DeeSpencer

Riley Knight just nominated and I reckon he’d be a nice fit. According to a preseason article wants to a chance to play on ball rather than be stuck at half forward, but he can play that role too. I do wonder whether we can afford (financially and with list spots) to pick up 2 mature depth players and still take a 19 year old if there is one. The media hasn’t really explained why clubs are so reluctant to use all their spots.

I wouldn’t call 1 bad game for Hunt as losing form. I think it’s 3 weeks until you can discuss form. I’d be shocked if Spargo is even mentioned at match committee. I’m not worried by dips and rises in particular stats. He’s as locked in as a role player can be.

What form do you expect Spargo and Hunt to find? Spargo is in perfect form. He's doing exactly what the coaches ask week in week out. Hunt is playing about as well as we can expect from Hunt. He had a poor game against the Crows, some of which might be explained by Salem out, but overall he's been serviceable. If we're going to go deep in the finals he'll have to step up under pressure but there's very little competition for his spot right now.

I'd put Jordon on Libba. JJ doesn't win a lot of contested footy but is our best tackler, he can clamp down on Libba. Then Harmes to Bont who has to restrained, you can't let him rack up kicks in space, he'll cut us apart. Even if he gets 25 touches if they aren't out in the clear it's a good result. Max and Jackson are our best hope of breaking even at stoppages. I'd like to try a bit of back to the future with Nev Jetta as a defensive forward in the VFL to see how it looks. Geary did that job really well last year for the Saints. Mark Bagley for Essendon did it too. Once a defender loses the leg speed to stay with their man down back they struggle but Nev's tackling and aerial contesting is still strong. There's a slim chance he might have one last go in him in that role. Spargo and ANB will get the job this week, they beat a lot of dangerous half backs through work rate and positioning, but Daniel is the quality of player that you need to unsettle and force in to one on one contests I think.

Without the financial terms it's hard to judge, but if the options were a contract that's 2 years too long or losing him to Geelong for a pick in the 30's of a severely compromised draft whilst we're in a flag window - I still lean towards being happy we kept him. We've made worse decisions, like bringing in big broken Ben Brown.

Look again, he’s a fair way behind the players and Fritsch and his opponents are directly in his path to the ball. The umpire at the front of the screen is a boundary umpire. The field umpire does as well as he can but he couldn’t see what the Crows player and Spargo were doing

Heck no. It’s a disaster in basketball and got phased out after one year in the NFL. Are we meant to appeal the holding the ball? And stop the game before Walker’s shot? What about Pickett being tunnelled in the contest before the deliberate? It is totally unworkable.

The umpire couldn’t see a thing. Because he was caught up the ground due to the centre bounce. No fault of his. The only way to fix this is changing the umps starting positions or allowing boundary umps to make calls. The touch wouldn’t have been picked up live even with an umpire in perfect position. It would’ve been called deliberate. But an umpire not seeing anything doesn’t know what to call and whilst an educated guess would’ve been deliberate he’s decided to make no guess. At the end of the day it’s better not to guess and that’s what umps are told I’m sure. The power of 50k screaming fans with or against you has influenced this decision and that’s why it’s harder to win on the road. At the MCG we get this call.

Essendon weren’t up to AFL standard. They played the worst 3 quarters you’ll ever see. Brown spent years at Essendon getting some cheap kicks against bad teams then not touching it against good sides. He was hopeless against Hawthorn for 3/4’s before a late cameo when the Hawks had run out of legs.

Which forwards are in form in the 2's? Mitch Brown - not up to AFL standard. Does nothing defensively and doesn't contest. Doesn't jump at the ball in the air. The VFL has always been his level. He's the most flat track player going around, if that's what we need I'd keep Melksham. Bedford - has good pace but isn't smart enough for AFL level. Chandler - has the smarts but lacks speed to get out of trouble and doesn't have the size or strength to hold up in the contest. Harmes, JJ, Sparrow and Petracca can all rotate through the forward line for a bit of size and strength. Sometimes you need to get creative with the 22nd player and mix and match them in a little bit.

If Ben Brown isn't right and Weid hasn't nailed his spot I reckon we go smaller. The forward line has functioned better with Fritsch, McDonald and Jackson. Gawn stays more engaged in the game. Jackson is our best 'bring the ball to ground' tall forward. Fritsch stays in games getting more of the ball at full forward. The question is who to bring in. Salem for Jetta obviously. I'd be thinking about Lockhart and Sparrow for Melksham and Weid. Sparrow plays half forward with some short stints on ball as the 5th on baller. Lockhart plays a mixture of a few short stints on ball, a little on the wing and a little at half forward. I'd use him very much as an impact player to bring fresh legs. He can even take a stint on a back flank to give the half backs an extra rotation. The secret to beating the dogs is to keep the pressure on for long enough that they start doubting their skills and to move the ball around to stop their aggressive zone defending having easy peel off spoils.

Exactly, that's what Sparrow did in our first 4 rounds and our defensive pressure was really strong. Petracca keeps butchering it around the ground so much he's actually at his best playing forward and up for centre bounces/clearances. Cutting down the midfield time for Brayshaw, Harmes and JJ let's them be fresher when they are out there too.

If he can consistently keep his legs moving, if he can stop mouthing off at the umps so he gets umpired correctly (should get 5 free kicks a game) and if he can kick at a decent level he’ll be the best midfielder in the game. I think he’s made improvements in all 3 areas, with the kicking still needing the most work. Last night was his best game ever, but there’s still room for improvement.

Either the umps should publish a consistent report of performance which includes a break down of multiple free kicks or they should stay quiet. Press conferences post game aren’t required. Leak to the media that it was an error and move on.

Lever was worse. Sprinted away from McAdam for no reason that made May roll up and leave Rivers on Tex early. Panicked with the ball all night - conceded 2 goals from dodgy handballs, went sprinting off Fogarty to concede the second to last goal. Failed to tackle Tex on a clearly play on ball inside 50. Tex and the crowd were in his head all night and that’s a huge mental issue for Lever. Overall our defenders were too keen on guarding space or generating extra numbers and not consistently on their men. That’s the game plan but they have to adapt to the opposition and the way the game is being played. They have to trust each other to stick on their men and then peel off when needed. May in particular gets nervous if he’s not the deepest defender. He gets caught on the back foot rather than staying up on his guy. I’d rather Petty have 5 kicked on him and May and Lever stick to their guys than each of them getting beaten by being neither here nor there. Petty is going to have goals kicked on him over the next 2 weeks. May and Lever have to trust him to halve some contests and fight through it.

Jetta has been excellent in the VFL where as Lockhart had one game back from a calf after missing time with his ‘groin’ injury. I can see why they went with Jetta. But it wasn’t just Nev who was disappointing. Hibberd, Rivers and Hunt all weren’t as good in slightly reshuffled roles. That’s as much on them. I think in the future Bowey could cover Salem. Lockhart can cover Hunt or Rivers and Jetta only gets used to cover Hibberd. But that relies on Bowey and Lockhart being fully healthy.

Needs to axe the podcast. Anyone who’s listened knows his brain is addled. As is Brayshaw’s.

The biggest frustration to me is seeing players go in to hero mode rather than take easy options. Gawn's match losing effort. Fritsch snapping on his right rather than handballing Pickett trying to spear it to Fritsch (great intercept by Doedee) when Langdon was free running Hibberd completely missing a Tommy Mc lead. Harmes' multiple times taking the tricky option Refusing to give good wide handballs from the backline to clear pressure and instead trying to weave through. Nibbler doing his Nibbler rather than making clear easy decisions. We're still a poor kicking side, especially in the midfield. So we have to play the percentages. We have to get the ball clear with fast clean hands and then find runners in space.

The Wagner brothers were literally on our list last year. Mitch Brown and Majak Daw are both on the list currently. There's very little established about them. This isn't the thread for suggesting retirements/delistings but there's going to be plenty of changes at the end of the season and we don't have a first round pick nor do we probably have all that much salary cap space. I reckon we'll be adding a few mature players, be they late pick trades or delistings. Somehow we don't even have any half back flank depth, nor any wing depth. I'm willing to listen to suggestions about anyone who can run and kick.

IN: B. Brown, Salem, Sparrow Out: Weid, Jetta, Melksham Bit harsh on Weid who had some ok moments but he doesn't clunk marks and doesn't find any easy ball. Brown is a Docklands specialist. Sparrow should've been picked over Melksham for weeks. We can't carry a taller forward line and a forward/midfielder like Melksham who doesn't tackle and doesn't crack in.

Spargo played his role as usual and was one of the few to hit a target, absolutely no chance he gets dropped. Same goes for Petty and Hunt. If we had to reheat the ancient Jetta to find a 7th defender we aren't going to suddenly find 2 more in the next 6 days.

Gawn and Lever are the biggest leaders of this football club and they were both very poor today. Really throughout. Gawn was the awful holding the ball rather than just flicking a handball. Lever with the decision to leave Fogarty for the 2nd last goal for a contest he was never going to get to. That's blatantly ignoring the game plan. But all through the match they made errors under pressure that a teams most experienced senior players shouldn't make. The same goes for Petracca. How often does he wander off the mark for no good reason? Constantly putting himself under pressure. It has to stop and has to stop now. Selection wasn't ideal. Jetta is cooked and it's been clear for a long time now he can't play in the same side as Hibberd. Melksham somehow snuck right back in to the team, tried hard for a quarter then gave it up. I really feel for Tom Sparrow who is having his development ruined by so many trips as the sub. We simply don't have the skills to play teams in a fast paced game. We have to pressure them and create errors. Instead of being the hunters we let ourselves become the hunted.

Removing prior means removing that allowance. Hardwick is saying anyone caught with the ball has to dispose of it cleanly or they’ll be penalised.

Clear headlocks - sure. But a tackle from over the top with arms around the body isn’t high contact, and as long as they aren’t ridding in to the ground you can lie on a guy without it being a push in the back. There’s all sorts of contact after pack marks that aren’t free kicks if there was a clean mark or spoil, as the bodies collide. I see it similar to that

Or limited fitness guys like Hibberd, Rivers, Petracca will be replaced by ANB x 3. No coach is going to just accept players spreading out all over the field.