DeeSpencer

He has a sore chest

I thought both May and Lever were very good at the contests they got to but slack at times when they didn't get where they needed to be. They are also both the main culprits for our horrendous ball movement from the backline. If both of them had 5 turnovers missing simple kicks it would've been preferrable to what they served up. There were times where May grabbed the ball from Rivers for the kick out and did nothing with it. And times where Lever was sitting 30m out for a short kick and wasn't used and just copped it. Troy Chaplin was the one assistant we kept after last year and he and his leaders need to work out why they played without any ambition at all. They even bought Bowey on and never kicked to the guy. From what we've seen he's a beautiful kick, look him and give him the ball.

FB: Rivers May Tomlinson HB: Hunt Lever Salem C: Harmes? Petracca Langdon HF: ANB McDonald Spargo FF: Pickett Jackson Fritsch Foll: Gawn Oliver Jordon? Int: Bowey, Brayshaw?, Sparrow?, Chandler? Jones and Jetta are shot, we need to stop picking them. Jetta's lost his defensive ability, he can't close out a lead and he's never done much of anything with the ball. Jones looks ok at times but he's just too slow and can only bang the ball forward. Baker is rubbish right now, just gets caught in all the wrong spots. Vanders no better. The wing is a mess. I'd imagine Melksham is the next to be given that thankless task. Is it too late to throw Petty straight in at CHF for Tom McDonald?

With the new man on the mark rule it's just inexcusable not to move the ball around more. Steve May set the tone by just blasting kick out after kick out 80m from goal. But really all the defenders had plenty of chances to move it around. It made the game super contested and dangerous too. Beware a Melbourne game, both sides will get injuries due to how often we just hack the ball around to all parts.

I don’t agree. Our backline was mostly in place. Our forwards were what we have. The young midfielders are all 3rd year guys, physically they should be ready to compete. If Oliver needed a rest then he needed a rest. And there’s no evidence that Brayshaw first up for a half would’ve done anything more than Jordon or Sparrow.

Came up against a premiership midfield without half of ours and struggled. The most frustrating part though was we had most of our backline and refused to counter attack. And it wasn’t just that we didn’t go fast but that we didn’t go move it around ball movement either. Just do nothing then bomb. At times when Rivers took it on and mixed it up we scored. Our forward line out the back plan requires counter attack. Otherwise our forwards just run out of position. Our midfield would’ve had to dominate for this plan to work and it never was going to. The dogs are not a good forward pressure team. And sure they had the exits sealed but we had to move the ball around to be any chance of playing well.

Gawn was a target for every long kick down the line apart from inside 50. Not many rucks are given permission to run in to the forwards space and for good reason. Brayshaw worked back hard, often too hard, his issue is pressure at the contest and being so flat footed, he over corrected by just sprinting back at times. Langdon, Vanders and even on ball Melksham did the kms. I disagree that the running is the issue. Or even ‘defending’. The issue is not adapting to a style of play that puts team above possession stats. Cotchin is performing defensive acts but not with a defensive mindset, he knows if he keeps in position then lays a bump or tackle it forces a turnover and results in a clean clearance. Cotchin is super aggressive, he’s just focussed on team not stats.

Absolutely. The first thing Goody did when he took control for the last round of 2015 was switch to a zone defence and press system. I thought we got the balance pretty close to right last year with our mids providing more support to the backline whilst still trying to push forward. We went too fast and had too many turnovers that meant teams rebounded too easily but on the days our skills were sharp it all looked very good. The mids needed to sharp their skills and team work. And the forwards had to halve more contests and get more consistent pressure. But that doesn’t mean reverting to 2018 style of chucking everyone forward.

So Lockhart for Salem? I reckon Bowey gets that chance. He’s a better like for like fit. McDonald was set to play wing in the preseason but he’ll play CHF tomorrow. It’s a giveaway that Baker has the magnet swap with him. My feeling is they have a template they send in to the AFL and they had Tommy lined up for wing earlier in the summer on a test run and they haven’t bothered moving him.

The same forward line that just kicked 14 goals against Richmond?

So do we go with Vanders and Lockhart from the get go as that team line up may suggest or do we throw Laurie and Bowey in to the fire and see if they are ready for round 1? Petty and Tomlinson get a half each? Or May/Lever plays a half and then has a rest so the other 2 can compete for more time? There's plenty of guys playing for their spots.

Which one of those people means the Vice President would speak? Pres, CEO, head of footy, 2 new coaches, club legend/prominent media member. Vice President doesn't fit with any of that. It's a private function, no one can just attend without an invite. She can join the coterie - assuming she isn't already a member - or she can request or be offered an invite. I'm sure the coterie would be more than happy for her to attend. Whether the function was held at the Australia club, the Avalon Bowls Club, kittens carwash or Clementine Ford's house it's a private function.

You've posted that about 1000 times but the reality is there's never been a good alternative anywhere remotely near the G. So it's either Goschs' or the suburban fringes and neither St Kilda nor Essendon have made the fringe experience work.

Lauren Pearce is an interesting one. At her best she is dominant. But she also has games where her ruck work is inconsistent, she can spill marks and her kicking gets too cute. I trust her effort and she is rarely beaten, but contest to contest there's inconsistency from her that frustrates me.

The club has continued to be positive about getting a training base at Gosch's established. If it didn't work out and we were at Casey more consistently then instead of worrying about it as a negative we should look to turn it to a positive. Casey is half an hour from Mt Eliza and Mornington and not too much further from a lot of the rest of the Mornington Peninsula. The Dandy Stingrays talent to come out of the Peninsula - Jones, Hibberd, Tom Lynch, Hunter Clark, Whitfield, Weitering, Hammill, Sam Sturt, Hayden Young etc rivals that of the Geelong area. AFL players like to party for a few years then like to settle down somewhere cruisy, surf and chill out. That's what gives Geelong such a recruiting advantage. Gawny has pioneered the way to live down on the Peninsula. The best option is Gosch's, but if it came to it Casey could be a selling point for the club if we did it correctly.

My recall was we were based at Casey until the end of preseason. The boys doing the captains run at Gosch's the other day makes me think they will be back there at least once a week. It could be Casey for the main session and the other 2 sessions a week at Gosch's. It's also possible the women's season will be over in 3 weeks time.

Not recruiting any more players from Essendon could be a net positive for us.

Yep she's very willing but not very crafty or skilled. Even though she's young she plays like she didn't get the elite junior development unfortunately. Hopefully she can add some of that over time. Hanks is pretty much the only refined player we have in terms of smarts and skills. Maddy Gay might be second. Daisy has clearly just worked exceptionally hard to develop a wide range of skills too but she's a bit clunkier. Shelley Scott is solid too. Some of our best players can do a couple of things really well but can let themselves down under pressure too. Hore and Zanker are classic examples. Paxman is a star but she doesn't really have a lot of moves either, she'll often just out run opponents or get tackled and fight through it to dispose. It makes it harder for her against the best sides. Even our draftees aren't all that well rounded. Bannan is supremely talented and has some tricks but has lots to work on and McNamara is frustrating because her work rate is exceptional but she doesn't know how to get out of trouble safely either.

The point of the function is for the Coterie to get their money’s worth by hearing from senior staff. There’s no point having the function if no one from the club turns up. The venue is fine. When the only problem is optics for optics sake it’s not a problem at all. If it can host a wedding it can host a group of football supporters.

The website lists 2 Vice Presidents. My point is Bartlett’s change of title is more than symbolic because it impacts the title of his deputy. It’s not a panacea but it has real consequences by removing an obstacle to a female head of the board. There’s no reason a Vice President would speak at a coterie season launch no matter where it was held.

The change of title was a response to women who are actually involved in the club, it’s not a huge step but it’s directly related to your first point. Maybe check the website and look at our Vice Presidents. We have 2 female assistants on the women’s team, the growth of assistants is the right pathway. A woman become a men’s assistant is the next step. Meanwhile our coach made 2 excellent bold positional moves last night and we beat the Saints and their female coach by 7 goals. Women’s players have been afforded lucrative media duties and marketing opportunities, they’re making a lot more money than the base wages. Their earnings are outpacing their revenue and rightfully so, but they have a path to really nice semi-pro careers. Short of somehow making the average crowds double overnight I don’t know that there’s more to be done.

Disappointing that the VFL guys will play tomorrow morning so it might be hard for the emergencies or 23-26 to get a full hit out. Not sure how we will manage the game time. Most clubs so far have subbed in 23/24 sometime around the half and given 25/26 a run in the last. Certain players might be in the VFL side to get a full run rather than being the sub players in the main game.

Organised chaos and balance are what I think of. You can’t be safe or too cute or you won’t move the ball quick enough to succeed. But at the same time there has to be some organisation to have things work out. 1 up, 1 down. Keeping width for handball receives. Trusting team mates to stick a tackle. Making sure the long kicks down the line go to advantage. If we get all those little things right consistently enough things will be looking better. I think Goodwin has actually been on the right track with the way we spread, change angles on the kicks and move the ball quickly. We’ve just been lacking skills in some areas and lacking organisation as well.

Find the Twitter replies that got this going, I think offended is putting it fairly. I don’t have a strong opinion either way on Bartlett changing his title but if he thought it might increase the talent pool available to the Board then good for him and the club. Life is full of inconsistencies, I treat each case on its merits. If a coterie that has no joining criteria apart from $$$ wants to have a function at a venue that suits the members and is welcoming to all coterie members on the night then that’s fine by me. The club has women’s supporter lunches and lgbt supporter groups that by definition are far more discriminatory than a choice of venue. We all understand the context and have no issues with those certain groups. Crown Casino has a far more negative impact on society than a mens only club. Should the club avoid events hosted there on principle too?

You’ve missed the joke here Franky.