DeeSpencer

If Bevo was coaching the Dees our spine in a few years would probably be: FF: Adams CHF: Petty CHB: Jefferson FB: JVR Theres even a chance that will be our spine with Goody coaching!

Packers, Browns, SeaHawks

I’m not saying it’s not a talented crop but it looks more on par with a regular group at the very top (if Cal’s rankings are solid) than a special crop. Compared to the super draft with the King twins, gun bigger mids in Walsh, Smith and Rozee, and some rare talent in guys like Rankine, Luko, Blakey and Thomas I don’t think it stacks up at all. We’ll have a really good hand and most likely be willing to try to get up the order. And of course more names will announce themselves as the year goes on. But this list of names looks to me like good reason that JT and co were willing to have a very strong go at getting Essendon’s pick this year.

Harley Reid GC academy tall forward ————————————— - Tassie mid who looks 25 - WA ruck with a BMI of near death - WA key defender (there’s 6 of these each year) - tiny small forward - 3 precocious medium forwards who’ll need to grow or show midfield ability to be elite prospects - 1 skinny balanced vic metro mid To quote JT ‘next year is next year’. Unless I had pick 1 or were the GC suns I wouldn’t be all that excited by this crop

Whilst there’s room for it - fixture announcements, contract extensions etc - I like that our socials haven’t descended in to a mess of bad memes and attempted edgy content. Our media content reflects our brand and the interviews with players reflect a level of trust and respect. Kudos to Ben. There was a new person taking photos out on the field at training and their outfit alone made me a little nervous. But I don’t want to judge prematurely. Teams give so little to traditional media these days (and I don’t blame them), which means the in house media are really important for how we connect with the team.

Time to start again with WERRIDEE Best 46.

I think they should be really flexible with where they use him. Wing, forward, back. And he’d be a good sub, now that it will be used every week. One role I’d really like to see him used in is playing on ball, starting forward then swapping with Viney or Tracc after centre bounces. He’d give us uncontested possessions and hit up short kicks from the midfield. His ability to find space stood out today.

Out: Marchbank, Owies, Martin In: Boyd, Hollands, De Koning

You’ll know what I mean when you see it, he’s slinky and his arms present nicely to the footy. I was hoping to get a closer up look at his hands. They didn’t look like big buckets from what I could see but it wasn’t up close!

The one drill I saw Sestan join in was where they split in to pairs and just did some very token pressure one-on-one marking and one-on-one ground balls with a coach just gently lobbing a ball out in front. Sestan was joined up with Hunter and no one was providing any real pressure, but he just looked very comfortable in how to use his hips to hold off an opponent and gathered cleanly then could handball on either hand and seemed to be favouring using his left. Doesn't mean much, but it's a sign he's not super raw. Would've loved to have seen it done with real pressure and Viney or Petracca but hey, it's early days!

Things that caught the eye JVR was the main target of the other match sim team and he was prominent. Had some solid marking contests with Petty and he definitely has a good crack at it. A couple of two grab marks and drops, hopefully that's just early season stuff. But he looks really fit and strong and doesn't lack for energy. McVee - paired up with Salo and drills and they linked up on the same team a bit. Looks stronger but also to be playing quicker Rivers - had a stack of it, not as efficient with his use but a few kicks that missed by inches Woey - looked sharp and used it well Sparrow - had the hair flowing and moves like some kind of new age armoured vehicle. JJ - the match sim was all focused on fast ball movement and JJ was playing to instruction and getting it on nicely. Used the left at one stage, had a nice run and penetrating accurate kick at another, willing at the contest Petty - cleaned himself up nicely spoiling Fritsch at one stage, but got back out there for a nice battle with JVR. Had some spoils, marks, tackles and just generally did Petty stuff. Looks good Gawn, Petracca, Viney, Lever were all doing their things. Was good to see them all healthy

Grundy: looks healthy and moves well, got involved a bit as a forward in the match sim, later was doing some runs with Fritsch and not dropping too far off him Hunter: was heavily involved in the match sim. Partly because he had a good stint in the pink jersey that's the extra number that goes both ways. Had some nice kicks. Bobbed up in good areas. Looks fit but solid. He had to really motor to get a quick one-two which tested those legs but he got it done. I don't think he'll star and those little legs might need some rest at times, but I think he'll be revitalised. Schache: was the main target of one of the match sim teams and so got on the end of plenty. Didn't really have too many contests. Certainly looks fit and strong in the legs. Will always have more narrow shoulders but is solid up top too. If he never has an opponent he'll be good! Wait and see if he can do more.

Unsighted: Oliver, Pickett, Langdon, May, Harmes, Brayshaw, Melk, Tomlinson, Joel Smith, Verrall. No Dunstan, ANB either Rehab: Ben Brown, McDonald, Hibberd, AMW, Deakyn Smith Benny Brown doing pretty short jobs but joined in one drill and kicked the footy around. Hibbo and AWM doing solid work. T Mac not looking a mile off. New boys: Adams (Jed Adams): In runners and t shirt, did a good session on the watt bike. Good height, not big but solid frame, looks like he'll fill out once they do get him going though El Jefe (Matthew Jefferson): Joined in some drills and match sim, kicks a nice drop punt and seems to have loose easy arms that easily hold marks Kyah (Kyah Farris-White): joined in some drills, has a monster of work to do on his kicking, poor Choco wasn't marking many of his 15m stabs Sestan (Oliver Sestan): solid but not heavy, will need a preseason to change his frame a little but hardly a mile off, kicks accurately with punch when doing some kick to kick with Choco

Maybe just one big Werridees Non Melbourne's best 44 thread might be the way to go rather than 17 different ones? Brisbane are going to be a very tough side though. Surely the deepest list in the comp.

I skimmed through his VFL debut v Port. He played back pocket, took his share of rotations off and at this stage I’d say he’s a tall flanker more than a key position player. Lean and long arms and looks an easy mover who wasn’t troubled for leg speed at VFL level. Some observations: Q1: 12:10 1st, lovely easy run from deep back pocket to link up and nail an inside 50 kick Q2: 5:12 easy elevation for intercept mark and hits his target with a quick short kick 27:56 kickout to 65 28:40 drops a kickout to a lead at 50 Q3: 1:10 weights a kick to the corridor 3:50 reads it nicely for easy intercept 16:01 nice strong spoil deep down back 23:01 long kickout! Q4 30:26 nice spoil with the game 22 points the difference, follows up to receive a handball and kicks long and wide with a safe clearing kick 31:30 not as great some of his efforts to secure a loose ball Then the game ends on a shoddy too high free kick, with Frankston giving up a 61-16 lead Not a perfectly fluent kicking action but not terrible. Kicks around it like a soccer player and certainly has distance. Interesting they trusted him on debut with kick outs Looks a very natural runner. Solid overhead with a leap so there’s more to work with there. Seems to track an opponent and the ball fairly well. Probably found the pace of the game quick with the ball bouncing around the deck, but on debut that’s not a surprise.

Jefferson averaged 9.5 disposals at NAB league and 8.8 at Under 18's. He did hit the scoreboard, but got plenty of cheap ones mixed in that 7 goal effort especially. He will have to find more of the ball. He's not a home run pick at 15, although, there were hardly too many options jumping off the page. If you have to give it a grade I don't mind that it doesn't grade all that highly. I'm not entirely sure what we were meant to get graded for with the Adams pick. It was small flankers and speculative talls by our pick. And he played 9 Colts games, 2 National champs games and a seniors game this year. Not exactly like he didn't play.

Early report is I can't believe they played the B grade granny on that swamp of a ground. That's disgraceful.

I wonder what kind of athletic testing they’ve got on him. Xavier might be doing their own these days, because that would probably be my biggest worry. If you can’t run you can’t play, no matter how good you are. Either way I’m excited that we took a chance on a high upside smokie. Obviously I’m not expecting the same instant returns but you see Essendon getting someone like Nic Martin and Jai Newcombe at the Hawks and it shows there’s good players out there coming from different pathways.

A couple of glimpses in here of him training at his new home

Given it’s unlikely they’ll be physically ready to hold down heavy ruck minutes it’s going to be a real struggle to get both Kyah and Verrall in the same VFL side. Especially with a first and second year key forward up forward. Plus a first year key defender and a medium tall who’s come from school footy. We haven’t messed around with too many project players in the Goodwin era, and especially since the cut down on footy cap, which hasn’t jumped back to pre covid levels. That’s allowed us to keep big numbers on the training track and train to a high standard with a lot of competitive drills. I’m happy we’re seemingly keen to use Casey as a development side and that we’ve got some quality talls on the list. But 2 baby project rucks at the same time seems hard work, not to mention we haven’t replaced Daw as the 3rd string ready to go ruck either.

Might’ve fallen through the cracks at the Bushrangers/Chargers and missed by both? Or focussed on studies or other sports? The NAB league teams do a good job with limited budgets but they can’t find or attract everyone. Guys fall through the cracks.

3 grabs, a tunnel ball and a chronic illness per marking contest

In fairness, Stevo’s never met anyone from Xavier who isn’t the next Brownlow winner. One of the most blatant campaigns for discount school fees I’ve ever seen

Poor man’s Jack Fitzpatrick. With development resources tied up in Jefferson, Adams and Big Kyah I’m a little surprised we went for a rookie teen ruck after years of not making it a priority.

I think the desire for trades this year made the top 10 present itself. Teams had to call each other and player managers and probably Cal to really work out who was going where to evaluate trades. Still, it’s impressive work from Cal to have the order figured out. I hope teams get a little more aggressive with trades and are willing to do so without the order completely revealed in future years so there’s some more drama