DeeSpencer

Conca training with the WA lads makes a lot more sense all of a sudden. He was doing hill sprints with them the other day. Good character guy who has the ability to provide some on field education at training and possibly at Casey, then seems to be doing the right stuff to do his off field role. Byrnes might’ve been a victim of the footy department cap squeeze and Conca seems a sensible replacement.

I’ll admit I’m harsh on him, he’s a proven competitor at AFL level, it’s just a matter of efficiency and role. Even a positive outlook probably has him covering one of our big 3 mids more than taking a rotation spot. I don’t see any versatility to play forward or wing. Then again If he gets the Choco treatment on his kicking and some increased fitness he could be a fairly different proposition.

Proven at AFL standard: - JJ, Hunt, Tomlinson Can cover a role: - Dunstan, Weid, M. Brown, Daw, Melksham, Bedford, Chandler, Baker, J. Smith Kids: Laurie, Rosman, Turner, D. Smith, JVR, Howes, Woey, McVee, AMW The guys in bold are the ones I think have a real chance to push their case in 2022 as genuine depth. If they break in to the side they might be able to hold a spot for weeks on end rather than just getting a look in on a short term basis. That's the kind of players we need to get to a squad of 30+ to cover a reasonable number of injuries. I'm harsh on Dunstan, he's probably not that far off but I'd like to see him in our system. Weid's 2020 was very close to establishing himself. Chandler has talent if he can find a niche. Just like the footy department I can't give up on Joel Smith. Then from the young guys I expect Laurie to push his case strongly at Casey if he gets a consistent run at it. Deakyn Smith has strong lockdown defensive traits if he can make another big leap over summer improving his ball use and physical traits he might surprise.

I do find it interesting most teams fill their lists rather than bringing a number of options in during summer and having a closer look at them. Deakyn Smith seemed almost a happy accident last year. There was no buzz about him training on, it just seemed like the right thing to do with the academy. And he thrived once he trained with the group. It would’ve been a lot with WA border rules to ask young Juddy to come over without a contract and I sense JT and co rate him rather highly for a rookie. But unless there’s standout rookies and your list is really deep I’d favour trialling multiple players.

Ruck and back up ruck give us a huge advantage in those positions over even some great midfields. And obviously Petracca and Oliver are a fantastic 1-2 punch with Viney at his best on par with many of the great teams 3rd or 4th option. But I think we fall away with the wingers and rotation mids. Probably missing out on the great winger and super classy half forward. That's not to say that Langdon, Gus, Harmes, Sparrow aren't all very good players. Brisbane had Lappin on a wing and Aker mid/forward as well as Black and Voss. Their 3rd/4th on baller might not have been as good as Viney but they had an advantage otherwise. The Cats had Bartel on a wing and Stevie J and Chapman on half forward flanks. They are the absolute benchmark for midfield depth. James Kelly and Corey Enright played as half backs given they were so deep. We're probably 1 or even 2 more really classy players short

Gawn is clearly a great of the club and one of the best rucks of the decade. At the same time he’s certainly an enigma. I don’t always agree with his leadership style. If he mentions private schools or the smoking story one more time I might lose the plot. But I can’t deny the results of a captain who is himself and encourages the playing group to do the same. On field he is a bit of a flopper at times but also gets very little from the umps. He should lead the league in free kicks. His intercept marking is just phenomenal. Only McGovern is in the same league and it’s a bit easier at half back than covering the full ground. His work rate is incredible, both covering space and to pressure, chase and tackle in tighter against mids 30cm shorter than him. Apart from premiership captain and a prelim for the ages it will be his marking and tireless effort that defines his greatness. His centre bounce ruck work suffers because he doesn’t jump. That’s where the Jacko 1-2 punch is most helpful to Max. We completely change our mix when they swap. And yeah - he does have the habit of playing mediocre games against young rucks he hasn’t faced much. I think that shows he’s such a scholar and does so much homework against rivals the trickiest thing for him is when he gets someone with limited exposure. Anyway, he’s a legend who’s done it all his own way with quirks and brilliance. No doubt he gets opposition supporters feeling all kinds of ways watching him.

Last season the Denver Broncos lost all their QB’s and were forced to play a receiver at quarterback. Other teams have lost most of a position group and played. I think the AFL will say as long as you’ve got 22 fit players then you play. But the contact tracing and state rules will be the hurdles there. I doubt every state will be happy with negative tests if the team appears to be in an outbreak. I think there were games in 2019 when we were without all or most of May, Lever, Jetta, Hibbo and Lewis, pretty much the first choice backline of 2019.

I think it’s fair to have a crack at them but round 7, Saturday, 4:35. Early in the season and a decent time slot that’s family friendly but after junior sport. If they’re 3-4 or even a competitive 2-5 with a new coach they’ll turn up. Especially if it’s one of their Tassie replacement games.

I'm pretty sure the stadium deals were reworked to be much better for clubs but if we break even in all games - assuming the Freo one gets to 25k or so - then that's a big step forward compared with routinely losing money. Then there's significant opportunities in many of the other games, the Dogs, Hawks and Bombers should all be big. Ok, they don't make mega bucks like 70k+ does but 50k crowds are big earners. Given the significant limitations of not hosting ANZAC and QB'day I think it's about the best we can do for crowds. The only change would be maybe moving the Carlton game earlier in the season but the trade off there is you move a low drawing game later. 4 of 10 MCG games v interstate sides matches with the reality that 8 of 17 of our opponents are interstate. Syd and Brisbane as part of the 4 is a big result commercially compared with say Gold Coast and Port (at the G). If the sponsorship deals aren't linked to prime time exposure then someone is doing something wrong. It's TV time, photos in the paper, social media reach. The first game of the season alone is worth a truckload in exposure. Worst case scenario if we're locked in to contracts without significant performance bonuses we can negotiate better deals with whoever comes on board next and can always sign up a lot more lower tier sponsors. Zurich extended in June last year. I'm sure Pert and co would've made sure they weren't getting the deal they got for previous seasons for 2022. I'm not sure if Jaguar are on board for next year yet but whoever is the 2nd major sponsor is getting a huge amount of exposure.

Given we were locked in to away games against Richmond and the Pies it's a great commercial draw. - First game of the season, that's huge. - 4 or 5 of the first 6 on free to air prime time - Essendon and Hawthorn as well as the grand final rematch in 3 of our first 4 home games = 3 big money spinners, all should go clear of 50k. - Coll and Carl for reliable big crowds at the back end of the season - Only 2 low drawing home games for the entire year in GWS and Freo, and the Giants game is locked in round 5 on a Sat night. Our sponsors get more exposure than they ever would've and that's without the end of the season tv fixture which we will figure in prominently if we are top 4. Our crowds - we can just about lock in 9 of 10 MCG home crowds over 30k I reckon if the GWS turn out is good. And there's got to be a strong chance we can go 6 of 10 over 40k given they are all against Vic teams and some big drawing ones at that. Most years our MCG crowds probably produce very little revenue apart from the blockbusters. This year we've got a chance to bank really good cheques in almost all games and then know we've got the 2 big blockbusters to come in 2023.

Anzac eve locks us in to a Sat-Sun stretch between rounds 5-7. Also makes it 4 vs 6 prime time games as well, which looks more even. Given we are hosting rounds 1 and 3 and are involved in the big marquee games I reckon that’s fair enough. This looks about as big of a commercial fixture as we could get in a year we don’t host Anzac Eve and QBday.

6 of our 10 MCG games are against Vic clubs and 2 more against Sydney and Brisbane who draw a crowd. Commercially that means a lot of big home games. I’d love to just play the bunny interstate teams at the G and rack up wins but apart from the financial outcome that doesn’t sharpen us up like big games with big crowds. I’m not too worried about where we play our away games. A Richmond or Collingwood style 16 games at the G sure would be nice but that’s just not realistic for us.

Because it’s our turn? After years of nothing McGuire got worried about us and demanded splitting Queens Birthday matching the same year we’re away to Richmond. We seem to get 2 games a year against the Pies semi regularly though, so it’s up to us to make round 21 a big game.

Seems that way but often the new guys start off in jumpers that fit them based on their previous owners before the new seasons training gear arrives. Would be surprised if Woey isn’t in the 22.

I probably got that wrong and it’s probably more nasty, what I really meant is at least it’s more game focussed. A fair bit must come down to the break between them as well. The level of pain might depend on if it’s 2 or 10+ minutes between each run. We also don’t know what the players are asked to do. Is it go as hard as possible on each one, or is it run to an individually targeted time on the first one and see if they can match it 3 more times.

It was 27 degrees in Perth on grand final. Cooler by the bounce but still warm. I was at a Richmond gws prelim a few years ago that was 30 degrees at the bounce. Preseason and regular season March games are routinely that warm. The players also run 12-16km in games and match that workload in training sessions. The Clarko ‘if you can’t kick you can’t play’ axiom isn’t true. It’s ‘if you can’t run you can’t play’ AFL footy. I don’t know how they design a fitness program for players without giving them a good test. 4 x 1km seems nasty as can be but it’s got to be better than the old 3km. I think it’s fair to say it’s been unseasonably cold lately in Melbourne and very hot yesterday. They could’ve thought about managing that a little. But they’re about to embark on 3 months of gruelling summer training and potentially even head north to QLD to hunt hot conditions.

The ‘MCG sized oval’ that isn’t has temp fencing around it. Hopefully that’s a reasonably quick job to get it up to size. Casey aka premiership HQ has been great but I don’t think we should overdo our welcome with the players. They soft balled him and didn’t ask why Wednesday night is worth it. It has to be well in to 6 figures as a result for the club to sell out the families and working people who can’t go.

He’s doing a lot of training with his brother and Trey Ruscoe

I'm paraphrasing but I'm pretty sure in the Last Dance, Michael Jordan describes his physical peak in the late 80's when he was mid 20's but his mental peak didn't come until the 90's and only got stronger through that period of winning championships. He won his first championship at 28 and I think that's about the time when physical ability and mental capacity in both understanding your own game and team work combine. But it's different for all players and particular sports. I think there's a lot of AFL footballers who excel at about 23-27 and after that probably start to lose a bit of step given the physical nature and the extreme athletic demands. Repeat injuries can cause a toll too. Other players who rely more on skills and smarts and have the appetite for slowly but steadily improving sections of their game can get stronger and stronger through their 20's and even in to their 30's.

No goal posts so I’d have used some of Jeff White’s temporary ones and set them up super wide to make it easier! Could’ve put a couple of past players in doggies jumpers!

The club did a fantastic job. Put a fair bit of time and effort (and cash) in and surely got rewarded. Will get a heap of publicity. I would’ve pushed the envelope and got a couple of players to recreate a couple of goals just for fun but otherwise it was perfect.

The grand final rematch was a good idea for us but a bad idea for 7, who would prefer to save that game until later in the season. I can see why they’ve countered. Honestly I’d prefer we now cave on the idea. But maybe we need the cash? It would be a big money spinner in terms of sponsor dollars. Wednesday night works for me but I can see it wouldn’t for so many.

Overall I think our biggest weakness is still the trade off from our biggest strength. We play so direct and crash and bash that we waste a lot of opportunities to use run and skill and generate easier ball movement and scores. The positive of that is we’re used to finals type footy and eventually there came moments in each finals where we broke the opposition and strung together skilful passages and got easy goals. At its worse it shows up in the dysfunctional forward entries that plagued us all for years and were prevalent for a lot of the year. A fully healthy BBB late in the year straightened us up improving the forward line but also make a lot of bad entries look good or halved. Jason Taylor keeps drafting wingers and skilled back flankers - even with a rookie in Juddy. I’m sure the plan is to kick the ball from the back half more, use Langers and other runners and get it out to more skilful half forwards like Pickett, Spargo even Laurie. If we can keep plan A game strong whilst adding more run and skill to do it a bit easier that’s how you stay ahead of the comp.

I kind of think that was a little overplayed because our talls dominated so much the oppositions best chance was on the deck.

That was my initial point. When you’re bad you’ve got more options to bring players in. If we stay at the pointy end of the ladder - which I sure hope we do - we’ll have less ways to bring guys in unless we push important players out. To elongate our flag window it would be handy if Howes because a home grown outside runner rather than having to trade for that need.