DeeSpencer

Heath’s 22, very few rucks are ready for full time action until 24, by which time Campbell will be gone and Max might be on his last legs, it’s the perfect time to get someone over who’s not quite ready to be a number 1. They’ll have to manage the VFL minutes better than they have with Verrall. But Verrall wasn’t good enough to demand them.

Sestan had afl skills but clearly they made a determination he wasn’t going to get to the athletic level required. Woey, Billings, Henderson potentially waiting on the coach and other list decisions?

I don’t think that’s true of 2025 vs 2021 ANB, and it wasn’t true early in the game against Coll when he turned it over 3 times in a row. But largely it’s undoubtedly true of ANB this year compared with 22-24 and it’s clear to me that Adelaide’s confidence in their forwards and also quality spacing of hard running mids and flankers makes decision making easier. And that’s 2 things we’ve missed since 2021. Decision making and disposal get seen as individual attributes but we need a coach who (without sacrificing flair) can drill a team so they become a team responsibility. They don’t have many poor kicks but Miers might be the only special kick at the Cats, they excel at moving the ball because they get in great spots to receive it.

The only thing we can really control is who goes out. Tracc, Lever, one of Oliver and Viney. May if anyone wants him. Hopefully get some picks and big chunk of cap space. If I really had to land a key forward I’d plan a year ahead. Mihocek no longer interests me nor does overpaying for Mitch Lewis. So the target should be guys out of contract 2026. Caleb Lewis is a Casey player who went up to the suns mid year and did very well. I’d offer him more cash than he’s worth for next year, in the hope that the Suns match it. Just a little dint in the Suns armour. Then for Plan A: I’d offer Ben King and Jed Walter a stack of cash knowing the Suns could only keep 1 of them. Plan B. Jordan Croft, write your own cheque. Knowing Dogs are committed to Naughton and Darcy. Plan C: I can’t quit Ollie Lord just yet. I think there’s a very good player in there. I’d hope to land one of those 4 next offseason

The Tim Lamb special

A nice addition to Casey but Bonner hasn’t stood up in attack or defense for a few years now. I doubt that changed at Casey. That’s the right level for him.

Billings isn’t getting any quicker or less nervy in front of goal tho. 2 issues that make him not at all useful in any forward role. We’ve got enough midfield/wing options. If we can actually get Henderson healthy and covering the ground for a big preseason he did show the right attributes for that high half forward role that’s very hard to fill. There’s a young guy at Geelong VFL- Tobyn Murray - getting buzz about his running but generally it’s so hard to find them.

He looked pretty decent at AFL level given how quickly he was thrown in to a bad side. Then his form kind of tailed off at Casey, possibly indicating he was battling injury. He's a high half forward/mid, goal kicking isn't a huge part of the role. He was identified as the best state league player and didn't really get a big chance to prove that one way or another. At this stage I'd imagine we'll have more list spots that we can fill with useful draft picks or trades, so we'd only be replacing him with another late rookie or mature ager.

Already rumours of Hore retiring. I suspect we won't wait on a coach for Fullarton and Billings. But we might wait for the B+F. Which leaves Woey, Brown, Sestan, Henderson, Verrall. Plus Spargo, Judd OOC. I've heard rumours of a Henderson extension, I suspect we keep him if Spargo goes. Brown and Sestan would be the 2 that I'd wait and see with a new coach.

Bucks wants the job, he wouldn't have stayed in this long if he didn't. But he's now squaring off with the best assistants in the league especially those from Collingwood and Geelong who have spent 60 or so hours a week for the last 4 years on the cutting edge of innovation. Meanwhile Bucks has been mucking around on Best On Ground and getting Whateley brained on SEN. He has the advantage of experience but it's hard to know just what that provides us. His media profile likely helps us little, if anything we would do well to be decidedly out of the spotlight for a while, even if that hurts the financial bottom line. That's far more valuable to Tassie than us. All in all, the leaking of apparent lack of interest to me just sounds like a guy making sure he's saving face for the strong likelihood we hire one of the assistants instead.

Of course I do but I think that's more individual circumstances, age and motivation more than the actual structured fitness program. Fitness and results go together especially when it's core pieces like Oliver, Tracc and Salem who have dropped away. A big part of the Burgo effect was his ability to tap in to motivation and get guys to certain levels. But like 16 other clubs aside from Adelaide we need to find a way for non Burgo fitness guy to connect with the next crop of players.

No tipping for me this year thanks Macca but all the best for the season guys. My predictions: AFC North - Bengals East - Bills South - Texans West - Broncos WC - Ravens, Chiefs, Chargers NFC North - Packers East - Eagles South - Bucs West - Rams WC - Commanders, Vikings, Cardinals Broncos over Packers SB.

Pick 23 will be 30+ by the time it is used, it's unders. But I hope we don't offer any more if we can get Windhager to nominate us.

He might be a one paced ball butcher but we don’t have many of them under 25. We can’t build around Viney, Oliver and Tracc any more, replacing one of them with Windhager would give us midfield continuity so our young kids can step in when needed.

McRae was an assistant 2007-2021. Kelly, King, Lade, Skipworth all clear the 8 year mark. I agree about not making it public but seems like a reasonable metric. Clarkson was 7 years. Hardwick 5 years. Chris Scott just 3 years. But I think you can argue Hardwick was a fraction too green to begin with. I also think Scott brought a good tactical change to win the 2011 flag but then Geelong weren’t actually all that good for the next half a dozen or so years.

Watching tonight it’s hard to argue against someone from Geelong over Buckley’s fairly unimpressive coaching tenure. The game is constantly changing and Geelong seem right at the forefront of it

Does he ever!

To me Clarry is purely saying the results went downhill, not that anyone new did anything wrong. ‘It’s’ means results not fitness. Burgo being great doesn’t mean Selwyn isn’t the next best.

How many did we win when we were 2 goals down to say 5 goals up (or 8 in the case of the saints game)? Winning them when you’re 6+ goals down but never threatening or 6 goals up and the other team has packed it in doesn’t mean much. In close games we seemed to consistently run out of puff.

Bartel, Kelly, see if Bomber can offer something in the background, get TommaHawk in for a day a week to teach JVR how to push in the back and belt people. Geelong 2007 here we come

Yeah he was meant to be a Grundy style around the ground type and he doesn’t get much of the footy and uses it very poorly. I suspect Heath takes his list spot. No need to carry 4 mature(ish) rucks

I don’t really care about a touch of nepotism or the expense blow outs if they were expected. I do care that we’ve got more snakes (not the Casey fields types) lying in wait, preparing ammunition on a CEO who is yet to even start his job.

This year was a write off for Essendon but if they have a very low win total next year I don't suspect he'll have bought any goodwill for continuing in the job. Not many coaches get 4 years of no progress. There's certainly a good argument to go as hard as possible for the job that's open now, but it's not like Bucks needs the job for the money or to say he's been a senior coach. The chance of a flag is really what he needs and I think he has to go somewhere that at least provides a chance for that with a timeframe that suits his plan.

Essendon's 20+ years in the wilderness seem to suggest no but if they actually bottom right out yet again with another poor season next year and have let guys leave and had a super strong draft they might actually set a new coach up with a talented young list to actually build the right way for once. Carlton are in a similar position to us but they've hired a serious operator as CEO, who's then gone and got one of the best Head of Footballs around in Chris Davies from Port. Linked to some quality assistant coaches too. I get the feeling they're thinking long and hard about making the tough call on Curnow and retooling their list. Voss might be a victim of that retooling but I wouldn't at all be surprised if they're looking pretty decent under a new coach in 2027.

Skipping our job for a complete ground zero build that may or may not start in 2028 in Tassie is crazy. But Carlton, Essendon and perhaps the Bulldogs could all come open next year. It wouldn’t shock me if Bucks is eyeing off a better job