DeeSpencer

6. Tommy 5. Salem 4. May 3. Langdon 2. Oliver 1. Nibbler Too much love for the inside mids. They had a poor game.

Harmes’ worse was dreadful and overall it wasn’t a good game. I agree it’s staggering he was picked ahead of Sparrow. But....his work rate is good, his tackling is strong and in the second half he put away the desire to break 7 tackles and gave a few more first options. We need midfield fitness and experience with Viney out. And the ability to swap mids and forwards on ball remains a key part of our game. Now that Harmes is in I’d stick with him for another week. Bring Sparrow in for Melksham and rotate Harmes and Petracca through the forward line more to keep the legs fresh.

Sparrow for Melksham. Petracca could do with a light week playing forward. The extra predominant mid will help. Plus it’s clear we need more pressure and run if we’re sticking with the tall forward line.

They said 2 weeks after last week. So at least 1 week to go. My guess is they’ll be cautious and give it another again. Why would you rush Viney with a foot injury. That’s never worked well for us

Drop Melksham for being a pea heart. You don’t get to play if you don’t respect the jumper. Start a go fund me for Nasher’s blindness.

Second week in a row Lever has been tagged - by athletic mid sized forwards in Zuhaar and Hayward. Petty’s lack of speed means we can’t swap him over as easily as Tomlinson, which means Lever can’t rotate on to the bad tall. Just something to watch in the way teams are targeting the guy who might’ve been our best player through 6 weeks.

Sydney drop a number back and often concede stoppage clearances, plus they’re a lot easier to win in your backline. The +11 stoppage clearances pretty much balance the -13 centre clearances. Where as when we play well we win in the centre and lose the stoppages because we have a lot inside 50

His best was brilliant, but it was a 2020 game of sublime and awful. A lot of the centre clearances were on him failing to capitalise on getting the hit to him. And his kicking simply needs to be better too.

Took an amazing mark that wasn’t paid but I still think his body isn’t right. If he doesn’t add strength he needs to quicken up . At the moment he’s neither quick, strong nor probably fit enough to have a huge impact.

Does she have a rather harsh voice and isn’t afraid to use it? And bickers with her husband. If so I sat near her last week and couldn’t stop laughing

Our midfield got an absolute bath. Ben Matthews will be smiling I reckon. Credit to the forwards for getting a score, and very much credit to our backline for a huge job. But the mids need a kick in the backside. Harmes - zero first options Clarry - flat footed Gawn - awful. Petracca - going for too much. JJ - effort good but execution lacking Brayshaw - diabolical Tom Sparrow in please.

Jones is the best example given we’ve had no one else. Maybe I should’ve gone Scott Pendlebury or even Buddy Franklin. Theres a distinct possibility we’re paying Tracc more than his output in the latter years. Anyone confidently predicting he plays at a high level in to his 30’s is very optimistic. Don’t get me wrong I support this deal and think if things go to plan with the cap rising and a window for success right now it’s absolutely the right thing to do. It’s just a reality of free agency and the competitive market for players. There’s no way we were ever getting the perfect deal.

It’s really an 8 year deal because he already has a year to go, and it takes him well in to his 30’s. Imagine paying Nathan Jones 900k a year now, it wouldn’t be a great look. The other downside is we lose flexibility. If he signed on one year at a time we could dump all our spare cap space in any individual year in to his contract. Say we unexpectedly traded a couple of players, all of a sudden we pay Tracc 1.5 for a couple of years to get extra space. But that flexibility is only useful if plans change. Still, it’s footy, plans do change! A recent article about Bont’s contract said they’re looking at triggers and other options to put in his deal. I sense they know he’s a dog for life so they’ve got more freedom on how they structure his deal. A five year deal really would’ve been optimal, but if your choices are 5 years at 1.2 or 7 years at 900k then it’s a no brainer.

If we offered Tracc a 5 year deal the only way he probably signs it is if it’s at 1.2 a season. That’s how he gets his 6 million minus a hefty tax bill. By going to 7 years at 900k he gets his 6+ million, loses less in tax and we get 300k per season more in cap space. The entire strategy with Gawn, Lever, Viney, Harmes, May, Salem, Langdon, Tomlinson is to have all those guys signed up on long deals so each takes less per year. Oliver’s done a short term re up then probably gets a long deal when he’s at free agency age. Fritsch the same. If we save anywhere between 100-300k a season by going longer deals on 8 or so of our big names we can then bank 1M to put towards the next generation and any recruits. Kane has this idea that the short deal would save us cap space. It’s nonsense. That only works if Petracca plays poorly or we trade him. The long term deal is how we save cap space.

Even with the new rules providing some relief it's really hard to be an unathletic key forward. We already had 2, and for some reason decided to add a 3rd. There's some hope with Tom McDonald recapturing his leap and ability to find space on the lead, but he still can't turn or change direction quickly. Jackson and Fritsch don't really provide any solutions because Fritsch is still meh defensively (if somewhat improved) and Jackson does his best work up the ground as a forward or in the ruck. More ruck minutes for Jackson = more Gawn forward = another even less mobile tall forward target. The best combination with Jackson and Fritsch is just 1 genuine tall in a CHF role. That's what Tom's provided and why it has worked well. Can Tom keep it up? Who knows. But he's more likely to do so when given more responsibility in that role than trying to share it. Can Brown do the same job - yes, although he has to embrace doing more dirty work and realise he's not the 60 goal full forward. Can Weid do it? Well, maybe if his tank is at full capacity, and he did it last year before he ran out of juice late. Brown, Weideman, Jackson, Fritsch. It just isn't going to work. The quicker we stop pretending the better for everyone. I've maintained all along that Brown will cost us Weid, and maybe that's ok and we just accept it. Brown could be the better player for the next couple of years and Weid could maintain his level of just marginal AFL talent. So it might be the opportunity to actually find a long term replacement.

Petty's second half against Hawthorn was pretty good too. That Hawthorn game had 3 tall forwards and the pressure didn't work then either. I think Melksham for another pressure small will be considered but overall I think Melksham gives us 5 on ballers (Petracca, Oliver, JJ, Sparrow, Melk), which means the 4 of those apart from Oliver can all play a decent amount forward and contribute to the pressure whilst keeping fresh. The forwards chasing and harassing to create pressure only works when paired with the mids covering all the exists, so we can't get too light on for mids.

I still have big doubts on the Brown/McDonald/Fritsch/ruckman combination, especially if it's a slippery night. My guess is one of those guys - likely McDonald - takes a spell on the wing for at least some part of the game to mix the forward line look up. Sparrow and Petty for Baker and Tomlinson seem the likely changes. Given he played practically a full game last week I'd have Jones as the medical sub and give the young guys a good run at Casey.

Tom Browne's report pretty much was based around other clubs saying they've asked about Petracca and his manager has said 'he's not interested'. Personally I reckon there's probably a lot more to do to complete a deal. Petracca will want to stay and the club will have a rough ball park of the money he's worth but after that there's so many factors on how to get the deal done. The Dogs right now are negotiating with Bont who is 1.0001 to stay and to get a huge deal, but they are working through all sorts of factors with the structure. There's a long way between Petracca indicating he's happy to stay and the club indicating a ball park figure and everything getting signed and sealed.

If Fritsch doesn't try to fend they both clash heads and both end up in the concussion protocol. An unfortunate accident but no damage done.

Depending on your definition of top liner I wouldn’t be 100% sure on that with either of those guys, but particularly Jordon. He’s a late birth date just eligible for the draft, and his rate of improvement from years 1-3 has been quite outstanding. Clearly he’s built his tank a lot but I reckon there’s still plenty of scope with his strength and power. He might lack the traits to be a game changer but that’s true of most mids. There’s a clear path for him to become a very solid midfielder and from there who knows. The Brownlow top 10 and AA team are full of mids who started from humble beginnings. Club best and fairests even more so.

I’ve long been a Salem in the midfield guy but really the high half forward and high half back positions are roles that require midfielders and see players play in the middle of the field! Salem gets more disposals and with as much impact at half back as he would in the middle. Rivers and hopefully Bowey are options to grow in to Salem’s role but I’m not in a rush to see it. Maybe a little look at Brayshaw to half back, Salem on ball, someone else to a wing could be an option if we want a small sample but it wouldn’t be a priority.

I thought he was a mixed bag, but Tommy was completely out of the game and we didn't move the ball from half back or hold possession by moving it around either. I don't think we need Fritsch, the ruck and 2 talls. At least until Brown is settled in the side and we can evaluate what he brings and his team mates learn to play with him I'd rather lean on the side of going smaller. He's got a big tank, he can come up the ground more, or lead over the back more like Fritsch does. The speed with which we spread when attacking makes hitting targets and far easier and opens room for our mids to run through. Going smaller isn't all just about defensive work rate, it's in attack as well.

IF Fritsch gets off: Out: Tomlinson, Baker In: Sparrow, Chandler Tommy Mc plays back. Brown/Fritsch/Jackson forward line. If Fritsch suspension is upheld/unchallenged: Out: Tomlinson, Baker, Fritsch In: Petty, Sparrow, Chandler FB: Hibberd May Tommy/Petty HB: Hunt Lever Salem C; Langers Petracca Gus HF: Spargo Jackson ANB FF: Pickett Brown Fritsch/Tommy Foll: Gawn Oliver JJ Int: Rivers, Sparrow, Chandler, Melksham

There was no forceful or deliberate striking motion. Purely a fend.

They both put elbows out to attempt to break tackles. Neither expected their opponents heads to be below shoulder high