DeeSpencer

He’s played more than 30% in recent weeks, and he’s the best contested mark as a ruck, taking on opposition rucks and dropping behind the ball. Marking as a forward - and the leading patterns required - is a completely different skill set.

Meek’s big and combative in ruck contests, and has good athleticism for a big ruck. Obviously not Jacko level but he contribute on the deck. Marking/kicking not his strong suit so far at afl level. But without a long term starting chance it’s hard to know how that will develop. If we’re convinced by Gawn forward then he’s a realistic opportunity as a cheap alternative to Grundy. If we think Gawn will ruck at least 50% then I don’t know how Meek gets convinced to come to us, apart from the obvious that he’s better off here than Freo behind Darcy and Jacko. If I’m Meek I’m taking the Eagles offer and taking over from Nic Nat. But as long as the price isn’t over the top for a back up I’m definitely interested.

Stocker’s a lovely kick of the footy. He’d be the best kick in our midfield (which isn’t hard) The issue is he can’t play midfield because he can’t run. He’s an ok defender but not quick enough for a rebounder and not a natural lockdown player. I don’t mean to be harsh but lack of fitness (especially for a midfielder) + mental health issues is a giant red flag combination. If he can’t develop his tank to midfield standards and he doesn’t have AFL level commitment to do so (which is fine, 99.9% of us don’t), then how does he suddenly get fit? The talent is there but a psych eval and a Burgo style intervention would be needed for me to be interested.

Not even Wayne Carey’s pick 1 for Frost, Bugg and Tyson was that crazy. Closer to pick 1 in the rookie draft than the main draft.

Bedford has improved but he’s still tracking as depth. Chandler very much depth, lacks an stand out traits. Laurie is very much a midfielder/high half forward. Definitely time for another swing in the draft. Probably be wise to move one of Bedford or Chandler to open a list spot too rather than keep too many one dimensional smalls.

Jackson will be the best ruck of the next decade. Shame he’s going, but he won us a flag. Young would’ve been a massive investment in to a backline that already had May, Salem and Lever. Rivers with a second rounder was much better value to add to the backline. Young has a nice boot and is a good size but he’s not that special.

The only 3rd tall forward who excites me is Gunston because of his class. Henry or Georgiades, no thanks. We have Fritsch. And hopefully we have T Mc to then hand over to JVR over the next 2 years. To fill 1 or 2 spots as mobile running talls. It’s second ruck and a genuine marking tall that we need. I suggest we shop at the bargain basement bin for at least one useful tall forward but history says you need a lot of luck for a big gun to come to you. Magically summoning one of the 8 or so elite talls in this league is wishful thinking (unless you’re Geelong, Richmond or Sydney).

McKay will likely either stay at Carlton for 1m a season or go to a club with a huge stack of cap space like North/Ess for 1.5m per. Players rarely make lateral moves from clubs on the verge of success just for the sake of it. Especially not big clubs. We’d need Carlton to crumple next year and none of the other top sides to have cap space. And I’d bet Sydney, Coll, Geel would all find 7 figures behind the couch. He’d probably do what most gun key forwards fleeing the spotlight have done in the last 30 years and go to Sydney. There’s 3 types of player we should target 1. Go home factor 2. Opportunity to play more senior games 3. Success - consistently losing sides or veterans pushed out of rebuilds Langdon, Lever, May, Ben Brown, almost all our recruits have ticked at least one of those boxes. The only ones who made somewhat sideways moves were Melk and Hibbo due to the coaches relationship with them and the saga.

We also ran and used the ball very well against Brisbane, where as we played on a 5 day break at the Geelong half ground with no space and not much dare. I’d be reluctant to pick him in a final but our midfield really doesn’t need more Dunstan and they’re the only likely options to replace Tracc, which without knowing the full details I still think will be required.

He isn’t, if we’re struggling and they make him try to win and use the ball under pressure. He’s still shaky doing that at Casey But defensively he’s very good and we could use Pickett or Spargo deeper and put Toby in the unrewarded running spot. As poor as he was against Geelong, he was pretty good v Brisbane I think.

I don’t like it for the future but for this year I really think it’s the best we’ve got without Tom McDonald. Jackson gives us much needed energy at the first bounce and we’ve had some high quality centre clearances with him in there. BBB then starts on the bench which immediately cuts down his game plan. Remember that all 3 of Brown, Jackson and Gawn are carrying injuries to some extent and the only alternative or help available is a kid. Gawn and BBB alternating at CHF has allowed us to halve contests and not get intercepted easily at half back. Whilst Melk deep has dragged another tall defender away. Melk and Fritsch have both had plenty of chances to kick winning scores every week since we’ve gone to this change up. Max in the ruck and mobile key forwards certainly the way to go in the future though.

Jackson’s the type of dynamic flair player we need, he’s just super young and carrying an injury. He could be coached to do a lot more as a forward or mid, not to mention how incredible he will be when given a permanent ruck spot. He’s been a dynamic driving force in our wins v Bris and Freo late this year, and in a grand final! If we replace him with Grundy that’s a big step back in getting skill and athleticism in to the list. 2 firsts is an opportunity. But our so called great trading success was going hard for Oliver and moving a pick forward a year for Pickett. Weid was a fail. Jury is still out on the Bowey, Laurie move and on moving up for JVR. In all those deals teams were betting we wouldn’t succeed and we bet on ourselves, which was a lot easier when we had plenty of improvement left. That’s harder now teams won’t bet against us when trading picks. Agree on the need to rejig the list and game plan. Wish we could do it without losing Jacko and/or by bringing in an athletic forward/ruck rather than Grundy.

Key forwards aren’t good, that’s clear as day, but it’s the lack of uncontested kick/mark game and spread that’s our biggest weakness. You can’t just play down one wing at a time. When the time comes to switch and open up the ground you have to use it. Even more so when you lack key forwards. We need the backline fitter and encouraged to run and use the ball. And we need the midfield fitter, faster and more skilled.

Strong argument. Thanks for the contribution

May’s great. When Salem and Lever are playing as elite players it’s an elite backline. This year they’ve both been either absent or ok at best. Petty’s very good but he offers so little in attack despite having the skills and smarts to do so, and whilst he’s good he stills gives us goals most weeks (ie he’s not May). Hibberd, Hunt, Rivers all good contributors but again, they’re ok defensively and not great on the rebound. Defensively as a group it’s been mostly A grade. Offensively C+ at best with no run, no rebound, no corridor attack, no initiative. For most of this year it’s been a very good (but not great) backline protected by a Ross Lyon style game plan. And despite that we still cough up 91 points from 50 inside 50’s last night.

Dunstan or Bedford for Petracca. Not sure which but you can’t take injured players in to finals. We also have to be good enough to win regardless then regain him for the prelim. If we throw him in underdone he’ll be stuffed for the prelim.

Gawn was awful. We concede a dumb goal and he follows it up with a turnover trying to hit short targets. He’s the king of adding negative momentum. There’s no value attacking value in his contested marks. Lever stinks. Petracca can’t run (not his fault) Viney was uncharacteristically fumbly early. Salem is half fit. Brayshaw is a bottom 6 player so I can’t mention him! It’s everyone, but the drop off from many of the stars is a big factor.

Our backline is seriously overrated. May is a gun. But he took chances with his disposal early before going to his shell. Petty is a very solid number 2 defender but he isn't encouraged to use his attacking game. Lever is a good interceptor but Sydney know to put speed on to him and get him when the ball gets to ground, another who does nothing in attack and has surely been carrying injuries all year. Salem's half fit. Hibberd half retired. Rivers really just finding his way and he has great moments in congestion and in the contest but can be sloppy defensively and doesn't quick kick it well enough, isn't encouraged to run either. Hunt is Hunt. 2 great rucks is nice but Gawn really hasn't been great this year and Jackson is a kid and not at full fitness IMO. Oliver, Petracca and Viney when on are sensational, but Oliver can't do it himself, Petracca is having to play forward and isn't right. Langdon is a great outside runner but one dimensional. Harmes had a few Harmes moments but was good on the wing I thought but he'll always be a bit limited in that role. He should be on ball but Brayshaw is back on ball because we wanted his run and uncontested disposals. The problem with wanting Brayshaw's uncontested disposals is you're asking for a bunch of ordinary ball use. Sparrow's a useful worker but nothing special. It's only a great midfield when you take kicking out of the game and go with bludgeon ball all the time. We caught teams out with that in 2021 but eventually they catch on. Sydney has us easily covered with flankers and outside mids. The class of Florent, Blakey, Lloyd, Papley, Heeney, Hayward, Gulden, McInenery, even Stephens at times is more than we can match. When the game shifted from our style of tussle to a more open moving style the Swans superior depth of talent was always going to shine.

I understand the frustration with Nibbler but whoever plays at half forward in this side is going to make a heap of mistakes given the game plan involves so much half forward congestion. We’ve seen Harmes, Sparrow, Petracca all make the same stuff ups in that role. The backline ball movement is so slow and predicted that all roads lead to half forward crunch. Spargo managed to navigate some of it early. But it’s really hard going. Until we take the game on from half back, switch the ball, get the midfield running and spreading every half forward is on a hiding to nothing.

Bedford and Dunstan had a good run and didn’t look like anything but VFL players. Bedford’s closing the gap but not quick enough. Chandler hasn’t had a go, but if anything he’s looking more and more like a Casey player by the game down there. Tries to break too many tackles, inconsistent defensive efforts, lacks speed. Weideman, Tomlinson, Mitch Brown, Baker - all no. JVR is a kid and can’t beat the door down. He knocks on the door, but there’s never been any point giving him a game this year. As it currently sits there’s 25 afl quality listed players on our list. Tonight’s 22, Bowey and the injured T Mc and JJ. Lack of turnover of the list and the lack of layers in the game plan are both bigger issues than the selection.

Not sure what Mark Jamar has to do with anything, but the Dogs absolutely knew they were getting Jamarra and so were always trading pick 14 for a bunch of later picks. The same scenario has happened with multiple father sons and academy players for years now. Look at last year, the Dogs gave up their first pick (which came to us eventually) for a bunch of seconds and thirds: Western Bulldogs In: 23, 44, 45 Out: 17, 75 The reality is they got Treloar for next to nothing. That’s what happens when the club bringing in a player has all the leverage. Collingwood want Grundy out for McStay and a midfielder (latest rumoured name is Mitchell). They are in no position to ask for the full price, even with paying a chunk of his salary. The most the pies could demand is an early second, and the reality is they’d probably settle for whatever it takes to get Mitchell in - a late second at best. If we go down the path of getting him it really shouldn’t be part of a deal for Jackson.

Would you to make such a compelling and early offer that puts us ahead of 16 other teams and the good likelihood that he stays at Carlton? Plus be willing to wait until 2024. He’s a big talent but I wouldn’t be that level of chips in. Not when we’ll need useful solutions for next year.

I can’t see Carlton giving up TDK this year. They’ll hope to either play the 2 rucks or give him a chance to win the starting job next year. If that doesn’t happen he’ll become a target but that only helps us if we don’t go for a big target this year and wait to get him

Apart from Bruce at a pinch none of those Dogs talls can second ruck (would be a huge risk using Darcy in that role next year). Darcy is also likely to play down back. They’ll turn their talls from a weakness to a strength by adding multiple pieces. Lobb’s just a piece too, not a huge cost. Jackson clearly isn’t keen on West Coast. He’s not leaving us in contention for a 2 win side. Reason 1 for Freo getting Jackson: 2 rucks who can both hold their own forward and play the ruck role differently is a huge advantage. Takes a lot of pressure off the key forwards. Reason 2: Darcy is a free agent at the end of 2024 and I reckon Freo know he’s either going to cost a fortune and/or head home then. They have the cap space and trade resources now to lock Jackson in and can then make a call on Darcy in 2 years time.

Would be a great idea in 1985.