DeeSpencer

I’d see it as a triple swap from the current set up: 1. Gunston replaces Melksham, mixes between a deep forward and lead up role 2. Gawn/Grundy or other ruck replaces Jackson and becomes the primary long down the line target, giving us a more consistent contest than Jacko does 3. With a stronger but less mobile ruck presence we no longer have the need or mobility for Brown, so his CHF role reverts to T Mc until JVR is ready. Fritsch stays mostly as is, a 4th tall full forward, but takes time up the ground to allow Gunston some goals. At the same time Bowey, Laurie and Howes push for spots as skilled runners in a more spread out game plan. Plan A stays the same, but we get the complimentary ball use that worked so well last year. If we’re all in for the next 2 years then Gunston and Grundy make sense. The coaches will patch together combinations with T Mc, Gawn, Brown and JVR. The downside is their salaries will restrict the ability to find longer term solutions.

Is there a different Leon Cameron? By all reports an absolute gentleman. If anything he probably bought about his own downfall giving the players too much leg rope at the giants. Of course there were times he lost it as his job was slipping away but he’s a mild mannered family man. I’ve never been a fan of his tactics but he’d be an excellent skills and development coach.

May gambled off McKay because he read the kick that went to Curnow as going long and saw a chance to intercept. It was a brilliant Cripps kick from awful midfield defending that beat Petty. Once Curnow had the ball he would’ve had McKay 1 on 1 with massive amounts of space anyway, May or Petty would’ve been just about stuffed regardless. May gambled off McKay and got the gamble right about 5 times that led to easy intercept possessions. The one time he gambled incorrectly looked a lot worse than it was. Curnow does kick some crazy snaps but of his 4 behinds I think, 1 was a pass that sailed 60 and never threatened, 1 was a down field free, 2 were low percentage shots well defended. May is a power athlete so he took the powerful McKay. Curnow has great athleticism but he’s more of the endurance athlete and Petty matches up well there. May has the strength to work McKay off the drop, Petty has the height to negate Curnow’s leap. In general Petty gave up 1 goal, May gave up 2. You’d take that every day of the week.

They tagged Oliver with Setterfield and then used Docherty as their 3rd mid. Whilst Petracca was relegated to our 4th mid due to his awful defensive running and our desire for more forward line talent. Walsh was used the same way for them but to open space. With Oliver heavily restricted and undoing most of his good work with poor discipline it became a midfield game of Cripps v Gus and Docherty v Viney/Sparrow. Just breaking even in that situation isn’t a surprise. And to make it worse Gus kicked it like he was playing for Carlton. We don’t ever switch or run the ball out the fat side which means we get no benefit from Salem, Hunt and Rivers being on top. We rarely used Langdon or JJ in space with quick movement and we don’t get much from Pickett, Spargo, ANB or the medium forwards ability to spread and kick the ball either.

Willing to agree to disagree on May. There’s definitely times where the risk/reward of him playing up contact just isn’t worth it. And he doesn’t want a reputation. But he’s hardly Joe Daniher out there. Gawn I very much disagree. He’s the most under rewarded player in the comp. The games best pack mark and gets treated like crap. Look at the 2:40 mark here. Pitten Mitten has him in a full arm lock. How’s Gawn meant to jump or use more than 1 arm in that situation? He’s well within his rights to highlight that awful contact. Yet alone the blocking he cops. And a whole lot of high contact too. The idea that the guy playing the ball fairly is the bad guy and the opponent wildly breaking the rule shouldn’t be punished is a very strange afl phenomenon

Maybe below par, I thought really about par, but definitely not very very poor.

Nah the defenders all set up and it was a deliberate snap. He wanted it to go longer and not right to Motlop but it was a really smart play

Harmes wasn’t good and Brown wasn’t bad. That’s just not true

It’s crap but we aren’t dropping him for the Lions unless he’s further injured. He had the guts and smarts to kick to the corridor to set up the winning goal though, so it’s not all bad

Running, sharing the ball and intensity at the contest to win the ball and to force errors from the opposition is the key to our best football. Tracc and Clarry have been waiting for finals all year I think. Whether they’ve got another gear or not we’ll soon find out. Otherwise we drafted Laurie, Bowey, Howes and JVR all for a reason and they’ll get their chances in coming years. Everyone knows what the team needs, the kids just can’t get a game over 19 premiership players even if our style and skills are a bit off

Not sure where you think I said we didn’t need to improve those things? My replies are all in the suggestions to change the forwards. Given this is the changes thread. Our midfield and half backs are responsible for those issues as much as the forwards. We’ve tried to improve all 3 lines with the change of Hunt in, Brayshaw on ball, Petracca forward. It’s helped marginally. Harmes didn’t look like the answer from his Casey form today. Not sure we’ve got anyone who is the answer.

Efficiency and pressure both poor, but pure scoring ok. The method of getting it in and how predictable it is to defend are both things we can massively upgrade with form, fitness, focus. The forward personnel I really don’t think we can do much about.

McDonald chased and covered the ground far better than Brown and Weid do. If Weid is going to play as a lead up CHF he needs afl abilities to do so. If he’s going to be stand and deliver under high balls we’ve all see enough of that this year. Our first halves in the 5 games since Melk has come in have produced scoring. And in total it’s been 83, 100, 85, 89, 79. All could’ve been winning scores. The lack of efficiency is partly the leading patterns, partly Brown and the rucks being no good, a good chunk due to our midfield and backline lack of skills and change of direction and partly due to Melk being 187cm not 195. Weid in only fixes 1 of those issues and hurts all the rest.

Spargo played all of 5 minutes on the wing because Brayshaw was needed on Cripps. Sure, give me Bowey for those 5 minutes. For the rest of the game Spargo, Bedford and Chandler are all ahead of a massive dice role on Bowey. Spargo was good against Freo, very good against Port. He’s had a couple of tough weeks against good sides in really tough conditions, that’s the life of a small forward.

Bowey’s never played half forward flank at afl level. The idea of just dropping him in to a new position with no development in it really doesn’t make sense. He won’t know the structures, he won’t make space for team mates. If the coaches had any desire to try Bowey at half forward they would’ve played him there today.

We would then have 2 non chasing talls and often a ruck. Plus Weid was all big body work on small opponents today. At afl level he doesn’t have the tank, speed or clunking hands to get out on the lead at CHF. He’d be a sitting duck for a good key defender. He doesn’t kick it well enough to be a weapon with the ball either. Not sure why we have such desire to change the Brown, Melk, Fritsch and rucks combo. Scoring really hasn’t been the problem since Melk came in to the side.

Weid’s first half was really ordinary, so many times caught out of position. His second half at chf, hitting up at the ball and using his frame to protect the ball was very good. Buntine was probably best on at half time then faded out. Bowey maybe the best 4 quarter player. Howes and Laurie both showed they are a class above, they just need to work on their deficiencies and physically develop

Deak Smith played a far better second half since he ditched the long sleeves

He had far more time and space but Harmes took the simple option, got it to JVR who crashed 2 in the pack and created the space for Steele to finish.

Absolutely grim defensive work starting with Mitch Brown not manning the man gifts Carlton a goal Casey a risk of thinking the wind will do it for them

Credit to Oskar Baker who has looked at Harmes’ failed attempts to break tackles and decided he can do the same with equally awful results

Weid finally took a mark and led to a great scoring chance that Steele smacked out of bounds. Harmes continues to think he’s Dusty with increasingly diminishing returns. JVR can’t hold a mark either but his attack at the contest has been first class. Laurie gets the benefit and converts. Casey in to the diagonal breeze this quarter

Umpires rob us a goal from sheer panic. Maybe evens up the Smith one from the first quarter

Harmes and Dunstan can’t get any separation at the clearances. Laurie (stuck forward) and White should be given the hit outs.

If you ever want to a game that illustrates: a) the value of small forwards b) the reason not to pack a team with ordinary talls c) Why Harmes is in the 2’s then this is it