DeeSpencer

Ticketed events that have covid protocols (zones, player areas etc) to allow for tracing. The next round of practice games starting March 4 are the proper ones, but they limited that to one round and made these games unofficial scratch matches.

I’d like a third tall forward but Brown and T Mc are too similar as lead up half forwards, I wouldn’t play both. We’ll miss the potential upside of someone like Hannan, a mid sizer who can pressure and mark but I’d rather go small. Little guys can still compete in the air if they are smart. I tossed up between Jordon and Sparrow but I think Sparrow’s got a bit more versatility to play forward and wing. Really keen to see both of them in practice games

Way too early round 1 team: FB: Rivers May Hunt HB: Salem Tomlinson Lever C; Langdon Petracca Rosman HF: Spargo T Mc Laurie FF: Chandler Jackson Fritsch Foll: Gawn Oliver Harmes Int: Lockhart, Viney, Sparrow, ANB Pickett, Vanders, Gus, Hibberd, Melksham not considered at this stage due to injury/absence

Bummer, I was hoping they were going to do some defensive drills this preseason

A club official posting on a a fan forum, what could possibly go wrong? Only about 1000 different things. They don't need further channels of communication, they just need to decide if they wish to use them. The official policy which has been communicated is very simple. All trainings are closed. The club can't exact promote a locked training session for fans to come stand around a fence. Should they reply to fans who contact them via email, phone or social media - I'd hope so, but that's a different scenario.

It’s frustrating that I’m sure the media can just text the media manager and get an update when they are doing their rounds. It’s just not the year for fans right now. Hopefully we’ve got a scratch match to report from next weekend

There’s nothing proven about Hunt as a goal kicker. He’s about a goal a game and occasionally bobs up for multiples. His 4 goals in round 18. At least the first and possibly the second came from the wing. And all 4 came from running in to space. I like that we’ve sent him back to half back and will get him to do what he does best which is run.

Yep he’s so powerful he can often get on to his right but he could do with a solid left foot snap. Especially in finals type pressure

Dangerfield, De Goey and Dusty have all played full forward for long stretches and they have better aerial games and can kick on their left and still don’t dominate all that often. It’s really really hard to. With longer quarters I expect Petracca to play more forward this year but he’ll still be a midfielder more than a forward.

Have to ask Gawny whether he’s better than Lochie Filipovic

We’re at least a year away from that and the best result is Jacko becoming a star forward because that’s more valuable. But we could be looking at a 50:50 split as early as next year which is actually not a bad thing. The Eagles had a lot of success using 2 rucks with Cox and Nic Nat. It can really keep the opposition guessing

Jackson, T Mc, Fritsch and rotating mids (we have multiple big body mid options) and smalls. Run, pressure and moving to space matter more than tall targets, especially early in the season. Daw, M Brown, Petty all depth options.

It’s a lot harder to take marks with the defenders converging on you than it is with you floating across the pack. Combine that with poor ability on the ground and bad kicking and it’s not a great combination. That said, Gawn isn’t nearly the player he was at centre bounces since he’s almost eliminated jumping from his game. He wins a lot of hit outs but I’m not sure he’s a net positive in the middle. His ball use around the ground was also pretty stupid at times last year. He can’t kick and should remember that. Jackson might start the year as our number 1 forward and might (small chance) even be too important to ruck. We’ll see on that. But he could also be a very important change of pace in the ruck and we might have to use Max forward to get the right mix.

I agree with most of that except in the photos on the first page he looks as fit as he ever has, all whilst coming back from a serious injury.

Yep I think if you surveyed any team, but especially bottom 10 teams, and asked for the worst players who regularly get games you'd get a list of half forward flankers. Especially team first defensive guys or those with inconsistent skills. ANB and Spargo would've both been very highly regarded by fans in 2018 and then in 2019 they would've been at the top of the list for whipping boys. They didn't drastically lose ability. The effectiveness of the game plan and the midfield efficiency dropped away.

It would be disappointing if a player and his manager didn't get the club that offered a chance to train the rights to match any deal, but I don't think it's poor form at all for clubs to sign any player that's available. These train on guys don't have any job security. If a team wants them that's fair enough. I did read a rumour once that Carlton had a go at signing Sydney Stack once he settled in well training with the Tigers. There's nothing wrong with that.

The worst part for soccer is how much money parents are rorted for when they have to shell out for every development squad and camp. Just nonsense. Coaching certainly matters but it’s the fundamental skills that are the most important. In footy that’s kick and handball on both sides, ground balls and marking. Apart from that appropriate physical development that shouldn’t be rushed - ban the weights and 3km time trials for the younger kids - and then just let them play.

You don't run with your arms.

The AFL have a funding crisis and made cuts to juniors, I get that. They've combined the mens and womens coaches to keep the number of full time jobs. The problem is these NAB League (ex TAC) aren't real clubs. They don't have true club infrastructure. The far better solution is to move to the model that they have in WA and SA of the juniors being linked in the with state league sides. That way the boys and girls can develop at the right rate. When they go up grades the coaching improves. The senior coaches set the tone for the whole club. There's ex and future AFL senior players around. The clubs have physios and doctors and so on. Those who are ready get drafted, those who miss out stay in the same pathway to work through the grades.

There's so many private schools throwing money at their footy programs and giving scholarships to a lot of kids, so it's not entirely about having rich parents. The problem is there are 2 drafts now. The AFL draft and the private schools drafting kids at 12 or again at 15. You can be from a very poor area but you got to get picked up at 12. Apart from the lack of fairness it's not always a great result for the kids. Tom Scully is the classic example of a kid who was drafted in to the private school system as an elite junior and was pretty much a professional since his teens. He's burnt out at 29, and probably wasn't at his best at any stage of his AFL career.

They're still in small group training surely, divided up in to groups of 10. In which case the royal blues does seem to have a bit of rehab about them. Viney, Smith, Gus all have niggles and possibly Clarry on a lighter week. Limited to 10 at a time they'll all be on a lighter week really.

Yep I just made a negative guess. Oh wait, no I didn’t. “Browny … with the [knee] cartilage. We’re hoping that he’d be back between Round 4 and Round 6 - it will depend a little bit on how he responds to his program.

He's referring to the first round pick we owe them after the season. Do you know what Archie Smith, Tom Fullarton, Sam Skinner, Connor Ballenden and former reality tv show winner Matt Eagles all have in common. They are the guys who got games for Brisbane in the back up ruck/forward role whilst Stef Martin was injured last year. It had no impact on where they finished on the ladder.

I understand your frustrations but I’m not sure comparing with other states or other countries. Favourably or not. Every situation is different. Every state has has a lockdown recently and they’ve all been different. WA locked down Perth and 2 other regions which is pretty much the majority of the WA population. You’d have to drive 4 or 5 hours to Albany or Geraldton to escape it. QLD didn’t but they were one case. We didn’t lockdown over the one case with the golfer but have over 4+ in the community. The issue with a metro Melbourne lockdown is so many Melburnians would flood to beach houses and farms. A police ring has to be set up and we’ve exhausted the police resources. I find it crazy that the state and feds haven’t purpose built facilities in regional areas with fly in fly out special workers. But that’s just my opinion. Today is hump day of the 5 day lockdown, so hopefully the end is in sight tomorrow

Ben’s availability for selection will be determined on how well he responds to the rehab program. We are very confident though that we can build Ben back to full fitness and we will see him in action during the early rounds of the season. “We anticipate Ben will be in a position to commence running four weeks following surgery.“ —————————— A general rule is ready to play after the same time training as off legs. Which is another month, so early April which is the early rounds of the season. Rounds 2-3 might’ve become 4-5 but that’s still in line with the reported timeline.