally important and can’t go another week just playing a quarter. Smith could go back to Casey but we need a mid sized tall as sub because BBB can’t go a full game.

Duursma seems strong in the air, took a ripping pack mark on the weekend. But there’s not a lot of contested ball on the deck. I’m trying to think of tall skinny kids who have been drafted high and gone on to success recently. Fyfe’s the ultimate example but that’s unrealistic. Ollie Henry took a couple of years to get up to speed but he’s been on the Geelong diet. If he didn’t settle well at half forward or on a wing I’d be tempted to have Duursma play back flank like we are doing with Howes. Will Day was able to get experience at half back before being released on ball.

Watson is excellent using his body and reading the drop of the ball but tiny. If he was 180cm he’d be a lock at pick 2/3/4. If he was 176cm like Bowey he’d probably be the same. Even Eddie Betts at 174 got it done. 170, shorter than Pickett, it’s a tough ask

I reckon the Crows up tempo play comes far more from their excellent half backs and how hard their mids run, not to mention Dawson being the best mark/kick on baller in the league. But Rankine certainly helps. And Rachele is classy too. The thing about those guys is they both had games that were going to translate to AFL level and will eventually lead to midfield minutes. With Watson I’m just worried he’s not tall, strong or quick enough to really become that level of player.

Is he having the quietest year for any consensus number 1 pick in a long time? Averaging 20 touches (but over 2 goals) at Coates league, one ok, one good VFL game, didn’t set them on fire in the champs. The talent is absolutely undeniable but the output is a little off. Is it because he’s the lock at 1 so has been managing his way through the season? Took his time getting over a head knock. Obviously not a huge deal, you’re drafting for AFL success not his junior results and it’s not like he’s been bad. But I’d kind of want to see him really rip a few games apart.

Should happen: Out: Melk In: Smith. Melk to sub. Purely a rest /workload issue, Smith will lose condition if he can’t play a full game and Melk’s done a power of work. Could happen: Out: Tomlinson In: Hibberd Hibbo wasn’t great at Casey but if there’s no Tomlinson match up we’re better off with the Pig Wont happen; Out: Hunter In: Spargo/Money Man Wakefield Taj to the wing, JJ back up wing. Would love a bit more speed and tackling at half forward against Rioli and the tiger runners. AMW isn’t as polished as Spargo but he’s building nicely and does some special stuff Back JJ and Juddy in. Petty a run in the 2’s for confidence and match fitness, Grundy one more week against better opposition.

Maybe my language was harsh but if you watched Gawn live today you’d see a guy who managed his way around the ground, often content to man O’Brien away from the play rather than sprinting back to plug the backline or making sure he’s the long down the line target. Can argue it’s smart as a veteran ruck doing it alone but do you want a captain having to manage his work load? Even playing with Grundy has been about managing him through the season. Viney is busting it for every minute he’s out there

Woey has good endurance and has played more wing than half forward at Casey and most likely in juniors too. I’m not suggesting he’s ready for 90% game time for weeks at a time but we could give him 75% as a one off to see where he’s at. Much like giving JVR the key forward job over the old boys even when he’s miles from his full physical development. Hunter has absolutely no speed left and refuses to kick or turn corridor or do anything to use speed or skill. Surely the coaches wanted more than just positioning?

Langdon manages to do it and still break lines going forward and whilst his kicking is hit and miss there’s at least some hits. Woey had one kick today that was better than any of Hunter kicks in the last two months. Give him a half as the main wingman and if he’s floundering with positioning or work rate then sub Hunter on or switch it up. JJ managed to do the Hunter role last year just as well too. It takes a big tank and discipline but shouldn’t we expect more? At a minimum we should be planning for Gus to take the job back once Oliver is up and running. Gus has the same flaws but the bonus of elite overhead marking.

I don’t mind it, but I think we’d almost have to bring Harmes in for JJ as well in that situation to make sure the midfield has enough speed. And handing over the reigns from Gus who despite his many faults is having a decent go to our VFL mids is a risk.

With the 4 smalls we don’t have a 3rd winger and it’s suboptimally small. Workable but not ideal. ANB has to rotate on the wing which takes away our best two way half forward. Collingwood have some big back flankers, Port too. Cats are monsters. I agree Taj is just finding his way at half forward but I think we need a bit more size. He took one great mark and dropped another, he’s solid overhead. Of course there’s ways to change the mix. If Fritsch can fill in on a wing for 20%. Or Kosi can genuinely play on ball for more than 1 minute a quarter we open up more ways to get smalls in the side without being too small.

The Crows were without Laird, Doedee, Rachele and we put a lead on them 3 different times on our home deck, with an 8 day break and 3 times let them come back in to it. We couldn’t consistently stop their run and we had large period making really dumb unforced mistakes. Thats not what good teams do. There’s less and less evidence that Fritsch - unless cherry ripe - actually makes us better than a Melk/Petracca combination. He can’t contest like Melk so would have to be added, which means Tracc on ball which is good, but not if it’s the turnover and lazy defensive running midfield Tracc. Oliver certainly does make us better but the contested ball and drive he gives the midfield has to come with at least not terrible kicking. Too many of his games this year were incredibly wasteful. There’s still no solution to: - Tall forwards - Half forwards with genuine pace, skill, ability to halve a contest - Midfield and wing run and skill - Getting consistent run and carry out of a backline that the default setting is slow and safe and the change up setting is whatever May did today. No team is ever perfect but this Melbourne side look short on polish and confidence to stick to the right tempo required.

Tomlinson was great for a half before reverting to being too slow and consistently losing contests to Fogarty when our defensive pressure dropped. May started panicking because he couldn’t trust Tomlinson (which is a May issue but not ideal). Petty needs to be healthy, might even need to play at Casey to prove himself but I still have no doubt he’s the best option to get our backline the best it can be. Up forward, who do we replace? Could only be BBB and the big fella was good for most of 3/4’s. Petty forward didn’t seem to be working

Like which part? Kicking? Goals? Overhead marking/spoiling? Defensive pressure as a stoppage sweeper? Attack on ground balls? Tackling? The one thing he does to an ok standard is positioning in transition but he can be exploited by teams when he’s dropped back too far too. He’s just completely meh.

It was good in preseason when he had time, space and no consequence. But any time he’s asked to do anything but 20m down the line he butchers it, and he’s rarely out and running to do that (or anything more).

We don’t have the backline or midfield either. I mean, we have the backline talent but they don’t play like it under pressure. We don’t have answers with the midfield. Clarry and Tracc back in will help but we at least one, maybe 2 skilled running players

What is the point of Lachie Hunter? He’s utterly ineffective. 176 metres gained. 5 pressure acts. 3 score involvements. Give Taj a proper crack on the wing. He might make some positional errors but he’s not afraid to run with the ball and he can compete in the air. I don’t really care who comes in. Harmes, Spargo, Hibbo and sliding Salem, Riv or Bowser up.

Playing like a captain whilst Max picks and chooses, should probably make it official

We just dropped away any time we had the lead consolidated, in the second, third and to start and end the last. As usual our mids were held like crazy out of stoppages when meant we got short entries, and their super dangerous half backs went to town on slow or inexperienced half forwards. Wingers got targeted all day and gave up 5000 marks, and the crows looped around to take advantage of those marks. Backline had a stinker to start the last and May needs to get his head out of backside and just play the game on merits. Tomlinson started like a house on fire then ended like a house burnt to the ground.

The second one, who I actually like a little more is Eastern Ranges wingman Caleb Windsor. He seems to have a really good burst of speed and is a nice user of the ball. What I like is when he's under pressure in contested situations he seems to have a plan of where to go to keep the ball moving. And a lovely short/medium kick that is well weighted. Demonstrates some really clean hands too, on the deck and looks solid overhead.

I watched a little of the Champs here and there, but I'm certainly intrigued by the lack of midfield prospects in the top 10-15 of popular draft ratings. So now that someone has very usefully clipped some videos together I've looked through a few and found a couple of interesting players. The first one is Darcy Wilson who's a 185cm wing/mid. Late October birth so maybe a bit of a late bloomer. From Wang I believe so I'm sure @dazzledavey36 will know more about him. His kicking and decision making at stoppages both need a fair bit of work (likes to bang it forward under pressure), but he looks a proper athlete with some really quick feet and he has some creativity to his decision making in space too. I expect he'll start to fill out and end up with a very handy frame for a running player too. I like the way he steps tacklers and releases handballs in to space. Handy first Academy game against the Port reserves. Then really hitting his straps at Talent League level where he's clearly a cut above. Champs games seemed to be a mixed bag. I think he's one to watch in the back end of the Talent League season as he could really dominate now he's had experiences at the higher level.

But Sanders as a likely top 10 pick does effectively push our picks back 1, especially if we wanted to take him with our first pick. In fact, if they leave him in the draft and let North match a bid we should bid as early as possible for him and chew up their second round picks. North deserve nothing, they were gifted Logue (and Tucker) and they’ve shown no intent to get better by trading picks in or more experience outside using extra list spots for Shiels and Howe.

Spot on. The dogs had mid season injuries and finished 7th in 2016. An absolute triumph. Why would you want to ruin the chance of that ever happening again? We really need to expand finals just because some people can’t take a breath for a weekend? We’re catering to fast food lovers (geez there’s a lot of maccas ads on SEN, do you think the boss likes the product).

Tracc and hopefully once healthy Fritsch should alternate between CHF. Fritter is under-utilised if he’s consistently playing so close to goal. I‘d like to have both of those guys playing forward alongside Max in the ruck and 3 taller forwards. Could be any of 3 of Grundy, BBB, JVR or Melk. I don’t expect Grundy will suddenly develop sticky hands or leading patterns in a short period of time. I suspect the big thing they are looking for is a consistent impact at the aerial contest and far better defensive pressure. He has the size and athleticism to do that.