DeeSpencer

Neither Langdon nor Lever are elite and it's one player per year from 2016 to 2018 at this stage until a much better year in 2019. 2016: Hibbo was great but he isn't now. Maybe - Hannan 2017: Lever sure, Fritsch. Maybe - Spargo, Petty, Baker 2018: May a tick. KK a cross. Maybe - Sparrow, Jordon, et al The only new additions to Port's side this year are McKenzie and Ladhams. Otherwise 20 of the 22 that played the other week are good AFL players. If you're generous you might be able to get to about 17 for us and that includes 3 first year kids none of whom did nearly as much as Port's trio did in year 1.

The difference between Port and us is they kept adding all the way along with the likes of Burton, Amon, Clurey, Byrne-Jones, SPP, Houston, Ladhams. Little upgrades year on year even when some of their more experienced talent from their first great year under Kenny was either declining or getting traded out. Their backline is a great illustration of that. Whilst they'd love a proper tall full back (and traded Howard out for unusual reasons) they have 7 very strong defenders. The backbone of any good side. 7 players who can kick, mark and defend. On the other hand we potentially have 4 in May, Lever, Salem and Rivers. Maybe Hibbo turns back the clock. Maybe Tomlinson finds more mobility and contested ability. Maybe Smith clicks. Or Lockarth, Hore, or Petty or Nietschke. But if we can't put 7 trusty defenders out there we aren't going anywhere.

Oskar Baker is 22 and has had 3 years in the system, don’t project forward to beef up your argument. He has a couple of elite traits which are line breaking run and penetrating kicking. He’s well worth a 4th year to make or break his career. ANB was messy but he was also an effective AFL player in 2018. He is a story of failed skill development and lack of depth. Shouldn’t have got a 2 year deal last year but whatever. Develop players properly is the message with him. Im with you on Hannan and Hunt. But it’s also important to go through the finals teams and see that players come together at all sorts of ages and times. Ryan Lester and Trent McKenzie played full back for their respective winning sides. Lester’s been on one year deals for a decade and McKenzie was cut from a joke of a side. The other thing is you need to establish the culture of player development and good recruiting. Which comes from good coaching, good training standards, knowing who has the upside to hold on to. You cut 10 guys and replace them with 10 no names and you end up back where you started. The secret to success is a happy club, a mature club, good draft picks and good trades.

Time to pause the season for 2 weeks, pack the NFL up and move it to Australia and New Zealand. The Rugby League and Rugby Union stadiums and facilities are perfect to host NFL teams and games. South and West (later time zones and warmer weather) 1 division per city in: - Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney with games possible in Perth and Melbourne as restrictions ease. Teams can also choose to relocate to Carins, Townsville, Newcastle, Gosford etc if they wish. North and East (earlier time zones, colder weather) 1 division per city in - Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch Start a small number of early games in NZ at say 9am local time which is 4pm US. Play the bulk of games around 6:30 US time and then keep a later spot. Would inject a lot of money in to the Aus and NZ economy whilst saving the NFL season and letting the players live normal lives and play games infront of (some) crowds.

A list spot. Current out of contract key defenders: Kyle Hartigan, Matt Scharenberg, Jacob Koschitzke, Jarrod Lienert, Ryan Garthwaite, Oscar Clavarino, Lewis Melican. Most would be free to a good home or a 3rd rounder at most. Are any of them any good? I don't know. But surely it's worth finding out. Lienert is one guy I'd sign up for sure.

You don't think people call for Lever to be dropped or traded? You've missed a lot of posts around here. The main difference between Lever and Oscar is Lever can do things while apart from the occasional game here or there - including those first 2 finals - Oscar hasn't shown the ability to take intercept marks, to track an opponent on a lead and make a closing spoil, to follow up at ground level and so on. Oscar's a nice kick in uncontested situations but he doesn't get used like May does. He rarely if ever runs the ball out of the backline. He seems to trip over his feet when asked to run and kick at pace and will often stuff up those kicks which are the most risk/reward. Any time he gets the ball in traffic it's a backwards handball or a panicked kick because he can't beat pressure. The reality is he can't play on smaller or faster opponents and doesn't even get trusted to play on the best forwards, he doesn't provide any defensive drive and he doesn't take enough intercept marks to cover for his lack of mobility.

I don't believe in taggers as a full time designated role but I do believe in tagging as a vital tactic. That centre clearance stat is almost entirely due to Nic Nat being Nic Nat. Collingwood use Pendlebury on Cripps every time they play. At the moment Greenwood is fit and in decent form, whilst Sidebottom is out and the Pies depth mids (the Browns, Phillips etc) aren't in form. Seb Ross also tagged Bontempelli. Whilst Geary played a defensive forward role on Daniel. The 2 best kicks in the Dogs team were shut down. 2 elimination finals in one day won by the tagging team. Whether it's Harmes, Gus, Sparrow or Viney we need to have a lockdown tag option. And we need to find roles for them when they aren't tagging. But I'd have no problem if you said Harmes will tag the 8-10 best players in the comp: Danger, Martin, Fyfe, Bont, Cripps, Pendles, Kelly/Shuey, Boak etc. Teams that play finals have elite midfielders that are best to stop.

There's always going to be changes, even without changing players. 1. Assistant coaches They'll change the game plan, change the motivation, change the skill levels, change selection etc. 2. Key forwards: a. Weid - he put up his most consistent run of performances this year and looked like a proper key forward b. Jackson - we only got a taste of what he offers this year c. Petty - at a minimum he's an option 3. Other forwards a. Fritsch - his goal kicking will improve, just can't get any worse (well it is Melbourne so you never know) b. Pickett - another who misses chances, but also who creates chances and can make great inside 50 kicks c. The rest of the mid/small types 4. Game plan The over the top is not a bad thing. You get a mark inside 20m it's very likely to be a goal. Plus you stretch the backline and create room for everyone else. Too often people bemoan our forwards leading deep, it's their job! Same for Fritsch leading to the pockets, he's a leading forward, he should often take the space available that sees him get a guaranteed mark inside 50. If every forward leads to 30m out directly infront the backline has a field day. Our mids certainly have to improve their kicking but even that's conflicting because some of them have to take the first option and get it in quick from stoppages and let the forwards fight with even numbers. It's footy, there's no perfect solutions. It's about balance, variety and players doing what they do well.

We won 2 finals and fixed our biggest weakness with a gun key defender. Getting blown out by the premiers should’ve been humbling but there was 25 weeks to review not 1. Much of the 2018 team has fallen away since but we weren’t and probably still aren’t too far off. It’s not about individuals or even groups, it’s making sure the place feels like a team. Cut 10 guys a year bad you’ve turned over a lists worth of players in 4 years. You’ll draft 6-8 guys a year and within 3 years there will only be 2 or 3 left. I’m still bewildered that we only took 3 players in last years draft and no rookies but we shouldn’t go too hard the other way

We’ve kept a lot of shoddy depth around for a few reasons: 1. the list has never been deep, we had to trade a lot of picks just to get out of the hole we were in. 2. We’ve thought we were in the window to win, so it’s better to have some mature depth who know the system 3. Culture - Apart from a winning culture at VFL level these guys are good team mates and friends. If you cut 12 guys a year you’re losing that continuity at the club Its hard to fix reason 1 without a fluke run of late picks. But it’s time to reconsider 2 and 3

Would add a couple of names from the list of guys without contracts who I think we should look at: 1. Brett Bewley - a cheaper, younger running wing option to Polec and Smith 2. Oscar Clavarino - key defender who trained at the club in the afl academy days, could swap one Oscar key defender out for another

The Doggies are incredibly light on for pressure forwards so that makes sense.

Other clubs been keen on Bedford is interesting. I've seen very little to suggest he's an AFL player.

Yep I proposed this in another thread. The Pies have to pay big money to Moore, De Goey and Mihocek. Someone has to make them pay up big time on Daicos or let him walk. Offer him 5 years at 700k, let's see how loyal he is then.

Hately’s a younger, smaller Tomlinson. Caldwell could be good, he has some class, but he’s an inside mid that we probably shouldn’t chase. O’Halloran is the one for us to look at. Good size and good runner, could play wing or half forward. But other clubs seem more interested

I thought the forward line was eons better than last year and did a lot right. The midfield is my biggest concern. It’s where we are stacked for talent and can’t get consistent results. As I’ve said in other threads I’m happy for Mahoney and Goodwin to have one last year and win or lose together.

The reasons for Jones are whether he actually does a selfless role and whether he is a good influence and has anything of value to add. I think in the games Jones did play this year he finally started to tackle and accept a more defensive role the he hadn't previously. And he seemed to be more interested in coaching when he got injured. Not that he was selfish before but I think the penny started to drop this year that he couldn't just move to a wing or flank but he has to change his game and outlook. The cost is a spot on the list, but we've still got plenty of spots free at the moment. It's hard to judge that worth until we see how many players we have coming in and going out. Just too early to tell.

Not sure anyone will take a chance on Brayshaw with a dodgy foot and Harmes is the kind of solid clubman who rarely moves teams. Sparrow looked to have more composure than Harmes and far better speed and defensive pressure than Gus. There’s room for him in the midfield. There’s room for all of them if the balance is right I think we’re judging his accumulation skills off a few quiet vfl games where they asked him to tag afl level players and afl games where he’s played half forward a fair bit. His first 3 games this year playing limited minutes he averaged 14 touches. That could easily bump to 18 with normal game time next year

Smith’s listed as a cm taller but his reach and leap gives him a lot more range, plus the speed to go with quick talls.

Better coaching and some consistent VFL footy could unlock Smith. He’s not nearly as far off making it as people think. What are the alternatives? Hibberd in his final year, Hore who’s too short and slow to switch on to talls, Tomlinson who’s too slow for quick guys? Got to give him one last chance to see if he can make it

I’m very surprised that the added weight story is true. Still don’t think it’s anything close to 10kg. Half of that at most. But it’s baffling he’d change anything from 2018, especially with the game only getting faster. I have my doubts that it will make him any better. Gone are the days of Nick Riewoldt burning opponents at CHF. But any improvements in mobility have to help

I’m not saying he’s not a good player but his first half of the year was bog ordinary and have 3 if not 4 mids better. And the point is he finished second in the b+f despite being half the player he was in 2018. So Frost finishing 7th doesn’t mean much

We can add a superstar or a mobile player who tackles and defends to complement what we have. I don’t think Brown is either of those options

Not in the first half of this year, a shadow of the player he was in his brownlow. Completely ineffectual and can only play on ball. Probably battle through on a flank like Harmes or Gus.

You aren’t watching close enough. He does 5 silly things defensively. Can’t mark, can’t spoil, can’t catch anyone at ground level, gets caught boundary side.