DeeSpencer

Nope, don’t care. The NGA’s are a rort. JUH got developed by the Oakleigh Chargers and Scotch. Mac played junior footy and has been part of the Stingrays program. Ive only ever seen one photo of him at a Dees academy session. There’s very little else out there about any impact the Dees have had with him. The idea that we’ve been pouring huge resources in to him just doesn’t seem true at all.

Not really sure where I sit on Sparrow. I think his kicking and decision making still needs plenty of work. Even choices that paid off in the grand final weren't always the best ones IMO. The low percentage long goal off a step could've been a quick kick to an open Ben Brown 35 out. And the square up kick to Brown early in the last came after a wide open Spargo on a short lead. But at the same time he often doesn't rush and has the ability to create space for himself and he executed the choices he did make to perfection in the grand final. And his defensive work rate and physical impact is always really strong. The AFL app has an 'average speed in defence' metric and he's usually right at the top of that. So he motors to defend. Mids who can genuinely contribute across half forward and rotate on ball are super valuable and important too. So I've got a lot of confidence in his ability to play a role. I just don't have any conviction one way or another on whether he'll keep improving to become a top line midfielder or not.

Polec is still owed decent money for 2 years at North. If a team wanted him he would've been traded, with North paying a decent chunk of his wage. If he really was a free rookie I might consider it. But he's going in the rookie draft with a 2 year 500k contract to still be paid. The window to target Polec was a month ago. Clearly no club was interested. North moving him on to their rookie list is just managing list spots.

Achieved its desired outcome of keeping the ball in play more and moving end to end. Didn't achieve its desire to up scoring. Didn't make the Geelong chip around game the predominant game style which is great. Did annoy Richmond, also great. Needs 1 obvious change: 1. On any set shot - signaled by the player taking some/all of their 30 seconds rather than the usual 8 or so seconds, the man on the mark is allowed to move laterally to man the mark. Needs a couple of tidy ups: a) Umps can't abandon the need to pay 50 by players clearly setting the mark well over the actual spot. Happens a lot now and they are told to stand or given the chance to move back 2-3 metres. If it's a clear infringement of manning the mark the 50 has to still be paid. b) umps need to punish attacking players who don't go back over the mark by calling play on right away if it's deliberate/reckless or stopping play to make sure they go back over their line. This will result in messy games, especially early in the year, but the attacking player has to take responsibility to kick over the mark. If the attacking player goes backwards a long way off the mark they then can run in straight right by the man on the mark without a plan on call, that's where it all looks farcical.

I’m interested to see if he can become a good kick on both sides of his body. It’s incredibly rare these days. I think it’s the great untapped weapon of opening the game up. Goody trained it a fair bit when he first took over but it hasn’t really come in to our game days. Melksham the only one who has regular success on his non preferred. Brayshaw hasn’t hit a target on his left in 4 years.

Assuming they make it worthwhile this will draw tens of thousands. No need to charge members who paid for 2 years for little return, and probably no chance to get a photo with the cup. But to hear from coaches and players, sing the song, watch either the full game or selected highlights, it should be great.

Not sure about that, but I reckon there's a way if Choco is keen to scale his role back to purely hands on with the players in skill acquisition drills at training that he could do for years and years to come. He could be 80 and if he's still in good health teaching guys how to kick properly, how to handball and how not to fumble.

It's not going to win the Pulitzer prize but I think a bit of draft speculation around the time of the draft is fine. Haselby would have strong Freo connections and be trying to get a read on who they like. GWS loved Luke Jackson, hardly a surprise they'd be keen on Mac and they are stocked with A grade mids, they can easily justify moving around the draft board by trading back or moving their 2nd pick up. Swapping back with Hawthorn and Adelaide both make a lot of sense. Saying Brander is coming in for the same role as Mac is a bit like saying why did Melbourne draft Luke Jackson in 2019 when we bought in Mitch Brown. There's a bit difference between versatile depth talls and a hyper athletic extra midfielder ruck prospect.

I don't love that tape at all. Seems to rush a lot of his disposals and doesn't play with any power, he doesn't use his speed to take on tacklers and doesn't hold the ball to release runners. A couple of good quick handballs but a couple of panicked turnover ones too. More of a Setterfield or Cale Morton type from that viewing. At that size and athleticism there's plenty to work with but there's also a lot of work to do!

A little steadying with the hands before the knees go firmly on the numbers which pushes Bowey forward as JJ elevates fairly acutely upwards. That's a great mark. If you want that as a free kick I think you're out to ruin one of the great parts of the game. The first 2 marks in this Robbo highlights video do similar. No way would I want these paid as in the back.

Not sure why you'd be disappointed at Collingwood getting the raw end of the deal, was great umpiring! Rioli had the right to contest with his opponent though in case the ball got over the back and Maynard sold the push out a lot. Wasn't a clear cut block. It's a free kick, but where was Sheed's opponent? As for the JJ mark do you really want that to be a free kick to Bowey? Really? Some contact with his on the back has been allowed for a speccy for years, it's part of what makes the game great. He's simply used his hands for a little balance before a great leap and mark, I'd hate to take that out of the game. I think the umpires should establish the rules during the home and away season, then in finals the best teams will be more disciplined and won't give away as many free kicks to begin with. The Dogs success with the umpires has a lot to do with them being very well coached and their game style. Similarly we were great this year at not giving away dumb free kicks. Then in finals I think it's fair to expect the umpires to pay whatever they see but not to go diving deep in to the rule books for the more 'administrative' free kicks like extra 50m penalties etc. I think there's a balance between protecting players, fairly officiating the game but not having the umpires become too big a part of the contest. Apart from the non mark paid to May late in the 2nd and the Hunter cheating I thought the grand final was umpired really well and with the right balance between paying free kicks that were there and letting the players take centre stage.

I don't think there's any reason for Goody to be dishonest after the fact. Treloar had a great 2nd term, a little bit based on centre clearances and then around their ball movement - of which Daniel is their little general. Coaches rarely put time in to Macrae and I haven't seen anything that suggests we did anything special with him. Our midfield just dominated the game after the turning point and that's what took away Macrae's influence, but the priority against the Dogs midfield is Libba at stoppages and Bont around the ground.

Pretty sure Goodwin has openly talked about how much damage Daniel can do, and that he killed us in round 19 and the preseason game as well. His first quarter didn't hurt us, our pressure was right up and we we're forcing him in to up and under kicks. He absolutely hurt us in the 2nd quarter. Calling for a quick handball in the narrow pocket after a stoppage was a big error though. Overall though I think he's the Dogs 2nd most damaging player who sets up their quick angles kicking game that is how they break down backlines. I suspect after going with Oliver to Bont the next thing on the list for the coaches at half time was getting the game plan right for dealing with Daniel.

In 2019 we traded pick 8 to Freo for pick 10, pick 28 and a future 4th round pick to make sure they could get ahead of academy bids for Liam Henry. It was a very generous deal. We could trade 19 to 20 with Brisbane, in exchange for 54 for 57, not much the AFL could really argue with that. Brisbane get ahead of us to pick the best non Mac player they like, we get Mac and the highest player on our board. Everyone's happy. If Brisbane don't want to do it then we know they want Mac so we take him. Clubs do this kind of stuff all the time with academy bids. Look at Tom Green not being picked by the Crows after they did a 2 for 1 deal with GWS. Anyway, it all relies on Mac getting through to the top 18 picks and that's not going to happen according to those in the know in the recruiting industry.

He'll go top 18, but we'd either take someone else or swap picks with the club at pick 20 in a lopsided deal on the proviso that they didn't take him. Only if they refused to deal that pick 20 and we rated Mac as our highest on our board would we take him. We'd take a player at 19 and make sure we get 2 highly rated players any day of the week rather than worrying about late picks. If we had to match pick 21 for Mac, it costs us about pick 28's value of 677 points. We can do that with 37 and 49, because 37 might be about the same and 49 will be around 40 after the Daicos/Darcy picks are all used up, that's about 900 points. We'd end up matching the bid and getting back a pick in the 50's that along with our other pick in the 50's should easily be fine to match Woey. We'd end up with 2 top 20 picks and Woey which is probably the clubs aim anyway. They won't be able to get up to 20 but I'm expecting the club tries to trade up their picks as is so we end up with 2 highly rated players and Woey. 3 picks in the top 40 odd and Woey as a rookie would be even better but there seems to be enough buzz about him going in the back half of the draft. Upgrading rookies doesn't require picks these days, that's why the AFL stopped listing endless amounts of picks. Players can also spend a 4th year on the rookie list. Chandler and Jordon are fine, there's no issue of them staying on lists.

Fair play to Eddie for taking over the Glasshouse, it was unused and we couldn't get it done. The takeover of Olympic Park after their training oval was used for the AAMI park site and the booting of athletes down to Lakeside is a different story. They didn't want to keep walking to Gosch's and demanded the oval and the long history of athletics at Olympic Park was ended. But it allowed us to use the oval at Gosch's which now has 2 premierships. Maybe it should be called Gary Pert Oval?

It could do with a name change but it functions well as a list for players who don’t get longer contracts and who then go through a redrafting or training process to get back on a list. Whether they’re 19 or 35 doesn’t bother me. The players are all eligible to play every week and anyone delisted then becomes a life time free agent so that works well for them too.

He's a good small forward at Casey level but I think they've missed a trick playing him forward too much rather than giving him the chance to be a midfielder at VFL level and get 30 touches to improve him disposal and be involved in a lot more contests. There's a limit to how good you can look and it's harder to improve playing forward at Casey. He'll do the job for the ream but what's he getting out of it development wise?

Doubt he’ll be responsible for a lot of decision making early at his time at the club. Good to have someone experienced to do the day to day admin stuff whilst Richo is very involved with the coaches. Hopefully he speaks up if we start to massively front load contracts or if a couple of injured players want to raid the mobile phone lock box!

If the price of 27 is any guide we'd have to give up 37, 57 and a future 2nd (which we aren't even allowed to trade having traded our future first). 23 is too expensive I think. Our philosophy has been to trade up aggressively early to try to get decent value before the offers get more and more expensive closer to and then at the draft.

I think they’ll be even more aggressive and look to upgrade any/all of their first three picks up a notch too. Doubt we would be keen but 17 for 27/28 could be an option for us. They’ve shown they are really good at finding handy players in the rookie list and mid season drafts. Much more so than we are. So now they’re trading depth in the aim of finding some elite kids to jar their window back open.

Bradtke was Cat B, so never really counted to the 42 main and rookie A list. The mid season draft players were added to the 42 to replace inactive injured players. So we ended up with 44. 7 of those (5 delistings, 2 retirements) have now gone, with 1 addition. Gets us to the current 38 players with 4 spots.

Rams, Packers, Chiefs

He has a good long kick and is usually very reliable and accurate by hand - we he came from the Crows it was noticeable how clean he was on both hands. One thing I'm hoping for more next year is that the backline trust themselves to put the ball through the hands and run it out more, we have the talent to do it. The mids and forwards are so good at providing bail out options that the defenders often slam it on the boot, which is great to have as the back up especially against fierce pressure, but there's no reason we can't (to borrow a soccer term) play the ball out a bit more.

Still think he's probably weighing up his decision and the club aren't in any rush. But out of all our fringe one year deal players it would make a fair amount of sense to drop Hibbo back to the rookie list rather than a young player who then becomes a free agent for life. Ie. James Jordon last year. That's not something they've done with guys like Jetta and Jones, but it might be a factor.