DeeSpencer

Brayshaw’s lack of leg speed, pressure and skills would be flaws no matter where you put him. I reckon he’s actually pretty quick once he’s rolling, it’s the change of direction that’s the issue. The wing suits that running as much as any position and his inside game still gets used at stoppages. Also let’s stop pretending he deserved to finish 3rd in the Brownlow. He swallowed up all of Oliver and Gawn’s votes because both talk back to the umps and ones a ruckman. Not much point worrying about list management now, for the time being he’s clearly our best option opposite Langdon. Apart from 2 ridiculously bad kicks he played well.

I was glad he wasn’t stuffing around with it, although he probably had more time on one of them. He also wasn’t helped by Ben Brown freelancing and dropping all the way back inside d 50 when he needed to be the outlet target. As long as it’s long, wide and high I don’t mind the dump from the backline kick. It’s on the forwards to be in the right spot. And even if it’s deliberate or out on the full it should be defensible

Chandler replaced Melksham who was playing a fair bit of midfield anyway. So it restores the balance to 5 inside mids which is the right number. Instead of 4 guys playing 75% we can lower it down to 5 guys playing 60%. Allows Petracca to play more forward time and for more rotations forward and on ball for all those guys. If they're really clever they might be able to rotate the backs and small forwards more frequently and keep them fresher.

I agree. You can't allow players in to the space then penalise their opponents. That's ignoring 1 rule then enforcing the next. Poor Chandler had a choice to follow Saad and disturb the play or to go boundary side and get out of the way. He ended up getting penalised for going to the boundary which didn't disturb McKay at all. The problem with the stand rule and protected area is if it was umpired to the letter of the law the mark would have to be reset constantly. And/or players would have to be moved back on their line. And don't even start me on the defenders being stuck on set shots. Forward takes a set shot has to mean the defender can move sideways with them. It's only fair. McKay was getting a stack of extra metres going to the side of the mark on his set shots.

Footy has a way of sorting out those who try to sneak free kicks. We got a similar 50 soon after. Saad’s best play was a fortunate kick off the ground. Otherwise we kept him stuck on his left foot going down the line. I’m still surprised Essendon got a top 10 pick for him.

I don’t think we’re playing possum as such TT. But I definitely think the focus has shifted to stopping the opposition winning the ball cleanly rather than win at all cost ourselves. Thats a model that’s worked for Richmond for 4 years now. Though they certainly step it up for September. If there’s one player that’s potentially holding back a little I think it’s Gawn. He’s never jumped much in the ruck and Hickey’s often troubled him with his reach and craft. He has been adapting to Jackson taking time too. I wasn’t surprised he bounced back a bit with the main share of the job again. I’m hoping the big guy has some cards up his sleeve.

I was surprised Chandler got the call up before Sparrow to begin with and I’d probably make the swap to give Sparrow a chance now before Viney is back. That said, I reckon Chandler was stuck in the no mans land pocket a bit which meant Pickett, ANB and Spargo all got more involved up the ground. None of them had big disposal games because we didn’t move the ball well but they were fresh and pressuring. We kept the balance of 3 talls and 3 smalls. His holding the ball was a bit unlucky, he bounced out of the pack nicely but ran in to a good tackle. And his 50 was rubbish. Saad was in the protected area and mucking around to draw a free. The correct umpiring is to reset the mark and remove Saad from the 5m area or just ignore it. Our players adapted afterwards and bullocked Saad away from the mark to prevent a similar incident. The metres gained doesn’t mean anything either. His backwards handball cost a few metres and led to a Spargo goal, and otherwise we probably need forwards willing to share it sideways and backwards more often. We’re still too direct to goal.

Looked more to me that he was telling his other forwards to set up for the kick in. Same as Spargo's. That's smart team play to make sure we aren't caught on the counter. When in comes to sportsmanship in regards to touched balls and those kind of things I'm not fussed either way. Take what you can get because you'll always get bad decisions the other way. But when it comes to good structured team footy and high footy IQ stuff then the more the merrier. Also let's not bother with goal reviews if both sets of players aren't arguing it!

Some similarities, but we didn't have the backline talent that Carlton do. Or the forward line - but most of those are injured at Carlton. We had too many mids, Carlton have far far too few. After Walsh and Cripps it's left to poor Ed Curnow to drive the engine room.

We won the centre clearances 12-11 today. A clear bounce back. Gawn much better. Oliver less flat footed. Harmes not trying as much. Petracca more switched on. And Carlton just aren't Sydney. Of the ones we lost a lot were free kicks that looked dubious to me. Probably our plan was to lock on. Cripps always gets a free ride and it seems Walsh gets the same whistle. We lost the around the ground clearances but I think a lot of that was because we dropped a defender off the back all day where as Carlton favour man on man. How many of Carlton's clearance kick landed in the hands of Lever, Petty or Brayshaw?

Agree we were boring today but we had 3 big forward in and it was wet. The plan seemed to not give Carlton an inch because they can take a mile. Personally I don't mind that. Why give them a chance? Disagree that we don't get clean clearances. ANB, Petracca, Jordon, Oliver x 3 all got some brilliant centre breaks. About the only one that really worked out was the Oliver mongrel kick to ANB that landed on his chest, we certainly have to do better there. But overall I thought from the centre square at least we ended up winning 12-11 and had the best quality of clearances as well. It wasn't perfect but it was a big bounce back from last week.

Caboult apparently isn't 100% right and obviously there was a lot of team stuff but I thought Petty held his own in a number of contests too. The thing about Petty from what I've seen with him at VFL is that the upside in terms of ball use and intercept marking is really strong. He has work to do on spoiling when out of position, backing himself to be assertive to impact contests and making sure he's solid over the ball under pressure but all that stuff is easier than doing the rare things. It might be a bumpy ride as it is for any key defender but if he keeps improving the basics I'm excited to see the upside.

I think Rivers and Hunt were the unheralded stars of todays win. Both make a few mistakes at times but they both cover a heap of ground to fill the gaps that allow the talls to drop back and outnumber. If generating a spare behind the ball was easy then every team would do it. Rivers had a number of crucial intercepts and Hunt made a great spoil on McKay that led to a goal in the 3rd to consolidate the break. Probably the same thing goes for ANB and Spargo at the other end. They also cover a heap of ground. Spargo's crucial quick hands were delightful and ANB put in another great shift of running. We were too tall and short up forward when the ideal set up is more mid sized players (Jackson and a resting mid for me), but the extra small in Chandler did a nice job making sure the pressure lifted in the 3rd. Nice return to form for Fritsch as well. A couple of bullet passes and if he was umpired the same way Harry McKay is he could've kicked 5.

I'd probably give Jackson a bit more time unless he's undeniably right. I don't want the 3 key forwards in the same side but another week of Weid at least lets him play with a bit less pressure I guess. Keeps the heat on Benny Brown too. Sparrow for Chandler probably has to happen. Going with 4 mids leaves too much to too few. Harmes, JJ and Petracca should all spend more time forward and give us fresher legs on ball. Our mids weren't amazing defensively and played well within themselves with attacking play too. Wasn't ideal conditions for Chandler. I'd like to see him get more of a go in better weather and with a more mobile forward line around him. We rarely moved the ball with any fluency today, which made it hard for the small forwards to find any easy touches.

Tom McDonald spent a few minutes rotating through the wing in games where we played 3 tall forwards in 2018 in rounds 6-8. Otherwise he played CHF. I doubt it was more than about 100 minutes of total game time. As well as he's playing now he's also still a suspect field kick at times - see that kick to Fritsch that was a straight helicopter today. Plus he can try to do too much in traffic. The other issue is Gus on ball hasn't been a solution to clearance problems pretty much ever in his career and certainly not lately. He's really slow to react defensively. Pretty much exactly the opposite of what we need. All of that said though, I'd look at Tom having a short stint on the wing now because just like 2018 in times we are playing the 3 key forwards. Worth a look now, but not if it messes with Tom's consistency at CHF.

Now he just needs to fix the massive glaring weakness in his game: No left foot.

His disposal average is quite a bit inflated by taking most of the kick outs. He's an interesting player, a lot of smarts and class with the ball. But in the 2 VFL games I've seen I've barely seen him in a defensive contest. Barely a spoil, a one on one ground ball or a marking contest. Obviously they were both big wins and he plays the high half back role that's more about closing space than standing a man, but it's just hard to get any read on what he'd bring defensively at AFL level. I like that he's started at half back because that's where we'd get the most value out of his kicking but I think they might have to move him around a bit just to get a read on his attributes. Throw him in the midfield to at least see how he goes with contested ball on the ground, then have him play some back pocket to take on some better forwards.

I don’t expect any sudden changes. I expect El Pres will guide the process. The last thing we heard publicly was there was a task force to pick the best site with Government involvement. I don’t know how long we’ve been seriously working on a new base. We didn’t move to AAMI until recently. If my memory is correct it’s only the last few years that we’ve got serious about the next base. And after the Yarra Park stuff leaked it’s all been Gosch’s. As long as it’s on track I don’t care if it’s slow going.

No to Weideman. McDonald back up rucks. Brown comes up the ground more at times. Fritsch resumes his taller role. Melksham and Petracca play more forward. Sparrow comes in. Pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure people. And more pressure.

Assuming they aren't totally braindead they'll run footy special Cranbourne/Pakenham trains that go from Richmond to South Yarra, then express to Caulfield and onwards. Or even just express to Caulfield then change to the regular service. Probably to more interesting question is whether they run footy specials on the way to the footy that go via Richmond. Absolutely no reason why they can't. Otherwise it will be very packed Frankston trains from Caulfield or a walk/tram/train from whatever the new Flinders St metro station is called. Why they aren't building a metro stop at South Yarra and mixing up the trains that go City Loop vs Metro is beyond me but I guess they have their reasons.

Have a look at the centre square and members wing once we get to July and August. It turns very slick and dead. The home vs tenant arrangement won’t stand up, 3 other teams will riot. We deserve one training run before round 1. Interstate teams get to and I believe we don’t. After that it’s keep off for the sake of the turf

We have a President largely appointed to get this done. The club have said the planning is underway and there’s a number of spots around Gosch’s. Can we just relax and trust the club to do what they’ve said they will do?

Some were, some weren't. He seems good for a couple of absolute brain fade skill errors a week, plus some strange decision making where his tempo doesn't match what the team is doing. He's strong one on one in the air or on the ground and is a smart player. I'm glad he seems to be doing a role but overall feel he's still nowhere near getting close to maximising his talent.

It's not an ASADA/WADA issue as far as I can tell. And the legal issue isn't a huge problem, seems a silly thing to even be going to court but that's for the people of NT to decide. He does have a couple of problems though: 1. Trust: He didn't tell the Eagles that he was busted, and they've stuck by him for a long time now. Trust is vital. We've seen that at Melbourne with someone like Harley Bennell, but also at a lot of clubs. 2. Drugs: The Eagles probably have a lower threshold for this stuff after their big issues with Cousins et al. Willie already tested positive to cannabis with his initial suspension. There were rumours he was trying to avoid a positive test by switching the samples.

Impossible to tell from the outside but I get the sense Richo might be far more valuable than most on here think. He was one of the most valuable assistant coaches for a long time. Then gets served the worst coaching job you can get at St Kilda. Neeld at Melbourne levels of bad, and he fought it out the best he could. Had he waited and taken any other coaching job he might still be a senior coach. That said, perhaps Richo's best decision so far was to hire his old mate in Mark Williams, which happened late in the piece and possibly only because Matty Egan got a job offer elsewhere. I like what Yze has been doing but the most important thing for our mids were a fresh voice and maturity. Yze could be a great coach or could be a middle of the pack coach for all I know.