DeeSpencer

Jackson, T Mc, Fritsch and rotating mids (we have multiple big body mid options) and smalls. Run, pressure and moving to space matter more than tall targets, especially early in the season. Daw, M Brown, Petty all depth options.

It’s a lot harder to take marks with the defenders converging on you than it is with you floating across the pack. Combine that with poor ability on the ground and bad kicking and it’s not a great combination. That said, Gawn isn’t nearly the player he was at centre bounces since he’s almost eliminated jumping from his game. He wins a lot of hit outs but I’m not sure he’s a net positive in the middle. His ball use around the ground was also pretty stupid at times last year. He can’t kick and should remember that. Jackson might start the year as our number 1 forward and might (small chance) even be too important to ruck. We’ll see on that. But he could also be a very important change of pace in the ruck and we might have to use Max forward to get the right mix.

I agree with most of that except in the photos on the first page he looks as fit as he ever has, all whilst coming back from a serious injury.

Yep I think if you surveyed any team, but especially bottom 10 teams, and asked for the worst players who regularly get games you'd get a list of half forward flankers. Especially team first defensive guys or those with inconsistent skills. ANB and Spargo would've both been very highly regarded by fans in 2018 and then in 2019 they would've been at the top of the list for whipping boys. They didn't drastically lose ability. The effectiveness of the game plan and the midfield efficiency dropped away.

It would be disappointing if a player and his manager didn't get the club that offered a chance to train the rights to match any deal, but I don't think it's poor form at all for clubs to sign any player that's available. These train on guys don't have any job security. If a team wants them that's fair enough. I did read a rumour once that Carlton had a go at signing Sydney Stack once he settled in well training with the Tigers. There's nothing wrong with that.

The worst part for soccer is how much money parents are rorted for when they have to shell out for every development squad and camp. Just nonsense. Coaching certainly matters but it’s the fundamental skills that are the most important. In footy that’s kick and handball on both sides, ground balls and marking. Apart from that appropriate physical development that shouldn’t be rushed - ban the weights and 3km time trials for the younger kids - and then just let them play.

You don't run with your arms.

The AFL have a funding crisis and made cuts to juniors, I get that. They've combined the mens and womens coaches to keep the number of full time jobs. The problem is these NAB League (ex TAC) aren't real clubs. They don't have true club infrastructure. The far better solution is to move to the model that they have in WA and SA of the juniors being linked in the with state league sides. That way the boys and girls can develop at the right rate. When they go up grades the coaching improves. The senior coaches set the tone for the whole club. There's ex and future AFL senior players around. The clubs have physios and doctors and so on. Those who are ready get drafted, those who miss out stay in the same pathway to work through the grades.

There's so many private schools throwing money at their footy programs and giving scholarships to a lot of kids, so it's not entirely about having rich parents. The problem is there are 2 drafts now. The AFL draft and the private schools drafting kids at 12 or again at 15. You can be from a very poor area but you got to get picked up at 12. Apart from the lack of fairness it's not always a great result for the kids. Tom Scully is the classic example of a kid who was drafted in to the private school system as an elite junior and was pretty much a professional since his teens. He's burnt out at 29, and probably wasn't at his best at any stage of his AFL career.

They're still in small group training surely, divided up in to groups of 10. In which case the royal blues does seem to have a bit of rehab about them. Viney, Smith, Gus all have niggles and possibly Clarry on a lighter week. Limited to 10 at a time they'll all be on a lighter week really.

Yep I just made a negative guess. Oh wait, no I didn’t. “Browny … with the [knee] cartilage. We’re hoping that he’d be back between Round 4 and Round 6 - it will depend a little bit on how he responds to his program.

He's referring to the first round pick we owe them after the season. Do you know what Archie Smith, Tom Fullarton, Sam Skinner, Connor Ballenden and former reality tv show winner Matt Eagles all have in common. They are the guys who got games for Brisbane in the back up ruck/forward role whilst Stef Martin was injured last year. It had no impact on where they finished on the ladder.

I understand your frustrations but I’m not sure comparing with other states or other countries. Favourably or not. Every situation is different. Every state has has a lockdown recently and they’ve all been different. WA locked down Perth and 2 other regions which is pretty much the majority of the WA population. You’d have to drive 4 or 5 hours to Albany or Geraldton to escape it. QLD didn’t but they were one case. We didn’t lockdown over the one case with the golfer but have over 4+ in the community. The issue with a metro Melbourne lockdown is so many Melburnians would flood to beach houses and farms. A police ring has to be set up and we’ve exhausted the police resources. I find it crazy that the state and feds haven’t purpose built facilities in regional areas with fly in fly out special workers. But that’s just my opinion. Today is hump day of the 5 day lockdown, so hopefully the end is in sight tomorrow

Ben’s availability for selection will be determined on how well he responds to the rehab program. We are very confident though that we can build Ben back to full fitness and we will see him in action during the early rounds of the season. “We anticipate Ben will be in a position to commence running four weeks following surgery.“ —————————— A general rule is ready to play after the same time training as off legs. Which is another month, so early April which is the early rounds of the season. Rounds 2-3 might’ve become 4-5 but that’s still in line with the reported timeline.

When did the club ever say that? There was no way of knowing how long it would be until he had the surgery and the only time frame I’ve ever seen from the club is 4 weeks until he’s back running. He has a bad knee, it was never going to be a super quick recovery. Whether he’s out until round 2 or round 6 is probably dependent on what happens when he starts running again.

Tom’s definitely at his best using his tank, to bounce back from the last two years he’ll have to play to his strengths but also do his job forcing contests which he hasn’t the last two years. The Saints used 2 rucks and Max King to make sure they had a predictable top of the square option at all times. The Saints rucks are more skilled and better movers than Max, but it’s worth considering the change up of using Jackson (or maybe Daw) in the ruck and putting Max forward. He will make defenders panic and draw free kicks. The specifics depend on match ups and structures really, my main argument is that the long bomb and hence the need for a tall striker has been pretty much dead in soccer for a long time. Tall targets are still vital in footy, but they don’t have to be superstars.

I think there's more than one way to be classed as a small forward and the best teams have a variety of skillsets. Anything from elite speed like an Aaron Davey, super aerial and one on one ability like Jeff Farmer (and Eddie Betts), or just innate ability to read a crumb like Luke Breust. The 50+ goal kicking small is a rare and special player but good luck trying to find a guy like that. Spargo's more of a half forward and doesn't have elite speed, aerial ability or a big back of tricks but he showed in his first year he could do enough of the basics well enough to contribute in finals. Bedford has good speed but that's about it. Chandler has sharper skills, finds more of the ball and is a stronger tackler from what I've seen. Richmond's small forward brigade is illustrative of the different mixes. Rioli has some Rioli skills at times but is often pretty messy with the ball and I'd say he's quick without being lightning, he runs all days and senses the moment to pressure. Bolton wasn't great with his pressure early, but he has some crazy skills and is great in the air, he's kind of a small full forward mixed with a midfielder. Castagna was a half back flanker who competes in the air, has great pressure but no skills. Then they've played Higgins at times who is really a midfield playing half forward and is now traded. They've played Aarts who's a grinder. And Butler was the pure speedy crumber with low possessions who fell out of favour. The one constant is pressure and work rate to stay in the side, but the way they win the ball and how they use it is different for each player.

I'm not sure we have the option of introducing Jesus to the line up. Richmond won the flag in 2017 when they realised instead of playing 2 talls they could get away with 1 and add more speed and change the way the game was played. But they've also played 2 and even 3 ever since, and backlines aren't pushing nearly as high and opening up as much space now as they were then. That said; skills, speed (of ball movement and leg speed) and cohesion are probably more important in kicking goals than big key forwards. I think tall forwards are needed, it makes it a tough slog for the little guys if you go without them completely. The opposition start taking intercept marks, the mids start to worry about going long and direct and start overusing the ball. But you don't need to be a good mark or kick to be in the right place structurally and to force a contest. It can be Majak Daw and Tom McDonald in the long down the line spots and bringing it to ground with crumbers at their feet and Petracca and Fritsch can be leading out to space if the kicker can find them.

I don't think clubs really hide talent at all. In fact clubs are usually conservative that if they have someone talented from an unusual background they often get them to do a year at a state league or get them in to a NAB League team to play some games at the higher level to see if they measure up. Tom Stewart at Geelong. Lewis Jetta. Liam Ryan doing a second WAFL year. There's plenty of guys who had the talent but clubs didn't rush in to drafting. But apart from that it just doesn't really add up that we'd ask Kobe to not play all that well and not offer him anything in return. If we wanted him to tank his draft stock surely we'd have to have promised him we'd take him in the rookie draft in return. The reality is most likely that he wasn't all that good and with shrinking lists and a small draft he missed out. It is possible that he didn't impress Freo either for footy reasons or who knows, could be for other reasons. And maybe the chance to move out of WA and in with his father has had a good impact on him too. Wouldn't be the first or last in that boat.

Care to answer the question? There's nothing in Bedford's game that makes him qualified as a small forward compared with Chandler or Spargo.

Happy with this. We need a second mature ruck. We need key defensive depth. And with the injuries we might need forward depth. Majak can do all 3 at once. The only problem is they don’t have a lot of time to assess his body unless they’ve had this on the cards for a while. There’s a chance his body just isn’t what it was after his severe injuries so they need to thoroughly investigate that if he’s to get a list spot.

The repeat efforts on the near side flank were incredible. Such leadership and smarts. She held together the backline that was pretty much just her and sometimes the brilliant but unpredictable Goldrush. Need to strengthen that group up if we’re to go deep in the comp. Birch struggling. Colvin better but still up and down. Lampard first game back. Edmonson might have to go to the wing and swap with Heath. Or they might need to try the other Irish lass

Umpiring didn’t match the standard of the players. We got more of it then North but it was awful for both sides. Every second tackle isn’t a free kick! As I said we got the better of it but it also might’ve hurt us because we wanted pace on the game. The more the game moved the better the Dees are

She’s played so much better this year but she’s a basketballer in her mid 30’s, it’s impressive she’s even out there. But she’s had a shocker dropping her head when Hanks laced her out in the last. Swallow that, turn around and nail the goal and end the game. Zanker and Bannan are still inconsistent too. Parry might be the most trust worthy under a high ball. Or Scott. But we need them up the ground. If we had one more good crumber to pair with Hore the forward line would have more balance.

They all have 2 first names. (someone has to name their kid Jetta right)