DeeSpencer

I've thought about Gus to half back and taking out Hunt or Rivers but I doubt they'll mess with the backline set up, especially with speed vital against the Tigers. May for Petty the only change to the back 7. Gawn, Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Langdon, Gus seem locks. As is Tom McDonald at CHF I think. I can't see them disrupting the ANB, Spargo, Pickett trio that's been so responsible for our pressure. Jones is locked in. So it comes down to 4 spots for Jackson JJ, Melksham, Fritsch and maybe a key forward in Weid/Brown. I think Jackson is in against Richmond. He gives us an advantage in the second ruck minutes and we can manipulate when Max rests and what role Max plays. That said, I don't want to see much at all of Max forward this week if we bring in a true full forward target. JJ brings elite endurance and team orientated midfield play. Richmond's success is based on getting it to the outside and having guys like Graham and Lambert run all over sides. I think he stays in as the 4th on baller that allows Petracca to go forward more. Probably time to get Weid in to the side because we know we'll have 1 big forward playing every week assuming things go to plan. After that I lean Fritsch over Melksham but it's a matter of Fritsch being 100% fit and confident and ready to play a more up the ground role rather than his undersized full forward spot. If there's any doubt on Fritsch's hand then give him 1 more week.

I can't help but feel like if we were a proper organised football club in the late 00's/early 10's we would've had Joel Smith in a father son academy and developed his skills and body better. A touch of luck and better development at an early age and he might've been anything. Still time for him to get right and show something this year, I maintain he's too good for VFL level, but it just doesn't seem to be in his favour. Also a shame to see Bill Laurie out for an extended period. I guess he gets a chance to build his body and keep his legs moving once everything settles down. I thought he could debut and even be a sneaky sub option this year, but like the rest of the guys who missed all of last year he needs some footy under his belt.

It's about this stage where if he was a young West Australian in the Eagles academy he'd be locked away out of sight, there'd be a rumour about some misdemeanor and he'd suddenly spring back after the draft with 8kgs of pure muscle added to his frame.

Declan Keilty (born 8 May 1995) is a former professional Australian Rules Footballer and current Cryptocurrency investor who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was selected at pick #41 in the 2017 rookie draft.[1] He made his senior debut against Hawthorn[2] in round 7 of the 2019 season. After playing 2 senior games, Keilty was delisted by Melbourne at the end of 2019. How’s the crypto going?

I can see Hibberd going full ground as he did a couple of years ago. Maybe Gus starts at half back, JJ on a wing and Hibberd in the square then they all rotate post bounce. But I don’t think that will be plan A. I think we’ll start head to head in the midfield then have Hibbo pick him up after the bounce. Viney to mind him at stoppages makes sense.

Jackson is a special athlete. He walked in to the club with a great tank and a decent build for his body, plus a lot of talent. Comparing Bradtke to him is like comparing Weideman to Hogan or James Jordon to Clarry. Martin was drafted at 21, played full back at 22 in an awful team. Didn’t breakthrough until 25 in 2011. Jamar played 22 games at age 22 but averaged 4.4 touches, he did little more than be big and tall, and that didn’t change until well in to his 20’s. They might’ve been big boys but they were miles off starting caliber AFL rucks. Anyway, it’s not that I have huge hopes it’s just we should give him the year to see if he can impact VFL games. If he can show something at VFL level this year he’s on track.

He's had 2 seasons and 1 game. The first year he started at Nab league level before playing a few VFL games, the second year he was stuck in QLD hubs. The only game I saw him play was a practice game against North and he did a few nice things. I don't know how you'd judge his physical development unless you had mail from the club. I would've thought the aim was to develop his tank and core strength rather than add bulk. He has to show something this year so time will tell, but that wasn't even the point. The point was there shouldn't be a ceiling on what he could be based on his current size, shape or even performance. He could add to the long list of young rucks who don't make it or could be the next Jamar or Stef Martin type who offered little at AFL level until their mid 20's.

3 is working very well for them. But they dropped Mitch Wallis who was their undersized marking forward last year (and vice captain this year) because he didn't get near it and wasn't providing ground level pressure. So they drew the line at 3. And they have great skills and move the ball beautifully around until they can find their tall targets. We will likely be a bit messier and rely on contest and pressure to create chances. McDonald's tank and Fritsch and Jackson's mobility makes 4 taller players a potential option, but I doubt we'll ever see 5.

I assume they whisked him down to the G to be the emergency if someone got hurt in the warm up. Knowing that he’d only be the sub they could risk playing him for a half first.

He isn’t even 21 yet. Still 2 years away from being 2 years away! Clearly he has to keep improving this year but I wouldn’t be making any predictions about his eventual role. At 204cms I think he’ll end up with more than enough size to be a first ruck if he does the work.

Why do we have a thread about a 13 year old? Seriously lock it and come back in 3 years time at least

If you bring in both Brown and Weideman one or both of them will have to spend significant time in the CHF up the ground role that Tom is playing. He had 2 touches in the back 50 and 69% of touches in the attacking half. Replacing Tom when he's at peak fitness and in decent form for 2 guys who have played 1.5 games each and don't offer much at ground level or defensively doesn't make sense. Bring one of Weid/Brown in this week, bring the next one in when they have a bit more fitness under their belt. There's 17 team weeks until finals, now is not the time to try to assemble our best possible line up or worry about who's in the long term plans. Picking the best team for right now has to be the aim and that means keeping the guy who took 10 marks at CHF.

I thought the first half of the weekend was his first poor half and that he'd been at least good in all other games. Would be shocked if he was dropped.

Salem deserves praise for an overall good game and a kick up the backside for 3 times attempting one step kicks in congestion in to dangerous areas that resulted in crappy turnovers. All 3 times he could've reset and used a lateral option with a team mate. It was all a bit hollywood and I hope he got them out of his system. Richmond's pressure is another level up and they punish teams on turnover, he can't repeat those mistakes. The whole team was a bit off and we played a bit like the first half of last year where we forgot Eddie Langdon existed, he was wide open for the easy kick or handball but was repeatedly ignored. The next step for the team is to realise moving the ball quickly doesn't have to mean moving the ball directly, particularly using the numbers when we have them around half forward and the middle of the ground rather than kicking in to out numbers forward.

I’m not convinced of that. Bedford has some good defensive pressure traits and speed but we’re already playing 3 small pressure forwards in ANB, Spargo and Koz. Jones’ value right now is that he gets to the right place as a high half forward and 3rd wingman. Bedford can’t do that job better than Jones from what I’ve seen, he just isn’t all that smart with positioning or strong in the contest. It will take a reshuffle of Melk, JJ or Fritsch’s role to fit in another pressure forward and cover the wing minutes. A healthy Harmes, Chandler, Bowey or this weeks mystery injury candidate in Laurie probably have better attributes if you were doing a straight swap.

Do you remember Neitz’s last season? Jones wasn’t gifted games in year 1, he fought through a period under Bailey then became a star up until his role shifted. Probably got some easy games in 2019 when everyone was injured but they made him work for his spot last year. Has earned his spot until probably this week. I reckon he’s deserving of 300 easily as much as any player to get to that milestone. He’s not Sam Newman riding the pine at Geelong. Whether he finishes on 300 or 315 doesn’t change the milestone.

It's absolutely horrendous and does nothing for the atmosphere. The quiet moments at the quarter time breaks improve the atmosphere as everyone reflects on the game and gets that nervous tension going. It's ruined by blaring music. And if they want to put on some music then every Australian artist had a terrible year last year and can't leave the country. Wheel out a stage and let someone play a 15 minute set at 1/2 time if you want. You'd be doing the music industry a huge favour and providing something different for fans who want to listen to something to fill the break.

The left footed pass to Jones was nice, but apart from that kick to Jones and the kick to Gawn 1/3rd of the way through the last I noticed a lot of Melksham sub par efforts and not a lot of positives until the last 10 minutes. He has to do more to stay involved in the game. Attacking the ball with conviction would be a good start. 69% game time is about right for a mid/forward rotation player, I don't think that means anything.

The reality is they've set this game up for Jones by playing him the first 5. They'd now make it a bigger scandal dropping him than the benefit of whoever comes in to the side. It's ANZAC Eve + Jones' 300th + a 5-0 side taking on the 3 time champs. There's enough motivation to go around.

There's only so far you can push up until you're on the wing - which means stoppages and congestion - or playing down back. I can't see Jackson, T Mc, Weid and B Brown in the same side. In fact I can't see 3 of those without Jackson either unless Tom is a full time wingman and I'm not convinced of that. Tom is running his backside off to get the ball and doing a decent enough job defensively, so I can't see him being dropped right now for Weid and Brown who didn't have a tackle between them at Casey. But one of those will come in to the side then it's about Tom playing consistently well enough to keep his spot from the other option. I do wonder if we drop Tom relatively early (ie. 2 weeks time not 4 weeks time) to give him more time at Casey to play on the wing. If he dominates on the wing at Casey then he's a different proposition.

His first quarter stank. Missed tackles, bodied off the ball, kicking out on the full, and generally just messy. But much like Rivers and several team mates he didn't drop his head and rallied well. Anyone dropping him after the first 3 weeks has no idea and whilst today wasn't great he's still surely very unlikely to be dropped.

May for Petty if he's right. If not we have a decision to make on whether Petty stays for the structure or if we roll the dice with Lever on Riewoldt and bring in Jetta (or total smokey D Smith). Or Brayshaw to half back and bring in another wingman (Vanders?). I kind of like the idea of sneaking Vanders back in for a special guest appearance and just inviting him to take as many bodies as he can. Mitch Brown out for B Brown or Weid. Good luck to selectors making that decision. Fritsch I doubt we be right. If he is then we've got a tough choice to make. Possibly Melksham goes to the sub role, otherwise Jones, Jordon, Melk, Fritsch and Jackson can share minutes on the wing and Gus can go to half back as above.

At this stage - no. We had a terrible period against the Saints. We started dreadfully against the Giants before they ran out of players, and we started awfully today and a big reason why the Hawks folded was because they're a young side coming back from Perth. We've had the absolute dream draw. We're playing better and playing in much the right style but too much of the ball movement lacks polish and we still need more system going inside 50. That's not to say I don't trust that players to give strong efforts more weeks than not (no team is ever perfect) and it's not to say we aren't making good progress but at this stage I think we just lack the polish to really be reliable. And I'm a bit doubtful on whether we can play top line pressure footy against the best sides when we're probably a couple of mid/forward rotation players short who can both pressure and provide quality with the ball. We'll see what happens with the big forwards if they straighten us up in a good way (and don't just encourage long bombs). Overall though I think Petracca and Oliver in particular need to become capable of the Pendlebury or Dusty type moments just cutting through congestion with beautiful skills not just power.

I reckon he’s gone from running under the ball in the preseason and the first 2 weeks to starting to time his leaps nicely. Next step is holding them. He does some sneaky clever things though. He gathered the ball at half forward after Pickett caught Selwood and he deliberately waited until the tackler engaged him before releasing the handball. He rarely gives short handballs either, he takes his time to find the right option. He’s not a natural forward but there’s more than enough natural footballer in him.

He’ll likely get it downgraded to a fine but it’s a clearly unnecessary bump and from the other angle it’s high. Making it a week is the only way to stamp it out.