DeeSpencer

He looked underdone against the Swans. And in the VFL the week before too for those who saw it. I reckon the job on Walsh was excellent and sharpened him right up and last night was about the peak of that. Maximum votes in the best and fairest for that game.

Not to be too negative but I reckon we’re still making far too many silly mistakes. Gawn played on inadvertently twice due to stepping off the mark at half forward. Both led to easy turnovers. He filled Petracca’s quota this week. The umps are red hot on it and players have to learn. And we need to nail the unselfish forward play. No more Tom McDonald stiff arms. No more Max Gawn snaps in traffic. Feed the ball back to our mids and reset the attack. And every slow long down the line kick that doesn’t reach a tall target should be treated with disgust. May went long to ANB with 2 minutes left in the first half when Gawn was on the boundary. Several other times kicks fell away from Tom, Weid and Jacko. It’s a core part of our game plan and we can’t get it wrong, especially if we’re playing such a tall forward line. Our forwards also have to be aware of the deliberate rule and know their job is to help the backs. Melksham sat and watched a ball roll out that he could’ve touched. Get over and get it. Petracca, Oliver and others turned the ball over in the corridor in the last quarter far too many times. It wasn’t helping the plan to just kill the clock. If we can ice games we can rest our best players so they don’t miss weeks. And JJ, love your effort, but you aren’t kicking centre square goals from 60 brother. The clearance was beautiful, back yourself to find a hit up. Or go 15 out so it isn’t rushed. The guys were great last night, but there’s still a lot of sloppy stuff that can be fixed pretty easily. Small things that can make a big difference if we get them right.

Tell him to say hi to Marcus for me

Yeah I thought he wasn’t amazing as well. But I loved the aggressive zone off and mark at the start of the 3rd or 4th? After we gave up a howler of a centre bounce clearance giving Libba a free run. I’d love to see Rivers take more kick outs in the plan is just bomb it long. I get the feeling Salem was on light duties last night. And May was stuffing plenty up with misdirected long kicks, including the one that gifted a goal just before half time. I wouldn’t mind them using Petty as a marking target on the other flank to Gawn and the key forwards from kick outs. I’m still not sure on his ideal fit long term. He doesn’t seem all that powerful or quick on the lead, but has excellent agility to chase smalls and compete on the ground. He’s a unusual mix of attributes. Still, hopefully he’s settling in and it’s impressive to see him play well given he had an interrupted summer on the back of missing all of last year

Rivers has a funny habit of starting games slowly. He gifted Weightman a goal early. Then bouncing back and just building the longer the game goes. It was his best game for the year tonight. Just on Weightman, he dropped a lot of easy marks under little pressure - from a variety of defenders. He played a bit like Kossie from last year. I expect he'll settle in to AFL and be holding them and converting within the next year. I wish JT figured out a way to get both the small forwards!

Weid saved his spot late, but he needs to start holding a few soon. Simply has to clunk enough marks to make up for his deficiencies. Hunt is now officially on selection watch, but whilst the backline functions so well and the VFL boys don't get to play I wouldn't change anything.

I can see a case for Baker and I wouldn't be too upset if they gave him a go. He's been working closely with Langdon and I think his running and positioning is much better. His contested work is still poor but the only way to improve it is to play him more. At this stage though: Out: Melksham, Langdon In: Sparrow, Jones Brayshaw, (80%) Jones (60%) and JJ (60%) share the wing minutes. Sparrow plays mid and forward. What we lose in Langdon's 2 way run we make up in the extra mid rotation.

Could do, but would be a waste of an opportunity to use Sparrow and Baker to find out more about them. I wouldn’t mind holding Jones back to later in the year for another chance. Unless we go a double change with someone else who doesn’t play wing and doesn’t pressure.

ANB is too important and is also a see ball get ball player, I don’t think he’ll hold a wing or compete well in the air. It’s either Baker, or go with Sparrow on ball and JJ wing I think. JJ’s doing alright from what I can tell as the 3rd wing.

McClug playing a lot of centre square. Harmes to him. Zac Bailey equally a threat. As are all of Brisbane’s mids, they’re super deep. Baker’s clearly improved his tank, expect he’ll get a chance.

But mostly because he just wasn't all that good to begin with, then had a nasty injury. I think Libba has to be sat on at the coal face and Bont can't be allowed easy kicks, they're deadly players in those situations, otherwise it's a team effort. Dealing with the Dogs inside to out flick around handball game is a whole different beast though. We have to win our share of the ball and then we have to pressure like mad to stand a chance of shutting that down. I'm very worried about the likes of Brayshaw and Melksham who don't have that quick change of direction and constant energy, they'll leave glaring gaps in the net of pressure required to close down the Dogs.

Midfielder has break out game when allowed to play in the midfield isn't a huge shock, but also highlights to me that Narkle isn't a wingman or a half forward. He has burst pace but not a lot of top end speed and does he best work around the contest. He's on the smaller side, isn't a great pressure player and his skills are sharp but not amazing. Would he dislodge Oliver, Petracca, Harmes, JJ or Viney? I don't think so. Would he be an upgrade on Sparrow or Bailey Laurie next year - maybe, but not enough to go chase him. That's why a player like Narkle will probably struggle to generate a lot of interest and get teams chasing him. A lot of teams are in the same position we are where we'd love outside or mid/forward players with pressure and skills. If you are on baller who's outside a teams best 4 options you won't generate a lot of interest.

It’s 70k a player if it doesn’t work out - 50k pay and 20k severance payment. But for 50 million dollar businesses that’s peanuts. I don’t really buy the resources argument. For us it’s filling in 3 ACL victims who are all probably easy to manage. I reckon the benefit of fresh legs on the track is actually underrated. If you’re bringing in older players they should be easy to manage, if you’re bringing in a young guy for the future you’ve given yourself a head start. There’s a lot of rookies who barely get a chance because the draft and their first year is over so quickly. It didn’t work out last time but I think teams will find 19 year olds this time (partly from the stronger covid crop) who play really well next year.

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.