DeeSpencer

When did the club ever say that? There was no way of knowing how long it would be until he had the surgery and the only time frame I’ve ever seen from the club is 4 weeks until he’s back running. He has a bad knee, it was never going to be a super quick recovery. Whether he’s out until round 2 or round 6 is probably dependent on what happens when he starts running again.

Tom’s definitely at his best using his tank, to bounce back from the last two years he’ll have to play to his strengths but also do his job forcing contests which he hasn’t the last two years. The Saints used 2 rucks and Max King to make sure they had a predictable top of the square option at all times. The Saints rucks are more skilled and better movers than Max, but it’s worth considering the change up of using Jackson (or maybe Daw) in the ruck and putting Max forward. He will make defenders panic and draw free kicks. The specifics depend on match ups and structures really, my main argument is that the long bomb and hence the need for a tall striker has been pretty much dead in soccer for a long time. Tall targets are still vital in footy, but they don’t have to be superstars.

I think there's more than one way to be classed as a small forward and the best teams have a variety of skillsets. Anything from elite speed like an Aaron Davey, super aerial and one on one ability like Jeff Farmer (and Eddie Betts), or just innate ability to read a crumb like Luke Breust. The 50+ goal kicking small is a rare and special player but good luck trying to find a guy like that. Spargo's more of a half forward and doesn't have elite speed, aerial ability or a big back of tricks but he showed in his first year he could do enough of the basics well enough to contribute in finals. Bedford has good speed but that's about it. Chandler has sharper skills, finds more of the ball and is a stronger tackler from what I've seen. Richmond's small forward brigade is illustrative of the different mixes. Rioli has some Rioli skills at times but is often pretty messy with the ball and I'd say he's quick without being lightning, he runs all days and senses the moment to pressure. Bolton wasn't great with his pressure early, but he has some crazy skills and is great in the air, he's kind of a small full forward mixed with a midfielder. Castagna was a half back flanker who competes in the air, has great pressure but no skills. Then they've played Higgins at times who is really a midfield playing half forward and is now traded. They've played Aarts who's a grinder. And Butler was the pure speedy crumber with low possessions who fell out of favour. The one constant is pressure and work rate to stay in the side, but the way they win the ball and how they use it is different for each player.

I'm not sure we have the option of introducing Jesus to the line up. Richmond won the flag in 2017 when they realised instead of playing 2 talls they could get away with 1 and add more speed and change the way the game was played. But they've also played 2 and even 3 ever since, and backlines aren't pushing nearly as high and opening up as much space now as they were then. That said; skills, speed (of ball movement and leg speed) and cohesion are probably more important in kicking goals than big key forwards. I think tall forwards are needed, it makes it a tough slog for the little guys if you go without them completely. The opposition start taking intercept marks, the mids start to worry about going long and direct and start overusing the ball. But you don't need to be a good mark or kick to be in the right place structurally and to force a contest. It can be Majak Daw and Tom McDonald in the long down the line spots and bringing it to ground with crumbers at their feet and Petracca and Fritsch can be leading out to space if the kicker can find them.

I don't think clubs really hide talent at all. In fact clubs are usually conservative that if they have someone talented from an unusual background they often get them to do a year at a state league or get them in to a NAB League team to play some games at the higher level to see if they measure up. Tom Stewart at Geelong. Lewis Jetta. Liam Ryan doing a second WAFL year. There's plenty of guys who had the talent but clubs didn't rush in to drafting. But apart from that it just doesn't really add up that we'd ask Kobe to not play all that well and not offer him anything in return. If we wanted him to tank his draft stock surely we'd have to have promised him we'd take him in the rookie draft in return. The reality is most likely that he wasn't all that good and with shrinking lists and a small draft he missed out. It is possible that he didn't impress Freo either for footy reasons or who knows, could be for other reasons. And maybe the chance to move out of WA and in with his father has had a good impact on him too. Wouldn't be the first or last in that boat.

Care to answer the question? There's nothing in Bedford's game that makes him qualified as a small forward compared with Chandler or Spargo.

Happy with this. We need a second mature ruck. We need key defensive depth. And with the injuries we might need forward depth. Majak can do all 3 at once. The only problem is they don’t have a lot of time to assess his body unless they’ve had this on the cards for a while. There’s a chance his body just isn’t what it was after his severe injuries so they need to thoroughly investigate that if he’s to get a list spot.

The repeat efforts on the near side flank were incredible. Such leadership and smarts. She held together the backline that was pretty much just her and sometimes the brilliant but unpredictable Goldrush. Need to strengthen that group up if we’re to go deep in the comp. Birch struggling. Colvin better but still up and down. Lampard first game back. Edmonson might have to go to the wing and swap with Heath. Or they might need to try the other Irish lass

Umpiring didn’t match the standard of the players. We got more of it then North but it was awful for both sides. Every second tackle isn’t a free kick! As I said we got the better of it but it also might’ve hurt us because we wanted pace on the game. The more the game moved the better the Dees are

She’s played so much better this year but she’s a basketballer in her mid 30’s, it’s impressive she’s even out there. But she’s had a shocker dropping her head when Hanks laced her out in the last. Swallow that, turn around and nail the goal and end the game. Zanker and Bannan are still inconsistent too. Parry might be the most trust worthy under a high ball. Or Scott. But we need them up the ground. If we had one more good crumber to pair with Hore the forward line would have more balance.

They all have 2 first names. (someone has to name their kid Jetta right)

What makes Bedford a small forward and not Spargo and Chandler? Is it his race? He’s not Eddie Betts but Spargo has some forward craft - can crumb, can move through traffic. He’s a pretty standard forward flanker. Melksham is a different type of player, he has enough forward craft if it wasn’t for his lack of pressure. ANB isn’t an AFL level footy iq player but he does have rare physical gifts to play the high half forward. He’s 5% smarts, skills and tackling from being an effective team man. It’s certainly now or never though.

We do? Hore (long), Weid (med-long), B Brown (short-med), Viney (short) and a small rehab group who have all done a fair bit of preseason apart from Brayshaw. That’s not too bad. And it’s missing guys from where we have depth Geelong’s rehab group has Duncan, Dangerfield and Cameron who might be their 3 best players.

Tassie gave them a huge financial boost and a home ground advantage that helped them get 4 flags. The premiership then led to the membership boost. Jeff is likely just being Jeff. They can now sustain a strong Victorian base. Although they certainly don’t want to give up that sweet Tassie money and the home ground advantage.

Weid’s a bad pressure player, that’s why I was skeptical on the fit with B Brown. But he can tackle - and to hurt - when he catches guys. It’s hard to know just how bad he is because he’s played so few games in a functioning pressure forward line. He was more like 1 tackle a game early in the season last year, then ran out of puff late. It’s hard to read much in to his last month when the bloke was gassed. The numbers are clearly inflated by games where he was in the ruck but his 2018 tackle numbers were much better. Everyone has to press up and cut off outlets and Weid and the other tall/s have to bring the ball to ground for their to be tackles. A Fritsch/Melk/Preuss or Brown or T Mc/and half fit Hannan forward line wasn’t going to lead to many tackles for the big blokes. Defenders had options everywhere to escape the press.

I doubt they’ve done enough match practice to even see something special. 1.5 goals and 4 tackles in the Wafl colts means he’s not hopeless. So I’d imagine it’s just he’s settled in well and is physically and mentally handling the training and move across the country. We’ve got 3 list spots and no true ‘rookies’ on our rookie list. He’ll be on the base wage and yes he’s probably worth a bit in good press which can’t hurt. It will be interesting to see if they sign Deakyn Smith too.

Hard to know how to judge Yze. He had some terrific seasons. Led the league in kicks and was a beautiful kick too. But he wasn’t a superstar wing to such a level that he compares with the on ballers. I think Jones is being underrated. He was heavily tagged at times and his kicking in his prime was really underrated because it started poorly and has tailed off. He would’ve had at least one AA in a mid table team. Oliver’s already reached a level equal to or better than Jones’s best but he’s plateaued the last two seasons. He has to use the ball better by hand and foot. He can’t be big numbers and low impact. If the hot potato at the stoppages isn’t cut out of his game immediately this year then it’s bad news for his career path.

Maybe we could send a Facebook DM to Jonny Patton?

Two separate discussions to me: 1. Do we need to bring in a ready to go key forward? Maybe. At this stage I'd lean towards no with T Mc projecting to be better and M. Brown as well. Especially if they initial indications on B. Brown are positive. If B. Brown is looking more like missing months than just weeks then that changes the equation. 2. Should we look at McCartin. Nope. Just way too many concussions IMO. Poor guy should move on to his next phase in life.

Bowey has one of the smoothest kicking actions I’ve ever seen. If every player could kick like that our disposal issues would be a thing of the past

Carroll has good size and skill and could play in a number of positions. He’s different to the first two picks. They’re also talking up Rosman as a tall when the plan is to develop him as a wing. A tall wing but hardly different to how Carroll could play the position. If they’re seriously debating it and haven’t got their order and contingencies based on earlier picks sorted then it’s a bit of a mess. I hope they’ve asked Kelly OD to ham it up for the cameras.

There's some irony that Eddie was protected by the boys club when he truly did stuff up a number of times over the years and should've received a greater punishment then. But now he's been hounded by a select group of boys and girls after commissioning a report in an attempt to help his footy club. Calling on Nike and Emirates to pressure the Pies, really? Those bastions of ethical business getting up on their high horses. Taking the bloke to task because he committed the great error of being positive and 'proud' of his football club and tried to push the message that they were working on reforms. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Eddie who should've given the gig up years ago but I do wonder where we're going as a society when the answer is to gang up and take someone down just to feel important. It's nonsense.

My takeaways were Tim Lamb loves Laurie, and his highlight package is pure class so it's hard not to see the appeal there. Lots of clubs wanted him in the draft so hopefully that's a good sign. There might be some reluctance on just where and what they do with Bowey. His kicking and vision is supreme but I expect he'll take time to settle in to a role. Half back is a sensible starting point because you want him getting 10+ kicks a game but it might just take a while. Taylor's enthusiasm for Rosman was a big positive. There's some chance that we've overrated him due to a potential needs fit but it sounds like they weren't just drafting him because they need a wingman. If JT says a guy could explode they've clearly envisioning some big upside. Let's hope it happens.

You hope the whole thing is staged. The strategy of taking the best 2 kicks, that's nonsense. If that's how it falls then great, but you take the best 2 players. A panicked meeting about the 3rd selection when you've had months to get an order finalised and run scenarios based on the earlier picks. Come on now. Goody hasn't been as involved with the draft (every year but no doubt more so this year) and so isn't as enthusiastic to play up for the camera. That's what I hope that is.

“I don't think we can carry 3 talls in our forward line with the poor crumbers that we have. We can't rely on pickett or Spargo to even find the footy, let alone kick goals“ “how bloody slow are Tomlinson, Melksham, Brayshaw, Spargo, OMac, etc. I could have all of them coming at me at once and I reckon I could sidestep all of them” For the record can we assume you were hacked when these posts were made from your account?