DeeSpencer

I agree with some of that it’s just in his games last year he: - nullified Harris Andrew - out marked Daniel Talia - comfortably broke even with Todd Goldstein Some of that was more cameo stuff than full performances. And certainly nothing like changing the course of multiple games including finals. But my expectation for this year was he’d look like he belonged even with some ups and downs. He totally outplayed those expectations but compared with the expectations I had of Jordon, ANB, McDonald I’m less surprised.

His 46 shots in 16 games last year was in the top 10 in the comp. With team improvement and Brown settling in factored in I think goal kicking was his big improvement. Otherwise I think he made some marginal gains from a top 8 or so player at getting shots on goal towards the top 5. Ive pretty much thought since he went back forward late in 2019 he’d be a professional goal kicker. Not 6 goals in a grand final but good for 40 a year in a regular season.

Richmond fans have been saying that Castagna, Rioli and McIntosh are better than some of our best players for years too. Once their guns dropped off that was quickly shown to be incorrect. I do like Sparrow but just in the last page of this thread he's been compared with: Luke Parker Tim Watson Scott Thompson Travis Boak When I think I'm not being harsh by saying let's see if he can stay ahead of Jordon and beat out Harmes for our 4th best inside mid spot. So I don't think it's Cerra that has been the one overrated in this thread lately. I also stress that we really shouldn't be comparing the two. Different players and circumstances. But when it does come Cerra standing up in finals - he's a player of real class. The only guys on our list with similar class I'd say would be Salem, Bowey, Petracca, Fritsch and Oliver. He needs to get stronger and more physical and yes, he hasn't played in finals, but he's a quality young midfielder. I wouldn't be at all worried about Cerra playing well in finals.

Petty - not terrible in some of his earlier games forward or back but emerged as a solid key back after missing an entire year Hunt - flakey forward to a very reliable defender, sad to see him lose his spot through injury Salem - I don't think he was that far off but finally delivered the consistent form we knew he could produce Lever - similar to Salem but also became a lot more assertive Brayshaw - didn't get a whole lot better, still messes up plenty but completely committed to a role Oliver - went from very good but flawed player to great and great team player Spargo - got his spot back in the side and showed why he is one of the craftiest players Tommy Mc - went from scrapheap to solid Jackson - his form prior to injury last year was good too but went up a level Sparrow - played some decent games last year but cemented his spot But I think the 2 biggest contenders are: Jordon - apparently was decent in scratch matches last year but really came from nowhere to do a job on the wing, on ball or half forward with no fuss. Technically played all 25 games. ANB - turned his career entirely around, the most tireless worker who started to add composure, toughness, smarts all to his game. I don't think fans (myself included at times) appreciate just how good he's been this year.

Surely now we can demand the good car park and have facilities overlooking the oval so we can have the club truly united. We can’t train on one side of the stadium and look out over Collingwood. That’s bizarre. We need the ability to have a coffee or beer watching training. Or for the rehab players to go straight from the gym to the track. The Storm have bought great disgrace to our state, move their oval around as needed. We need to have the facility all together so it’s something tangible the way Punt Road and the Holden Centre are.

We’re premiers largely because of how hard and smart our flankers work and their attack at the contest. He has a nice set shot routine and the ability to kick a long goal. But he kicked 1 goal 6 in the VFL this year when his shots came in general play. The ball kind of lobs off his boot, it’s not a fluent action at this stage. He’s already improved his kicking and a lot of his game. Look at his junior highlights, he was all over the shop. A rampaging bundle of energy. Maybe he keeps improving year after year to become a prime mover mid, it’s not beyond a possibility, I just think he’s more of a rotational player

He’s a premiership hero and forever will be, but I see him more of a Harmes level player. I’m not suggesting we turf him out, simply that he wouldn’t be untouchable. I hope he plays 200 games too

I don't know how much of a role he's had bringing in Richo who then bought in Chocco but the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the footy department changes. I did have a few concerns it was getting a bit 90's Collingwood but the Yze and Stafford choices balanced it out. Obviously the facilities were a big part of why he was given the gig and things (slowly) seem to be progressing there. I still have some slight doubts about the aim to make us a big club. Collingwood are big but they are the McDonalds of the AFL. It's all junk. Richmond have managed to keep (and grow) connection between the club and the fans. Obviously the club needs to grow to keep up with the big boys and making some money from all the premiership merchandise is great. I don't think the aim should be to now take long suffering fans for a ride and jack up prices and so on purely because we'll pay for it now.

Centre bounce attendances as per the AFL App, from a total of 34 centre bounces. Petracca 31 (94% tog) Oliver 31 (89% tog) Viney 30 (79% tog) Gawn 21 (86% tog) Jackson 13 (78% tog) Harmes 7 (71% tog) Sparrow 3 (66% tog) There were definitely times where Harmes and Sparrow would've been on ball and Petracca forward after the bounces too. Harmes was covering the 3rd wing role, possibly Sparrow for Langdon's one 5 minute break for the entire game as well. But yeah there was definitely a shift in the finals not to bother with Oliver or Viney going forward at all. When they were on they were going to be on ball.

I’m a bit less upset now we’ve won a flag. I wonder if he’s a de facto forward coach or glue guy. I just think he played 1 game this year in a year when Brown and Weid started the year broken down, McDonald was a maybe at best and Petty hadn’t proven himself. I know we need ready made depth I just think he’s far enough down the list to get the same performance from players with upside. And whilst we won’t be Geelong any time soon it all seems a bit Geelong keeping Josh Jenkinsy

Just names on a list there. The only proven AFL player on that list is Hunt. Laurie has promise and based on VFL form Weid, Chandler and Daw aren’t far off it. But there’s a reason we used the same 23 players for most the year. We’ll need improvement in some of those guys next year to get to the 30+ it usually takes to get through a season.

We’ll see if Melksham gets moved on but otherwise if McDonald or Fritsch got injured wouldn’t we’d prefer Melk or going small with Harmes and Petracca forward more. If Jackson or Ben Brown get injured we’d go Weid. Down back Tomlinson should be right by mid year. Hore might be a defensive option. Turner looked not a mile off a 3rd tall role. And if he stays on the list Declase could pinch hit at half forward or half back. Daw as a forward/ruck or in a total emergency could go back too. All up it just doesn’t seem to make sense to carry a 5th choice key forward and 5th choice possible key back. One who’s probably too injury prone to last a series of games as well.

He’s definitely not a better kick, nor does he have Cerra’s class and decision making. But he might have a little more punch as a forward and his pressure and work rate are both great. It shouldn’t be one or the other really tho. Cerra’s going to be a star, get him if you can. Sparrow’s going to be a very handy role player, keep him unless there’s a compelling reason to move him.

Good 3rd string back up for one more year. Can now draft a young 4th option with no pressure on them to play. Did he ever get suspended for belting Cox?

The good thing about having such a young best 22 is our depth players can all be pretty cheap. Any depth veterans like Daw and Brown don't have to be paid much. Even Hibbo. And Weid. Then the rest of our depth can be younger guys who are unproven. We're actually very shallow on the list which is the only trade off I guess. We'll need to keep drafting viable depth. Oliver, Fritsch, Jackson, Petty then Rivers and Kossie will get their pay days. Bowey in time. Spargo, Sparrow and JJ might not break the bank, good solid role players. If guys like that become big money types then ok, we trade them away if we have to and draft a replacement. But Gawn, Viney, Lever, May, Langdon, McDonald, Tomlinson will be coming off their big years and we've already negotiated a lot of them down. Even Petracca and Salem went for extra years over extra cash as far as I can tell. I can imagine we have a budget for rucks and key forwards. Gawn - on a lot but not crazy money. McDonald - spread over 3 years. Brown - not silly money. M Brown - stuff all. Weid - pretty cheap deal you'd think. So there's room in that piece of the pie for Jacko to get a decent increase. Same goes for the midfield with Clarry. Harmes, Langdon, Gus, Viney all had a good taste. Petracca didn't take crazy money. Oliver can now do the same.

Just watched the replay. Petracca, Oliver and Salem had a pact to celebrate together in the middle. They were jumping all over each other. But Viney went to JJ and probably went over to the coach and some of the other players. I get the feeling our backline are really close. Particularly May and Hibberd, but with Lever, Tomlinson and the whole unit gel together. And Tommy Mc and Max have the shared bond of being the only guys left in the best 22 (and now the team with Jones and Jetta gone) who were there for the darkest times. Petracca, Oliver and Salo have their own little club. Riv and Jackson. Sparrow and JJ (and Bedford and Chandler). Benny Brown is his own man but probably in the same age group as Max and Tommy Mc. Eddie Langdon's in the wingers club with Gus but probably does his own thing away from footy quite a bit. Viney's close with Petracca but has always been that touch older not to be in his little group I think. And Viney's definitely close to the coach. It also might've meant more for Jack who's been striving for this moment for his entire life to celebrate with a sense of relief more than a sense of outright joy like some of the others. I'm rambling but I think the point I'm trying to make is there's probably lots of on field and off field relationships and we've got a whole bunch of guys including Viney who are now dads so have plenty more to worry about outside of work than who's mates with who. The young guys when they come in and get drafted especially from interstate they have to be best mates. They're going to do everything together as they build a career. Viney might be thinking of face timing his wife more than jumping around like a mad man. Either is fine by me.

Mitch Brown survives for one more year. He must have great photos of someone. An ageing often injured 5th string key forward is a very strange one to keep. Might make more sense if Melksham moves on but I'm not sure how we'd achieve that.

Reading between the tea leaves here the Eagles didn't want to give him away, but he also wasn't prepared to keep pushing his case at AFL standard there. Sounds like he'll get a physical and mental freshen up in the WAFL. From what I've seen his goals were very flukey and he was a long way from being a consistent AFL performer anyway. If his surnamed wasn't Cameron he'd be just another delisting. Every club will get a look at him in the WAFL next year, hopefully he has a good season.

Did he? We we’re 3-5 with losses to the Eagles in Perth, Geel, Rich, Brisbane by under a goal in Queensland in a heartbreaker and got smashed by Port off a 4 day break. We’d lost to the top 5 teams in the comp all in neutral or away locations. The Port game was very disappointing but grandstanding about it changed nothing. We won the next 2 games which we were always going to do against the cellar dwellers, then had an up and down finish to the year. We needed another summer of Burgo, better assistant coaches, maturing players to take ownership, a few more pieces of the puzzle in Brown and Bowey and the coach to hold his nerve. Kennett style internal drama only works if you really want a footy department to ignore the President and go through a Dunstall type figure. It’s better to have everyone working together which is why the Board saw a chance to make a change after the fast start this year.

No it’s not. They said ‘if’. If the best person for ceo is a woman that would be great. If the best person isn’t a woman then that’s fine too

Casey was huge for improving our defensive zone and spread. I also think there was something for the players to be a bit uncomfortable and on a mission to training every day during covid times. Long term if it was our only place I’d be worried but we got the best out of it over summer. The oval at Gosch’s has now won 2 flags at 2 different clubs. It’s perfectly fine. As are the AAMI park facilities. We caught up to the rest of the league. Improving the oval and building stand alone facilities, as well as using Casey appropriately over summer are both required for us to stay with the pack over the next few years. Plus something to call our own is important for the club if not for the team so much.

Viney’s finals in 2018 were amazing. I don’t think I ever lost confidence that he could do the same if we got him fit, healthy and playing with continuity. A lot of his ball use problems came from lack of cohesion with team mates and the balance of the midfield being off. Oliver dramatically improved his ability to use his legs this year. And Jackson in the ruck even if just for 30% provided another receiver at centre bounces. With Neal-Bullen, Pickett, Langdon, Sparrow all flashing in and out of stoppages around the ground it’s much less of a surprise that Jack started giving those handballs and trusting the receiver. Nibbler in particular went from a guy who should never have received a handball in traffic to someone who could dodge, baulk and hit a target

Tall backs: May, Petty, Tomlinson, Turner* Medium backs: Lever, J Smith, Hore* Small backs: Salem, Rivers, Bowey, Hibberd*, Hunt, D Smith Inside mids: Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Harmes, Sparrow Outside mids: Langdon, Brayshaw, Jordon, Declase*, Baker*, Rosman Rucks: Gawn, Jackson, Daw* Key forwards: B Brown, McDonald, Weid, M Brown* Medium: Fritsch, Melksham* Small: ANB, Pickett, Spargo, Laurie, Bedford*, Chandler* Mitch Brown, Baker and maybe Bedford are the 3 who might be the most under pressure.

Bont gets at least a fine in the regular season but who cares. Caleb is still 5 foot 7. On a good day.