DeeSpencer

I’m actually with DH on this one. I don’t want our club becoming a big club that’s impersonal. Obviously the club will grow with success and that’s a good thing. But it has to keep that connection. Nothing means more to kids that personal access to the players. We won’t be getting that any time soon in Melbourne. There was an opportunity for that to happen in Perth. They had 4 days, could’ve spared an hour or so. Collingwood lost their way turning in to a footballing mcfranchise. It would be a travesty if we won a flag just to lose our soul.

We'd probably only be able to get a pick right at the back of the first round 17-20 ish anyway even if we offer our future first and a 2nd rounder for this year. Teams don't usually want to give up the pick they've got unless it's worth their while. JT's certainly earnt our trust but I doubt that's what he'll be thinking now. Now's the time to find a few more Petty, Spargo, Sparrow, Jordon types and make sure we've got depth coming through to keep a strong line up.

Richmond have had major injuries in each of the last 3 years and they've pretty much taken a look at Naish each time and quickly got him out of the team. Only this year when they probably knew they had to have an extended look at him did they give him 4 games in a row and he did nothing. I'm not sure why exactly we are keeping Baker but my guess is they know he's much fitter now and his pace is still a rare attribute even if his kicking, contested work and decision making is a way off it. He has that one quality attribute and they can work on adding to the rest of his game. Plus he knows the system and can shadow Langdon all summer again. Naish has a lovely boot but the weaknesses in his game - size, speed and more than anything his competitiveness probably just aren't going to improve. Doesn't matter how good you were as a junior and how good your VFL form is if you can't handle the step up in physical pressure at the top level. Declase probably gets the nod as that taller more defensive winger as back up to Brayshaw and that's definitely not a role for Naish.

I feel like Bevo and Chris Scott and the coaches that don't invest in old school ruckman are philosophically on the right track because why get a dinosaur type if you can try to find an extra midfielder. Chris Scott loves Blicavs, he's routinely at the top of the Cats B+F. Bevo really liked what Roughead and Boyd did and they've been chasing Stef Martin for years because in his prime he could hold up in the hit outs and provided a lot around the ground. The question is should you chase the hope of an extra mid when it's more hope than reality. Tim English and Rhys Stanley are both rucks who on their best days look similar to what Jackson can be, they just don't always have their best days. So do you just suck it up and get yourself an old war horse type. Someone like John Ceglar is never going to be considered an extra midfielder but his size and strength would make life harder in the actual ruck contest for Jacko to just halve it then follow up. It's funny how these coaches get the reputation for not rating rucks when it could be they're just too desperate for the perfect ruck and not appreciative enough for an honest battler. They player they all want in the ruck is the player Jackson is hopefully becoming.

Even happier for Jackson, Pickett, Rivers and Bowey 'when they're cherry ripe' meant about 15 minutes after they walked through the door.

Our trade with Brisbane meant Laurie was pretty close to being free. We swapped 2nd round picks that both would've ended up in the 30's and traded picks 18 and 19 last year for pick 18 this year. A very nice piece of business. I'm hoping we keep the ability to hunt at the contest when needed. That should be our strength and is needed for finals. But for the home and away season next year instead of having to crash and bash through the whole season we should be looking at using Rivers, Salem and Bowey off half back to control the pace of games and play a more uncontested style. There's a logjam with Sparrow, JJ, Harmes, Spargo all impressing across half forward this year but some of those guys will have to play up through the midfield and Laurie should push his chances.

In defence of Dwayne a little the segment was based on Leppitsch saying rucks are the least valuable position on the ground. Which honestly might still be true to an extent. Although the 3rd tall at either end, the 5th best mid and the 7th best forward or back gets an easy run sometimes. No one ever says don’t draft a 3rd string forward flanker early! But it’s still one of the key positions to have a player who doesn’t get destroyed. Getting smashed in the ruck is still the fastest way to lose a game. Leppitsch himself is probably undervaluing Toby Nankervis who has been a warrior for the Tigers. Just because Nankervis was cheap and underrated doesn’t make him bad or easy to replicate. The conversation should be that hit outs are overrated. It’s the least valuable part of Gawn’s game, which really is built on around the ground marking, follow up and positioning. And Jackson’s game is based on follow up and athleticism. He absolutely can be a ruckman, which Dwayne was incorrectly worried about. He’s just not going to be a hit out machine. And he’s hopefully going to be more than a ruckman too. I’d love to see him play CHF with a summer of Ben Brown teaching him leading craft.

1. Jackson was very good but Tim English was his opponent. There’s a tick and a cross at the same time there. Positional value should always factor in drafting but shouldn’t be the defining factor one way or another. 2. Not the mail I’ve heard. Jono Brown was meant to come to Victoria. Riewoldt to the Suns. Gaff and Shuey to Victoria. Even Petracca to the Pies! You start winning he likely stays a long time. You lose and he’s out of there. 3. Every ruck wants to be the number 1, no news there. 4. Love Todd! Where’s the trade? 5. Talia at Geelong is too funny, the best thing is he’d be a young recruit for them! 6. Nah, he’s not their preferred next option forward or back. Harry Edwards and Oscar Allen are. Anyway, felt like getting my frustrations out on 6 trade radio points. I could go on and on with all the drivel but it’s best to just get it done then ignore it

It wouldn’t bother me if we weren’t subjected to 7:50 stars every Friday, 3:20 on Sunday, endless debate about moving the grand final later and so on.

Higgins had a bad start to the year but he’s a very good footballer. The Saints gave up the equivalent of a pick right at the start of the second round for him. His finish to the year was very good. Melkshams lack of tackling and pressure makes him more like a tall forward than competing with a small. And the Saints have King, Membrey, a second ruck and Sharman who really impressed. Plus can’t find room for Battle. It’s very hard to know who’d want Melksham. Port being keen on Finlayson with Robbie Gray (plays tall) ageing could do with a bit of marking to go with their smalls and he fits their fast flowing ball movement. Melk always plays well against the Eagles and he’d be great with their kick mark game but they probably want to get younger. Freo need to bring in some mature players but aren’t in a rush and I doubt they are keen for a non defensive worker. Brisbane for 10 weeks of Hipwood insurance as the lead up 3rd tall?

Not sure there will be any takers but I'd imagine we'd be willing to pay a bit of his 2022 wage if it gets us out of the bulk of it. We don't really have anyone in the VFL for that mid size forward role though, so he'd always be close to a game but on what he showed this year it's hard to have much confidence in his performance.

I don’t believe it was though. Fritsch started his career forward, looked talented but still flaky. Defensively did little. He gave us something on the wing when we didn’t have wingers, then moved back when Lever was out and we needed some intercept. We had Melksham, Petracca and Hannan as medium forwards, plus Tommy and Hogan in great form and Fritsch could develop his game in roles where we needed talent. It took too long in 2019 to move him back forward when we needed the help there. But we were also completely desperate for wingers and tried about a dozen options that didn’t work. So I won’t hold that against Goody. If anything I’d like to see Fritsch moved up the ground more often next year. Teams will put a lot of work in to stopping him. It won’t hurt to add some versatility back to his game.

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.