DeeSpencer

Salem’s on his original prime years longer deal signed at his peak and is back in decent form now he’s healthy again. Can’t really fault that one. It’s the extensions to the guys in their back in years which are more questionable. The justication for someone like Lever is to smooth out the money. I think that’s reasonable but if he keeps getting injured it could hurt. Langdon was out of contract last year, given our lack of run and pace it’s a big gamble to say we should’ve let him go. I was critical of the Max and Viney length of deals. Apparently the justification was they were a sign the club wasn’t falling apart. Personally I think our leaders should’ve trusted the club to go 1-2 years at a time. I guess it’s up to the players to show good faith and retire if they can’t play. The bigger issue is if we are rebuilding you are wise to give guys up when they have value. Unfortunately Tracc and Clarry had no value last year. And others we could’ve explored (Salem, Langdon) probably weren’t fetching much at all. I’m still of the belief that last year was the time to move on from Fritsch. His value certainly wouldn’t have improved through 2 weeks.

That Richmond side were freakishly good at forward handballing and running for each other. Kicking is one thing, but the big difference between us and most of our opponents is our midfield and most of our forwards have so little balance and team coordination. Jack Henderson comes in from 1 week of training and immediately looks a naturally balanced footballer. He gets himself out of congestion and disposes with a purpose. Lindsay the same. Oliver, Tracc, Sparrow and Viney only know one way and it results in a heap of handball turnovers or handballs to flat footed players who then chuck in on the boot. Chandler’s prone to it to. And Spargo does one good thing then decides he’s god gift to football searching for the perfect pass, although he deserves a bit more leeway after not playing for a year. With LDU, Powell, Sheezel, Simpkin North were balanced in and out of the contest and only Sheezel and perhaps Powell at times are good kicks.

I’m a Goodwin defender, we came out playing the right style of footy that will leak goals as you learn to master it. Made the right changes to take away North’s run. But didn’t have enough the quality to create good scoring chances especially as the legs got heavy in the 3rd. For 3/4s we stayed in the fight but lacked class and forward punch. Last quarter was diabolical but that happens when the damn wall breaks at times. Everyone’s thrown the toys out of the cot because North arent meant to be good (news flash 800 first round picks and some senior players will work it out eventually). The press conference comment was a mistake but a well intentioned one. Highlights that we still haven’t got good people around the coach. No CEO, a dud of a head of footy who fell in to the job and a poor media team. But Goody has to own it and try to take the heat off Max now. Hopefully Max is supportive, he should be, there was no ill will. Back to on field tho - it’s a work in progress trying to mold square pegs (Oliver, Tracc, Viney, Sparrow) in to round holes. Unfortunately we’ve been unwilling or unable to trade any of those out for value and are trying to win and stay up whilst we move to a new generation of midfielders. Madness to blame the coach when it’s a tricky situation that no coach would be able to get perfect.

Backline: probably keep the same 7, desperately need May, Windsor and McVee. Sestan? Hore? Adams? These are not afl footballers any more than Howes isn’t. Midfield: How do you fix the lack of run and skill??? Langdon midfield failed its first test, guess he goes back on the wing. Want to see Chandler and Henderson on ball more rather than Sparrow. Forward line: Don’t love the 3 bigs and Fritsch but what else can we do? Seen more than enough of Sharp. Out: Jeffo, Sharp, Woey In: AJ, Laurie, Langford We desperately need skilled hard runners and 3 of our best in Pickett, Windsor and Judd are unavailable. (And Kolt)

He was coughing it up by foot and hand a lot last year and it was terrible to watch but then he took one good tackle and his ribs were stuffed. So I'm going to assume he was playing with the bad ribs all year and knew he couldn't get tackled. He looked really sharp kicking the footy in the All Star game and wasn't bad against Freo. If his kicking and general ball use is as chaotic as last year it adds to the argument to give him a run up forward.

He's become predictable as the team has, and was also dead scared of getting tackled last year so was getting the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. I still think there's a good ball user in there, just got to encourage him and more runners in the backline and more midfield spread makes it easier to do that.

I don’t mind it, but I also think Tommy Mc is going to have bad days by foot (he was looking shaky late against GWS) and have days beaten for agility. So the first thing I’d do is get May in down back and have Tom as depth. That said, if May’s up forward you can always make the swing. Hopefully the young key forwards can hold their own and the backline keeps playing up tempo aggressive footy to get more supply to those talls. May’s kicking (at his best) is a vital part of that attacking backline play, if we can bring it back out of him.

Langford could come in to the side if they keep Langdon on a wing and Rivers moves back but I suspect we'll see the 3 small forwards unchanged, unless they do a like for like swap with Spargo or K Brown for instance. It's just too important to not have as many hard 2 way runners as you can get in the forward line these days.

Out: AJ (Susp) In: Disco Out: Howes (dropped) In: Billings/Woey with Rivers going back and Langdon sliding inside Out Langford (dropped) In: Billings/Woey/Laurie/K Brown Real shame for AJ but actually could help us as Disco gives us something different to AJ/JVR who seemed to be doing the same role. Disco can also back up ruck against Darling, it doesn't have to be JVR, keep both as options. Pressure staying on the 3 key forwards is good. Can't chop and change them every week but they'll know they need to perform. Howes has to go. Rivers the only option I'd consider down back unfortunately which means we need to take him from the midfield. But especially in dry Marvel conditions I think it's time to use the preseason plan on Langdon on ball and pick someone else to play the wing. Langford didn't do anything wrong but I hate having talented young guys as subs for more than 1 week at a time. He's better served going back and getting 25+ touches on ball at Casey. Take your pick for the sub vest. If Windsor is no good then we're in trouble, but either Howes stays in or Hore comes in.

First one is a dead set shocker. 2nd one I'm a bit torn on, because he's heading towards the contest whilst still corridor side. Get numbers to the footy and most of the time you win it or force a rushed disposal which favours you anyway. Jones' lookaway throw/handball has to beat Oliver, then take a series of fluke bounces that even bend towards Callaghan where had it run out further or more across the ground Henderson either grabs it or likely grabs Callaghan. The reality is we've probably asked too much of Oliver fitness wise in round 1. Which is funny that your autocorrect goes to Howes there because if we didn't have to sub Howes off for stinking up the whole joint we could've kept the extra midfield rotation with Rivers and taken off a tall. The commentators are also way too generous to Gawn. He wasn't the spare, we didn't have a spare. He was on Keefe and he's failed to go with him.

No team ever nails every gettable chance, agree on Fritta and not Sparrow's best strike. I've given up on Gawn kicking set shots, he's the one guy who's better from 40-55 out but expecting Max to kick goals isn't a genuine plan.

Skills are one factor but I think the bigger thing is transitioning our midfield (perhaps beginning with the periphery around the square then including the centre bounce guys) to include more natural outside runners. Brisbane's midfield aren't particularly great kickers, but Neale is tireless with the way he'll constantly present for those short 15m kicks or run to get involved in handball chains. Dunkley often runs to a down the line position that utilises his nearly key position height. And McCluggage is a gut running machine, and whilst his kicking goes hot and cold his best kicks are beautiful. Viney and peak fitness Oliver do an ok job at filling in the gaps to get short kicks. Tracc is more of a half hearted lead then stand and point where he wants it. But none of them are known as great selfless off ball runners who constantly repeat lead for the footy. Their strengths fit the strengths of our flag year, bomb it down the line and let them go to work cleaning up from a pack spillage. Lindsay and Windsor standout as natural run to receive the ball players as well as good kicks and Kolt has a high work rate too. Plus Langford's running to receive the footy in transition was a standout part of his junior game. But they need time, until then it's a matter for Rivers, Pickett and Langdon to try to supplement the guys we have.

From what I’ve seen at training Chappy is really big on getting at least a couple of forwards deep and in different halves of the field too. Jeffo and JvR were often doing that. In NFL terms, occupy the safeties with a pair of deep wide outs. Exploit the space underneath. But the tricky thing is it places more pressure on the mids and half forwards to break through zones. Got to move the ball side to side and with space to find the soft spots now that teams aren’t cramming all 18 up the ground and in one half.

0-15m: 4 shots, 4 goals 15-30: 7 shots, 4g, 1B, 2ns 30-40: 2 shots, 1b 40-50: 11 shots, 2g, 4b, 5ns 50+: 5 shots, 1g, 4ns We gained expected score inside 30. Lost pretty much all of it on shots outside 40. Shots outside 40 to the Punt road end which were basically attempts at miracles in to a stiff breeze on a wet day. AJ was 50/1 on that last set shot. They aren’t basic shots, that’s a forward line and midfield that can’t link up in dangerous areas. The Windsor run across half forward to find a mark inside 50 and even the Henderson dip and cut back that looked like finding Chandler but sailed on him. Thats what good footy to create real set shots looks like. Bomb it down the line to Max or Temu Max and hope they can convert from 45 or even 55 on the boundary isn’t a genuine plan.

Moving the ball quickly and via the corridor is always the answer when you can! GWS drop multiple forwards deep. Pretty much use them as decoys or for contests at the top of the square (especially when it’s Hogan). Cadman, Brown (when not rucking) Gruzewski and Leake barely touched the footy. Then their half forwards have room to operate. Brisbane, Geelong, Hawks all do similar. Salem, Bowey and Windsor all showed good signs, we have to find a way to get the mids more involved in transition to then get it to the half forwards. Longer kicks and less risk made sense in the wet but we should dial up the risk against North

He reminds me so much of Josh Kelly who’s a heck of an inside midfield but I still think can struggle when the going gets really hot (ie q4 on the weekend when Toby went on ball and Kelly outside)

I’ve never blamed him for lack of goals or possession, just lack of defensive effort and attack at the contest. Some of that is because he’s pushed hardest deep forward, but other times he’s just been very poor. Some are saying hidden injuries which could be partially true. I thought he was up for the contest yesterday, keen to see more.

Correct and nor should they. Teams cover deep forwards so well these days, it’s getting harder for the deep guys to score and the half forwards are proving the danger. Im perhaps Fritsch’s biggest critic but I thought he actually had a dip at the contest and defensively yesterday. He also had a couple of balls spoiled from him by elite defenders in the last quarter when he’d got first hands on and might’ve held on in the dry.

Entirely correct decision and bad manning up by Melbourne. The non deliberate against the Giants player who kicked it straight sideways in the 3rd quarter was a shocker tho. Lucky we got a make up call at the next stoppage

Just wait until we start using the Max Viney jujitsu on our opponents not our team mates

It wasn’t that Toby killed Howes, it was that Howes killed Howes. 2 GWS goals came from his errors like skipping over the footy in the middle of the ground or coughing up a bad handball in the goal square. And generally there were plenty of occasions for him to get a good fist in at the contest or body the ball and he didn’t take it. I don’t like to say it but he’s soft and there’s no reason to tolerate soft players when it’s not their first go at afl footy.

What do you call it when you get the yoyo and just throw it as far away as you physically can? Howes has no place jn an AFL team until he shows he's willing to stand under a high ball. We looked much sounder defensively from the moment they gave Howes the vest and moved Rivers back. It's a shame to rob Peter to pay Paul but I think that's the logical result. Happy to live with Billings on a wing especially at Marvel and use Langdon mid and forward against North.

The best way to score a goal out of a centre bounce is to burst out the front with speed followed by a handball over the top to a half forward who then goes bang. Ie. the Sparrow play I’d have kept Tracc in but I get the set play they were going for.

The painful thing about that one tho is Salem is backtracking as the kick comes, when it gets to him it’s probably over 15, but the ump has signalled no 15 as it’s in the air so Toby has a free hit on the tackle. The big lesson in GWS vs us be it kicks or handballs is to make sure every player receiving the ball is on the move. Too many stationary targets, especially by hand. One thing I love about Lindsay and also Windsor, they’re always calling for the ball out in space.

Sharp player the lowest amount of game time too. Indicative of the coaches not loving his game. Doesn’t seem to find the footy and doesn’t have cosistrnt defensive game Thought Chandler was fine, some good and bad. I like his back up wing minutes. Not a huge fan of Kynan Brown but no doubt everyone should be considered for the role.