DeeSpencer

We do? Hore (long), Weid (med-long), B Brown (short-med), Viney (short) and a small rehab group who have all done a fair bit of preseason apart from Brayshaw. That’s not too bad. And it’s missing guys from where we have depth Geelong’s rehab group has Duncan, Dangerfield and Cameron who might be their 3 best players.

Tassie gave them a huge financial boost and a home ground advantage that helped them get 4 flags. The premiership then led to the membership boost. Jeff is likely just being Jeff. They can now sustain a strong Victorian base. Although they certainly don’t want to give up that sweet Tassie money and the home ground advantage.

Weid’s a bad pressure player, that’s why I was skeptical on the fit with B Brown. But he can tackle - and to hurt - when he catches guys. It’s hard to know just how bad he is because he’s played so few games in a functioning pressure forward line. He was more like 1 tackle a game early in the season last year, then ran out of puff late. It’s hard to read much in to his last month when the bloke was gassed. The numbers are clearly inflated by games where he was in the ruck but his 2018 tackle numbers were much better. Everyone has to press up and cut off outlets and Weid and the other tall/s have to bring the ball to ground for their to be tackles. A Fritsch/Melk/Preuss or Brown or T Mc/and half fit Hannan forward line wasn’t going to lead to many tackles for the big blokes. Defenders had options everywhere to escape the press.

I doubt they’ve done enough match practice to even see something special. 1.5 goals and 4 tackles in the Wafl colts means he’s not hopeless. So I’d imagine it’s just he’s settled in well and is physically and mentally handling the training and move across the country. We’ve got 3 list spots and no true ‘rookies’ on our rookie list. He’ll be on the base wage and yes he’s probably worth a bit in good press which can’t hurt. It will be interesting to see if they sign Deakyn Smith too.

Hard to know how to judge Yze. He had some terrific seasons. Led the league in kicks and was a beautiful kick too. But he wasn’t a superstar wing to such a level that he compares with the on ballers. I think Jones is being underrated. He was heavily tagged at times and his kicking in his prime was really underrated because it started poorly and has tailed off. He would’ve had at least one AA in a mid table team. Oliver’s already reached a level equal to or better than Jones’s best but he’s plateaued the last two seasons. He has to use the ball better by hand and foot. He can’t be big numbers and low impact. If the hot potato at the stoppages isn’t cut out of his game immediately this year then it’s bad news for his career path.

Maybe we could send a Facebook DM to Jonny Patton?

Two separate discussions to me: 1. Do we need to bring in a ready to go key forward? Maybe. At this stage I'd lean towards no with T Mc projecting to be better and M. Brown as well. Especially if they initial indications on B. Brown are positive. If B. Brown is looking more like missing months than just weeks then that changes the equation. 2. Should we look at McCartin. Nope. Just way too many concussions IMO. Poor guy should move on to his next phase in life.

Bowey has one of the smoothest kicking actions I’ve ever seen. If every player could kick like that our disposal issues would be a thing of the past

Carroll has good size and skill and could play in a number of positions. He’s different to the first two picks. They’re also talking up Rosman as a tall when the plan is to develop him as a wing. A tall wing but hardly different to how Carroll could play the position. If they’re seriously debating it and haven’t got their order and contingencies based on earlier picks sorted then it’s a bit of a mess. I hope they’ve asked Kelly OD to ham it up for the cameras.

There's some irony that Eddie was protected by the boys club when he truly did stuff up a number of times over the years and should've received a greater punishment then. But now he's been hounded by a select group of boys and girls after commissioning a report in an attempt to help his footy club. Calling on Nike and Emirates to pressure the Pies, really? Those bastions of ethical business getting up on their high horses. Taking the bloke to task because he committed the great error of being positive and 'proud' of his football club and tried to push the message that they were working on reforms. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Eddie who should've given the gig up years ago but I do wonder where we're going as a society when the answer is to gang up and take someone down just to feel important. It's nonsense.

My takeaways were Tim Lamb loves Laurie, and his highlight package is pure class so it's hard not to see the appeal there. Lots of clubs wanted him in the draft so hopefully that's a good sign. There might be some reluctance on just where and what they do with Bowey. His kicking and vision is supreme but I expect he'll take time to settle in to a role. Half back is a sensible starting point because you want him getting 10+ kicks a game but it might just take a while. Taylor's enthusiasm for Rosman was a big positive. There's some chance that we've overrated him due to a potential needs fit but it sounds like they weren't just drafting him because they need a wingman. If JT says a guy could explode they've clearly envisioning some big upside. Let's hope it happens.

You hope the whole thing is staged. The strategy of taking the best 2 kicks, that's nonsense. If that's how it falls then great, but you take the best 2 players. A panicked meeting about the 3rd selection when you've had months to get an order finalised and run scenarios based on the earlier picks. Come on now. Goody hasn't been as involved with the draft (every year but no doubt more so this year) and so isn't as enthusiastic to play up for the camera. That's what I hope that is.

“I don't think we can carry 3 talls in our forward line with the poor crumbers that we have. We can't rely on pickett or Spargo to even find the footy, let alone kick goals“ “how bloody slow are Tomlinson, Melksham, Brayshaw, Spargo, OMac, etc. I could have all of them coming at me at once and I reckon I could sidestep all of them” For the record can we assume you were hacked when these posts were made from your account?

I’m probably more worried about his comments about Hodge in this. They took the easy road on that one. 17 other clubs would’ve too. But probably don’t bring it up as a triumph

I’m a believer that AFL footballers make a lot of money for being good at footy. That doesn’t mean they should just be open season from the press no matter how well they are paid. They have to uphold good community standards but still be treated as humans when they do stuff up. Patton likely has punishments coming to him in various forms and fair enough. But a lot of the media coverage was way out of line with the allegations IMO. What should be reported factually and clinically took out a nasty tabloid angle which isn’t good for anyone involved. Clarko’s right to support his player until all the facts are on the table. That doesn’t mean he’s covering it up or minimizing it

Professional performance. Need to fix the starts. Forward pressure still lacking. I’m not a Petrevski fan so there’s an chance to add a different pacy option or two. More quick and crazy Irish women if possible! Maddi Guy hurry back we need that big body and long kick in the midfield too. Beautiful ball movement between the arcs. The wind makes it tough but still a lot of inside 50 opportunities to fix up.

Baker no tricks? He can hit the scoreboard, break lines with pace and has a penetrating (if not always accurate) kick. His issue is he's poor at the fundamentals like pressure, tackling and aerial contesting. Plus the fitness concerns - that surely have to be somewhat improved after this summer. I still have some hope for him but I wouldn't have him in at the start of the year. I think Tommy Mc if in the side will be a forward rotating through the wing not a primary wingman. If Jackson/Brown or Jackson/Weid are the key forwards Tom will be on the wing, then go forward once Jackson rucks or the other key forward rests on the bench. Fritsch might be used the same way. The longer quarters this year will mean more rest for tall forwards and for Gawn (ruck) and Langdon (wing), so a 3rd tall forward who can spend a bit of time on the wing allows you to always have 2 tall forwards without ever being stuck with 3 and no tackle pressure. My guess for the starting wing job at this stage would be Melksham to get him a permanent position, and failing that Harmes who can do the fundamental two way running and contested work. Rosman a long shot but will get his chance in preseason games, even if his skills and smarts are a long way off the physical package is too attractive.

I’m not talking about infringements, I’m saying the way a CHF used to take a mark and the CHB would go stand right on the spot of the mark. Until recently that’s what used to happen. Then teams worked out that a midfielder dropping back could take the mark and the CHB could drop in to the hole. And that midfielder manning the mark would also move 5m laterally to cover the corridor.

I agree with that, but I also don't think Champion Data's publicity arm does them any service. You can't be a stats company and then just break down players in to categories based on being in the x best players at a position in the last year. If you're going to make an elite category then have it as the elite players weighted over a longer period of time and don't make it so position focused. Weight it based on who really is making the elite impact on games. Or do it another way. Release the data and let educated fans make their own analysis. There's an army of smart people out there desperate to cut up the Champion Data numbers as they see fit and they'll produce great content from it.

Some of the protected area stuff could be 25 whilst any professional free kick as well as blatant encroaches and late hits could stay 50, but that's too hard to officiate. Better to stay at 50, train the players up but also make sure the umps aren't too trigger happy on inconsequential actions. Usually there's a period of outrage before the players adapt (and/or the umps forget). Our chinese checkers game plan of short angled kicks through the corridor that worked well at times leading up to 2018 could make a comeback with more space to kick in to. Salem, Rivers and maybe Bowey feeding the ball in to Tracc, Oliver and possibly Melksham to then play on and hit up the forwards.

The do a poor job clarifying the system. Elite for them means in the top x percent at a position. I’d have Tom Lynch as elite and much higher but otherwise the key forwards drop away quickly after the top 5 or so. Champion Data punishes players for missing goals. Harshly. Bad kicking is bad footy so it makes sense to an extent. Cox rarely gets the ball but he rarely misses either. They don’t care if he gets 5 touches a game if he nails his 2 shots and doesn’t get out marked. I’m not saying Cox is elite but it’s something well worth considering in what actually matters for a key forward. Halve contests, don’t get out marked, nail your shots and do your job defensively matter more than taking 8 marks and having 15 touches.

I’m doubtful on Cox too but those two players aren’t elite either.

I have my doubts but for 100 years the player on the mark stood the mark. It's only in the last 10-20 years that players have been handing over the man on the mark, creeping the mark and guarding the corridor. The new rule has the potential to make manning the mark similar to how it was for a very long time. Umpires have already been super hot on players moving off their line (apart from Buddy kicking for goal). Sometimes players get called to play on when they look one way or the other without even moving. Anyone moving off their line will get told to play on.

https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/726383/johnson-undergoes-surgery Stevie J had knee surgery on March 26 in 2013, literally in the middle of the first round in the split fixture days. He played in round 3. If they have Brown not running for 4 weeks then that’s more conservative and probably a little more going on but it doesn’t have to be curtains for the year

I think the list is in the healthiest space since 2018. It’s not perfect, no list ever is, but at least we have options in a lot of positions. I’m not convinced by the authors faith in Langdon and Tomlinson meaning we can play an ultra fit style of footy. Our on ballers aren’t great runners and we’re youthful in the flanks. Work rate and physicality are the backbone of competing in afl games and we should be able to do that. But winning is about coordinating pressure and coordinating and executing skills under pressure. I’m doubtful adding a few talented young players and a key forward alone will resolve the skills and cohesion problems.