DeeSpencer

This is the equivalent of saying could Melksham come in for Steven May.

I don’t hate him, he’s just not an AFL footballer in any role but sub or defensive undersized tall any more. He hasn’t made appropriate defensive efforts or won ground balls for years and snagging a few goals in a comfortable win against out classed opposition doesn’t impress me.

Bowey and Disco probably best on. But both probably more good than great. Bowser didn’t exactly carve them up with ball use. And Disco dropped a few marks (probably could’ve had 10-15 intercepts) and occasionally made odd decisions with the ball. Woey the best mid for the first half, played exclusively wing and was quieter in the second half. Harmes ok. Dunstan in and out. Spargo had his moments but he’s trying to do too much rather than linking up. His defensive intensity was a cut above early thought. Laurie, the classy moments are great but there’s too many slow or not physical enough to get from traffic moments, played almost always forward, way too much Munro and White on ball today. Verrell competed strongly in the ruck and tackled well. But he was playing 2 shortish stints per quarter and running on fumes quickly which wasn’t a surprise. BBB - maybe? Certainly holding marks and looking more sure of foot. Can a ruck miss a week so we don’t lose mobility? Howes - can he just step up and demand selection already. He’s such a pure mover and kick. Contest work just isn’t there yet.

Tomlinson maybe, but there was nothing in Melksham’s game tonight that looked like an AFL return. Got silver service and added goals in junk time

Rough period of play for young Jed McDonald Adams. Mids and half forwards getting well beaten this quarter

Lots of bullocking at the contest and ran forward to get a chance to mark directly in front of the goals and was causal as the kick came in and got spoiled. Having a crack but looks off his best

‘And Jake Melksham will not miss’ And I’ll tell you what else he won’t do, he won’t handball to Jefferson by himself in the goal square

Most impressed with Taj so far, just plays a simple no frills midfield game. Disco’s had at least 4 intercept marks and dropped a two or three more too. BBB moving more freely, we’ll see if he keeps it going

Ahhh no. We need that type of player but he sleeps with the lights on.

If Langdon and Hunter could string together consistent weeks I wouldn’t focus on them. But at the moment they are purely outside accumulators with no damage - fed the ball by a very strong ball winning mids and half backs. If you want to nullify games and take the pace out of attack and take away scoring they’re fine. If you want to win games against good sides they’re so meh. Hunter was good tonight and is in decent form but he flat out refuses to take any risk with his kicking and ends up going super slow and butchering it. And whilst he’s started driving though some contests it’s hard to see him improving his speed or making kicks that he just isn’t taking. If Langdon can’t hold up in the contest and his ball use is a liability then what’s he bringing? He’s purely a structural player now in a team that needs more than that given our ball movement issues. We need at least one winger who actually has some ability to break in to space and take the game on with line breaking and kicking. Or some overhead ability.

Honestly the forward line worked for 3/4’s. JJ subbed off his job on Stewart was a disaster. It put Smith on to Stewart which didn’t work and simultaneously took Smith away from finding some space and the ball Midfield then gave up a few clearances to start the last, and forward line blew big chances in the worst possible way.

Welcome to the club!!! Wasn’t a hard challenge when he was a free agent last year. Don’t forget he has value, he can butcher the ball in 3 different positions! Lamb’s real challenge: - a key forward - 2 wings - a midfielder with pace - a mid/forward who can kick

Carbon copy of the Port game. Should be miles behind early. Get a lead. Butcher it with nonsense in the last quarter

Poor Grundy has a habit of refusing to kick only to give it to a worse kick. Grundy isn’t a bad kick! The instruction for him to handball has to be changed

JVR burns easy handballs, I know it’s a team wide issue but they need to fix that

He was injured THEN he went to full forward and dominated! I’m not entirely convinced just yet but he’s having a go

Probably having a break like every other side that has lost coming off the bye. Only ours was shorter!

Watch the replay and tell me how he out marks 198cm Mark Blicavs at full stretch on a ball that was well over his head. Best he could’ve done was halve it with more contact, net result the same.

Rivers called for it mostly stationary and Gus hit it out in front for Blicavs to intercept. Rivers never had a chance. Had Rivers gone harder he’s still not 200cm, the ball still would’ve been out of reach, Blicavs spoils anyway. Theres a fundamental game plan issue that players don’t move in and out of space in a coordinated effort to get the ball on the move. But if you are going to kick in to the corridor it has to be low and flat and Gus simply doesn’t have that kick.

Ahh yes Brayshaw the Butcher, it’s definitely your role in the team to hit stationary targets in the middle of the ground

Fundamentally broken game plan still broken. Glad you all enjoyed Kings Birthday, this team is a mess

I'm doubtful of his long term viability but they just can't drop Joel Smith this week after his performance last game. We're crying out for someone in the forward line who can lead up at the ball, hit the contest and provide some tackle pressure. We've tried a stack of options. And Smith has been on the list for years waiting for a sustained go in the side too. That might be unfair on Tomlinson, or it might mean Petty has a week in the 2's, but they are the options to me. I certainly prefer Petty and it's up to the footy department to make sure he's 100% ready to go.

If Joel Smith can prove semi reliable and back up his performance on KB'day (ideally with some better goal kicking) then we might settle it down. If Smith isn't the right guy for the job and Petty has to go forward then we'll try to settle that and probably give Tommo a longer run in the side down back. But it's just hard to be fully settled until we've had a look at various imperfect options. It's a lot of responsibility to put on a kid but JVR hopefully with some help from Gawn, Fritsch and the smalls probably has to keep growing as a player and be the consistent presence forward.

So who's the match up if not Hawkins? Cameron would run rings around him. Rohan could jog away from him on a lead. Maybe Ollie Henry but Lever has to play on someone and we aren't going to play 4 talls. Tomlinson's 2 good games this year have been on Lobb and Cox. That's the right match up for him. I don't necessarily love the gamble of bringing in an underdone Petty, but if the coaches think he's right then he's far more mobile than Tomlinson

I think we need to get our heads around the possibility that Petty won’t have a set role for the year, the backline personnel and structure will change, Hibbo won’t play every week and that Tomlinson and Smith might be in and out of the side even if they’ve played well. In 2021 our defensive pressure and backline set up was amazing and we could roll with the same backline all year. Now teams are moving it quicker and targeting the gaps, we have to pick the right match ups. Same for up forward where Jackson’s mobility pretty much gave us another pressure forward and Brown and McDonald could play their positions. That’s gone and we’re scrambling to create the best forward mix.