DeeSpencer

Viney’s finals in 2018 were amazing. I don’t think I ever lost confidence that he could do the same if we got him fit, healthy and playing with continuity. A lot of his ball use problems came from lack of cohesion with team mates and the balance of the midfield being off. Oliver dramatically improved his ability to use his legs this year. And Jackson in the ruck even if just for 30% provided another receiver at centre bounces. With Neal-Bullen, Pickett, Langdon, Sparrow all flashing in and out of stoppages around the ground it’s much less of a surprise that Jack started giving those handballs and trusting the receiver. Nibbler in particular went from a guy who should never have received a handball in traffic to someone who could dodge, baulk and hit a target

Tall backs: May, Petty, Tomlinson, Turner* Medium backs: Lever, J Smith, Hore* Small backs: Salem, Rivers, Bowey, Hibberd*, Hunt, D Smith Inside mids: Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Harmes, Sparrow Outside mids: Langdon, Brayshaw, Jordon, Declase*, Baker*, Rosman Rucks: Gawn, Jackson, Daw* Key forwards: B Brown, McDonald, Weid, M Brown* Medium: Fritsch, Melksham* Small: ANB, Pickett, Spargo, Laurie, Bedford*, Chandler* Mitch Brown, Baker and maybe Bedford are the 3 who might be the most under pressure.

Bont gets at least a fine in the regular season but who cares. Caleb is still 5 foot 7. On a good day.

Might've been Dunkley's bad shoulder but I reckon Koz has actually moved him sideways a lot. Like uncle Byron he has the sweet sweet timing. You can see he gets it spot on. Dunkley might've gone down more out of shock than looking for the free.

Mention the Bulldogs player so I can know if it was worth it.

As much as I despise them he was also a driving force in making GWS a serious footy club.. There were other differences as well but when you compare Port and GWS to the other clubs that came in at similar times in Freo and Gold Coast you see the huge impact. Winning flags are tremendous achievements but taking clubs that have either lost their way or are expansion clubs back to being competitive and beyond is half the battle.

The perfect kick to a lovely Fritsch lead changed the momentum of the game in an instant. Maybe it was always going to flick our way at some stage. We’d burned some chances (namely Harmes himself) and the Dogs had a run of things working out for them. There was something to the perceived pressure that caused the Smith fumble. Viney came through hard. We’d hit hard for most of the night and we had a lot of their options covered. We were the only side to chop down the Dogs midfield handball game for long periods all year. And we could exploit maximum damage when we did so.

The only time I’ve seen Petracca cry is when we won the minor premiership at Geelong, and it was tears for the fans and the club. Lever gets impacted more by the heat of the game I think. That’s his flaw, if his sorts that he’ll go up another level. Not to say he’s not a great candidate but he’s not perfect. Petracca’s been digging in and trying to win close games since very early in his career. His media work has improved leaps and bounds. If Gawn can go from class clown to premiership captain then Petracca can too.

Lever’s on field direction is amazing. If you didn’t see him live this year you missed one hell of a show. But Petracca has come so far with his footy, his preparation, his media work, his love for the club. He’s a worthy candidate. The good news is we can probably put together a serious leadership group now. Players on all lines, with a variety of personalities and play styles. Gawn, Viney, Petracca, Lever, May, Brown probably standout. With Harmes, Salem, Oliver, ANB, Brayshaw, Tomlinson, McDonald, Langdon all worthy candidates. Thats 14 guys! 13 premiership players. Whether we make a formal group of them or not doesn’t really matter.

Probably a better way to start by using the term wags, it’s only appropriate as a put down for influencers breaking covid restrictions.

Rarely has a big name recruit (on or off the field) worked as well as Burgo. But I was also very impressed with the way he gave credit at one stage to the guys who worked under him. Including getting Brisbane’s number 2 man and someone back from the US. I agree we could look at a flexible work arrangement but also if we need to let him go we’ve got a capable fitness team. There will be regression next year one way or another. I think we just witnessed the healthiest season in AFL history. The lessons on hard work paying off hopefully will be with this group for a while.

We've had multiple paths to goal (or to behinds) this year that's for sure and a nice mix between fast and controlled ball movement, ideally with some more kicking game to build on for years to come I hope. But certainly the best thing about our defensive structure is it doesn't rely on racing up to force turnovers, nor does it allow teams free reign if they switch. It's so nice to see teams switch and get nowhere! The intercepting is plan A, but in forcing teams to kick it to strange spots they risk more turnovers. And in forcing teams to play their talls defensively they suddenly aren't attacking by definition. If Schache is just trying to hold off Lever then he's not marking it himself. Apart from some quick clearance entries the only real weapon the Dogs had was using Bont as a marking forward.

Fritsch absolutely would've held that hanger if Maxy didn't spoil it.

Can we get one last best 23 for the year?

6 - Petracca 5 - Oliver 4 - Jackson 3 - Fritsch 2 - Salem 1 - ANB To beat the Dogs by 74 points with Gawn, Lever and May being quiet and Daniel and Bont playing well shows you how good our best players were and how deep our side was too. Everyone played their role for a decent chunk of the game.

The game didn’t break for Koz and it was disappointing to see him go in to his shell at times but he also never stops running. His work rate opened up room for team mates and then his defensive pressure created chances. He can positively impact a game without touching the ball. It was strange to see him tentative at the contest for the ball because he put his body right on the line defensively multiple times. His shepherd to buy Petracca room for the dribble goal was a thing of beauty

His chase on JJ to impact the kick when things weren’t going well impressed me as much as anything. A full preseason with Ben Brown teaching him leading patterns could take his forward game to another level. Early in the year when we went smaller he had a much bigger role up forward and had some great games but it was mostly when the play came to him. His forward game started to come on and hopefully just keeps getting better

Ravens, SeaHawks, Buccs

I reckon he was trying to protect it early. In the second half he said ‘stuff it’ and went all out. Still surprised we didnt have Hunt as sub given it was clear May was a risk. But all is well that ends well. I rate Naughton as high as any forward in the comp, he’s the best mark in the league. May restricted him to 4 marks.

Congrats on your son playing for the Saints in future years

Bont on Oliver. Fine at most. Good footy

Gawn went down easy looking for the free kick. Players risk their safety to draw free kicks all the time. It probably should’ve been paid but he definitely exaggerated it